Moyo Attacked For Blocking Grace To Succeed Bob

First lady Grace Mugabe will finish off her deputy in the Zanu PF women’s league Eunice Sandi-Moyo after launching a demolition job against the veteran politician last week to clear her path to the vice-presidency.

This paper today lifts the lid on the bitter brawl in the women’s league which has left deputy secretary, Sandi Moyo and Sarah Mahoka, on the brink, while exposing deepening succession wars in the embattled ruling party.

The push to oust Sandi Moyo, it can be revealed, is being spearheaded by Grace and a faction linked to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa latched onto the demonstrations without realising that their godfather might lose out, if the first lady’s project succeeds.

Mnangagwa was allegedly using Sandi Moyo as a double-edged sword to block the first lady’s ascendancy and oust Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko with one blow.

Sources told The Standard that Mnangagwa’s faction hijacked the demonstrations against Sandi Moyo and Mahoka in an attempt to expose the first lady as an unstable and unfaithful leader who ditches her most ardent supporters in the cold in her quest for power.

The women’s league, since 2015, has been calling for an amendment of the Zanu PF constitution so that one of the vice-presidents is a woman.

According to those behind the plot, it was meant to elevate the first lady at the expense of Mnangagwa, who is battling on all fronts to remain in the position and stay as a frontrunner to succeed Mugabe.

Mnangagwa’s group, in a bid to checkmate the first lady and her G40 backers, took the stance not to oppose the female quota proposal, but argued and plotted to have the female vice-presidency reserved for a member of the former Zapu which entered into a unity pact with Zanu in 1987.

The Mnangagwa faction used the pretext that the female vice-presidency should rotate, while arguing that Zanu had its turn during the Joice Mujuru vice-presidency.

Their proposal had unsettled Mphoko, the current Zapu member in the presidium who was set to lose his position if the Lacoste plan was to be taken up.

The implementation of the proposal would also block Grace’s path to the top.

According to sources, Sandi Moyo, as the most high-ranking female from the former Zapu in the current Zanu PF hierarchy, tacitly bought the Mnangagwa faction’s proposal since 2015.

The source said she had started to openly entertain ambitions to be vice president —much to the dismay of the first lady and Mphoko.

Mnangagwa’s faction saw it as an opportunity to sow seeds of division in the G40.

Countrywide protests by Women’s League members at Zanu PF offices this past week targeting Sandi Moyo and Mahoka threw Zanu PF into a state of unprecedented flux and intrigue.

But as the dust settled, sources inside the women’s league told The Standard that Grace gave the green light for Sandi Moyo’s ouster after the two women met recently.

Sandi Moyo, it is understood, wanted to discuss the implementation of the women league’s resolution for a female vice President and asked the first lady if she would be interested in the job when the constitution is amended, possibly this year.

“The first lady told Sandi that she was not interested in the position,” a top Zanu PF said.

“But then she threw the question back at Sandi, who responded by indicating that she would be delighted to accept the appointment if offered.

“That set off alarm bells, especially for Grace and Mphoko. Sandi is now paying the price for her indiscretion.”

The decision to stage protests against Sandi was communicated to other members by the women’s league secretary for administration Letina Undenge .

However, Undenge blundered, said one source, that Grace’s allies like Zanu PF political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere and youth league secretary Kudzai Chipanga were kept out of the loop and were caught unawares or notified too late about the demonstrations.

The G40 faction was left in virtual paralysis after the first protests allowed elements of Mnangagwa’s Lacoste faction to hijack the demonstrations and smuggle in their own agenda.

Insiders said the faction tried to use the demonstrations to – settle an old score with Mahoka who has publicly hit out at Mnangagwa and Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba over Zanu PF factionalism.

The charge and placards stating that “Mahoka went further to insult Vice President Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa in public and to challenge the work of the permanent secretary Cde George Charamba” were smuggled in at the eleventh hour by Lacoste operatives, according to one official.

Undenge, is understood, coordinated the poorly staged anti-Sandi protests with State House principal director, Dzepasi Innocent Tizora and Zanu PF activist Jimayi Mduri, both known Mnangagwa sympathisers who roped in other Lacoste runners such as Alifas Mashava in Bulawayo.

A named to Information ministry official handled the media and printed the placards using facilities that normally print messages for national events such as the burial of national heroes.

Zanu PF insiders say Sandi Moyo is unlikely to survive as deputy secretary, but her strong relationship with Mugabe will most likely see her keep her ministerial gig as provincial minister for Bulawayo as well as her seat in the Zanu PF politburo.

The Standard also heard that Mugabe had told the party’s secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo to stop the plot against Sandi Moyo – but the Zanu PF secretary for administration never got to carry out the instruction as he was already on his way to China.

Chombo later made a few calls to communicate Mugabe’s instructions, but was allegedly slapped down by the first lady who told him to “stay out of the women’s league programme”.

“The purging of Sandi Moyo and Mahoka has frayed the consciences of some of the G40 leaders, because they have come far with the duo, but no-one dares question or defy Grace,” the politburo source said.

“So, reluctantly, everyone has jumped on board and it’s hard to see how Sandi Moyo will keep her post as deputy secretary.”

With Kasukuwere and Chipanga now set to take the lead in mobilising against Mahoka and Sandi Moyo, the two embattled officials’ fate could be sealed as early as this week.

Sandi Moyo sits in the politburo, and it is expected that Mugabe will give her a chance to explain how she finds herself in a political cul-de-sac few could have predicted.

She could find herself in new company, with Mnangagwa’s allies springing to her defence.

Already, Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), which has aligned itself with the Mnangagwa faction after its leaders were jettisoned by Zanu PF, has described the moves against Sandi Moyo as “Grace’s shenanigans”.

ZNLWVA secretary-general, Victor Matemadanda said: “Why Sandi? Because she becomes senior and she might challenge on the woman vice president position.

“How can we have a leadership that is so small and myopic, instead of dealing with the economic challenges they fund demonstrations, just to pave way for positions?

“I think if we are really serious about strengthening the party we must all be against Grace’s shenanigans and stop her from this wholesome and mob-expulsion of party members although we all know that these two women affected were her foot soldiers, accomplices and partners in the same crime they are faced with today.”

Matemadanda went on to say “real and genuine supporters of Zanu PF and those who are advocating for Mnangagwa to take over are for party rebranding and not party destruction.” – Standard

 

LOVERS FOUND DEAD NEAR CHURCH: Econet Man and Girlfriend Found Dead

Econet Security Guard Girlfriend Found Dead

Due to the disturbing nature of the images, it is deemed unethical to publish them here

A ZRP cop is seen, gloved all over, while pulling away the female lover’s body from the house.

A ZRP cop is seen, gloved all over, while pulling away the female lover’s body from the house…

Staff Reporter| Local villagers were left in a state of shock on Tuesday morning when an Econet Security guard and his girlfriend were found dead near Gutu Mission.

The two bodies were found in an advanced state of decomposition near an Econet Booster adjacent to the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe (RCZ) and their Gutu Mission.

The bodies were found on the floor, in a room which probably served as their bedroom.

Masvingo Police Spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa confirmed the incident saying he was waiting for further details on the matter.

Police in Gutu were alerted by local villagers and they collected the bodies which were found infested with maggots on Wednesday.

The police said the names would be released after the completion of the investigations on the cause of the mysterious deaths.

“A small boy detected a bad smell from the room and alerted other villagers,” Police in Gutu said.

There is wide speculation on the mysterious incident with some villagers claiming the two were bitten by a snake while other sources say the guard killed his girlfriend and committed suicide.

The villagers also suggested that the two could have been killed by the woman’s husband. ZimEye will avail the details as events unravel.

Mnangagwa Aide Gunned Down

the late Mhiripiri (middle) together with former Minister Hubert Nyanhongo at the December ZANU PF conference. Caric

Top Emmerson Mnangagwa aide, the dreaded Nathaniel Mhiripiri was gunned down, an investigation has concluded.

The leaked details have been “blocked from the ink” in the state media.

Nathaniel Garikayi Mhiripiri was found with a bullet lodged in his head.

The post mortem found was done during the week by a pathologist at Harare Hospital.

Mhiripiri (67) was the Zanu-PF Manicaland provincial secretary for labour and production.

He was found dead at his Abeid Farm, 12km on the outskirts of Rusape, the week before on Tuesday after going missing for three days.

Officer Commanding Police in Rusape District, Chief Superintendent Garikayi Gwangwava, confirmed the post-mortem.

“It is true that the post-mortem was done at Harare Hospital on Tuesday and we have not yet received a full report from the pathologist without which we cannot comment further because we are not specialists,” he said.

Many in ZANU PF say Mhiripiri is a victim of Zanu PF succession wars and he was murdered due to his closeness to Emmerson Mnangagwa since he was openly against the rise of Grace Mugabe taking any leadership post in Zanu PF.

The man’s decomposing body was found adjacent to a stream, a few metres from a dust road leading to his farm house.

Writing on ZimEye, Dr Masimba Mavaza complained on why Mhiripiri was murdered. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

 

WATCH: Caught In The Act!

ZimEye reveals how the Coventry, UK based Patience Murapata was caught in the act taking advantage of cancer victim, Esther Mhuri who is currently hospitalised in Harare. This investigative began after Patience had telephoned ZimEye seeking to as claimed, “clear my name,” and over a 2 hours engagement, exposed herself. THE VIDEO STARTS AT THE 3 MINUTE MARKER. See below the video, Patience Murapata’s pictures.

ICRC Improves Facilities for Mentally Ill Prisoners in Zimbabwe

Sebastian Mhofu | VOA|  BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has started rehabilitating some of the dilapidated Zimbabwe prisons, most built during the colonial era. The first one to be refurbished — Mlondolozi Prison, about 500 kilometers southwest of Harare — houses mentally ill inmates.

Among the improvements, the prison now has better ventilation and natural lighting within patients’ cells, as well as improved water and sanitation facilities, according to Thomas Merkelbach, the head the ICRC in Zimbabwe. In addition, there is more space for rehabilitation activities, and kitchens have been upgraded to improve cooking capacity and energy efficiency.

Inmates are shown at the newly rehabilitated Mlondolozi Prison in Zimbabwe, March 2017. (S. Mhofu/VOA)

The work is being done by Zimbabwe prison artisans and ICRC engineers.

Investing in improvements for mental health patients first was a clear choice, according to Merkelbach.

“Mlondolozi is a special institution,” he said. “In a way, here you have patients that are doubly disadvantaged. On one hand, they are on the wrong side of the law. On top of that, they are mentally ill. In an institution like this, you have to really be able to care for your patients. They are patients, but they are inmates first and foremost. So, it was the obvious choice when the Zimbabwe prisons asked us if we would support this here. We said yes.”

Mlondolozi Prison, built in the late 1970s, is one of many deteriorating facilities for inmates in Zimbabwe. Courts have declared that some of the detention places — including police cells — are not suitable for human habitation. However, inmates continue to live there.

Moses Chihobvu, the deputy head of Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, says Harare wants prison conditions to be improved, if funds permit.

“With the assistance of non-governmental organizations, like what the ICRC has done, we are getting somewhere,” he said.

He added that all prisons built after Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 meet the minimum standards of habitable facilities.

South African Xenophobia Against Ubuntu

For many decades now, it is quite painful and heartbreaking to continuously see a trend of barbaric and banditry behavior spreading across African states. Most recently we have started witnessing a new form of violence mushrooming in South Africa. We should come to this realization that when two brothers fight, strangers reap the rewards. This expression best describes the cancerous xenophobia that has characterized the post Mandela South Africa. The spirit of brotherhood is continuously being eroded because of a few individuals who are planting hatred. We cannot stand aside and look as our pillars of African hope are being demolished.

 

We are The Men of Colour, created with a unique sense of oneness. We all have to understand that it all began at the Berlin Conference 1884-85 when the then European super powers set down and partitioned Africa in what is now infamously being referred to as ‘The Scramble for Africa’. The fact that Slave trade and Colonization disturbed our social values and family bond is no excuse for us to abandon the African value system of Ubuntu. We need to fight the spirit of division and hatred that was injected in us in the era of colonization and slavery.

 

We are well aware that the effects of such events may have shaken our roots but believe you me that we are not uprooted. We cannot forget the importance of sharing resources and it was embedded within our culture to welcome strangers. This fundamental principle of oneness and brotherhood is shrouded in obscurity awaiting the day of redemption and we are the ones to free ourselves.

 

The Maat-Zimbabwe party would like to put it on record that it abhors the despicable past and recent xenophobia attacks in South Africa. We are in a state of wonderment as to whether there are among you who are still thirsty for the shedding of innocent blood? Are some of you our brothers and sisters still victims of cowardice behavior whereby the perpetrator hates his own failures but seeks to kill followers of his own practice in order to find solace in his failures? We cannot repair our own images and failures by killing those who are seeking to find refuge. The Maat-Zimbabwe party therefore calls upon the regional block SADC to facilitate a dialogue between South Africa and the affected countries. African Union should make its voice clear and should send a strong message condemning such behavioral trends. It should be understood that South Africa was born out of many African nations’sacrifices and contributions. We should face the real problems as Africans, if bad governance is Africa’s biggest challenge then should we not focus on repairing issues of governance rather than of killing our fellow brothers and sisters who are seeking shelter? Are we not brothers and sisters from the same Tree?

 

Don’t we belong to the same tree? Should the issue of having branches limit our scope of thinking? Our beloved South African brothers and Sisters who has misled you to the point of abandoning your own blood? Where are you the pioneers of freedom and Pan Africanism who sacrificed their lives for the good of this continent? Did Lumumba, Samora Machel, J.Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, Kenneth Kaunda, Jomo Kenyata etc regard geographic boundaries to be of more importance than the freedom of the people of this Continent? The President of Maat-Zimbabwe Party Mr Neferkare Nembaware strongly condemns the barbaric behavior being demonstrated by some South Africans and he vowed to restore the Maat Africanism voice back to the Continent. This is voice that will reunite Africans and redefine and restore their original identity.

 

The Maat Africanism voice speaks to you all who are covered by the dark cloud of brotherhood hatred. We say no to Xenophobia attacks in South Africa together with the resultant hatred and bloodshed. The time is now to elect leaders not on political affiliation or tribal grounds. A new breed of leaders who uphold justice, equality and love for fellow brothers and sisters. It is time for you South Africans to help those nations under brutal rule to find their freedom.

 

Maat-Zimbabwe President Mr Neferkare Nembaware This is the voice of Maat Zimbabwe Party, the voice that will bring an invigorating alter of freedom and equality. The Maat Zimbabwe party preparing an exit way for both Zimbabweans and Africans to find economic freedom and social freedom. Stop fighting and reunite. Africa is being reborn and this continent shall once again become the centre of the world’s economic activity. Let’s be reminded of this statement that ‘If we lack sensitivity in as far as our social values are concerned then we will remain barbaric’.

Publication Released and Authorised by Maat Zimbabwe Party Documented by Pepukai Begede (Secretary for Information and Publicity). [email protected], Facebook page ~ Maat Zimbabwe, Whatsapp +263772689947, +263783740377

Moment Of Truth : Chad Dictator Convicted Of Crimes Against Humanity

On May 30, 2016 an ad hoc tribunal in Dakar found the former Chadian head of state Hissène Habré guilty of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture. Part domestic, part international, the hybrid Chambres Africaines Extraordinaires sentenced him to life in prison.

Habré’s trial was a momentous event. It represented the culmination of 20 years of struggle by his victims and rewarded the efforts of human rights proponents who had long sought to have the former president tried for atrocities committed during his 1982 – 1990 reign.

The former president had successfully eluded many attempts to bring him to justice before the eventual creation of the extraordinary trial chamber.

The preliminary question of exercising jurisdiction over him was heard by courts in Senegal, Chad and Belgium as well as the transnational courts of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), African Court of Human and Peoples Rights and the International Court of Justice.

The trial and its outcome represented a significant political and legal achievement, not just for African jurisprudence. It stands for the universality of international humanitarian law and challenges sovereign impunity.

The trial also moves Africa from object to subject. African jurists interpreting international criminal law added to the growing body of global jurisprudence. In doing so, the Habré trial offers a compromise to the growing dissonance between the African Union and proponents of international criminal justice. It’s a compromise that perhaps suggests a path for future institutional and ideological growth.

The trial’s successes

One of the biggest milestones established by the trial is the fact that it was such a collaborative endeavour. It was the product of cooperation between Chad and Senegal, and a treaty between Senegal and the African Union.

Both Senegalese procedure and international criminal law were applied. The fact that the trial chamber convicted a former head of state in the African theatre is also highly significant given that sovereign immunity almost always resists challenges.

Other significant successes included the fact that the trial ran smoothly and in many ways set a standard for potential future international criminal justice institutions in Africa. There were no significant delays and no witnesses dead or disappeared, a not insignificant accomplishment.

It was also cost-effective. The operating budget was a modest 8.6 million euros, equivalent to about $9.2 million. This covered the entire cost of the trial, from investigation through appeals over four years. By comparison, the International Criminal Court’s annual budget in 2015 was $130 million.

Just as important was the fact that the trial avoided the endemic “hijacking” so often seen in international justice where parties press their interests in ways that obstruct institutional process. This was achieved in a variety of ways:

  • when Habré’s defence refused to enter the courtroom for trial, the trial chamber appointed defence lawyers. And when Habré continued to physically resist appearing in court, the trial chambers ordered the courtroom emptied every morning. This ensured that the violence of physically restraining the defendant would not become the story,
  • the prosecutors moved ahead with the case even when Chad’s promised cooperation transformed into resistance,
  • investigating judges curtailed the scope of their investigations even though Habré did not act alone, and
  • when the written judgment was not finalised on the appointed date, the trial chamber improvised and read a “summary” aloud.Habré’s appeal was heard in January and the final judgment is expected on April 27, 2017.

    Some short comings

    Despite all its successes, the initial satisfaction of the tidy operation of the Habré trial is not beyond reproach. Elements of the judgment point to some of the procedural discrepancies which marred the process. These are arguably the product of its hybrid legal construction.

    Habré was found guilty of both direct and indirect commissions of war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture. For indirect guilt, the chamber applied international criminal law jurisprudence that permits guilt to be assigned where a defendant can “foresee” criminal violations arising from his acts.

    This loose and permissive standard taken from International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia jurisprudence has been widely criticised by commentators. The approach is under review in the ongoing Yugoslav tribunal judgments and has been formally declined by the International Criminal Court.

    The trial chamber also applied more recognisable criminal standards. This it did by simultaneously finding that Habré had personally committed acts falling in each legal category where it found indirect responsibility. This included Habré’s conviction for rape. This was based on the surprise testimony of a witness who said Habré had raped her four times. The charge emerged for the first time during the oral trial proceedings but came to dominate the trial chamber judgment and its reception.

    Thus international human rights advocates herald the judgment for its progressive advancement of a jurisprudence addressing sexual violence. But work-a-day procedural questions abound about the rights of the defence in relation to these charges. The questions include the specificity required in, and permissibility of alterations to, criminal indictments, as well as standards of evidence.

    Moment of truth for Habré

    What should observers look for in the final verdict?

    For the 72-year-old Hisséne Habré, there’s possibly little distinction between a life sentence and other imagined sentences. International sentencing is notoriously inconsistent and irregular. While life sentences have proved rare, sentences of a decade or more are common, and probably equal the same thing for the ageing ex-president.

    Yet life sentences are perceived as violating human rights in many jurisdictions. Moreover, officials in Senegal have mentioned the possibility of a pardon, and the current president has issued pardons in other high-profile political cases in Senegal.

    Following its finding of guilt, the trial chamber also ruled that Habré must pay $90 million in compensation to Chadian victims. At present, however, the total of Habré’s assets seized in Senegal amount to less than $1 million.

    The judgment thus risks adding to the paper fortune that Chadian victims are owed by their own government. And while international NGOs are pressing the African Union to assist in growing a compensation fund or victims, there’s still no resolution.

    The impending appeals judgment will finalise the process against Habré in juridical terms. There will certainly be implications for the significance of the hybrid trial in relation to respect for core human rights, rule of law and challenges to sovereign immunity in Africa.

    But many other issues, from victims’ compensation through to the final dispensation of Habré himself, will remain open. – theconversation.com

SUCCESSION WAR: Mugabe Mobilises Youths

As the Zanu PF succession war intensifies President Robert Mugabe will mobilise Zanu PF party youths from the 10 provinces. Mugabe’s wife Grace launched her own parallel process weeks ago where she is meeting the women’s wing structures of the party.

The state media reports that Mugabe will this year host youth meetings in all the country’s 10 provinces, interacting freely with young people and addressing their concerns.

The meetings were proposed by the Zanu-PF Youth League and subsequently endorsed when the Politburo met in March 2017.

Youth League leaders will this week start laying the groundwork in Mashonaland East, Manicaland and Masvingo, the organ’s secretary, Kudzanayi Chipanga, told The Sunday Mail.

Chipanga said the meetings were a follow-up to the 2016 One Million Man Match which saw hundreds of thousands of youths reaffirm their loyalty to Zanu-PF and President Mugabe in a major show of the party’s mass mobilisation might.

Chipanga said, “We are going to have Presidential Youth Meetings whereby His Excellency, President Mugabe, will tour all provinces and meet youths. I apprised the last Politburo meeting on the matter, and there were no objections. These meetings are the brainchild of the Zanu-PF Youth League National Executive.

“In reaffirming the 2014 Congress resolutions, which say there should be one centre of power in the party, the President, we are compelled, as the Youth League, to have direct access to the President. The Youth League has facilitated direct interaction between the President and the youth.

“This is because we want the President to get first-hand information regarding youth affairs and also for the Youth League to get first-hand information from him. All this will ensure we know what to do and President Mugabe will also know our concerns and grievances.”

Chipanga continued: “We also took note of the fact that not every young person who wanted to participate in the One Million Man March made it to Harare, hence, we had to dispatch teams to the respective provinces to give them feedback.

“So, this year, we are not going to call our youths to Harare, but, instead, call on the President and First Secretary of the party to address them in their respective provinces. The programme will be phased; starting with the national youth political commissar, Innocent Hamandishe, visiting the provinces to sensitise our youth leaders on the visits.

“This will be followed by inter-district meetings which I will address. Then we will invite the President for the main programme. Our plan is to conduct this programme mid-year. We held the One Million Man March on May 25, so this programme should be around the same time.” – State Media

Sex Workers Find New Tricks

Imagine that you are going about your business at the Fife Avenue Shopping Centre and a skimpily dressed lady who you have never met before walks up to you and starts demanding payment for sexual services “rendered”.

With the natural reaction being confusion on your part, the lady who obviously appears to be a hooker, threatens to make a scene if you don’t give her a dollar.

In most cases you are forced to pay up to avoid the embarrassment, otherwise, good luck trying to prove your innocence and going toe-to-toe in an augment with a cold-hearted lady of the night.

Such is the harassment that unsuspecting men are now being subjected to in the notorious Avenues area where there has been a tremendous rise in prostitution activities since the Constitutional Court outlawed the arrest of women on charges of loitering or soliciting for sex.

While the issue of commercial sex workers who extort money from their clients has become a trend, these women seem to be stepping up their game as they are now targeting innocent men who happen to pass through their radar.

A targeted individual is approached with random accusations and is told to pay up a certain amount or endure the dramatic chaos that is bound to follow. In some instances these ladies hunt in packs so that if the victim tries to react, they gang up on him and cause even more drama.

As a journalist, I have encountered several individuals who have fallen victim to these pocket predators but I did not for a second think one day I would be a victim.

I was on my way home coming from the gym last Monday when I decided to pass through OK Fife Avenue to grab a couple of things. Had I been a prophet, I would have headed straight home. Little did I know that I would encounter one of the most embarrassing episodes of my life on this day.

As I was pushing my trolley heading for the tills, three girls who looked to be barely 18 approached and one of them greeted me as if we had met before.

While I was still trying to figure out what these girls wanted, the one who had greeted me started accusing me of running away without paying for the sexual services she had rendered to me in my car near Parirenyatwa some time ago. Mind you, I don’t even drive.

I was shocked because I had never seen any of these girls before and when I tried to explain that she was mistaking me for someone else, she blocked my path and highlighted that she was about to raise her voice and cause a scene if I continued denying any knowledge of what she was saying.

As I was still trying to come to grips with what was happening, the girl then demanded that I give her a dollar if I did not want to suffer any embarrassment.

At first I thought that it was a mere joke but then I realised that these people were serious and since I did not want to draw any attention I complied and told them that I would give them the dollar but only after I had paid for my groceries because I didn’t have loose (excuse the pun) money.

They agreed and all this while I was thinking that I could take the matter to the security guard but it dawned on me that if these characters were to cause a scene, the guard would just tell us to take it outside and I would even suffer more embarrassment so I decided to just pay, it was a dollar anyway.

One of the girls even asked if she could add a bottle of water on my tab and when I tried to ignore her, the one who was making accusations and seemed to be the gang leader insisted that I comply.

I was now regaining a bit of composure and my frustration was reaching boiling point and despite the fact that I could have easily overpowered the three of them in a physical confrontation, taking that route would have simply made things worse.

I even tried to call one of my cousins who stays nearby hoping that he would come and help me deal with the situation but apparently his phone was not reachable. At this point, one of the girls panicked but the group leader highlighted that even if I called someone she did not care, all she wanted was the dollar I was about to give her.

Although I tried to make as little conversation as possible this girl continued reiterating that she was not mistaken and that it was me she had hooked up with and this caused some of the people who were nearby to start staring.

While we were standing in the queue by the till, a journalist from a local newspaper who I happen to know walked in and I went to talk to him. As I narrated my ordeal, he advised me to show him my tormentors but when I turned around they had vanished.

Apparently they had recognised him as it turned out they realised that they might just end up in the newspaper which is why they decided to bolt.

If it was not for him I would have given them the money they were demanding not because I know them but in order to avoid causing a scene and to protect my reputation.

The following day, I paid the manager of the shop to inform him about my debacle and after reviewing CCTV footage from the previous day he told me that they would now be on the lookout for suspicious activity of that nature and would engage the police if such a situation arose.

During conversations with some of the people who do their business in this area including cab drivers and vendors, it emerged that this was the new con in town and it now seems like no-one is safe from these desperate commercial sex workers.

A cab driver (name withheld) plying his trade at Fife Avenue Shopping Centre said they were witnessing these scenes every now and then.

“This particular area has become a hunting ground for commercial sex workers who extort money from innocent citizens,” he said.

“A hooker will just walk up to you and say you owe her money from a previous encounter or whatever accusation she chooses and when you try to explain that you don’t know what she is talking about she will raise her voice and then tell you to give her a dollar or two if you don’t want further embarrassment.

“It is difficult for people to intervene because you can’t tell if the accusations are true or not so most of the time people will just watch on as the drama unfolds but usually people pay up because a dollar is not worth the embarrassment.”

Others claimed that some of the women walk around with male colleagues who are quick to jump into the confusing altercations pretending to make peace while they search and steal from the victim.

With competition rife in this prostitution haven, commercial sex workers are coming up with new and atrocious ways of making a quick buck. – State Media

Pastor Chiriseri’s Wife In Shock Over Corpse Thieves Deaths, Dispels Avenging Spirits Talk

THE widow of Apostle Charles Chiriseri, Pastor Petunia is in shock following successive deaths of three men accused of looting goods and cash at the accident scene.

A close relative speaking on condition of anonymity said Pastor Petunia has since dismissed claims that Apostle Chiriseri’s spirit was exacting vengeance on the accused.

“She believes God came to give life and life in abundance as in John 10 and not to bring death. So she does not even believe in praying for people to die, prophesying or even declaring that they should die. To her it is just evil, horrible.

“As a family grounded in that word people are in shock but what God says is what He will do. He is the one who said vengeance is mine,” the source said.

According to the relative, US$200, three brand new cell phones and a laptop were stolen at the scene of the accident.

In addition the source said the phone allegedly stolen by the late bus conductor had been traced after it had been given to a relative as an inheritance at the deceased’s funeral wake.

“I heard that a police officer told Pr Petunia that they traced the phone to a given address but the address had been non-existent. But the second time it is said the phone had been traced to the wife of the older brother of the deceased who had received it as inheritance during the funeral wake.

“When she was being asked who was to be contacted she said there were three cellphones in the car. But the people at the scene kept saying they had searched everywhere and found nothing after going back twice. That is when she realised that the phones had been stolen those first 30 minutes when the Kurai Bus passed by,” the source revealed.

The source highlighted that in family conversations, Pst Petunia had revealed that she was on WhatsApp when the accident happened and when assistance was rendered about 30 minutes after the accident she was conscious of what was happening.

He died on admission at United Bulawayo Hospitals on the same day. Another suspect, a Kurai Bus Service Conductor, Forget Chikweya who allegedly stole a Samsung S6 died on November 9 while Honest Hleza, a fire-fighter with Bulawayo Fire Brigade who allegedly stole a laptop died in December last year.

This is the same spot where Mkhokheli Mpofu, a police officer who was set to appear in court on March 28 for allegedly stealing $200 from Apostle Chiriseri’s corpse was recently hit by a car while manning a roadblock a fortnight ago.

“They stole a brand new Samsung which Pst Petunia was still paying for on contract, a new iPhone which Apostle had bought for himself from America and another old iPhone which was giving him problems and a brand new laptop,” the relative said.

“They stole a brand new Samsung which Pst Petunia was still paying for on contract, a new iPhone which Apostle had bought for himself from America and another old iPhone which was giving him problems and a brand new laptop,” the relative said.

“He in turn had given it to his wife who the moment she placed her sim card was tracked and confessed to the police how she got it. That’s when the police found out that the deceased was a bus conductor with Kurai Bus Service.

“God being God just wants to clean up this nation because obviously these things have been happening for a long time. And I believe it takes a true man of God to bring exposure to the truth. But as a family no one is wishing death on anyone. We actually pray for the families of those who died,” the source said.

HPMI spokesperson, Pastor Davison Svuure said Apostle Chiriseri had nothing to do with the deaths of the accused.

“We believe vengeance is God’s as scriptures say in Deuteronomy 32:35 that, ‘Beloved never avenge yourselves but leave the way open for God’s wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay (requite) says the Lord’.

“It is God alone who decides what He wants to do with issues. He is God by Himself. Whether the suspects were guilty of theft or not, only God knows. From a biblical point of view we believe that at death, the spirit and the body separate.

The body goes to the soil where it came from and the spirit of those that died in righteousness goes to a special place where our Lord God preserves them until the day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

We believe our Apostle is in that place. It is important to note that according to Ecclesiastes 9:5-10 particularly verse 6.

“This speaks to the fact that the late Apostle Charles Chiriseri could by no means have had anything to do with what befell the now also late police officers,” Pst Svuure said.

However Pst Svuure said the Word of God had become flesh accomplishing what it was sent to fulfil.

“Here we see our faithful God’s promise that He will contend with those who contend with His loved ones (Isaiah 55:10-11; 49:25). He also says touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm”.

“In Zachariah 2:8, God further says, ‘He that touches you, touches the apple of my eye’. That said we need to make it clear that as a church we do not share in rejoicing that the alleged offenders have died. We go by Proverbs 24:17-18. We instead pray for their families and loved ones.

“We also say, those that are guilty are free to repent and make things right with God. He is merciful and forgiving. – State Media

Drama As South African Nurse Is Busted With Illegal Drugs At Harare Airport

A nurse at Fishock Home Nursing Services located in Cape Town South Africa was nabbed at the Harare International Airport while attempting to smuggle 12 kilograms of a drug believed to be used to neutralise cocaine. Leontiana Sims was arrested and taken to the Harare magistrates’ court after she was found with 12kgs of Ephedrine worth US$36 000.

 The 31-year-old nurse admitted to the charges when she appeared before magistrate Lazini Ncube, who slapped her with an effective six months jail-term.

Prosecutor Francesca Mukumbiri had it that on March 18 this year at around 5pm detectives from CID Drugs and Narcotics received a tip off that from ZIMRA officials that there was a woman, who was coming from India with suspicious luggage.

Detectives intercepted Sims, made a search and found 12 sachets that were stashed in a T-Shirt.

The detectives took the 12 sachets for testing and results showed that it was Ephedrine.

Sims was then arrested for contravening sections of the Medicines and Allied Substances Control (general) Regulations since she had no license authorising her to carry such drug.

Magistrate Ncube ordered that the Ephedrine be forfeited to the State. – State Media

Pope, Kagame Bury The Hatchet

The meeting between Pope Francis and Rwandan President Paul Kagame last week, in which the Pope acknowledged the church’s failures in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, has ended more than two decades of disagreement.

 Pope Francis, the global head of the Roman Catholic Church, invited President Kagame to the Vatican for the meeting held on March 20, during which the pontiff admitted the church’s shortcomings during the genocide.

At the meeting, Pope Francis made statements that amounted to an apology — which Kigali had been demanding for 22 years — about the documented involvement of the Roman Catholic Church clergy and believers in massacres that took place in churches across the country.

 “The Pope conveyed his profound sadness, and that of the Holy See and of the Church, for the Genocide against the Tutsi,” a statement released by the Vatican said.

“He expressed his solidarity with the victims and with those who continue to suffer the consequences of those tragic events and, evoking the gesture of Pope St John Paul II during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, he implored anew God’s forgiveness for the sins and failings of the Church and its members, among whom are priests, and religious men and women who succumbed to hatred and violence, betraying their own evangelical mission,” the statement added.

 The Pope’s apology followed an earlier one by the Roman Catholic Church in Rwanda in November 2016, which the government rejected and termed “inadequate.”

The meeting at the Vatican seems to have buried the hatchet between the Rwandan government and the Roman Catholic Church, which escalated at the end of 2016 when President Kagame questioned why the Pope had not apologised for the thousands killed inside churches.

 “Being able to acknowledge/apologise for wrongs in circumstance/cases like this is an act of courage and moral high standing typical @Pontifex,” he tweeted.

“We will all be better for it,” he added.

 An earlier statement released by Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo indicated that the Vatican and Rwanda had come close to resolving the long-standing matter.

Ms Mushikiwabo said the meeting last week was indicative of a positive step towards the church and the Rwandan government mending fences.

“Today, genocide denial and trivialisation continue to flourish in certain groups within the Church, and genocide suspects have been shielded from justice within Catholic institutions,” the government statement read.

 Kigali has also been pushing the Roman Catholic church to strip and excommunicate clergy found guilty of abetting killings, but the church says priests can only be discharged from service but they still retain their titles.

At least 41 per cent of Rwanda’s population follows the Roman Catholic faith.

 Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu, the head of the genocide survivor’s umbrella association Ibuka, said that Pope Francis’s acknowledgement of the Church’s failures in the Rwandan genocide marks an important historic milestone and will heal many hearts.

“Pope Francis has proved to be an icon of peace and reconciliation. Unlike his two predecessors, he understands the importance of the church accepting responsibility in the genocide. The next step now is to focus on fighting genocide denial and cleaning up the image of the church,” said Mr Dusingizemungu. –  East African

Zimbos Vote For A ‘Corpse’, As Botswana’s Khama Steps Down

Botswana’s President Ian Khama will step down next year, the media reported.

 The Southern Times newspaper Monday said President Khama, who also leads the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), will be replaced by his deputy President Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Seretse Khama Ian Khama – the son of Sir Seretse Khama, Botswana’s first post-independence leader – took over as president in April 2008.

 He was the chosen successor of Festus Mogae, who stepped down at the end of his second term, after a decade at the helm.

 The younger Khama secured a five-year term in October 2009 after BDP swept to victory in a parliamentary election.

He secured a second term following the August 2014 polls, in which his party won the most seats.

 He had became the Botswana vice-president in 1998.

The forthcoming transfer of power will take place during the BDP congress, the Southern Times newspaper reported.

BDP has governed the country since independence in 1966.

Two senior BDP officials, former ambassador to Japan Jacob Nkate and Infrastructure minister Nonofo Molefhi, have also reportedly shown interest in the party’s top seat.

 According to the the Southern Times, the tradition of the BDP was that the vice-president should automatically succeed the outgoing president.

According to the Southern Times, Mr Masisi, currently the BDP chairperson, had an advantage over his opponents because he was in control of the party structures.

 BDP Secretary General, Botsalo Ntuane was quoted as saying his party’s constitution permits any member in good standing to contest for any vacant position.

According to local media, President Khama prefers his younger brother Tshekedi Khama becoming president, claims the ruling party has already denied.

 Botswana is one of the Africa’s most stable countries and the continent’s longest continuous multi-party democracy.

 The southern African nation was relatively free of corruption and has a good human rights record.

Whereas critics describe President Khama as an authoritarian leader, his supporters say he was decisive and efficient.

His no-nonsense approach has made him popular abroad as he has broken ranks with regional leaders’ timid approach to the democratic abuses by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.

President Khama was born in the UK while his father was in exile.

He is a graduate of Sandhurst college in Britain and was the commander of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF). – East African

Shot In The Head, Mhiripiri Victim Of Ugly And Nasty Zanu PF Factionalism

Masimba Mavaza VAZETBY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA|We now know the price of infighting in ZANU PF is the depleted national economy and a battered nation. That’s the cost of restarting the government after the years of party infighting. We cannot lie that the public and twitter spat are just a stunt. They are surely destructive and totally inhuman.

Business leaders had plenty of lessons for politicians. But there is also a lesson in the shutdown for business: Infighting is expensive, time consuming and helps no one. Individuals will spend time trying to consolidate their positions and completely ignore their duty to the nation and government.

ZANU PF is a ruling party and the ruling gurus have abandoned their ruling mandate to engage in a fight for their factions and factional positions. No amount of denying will eradicate the ugly face of factionalism.

Last week I lost a dear comrade to factionalism. He was shot in the head and found three days later dead decomposing in his farm. Cde Nathaniel Garikai Mhiripiri. Mhizha. Mudhara Dhumukwa. He lost his life to factionalism having survived bazookas in the war only to be shot by a pistol.

ZANU PF IS SPENDING more time fighting with each other than thinking about how we are going to handle the opposition in the next few months. The whole time and through out the day we filtered decisions by our internal rivals through a political lens. Did the actions they are embarking on help or hurt us? Is the party now in a self destruction mode? Are we sending our enemies a signal by choosing to spend time in a particular place or to build a certain negative relationship? Should we retaliate by slowing the process of campaign down or building our own competing system?

We are keeping secrets about each other and so did our colleagues and every day was a battle for inches—only in this case, the inches we were taking were from each other rather than from our competitors. It is now tiring and, in the end, worthless. Great ideas never saw the light of day, others that did launch didn’t get the support they needed. And while we fought with each other, other parties came up with new ways to engage with the electorate stealing our future little by little. ZANU PF can no longer rely on the previous history we should face the reality and smell the coffee.

Of course, no political space is immune to infighting. The best parties hire the best people — and with those big brains they also inherit big egos, senses of entitlement, bad lessons from previous elections etc. And some parties instead of fighting the infighting — decide they’re going to champion it, figuring ways of winning and ways of improving our economy.

ZANU PF in its heyday, senior leaders would develop their own ideas and ignore rumours. They were not proud of their warring tribes culture. And, for a long time it worked. And then it all changed. The party is at war with each other.

In recent years, national leaders had almost total control of their operations, which meant they could compete or simply refuse to cooperate with other leaders. That culture worked well to destroy unity and create factions.

Now internal fiefdoms left divisions badly out of step. The other provinces and party organs wouldn’t make chips other organs wanted to use. The party becomes a one man band and people are busy fighting for their lives and not for the lives of the masses.
While they were fighting, a host of new political parties came to steal our electorate. We have leaders insulting each other in public. Leaders attacking policies in public and sabotaging party plans. The victim is the party.

Senior leaders fight each other to get their people promoted. Infighting and politicking is the only way to get ahead, Only a limited number of promotions are handed out every year, so if you get bumped up, someone else’s favorite subordinate might have to stand still. Anyone in the room can sink a promotion. Is this the party which we stand for. The party is now infested with new comers who are there to oil their dirty pockets.

When comrades are on the way up, friendly fire isn’t a particularly bad problem. If everything is growing, every division can still claim victory. So you lose a few battles, your budget still ticks up.the party gains. But this uncultured unprecedented behaviour of pulling each other down is destroying the party.

But when progress slows or stalls, the internal fights go from dust-ups to Thunderdomes.
That’s why the time to fix a broken culture is during times of growth.

What can senior leaders to do to keep infighting from turning toxic? In this case discipline has to be installed. Setting clear roadmaps and explaining changes can help. Perhaps even more importantly is to do whatever’s necessary to destroy silos, to make sure people don’t “see their job as their job,” If a leader feels like his fate hangs on the success of his particular project, of course he will view an internal fight as the most important battle to wage. But if a leader thinks he’s working to make the party and country thrive, no one particular project sink him.

It’s a lesson that might be too late for the party but not for most cadres.

Infighting is toxic and totally embarrassing. If a member errs it is wise to follow the constitution not to demonstrate. Why strip each other naked in public?
The party is doing itself a disservice. Trying to show individual muscle
only proves a level of stupidity and not strength.

If action is not taken urgently we will only have ourselves to blame.

[email protected]

HOPE DASHED: Manyuchi Knocked Out In First Round

Zimbabwean boxer Charles Manyuchi today (Saturday) surrendered his WBC Silver Welterweight title after losing to Qudratillo Abduqaxarov of Uzbekistan.

Manyuchi’s defeat came via a knockout in the first round, marking the end of his status as the WBC Silver Welterweight title holder.

The top Zimbabwean boxer had put the country on the world map after overcoming Dmitry Mikhaylenko but today’s defeat saw Manyuchi surrender the WBC Silver title.

The loss in Singapore puts a dent to Manyuchi’s hopes of challenging for the WBC Gold title.

Amir Khan currently holds the WBC Gold and Manyuchi had been looking to enhance his chances at having a shot at the top crown by defending his title.

It however did not go according to plan for Manyuchi who was knocked out in the first round on Saturday (today) to lose his WBC Silver Welterweight title. – State Media

Caps United Beat Highlanders to Clinch 2017 ZNA Charities Shield

CAPS United clinched the ZNA Charities Shield after beating Highlanders 3-2 on penalties at Barbourfields Stadium.

 CAPS United won $12 000 for clinching the cup while Highlanders collected $8000 as the runners ups.

The match had finished goalless after regular time leading to a penalty shoot0ut. Cabby Kampha ,Justice Jangano and Ronald Pfumbidzai converted their spot kicsk for CAPS United while Highlanders scored through Simon Munawa and Adrain Silla.

Tendai Nguluble Brian Banda and Rodreck Mutuma all missed for Bosso to hand CAPS United another piece of silverware. – Soccer24

 

Mugabe Nephew Says, Green Bombers Here To Stay

Minister of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment; Patrick Zhuwao says Green Bombers are here to stay.

“Everyone should be reminded that the National Youth Service is provided for in Section 20 of the constitution meaning it is going nowhere.

“We are actually putting resources to have all six NYS training centres reopened. The revamping of the service will not stop. In 2014, we churned out 109 graduates, in 2015 we had 320, in 2016; 320 graduated and this year, we are looking forward to have 1 260 graduates,” Zhuwao said.

He challenged Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) director and prominent rights activist, Jestina Mukoko – who is intensely opposed to the programme – to visit his offices for clarifications.

“I know it was something said by the ZPP so I want to understand what their concerns are and I want to explain to them what the national youth service is about. This also goes to anyone else who wants to understand the acceptability of any particular programme.

“Concerned people should also visit NYS camps and see what happens there because zvekutaura kwausina kuswera hazvibatsire and for me to engage someone I don’t know ndanzwa nemapepa kuti kitsiyatota ati chakati hazvibatsiri. Kitsiyatota ngaauye titaurirane,” Zhuwawo added.

The National Youth Service was launched in 2000 by the late Zanu PF national commissar; Border Gezi with the first camp established at Mt Darwin. tellzim

 

WATCH : Pastor Mugadza Caught Fishing

Shyleen Mtandwa | Controversial Pastor Patrick Mugadza continues to poke fun at government’s incompetence. This time he has been caught fishing.  Watch below;

https://youtu.be/VjLi9pjq9BI?t=10

 

 

Mujuru Dithers On Tsvangirai Endorsement

Some small opposition parties, including former Vice President Joice Mujuru’s National People’s Party (NPP), are not yet ready to endorse MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai as the leader of the country’s mooted opposition alliance ahead of next year’s much-anticipated national elections.

This comes as Tsvangirai has in recent weeks received ringing endorsements from a large cross-section of the opposition to lead the proposed coalition against President Robert Mugabe and his warring ruling Zanu PF.

The NPP said this week that it had “deferred” the question of who should lead the planned coalition to party supporters, in a move which analysts say is “another miscalculation” by the fledgling new kid on the political block.

“The sentiment that progressive forces should form a grand coalition is not in dispute, but the practical way of coming up with it has to be done by the party membership at the national convention.

“You are aware that we do not have a substantive leadership and what we are doing now is seeking to come up with that because time is running out.

“We must first have a team that can negotiate,” Mujuru’s spokesperson, Gift Nyandoro, told the Daily News on Thursday.

“As the NPP, we are going to our convention to choose legitimate leadership . . . This will also inform us on how we are going to approach the coalition.

“Thus, the question of who would lead the coalition is a matter that will be resolved by the party membership.

“But we definitely want a grand coalition to unseat Zanu PF but that should be done in a proper way,” Nyandoro added.

This also comes as Mujuru’s absence at the National Electoral Reform Agenda’s (Nera’s) rally in Harare on Wednesday — where opposition parties demonstrated against the government’s hijacking of the country’s quests to procure biometric voter registration (BVR) kits — raised eyebrows.

Because of this and other developments of the past few weeks, question marks are increasingly being raised about her role in the proposed coalition, particularly as she has also had a nasty public fallout with Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) elders Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa who are playing a leading role in Nera.

Recently, Mutasa cast doubts about Mujuru’s capacity to lead the mooted opposition coalition, while praising Tsvangirai profusely and noting that the popular opposition leader had persevered against all odds in his push for a more democratic Zimbabwe.

“For me, Tsvangirai is the natural leader of the coalition because of who he is . . . What the National Electoral Reform Agenda is today stands for what Tsvangirai and the MDC built. The rest of us are latecomers in this game,” Mutasa told the Daily News last week.

“As a party, we cannot accept a situation where Mujuru leads the coalition having proved her lack of capacity with ZPF, although she is welcome to be part of the coalition because we need everyone,” he added.

Other small, lesser-known parties, especially some of those operating within the Coalition for Democrats (Code), also appear to be against Tsvangirai leading the mooted coalition.

But Code chairperson Farai Mbira has said that the group is making strides to engage those political parties that are outside their membership to deliberate on the mooted coalition.

“We have not settled on the presidential candidate but will do so when we have completed our engagements with all partners and potentials.

“Settling on a presidential candidate is not going to be difficult as each leader in Code has accepted that someone else could be chosen and none has given any conditionality,” Mbira said.

However, there have been growing calls in recent weeks from a large cross section of Zimbabweans, including opposition ranks, students and civic society for Tsvangirai to lead the grand coalition.

Apart from Mutasa, former Finance minister and leader of Mavambo/Kusile Dawn, Simba Makoni, has also thrown his weight behind the dogged former labour union leader.

“I am on record saying we need everyone, and in the case of Tsvangirai, we all know the value that he adds, having been in the opposition trenches this long.

“He is a respected leader with popularity and I only hope that other leaders in Code realise that and will also want to have him,” Makoni told the Daily News last week. Daily News

Masiyiwa, Germany’s Merkel Named Among World’s Greatest Leaders

Strive Masiyiwa, the founder of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and its related companies in Africa (together forming one of the biggest telecoms group on the continent) has been named the 33rd greatest leader in the world in 2017 by Fortune Magazine.

Below is what Fortune Magazine says of Masiyiwa;

Few people have shaped modern Africa as much as Masiyiwa, whose telecommunications firm, Econet, came into being in 1998 after a long legal battle with the Zimbabwe government. His victory busted up a state monopoly and helped spur the development of private telecoms across the continent. Masiyiwa has since relocated to London, but his energetic and well-rounded philanthropy still makes an impact in Africa; he chairs numerous boards and has been lauded for supporting orphans, funding scholarships, and fighting hunger, poverty, and Ebola.

“Strive Masiyiwa’s life and his business story is impressive, but it is his lifelong commitment to helping others that set him apart…He is a crusader who has transformed countless sectors and lives while also seeking to preserve Africa’s vital resources through his own sustainable investments and environmental policy leadership…I am inspired by his vision, his persistence, and his fearless spirit.” —Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Geographic Society

 

 

Mangoma Refuses To Endorse Tsvangirai

Shyleen Mtandwa | The Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe (RDZ) President Elton Steers Mangoma will not endorse MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as leader of the grand coalition.

Mangoma’s spokesman Pishayi Muchauraya, responded on social media to perceptions that his party had together with other opposition parties endorsed Tsvangirai to lead the opposition’s grand coalition which will challenge President Robert Mugabe in 2018.

Said Mucharauraya, “I wish to clear the air on one of your posts this Sabbath in which you suggested that the RDZ President Elton Steers Mangoma has endorsed someone (Tsvangirai) for President. That information is false and misleading.”

He went further to write, “The fact of the matter is that it is RDZ which has endorsed Elton Steers Mangoma as its sole candidate to seek selection in leading the grand coalition if the need arises.”

In the event that there is an open contest to lead the coalition, Mangoma will challenge Tsvangirai.

 

 

President Grace Mugabe 

The Paradox

By Darlington Nyambiya

Friday 24 March 2017

As Zimbabwe’s Opposition continues to be in disarray and President Mugabe is gradually forced out of power by old age, it looks more likely that Mugabe’s successor will emerge from the Zanu PF succession matrix. Although Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is the front runner in the race to succeed President Mugabe, it is only prudent and wise to take an in-depth look at his closest rival, Grace Mugabe. Grace is the head of Zanu PF Women’s league and the leader of a Zanu PF faction popularly known as G40 which is opposed to Mnangagwa’s Lacoste faction.

Zimbabwe’s influential First Lady, Grace Mugabe has in the past claimed that every Zimbabwean has a right to be president if they are interested and that includes herself so people must not criticise her if she decides to run for the presidency. In widely-reported comments at a rally outside Harare, Grace said: “They say I want to be president. Why not? Am I not a Zimbabwean?” This statement set the cat among the pigeons and was greeted with shock by both supporters and critics, as both camps suspected that this meant that the first lady had presidential ambitions.

Grace Mugabe née Marufu is 51 years old and was born on 23 July 1965.She is the wife of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and the First Lady of Zimbabwe from her marriage to the leader in 1996.Grace was born in Benoni in South Africa, and her family lived in South Africa until 1970. She was previously married to Stanley Goreraza, an air force pilot, who was the defence attaché at the Zimbabwe embassy in China.

As secretary to the president, she became his mistress while still married to Goreraza and together they had three children, Bona, named after Mugabe’s mother, Robert Peter, Jr and Chatunga Bellarmine. The couple were married in an extravagant Catholic Mass, titled the “Wedding of the Century” by the Zimbabwe media, after the death of Mugabe’s first wife, Sally.

The Paradox of a President Grace Mugabe is premised at the heart of most Zimbabweans minds on whether she can pull it off to become her husband’s successor and in the process create a Mugabe Dynasty to Zimbabwe’s political crown of national presidency.

 

Factors supporting her Presidential Candidature

1.      First Lady turned President

Grace will not be the first woman who is First Lady to become President of a country. In Argentina, Cristina Kirchner served as President of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, when her husband Néstor Kirchner refused to run for re-election in 2007 and proposed Cristina Kirchner instead.

This precedent demonstrates that despite the toxic succession politics in Zanu PF today were her opponents have tried to block her presidential ambitions because she is the president’s wife, she can still be the national president. In fact her opponents have described Grace’s presidential ambitions as a ‘bedroom coup’, however the Argentina scenario shows that there is nothing wrong with President Mugabe’s wife succeeding him.

 

2.      President Mugabe’s political support

 

President Robert Mugabe appears to have anointed his wife, Grace, as his possible successor after recently describing her as “fireworks” and “well-seasoned now” to withstand the political heat within and outside the ruling Zanu PF party circles. In a recent interview, Mugabe said Grace had now mastered the art of absorbing political pressure and criticism, adding that she was “very much accepted by the people” and that “They thought she was an ambitious woman, who would want to work herself into a position of power.”

This statement from President Mugabe came after he had closed the door on his ambitious lieutenants by saying that they did not have the skills of statecraft to succeed him. Most Zimbabweans who heard these two different statements concluded that Mugabe was trying catapult his wife into the front of the queue to succeed him while sidelining her rivals. In fact most people believe that the only way that Grace can become the leader of Zanu PF and the country is if he President Mugabe anoints her and bulldozes her candidacy to get her elected by the party.

3.      Grace Rallies

 

Grace marked her grand entry into mainstream Zanu PF politics in 2014 with a string of campaign rallies that spilled into 2015, culminating in the axing of Vice-President Joice Mujuru and several other former ruling party bigwigs on allegations of plotting Mugabe’s downfall. She used the rallies to attack and weaken her political opponents while strengthening her position in the party and indirectly in government.

When Grace first launched her verbal attacks on Joice Mujuru in 2014, most people thought she was doing it out of frustration without her husband’s support because since independence Mugabe had never sucked any of his deputies. But Mugabe came out of the blue to support his wife and Mujuru was booted out with her allies. Since, Grace and G40 have attacked Mnangagwa and Team Lacoste; it is safe to assume that she has the tacit support of her husband.

4.      The Zanu-PF Generation 40

 G40 is a group of Zanu PF politicians believed to be working against the possibility of Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding President Robert Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe. The group is characterized of younger Zanu-PF members who are savvy and educated. The group is said to be led by Jonathan Moyo and Zanu-PF political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere but is fronted by the first lady, Grace Mugabe.

It is clear that Grace Mugabe is using G40 to create her own political power base by aligning with those that are opposed to a Mnangagwa presidency. G40 via Kasukuwere who is the political commissar is in control of party structures and this works well for Grace should she decide to run for the leadership of Zanu PF. G40 is strongly believed to have the support of both the Youth and Women’s League to support a Grace candidacy for party leadership.

 

5.      Grace’s Rally Donations

Every time the first lady has been addressing her country wide rallies, she has been dishing out ‘goodies’ in the form of food and farming inputs. Although this is seen as a voting buying gimmick by the opposition, but due to poverty and desperation in rural areas, this tactic has won her supporters from vulnerable rural communities that are struggling to make ends meet.

Zanu PF politicians are well known for looting farming inputs and food aid that is meant to benefit desperate rural communities. So when Grace Mugabe visits them in the form of rallies and the rural folks actually receive these ‘goodies’ in the  name  of the First Lady , most of them are bound to support her because she delivers. 

 

Factors against her Presidential Candidature

1)      Sally Mugabe

 

Grace Mugabe will always be unfairly compared to Sally Mugabe by most Zimbabweans. Sarah Francesca Hayfron known as Sally Mugabe was born on 6 June 1931 and died on 27 January 1992, aged 60 years. She was the first wife of President Robert Mugabe and the First Lady of Zimbabwe from 1987 until her death in 1992. She was popularly known as Amai(Mother) in Zimbabwe. Sally Mugabe died on 27 January 1992 from kidney failure. Upon her death she was interred at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is remembered fondly with love and affection, as she is still considered the founding mother of the nation of Zimbabwe.

Grace Mugabe is unfairly compared to Sally Mugabe because most Zimbabweans still discern her as President Mugabe’s mistress who destroyed Sally’s marriage. Most Zimbabweans still feel that Sally Mugabe was the real mother of the nation and find it difficult to accept a ‘mistress’ in the form of Grace to replace her. Zimbabweans often blame Grace for her husband’s overstay in power. The end result of Zimbabweans hatrage and lack of affection for Grace will result in Zanu PF members and Zimbabweans at large rejecting her at the ballot box.

2)      Hillary Clinton
Grace Mugabe can be compared to  Hillary Clinton who was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001.Like President Mugabe who is trying to prop up his wife  into the Zanu PF succession mix, Bill Clinton assisted his wife, Hillary to campaign to be president in 2008, but she lost the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama. However, Hillary made a second presidential run in 2016 and she became the first female candidate to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party.

When Bill Clinton was campaigning for Hillary in the presidential run last year, Donald Trump was able to successfully paint Hillary as part of the establishment that was not serving the interest of the man on the street. Trump did this by associating Hillary with some of the negativity from her husband’s past when he was president. This toxic past of Bill Clinton’s presidency was one of the key reasons why Hillary lost to Donald Trump last year. By the same token if President Mugabe bulldozes his wife as the Zanu PF presidential candidate for the 2018 elections, she is likely to lose due to his negative past.

And without her husband’s support, Grace is a nullity in the Zanu PF succession matrix as she is widely unpopular with Zanu PF members. In the post Mugabe era, most of the  ‘bootlicking’ that Grace is currently getting due to her husband being the National President , will melt away as the ‘political vultures’ will turn their attention on the ‘new president.’
3)     Liberation Struggle Credentials

Ahead of the 2002 hotly-contested presidential election, the late Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Vitalis Zvinavashe led the service chiefs in rescuing Mugabe, claiming his office was a “straitjacket” and no one without liberation struggle credentials would fit in. The military plays a significant role in Zanu PF internal politics and will resist a candidate who does not have liberation struggle credentials because accepting Grace as a Zanu PF presidential candidate will open the door for popular opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to succeed President Mugabe. 

 

 
4)      Grace’s tensions with the Military
Grace Mugabe ruffled the feathers of senior Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) commanders two years ago, when she attacked army bosses and war veterans at a rally in Chiweshe, Mashonaland Central province. She accused them of plotting with her Zanu PF rivals to bomb her family’s private property and kill her son as part of the succession intrigues.

Based on the tensions between the first lady and the military, if President Mugabe bulldozes his wife to be the Zanu PF presidential candidate in the 2018 Elections, she will not have the support of the military, war veterans and intelligence services which have been pivotal to the ruling party winning elections by using strong arm tactics. Grace Mugabe as the presidential candidate for Zanu PF in the 2018 elections will signal the end of Zanu PF as we know it today as it will not win elections without military and war veteran’s support.

5)      Imelda Marcos

 

Grace Mugabe is sometimes compared to Imelda Marcos because of her love for expensive taste. Imelda Marcos is the widow of Ferdinand Marcos, the 10th president of thePhilippines. She served as First Lady from 1965 to 1986 during the presidency of her husband. Imelda Marcos was infamous for her extravagance and this included owning more than a thousand pairs of shoes, some of which are now housed in a museum in Marikina.

Grace Mugabe is known for her lavish lifestyle. The Daily Telegraph called her “notorious at home for her profligacy” in coverage of a 2003 trip to Paris, during which she was reported as spending £75,000 in a short shopping spree; and in the years leading up to 2004 withdrew over £5 million from the Central Bank of Zimbabwe.

And recently the first lady was caught up in a scandal in which she was accused of buying a US$1, 3 million diamond ring from a dealer in Dubai last year and then seeking a refund after she changed her mind about her purchase.

This penchant for expensive taste has opened doors for her opponents who accuse her of being out of touch with the suffering of ordinary people in Zimbabwe. This love for a lavish lifestyle has caused Zimbabweans to ridicule her by saying that her behaviour was not befitting of someone who claims to be the mother of the nation and contributed to her unpopularity with the general public.

 

6)      Business Empire

 

The First Family is strongly believed to own 16 farms in Zimbabwe despite the Governments one man one farm policy. The family also has a mansion in Borrowdale Brooke known as the ‘Blue Roofs’, another mansion that is under construction in Mazowe and has businesses under Gushungo Holdings. The family is believed to also own properties in South Africa, Malaysia and Singapore.

This accumulation of wealth by the First Family led by Grace Mugabe has been criticised by her opponents who accuse her of putting her Family’s interest first before putting the country’s needs. This very public accumulation of wealth by hook and crook, especially the eviction of farm owners and workers who used to be on the sixteen farms has angered many Zimbabweans who have accused the first lady of being greedy and uncaring resulting in her unpopularity among Zimbabweans.

 

7)      Doctoral Degree Scandal

 

In 2014, Grace Mugabe graduated with a doctoral degree at the University of Zimbabwe under controversial circumstances. But considering Grace’s poor performance at the University of London where she was eventually deregistered after failing most of her (BA English) examinations in 2004, it is highly unlikely she has an honours degree with quality grades to qualify for a Masters Degree.

Grace’s graduation with a doctoral degree using suspected under hand tactics has been criticised by her opponents who accuse her of not having earned her academic credentials. In fact, her political opponents have pointed to her indigent political rhetoric at her rallies as proof that she did not earn her doctoral degree.

Grace’s political opponents have argued that the desperation of the first lady to acquire the doctoral degree through under hand tactics was an attempt to conceal her lack of statecraft and leadership skills to become the president of Zimbabwe. This doctorate scandal put the first lady in the spotlight and angered most Zimbabweans who have accused her of being a bad role model for their kids through cutting corners and this resulted in her unpopularity among Zimbabweans to rise.

 

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Paradox of a President Grace Mugabe becoming a reality is like a toss of a coin with the same design on both sides, either way she will lose. Based on the above factors, Grace can only become the President of Zimbabwe if her husband moves mountains and bulldozes her candidacy to become the leader of Zanu PF before his current term ends and automatically becomes the national president.

However, on the other hand, if Grace becomes the leader of Zanu PF she is unlikely to win national elections due to:

 

·         Unpopularity among Zimbabweans

·         Lack of Military and Institutional Support

·         Stiff resistance from Zanu PF members

·         Defiance from War veterans

 

On the other hand, if President Mugabe does not catapult her to be the leader of Zanu PF while he is alive, Grace will not have a political career after her husband’s death. More likely, because she has made so many enemies in Zanu PF and is hugely unpopular among Zimbabweans, Grace is likely to go into exile to ensure her family’s safety.

The Writer: Darlington Nyambiya is the President of the Local Solutions Council (LSC) , a leading Zimbabwe Think Tank. The LSC is a Think Tank with members from diverse Zimbabwean communities in politics, business, religion and sports. He is also a Pro Democracy Activist, Political Strategist, Human Rights Defender, Social Media Commentator, Writer and a Business Executive. Contact Details ; Skype ID : darlington.nyambiya  , Twitter handle: D_Nyambiya,  Email :[email protected] , Corporate Twitter Handle : lsc_thinktank  For more information on  Strategic Views on Zimbabwe log onto our website on :Website : www.localsolutionscouncil.com. Copyright © 2017 All Rights Reserved. The Article may not be published or reproduced in any form without prior written permission

Unconstitutional for UN to Supervise ZEC | OPINION

Patrick Guramatunhu |Prominent Zimbabwean lawyer, Tendai Toto dismisses calls by the opposition for the UN to supervise ZEC in next year’s elections.

“The provisions of section 239 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe are clear and unambiguous on the role and functions of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. There is no provision for some form of supervision by anybody for that matter,” said Mr Toto.

“The suggestion and or the coded resolutions by opposition political parties that the international community must supervise the electoral processes of Zimbabwe is mischief.”

Our learned friend is talking like learned parrot; he will regurgitate verbatim what the constitution says with no room for common sense interpretation of the chapter and verse. Of course, one would never expect a learned parrot to understand concept that the constitution is there to save the people and not the people to save the constitution.

The new constitution, the learned parrot, is quoting was adopted in 2013 to replace the Lancaster House constitution because the latter had failed to serve the people’s basic freedoms and human rights including the right to free and fair elections and the right to life. Even our learned parrot would not dispute that the 2008 elections were not free, fair and credible; he will be the only one to do so because even SADC and AU election observers, known for turning a blind eye to dodgy elections, refused to endorse the result as free and fair.

SADC and AU would not recognise President Mugabe as the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe unless he agreed to join up with the MDC opposition to forming a Government of National Unity (GNU). The principle task of the GNU was to implement a raft of democratic reforms and draft a new democratic constitution so that Zimbabwe’s next election will be free, fair and credible and not a repeat of rigged elections of the past.

Sadly, not even one reform was implemented in the five years of the GNU and the new constitution was a weak and feeble. It is no surprise then that the 2013 elections were, again, not free, fair and credible.

“The allegations of lost confidence in ZEC must be investigated and proven via legal and legitimate channels and forums. The alleged lost confidence in ZEC started many years back and surely steps must have been taken to investigate and bring causes of complaints in the Electoral Courts,” argued the learned parrot.

Clearly our learned parrot has great difficult in understand what “not even one reform was implemented” means much less its consequences. We did not only need forms to free ZEC from the corrupting influence of the Zanu PF dictatorship but reform to free all the other state institutions like Police, Judiciary, etc. If not even one reform was implemented common sense would dictate that ZEC, Police, Judiciary, etc. are all still under the tyrannical control of President Mugabe and Zanu PF.

Lawyer Tendai Toto knows as well as anyone else out there that this corrupt and tyrannical Mugabe dictatorship has denied our people the freedoms and basic human rights including the right to free and fair elections.

After 37 years of rigged elections and the nation in a political and economic mess; we certainly need help. If the UN, SADC or anyone else can help us in any way so we can finally have free, fair and credible elections then we accept that help, only a fool would object!

The relative ease with which President Mugabe has established the de facto one-party dictatorship and retained it for the last 37 years is testimony to millions of Zimbabweans who, for selfish personal gain, have turned a blind eye to freedom, justice, liberty and even the sanctity of human lives. Our learned parrot is defending ZEC, the Zanu PF dictatorship and President Mugabe to ingratiate himself to the tyrant; he has his beady eyes on some patronage post!

Tsvangirai Can Only Lead Coalition For Presidential Elections

Kennedy Kaitano | 2018 is not too far, and elections can be held 12 months away from now, hence the opposition parties, most of whom seem agreed on the need for one presidential candidate to fight President Robert Mugabe. It is encouraging that most of those who have spoken now believe the MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai is the preferred candidate. I am fully agreed Morgan Tsvangirai should be the candidate, but I think it should be that the party which has or is assumed to have the biggest support base should be the one to provide the Presidential candidate.
Regarding parliamentary candidates, I would support Dr. Joice Mujuru’s earlier position that while opposition parties must come up with one Presidential candidate, all parties should be free to field candidates wherever they are confident. This provides an opportunity for the parties to prove their worthy, and should the agreed Presidential party supported by the oppositions parties win, he will then appoint a cabinet that includes members of other parties based on the number of seats secured in the election, considering the skills specific individuals will bring into the new government.  
However, agreeing on a candidate alone is not the biggest issue that should be addressed, the biggest challenge to our election system is the rigging machinery which Zanu PF is perfecting with each election. Particularly appalling is the system where villagers in the rural areas are forced to vote for a candidate who they do not like. A brother of mine who teaches in a rural area told me about how known teachers had to pretend they were not able to read and right and requested to be assisted to vote. Stories about teachers and nurses who were forced to bandage their hands to justify being assisted to vote have also been reported. A cousin of mine living in Wedza told me recently that it is only the fear in people that may lead them to vote for Zanu PF, but the people want Mugabe and Zanu PF out of power yesterday. So even though Zanu PF may no longer enjoy mass support, they can still win the elections through this form of election forgery.
What then is the way forward? The opposition parties must continue to push for electoral reforms, but reforms alone are not enough, Zimbabweans need to be practical.
In the past, the MDC-T and other political parties have identified, listed and published the names of people being used as tools for electoral fraud, but I think we need to go beyond that. Naming and shaming shameless people does not help, so a step further in my opinion would be for groups composed of members of the opposition parties to visit and confront these tools for electoral fraud and tell them to stop it hence forth, or else risk the full wrath of the citizens should they choose to continue doing so.
Come election day, Zanu PF has used a system whereby people are force marched to polling stations and queue behind traditional leaders, and some forced to pretend they are unable to cast their vote on their own so that they are assisted by the polling officer, who will be a known Zanu PF agent. Opposition election agents should watch out for such instances and confront the abusive polling officer and prevent them from abusing the electorate that way. I strongly suggest polling officers who refuse to comply with the demands of the opposition election agents at this stage should be beaten up, and the election will be condemned and a fresh election held under international supervision. This is also where it pays for all opposition parties to field parliamentary candidates, so that the Zanu PF election agents in the polling station will be outnumbered and will be easy to over power. 
Let us be serious Zimbabweans. Let us take the law into our hands where we should. If we don’t, Zanu PF will rule Zimbabwe for ever, and I can guarantee you there are people more evil than Mugabe in Zanu PF. A good example is Mnangagwa who recently unashamedly said Zimbabweans in the Diaspora should stripped of their citizenship if they don’t pay tax. Evil Mugabe hasn’t said such, so Mnangagwa is more evil than Mugabe, and should be exposed for what he is.
Zanu PF will never willingly implement election reforms which the opposition parties are crying for, and even if reforms were agreed on on paper, Zanu PF will always behave otherwise, and this requires Zimbabweans to collectively mobilise and confront Zanu PF to liberate themselves. Zanu PF will never grant us the Transitional Authority that some of us are crying for, an authority which though necessary is not in the constitution after all. Zanu PF will simply laugh its lungs out when you suggest a transitional authority that is not reflected in the country’s constitution.

Change Demands Action, but the action must be well calculated to produce the desired results.

Dabengwa Joins Forces With Mutsvangwa War Vets

Shyleen Mtandwa | Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa has joined forces with the Christopher Mutsvangwa led war veterans faction.

Dabengwa sat at the top table with the leadership of the war veterans that has fallen out with President Robert Mugabe, as it regrouped and laid out an agenda to remove the veteran leader from power.

Dabengwa, leader of ZAPU a one time sworn enemy of the state, was once charged with treason in the early 80’s by the Mugabe regime.

“Comrades we are not here to be vituperative today. It is our day! We were not supposed to have this meeting, we have had it. The whole structures of government supported us to have our meeting. The institutional mechanisms we put in the country, a new arm, new intelligence system, a new police had no objections for us to have this meeting because its officers are part of us,” Mutsvangwa told the gathering of over 1000 war veterans.

 

 

UK HORROR MURDER: Gillian Laid To Rest In Harare

Ray Nkosi | Gillian Zvomuya who was brutally murdered by her husband last January in Birmingham in the United Kingdom has been laid to rest in Harare,

Relatives ad friends gathered at the Glen Forest Cemetry on Friday to bid farewell to the 35 year old mother of three.

Gillians parents are quoted in the press speaking for the first time over their daughter’s brutal murder. ” When a daughter has been married it is up to those, it is duty of those who stay with her to know what kind of person she is,” said Gillian’s father.

He went further to say, “I want to thank mother (Mrs Zvomuya) for the good lessons she imparted on her daughter.”

Norbert Chikerema has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife, when he appeared before the Birmingham Crown Court.

Chikerema, 42, was arrested at the car park of a Lidl store in the Tile Cross area of Birmingham shortly before 5am last February.

 

 

Mugabe Loses Trust In Security Chiefs, Appoints Simba Chikore Top CIO

President Robert Mugabe’s son-in-law, Simba Chikore, has effectively taken control of Mugabe’s close security unit (CSU) amid concerns that the long-time leader’s protection could be compromised, national security sources revealed.

The development comes at a time Chikore has also taken over the day-to-day running of ailing flag carrier Air Zimbabwe, (AirZim) relegating chief executive officer Ripton Muzenda to a figurehead.

As Mugabe, 93, becomes increasingly sensitive to matters of security due to the intensifying factional fights in Zanu PF, Chikore has become involved in his father-in-law’s security protocol despite not having any known training in VIP protection. The development is unsettling security chiefs who believe he is compromising the president’s close protection by interfering with the work of his security and protocol officers.

Security sources who spoke to the Zimbabwe Independent said Chikore, who is married to Mugabe’s daughter Bona, has previously attempted, at some of the president’s official functions, to give orders to security and protocol personnel.

“If you have noticed lately, Simba has been moving around with security earpiece headsets and in some cases a two-way radio which he uses to communicate with other CSU personnel when the president is around,” a source said.

“During the president’s birthday celebrations hosted by staff in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Chikore took a leading role in protocol. This did not end there; he was also a key member of the security team when the president visited Matopos to celebrate his birthday. What is creating headaches for many in the system is that he has no training or experience in such duties.”

Security officials say Chikore is sowing confusion in Mugabe’s close protection team which thrives on strict discipline and organisation.

“We want things to be done properly because if there is a security lapse he won’t take responsibility. That’s the major concern,” a top security officer said.

Security officials say they faced similar problems with Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko’s son, Siqokoqela, following his father’s appointment.

“Siqokoqela was also overzealous like Simba, but he has stopped his behaviour after some officials talked to him,” the official said. “There are many examples that can be cited, including the president’s birthday celebrations at his Munhumutapa offices last month, where he interfered with security details despite the fact that the President’s Office was in charge of the event. He was also all over the show at Mugabe’s birthday bash organised by the Zanu PF Youth League in Matobo, resulting in some officers complaining that they were failing to do their duties.”

Meanwhile at AirZim Chikore has rendered Muzenda redundant as he is now directing the day-to-day running of the parastatal. Sources said Chikore is taking major decisions, including those which should be the prerogative of the CEO.

“Chikore has effectively overshadowed Muzenda because of his proximity to the first family and the direct communication he has with Transport minister Joram Gumbo.

Sources also said the dysfunctional relationship between Chikore and Muzenda has paralysed the struggling parastatal, which is on the verge of collapse.

The state-owned airline has been struggling to claw back its market share in the face of intensifying competition from players and has recently made several changes in its management in a desperate attempt to grow the business.

Muzenda, according to sources, was supposed to implement managerial changes which would have resulted in the retrenchment of some senior officials as the technically insolvent airline seeks to trim its bloated wage bill.

Chikore, as chief operating officer (COO), was appointed to assist in implementing a turnaround strategy of the perennially loss-making state entity with a mandate to acquire as much as seven new aircraft by the end of 2017 to replace the airline’s ageing and depleted fleet.

Information at hand suggests Chikore, who is believed to have recommended Muzenda for the top post at the beleaguered airline, is now running the show, bypassing his boss.

Sources say Muzenda’s job is on the line amid indications the AirZim board of directors, chaired by Chipo Dyanda, is unhappy with his performance.

Complications that resulted in the government leasing a plane for Mugabe’s Asia trip to seek medical attention is among the latest incidents widening the rift between Muzenda and Chikore, sources said. “Muzenda was away on the day. He claimed he was too tired after travelling from Bulawayo for Mugabe’s birthday bash and Chikore had to run around,” added the source.

Muzenda was appointed AirZim CEO in August, while Chikore was appointed COO in October.

AirZim’s restructuring is, according to insiders, expected to bring new birds into the sky and see the airline pushing volumes. The airline’s balance sheet, currently saddled with ballooning debt now exceeding US$330 million, will also be cleaned up through various means.

The strategy is expected to crowd out smaller private players who cannot sustain losses, unlike AirZim which is backed by government and has incurred perennial losses.

Apart from the recapitalisation, the restructuring is expected to cost the bulk of AirZim’s idle workforce their jobs.

“The minister strongly feels we can’t have few aircraft paying wages for hundreds of employees, most of whom never report for work,” a government official, who requested not to be named, said.

“This is not an easy thing, given government’s stance on job cuts, but it has to be done because it’s the only way to save the airline … Gumbo must be seeking cabinet approval on such things by now,” the source added.

AirZim’s envisaged structure is informed by the need to have a leaner management with a focus on core elements of the business.

The airline has been facing various challenges, among them delays in flight schedules and revival of lucrative regional and international routes and improvement in employees’ welfare.

Efforts to get comments from Chikore failed as his personal assistant, who refused to identify herself, said her boss was not in the office. She said she did not know when he would report for duty.

Muzenda’s mobile phone went unanswered. He did not respond to text messages sent to him although they were delivered. The receptionist at the AirZim switchboard said he was not in his office.

Dyanda’s mobile was also not being answered. She did not respond to text messages. – Independent

Anger As Laptop Ban on Flights Comes Into Force

The US and British ban on laptops and tablets in carry-on luggage on some flights from the Middle East and North Africa has come into force, immediately drawing complaints from passengers at several airports.

The ban requires that personal devices larger than a mobile phone – such as tablets, laptops and cameras – be placed in checked baggage for US and Britain-bound flights.

The US restrictions apply to flights originating from 10 airports in countries including Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The British restrictions do not include the UAE or Qatar but do affect Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

The affected airports had until Saturday to implement the new rules.

The ban s have already led to discontent and complaints from passengers at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, which is one of those listed.

“This airport is so secured. The security level is so high compared to other airports in the rest of this part of the world. So why doing that from here?” Haggai Mazursky, a traveller, told Reuters news agency.

Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said the airlines were trying to limit passengers’ frustrations while holding talks with the US to lift the ban.

“They [Turkish airlines] believe that if the comfort of passenger is affected, it will impact the industry as a whole and the company as well,” she said.

“In efforts to make it easier for the passengers, they [Turkish Airlines] are offering free wifi during flights and will also launch a special mobile application in April.” – Aljazeera

Mnangagwa Will Never Be President – Biti

Jeremy Makuda | Opposition politician and leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Tendai Biti, has vowed that Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa will never be President of Zimbabwe.

Biti took to twitter to respond to a state media article in which Mnangagwa assures Zimbabweans that there will be no more grain imports.

Wrote Biti; “This man seriously wants to be our next President? Never.”

Mnangagwa caused a stir this week when he told members of the Johane Marange Apostolic Sect that, “In Romans, God said ‘I will put leaders among you’. He was referring to us, we were put in power by God to rule over you, so you people of the Church, you must continue praying for President Mugabe to rule and rule and rule over you.”

 

ZBC Can ‘Cover’ Tsvangirai Functions

THE Media and Information deputy minister Thokozile Mathuthu on Thursday claimed that the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation is not discriminatory and can broadcast opposition parties’ functions.

Midlands senator Morgan Komichi (MDC-T) had asked Mathuthu to explain alleged discriminatory practices by ZBC and State-owned newspapers, which only cover ruling party events while side-lining opposition parties.

“Opposition parties only appear in State media when they are accused of something, and they never appear whenever they are spearheading development,” Komichi said.

Mathuthu said it was not government policy to only provide coverage to Zanu PF.

“Everyone in Zimbabwe has a right to access broadcasting services as well as print or any electronic media. What is required is that if anyone — whether it is a political party or a religious organisation wants something broadcast or publicised, they must approach the media houses and invite them to cover their programmes or functions,” she said.

Opposition parties have in the past accused the State media of sidelining them, while giving acres of space and airtime to Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe.

During Wednesday’s question and answer session in the National Assembly, Kuwadzana East MP Nelson Chamisa also asked Mathuthu to explain government policy with regards to allowing opposition parties to own radio stations.

During Wednesday’s question and answer session in the National Assembly, Kuwadzana East MP Nelson Chamisa also asked Mathuthu to explain government policy with regards to allowing opposition parties to own radio stations.

Mathuthu said when the digitisation programme takes off there will be opportunities for anyone to apply for a radio or television station.

“After completion of digitisation we will have 12 radio stations, and out of the 12, six will be open for anyone who needs a licence to broadcast, and it does not matter if it is a political party, or religious group,” Mathuthu said. – Newsday

War Vets Pull A Fast One On Mugabe

THE Christopher Mutsvangwa-led Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) has flexed its muscles by holding a hugely successful war veterans indaba in Harare on Thursday.

Mutsvangwa and his group pulled what could be the biggest coup yet in the current leadership wrangles which have become the centre of attention within the ex-freedom fighter’s camp.

In his introductive remarks Mutsvangwa in his usual verbose language, declared the indaba marked victory for his comrades and things would never be the same again.

“Comrades we are not here to be vituperative today. It is our day! We were not supposed to have this meeting, we have had it. The whole structures of government supported us to have our meeting. The institutional mechanisms we put in the country, a new arm, new intelligence system, a new police had no objections for us to have this meeting because its officers are part of us,” he said.

Over 1 000 war veterans bundled in the old AVM buses followed their provincial chairpersons and braved attempts by the security establishments to thwart the indaba.

They thronged Harare City Sports Centre, where they danced and sang nostalgic revolutionary songs with armed police and water cannons lying in wait some 300 metres away.

ZNLWVA secretary-general Victor Matemadanda said top Zanu PF figures, who felt threatened by an organised and united war veterans had attempted to thwart the meeting, but were stopped in their tracks by a competent Judiciary.

“The corrupt ones heading ministries thought we will use this meeting to discuss their corrupt deeds and how they hold stands in every town and the 50-bedroom houses they are building. We thank God we have a competent Judiciary,” he said.

It was the hero’s welcome that Matemadanda and Mutsvangwa received, as they entered the arena that left no doubt on who holds the sway and heart of the former freedom fighters.

The cheers that deafened the massive City Sports Centre as Mutsvangwa and Matemadanda delivered strong warnings against the G40 faction in Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe’s leadership spoke volumes of the power the two hold in their constituency.

The most defining moment was when war veterans agreed it was no use to continue expecting their welfare will improve under Mugabe, and instead agreed to use their structures to punish their former commander by withholding their votes in 2018.

“Hoping to get any form of welfare from such people is a complete waste. The people you gave mandated to run this country have failed,” Matemadanda said.

Mugabe has used threats to withdraw State-funded trinkets and benefits from war veterans as a leash to maintain loyalty and support from his former comrades.

Pulling the ace from his sleeve, Mutsvangwa reached out to former Zipra commander Dumiso Dabengwa and his comrades who attended the indaba, declaring the bridge that divided the war veterans had been crossed.

Mutsvangwa, Matemadanda and other ZNLWVA national executive members were last year fired on allegations of indiscipline after they openly told Mugabe to step down to make way for Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa. A war veterans faction led by Manicaland provincial affairs minister Mandi Chimene has since emerged but has failed to gain traction among the ex-freedom fighters. – Newsday

G-40 Couple Fined For Assaulting Mnangagwa Man

A BULAWAYO couple, believed to be staunch supporters of the G40 faction in Zanu PF, has been fined $200 each after being convicted on charges of assaulting a fellow ruling party member belonging to the rival Team Lacoste camp, which is linked to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Ntombiyelanga Dube (34) and her husband Andifas Banda (38), of Magwegwe North, assaulted Zanu PF activist Obert Msindo (38) of Tshabalala at a Bulawayo hotel just before President Robert Mugabe’s 93rd birth day bash in Matopos last month.

The two were denying the charges of assault and theft of $200 when they appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Franklin Mkhwananzi.

According to court papers gleaned by Southern Eye yesterday, Dube was convicted of assault and fined $200, but was acquitted on theft the charge.

Banda was convicted of theft and ordered to pay a fine of $200. He was also ordered to restitute Msindo his $200.

The Zanu PF activists were booked in a hotel in Bulawayo on February 19 where cases of violence among party members were reportedly rampant.

Msindo caused the arrest of Dube and Banda after he accused them of assaulting him and stealing his $200 for supporting Team Lacoste.

“Dube came to me and removed the cap which I was wearing accusing me of supporting Lacoste, a faction within the party. The cap had an inscription ‘No to corruption’,” he said in his statement to the police.

“After a while Dube came back wearing a different cap. I took it, but he snatched it away again.”

Msindo said he discovered that Dube had placed his cap between her breasts. When he later inquired about his cap, Dube grabbed him by the collar and started assaulting him before smashing a beer bottle and using it to stab him.

“That is when Banda joined in and hit me on the head with a beer bottle. He forcibly removed my sports jacket and stole my $200. He tossed by jacket and said he took my money and would spend it,” Msindo said.

“Then I was already bleeding through the nose and I went to report to the police who referred me to hospital. This led to their arrest.”

Raymond Makaza prosecuted the case. Newsday

Released Prisoners Remain Stuck In Jail

The Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services (ZPCS) is failing to clear a backlog of inmates at Mlondolozi Mental Health Prison in Bulawayo who are due for release because there is no tribunal board to discharge them.

According to the Mental Health Act, a special board and a tribunal board have to assess recommendations by the ZPCS to discharge patients from the special health institutions.

ZPCS psychiatrist, Dr Nemach Mawere said a number of patients at Chikurubi and Mlondolozi health prisons have been waiting to be discharged for several years.

He was speaking after the handover of the rehabilitated Mlondolozi special unit by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday.

Inmates emotionally dramatised through a play how the flawed system was frustrating them.

“We have quite a number of inmates who have been waiting for the tribunal to discharge them from prison. According to the Mental Health Act there are specific people who are supposed to sit on that board, which is entrusted with discharging patients.

“After thorough assessments, the ZPCS discharges deserving patients but this has to be approved by that special board. If the board has not approved the patients have to remain in prison. The tribunal has to include a psychiatric doctor, a magistrate and a senior official in the Ministry of Justice,” said Dr Mawere.

He said there was a challenge in bringing these officials together, resulting in patients waiting too long to be discharged.

“It has taken too long for the tribunal to sit because of attrition of staff. People were coming and going making it difficult to come up with a complete tribunal to set the inmates free.

“It has taken too long for the tribunal to sit because of attrition of staff. People were coming and going making it difficult to come up with a complete tribunal to set the inmates free.

He said the challenge has, however, been addressed with the tribunal expected to start sitting next month.

 “The tribunal has gone for more than a year without sitting. It’s now properly constituted according to the Act, meaning that it can now sit and this will happen in April starting with 37 inmates who we have recommended to be discharged from Mlondolozi. It will be sitting every quarter.
“The board looks at the reports produced by the psychiatrists at ZPCS, the mental nurses and affidavits from the family. They look through the information and assess the patients before they discharge them or recommend further rehabilitation,” said Dr Mawere.
He added that sometimes patients are discharged through Ingutsheni Central Hospital, depending on what the tribunal would have recommended.

“When the tribunal sits it assesses a certain number of inmates at a time because they’re many and it’s a thorough process. People are not just let loose to the society. The process has to protect the society as well.  Those who are not yet ready to go back to society are taken to Ingutsheni where they’re treated as other patients. It depends on the family dynamics. Sometimes families actually prefer that they stay at the hospital due to various reasons.

“That’s why we have patients who have stayed for more than 30 years at Ingutsheni because the families are not willing to take them back. Mlondolozi and Chikurubi are the two institutions in the country that have facilities for criminal mental patients and give the institution a new look following years of neglect by the cash-strapped Government.”
Those referred to special institutions are regarded as patients and not prisoners, according to ZPCS, which has only one psychiatrist.
Magistrates invoked the Mental Health Act to commit mental patients as most of those referred only needed treatment and not imprisonment.
ICRC, an international humanitarian organisation launched a programme to rehabilitate infrastructure at Mlondolozi turning it into a more spacious, better ventilated and well equipped institution that meets international standards.
Minister of State in Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office Clifford Sibanda handed over the rehabilitated centre.
The event was attended by ICRC head of regional delegation Mr Thomas Merkelbach, the ZPCS acting Commissioner General Moses Chihobvu and senior officials from the Government and other organisations. State Media

Stunner Beats British Box In UK

As he prepares for his grand shows today with Trevor Dongo and DJ Towers, Stunner was last night filmed on ZimEye LIVE “beating the box” together with two others.

 

 

Mnangagwa, Army Take-Over | ANALYSIS

There is going to be a coup, the soldiers will take over. The only question is…

On the day President Robert Mugabe shuts his eyes, there is likely to be a coup, says Zimbabwe’s celebrated barrister and PDP president, Tendai Biti. (ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO)

War vets disowning that which they created

“Let’s not under-estimate what has happened today (on Thursday) with the war veterans,” said former Finance Minister Tendai Biti. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW…

Speaking during the weekly ZimEye LIVEBLAST session chaired by ZimEye’s Grace Kwinjeh, Biti continued while emphasising saying, “let’s not under estimate the war veterans are the people who liberated this country. So for all intents and purposes they have been the epi-centre, the heart of the creature known as ZANU PF. So what has happened slowly in the last two years culminating to today is the war veterans saying we are disowning that which we created. They created a rapture.

“I have got an uncle who is a war veteran called vaGandamuseve…he phoned me saying mwanangu, tapa Gupuro ZANU PF today. He was so excited. The reason why he was excited is because he understands the impact of what he has done. That is why I come back to my point that we are in a transition. ZANU is not the same. When in ZANU PF did you see ministers fighting each other?

“…If you read Jonathan Moyo’s Twitter, its a pure civil war. We heard what Sarah Mahoka used to say against Lacoste…what Mandi Chimene… so they are in an absolute war.  That’s why boycotting the election is not an option because ZANU is not the same thing, it has been rapturing and fragmenting since 2013. FULL VIDEO:

Man Bashes Father-in-law Over WhatsApp Cheating Wife

Terrence Mawawa, Mwenezi | A 26-year-old man hit his father-in-law with an axe handle following a domestic dispute with his wife.

Phineas Chimbudzi of Mapuranga Village under Chief Chitanga took an axe handle and struck his father-in-law who had visited the couple, hoping to resolve the domestic dispute in which Chimbudzi accused his wife of adultery.

The matter was heard before Magistrate Honest Musiiwa last week.

Representing the State, Prosecutor, Willard Chari told the court that on February 10,2017, Chimbudzi’s father-in-law, Solomon Kunguru visited the couple’s homestead, hoping to resolve the raging domestic dispute.

Chimbudzi accused Kunguru of meddling in his family issues. He took an axe handle and assaulted the latter all over his body.

Kunguru sustained a swollen arm and bruises.

Chimbudzi pleaded guilty and asked for clemency from the magistrate. He said he was willing to apologise to his father-in-law.

“The misunderstanding emanated from a text message. I then suspected my wife was having an adulterous affair. Kunguru armed himself with a machete and came to my house.

He struck me first and I retaliated. I assaulted him and told him he was defending his promiscuous daughter. He later returned and took away his daughter.

“However I must admit that I acted out of emotion. I want to apologise for what I did,” said Chimbudzi.

He was fined $ 80 or alternatively 30 days in prison.

Grace Mugabe Kicked Off Arnold Farm

First Lady Grace Mugabe has been reportedly kicked off Arnold farm in Mazowe.

Arnold Farm residents, whose homes were demolished by the law enforcement agents reportedly to pave way for First Lady Grace Mugabe, yesterday breathed a sigh of relief after High Court judge Justice Felistas Chatukuta, ruled in their favour.

Justice Chatukuta ordered the police to immediately stop demolishing and evicting the families from the farm.

She granted the order by consent after the victims, through their lawyer from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Donsa Nkomo, had filed an urgent chamber application seeking to bar the police and Lands minister, Douglas Mombeshora, from carrying out the evictions.

In the application, the applicants were cited as Nyatsambo Katsamudanga, Innocent Dube, Rosemary Masiyiwa, Maliyana Mateo, Livingstone Musanhu, Makoore Leonard, Chenjerai Murambiza, Phanuel Chingoriwo and Arnold Farm Residents’ Association, while Mombeshora, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, and Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo were cited as respondents.

After the hearing of the matter in the judge’s chambers Nkomo said: “There was an order by consent. The Minister of Lands and the police have been ordered away from the farm and the residents have been given permanent reprieve. The residents can only be evicted through a court order or when they have been given alternative offer letters.”

In their court papers, the victims said they had been staying at the farm for the past 17 years. They said on Wednesday, heavily-armed police officers and officials from the Lands ministry pounced on them and started demolishing their homes without a court order.

The villagers said the actions by the police was a total disregard of a High Court order granted on January 14, 2015, which barred the force from demolishing their homes or evicting them from the farm.

They also argued that the arbitrary eviction by the law enforcement agents, contravened their rights as provided for in the Constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy, administrative justice and property.

The villagers then pleaded with the court, arguing they would suffer irreparable harm if the court did not intervene and save them from the police actions since they had been rendered homeless and their children’s education jeopardised.

The victims also said their undisturbed and peaceful possession of their pieces of land and property had been disturbed, while their crops were at the risk of being destroyed by animals, adding their property, which had been left in the open, was at risk of suffering irreparable damage. – Newsday

EXPOSED: Bhasikiti ‘Secrets ‘

Terrence Mawawa Masvingo | Senior National People’s Party (NPP) members have sensationally revealed how Kudakwashe Bhasikiti worked in cahoots with the Zanu PF regime to discredit former Vice President Joice Mujuru.
Speaking to Zimeye.com in exclusive interviews today the NPP officials said Bhasikiti was working with state security agents to denigrate Mujuru. Aspiring NPP provincial chairman Oliver Chirume said Bhasikiti and his ilk were Zanu PF agents.

“There is no speculation on the matter. Bhasikiti and his friends were given incentives by the regime to destroy Mujuru. That is why they pushed for the fielding of candidates in by-elections.They knew the party would be trounced in the by-elections so that they would portray a false image of dismal failure,” said Chirume.

NPP national executive member, Jeffryson Chitando said Bhasikiti received hefty perks from the ruling party to thwart the formation of the much touted grand coalition seen by many as key to an opposition victory in the 2018 polls.

“Bhasikiti’ s handlers were against the formation of the grand coalition.However the ploy was exposed in time. Bhasikiti has pulled out of the Mwenezi East by-election because his funders know the mission has been accomplished,” said Chitando.

Speaking on the NPP provincial elections scheduled for tomorrow Chitando said: “We will hold our provincial elections tomorrow and Chirume is likely to land the post of provincial chairman.Nyengeterai Dhliwayo is expected to take post of provincial chairlady while Trust Muganji is tipped to win the provincial youth chairmanship.Earnest Mudavanhu is likely to be elected provincial organising secretary while Rodrick Rutsvara and Noble Mugabe will battle it out for the post of treasurer.”

He said elections would be held to pave way for the formation of the grand coalition.

Zimbabwe vs Zambia

hopeful…Norman Mapeza

Zimbabwe is matching Zambia this weekend.

Warriors caretaker coach Norman Mapeza said the international friendly against Zambia should be taken seriously and rallied the players picked to come up with a positive result.

The hastily prepared friendly will take place at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday. Mapeza called up mostly locally based players for the tie due to the time limitation. The two strikers called up Tendai Ndoro and Evans Rusike are doubtful for the match. Meanwhile Black Rhinos defender Bruce Homora has been called in as a replacement for the injured Teenage Hadebe.

Ndoro has a hamstring injury while Rusike had not joined the rest of the squad by yesterday. The match is important and we do need a positive result to improve on our FIFA Rankings said Mapeza.

Zimbabwe are outside of the top 100 in the World in position 109 while Zambia are number 90 in the world – soccer24

UK: Zim Churchwoman Rips Christians £430,000

jailed…Merlin Worsley

A woman who conned people out of more than £430,000 after claiming she needed help with her fashion business has been jailed.

Merlin Worsley (19/02/1974) of Brandforth Gardens, Westhoughton was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison at Bolton Crown Court today, Thursday 23 March 2017.

The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud at a previous hearing.

The court heard how Worsley duped more than 45 victims into giving her £434,170 to fund large orders at her clothing business to supply shops.

All the victims were from the Zimbabwean community and were members of a faith group.

During January 2012 and March 2013 Worsley told her victims she did not want to lose the orders to competitors and would borrow money from people in the short term, claiming she would pay them back with 50 to 100 per cent interest.

On one occasion she convinced a victim to lend her £3,000. A receipt was e-mailed to the victim confirming she would get a return of £4,500 the following month and Worsley paid the money in full on the date.

But on another occasion £5,000 was given to Worsley on the agreement the victim would get £7,500 back in a few months’ time. A total of £2,500 was returned to the victim but the other £5,000 was never given back.

The victim handed over a further £2,500 to Worsley at the same time and that too was never returned.

Despite numerous attempts by the victim to contact Worsley she never returned her calls or gave any of the funds back.

Detective Constable Jane McHale, from GMP’s Fraud Investigation Team, said: “Worsley was cunning in the way she
would convince her victims to part with their money by exploiting their faith.

“She would trick them into a false sense of security by paying back the original payment with interest but the victims would never see any future payments returned.

“Some of the victims lost out on money they had spent months or even years saving for a special reason.

“She showed no remorse for her actions and her greed eventually got the better of her when officers uncovered the full extent of her crimes.

“An investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act is currently underway to look into any assets Worsley may have
made through these crimes.

“I hope this sentence acts as a warning to others that crime does not pay and you will be caught.”

Stunner Rescues Stranded Graduate, Gives Him A Job

Staff Reporter| Desmond Chideme has created employment for a stranded university graduate.

Stunner, was last night praised by DJ Towers who thanked the singer for giving him a job. The two together with “Shoko reRudo” smasher, Trevor Dongo are launching their shows in Birmingham today (SEE VIDEO BELOW).

DJ Towers reportedly holds an accountancy degree from the Midlands State University.

DJ Towers told ZimEye.com despite being an MSU graduate, he found himself without a job after leaving uni last year as the Zim economy is struggling. “I am just young, but I want to thank mukoma Stunner for opening doors for me,” he said.

Ho continued, “I also want to thank my brother Trevor Dongo for giving me this opportunity, our collab is coming and it’s really good.

“I graduated last year I was at MSU.

“I don’t want to diss Zimbabwe, but there are no jobs, and Stunner created employment for me, and said lets work together.”

As he prepares for his grand shows with Trevor Dongo and DJ Towers, Stunner was last night filmed on ZimEye LIVE “beating the box” together with two others. (ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW).

The three are descending on Birmingham today and below is their itinerary:

The Metrosexual Unpacked

I ALWAYS wondered why this friend of mine had such good skin.

For a man, his skin is pretty flawless.

I never bothered to ask what he uses on his skin because well, it was really none of my business.

It wasn’t until recently that he passively mentioned his vanishing cream was out and he needed to visit a pharmacy to make a purchase.

I thought I hadn’t heard him right. Vanishing cream? Yes, he uses flipping vanishing cream!

It finally made sense. He controls his skin’s oiliness with vanishing cream, that’s why it is so flawless.

I got over my shock pretty quickly and thought, well, there’s really nothing wrong with a man who takes good care of his skin.

If he’s going to wear a hot blazer, a lavish watch and Tom Ford’s Black Orchid, why shouldn’t the nigger have good skin too?

Don’t use a towel at all on your face. It’s bizarre, I know but towels retain some bacteria after washes so you don’t want to take the bacteria on the rest of the body to your face.

It may seem unnecessary to mention but always wash your face first before the rest of the body, when the water is still clean and untainted by other products.

Unless of course if you’re using the shower. Find a good scrub that will help clean your skin further. It’ll take away the extra oils and unclog your pores.

Clogged pores cause pimples and black heads.

At least twice a week, make sure you scrub your skin-gently. A mixture of mealie-meal and water works perfectly fine as a scrub.

Drink lots and lots of water, it’ll clear your skin in ways you won’t believe! Watch your intake of sugar and fatty foods; they have a way of messing up your skin.

Another number one enemy of good skin is fast food, try limiting yourself on that. Remember always, your skin will react to how you treat it. Treat it with respect and you’ll enjoy it.

Nothing irritates me like a man who keeps the nail on his pinky finger long. What the hell is the purpose of that nail? I dread to think what it touches and the dirt it retains.

Get your toe and finger nails cut regularly. If you don’t own a nail cutter, I wouldn’t judge you if I saw you at the manicurist.

Keeping your nails clean and short is an integral part of personal grooming. Just like how you’d get your hair cut and your beard shaved, cut your damn nails!

Never wear the same pair of socks without washing it first.

Your feet sweat and sweat stinks.

No matter how clean your feet are, they’ll smell if you wear dirty socks.

And please, don’t keep your dirty socks in your shoes — have the decency to dunk them in the laundry basket.

Your shoes smell not because your feet stink but because you wear dirty socks and keep them in your shoes when you remove them. Your shoes really don’t get the chance to breath.

One important aspect to understand about your

It’s key that you also realise that a lot of what your skin appears like is as a result of your diet and intake of water.

skin is that it requires patience. Once you start on a new skin regime, give it time to work unless if you react. Please abort mission if you develop rashes, pimples or any other irregularities.

Depending on your skin type, invest in a moisturiser that will adequately hydrate your skin. Tissue oil is an excellent way of rehydrating skin. It’ll leave your skin smooth and plump as well as even it out.

Good skin is an integral part of looking good because it has a bearing on your confidence and ultimately how you conduct yourself among people. To take care of your skin best, begin with adopting good hygiene practices.

He might as well get it all right! Few men really care about what they apply on their faces. They think it’s unmanly. But I honestly think there’s nothing wrong with a man who washes his face twice a day and uses shine control creams or sunscreen.

Until next week, flaunt your pattern and style and don’t forget to catch up with me on Twitter handle @Yolisswa, visit my blog,

Under Siege Kuwaza Freed

Former State Procurement Board (SPB) chairperson Charles Tawonerera Kuwaza, accused of five counts of corruption involving over $1 million and ZW$2,5 billion, was yesterday freed on $2 000 bail.

Kuwaza is reportedly on a life support system at Metropolitan Clinic after he suddenly fell seriously ill soon after his arrest on Wednesday.

As part of bail conditions, Kuwaza was ordered to report on Monday and Friday at CID Commercial Crime Unit and to surrender title deeds to his Belvedere property.

His lawyer, Mr Shadreck Chisoko, however, told the court that he was having challenges in submitting the title deeds because it does not make reference to an address but only a stand number.

However, the court confirmed the title deeds. It is alleged that Kuwaza committed the offences while at the helm of SPB. Prosecuting, Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa told the court that Kuwaza was employed by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) as SPB executive chairman from September 1, 2001 to November 27, 2015.

He said during his tenure of office, Kuwaza allegedly engaged in criminal activities to the prejudice of the State. The allegations stemmed from transactions unearthed by an OPC special audit.

According to the indictment, Kuwaza is facing one count of theft, two counts of fraud and two counts of criminal abuse of duty as a public officer.

On count one, it is alleged that during his term of office, Kuwaza received on behalf of the SPB a donation of a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado registration number AAV 0184 from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Instead of handing over the vehicle to SPB, Kuwaza allegedly converted it to his personal use, prejudicing the SPB of the vehicle, valued at $120 000.

On count two, Kuwaza, being a public officer, allegedly acted contrary to his duties by ordering SPB’s payroll officers not to deduct Pay As You Earn from his taxable benefits.

This was done without proof of an appropriate tax directive from Zimra, resulting in the tax collector garnishing SPB’s accounts a total of $869 820 to recover the prejudice for untaxed benefits. – State Media

Cop Hits Police Vehicle, Fined

A PLUMTREE cop has been fined $100 after he failed to negotiate a turn and hit a police vehicle at a robot controlled intersection in the border town.

Farai Chimboora (31), a constable who is stationed at the Plumtree Police Station was convicted on his own plea of guilty to driving without due care and attention by Plumtree magistrate Mr Joshua Mawere.

He was fined $100 or sentenced to two months imprisonment in case of default.

Chimboora who was driving his own vehicle hit a police Ford Ranger that was being driven by Constable Artwell Maphosa while it was stationary at the intersection.

Prosecuting, Mr Elisha Mazorodze said the incident occurred on November 5 last year at around 10PM.

“Chimboora was driving a Toyota Gaia and he approached a robot controlled intersection at the 100 kilometre peg along Bulawayo-Plumtree Road.

“He went on to turn to his left but he failed to turn properly and encroached into the lane of a Ford Ranger which was stationary as it was being controlled by a red robot,” he said.

Mr Mazorodze said Chimboora hit the police car on its right side and damaged the prop shaft and the rear axle. He said Chimboora failed to drive with due care and attention or reasonable consideration for other people resulting in his arrest.

In mitigation, Chimboora said he had erred. He said he paid for the police vehicle’s repairs. – State Media

Family Pushes Businessman To Suicide

A PROMINENT Bulilima businessman reportedly hanged himself from a tree in a bushy area following a family dispute.

Khaya Tsambani (58) who operates a general dealer shop and bottle store in Dombolefu Ward was found dead by a teenage herd boy on Wednesday afternoon.

Dombolefu Ward councillor, Mr Morgen Ndebele said Tsambani is reported to have had an altercation with his daughter-in-law a day before he took his own life.

“There is a prominent businessman and a well known war veteran from my area who was found hanging by a chain from a tree in a bushy area in Village 28, Dombolefu Ward. His relatives revealed that he had a misunderstanding with his daughter-in-law on Tuesday evening over an undisclosed issue.

“They said the altercation left Tsambani very furious and the following morning he left for work while angry. They assumed that he would later calm down but they were later shocked to learn that he had hanged himself,” said Mr Ndebele.

He said a herd boy who was searching for cattle in a bush near the Zimbabwe-Botswana border found Tsambani’s body and alerted his employer.

Mr Ndebele said they suspected that Tsambani could have left his homestead on Wednesday morning and proceeded to the bush to hang himself.

He said Tsambani did not have a suicide note on him. The councillor said villagers were left shocked by the incident. – State Media

Kasukuwere Attacks Mnangagwa Media

Zanu-PF national secretary for the Commissariat Saviour Kasukuwere, yesterday thumbed his nose at Women’s League members who accused him of trying to sabotage nationwide protests against Eunice Sandi Moyo and Sarah Mahoka, saying he was no pushover.

In an angry diatribe against The Herald on the sidelines of a Command Agriculture Field Day at Chaminuka Training Centre in Mt Darwin, Kasukuwere vowed to take on Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Christopher Mushohwe and The Herald, whom he accused of having an agenda to split the party and Government.

“I am not scared. I am not a pushover. I am not Joice Mujuru. Do you even think I am Joice Mujuru? No, I am not! So I just want to make it very clear to you, Herald. No. Stop this nonsense!”

Kasukuwere who was flanked by his half-brother Dickson Mafios, claimed Herald journalists had become a State security concern.

“You want to foment problems in the party, foment problems in the country. Allow us to concentrate on development. Stop being silly and idiotic.

“You are really now a source of security concern in this country. You have a tendency of trying to find stories, you write stories without a source. You say Kasukuwere did not support what was happening . . . I put money,” he said.

Kasukuwere and the Harare provincial commissar Shadreck Mashayamombe, were openly accused by members of the Women’s League for attempting to sabotage Wednesday’s protests against  Eunice Sandi Moyo and Sarah Mahoka.

Members of the Women’s League held demonstrations across the country on Wednesday, demanding the ouster of Sandi Moyo and Mahoka.

The two are accused of undermining the authority of First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe, denigrating Presidential appointments, corruption and creating parallel structures in the Women’s League.

Kasukuwere and Mashayamombe allegedly spent the better part of Tuesday night making frantic efforts to block the protests.

The pair was reportedly working with other bigwigs in various provinces.

However, Kasukuwere yesterday challenged The Herald to disclose its sources, which is unheard of.

“You write my name, and where is your source? That source must come out in the open.

“We know of course that some of you are on an agenda, factional agenda, trying to cause regime change. Forget it.”

The party leadership, he said, would support programmes from the Women’s League.

“So what has been going on, we support. Women have given us their petitions. We will look at the petition and the appropriate disciplinary measures must be taken.”

Challenged on his declaration that journalists at The Herald were a security threat,  Kasukuwere claimed the paper was fronting a dangerous agenda: “You run away from reality, you want to create animosity in the party. You want to set an agenda . . .

“I am not into factions. I am not going to allow a situation where you undermine the sitting Head of State.”

He further accused journalists of hiding behind the newspaper by quoting unnamed sources.

“Some of them, who we know, some of them are criminals, who will give you those stories to try to further their agenda.

“We are not scared of them. So I am saying to The Herald, get your house in order. You are not saints. You are not people who can threaten us. You are trying to split the party for your own purposes. No. We respect the leadership of our country. All of them. President Mugabe, his vice presidents, all the way down the party.

“If somebody says Kasukuwere sabotaged this programmes and here is evidence and that person stands up, where is that person?”

He accused, without proffering evidence, Zanu-PF National Consultative Assembly member Jimayi Muduvuri of being the source of the stories.

Asked who his rants were targeted at, Kasukuwere said: “Everybody is included. If you want me to include your minister, say it, I will also do it! If you want me to say Mushohwe, yes, all of you. I will take you on, all of you!

Meanwhile, Mashonaland Central Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Advocate Martin Dinha attacked rogue war veterans and youths criticising the Zanu-PF leadership. – State Media

 

 

 

Moyo Defies Grace Mugabe Turns To God

THE Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo, who is under siege from  Zanu -PF women’s league members calling for her ouster from the party where she is the league deputy secretary, continued with her duties yesterday and attended the launch of the Njube-Lobengula Pastors Forum in the city.

The launch was held at UCCA church in Njube, where 68 members of the forum, their spouses and leaders from the respective churches converged.

Moyo called on churches to desist from fighting for leadership positions as it divides people and defeats the purpose of Christianity.

“Politics is everywhere even in our churches. At some point I was an executive member of the Zimbabwe Christian Council and I know what happens in churches. People are forgetting their role as Christians and fight for leadership positions.

“In some instances members exchange blows and use all sorts of ways to destroy one another. Let’s stop fighting and creating divisions in the church. It’s in the church where we should find love and tolerance,” said Moyo.

She said it was not fair for Christians to live in disharmony as God deserved to be praised not to see people fighting, especially in church.

Minister Moyo said she was happy Christianity was the main religion in the country and urged church leaders to instil a spirit of love among the young members who are the leaders of tomorrow.

“Our country is based on Christianity. Even when you open the constitution, it mentions God first.

“We therefore must not be afraid to strengthen our faith.

“Christians also have the right to engage the Government on issues that they feel must be addressed or lobby for any programmes that bring development in the country,” said Moyo.

She called on women to pray and take care of their families despite the challenges that they might be facing. “We should pray for our families and seek protection from God. God’s power is beyond everything on this earth,” said  Moyo.

Chairman of the new pastors’ forum Bishop Richard Dube of the Christian Pentecostal Church in Njube said the purpose of the forum was to improve interaction among churches and support vulnerable groups in society.

“The forum has 68 members from evangelical, pentecostal and apostolic churches. The forum is still growing as more churches are coming and we’re planning to extend it to other areas.

“The purpose of this forum is to assist the elderly, orphans, and child headed families and people living with disabilities. We have to take care of these people,” said Bishop Dube. – State Media

 

 

Zanu PF Youth Fakes Leader’s Death, Tries To Raise $1 000

A ZANU-PF Bulawayo Provincial Youth Deputy Commissar has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for faking former provincial youth chairperson Mr Khumbulani Mpofu`s death and asking for a $1 000 funeral donation from the party.

Tichaona Chikwava (33) from Makokoba suburb and his co-accused Blessed Mushandu who is on the run claimed Mr Mpofu had died.

They requested a donation from the party.

A court heard police dramatically swooped on Chikwava and Mushandu on Wednesday at the Zanu-PF offices while the duo was waiting to be given the money.

However, Mashandu disappeared along their way to Donnington Police Station.

Provincial magistrate Mr Felix Mkhwananzi convicted Chikwava on his own plea.

“Your worship, l did this because I desperately needed some money. I am appealing to the court to be lenient when sentencing me because l have a family to look after and l have only a television set as asset of value,” said Chikwava.

Mr Mkhwananzi sentenced Chikwava to 12 months in prison but suspended four months on condition that he does not within the next five years commit a similar crime.

“You will serve an effective eight months in prison. You are a member of the said political party and the offence that you committed has tarnished the image of Zanu-PF. You don`t have to fake someone`s death in order to get money,” he said.

Prosecuting, Mr Nkathazo Dlodlo said on March 22 Chikwava and Mushandu went to the Zanu-PF offices in the city to ask for a donation for the burial of a party member.

“The accused persons introduced themselves to a complainant, Operations Director Robert Noel Hugo (44) as members of the party. They produced fake donation papers,” said Mr Dlodlo.

“The accused persons produced a fake death certificate of cause of death indicating the deceased as Mr Mpofu and requested $1 000 for funeral expenses.”

The court heard that Cde Hugo became suspicious and enquired from other Zanu-PF members who told him that Mr Mpofu was still alive.

Mr Dlodlo said Cde Hugo reported to the police leading to the arrest of Chikwava and Mushandu.

“The police arrested the accused persons while they were in the process of receiving money from the complainant. Accused Blessed Mushandu was ordered by the police to follow them in his private car but he disappeared along the way,” he said. – State Media

Man Killed In Beer Brawl

A 29-YEAR-OLD man from Chatsworth in Gutu has died after he was struck with an unknown object following a suspected beer brawl.

Tafadzwa Matekedza (29) of Mandiregerera Compound, Zoma Mine was found lying on the ground with a blood-stained shirt by a villager and was taken to Gutu Mission Hospital.

Matekedza, who had a deep cut on the back of his head and some bruises on his body, died the following day in hospital.

Acting Masvingo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dehwa said Matekedza died on Thursday.

“We have received a report of a suspected murder where a Chatsworth man coming from a bottle store was allegedly waylaid and hit by an unknown object in a suspected beer brawl. The man fell unconscious and was found on the road side near Zoma Business Centre groaning the following day. The suspect is unknown. Investigations are in progress,” said Asst Insp Dehwa.

He said on Tuesday at around 8PM, Matekedza left Zoma Business Centre where he was drinking beer with other patrons, for home.

Police said on Wednesday at around 8AM, a woman allegedly saw Matekedza lying by the roadside near the business centre.

“The woman observed that Mr Matekedza’s shirt had blood stains and a deep cut on the back of his head. She then rushed to the business centre where she alerted one Ms Alice Chindove (30) of Zoma Business Centre and left. Ms Chindove went to the scene where she found Matekedza lying unconscious on the roadside,” he said.

Asst Insp Dehwa said Ms Chindove went to inform Matekedza’s friend, Mr Taurai Tambudzai (35) of Zoma Mine who reported the matter to the police.

He said Matekedza was rushed to hospital where he died the following day. – State Media

MUGABE GONE: Biti, Tsvangirai Join Forces

Harare – Zimbabwe’s fragile opposition could be on the verge of forging a formidable grand coalition against President Robert Mugabe ahead of next year’s polls, as it emerges one of Morgan Tsvangira’s nemesis has buried the hatchet to stand up “dictatorship”.

Tendai Biti, the leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who broke away from Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after the shambolic 2013 elections controversially won by Mugabe, exclusively told News24 on Thursday he was “putting Zimbabweans first”.

Biti said that pictures of him together with Tsvangirai being circulated on social media confirmed something “positive” was on the horizon for the fractured opposition.

Biti and Tsvangirai met for the first since 2014 on Wednesday at a joint opposition rally called to drum up support for wide-sweeping electoral reforms ahead of the 2018 polls tentatively set for July.

“Yes (something positive for the opposition is happening) I had not met comrade Tsvangirai since 10 April 2014,” said Biti.

“And when we met yesterday (Wednesday) there was some chemistry, it was like yesterday. There was a reconnection between us. We have to put the people of Zimbabwe first. We have to return to the status quo where we worked together and form a deadly combination.”

The PDP leader added that it was gratifying to see Zimbabwean opposition leaders and supporters speak with one voice at the rally demanding fair and free elections.

“We have formed a great team of Zimbabwean opposition and Morgan Tsvangirai and I are key components of this Dream Team,” said Biti.

Political analysts said Biti’s overtures to Tsvangirai indeed gave hope to Mugabe’s opponents, who were tired of the nonagenarian’s grip on power.

They said that the route taken by the PDP leader was “what the doctor has ordered”.

“It shows maturity and level-headedness. I think this is a commendable move and sends good signals to other opposition parties. There is strength in numbers. That is the only way to make meaningful contribution to challenging Zanu-PF’s political hegemony. Without unity, the opposition in Zimbabwe is doomed,” said Reward Mushayabasa.

Mugabe (93) has been at the helm of the country since independence from colonial Britain in 1980 but he does not show any signs of exiting the political front anytime soon despite visible old age and failing health.

He has accepted to be the Zanu-PF candidate next year, as he seeks a fifth term. News24

 

Lawyer Sues For Accident Injuries

A BULAWAYO lawyer who sustained injuries when his car was involved in a head on collision with another vehicle which had encroached into his lane, is suing the owners of the offending car for more than $56 000 in damages and medical expenses.

The accident occurred on September 22 last year at the 35km peg along the Beitbridge-Bulawayo road.

Mr Tungamirai Nyengera through his lawyers, Shenje and Company, has filed summons at the Bulawayo High Court citing George McNamara, his son Martin and Nicoz Diamond Insurance Company as the defendants.

In papers before the court, Mr Nyengera said he suffered body injuries and lost his car and cellphone as a result of the accident.

He is demanding $56 600 being damages for disability, medical expenses incurred, loss of property, pain and suffering.

“I was driving my car, a Honda CRV coming from Gwanda and heading to Bulawayo and upon approaching the 35km peg on a curve, the first defendant (Martin) whose speed was excessive in the circumstances, lost control of his car, a Toyota Landcruiser and swerved into my lane despite a continuous line demarcating the lanes,” said Mr Nyengera.

He said Martin, who was driving his father’s car, was reckless and negligent.

“First defendant was reckless and negligent in his driving conduct as he failed to control his vehicle on a curve resulting in him encroaching onto my lane when such conduct is prohibited by two continuous lines. He failed to observe my car, which was oncoming. He further failed to stop his car and continued to swerve his vehicle to his right side until he collided head on with my car when I was already off the main road,” said Mr Nyengera whose car was extensively damaged and was declared a write off.

He wants $7 000 to replace his car.

Mr Nyengera said he was still walking with the aid of crutches and currently on physiotherapy.

He said despite demand, the defendants have failed, refused or neglected to compensate him for the injuries and damages suffered.

Mr Nyengera is seeking an order compelling the defendants to pay $56 600 with prescribed interest. The lawyer also wants the defendants to pay the legal costs.

The defendants have not yet filed a notice to enter an appearance to defend the summons. – State Media

Kuwaza Faces The Heat

Former State Procurement Board (SPB) chairperson Charles Tawonerera Kuwaza has been arrested on five counts of corruption involving over $1 million and ZW$2,5 billion, which he committed while at the helm of the enterprise.

Kuwaza is now on a life support system at Metropolitan Clinic battling for his life after he suddenly fell seriously ill soon after his arrest on Wednesday.

The clinic ward where Kuwaza is admitted was yesterday briefly converted into a court room as Harare provincial magistrate Mr Elisha Singano held remand proceedings.

Mr Singano remanded Kuwaza at his hospital bed to today for bail hearing at the magistrates’ courts, which would be held in his absentia.

The defence lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu instructed by Mr Thabelani Nleya of Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans is representing Kuwaza.

Kuwaza was arrested on Wednesday and before he was booked for detention at Harare Central holding cells, his condition suddenly deteriorated and was rushed to Metropolitan Clinic.

The prosecutor Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa told the court that Kuwaza was once employed by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) as SPB executive chairman from September 1, 2001 to November 27, 2015.

He alleged that during his tenure of office, Kuwaza engaged in criminal activities to the prejudice of the State, allegations which stemmed from the transactions that were unearthed by an OPC special audit.

According to the indictment, Kuwaza is facing one count of theft, two counts of fraud and two counts of criminal abuse of duty as a public officer.

On count one, it is alleged that during his term of office, Kuwaza received on behalf of the SPB a donation of Toyota Land Cruiser Prado registration number AAV 0184 from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Instead of handing the vehicle to SPB, Kuwaza allegedly converted it to his personal use, prejudicing the SPB of the vehicle valued at $120 000.

On count two, Kuwaza, being a public officer, allegedly acted contrary to his duties by ordering SPB’s payroll officers not to deduct Pay As You Earn from his taxable benefits without proof of an appropriate tax directive from Zimra, resulting in the tax collector garnishing SPB’s accounts a total of $869 820 as recovery of the untaxed benefits. – State media

UZ Student Dies After Lab Accident | LATEST

Ray Nkosi | A University of Zimbabwe student Emmanuel Tsuro has died after an accident on Monday in which he was burnt while carrying out a Laboratory experiment.

Student leader Liberty Nhengu informed ZimEye, “Emmanuel was a 3rd year student doing Medlab on attachment at Premier…on Monday he was performing a ZN stain in an environment that one performed Gram stain so Acetone was in the air and during flaming he flamed.”

Emmanuel sustained 60% burn injuries was admitted at Parirenyatwa hospital.

” The head of medlab department just informed us and his body not yet in the mortuary,” said Nhengu. More to follow on Emmanuel’s identity as this story develops.

 

Violence In Mujuru’s NPP Ahead Of Elections

Shyleen Mtandwa | Mass intimidation and violence are the order of the day in the Joyce Mujuru led National People’s Party.

There is a bloody run up to the inaugural internal party elections to chose the national executive council of the party tomorrow.

The elections will be held simultaneously in all the ten provinces of the party on Saturday to elect the top six members of the national executive council and another 110 members of the council, eleven from each province.

It is the election of the top six positions of the party that has attracted the most controversy dividing the party into two fierce factions which have seen some violent clashes take place.

The party is torn between two factions divided by allegiance to Interim commissar Dzikamai Mavhaire and current Matabeleland South Provincial Chairman Bekezela Fuzwayo Maduma.

Mavhaire leads a team of Elders Team with John Mvundura and Samuel Sipepa Nkomo as the two Vice President candidates while troubled Gift Nyandoro is standing for Secretary General and Bulawayo based Bukhosi Ntuta as Treasurer General.

The team alligned to Maduma has the younger pair of Cuthbert Ncube and Elliot Kasu for Vice Presidents and Petronella Musarurwa as Secretary General while Wilbert Mbaiwa is standing for Treasurer General.

Information reaching ZimEye.com from within the party indicates that as the campaigning intensifies, the under pressure Mavhaire faction has declared Harare and Masvingo Provinces as no go areas for the other faction. Threats of violence against party members who will welcome the young leader’s faction in the two provinces have been sent out to party members completely blocking the faction from campaigning in the two provinces.

In Bulawayo, reports of fierce rivalry over the two Vice President contestants in the region between Ncube and Sipepa Nkomo ended with chairlady Esnath Bulayani being assaulted by the youth members of the party.

In a statement, the party elections directorate warned party members against violence and intimidation or risk having their candidates disqualified.

 

Egypt’s Mubarak Freed from Jail

Egypt’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak left a military hospital on Friday where he had spent much of his six-year detention, his lawyer said.

Mubarak had been cleared for release earlier this month after a top court finally acquitted him of involvement in protester deaths during the 2011 revolt that ousted him.

“Yes,” his lawyer Farid al-Deeb told AFP when asked if Mubarak had left the hospital on Friday.

Mubarak was accused of inciting the deaths of protesters during the 18-day revolt, in which about 850 people were killed as police clashed with demonstrators.

He was sentenced to life in 2012 in the case, but an appeals court ordered a retrial which dismissed the charges two years later.

Egypt’s top appeals court on March 2 acquitted him of involvement in the killings.

In January 2016, the appeals court upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons on corruption charges.

But the sentence took into account time served. Both of his sons, Alaa and Gamal, were freed.

On Thursday, a court ordered a renewed corruption investigation into Mubarak for allegedly receiving gifts from the state owned Al-Ahram newspaper.

Meanwhile several key activists in the 2011 uprising are now serving lengthy jail terms, and rights groups say hundreds of others have been forcibly disappeared. – AFP

 

Man Harasses Ex For Sex

BRIGHT Ndebele from Mzilikazi suburb in Bulawayo is said to be a bitter ex-lover and an “ex that can’t be solved”.

He is harassing his ex-girlfriend Mangara Dlamini, demanding that she returns to him despite the fact that she’s now married to another man.

Dlamini said her life had been hell from the time she broke things off from Ndebele as he was now in the habit of coming to her place to verbally and physically harass her and at the same time demanding sex.

The devastated Dlamini last week approached the court seeking a restraining order against Ndebele after he vowed that she was going to pay heavily for getting married to another man.

He declared that he was not going to rest until her husband divorced her and be single like him.

“Bright Ndebele is my former boyfriend and we separated sometime in 2012. Whenever he sees me, he follows me to wherever I would be going. He is also in the habit of coming to my place to verbally and physically harass me.

“Sometimes he forces me to sleep with him yet he knows that I am now married.  He sees I’m no longer into him and he is trying all sorts of things just to get to me. On 4 March he assaulted me and I sustained a swollen eye”.

She said she was now regretting introducing Ndebele into her life.

“He also phones my husband stating that he should divorce me so that I go back to him since he is not yet married.

My marriage is now on the brink of collapse because of his actions,” added Dlamini.

In response, Ndebele however, said it was payback time for Dlamini after she unceremoniously dumped him for another man’s arms.

“I am not opposed to what she said. The reason why I did this is because she is having an affair with another man despite the fact that she is married. Another issue is that she didn’t tell me that she was no longer interested in me and all along I thought we were still together,” said Ndebele.

Ndebele couldn’t however, get away with his defence, after presiding magistrate Sheunesu Matova ordered him not to verbally or physically harass Dlamini or go to her place. – State Media

Is Dr Siphepha Nkomo Too Old To Be Vice President ?

Dear Editor, 

I read with astonishment and disbelief when the National co- ordinator of the newly branded Zimbabwe People’s party(Z.P.P), Max Mkandla called Dr Sam Siphepha Nkomo “too old to be vice president of Z.PP”

Does Mr Mkandla realise that Dr Joice Mujuru herself is turning 62 years next month? For a woman, that is old age.

But he finds it easy to attack Dr Siphepha Nkomo based on age.

No one has dared to challenge Dr Mujuru, but he found it easy to attack
the likes of Dr Siphepha Nkomo for vice presidency.

Moreover the age difference between Dr Mujuru and Siphepha Nkomo is about 15 years, not a huge generation gap. A generation is quantified as a difference of 30 years, so they are of the same generation.

So I do not find anything wrong with the candidancy of Dr Siphepha Nkomo because of age.

What do you say about Mr Trump(born 14/06/1946) who leads the oldest democracy at that age?

The rogue President of North Korea (born 08/01/1984) is one of the worst leaders in modern history, so age does not reflect good leadership?

And on the issue of failing as the GNU minister of Water Resources, Siphepha Nkomo did nothing wrong since the whole opposition failed Zimbabweans. So Dr Nkomo should not to be singled out.

Even the then Prime minister Mr Morgan Tsvangirai failed.

So let Dr Siphepha Nkomo participate in the intra party contest; after all that is democracy not agecracy. Who ever wins, bravo!

By the Observer.

Simba Chikore Takes Over CIO Role

President Robert Mugabe’s son-in-law, Simba Chikore, has effectively taken control of Mugabe’s close security unit (CSU) amid concerns that the long-time leader’s protection could be compromised, national security sources revealed.

The development comes at a time Chikore has also taken over the day-to-day running of ailing flag carrier Air Zimbabwe, (AirZim) relegating chief executive officer Ripton Muzenda to a figurehead.

As Mugabe, 93, becomes increasingly sensitive to matters of security due to the intensifying factional fights in Zanu PF, Chikore has become involved in his father-in-law’s security protocol despite not having any known training in VIP protection. The development is unsettling security chiefs who believe he is compromising the president’s close protection by interfering with the work of his security and protocol officers.

Security sources who spoke to the Zimbabwe Independent said Chikore, who is married to Mugabe’s daughter Bona, has previously attempted, at some of the president’s official functions, to give orders to security and protocol personnel.

“If you have noticed lately, Simba has been moving around with security earpiece headsets and in some cases a two-way radio which he uses to communicate with other CSU personnel when the president is around,” a source said.

“During the president’s birthday celebrations hosted by staff in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Chikore took a leading role in protocol. This did not end there; he was also a key member of the security team when the president visited Matopos to celebrate his birthday. What is creating headaches for many in the system is that he has no training or experience in such duties.”

Security officials say Chikore is sowing confusion in Mugabe’s close protection team which thrives on strict discipline and organisation.

“We want things to be done properly because if there is a security lapse he won’t take responsibility. That’s the major concern,” a top security officer said.

Security officials say they faced similar problems with Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko’s son, Siqokoqela, following his father’s appointment.

“Siqokoqela was also overzealous like Simba, but he has stopped his behaviour after some officials talked to him,” the official said. “There are many examples that can be cited, including the president’s birthday celebrations at his Munhumutapa offices last month, where he interfered with security details despite the fact that the President’s Office was in charge of the event. He was also all over the show at Mugabe’s birthday bash organised by the Zanu PF Youth League in Matobo, resulting in some officers complaining that they were failing to do their duties.”

Meanwhile at AirZim Chikore has rendered Muzenda redundant as he is now directing the day-to-day running of the parastatal. Sources said Chikore is taking major decisions, including those which should be the prerogative of the CEO.

“Chikore has effectively overshadowed Muzenda because of his proximity to the first family and the direct communication he has with Transport minister Joram Gumbo.

Sources also said the dysfunctional relationship between Chikore and Muzenda has paralysed the struggling parastatal, which is on the verge of collapse.

The state-owned airline has been struggling to claw back its market share in the face of intensifying competition from players and has recently made several changes in its management in a desperate attempt to grow the business.

Muzenda, according to sources, was supposed to implement managerial changes which would have resulted in the retrenchment of some senior officials as the technically insolvent airline seeks to trim its bloated wage bill.

Chikore, as chief operating officer (COO), was appointed to assist in implementing a turnaround strategy of the perennially loss-making state entity with a mandate to acquire as much as seven new aircraft by the end of 2017 to replace the airline’s ageing and depleted fleet.

Information at hand suggests Chikore, who is believed to have recommended Muzenda for the top post at the beleaguered airline, is now running the show, bypassing his boss.

Sources say Muzenda’s job is on the line amid indications the AirZim board of directors, chaired by Chipo Dyanda, is unhappy with his performance.

Complications that resulted in the government leasing a plane for Mugabe’s Asia trip to seek medical attention is among the latest incidents widening the rift between Muzenda and Chikore, sources said. “Muzenda was away on the day. He claimed he was too tired after travelling from Bulawayo for Mugabe’s birthday bash and Chikore had to run around,” added the source.

Muzenda was appointed AirZim CEO in August, while Chikore was appointed COO in October.

AirZim’s restructuring is, according to insiders, expected to bring new birds into the sky and see the airline pushing volumes. The airline’s balance sheet, currently saddled with ballooning debt now exceeding US$330 million, will also be cleaned up through various means.

The strategy is expected to crowd out smaller private players who cannot sustain losses, unlike AirZim which is backed by government and has incurred perennial losses.

Apart from the recapitalisation, the restructuring is expected to cost the bulk of AirZim’s idle workforce their jobs.

“The minister strongly feels we can’t have few aircraft paying wages for hundreds of employees, most of whom never report for work,” a government official, who requested not to be named, said.

“This is not an easy thing, given government’s stance on job cuts, but it has to be done because it’s the only way to save the airline … Gumbo must be seeking cabinet approval on such things by now,” the source added.

AirZim’s envisaged structure is informed by the need to have a leaner management with a focus on core elements of the business.

The airline has been facing various challenges, among them delays in flight schedules and revival of lucrative regional and international routes and improvement in employees’ welfare.

Efforts to get comments from Chikore failed as his personal assistant, who refused to identify herself, said her boss was not in the office. She said she did not know when he would report for duty.

Muzenda’s mobile phone went unanswered. He did not respond to text messages sent to him although they were delivered. The receptionist at the AirZim switchboard said he was not in his office.

Dyanda’s mobile was also not being answered. She did not respond to text messages. – Independent

Nurse Arrested For Insulting Mugabe

Terrence Mawawa Buhera | A nurse at Murambinda Mission Hospital has been arrested for allegedly denigrating President Robert Mugabe.
Fentone Mangezi (36) is accused of undermining the authority of the President as defined in Section 33(2)(b) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23.The case was heard before Murambinda Magistrate Dennis Mangosi last week.

Several people have been arrested for allegedly insulting the veteran leader who is accused by many of gross violation of human rights and shrewd policies. Mangezi allegedly uttered abusive and insulting words about Mugabe in public.

The court heard that Mangezi was at Chani Turn Off, along the Chivhu-Nyazura some time last month when he deliberately made remarks aimed at insulting Mugabe. He approached Ngonidzashe Mutsipa and Tarisai Nyanzira who were eating some sugarcane under a tree. He then allegedly insulted Mugabe.

“You have heard that the old man, Bob, is messing himself, he will be dead by April 18,”he allegedly said.

State security agents later trailed Mangezi and arrested him at Murambinda Mission Hospital.

Human rights groups and political analysts described the harassment of Mangezi by state security agents as a well calculated manoeuvre meant to close democratic space ahead of the 2018 polls.

” This is yet another attempt by the regime to intimate and harass innocent civilians, “said Mathias Rugwaro, a Buhera based human rights activist.

 

 

Mnangagwa: PRAY FOR PRESIDENT MUGABE

Vice President Emerson Mnangagwa has asked vapositori members to fervently pray for President Robert Mugabe.

Mnangagwa said Mugabe will rule Zimbabwe until he dies.

Speaking in Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West Province, at Pamene Farm, owned by the leader of the Johanne Marange apostolic faith sect, Mnangagwa said the 93 year-old Zimbabwean leader’s rule will only end when God decides to take him.

He said some opposition parties will always talk about unseating the president while Mr. Mugabe is enjoying the seat of power.

This is not the first time the vice president has made such remarks as he was once quoted as saying the same thing in Chiredzi, Masvingo Province, during election campaigns.

Mnangagwa is allegedly leading a Zanu PF faction known as Team Lacoste, which wants him to succeed Mr. Mugabe. The other faction, Generation 40, is said to be led by First Lady Grace Mugabe. They have both denied leading any party factions. – VOA/Additional reporting.

UN Save Zimbabweans From Electoral Fraud

The National Electoral Reforms Agenda (Nera) has approached Sadc, the African Union and the United Nations as part of efforts to force the government to reform the electoral system to level the playing field and ensure free and fair elections next year.

This follows the recent fallout between the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) and political parties over the manner the country’s electoral management body was handling the proposed poll reform process.

Nera, a grouping of 13 political parties, wants Zec to facilitate voting by all Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, with the help of the regional and international community, in the 2018 general elections.

The Diaspora vote has become a thorny issue, with opposition political parties pushing for Zimbabweans living outside the country to be allowed to vote from their bases in line with the Constitution. But Zec insists that there was no legal framework allowing such voting to be conducted.

“Nera has submitted a letter to engage Zec, Sadc, AU, UN, regional and international embassies and other organisations to request for assistance with facilitation of the Diaspora vote. In addition, Nera has put together safeguards necessary to protect voters and their vote,” Nera said in a statement.

The legal team, led by MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora, said the Zanu PF-led government was dithering when it came to implementing constitutional reforms for the benefit of holding on to power and, therefore, the need to engage outsiders to help.

Nera wants the Diaspora vote to be implemented in the 2018 general elections. It is pushing for a clean biometric voters’ register (BVR), managed by Zec which could be provided upon request in machine-readable format as a precondition for a legitimate election.

“The voters’ roll must be made public to allow proper verification of all listed voters … Independent biometric technical support must be used to verify and check the authenticity of the BVR system,” Nera’s letter to Sadc read.

Mwonzora said Nera was in the process of mounting a court challenge on the Diaspora vote as they continued to mount pressure on Zec. – Newsday

Mnangagwa Sings For His Supper

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe will rule Zimbabwe until he dies, Vice-President Emerson Mnangagwa has said.

Mnangagwa is touted as one of ailing 93-year-old Mugabe’s possible successors alongside First Lady Grace Mugabe, but the two have repeatedly denied harbouring any presidential ambitions, at least while the veteran Zanu PF leader is still alive.

Zanu PF is split between two distinct factions — G40 reportedly led by First Lady Grace and Team Lacoste which sympathises with Mnangagwa.

The VP reportedly has support from sections of the country’s security services as well as war veterans, while Grace is said to draw support from the stricken women’s league and youth wings of the party.

Mnangagwa told a gathering at Pamene Farm, owned by Apostle St Noah Taguta of the Johanne Marange Apostolic sect, that the Church and the generality of Zimbabweans should continue to pray for Mugabe to remain in power.

“In Romans, God said ‘I will put leaders among you’. He was referring to us, we were put in power by God to rule over you, so you people of the Church, you must continue praying for President Mugabe to rule and rule and rule over you,” Mnangagwa said.

Mugabe, battling failing health and a litany of ailments, has already been nominated as Zanu PF presidential candidate for the 2018 elections.

Zimbabwe’s Constitution, adopted through a referendum in 2013, allows Mugabe, who will be 94 next February, to serve for another final five-year term. The former guerilla leader has already been in power for 37 years and remains Zimbabwe’s only leader since majority rule from Britain in 1980.

Mnangagwa said Mugabe was not bothered by reports that his lieutenants were plotting behind his back or looking beyond him.

“Those who bark will continue to bark and to bark while President Mugabe will continue to rule and to rule and to rule over us,” Mnangagwa mockingly boasted.

While publicly extolling Mugabe’s virtues, Mnangagwa was reportedly eyeing the Zanu PF’s presidency with rival groups in constant running battles to outwit each other.

But the G40 group, which comprises Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo and party commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, among others, seems to have hit a political tidal wave this week with demonstrators across the country demanding the expulsion of politburo member and women’s league deputy secretary Eunice Sandi-Moyo and treasurer Sarah Mahoka.

The women’s league executive has already lost spokesperson Monica Mutsvangwa and secretary for administration the late Espinah Nhari.

Mnangagwa said the government’s command agriculture programme was set to surpass 2 million tonnes of maize to satisfy local consumption.

The VP issued a warning to farmers who abused inputs that the long arm of law would soon catch up with them admitting that the inputs were misappropriated in three provinces which he did not mention. – Newsda

War Vets Bay For Mugabe’s Blood

VETERANS of Zimbabwe’s war of liberation have declared war on President Robert Mugabe and made a clarion call for citizens to remove him from power in elections next year.

Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) secretary-general Victor Matemadanda told an indaba of the former fighters in Harare yesterday that Mugabe’s government had failed to deliver on the promises of the liberation struggle.

“As I am looking at you, I am thinking of 2018. We would want to discuss about the war veterans’ welfare, but in a country where $15 billion can be stolen and nobody is arrested we are just wasting our time,” Matemadanda said.

“What we must do here is to have a plan of getting rid of people who steal $15 billion without being arrested. Those that failed to arrest them must also go. Hoping to get any form of welfare from such people is a complete waste [of time].The people you gave the mandate to run this country have failed.”

Matemadanda, in an impassioned address, urged Mugabe to step down and use his last days to organise and run foundations besides writing his memoirs. The war veterans’ chief accused those allegedly forcing the 93-year-old Zanu PF leader to cling onto power of misleading him for their personal gain.

“The same people have sent their own grandmothers and fathers to old people’s homes, but cannot let go a 93-year-old President, lying to him that ‘we love you’ as a decoy so that he cannot have time to write his memos and leave a legacy when he dies,” Matemadanda said.

The war veterans bemoaned high levels of corruption and once again blamed a faction of the ruling party reportedly pushing for First Lady Grace to take over from her ailing husband for the internal strife rocking Zanu PF and the country in general.

The ex-freedom fighters said they would vote for competent candidates in the next elections as opposed to supporting Zanu PF candidates.

“We have been voting people into power because they have been coming from the political parties that we were in,” Matemadanda said.

“Even when you know that the person is not the right candidate, you were forced to vote for that person because of party allegiance. We are saying that has come to an end.”

ZNLWVA chairperson Christopher Mutsvangwa declared the G40 faction, reportedly fronted by Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo and Local Government minister and party commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, the official enemy of war veterans and the people of Zimbabwe. He said the 2018 elections should be used to send G40 “packing from government”.

“G40 represents the worst of counter revolution and reactionarism … In war you are told to know your enemy. Now the whole country knows the enemy. We delivered the vote to the people and there is no weapon as powerful as the vote.

“Now the people have got their vote, they cannot be defeated. What is needed is the clarity of knowing who is the enemy. Once we have the clarity, we can do what happened in Norton and what happened in Masvingo a few weeks ago,” Mutsvangwa said.

He blamed G40 for inconsistencies in the indigenisation policy, saying it was at the centre of the worsening economic crisis which had seen massive capital flight.

“The economy is a stinking criticism of those G40 people in Cabinet and we should not allow them to stay in power using the 2018 vote,” Mutsvangwa declared.

The indaba — which was attended by over 1 000 war veterans — also attracted Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa, Agrippa Mutambara of ZimPF and two former Zanu PF youth chairmen, Godwin Gomwe (Harare) and Godfrey Tsenengamu (Mashonaland Central), among others who were fired for supporting the ascendancy of Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

They gave solidarity messages at the indaba which was temporarily disrupted following a power outage at the venue.

The war veterans condemned First Lady Grace for saying Zimbabwe would be led by Mugabe’s corpse. The ex-fighters said such statements had the effect of ridiculing the nation.

The war veterans also had a go at Zanu PF youth secretary Kudzanai Chipanga, accusing him of trying to build a Mugabe dynasty.

Police maintained a heavy presence and kept a watchful eye some 400 metres away with two water cannons and armed riot personnel.

Mutsvangwa and Matemadanda were mobbed by hordes of war veterans who sang and danced as they walked into the venue.

The former War Veterans minister said he was humbled by the defiance shown by war veterans in the face of alleged intimidation by G40 elements who had “taken control of State House” and were “holding Mugabe hostage”.

Tsenengamu called on all those fired from the ruling party to fight to reclaim their positions from those who had “stolen” the party from its founders.

Without directly mentioning Mugabe by name, Tsenengamu challenged the war veterans to tell their “peer to go and rest” because he had walked his path and it had come to an end. – Newsday

Perm Sec Caught in $28 000 Scam

Secretary for Mines and Mining Development Professor Francis Gudyanga, who led the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) board since December 2013, never convened a meeting until a fortnight ago, but claimed $28 000 board sitting allowances, the court heard yesterday.

Prof Gudyanga was the only board member and never consulted the acting general-manager Richard Chingodza (41) and the corporation’s secretary Nomsa Moyo, whom he was supposed to hold meetings with, according to the Company Act.

This was exposed during cross-examination after Prof Gudyanga testified in a trial against Chingodza and the company’s acting deputy-general manager (finance and administration) Hannan Tongai Chitate (35).

Chingodza and Chitate are accused of swindling the company of $625 226, 88 after awarding themselves unapproved allowances. During cross-examination by Chingodza’s lawyer Mr Oliver Marwa, Prof Gudyanga was asked how many people sat in the board during his tenure.

He replied: “At the time I was chairperson, I was the only one in the board, no other person.” Prof Gudyanga was given the Company Act to confirm what the board should consist of. “According to the Act, the board should consist of the general manager, me, the corporation’s secretary and others,” he read.

Asked Mr Marwa: “Did you have any meetings with Chingodza after your appointment?” Prof Gudyanga said he never had meetings as a board since December 10, 2013 until two weeks ago when the board was dissolved.
Mr Marwa asked him if he was chairing a full board and the answer was negative. “Why were you paid sitting fees?” asked Mr Marwa.

Replied Prof Gudyanga: “It’s not just sitting, but decision making. No, it was not sitting fees, but boarding fees because we did not sit as a board. “The board is not all about sitting, but consultation and decision making. It took most of my time.”

Prof Gudyanga was shown a document reflecting that he received $875 monthly as board fees and $460 sitting fees for sitting 21 times, totalling $28 910. According to the document, tax deducted was $5 782 and Prof Gudyanga took home a total of $23 128.\

“For not sitting on the board you received this?” asked Mr Marwa, much to the amusement of the gallery. Prof Gudyanga said he knew some of the amounts. He refused to read out to the court the total amount he allegedly received.

The trial continues on April 25.

The prosecutor Mrs Molyn Mutamangira-Mavhondo alleged that contrary to their duties and without following the procedure, Chingodza and Chitate fraudulently awarded themselves allowances and loans amounting to $625 226,88 over a period extending June 2013 to April last year.

Chingodza, the court heard, benefited $390 985, which he awarded himself on various occasions as an acting allowance, medium-term loan, education loan, long- service award and back pay.

Chitate reportedly pocketed $234 241 on the pretext it was for his education, acting allowance and back pay. – State Media

 

BLACK FRIDAY: Mugabe Dead End as War Veterans Declare “Final Hit”

Mugabe easy to remove…Christopher Mutsvangwa

War veterans yesterday torched a 20 year history-log when they closed in on President Robert Mugabe swearing they are now ridding Zimbabwe of him.

This year marks 20 years after Black Friday 1997 when war veterans threatened to remove Mugabe following failure to fulfill his war promises. While trying to appease the war vets, Mugabe then crashed the economy after paying them $50,000 each and 20 year later the nation is still to recover.

ALSO READ – Let’s not under-estimate what has happened today (yesterday)...

Yesterday’s feat followed a July 2016 meeting when the war vets told Mugabe to his face he must resign with immediate effect.

8 months later and in a meeting at the Harare Sports Centre yesterday, the ZNLWVA secretary-general Victor Matemadanda, announced saying Mugabe has reached a state of no redemption.

He said, “as I am looking at you, I am thinking of 2018. We would want to discuss about the war veterans’ welfare, but in a country where $15 billion can be stolen and nobody is arrested we are just wasting our time.”

He added, “what we must do here is to have a plan of getting rid of people who steal $15 billion without being arrested. Those that failed to arrest them must also go. Hoping to get any form of welfare from such people is a complete waste [of time].The people you gave the mandate to run this country have failed.”

Matemadanda, in an impassioned address, urged Mugabe to step down and use his last days to organise and run foundations besides writing his memoirs. The war veterans’ chief accused those allegedly forcing the 93-year-old Zanu PF leader to cling onto power of misleading him for their personal gain.

“The same people have sent their own grandmothers and fathers to old people’s homes, but cannot let go a 93-year-old President, lying to him that ‘we love you’ as a decoy so that he cannot have time to write his memos and leave a legacy when he dies,” Matemadanda said.

The war veterans bemoaned high levels of corruption and once again blamed a faction of the ruling party reportedly pushing for First Lady Grace to take over from her ailing husband for the internal strife rocking Zanu PF and the country in general.

The ex-freedom fighters said they would vote for competent candidates in the next elections as opposed to supporting Zanu PF candidates.

“We have been voting people into power because they have been coming from the political parties that we were in,” Matemadanda said.

“Even when you know that the person is not the right candidate, you were forced to vote for that person because of party allegiance. We are saying that has come to an end.”

ZNLWVA chairperson Christopher Mutsvangwa declared the G40 faction, reportedly fronted by Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo and Local Government minister and party commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, the official enemy of war veterans and the people of Zimbabwe. He said the 2018 elections should be used to send G40 “packing from government”.

“G40 represents the worst of counter revolution and reactionarism … In war you are told to know your enemy. Now the whole country knows the enemy. We delivered the vote to the people and there is no weapon as powerful as the vote.

“Now the people have got their vote, they cannot be defeated. What is needed is the clarity of knowing who is the enemy. Once we have the clarity, we can do what happened in Norton and what happened in Masvingo a few weeks ago,” Mutsvangwa said.

He blamed G40 for inconsistencies in the indigenisation policy, saying it was at the centre of the worsening economic crisis which had seen massive capital flight.

“The economy is a stinking criticism of those G40 people in Cabinet and we should not allow them to stay in power using the 2018 vote,” Mutsvangwa declared.

The indaba — which was attended by over 1 000 war veterans — also attracted Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa, Agrippa Mutambara of ZimPF and two former Zanu PF youth chairmen, Godwin Gomwe (Harare) and Godfrey Tsenengamu (Mashonaland Central), among others who were fired for supporting the ascendancy of Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

They gave solidarity messages at the indaba which was temporarily disrupted following a power outage at the venue.

The war veterans condemned First Lady Grace for saying Zimbabwe would be led by Mugabe’s corpse. The ex-fighters said such statements had the effect of ridiculing the nation.

The war veterans also had a go at Zanu PF youth secretary Kudzanai Chipanga, accusing him of trying to build a Mugabe dynasty.

Police maintained a heavy presence and kept a watchful eye some 400 metres away with two water cannons and armed riot personnel.

Mutsvangwa and Matemadanda were mobbed by hordes of war veterans who sang and danced as they walked into the venue.

The former War Veterans minister said he was humbled by the defiance shown by war veterans in the face of alleged intimidation by G40 elements who had “taken control of State House” and were “holding Mugabe hostage”.

Tsenengamu called on all those fired from the ruling party to fight to reclaim their positions from those who had “stolen” the party from its founders.

Without directly mentioning Mugabe by name, Tsenengamu challenged the war veterans to tell their “peer to go and rest” because he had walked his path and it had come to an end. – Newsday/Blessed Mhlanga/ Additional Reporting.

Shock As More Zimbabwean Families Lose Children To Social Services

Masimba Mavaza VAZETMasimba Mavaza| Children of Zimbabwean families resident in the UK are being seized by social workers on an astonishing scale.

Most are taken never to be seen again.
If the parents discipline their children and the case is reported at school, before you know it, the house is raided and the children, all of them, are bundled out of the house. Terrified, children are plucked out of their parents’ care to the shadows of total strangers.

In most cases, the sharp cultural differences have led to the cruel loss of children. A remarkable meeting recently took place at the House of Commons, organised by John Hemming, the only MP who, for years, has been battling on behalf of those thousands of families being torn apart each year for no good reason, by our weirdly dysfunctional ‘child protection’ system.

The meeting was attended by representatives of no fewer than 34 countries, including four ambassadors, all concerned at the astonishing scale at which the children of foreign families resident in the UK are being seized by social workers to be taken into foster care or sent for adoption. One estimate suggests that these now include no fewer than 6 500 of the 67 000 children currently in state ‘care’ in England, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds a year.

By the help of their embassies, the European citizens got help from their embassies but it was through the courts.

One particular concern by many of those who attended from 14 European countries was that, far too often, the seizing of their children appears to be in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, enshrining in law the right to respect for family life. So outraged last year was the Slovak Government at the treatment of two small Slovak boys that it threatened to haul the UK Government before the European Court of Human Rights.

For once, the social workers were eventually ordered by the Court of Appeal to allow the children’s mother to take them back to Bratislava. This is only one of the cases which was brought to light.

A Zimbabwean family lost all four children to social workers after disciplining their 13-year-old girl for bringing a boyfriend home and having sex in her father’s bedroom.
The father walked into this horror and did what any reasonable Zimbabwean man would do. He disciplined both his daughter and the boyfriend. The police were called and the poor father was arrested and banned from seeing his children.

His children were taken away, including a two-year-old.

The man was classified as a child abuser and as I write, he is fighting to have his children back. Another concern raised in the meeting was the consistent failure of our social workers to notify the embassies that their nationals have been taken into care (as Hemming explained, this is illegal), or then to allow them to have any contact with the children.
Yet the social workers are quite happy to make last-minute demands of the embassies that they provide detailed information on the families.

“Between us and the British authorities,” said one speaker, “there is only one-way traffic.”

A further common complaint was that lawyers provided by local authorities to represent the families in court seem all too often to be hand in glove with the system, colluding to have the seized children kept in care. Most lawyers seem to agree that the children are in danger from their parents, so getting local lawyers makes the situation worse. There are more than a dozen such stories of Zimbabwean children being removed from their parents for quite bizarre reasons. A Zimbabwean mother whose children were snatched from her when she was only visiting London for a brief holiday is one example.

Another case involved a Zimbabwean mother who only escaped with her son back to Zimbabwe in the nick of time after she had admitted that she was a bit depressed to a stranger, who promptly reported her to social services.

It’s important to note that there is money involved, hence the fostering of children is good business in the UK. Recently, a Zimbabwean woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison for disciplining her daughter. She lost her job, her future and the daughter was placed in a care home.

Sometimes children just talk at school and once your child mentions that he/she was beaten at home, a teacher is told and the police and social service are called in.

Before you know it, your house is surrounded and that will be the last you see your children. Some children are taken because the father forces them to go to church.

The social services considers taking children to church as brainwashing and if you force them, you are classified as a child abuser. The UK has generally created children who can not be admonished.

However, what is clear is that the state of Britain’s ‘child protection’ system is rapidly becoming viewed by other countries as an international scandal. They cannot understand how our system can be allowed to behave in such an inhuman and corrupt fashion. The system frowns at our culture of raising children. They believe their culture is superior and anything which is not theirs is repugnant to humanity.

In London, a mother was shocked when the headmaster and another white parent knocked on her door stating that her child had stollen a bicycle. Like every mother, she leaped to the defence of her child.

She called him and to her shock, the child admitted stealing the bike and even said it was in the backyard. In shame, the mother slapped her son once. Then the father of the ‘victim’ called the police to say a black woman is assaulting a child.

The social services were called in and all the other children were taken away.
Because of her job as a teacher, she was suspended and labelled a child abuser.
Dozens of families have lost their children to the system. As a result, we are having stubborn children. Our culture is being trashed, our future and that of our children is in jeopardy.
For views and comment, email: [email protected]

Gunmen Invade Byo Shop, Hold Customers Hostage

Two masked gun-totting men held employees and customers hostage at a supermarket in Mahatshula North suburb, Bulawayo, before seizing about $1 200 after opening fire and missing one person.

The incident happened  on Wednesday at about 7.30PM at Blesspack Supermarket. The suspects shot and narrowly missed a person who ambushed and threw a mayonnaise bottle, hitting one of them.

The suspects shot and narrowly missed a person who ambushed and threw a mayonnaise bottle, hitting one of them. Mr Mudeka said as the armed robbery unfolded, he hid behind a counter, but was later sold out. “The two were wearing masks, armed with a pistol and they entered the shop at about 7.30PM. They ordered everyone to lie on the ground. One of them pointed the gun at one of the till operators and demanded money,” he said.
Mr Mudeka said the till operator, a woman, rose to show him a till which had some money. He said the woman did not have a key to open it, so she was forced to punch figures as if she had sold an item.

“They looted every dollar that was in the till before demanding to see the supervisor. I was still hiding under my counter and the others pointed towards my direction. They came and demanded that I open the company’s safe, but I told them that we didn’t have any,” said Mr Mudeka.

He said the armed robbers threatened to shoot him and he showed them where they kept money. Mr Mudeka said the robbers got away with nearly $1 200.

He said a merchandiser who was at the back of the shop when the armed robbers entered, emerged unnoticed and threw a Mayonnaise bottle at one of them, hitting him on the shoulder.

“They shot and narrowly missed him but they didn’t say a word. They just took the money and fled, leaving everyone lying on the ground. Maybe the whole incident took about 10 minutes,” said Mr Mudeka.

He said the armed robbers escaped on foot, disappearing into a nearby bush. Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango confirmed the incident. She urged shop owners to avoid keeping large sums of money in their premises.

The latest armed robbery follows another one which occurred last Saturday when three masked armed men raided Cooland Supermarket in Bulawayo’s Nkulumane 12 suburb.

They allegedly shot one employee in the leg before getting away with more than $1 000. – State Media

 

 

Minister Fights Grace Mugabe On Twitter

Under fire Zanu-PF deputy secretary for Women’s Affairs Eunice Sandi Moyo, on Wednesday opened a twitter account just hours after countrywide demonstrations by the organ’s members calling for her ouster on a litany of allegations.

Minister Sandi Moyo confirmed at a Press conference in Bulawayo yesterday that she owned the twitter account under the handle [email protected]

While President Mugabe has warned party members against using social media to discuss party and Government business, some officials principally Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo have continued abusing the platform to attack Government programmes and fellow party members.

Prof Moyo has been on a campaign against the Command Agriculture programme egged on by opposition parties’ activists.

Prof Moyo who is the Zanu-PF secretary for Science and Technology’s twitter rants against Command Agriculture have also been source of news for the private media that is known for opposing every Government policy.

Minister Sandi Moyo first announced her appearance on twitter saying: “Finally I join the cyber citizens”

 In reference to Wednesday’s demonstration that targeted her and secretary for Finance in the Women’s League, Sarah Mahoka, Minister Moyo tweeted: “What happened yesterday is not my project, I won’t comment on it. My focus is development. Let the owners of the project comment.”

She also retweeted a tweet by one of her followers who said: “U (sic) think we don’t know that its team Lacoste that was protesting yesterday?”

Earlier on she claimed that it was business as usual and also announced through her twitter account that she would be holding a Press conference at her offices at 2pm where she invited all media houses.

While Minister Moyo promised that she was going to post a video proving that she owned the account later in the day, there was widespread suspicion that someone was managing the account on her behalf given how prolific the tweets flowed during the day, which is unusual for new users.

The speculation was fuelled by the relative silence on one usually over-active timeline.

Women’s League members in the country’s 10 provinces demonstrated against Sandi Moyo and Mahoka demanding that they should be ousted for undermining the authority of the wing’s Secretary and First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe. – State Media

Botswana Police Nab Zimbos Possessing 90 Bags Of Mbanje

Two men from Bulawayo have been arrested in Botswana for allegedly unlawfully possessing dagga which was in 90 bags.

Botswana Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Commissioner Witness Bosija, said the weight of the dagga was not immediately established, but it was in 90 bags of 5kg mealie-meal.

 He identified the suspects as John Dliwayo of Pumula South suburb and Ernest Charles of Emganwini suburb in Bulawayo.

Ass Comm Bosija said the two were arrested in the neighbouring country on Tuesday morning.

The two Zimbabweans are suspected to have smuggled the dagga into the neighbouring country through an illegal crossing point after conniving with a Botswana woman identified as Olga Elliot.

The contraband was allegedly recovered hidden in the woman’s house in Mabuzu Ward, Botswana.

“I can confirm that two Zimbabwean nationals one aged 62 and the other 56 and a Motswana female who is 44-years-old appeared before Masunga Magistrate’s Court for unlawful possession of dagga,” said Ass Comm Bosija. – State Media

School Girls In Bizarre Satanic Attack

Eight girls attending Monde Primary School just outside Victoria allegedly fainted under mysterious circumstances during a meeting at their “church” founded by a Grade seven pupil at the school.

Parents said they suspect acts of Satanism as the victims, all girls, are members of the church named Christ Authority.

The incident happened on Monday.

It is alleged that the Grade Seven pupil who founded the church was its bishop and she allegedly allocated other pupils positions of pastors, elders, and praise and worship representatives, among others.

School authorities weren’t aware of the church until Wednesday when various churches and villagers teamed up to pray for pupils at the school.

Similar incidents have occurred at the school before and no one suspected foul play until Monday when some girls who are members of the “church” collapsed while having a meeting.

At the meeting each pupil was asked to contribute 10 cents towards buying bread in preparation for an all-night prayer they had planned.

The Chronicle visited Monde village yesterday and spoke to parents of the affected pupils as well as school authorities.

Parents said after collapsing, the girls claimed that they were seeing strange things that no one else was seeing. The victims frothed from the mouth and vomited blood while others became weak and temporarily lost sight.

Mrs Patience Sibanda, the mother of one of the pupils who collapsed at school, said she took her daughter for prayers after the incident.

“She collapsed at school and that’s when I got to know that she was a member of this so called church and was responsible for preparing holy water,” she said.

Monde village head Mrs Sindisiwe Hwata said her daughter who is in Grade Six collapsed outside the school premises after she failed to raise the required 10 cents.

“I think the goblins followed her and attacked her outside the school because she was part of the church and had failed to contribute $0.10. She was the MC for that church but didn’t have the money,” said Mrs Hwata.

She said as the village head, she had visited the school earlier following reports about pupils collapsing but never suspected they were being attacked by goblins.

Mrs Hwata said the whole community was shocked that a girl had founded a church and coerced other pupils to join, raising suspicion she had initiated them into Satanism.

Mrs Debra Ncube said her daughter who is in Grade Three missed lessons for the whole of February when her stomach got swollen after joining the church.

A troubled Mrs Ncube said she took her daughter for a scan and doctors told her there was nothing wrong with her.

She said her daughter claimed to be seeing some women dancing around her while some strange children were calling her name.

Authorities at the school referred questions to the Ministry of Education, Primary and Secondary Education. Matabeleland Provincial Education Director Mrs Boitathelo Mnguni was not immediately reachable.

Last month Tiki Primary School in Lupane District was closed after teachers sought refuge at a police camp following attacks, some of them sexual, by suspected goblins.

The school is still closed and yesterday authorities invited an inyanga after some prophets popularly known as Wafa Wafa from Tsholotsho failed to exorcise the goblins last week.

Last year teachers at Sibangani Primary School also in Lupane fled from the institution claiming goblins were sexually abusing  them.

Villagers sought the services of Wafa Wafa from Tsholotsho for a cleansing ceremony and the problem stopped.

In 2015, teachers at Siyangaya Primary School in Tsholotsho also fled from the school claiming that a baboon was having sex with them at night.

Another school in the province, Nengasha Primary School in Hwange was also last year affected by suspected goblins and was opened days into the third term. – State Media

Minister’s Aide Acquitted Of Murder

A game ranger employed at State Security Minister Kembo Mohadi’s farm in Beitbridge who fatally shot a suspected poacher, has been acquitted of murder.

Onias Mahewu (56) of Tongwe Village in Beitbridge and employed at Umzingwane Farm in the border town was discharged at the close of the State case by Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Nokuthula Moyo.

The judge concluded that the State had failed to prove a prima facie case and acquitted him of the murder charge.

Mahewu fatally shot Jameson Chimudoro after he had strayed into Minister Mohadi’s farm in 2013.

Justice Moyo ruled that Chimudoro was an aggressor and poacher who was trespassing at the time he met his death.

“The deceased was not only carrying a lethal weapon and not only did he trespass but he was also the aggressor. He reacted violently to Mahewu’s colleague when he instructed him to stand still,” said the judge.

She said the State failed to bring up evidence to counter the defence.

“In the circumstances, the concession by the State counsel was proper in our view. The accused person’s conduct was necessary to avert an unlawful attack on his colleague who was not armed and therefore his conduct is justified given that the deceased was carrying a spear, which is an equally lethal weapon,” said the judge.

“The court has factored in the aspect that the accused person and his colleague Wonder Hlabathi were on duty doing their anti-poaching activities and the deceased was most probably a poacher and a trespasser at the farm.

“In the circumstances, the court is of the view that the application for discharge at the close of State case succeeds. The accused person is found not guilty and accordingly acquitted,” ruled Justice Moyo.

Prosecuting, Mrs Sifiso Sibanda said on November 20, 2013 at around 2.40AM, Mahewu and Hlabathi were on patrol when they heard dogs barking at one of the paddocks near the boundary fence of the farm.

She said the two game rangers became suspicious, went to the paddock and laid an ambush.

“After about 20 minutes, the accused person and Hlabathi spotted the deceased and his unidentified accomplice passing by,” said Mrs Sibanda.

Mahewu suspected that Chimudoro and his accomplice were poachers and he ordered them to stop.

The court heard that Mahewu opened fire and shot Chimudoro in the chest using a 12 bore mega shot gun and he fell down.

Chimudoro was taken to Beitbridge District Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A report was made to the police leading to Mahewu’s arrest.

Post mortem results show that the cause of death was brain damage, skull fracture and multiple gunshot wounds.

In his testimony, Hlabathi said Chimudoro confronted him and he was armed with a spear, which he allegedly wanted to use to strike him immediately after he had spotted him.

Hlabathi said they later discovered Chimudoro lying motionlessly with his spear by his side while they were heading back to their base.

Mahewu through his lawyer, Mr Simba Mawere, in his defence argued that his client’s response was necessary to avert an attack on his colleague.

“The accused person’s reaction was justified in the circumstances under which he was operating. His response was necessary to avert a possible attack on his person and his colleague. It is not in dispute that there was a calculated attack on the accused’s colleague,” said Mr Mawere. – State Media

MNANGAGWA SECRETS EXPOSED: Chief Justice Job Scam

LIVE-REPORT:Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is in an underhand plot to have power over the appointment of a new Chief Justice. In the event of a sudden Robert Mugabe departure, PDP leader Tendai Biti speaks on the situation. Zimbabwe’s best barrister since Herbert Chitepo (1974), Biti is offloading his legal view in the wake of a sudden Mugabe departure. LIVE VIDEO:

Esther Mhuri – LIVE VIDEO UPDATE

Esther Mhuri has requested that people view the aftermath of her healing from cancer…

Join ZimEye today 5pm(Zim time) as we cover the latest news on cancer sufferer Esther Mhuri.

 

MUGABE OUT: 2nd Tsvangirai GNU Part 2 | ZIMEYE LIVE

 

ZIMEYE LIVE BLAST 7.30 PM Zimbabwe Time.

Opposition political parties are regrouping and have come to a consensus that MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai will be their candidate in the 2018 elections. The main challenge still remains unless there are credible reforms and mass mobilisation of Zimbabweans to defend their vote Zimbabwe might just be back to 2013 again.

It is a double edged sword if the main opposition boycotts, surrogate parties will go ahead and legitimise Mugabe’s victory. Should the opposition therefore agree to  National Transitional Authority that will deal with issues around electoral reforms, security forces and ensure a legitimate election?

Join – People’s Democratic Party President Mr Tendai Biti, Political Analyst Mr Wilbert Mukori and Banker Mrs Chenai Mutambasere.

Gumbo, Mutasa Rebut “Cultic Sexual Relations” With Mujuru

NATIONAL People’s Party (NPP) leader and former Vice-President Joice Mujuru has responded to the $5 million lawsuit filed by Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) co-leaders and her former colleagues Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa.

On March 17 this year, Mujuru, the former ZimPF leader, entered an appearance to defend her controversial statements in which she was reported to have claimed that Gumbo and Mutasa had allegedly solicited sexual favours from her.

The two former Zanu PF heavyweights are claiming $2,5 million each in defamation damages.

 “Take notice that on the 17th day of March 2017, the defendant (Mujuru) entered an appearance to defend this action,” read part of the court papers

According to the two men, the incident which gave rise to the lawsuit occurred on February 11 this year when Mujuru, while addressing ZimPF structures in Masvingo before their acrimonious fall-out that forced the former Vice-President to rebrand into NPP, uttered a statement concerning Gumbo and Mutasa, saying: “I want you to google then advise each other. They said Mai Mujuru, we want you to be our queen bee. I was supposed to mate with all men in the party. I was supposed to be their wife.”

In their combined declaration, Gumbo and Mutasa said the statement was understood by the addressees and was intended by Mujuru to mean Gumbo and Mutasa were lustful and immoral.

They said the statement was understood to mean: “That the plaintiffs (Gumbo and Mutasa) asked the defendant (Mujuru) to engage in sexual activities with multiple men for political benefit; that the plaintiffs asked the defendant to engage in animalistic-like orgies; that the plaintiffs asked the defendant to engage in cultic sexual relations for the transfer of leadership skills.”

Gumbo and Mutasa further said the uttered words in the context of the article were wrongful and defamatory of them in that they were intended to be understood to mean “expressly and impliedly, that the two men are immoral, lack integrity, are profligate and are debaucherous”. – Newsday

Harare Holiday Inn Elevators A Death Trap

Ray Nkosi | Elevators at the five star Harare Holiday Inn hotel are a death trap in waiting as guests and clients continue to be trapped in them for hours.

A guest at the hotel who spoke to ZimEye.com narrated her ordeal after she was stuck in the lift for 45 minutes and was rescued by prayers answered just at the brink of collapsing.

“I was in the lift for nearly 45 minutes in the company of a male hotel guest who kept encouraging me to keep breathing when I was on the verge of losing breath inside the very hot elevator,” she said.

“I survived through the grace of God after I prayed heavily and the lift started on it’s own and moved to the 6th floor where the doors suddenly opened,” she added.

Other guests who spoke to ZimEye.com said that just yesterday only they witnessed four incidents where guests were trapped in the lift for periods ranging from 30 minutes up to an hour and a half.

According to the sources, the technical team servicing the lifts would always take its precious time to attend to the trapped people.

On of the sources claims that in one incident at about 5pm yesterday a number of guests were locked in the old elevator for nearly an hour and he could overhear the hotel reception staff talk to the technician who insisted that he was home having dinner and would only move when done.

Staff at the hotel refused to talk to ZimEye.com correspondents on the issue referring them to a senior officer who was not in the office at the time. However,  a technician with the company contracted to service the elevators said that the lift was trapping people yesterday because it was over used as it was the only one of the two working and the over use resulted in the motor of the lift continually heating up and ceasing.

Last year two people were killed in Bulawayo during an attempt to remove them from an elevator after being trapped in the high rising NRZ Building. Government has been calling on authorities to make sure that their elevators are regularly serviced and all old ones replaced.

Rand Adoption Gets RBZ Boost

A central bank official said it would be “prudent” for Zimbabwe to use the rand rather than the US dollar as the dominant currency as the southern African country seeks ways to ease a shortage of foreign exchange.

“We can benchmark pricing with the rand, which we can’t do with the dollar, because we trade almost nothing with the US,” Kupukile Mlambo, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, told a gathering of business leaders Wednesday in the capital, Harare.

Zimbabwe abandoned its own dollar in April 2009 as runaway inflation rendered it worthless, using instead a mix of foreign currencies that now includes US dollars, pounds, euros, rands, yuan and Botswanan pula. In an effort to address a shortage of banknotes, the government in November started printing and distributing dollar-denominated notes backed by reserves in the US currency, prompting protests from locals skeptical about the new currency’s value.

Zimbabwe conducts 60% of all its trade with South Africa, according to the country’s Treasury, and three million of its citizens are estimated to live in its southern neighbour after fleeing economic hardship at home.

The rand has strengthened about 9% against the dollar this year, more than any other African or emerging-market currency tracked by Bloomberg. Zimbabwe’s largest business lobby group in November called on the government to adopt the rand as its “reference currency” instead of the dollar.

“We will be happy in the central bank if people use the rand more than they would use the other currencies in the basket,” Mlambo said. “But because people only store value, they prefer to use the dollar – that’s where the challenge is.” News24

Minister Tells Grace Mugabe To Go Hang

Shiellah Sibanda | ZANU PF deputy Secretary for the women’s league who is also the Minister for Presidential Affairs for the Bulawayo Province, Eunice Sandi Moyo has effectively told the First Lady Grace Mugabe to go gang.

Moyo is facing an ouster from the ruling party after she refused to attend rallies addressed by the First Lady. Mugabe supporters held demonstrations yesterday against Moyo and Sarah Mahoka demanding that they go.

Using a new twitter account Moyo the ZAPU stalwart said she is not bothered by the many allegations against her.

Thousands of ZANU PF women’s league members yesterday carried out visibly stage managed nationwide rallies in all the provincial capitals denouncing Moyo and the Women’s League Secretary for Finance Mahoka.

The demonstrators accused the two of disrespecting the First Lady and misusing party funds among a host of accusations generated for the two. Mahoka is also accused of insulting Vice President Emerson Mnangagwa and interfering with the work of Presidential Spokesman George Charamba.

Mahoka’s crimes are also a result of her close association with Moyo and her being heard supporting the stance taken by Moyo and insisting that the First Lady reviews her speech when she addresses public rallies.

The party’s women’s league members yesterday delivered a petition to party chairperson in the provinces demanding that the petition be delivered to party Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere and have the two dismissed from the party.

 

Mnangagwa Trapped

By Shiellah Sibanda | VICE PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has trapped himself under the tongue.

Robert Mugabe’s aide of 40 years is positioned to take over from the 93 year old infirm and had already indicated his desire to take the reigns of power. The only thing he questioned was the precise timing of a hand-over saying “the journey to State House is longer than one to Beijing.” A flight from Harare to Beijing lasts just over a day, only 30 hours, so Mnangagwa’s words whichever way polite were for a long time interpreted to mean he is nearing relieving Mugabe of his stranglehold over the nation.

But speaking in a direct opposite, Mnangagwa has come out dismissing his own ambitions and wishes.

He told delegates at a meeting…

Mugabe can kick me out – Mnangagwa

President Mugabe does not groom or appoint his successor as the Zanu-PF constitution is clear that aspirants for the post undergo electoral processes at Congress, Mnangagwa said. He added that Vice-Presidents served at the pleasure of President Mugabe who can appoint and fire them as he sees fit.

The VP went further saying those seeking to throw the succession issue into the debating arena should “relax” as there was no succession headache in Zanu-PF. VP Mnangagwa, who rarely speaks on the subject, opened up here at a dinner hosted in his honour by Zimbabwe’s ambassador to United Nations and World Trade Organisation, Mr Taonga Mushayavanhu.

“On politics, we are going for elections in 2018 in terms of our constitution, not constitution of other political parties, no,” he said.

“In terms of our constitution as Zanu-PF, the candidate of our elections as Zanu-PF is the one who
was elected as President of the party at the last Congress. So our President whom we elected at the last congress is President Mugabe and each year we have endorsed him as our candidate. Am I clear? So that is not a problem,” he said.

“Then there is the question of succession. Our succession in Zanu-PF, whoever becomes President of Zanu-PF does so at Congress of Zanu-PF. The President does not groom anybody or appoint anybody as President, no. We go for Congress, vanoda kuda murefu, mupfupi kana wakafuta kana wakadii, unosimudza ruoko ndavakudawo kuita President womira uko…Toita secret ballot zvedu, ndipo panobuda President of the party paCongress,” said VP Mnangagwa.

VP Mnangagwa further clarified the matter adding that: “The two Vice-Presidents are the only people who are not elected. We serve at the pleasure of the President. Anytime vakamuka vakafunga zvavo – get away, you go. Asi kana uri member ye branch you are elected into a branch and une period yako mubranch.

“If elected kupinda muProvince, une period yako. Kana iri Central Committee you are elected haungopindi. You have the mandate of the electorate kupinda muCentral Committee. Only two people vanongonzi uyo nanhingi ndoda vaite ma vice angu. We are not elected, we are appointed and serve at the pleasure of the President, in the same manner Politburo.

Politburo is not elected vanongogara pasi President voti nhinhi na nhingi. With Cabinet, you must be elected to Parliament first as MP or senator.

“From that President then chooses his team for his Cabinet. That is where he can hire and fire, hire and fire because you are not elected to be Minister of Justice, Minister of Foreign Affairs, you are appointed to be that minister and so President hires and fires in that area. Those things must be clear. ”

Zanu-PF provinces passed a resolution at last year’s 16th Annual People’s Conference in Masvingo endorsing President Mugabe as its 2018 Presidential candidate. However, some war veterans have been trying to stoke succession fires in Zanu-PF ahead of the 2018 elections. On the other hand, some party officials accuse VP Mnangagwa of harbouring Presidential ambitions. This is despite the fact that VP Mnangagwa has never declared an interest in succeeding President Mugabe ever since the discourse on the subject was generated.

WATCH: War Vets Regroup Denounce Mugabe

War Veterans have this morning regrouped, launching a Freedom Charter that will effectively see them fight the man they once served President Robert Mugabe. Below is a video as they sing revolutionary songs against the status quo.

Bhasikiti Calls It Quits

Opposition Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) candidate for the Mwenezi East by-election Kudakwashe Bhasikiti has withdrawn from the poll citing voter intimidation and vote-buying by Zanu PF in collusion with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec).

The by-election could have been the party’s first poll after its trouncing in Bikita West in January.

Bhasikiti yesterday confirmed his withdrawal in an interview with NewsDay.

 “It’s no longer a threat. Combined with the deadlock we declared against Zec (on Tuesday) as opposition political parties, we have no business participating in anything managed by the current partisan Zec,” he said.Bhasikiti’s withdrawal comes on the back of a Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) report citing rampant vote-buying in the constituency by Zanu PF candidate Joosbi Omah.

ZPP said it was worried by the unfolding events in Mwenezi East and more concerned that with each by election conducted the same issues were being raised, but no one was taking any action to ensure that the electorate exercises its political rights in a conducive environment free of intimidation and other malpractices.

“On March 15, there was a Zanu PF rally at Masweswe Secondary School in ward 13. The rally started around 1400hrs. Zanu PF candidate Joosbi Omar distributed rice, a quantity of 1,5kg, to everyone who attended the rally regardless of political affiliation,” ZPP said.

The civil society organisation added a village head went on to address villagers hinting about the donation.

“After the donations, on March 18, the village head for village 4, a Mutsikwa, convened a meeting questioning why those who do not support the ruling party had accepted and benefited from Omar’s donations. The village head said those who do not have Zanu PF cards would not benefit from the cooking oil donations which, according to the village head, are expected on the 25th of March,” it added.

On voter intimidation, ZPP said: “Those that turned up for the intended ZimPF rally were allegedly followed to their homes by the Zanu PF district committee members and ordered to stop supporting opposition political parties.” – Newsday

 

War Vets Indaba To Deal With The Mugabe Dynasty

Shyleen Mtandwa | War veterans are discussing the state of the country’s political affairs, as well as President Robert Mugabe’s dynasty.

ZNLWVA secretary general, Victor Matemadanda, told a local weekly that the meeting’s agenda had been changed to enable participants to take stock of their achievements so far in terms of what they fought for.

“We want to assess our prospects as a nation and analyse what kind of political situation Zimbabwe now finds itself in. Are we really a democracy or we are under a dynasty?” said Matemadanda.

“We want to look at why are we facing this terrible economic meltdown and what can be done to rescue the nation from this abyss. We want to evaluate to see what could be our contribution to the economic turnaround,” he told the Fingaz.

The war vets have also crafted a Freedom Charter after a whirlwind countrywide tour during which they collated information.

WATCH: MAGAYA BREAKING NEWS: 2018 Fireblast

Bishop Ancelimo Magaya has launched a massive Christian 2018 election campaign to encourage citizens to vote for a non violent political party. Any politician who is found to be violent will not be voted for. VIDEO:

First Mutual Makes $9Million Profit

(The Source) – First Mutual Life (FML) has recovered to post net profit of $9,3 million for the year to December 2016 from a loss position of $131,000 in the prior year.

The group’s operating profit improved to $9,2 million from $4,4 million in 2015 largely due to lower claims, a reduction in impairment allowances and acquisition expenses.

Gross Premiums Written (GPW) remained flat at $116 million. The pensions business recorded a 20 percent increase in GPW to $22,5 million from $18,7 million last year which was offset by the life assurance unit which was down 5 percent to $16,2 million and the property and casualty business whose GPW fell 8 percent to $25,5 million from $27,8 million in 2015.

Health insurance declined marginally to $52,2 million from $52,4 million in the previous year.

Tristar Insurance registered a 20 percent decline in GPW to $3,6 million.

Total assets increased to $229,7 million from $209 million as at December 2015 as cash generated from operations increased by 46 percent to $21,2 million from $14,6 million.

FML had an investment profit of $8,8 million compared to investment losses of $4,7 million in the previous year, as the stock market rallied in the fourth quarter last year.

Basic EPS increased to 2,33 cents.The board did not declare a dividend.

The group’s property subsidiary Pearl, which is separately listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange reported a 6 percent decline in revenue to $7,9 million for the same period on the back of declining rental income and occupancy levels.

Rental income declined by 7,3 percent during the year to $7,7 million with the office sector being the worst affected.

The property portfolio was valued at $137 million up from $135 million last year as a result of the reclassification of the company’s cluster house project — George Square Mews to investment property from inventory.

Mugabe Loses Singapore Aircraft

Debt risen to 330 million.

Staff Reporter| President Robert Mugabe’s hopes of leasing several Malaysian jets have flopped.

This was revealed by the Minister Of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Joram Gumbo who said, “I am still talking with potential airlines and we may agree soon; at the moment I do not want to say who they are.

“We were talking to 11 airlines in Singapore, in Ethiopia and other countries and there was nothing special about Malaysia. I only mentioned Malaysia (last year) because I went there to see planes that they were not using but we could not agree on certain issues.

It was not clear at the time of writing if Mugabe’s latest Singaporean jet, the latest one he has been using, will also be forfeited.

Air Zimbabwe’s chief executive reveals that the airline needs to pay up creditors to avoid risk of having its planes impounded in foreign countries.

The national airline has continued to struggle, incurring consecutive losses and relying on treasury for support.

It currently has a debt of $330 million.

In 2011, Air Zimbabwe’s Boeing 737-500 was impounded in South Africa after failing to settle a $500,000 debt owed to Bid Air Services for handling services. Its largest aircraft, a Boeing 767-200 was seized by American General Supplies in London over a of $1,2 million debt in the same year.

The plane was later released after the airline paid the debt, but Air Zimbabwe stopped flying to London, one of its most lucrative routes, since then.

In the same year a French court granted the Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) a ruling to impound Air Zimbabwe’s airplanes to recover debts.

Air Zimbabwe was kicked out of International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s flight reservation services in 2012 after failing to honor its obligations — which now stood at $3,4 million — a development which resulted in limited business, said chief executive, Ripton Muzenda.

Muzenda, who was appointed the airline’s chief executive in August, told a pre-budget meeting that the airline still risked having its aircraft impounded because of the debts.

“Investment in the fleet and liquidation of current creditors is a priority …it is essential that before we commence international operations, we remove the threat of the aircraft being impounded by the creditors,” he said.

Chairperson of Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development Dexter Nduna said government should withdraw its protection of the airline.

In 2015 President Robert Mugabe, a frequent flyer with Air Zimbabwe, signed a law which gave the air line immunity from attachment and execution of its properties.

“We expect Air Zimbabwe to show their full potential and pay their creditors as they have a new and vibrant management team. They should give us a serious payment plan so that domestic suppliers do not sink while trying to protect them,” said Nduna.

In addition to Muzenda, Air Zimbabwe in October last year appointed President Robert Mugabe’s son- in-law, Simba Chikore, to a newly created post of chief operating officer.

Chikore married Mugabe’s only daughter, Bona, in March 2014.

Mandi Chimene Loses Own Farm

farm loss.Mandi Chimene

Manicaland Provincial Affairs Minister, Mandi Chimene has lost her farm.

Chimene’s estate was taken away by the City Of Mutare, the controversial minister reveals.

She told the local Financial Gazette the land is now to be partitioned into residential stands for the city.

Chimene seized Fairholme Farm from a white farmer during the land reform programme and then renamed it.

But the farm falls under Mutasa Rural District Council and it was not clear how the City of Mutare has obtained it.

The latest indications say the property is to be divided into a residential suburb.

Chimene is quoted by the Financial Gazette saying, last year, Mutare’s city fathers concluded that Mutare was a land-choked city due to the mountainous terrain and they were in the hunt for land from government.

“The city master plan seeks to establish new land in the general western side and the northern side of the city;

“I have not partitioned the farm into residential stands. That farm is no longer mine, it now belongs to the City of Mutare and it was included in Mutare’s master plan, which is why you read in the papers that I now have new land in Rusape although I haven’t been given the land, but it is part of the plan.”

Chimene is now eyeing Mon-Agri Farm, which is mired in controversy.  The farm belongs to Christine Murembwe, a former aide to ex-presidential affairs minister Didymus Mutasa. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Tetrad Bank To Transform Creditors Into Shareholders | LATEST

John-Chikura

Troubled Tetrad Investment Bank has tabled a debt into equity conversion offer and payment in cash to proven depositors and creditors as the judicial manager sees possibilities of a revival.

Depositors and creditors were owed a total of about $67,4 million as at January 2015 when the bank was placed under the provisional judicial management.

“Should the scheme be implemented, creditors and depositors become shareholders of the Bank,” said the judicial manager, the Depositors Protection Corporation (DPC) in a circular.

The proposed scheme follows several failed attempts to recapitalise the bank. A proposal to liquidate the bank was rejected because creditors and depositors would not recover any money.

If the new proposal is implemented, the bank’s capital position moves from a deficit of $35 million to a positive $25,6 million, making it attractive to potential investors.

The DPC has undertaken to fund part of the cash outlay to depositors amounting to $1,1 million to cover the first $1,000 payable to depositors.

Tetrad will pay the amount advanced by DPC over a three-year period. The funding is also secured by Treasury Bills.

The balance of $2,9 million will be funded using internal cash resources and should there be insufficient cash at the time of payment, the bank will consider liquidating Treasury Bills to fund the shortfall.

The DPC was appointed the provisional judicial manager of Tetrad  on July 1, 2015 and had, by the end of 2016, recovered about $16,2 million from the various debtors, according to a January 2017 update by the central bank.

The recoveries comprise cash amounting to $5,48 million; properties and Treasury Bills worth $8,95 million and $1,8 million, respectively.

At the second Tetrad Bank creditors’ meeting held on 24 and 25 September 2015 in Harare and Bulawayo, respectively, the creditors passed a resolution authorising the provisional judicial manager to implement a scheme of arrangement in terms of the Companies Act.

The central bank expects an anchor shareholder to emerge and inject working capital into the bank. – TheSource

Mujuru Refuses To Pay Former CIO Boss $2.5 Million

NATIONAL People’s Party (NPP) leader and former Vice-President Joice Mujuru has responded to the $5 million lawsuit filed by Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) co-leaders and her former colleagues Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa.

On March 17 this year, Mujuru, the former ZimPF leader, entered an appearance to defend her controversial statements in which she was reported to have claimed that Gumbo and Mutasa had allegedly solicited sexual favours from her.

The two former Zanu PF heavyweights are claiming $2,5 million each in defamation damages.

 “Take notice that on the 17th day of March 2017, the defendant (Mujuru) entered an appearance to defend this action,” read part of the court papers

According to the two men, the incident which gave rise to the lawsuit occurred on February 11 this year when Mujuru, while addressing ZimPF structures in Masvingo before their acrimonious fall-out that forced the former Vice-President to rebrand into NPP, uttered a statement concerning Gumbo and Mutasa, saying: “I want you to google then advise each other. They said Mai Mujuru, we want you to be our queen bee. I was supposed to mate with all men in the party. I was supposed to be their wife.”

In their combined declaration, Gumbo and Mutasa said the statement was understood by the addressees and was intended by Mujuru to mean Gumbo and Mutasa were lustful and immoral.

They said the statement was understood to mean: “That the plaintiffs (Gumbo and Mutasa) asked the defendant (Mujuru) to engage in sexual activities with multiple men for political benefit; that the plaintiffs asked the defendant to engage in animalistic-like orgies; that the plaintiffs asked the defendant to engage in cultic sexual relations for the transfer of leadership skills.”

Gumbo and Mutasa further said the uttered words in the context of the article were wrongful and defamatory of them in that they were intended to be understood to mean “expressly and impliedly, that the two men are immoral, lack integrity, are profligate and are debaucherous”. – Newsday

 

After Sex With Nyau Member, ‘Prophet’ Claims Snake Raping Him Everyday

A 40-year-old self-styled prophet is a tormented soul ever since having sex with a member of the Nyau cult.

Pachawa Kwanamba yesterday revealed that he now physically engages in anal sex with a snake since bedding a Nyau member Sheila Taibu.

Pachawa said since the encounter, a mysterious snake is in the habit of penetrating him from his behind every day. “Sometimes I feel it is much better for me to die than to continue to live the life that I am living.

“Mysterious things have been happening to me ever since the day I had sex with Sheila and I now regret the decision I made of having sex with her.

“Whenever I explain my situation to people some think I am insane and others would cut communication ties with me.

“I helplessly find myself being a victim of anal sex every day; the snake only comes whilst I am about to sleep and enters me from behind.

“This does not happen spiritually but the snake comes in its physical state and I even have scars on my behind to prove what I am saying,” said Pachawa.

He added that he has since lost his prophetic powers he possessed as a result of being intimate with the woman.

“When I reflect at what is happening in my life, I am reminded of the biblical Samson who lost all his powers after sleeping with Delilah.

“I loved Sheila very much and she was beautiful and above all we had great sex since she would do Chinamwari because of her Nyau background but I am now a nobody because of the love I had for her.

“I have been a prophet all my life and a lot of people would come getting help from me but I have since lost all the powers I had after sleeping with her,” she said.

Pachawo added that he has been looking for Sheila but she has been deliberately avoiding him.

“This has been happening for the past three years and at first I tried to keep it a secret but I have decided to open up hoping to get help.

“I have tried my best to seek audience with her so that she releases me from this curse but she deliberately avoids me.

“I have been to Sheila’s parents’ house and I even offered to pay but they refused my offer.

“I have been to Sheila’s parents’ house and I even offered to pay but they refused my offer.

Meanwhile, Sheila’s Mbuya Taibu said she will only accept Pachawo’s compensation if her daughter who had sex with him approves it.

“I am aware that he (Pachawo) cohabited with Sheila and that is unacceptable.

“I am also aware of the situation he has but I can only accept the compensation if Sheila allows us to receive it,” she said. – State Media

Nyarota Demands Another Day In Court

The battle between Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of the Daily News, and its founding editor, Geoffrey Nyarota, continues after the latter won a court battle for condonation to allow him to file his heads of arguments, effectively resuscitating the case.

A Labour Court judge handed down a default judgment against the veteran journalist after his lawyers failed to file his heads of arguments.

ANZ fired Nyarota in 2010 and was supposed to pay him an arbitral award of $90 921 after losing a labour case against their former editor. However, the newspaper group challenged the court ruling and won in 2012.

Nyarota, who is now representing himself, approached the Labour Court seeking to have the judgment in favour of ANZ thrown out, blaming his lawyers, Scanlen and Holderness, for doing a shoddy job.

The veteran journalist argued before Justice Betty Chidziva that he had lost to ANZ because his lawyers had failed to file papers with the courts within the time frame required by law despite having undertaken to have done so and this resulted in him not being able to present his matter before the courts.

“On November 11, 2013, Mr Farirai from the registrar’s office addressed a letter to Scanlen and Holderness and requested the applicant to file heads of arguments so that the matter could be finalised. On 26 November 2013, Scanlen and Holderness advised that heads of arguments would be filed by December 2, 2013. The heads were never filed,” Nyarota submitted in court.

He pleaded with the courts to allow him a chance to have his day in court so that he would not lose the matter on the incompetence of his lawyers.

ANZ, represented by Advocate Thabani Mpofu, had, however, argued that Nyarota’s application was improperly before the court, saying the Labour Court had no jurisdiction to alter a ruling made by the Judge President.

ANZ also argued that both judgments had been brought before the courts well out of time and, therefore, should not be entertained.

In a March 10 judgment, Justice Chidziva ruled against ANZ, breathing life in Nyarota’s case, and ordered that the registrar should set down the application for hearing.

Nyarota will now apply to have the judgment in favour of ANZ rescinded and also to have a chance to file his heads in the matter. – Newsday

“We Earn Peanuts” – MPs Demand More Cash

Members of Parliament yesterday proposed their salaries be pegged at between $4 000 and $10 000 per month, claiming they are now the lowest paid legislators in Africa.

The MPs currently earn a gross salary of $1 124 per month and $1 046 representation allowance.

The issue was raised during a workshop for MPs in Harare which was attended by Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda, President of the Senate Edna Madzongwe and Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda.

The code of conduct for MPs was also discussed at the workshop.

Chairperson of the Sub-committee on Legal and Procedural Services Nelson Chamisa (MDC-T) said MPs had two weeks to look at the draft laws to do with their conditions of service; the Parliamentary Salaries, Allowances and Benefit Act, and the Parliament Pensions Act to see where they could be amended to address their remuneration. He compared MPs’ salaries with other Parliaments.

In South Africa MPs earn approximately $7 000 per month, Kenya $10 000, Tanzania $7 266, Uganda $8 715 and Botswana at $2 000.

If amended, the Parliament Salaries, Allowances and Benefit Act will also ensure ministers do not double dip.

“We have replaced the issue of an independent commission deciding salaries for MPs and put the powers in a quasi-independent body, the Standing Rules and Orders Committee, as opposed to the Finance minister determining the lump sum of MPs and putting it in line with the rest of the civil service,” Chamisa said.

Other entitlements for MPs would be general allowances, housing allowances, committee attendance fees, constituency allowances and others.

Mudenda said MPs would get laptops and stands.

On the code of conduct, MPs will find themselves under scrutiny in terms of their behaviour, drinking habits, corruption, taking bribes, and even extra-marital affairs will be exposed. They will be required to fill in an asset register to be administered by the Clerk of Parliament where they will declare properties, business interests, family, freebies that they are given during visits to companies, fees paid to MPs for consultancy, trips and who has funded them, and even assets such as scotch carts and jewellery. – Newsday

Noah Manyika Still A Mugabe Employee?

Is Noah Manyika a CIO agent?

By Staff Reporter| Build Zimbabwe Alliance President Dr Noah Manyika has been attacked by many Zimbabweans who still label him a government employee. [STORY CONTINUES BELOW]

 

 

But speaking on ZimEye’s LiveBlast program last week, Manyika, a Pastor previously based in the United States, said he is back in Zimbabwe for good, and has already held campaign meetings in Chitungwiza and Harare over the past week.

He explained that he was of a truth once a government employee but later in his life, decided he would no longer serve the interests of an oppressive state. [SEE VIDEO]

“The only country God gave me as a heritage is Zimbabwe; anywhere else I am an alien,” he said.

He continued saying, “if we do not do something to fix this country we are in trouble. This is my inheritance and the inheritance for my children.”

“We can’t accept no more, the price is too high that this dysfunction is normal” said Manyika of the harsh economic and political realities Zimbabweans are faced with.

He lamented the fact that Zimbabwe has one of the lowest bars in registering a party, a loophole which has resulted in the proliferation of many fake parties.

“We have a leadership problem which manifests itself as an economic problem all our problems in Zimbabwe can be traced back to leadership failure at every level, Presidential level, cabinet level, council level,”

Saying his party is serious about not only bringing political change in 2018 but making sure that we have the right leaders, Manyika gave the example of biblical figures Joseph and Moses among other scriptural references: “There is a mandate for us as people of God not to just allow things to go on as they are.”

 

Like Tsvangirai and Dumbutshena

Asked on what guarantee he can make that he has “not been sent by ZANU PF to divide votes”, Manyika replied comparing himself with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and former Chief Justice Enoch Dumbutshena in the 80s.

Below was his reply:

“I always find that question to be interesting. In the 1980s when Justice Dumuchena who used to be the Chief Justice of Zimbabwe formed his political the Forum Party of Zimbabwe, we should have paid attention, yeah he was coming from the system because some of those people who were there were warning us and saying its time for you guys to realise that this government is a really dangerous government, we didn’t pay attention. We started paying attention when a traditional ally of ZANU PF, that traditional ally was called the Zimbabwe Congress Of Trade Unions; which by the way used to led by the President’s younger brother, Albert Mugabe. He was the Secretary General at one time, and then Morgan Tsvangirai also came in – these used to be traditional allies of ZANU PF… and they would want to [win] the election [so] to bring about change (sic).

“…So there are some things which are really, I don’t understand some times some of these questions. How would anyone approve that they are what someone suggests they are. How do you do that? The only way that you can prove, is by what you do, and what you say; and if you watch the things that we have been saying, and if you watch the things that we have been doing, you can draw your own conclusions. And we are also living in this society where is just this vicious rumour mongering about people and anyone who steps forward. I don’t have any guarantee for instance that the person who is asking that question is themselves not a ZANU PF person, I don’t! I don’t have any guarantee that all the people saying he is going to split the votes, are actually not the CIOs actually trying to discourage new voices from entering the political fray, I don’t.

“And people can chose to be preoccupied with that, or we can choose to be preoccupied with the things that we are saying – we need top to bottom leadership renewal in Zimbabwe, we need to select the right people. In fact some of those people who are asking questions why don’t they step forward themselves and actually join some of the training programs that we are having so that we can be assured there.

“Because I am sure they themselves are saying they are not CIO, right? They are not part of the system. Well, why don’t you run? If you run and make sure that you are competent and you are committed to bring about change in your community we will support you.”

For Dr Manyika’s full story please watch video below