BREAKING NEWS: CIO, Soldier Killed In Rusape Suspicious Accident

A soldier reported to belong to the Central Intelligence Organisation, was on Friday morning found dead and his body in pieces on a rail line close to Rusape, expelled ZANU PF Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa’s home area.
The man who cannot be named until relatives have been informed, was found dead with his body bruised in ways too gross for the print.
Two witnesses have said he was accidentally killed by a passing train having ‘strayed’ into a locomotive’s way.

Stripped Naked Exposing Private Parts
But pictures in ZimEye.com’s possession show the man’s hand crushed on the tracks but the rest of his body which was fairly intact, being bent to one side. Suspicion that he was murdered was further fuelled by the fact that his trousers were on the spot found half stripped while exposing his private parts.
His death comes after two intelligence agents died following a suspicious car accident close to Chiredzi, in which their vehicle was not only burnt up, but exploded into several parts.
A comment from the police could not be obtained at the time of writing as telephones were not being answered.
WARNING: Disturbing pictures (below) . To access the FULL UNCENSORED pictures, readers may Whatsapp a subscribe request to ZimEye.com +447426963301

Zim Dancehall thrives on the Kombi Economy which government is destroying in 2016
DESPITE dancehall musician Tocky Vibes’s win of two National Merit Awards 2015 edition (NAMA), analysts are of the view that the genre has reached its epic and is now on the decline.
Tocky, real name, Obey Makamure got away with two awards in both the Outstanding Song and Outstanding Album categories at a colourful ceremony held at 7 Arts Theatre in Avondale on Saturday night, representing the rise of Dance Hall music.
In an interview on the future prospects of Dance Hall Music, social analyst, Alexander Rusero argues that should the fortunes of the country’s economy change, the genre is likely to suffer a natural death.
“Zim Dance Hall tends to have a niche` market on the unemployed youths and the majority of Commuter Omnibus drivers and their assistance where the tunes are always humming in the omnibuses’ stereos all day.
“Now given the Government’s move to ban and outlaw Kombis starting in 2016, it means Zim Dancehall is also under siege,” he said.
Rusero went on to argue that if the country’s unemployment problems are to be reduced, the genre will also be affected.
“Should unemployment levels be reduced through robust employment creation programmes like road construction, the decrease in unemployment will also realise a decrease in the popularity of this genre,” said Rusero.
However, Godfrey Bakasa, a manager for one Dance Hall musician, Seh Calaz argues that as long as Jamaican Dance Hall music is in existence, Zim Dance Hall will not die.
“Zimbabwean Dance Hall music is a reflection of Jamaican Dance Hall and the only difference is that we sing in Shona.
“So, as long as Jamaican Dance Hall is in existence, Zim Dance Hall will continue to survive,” he argued.
Furthermore, he said people may predict what they want, but “as long as people continue producing the music, the genre will not die.”
The sentiments leading to the predictions of Zim Dance Hall demise are largely coming from the demise of Urban Grooves music, a genre that took Zimbabwe by storm in the early 2000s.
Writing back in 2009, former radio DJ, Musavengana Nyasha, argue that Urban Grooves was not going to survive because it was not originally Zimbabwean.
“Zimbabweans love their music to bits, and of this there can be no doubt.
“That is why they do not spend their hard-earned cash on urban grooves.
“If you will permit me to say so, urban grooves are not Zimbabwean.
“Singing over foreign music in Shona does not make it local.
“The fact that it is Zimbabweans singing the music still doesn’t make it local,” he wrote then.
As it is, it remains to be seen if Dance Hall will survive into the future.

February 20, 2015

Zimbabwe Fashion Week UK: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

Birmingham plays host to Zimbabwe Fashion Week UK this year, with emerging designers from Zimbabwe showcasing their designs in this first of its kind exhibition. The fashion event will take place at The Crown Banqueting Hall, Birmingham on July 4th.

grace_beast — Grace the female beast – caricature by Shiellah Sibanda

February 19, 2015

Murder Accused Gibson Mazikana Court Hearing Cancelled

The murder case against UK based Shonhiwa Gibson Mazikana who was due to appear at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, was yesterday cancelled.
The case is now to be heard on April 23.
Mazikana charged with the murder of his girlfriend and Uxbridge mum-of-two Emily Munemo, had his court appearance at the Old Bailey cancelled. He was due to appear at the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court for a preliminary hearing having last appeared at Uxbridge magistrates’ court on February 4 after being arrested on Monday the 2nd February.
It was yesterday decided that the hearing was not needed.
He is now thus scheduled to appear at a plea and case management hearing on April 23.
Mazikana was charged with murder following the death of Ms Munemo, 41, at a home in Collingwood Road, Uxbridge on January 30. Munemo was found stabbed twice dying barely two hours later. VIDEO RELATED:

Gibson Mazikana to Remain In Jail: Emily Munemo Murder Trial

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The murder trial of the spouse of 41-year-old mum of two Emily Munemo slain in cold blood last week Friday,…Read More »

BREAKING NEWS: Gibson Mazikana Appears In Court, Charged With Emily Munemo’s Murder

A young mother from Mangwe district was rushed to Plumtree hospital after killing her seven-month baby boy and trying to take her own life by drinking termite poison following a dispute with her lover.
Thokozile Ndebele, 18, who stays wit her grandparents at Guqukani Village in Tshitshi area,fed her baby with the termite poison before drinking it herself on Monday evening.
She was saved by her grandparents who rushed her to Plumtree District Hospital but her son, Conwell Mhlanga died.
Chief Tshitshi who is Ndebele’s grandfather confirmed the incident which occurred at his cousin’s homestead around 10PM.
“I was shocked to learn of this tragedy this morning. It appears that Thoko was having problems with the father of her child.
I learnt that before committing this terrible act my granddaughter left a suicide note saying she was having problems with her lover. It’s a pity that the life of an innocent baby was lost in this incident.” said Chief Tshitshi.
Motilia Nyathi, Ndebele’s grandmother described the incident saying she heard her granddaughter screaming while she was asleep and rushed to investigate.
She found the seven month old baby lying on the bed while Ndebele was writhing in pain on the floor.
“There was a bottle of termite poison on the floor and the chemical was all over my grandson’s clothes. I immediately knew that Thokozile had given it to him. The baby was dead and I couldn’t help but imagine the pain he went through before dying.” said Nyathi.
She alerted her husband and other neighbours who assisted to ferry her granddaughter to hospital in the middle of the night.
Ndebele is admitted at Plumtree District Hospital under police guard and has said her lover Kidiboni Mhlanga, had been mistreating her.
The young woman who appeared to be in severe pain as she was struggling to speak, said her lover got angry after she dumped him for being involved with several women.
Ndebele said thereafter Mhlanga started threatening to kill her.
“I was fed up of being tortured and threatened by Kidiboni and I thought killing myself would be the best option. He is always sleeping around with different women and I told him that our relationship was over.
He didn’t want to take it. I took termite poison which was stored at home and drank it together with my son while I was in my bedroom .” said Ndebele.
She said she recalls feeding her son with the poison and thereafter he started crying and wriggling on the bed.
Ndebele said she ignored her baby’s cries and went on to drink the termite poison herself. She said she later woke up in hospital, in great pain.
“I’m struggling to eat and I can’t even sit. I’m in great pain. I just wanted to die and I didn’t want my baby to remain without a mother because I’m also an orphan. I know how painful it feels to live without a mother. I wanted to take him with me,” said Ndebele.
Matabeleland South provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Philani Ndebele confirmed the incident.
He said investigations were still underway.
Cases of suicide have become rampant among youths. Recently an 18-year-old boy from Empandeni in Mangwe District committed suicide by drinking a mixture of dip chemical and rat poison after being scolded by his mother.
Another 18-year-old from Magwegwe Suburb in Bulawayo hanged himself at his parents’ house while a 15-year-old from the same area committed suicide by drinking a poisonous chemical after his girlfriend dumped him.
A 19-year-old Plumtree teenager last month committed suicide in a bushy area near his aunt’s house by hanging himself over unclear circumstances.-chronicle

February 19, 2015

Striking University Lecturer Met Chinamasa Did they Demand an End to Corruption?

In the mid-1990s I had the opportunity to meet the leading Trade Union leader (it will be not be necessary to name him). Gone were the ease years of the 1980s when on the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe announced hefty pay increases for the all the workers across the board and have price controls on many goods and services. All that ended when the Zanu PF government accepted its first World Bank/ International Monetary Fund (WB/IMF) sponsored five-year Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP); price controls ended and workers were instructed to negotiate with the employers wage increases.
I spend an evening trying to explain to the Trade Union Leader why it was important to take into consid-eration the rate of inflation, amongst other factors, in deciding what wage increase to ask for. He did not understand what I was talking about. It does not how much one may try to gloss over this, knowledge is important; those whose actions are guided by knowledge have prospered whilst those who have blundered from pillar to post have suffered.
Two related stories occurred to illustrate the critical importance of knowledge. The first story was about lecturers in Zimbabwe’s State Universities going on strike to demand payment of their January salary and 2014 bonus. Whilst all the other civil servant had finally been paid their January wages and the bonus they had been singled out with no explanation from the employer, government.
The second story was on how the national army had reportedly muscled in on a $4.8 billion platinum mining project.
“The ministry also wants the benefits of the deal to accrue to Zimbabweans and treasury, rather than the army. We don’t want a repeat of the Chiadzwa scenario where the country is not truly benefiting from its diamonds. The army partnered the Chinese in mining diamonds, but the country has nothing to show for the resource,” a source in the Ministry of Mines told the Mail and Guardian newspaper.
It is a matter of record that former finance minister Tendai Biti and the current incumbent, Patrick China-masa, have complained about the diamond revenue not being properly accounted for. The late Zanu PF MP Chindori Chininga went even further and said in a parliamentary report in 2013 that the diamond mining in Chiadzwa and Marange was going on 24/7, the gems were shipped out of the country as quickly as they are extracted and that no one in the Zimbabwe government knew anything about diamonds; their size, quality, value, who was buying and selling them, etc.
In a rare moment of concern for the nation interest, the then Vice President Joice Mujuru complained of how in India a who city had sprung up to cut, make jewellery, diamond tools, etc. from diamonds imported from Zim-babwe.
Some people have valued Chiadzwa and Marange diamonds at a staggering $800 billion. Partnership Africa Canada, a Canadian NGO, estimated that Mugabe earned a staggering $2 billion from his share of the diamond looting in 2012 alone! The looting and plunder going on there is absolutely shocking.
According to the Mail and Guardian report Mugabe was set to approve the Army muscling in on the platinum mining deal. The upshot of that Russian and Zimbabwe National Army consortium would not pay any taxes for the first five years of the project. Not content with the looting and plunder of the diamonds the country’s ruling elite want to loot and plunder the platinum mines too.
International organisation have flatly refused to classify Zimbabwe as a poor country and write off it’s $10 billion debt because Zimbabwe is NOT a poor country. If the country’s wealth and riches were managed properly there is no reason why Zimbabwe should not be one of the richest and most prosperous nations on earth.
One expected the Trade Union Leader to know what inflation is all about. I expected the State University to know what inflation is about and more significantly to know of Zimbabwe’s true economic potential and the criminal waste of resources such as diamonds through corruption and looting.
A delegation of the striking State University lecturers was scheduled to meet a high powered government team headed by Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa and the deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Dr Godfrey Gandawa, to ensure their salaries are paid on time in future. Whilst I would have not expected my Trade Union friend to raise the matter of the criminal waste of the national mineral wealth through corruption and looting, I would expect the lecturers to raise it as a matter of cause because it is the root cause of govern-ment’s financial problems.
The Lecturer and government official meeting was chalked to take place on Monday 18th February 2015 I had not seen report on what was discussed; still I am cock sure the lecturers did not raise the issue of corruption and looting. This begs the questions; if University Lecturers do not know that corruption and looting are the root causes behind Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown what hope is there that my aunt in the rural back waters will know that?
If University Lecturers know that corruption and looting are indeed the root causes behind Zimbabwe’s eco-nomic meltdown, in which they too have been not been spared of the economic hardships, but are too cowardly to raise these critical issues with government officials; who do they expect to do so?

The United States government has poured into Zimbabwe $2.6Billion in the space of just 360 months. The US embassy writes refuting claims in the State Media that the western nation gave $850 million in funds to Zimbabwe NGOs between 2011 and 2014.

FULL TEXT:

The February 16 edition of The Herald newspaper published a page one article that carried a great deal of misinformation regarding USAID support to the NGO sector in Zimbabwe. One of the greatest pieces of erroneous information was contained in the headline itself, which asserted that the United States provided $850 million in funds to Zimbabwe NGOs between 2011 and 2014. We would like to set the record straight:

Fact: In Zimbabwe, USAID provides funding to improve food security, increase agricultural production and farmer incomes, support economic resilience and develop small businesses, promote civil society and democratic engagement, and provide health services to save lives.

Fact: In FY 2014, the U.S. Government provided approximately $160 million in assistance to Zimbabwe, $130 million of which went to improving health services for Zimbabweans in areas including HIV AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, nutrition, maternal/child health and reproductive health.

Fact: For more than 30 years, the American people, through USAID, have provided over $2.6 billion in assistance to the people of Zimbabwe, including significant food aid and emergency relief during times of critical need.

Fact: The U.S. Government works with a variety of partners and organizations and adheres to the highest standards for accountability for U.S. funds. The U.S. Government takes seriously allegations regarding misuse of resources. The USAID Office of the Inspector General is an independent office responsible for investigating such claims.

Joining XANU PF?...Morgan Tsvangirai — Abused…Morgan Tsvangirai

In an unexpected turn of events, former Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa has called on all democratic forces, including opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, to join him in the “real Zanu PF” to rescue the country from its current political and economic crises.
In an apparent response to the weekend appeal by MDC national executive member Nelson Chamisa, for Mutasa and other disaffected Zanu PF stalwarts to join hands with the MDC as the only way to defeat what he called the spectre of tyranny in the country, Mutasa said yesterday that this was not the solution.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily News, the Headlands legislator said it did not make sense “to leave a vibrant organisation (the real Zanu PF), notwithstanding the challenges” it was facing at the moment.
“No, we cannot join the MDC. If anything, they should come and join Zanu PF because we are the biggest party.
“Everyone in MDC was once in Zanu PF, including Tsvangirai. So, it should be them who come to Zanu PF, not the other way round,” Mutasa said.
He said even though he and other Zanu PF officials, including former vice president Joice Mujuru, had been treated unfairly by their erstwhile colleagues in the Zanu PF that emerged post the party’s disputed “elective” congress that was held in Harare last December, he would never leave the “real Zanu PF” and join another party.
“I have never left Zanu PF and I will never leave the party. I am in the old Zanu PF and I belong in that Zanu PF. However, I am not in the illegal Zanu PF and that one I do not recognise,” Mutasa said.
Addressing party supporters in Kuwadzana on Sunday, Chamisa said it was good that Mutasa and other prominent Zanu PF members now agreed with the MDC that the ruling party had too many “fatal deficiencies” to be allowed to continue misruling the country.
“We call upon people like Mujuru, Mutasa and all other democratic forces to come and join Tsvangirai. I even told Mutasa come, come, come and unite with us as Zimbabweans to extricate the country from the economic mess that it finds itself in,” Chamisa said.
The Kuwadzana East legislator said all democratic forces should take advantage of Tsvangirai’s massive grassroots support and coalesce around him if they entertained any hopes of dislodging Zanu PF from power.
But Mutasa, who maintains that he is still the bona fide Zanu PF secretary for administration, said opposition parties interested in democracy instead should join the “real Zanu PF” to advance the interests of all Zimbabweans.
Meanwhile, the ruling party’s disciplinary committee, headed by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, that will decide Mutasa’s fate is set to start its work soon, following the return of First Lady Grace Mugabe from her long Far East sojourn, where she allegedly underwent a minor medical operation.
But even then, there is apparently serious disagreement among Zanu PF hardliners about how to deal with the dissenting former Presidential Affairs minister, who is also contemplating dragging Zanu PF to court.
Although Mugabe and his legal advisors have warned Mutasa against taking the court route, Mutasa is undeterred and insists that the party should repudiate its December congress and return to a more democratic dispensation.
Well-placed sources told the Daily News yesterday that while some of the hawks were agitating for Mutasa’s summary dismissal from the party — as had happened with former war veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda and former spokesperson Rugare Gumbo — others were not sure that this would serve the warring party’s interests.
Grace demonstrated the immense power she now wields in Zanu PF when Cabinet ministers, service chiefs and Zanu PF bigwigs scrambled to Harare International Airport to welcome her back to the country on Sunday after she had been away in the Far East for more than two months.
Most observers were agreed that the fact that senior government and Zanu PF officials had felt compelled to converge at the airport to welcome her back to Zimbabwe in the manner that they did spoke volumes about how much political power she now wielded in the country.
President Robert Mugabe himself admitted during the ruling party’s damp squib “elective” congress that was held in Harare late last year that Grace now often directed him what to do.
There was much pomp and ceremony as Grace arrived at the airport, with one senior Zanu PF official who spoke to the Daily News describing her welcome as “fitting for a Queen”.
“She (Grace) is now probably the most powerful politician in Zimbabwe, which is why her welcome back to the country today almost rivalled the treatment that the president gets when he returns from his trips abroad.
“To not go and pay homage to Amai at the moment amounts to virtual political suicide and everyone knows this. Her welcome was fitting for a Queen,” the central committee member who requested anonymity said.
Among the bigwigs at the airport were Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi, Foreign Affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, politburo member Shuvai Mahofa and fast-rising Youth league boss Pupurai Togarepi.
Mugabe himself only came back from the family holiday late last month, claiming at the time that he had left his wife in the Far East recuperating, after she had undergone a medical operation. Mugabe reportedly sneaked out of the country a few days ago so that he would accompany his wife home.
Speaking at the welcome party, Togarepi wasted no time in reminding the gathered Zanu PF bigwigs that it was in fact “Comrade Stop It”, as Grace is now popularly known in party circles, who was in control.
He bluntly told them that the honeymoon was over for those who had taken advantage of her absence to misbehave and frustrate the ruling party’s youths.
“We are happy as the Youth League that mother (Grace) you are back. We were being persecuted when you were away. When a mother is not there, others take advantage and push you, but this is our time to report them to you” he said to loud applause. -DailyNews

February 17, 2015

‘HIV Spreaders’ Should Not Be Imprisoned, Lawyers Take Govt to Court

The Constitutional Court is on Wednesday going to rule whether the laws which make it a criminal offence for someone who would have infected his or her partner with HIV are constitutional or not.
The argument was bought by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for human Rights last year after the conviction of two Zimbabwean women by the courts two years ago for deliberately infecting their partners, and is based on the constitutionality of the law versus the new constitution promulgated in 2013. The Constitutional Court is on Wednesday going to rule whether the laws which make it a criminal offence for someone who would have infected his or her partner with HIV are constitutional or not.
The argument was brought by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for human Rights last year after the conviction of two Zimbabwean women by the courts two years ago for deliberately infecting their partners preside over the constitutionality of the law versus the new constitution promulgated just before the 2013 general elections.
The law in context states that any person knowing that he or she is infected with HIV, or realizing that there is a real risk or possibility that he or she is infected with HIV intentionally does anything or permits the doing of anything which he or she knows will infect or does anything which he or she realizes involves a real risk or possibility of infecting another person with HIV, shall be guilty of deliberate transmission of HIV whether or not he or she is married to that person, and shall be liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twenty years.
In its (ZLHR) arguments, their case is that there is no scientific evidence to prove the source of HIV infection which could be brought before the courts when two parties are being tried.
The rights lobby group said the conviction of such persons were done on who first reports accusing another as opposed to basing on evidence which is not easy to come by.
Three lawyers Tabani Mpofu,Lizwe Jamela and David Hofisi have been delegated by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human rights to argue the case.

February 17, 2015

Mugabe to Butcher Endangered Elephants for Food at His Birthday

President Robert Mugabe is set to butcher giant elephants at his birthday celebrations.
Mugabe who turns 91 this week, is set to slaughter Zimbabwe’s endangered species at celebrations held by his party ZANU PF.
A report by the Chronicle said a prominent farmer, Tendai Musasa had pledged to donate two elephants, two buffalos, two sables, five impalas and a lion worth a combined $120 000 towards the president’s birthday bash that will be held on 28 February.
According to The Guardian the conservationists have branded the plans as unethical.
Musasa said this was his way of supporting the function and to ensure a celebratory mood.
He said the donation was “a perfect gesture”, adding that the animals would be slaughtered a few days ahead of the big day with the meat being stored by a local hotel.
“This is totally unethical”
But the chairperson of Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force Johnny Rodrigues said he was not in favour of anyone donating wild animals for a celebration or any other reason.
“They have been doing this for years now. Every time there is a celebration…, several elephants and buffalo are killed for the celebrations. This is totally unethical and should not be allowed,” Rodrigues was quoted as saying.
Mugabe’s government is already under fire for a plan to ship at least 62 baby elephants to China, the United Arab Emirates and France.
The country’s tourism minister last month said the southern African country was overpopulated with African jumbos, adding that Zimbabwe needed to urgently reduce the animals’ population.
According to Huffington Post, at least 20 000 people are expected to attend the lavish celebrations just outside Victoria Falls. News24.com/Additional Reporting

February 17, 2015

“Thank God there Are No Rains, Let’s See if MDC Will Feed You’ says MP

ZANU PF Member of Parliament for Gwanda North Madodana Sibanda and his fellow ZANU PF community leaders in ward 11 of his constituency have celebrated the poor rainfall in the area warning villagers that those aligned to the opposition will starve to death.
Addressing villagers at Ntalale in Gwanda North over the weekend, the legislature supported by his compatriots warned the villagers that the area is bound for a poor harvest this year and government food relief will be needed and only those “loyal to ZANU PF will be accorded the food aid.”
The MP openly told the villagers that those loyal to the opposition MDC factions will be fed by the MDCs not government.
“I hope you can all see that this year is bound to be a drought, so please when we come with food aid those not loyal to us should not even bother coming to us for food aid but go to their MDC As, Ns and Ts,” Sibanda said.
According to people who attended the meeting which was convened as a ward developmental meeting, they were stunned when the MP and his entourage began chanting ZANU PF slogans and speaking ZANU PF business instead of developmental issues.
Some people are reported to have tried to leave the gathering but were forced to remain in the gathering by ZANU PF regalia dressed marshals who threatened them with violence if they left the meeting.
The angry villagers told this media that the communities of Ward 11 in the constituency have been sending numerous complaints about their ZANU PF councillor who has not done “anything” for them since elections but instead get victimised for complaining. According to the villagers they are continuously being exposed to ZANU PF intimidation for them to be loyal to ZANU PF against their will.
ZANU PF won the Gwanda North constituency winning two council wards out of eleven and ward 11 was where the party got its biggest number of votes of close to 2000 voters. Opposition parties claim that ZANU PF bussed in thousands of people from near by ward 12 of Gwanda South to register and vote in the ward.

February 17, 2015

Enjoy Your Life Now

Enjoy your life now. Do not wait for tomorrow. Do not wait for something to happen before you enjoy your life.
Enjoy when you are broke, because you still have your life.
Enjoy when you are sick because you still have life.
Enjoy when you are single because marriage life can be rocky.
Enjoy when you are alone because some company can be quit discouraging.
Enjoy when you do not own a house because not all home owners are happy.
Enjoy your current boss, who knows, you might be the boss tomorrow.
Enjoy your job, children, neighbourhood, family because some don’t even have them.
Enjoy the heat, the cold and the wind. Enjoy the view, the fresh air and the birds.
Enjoy your life because there are a lot of moments to enjoy in your life. Find them and treasure them.
Enjoy who you are because you are not an accident. God designed you like that and placed you in your family for a bigger purpose.
Enjoy your looks. There are people who may not like them, but there are still a lot of people who adore them.
Enjoy your spouse. Find and notice the goodness in him or her because they are the reason you married him or her.
Enjoy your calling. Be confident in it. You were designed to fulfil a specific function. This is where you fit best.
Enjoy today because there is always a reason not to enjoy.
And you will be amazed that if someone got a chance to live your life as today, he or she will be the happiest person in the world.
If you enjoyed this article, share it with your most favourite friends!
Please share your thoughts, ideas and comments below!
© Copyright 2014 by It’s My Footprint, www.itsmyfootprint.com/

February 17, 2015

Mphoko Blasted by Tsvangirai on Gukurahundi

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC writes blasting Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko on his controversial views about Gukurahundi.
Genocide is defined as the systematic destruction of all or a significant part of a racial, ethnic, religious or national group. According to public international law , genocide is a crime against humanity. It is a notorious fact that from the early to the mid – 1980s, more than 20 000 civilians were massacred in the Midlands and Matebeleland provinces by the North Korean – trained Fifth brigade. Pregnant women were bayoneted and thrown into open graves whilst men and women were buried alive in a gruesome manner that would make the savagery and brutality of ISIL, Boko Haram and Al Shabab look like child’s play.
Recent remarks by Phelekezela Mphoko to the effect that the Gukurahundi massacres were a conspiracy by the West are therefore in extreme bad taste, insensitive and grossly offensive to both the victims and survivors of this genocide.
Indeed, all peace – loving and patriotic Zimbabweans have been offended and insulted by Mphoko’s insensitive and irresponsible remarks. The Gukurahundi genocide is a very sad chapter of Zimbabwe’s post – independence history and we expect senior political leaders in the mould of Phelekezela Mphoko to be extremely cautious whenever they find it necessary to make a comment on this dark phase of our country’s history. The fact of the matter is that the ZanuPF regime led by Robert Mugabe planned and ruthlessly executed the Gukurahundi genocide with devastating and chilling brutality. Indeed, Mugabe is on public record as having referred to Gukurahundi as ” a moment of madness.”
As the MDC, we have always advocated for the need to bring closure to be sad story of Gukurahundi. Put simply, the Gukurahundi genocide cannot and indeed, shouldn’t be wished away.It has to be addressed holistically and conclusively in order to bring and foster lasting peace and tranquillity in Zimbabwe.
Victims and survivors of the Gukurahundi genocide should be clearly identified and compensated. In fact, there is a compelling need for a wholesale counselling programme to be instituted for both the survivors and the known perpetrators of the heinous Gukurahundi genocide. It is against this background that the remarks by Phelekezela Mphoko should be seen as flying in the face of the national healing process that he is , ironically, supposed to be heading. Mphoko is a complete and utter disgrace to all right – thinking, democratic and peace – loving Zimbabweans.
Whilst we appreciate that he is singing for his supper and he is desperate to please his political master, he cannot be allowed to get away with such irresponsible and highly inappropriate and provocative remarks. As the largest and most popular political party in Zimbabwe, the MDC hereby calls for the immediate resignation of Phelekezela Mphoko as the Republic of Zimbabwe’s second Vice President. This man is completely unsuitable to hold any position of responsibility in any government anywhere in the civilised world. Mphoko should also proceed to specifically proffer an unconditional apology to all the victims and survivors of the Gukurahundi genocide. The apology should also be extended to all the people of Zimbabwe.
MDC: EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL

Obert Chaurura Gutu
MDC National Spokesperson

February 17, 2015

IN PICTURES: Instant Justice for a Cellphone Thug

A Bulawayo Cell phone thug was at the weekend given a “thorough bashing” after he was caught in the act pick pocketing a cellphone from a woman, before handing it over to an accomplice who fled with the gadget from the scene.
The unidentified cellphone robber was then forced to eat a humble pie, after he agreed to help the victim to recover her handset from his accomplice, who had already gone with the handset. The thorough bashing from the surrounding mob left him pleading for mercy.
“Please lingangibulali ifoni yenu iyaphenduka, ngiyacela bantu – please don’t kill me your phone is going to be recovered”. The unidentified thief began to the sizeable crowd as it delivered instant justice on him.
He was captured being whisked away to the nearest police post, but not before he was given a few more bashes, soon after losing his teeth, after receiving several kicks from the mob.

It is a serious crime to take the law into one’s hands by attacking an accused person but efforts to obtain a comment from the crowd on why they were choosing to break the law, were fruitless as emotions continued to rise against the accused.

February 17, 2015

Chinamasa Begs EU To Lift Mugabe Travel-Ban

Finance Min Patrick Chinamasa and Danish Minister of Trade and Cooperation Development, Mogens Jensen

February 16, 2015

Mugabe Must Go Demo in London

Zimbabwean diaspora groups are joining forces in London on Saturday 21^st February to demand that the Mugabe regime steps down to allow a peaceful end to the economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe which has caused massive unemployment and widespread poverty.

The occasion is Mugabe’s 91^st birthday which comes at a time when his physical and mental decline has become an international joke even as he assumed the chairmanship of the African Union.

‘Robert Mugabe’s last birthday in office’ is the theme of the protest, which has been organised by Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC. The gathering will be addressed by people including Wilbert Mukori of the Zimbabwe Social Democrats who says: ‘People must understand that doing nothing is no longer an option; it is doing nothing that has led the nation into this mess and doing nothing will leave only one way out – a violent revolutionary route’.

The organisations taking part are: the Zimbabwe Vigil and its associates: Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) and Zimbabwe Yes We Can, MDC-T UK (also USA, Canada, Australia and South Africa), Zimbabwe African People’s Union UK (ZAPU-UK), Occupy Africa Unity Square (OAUS UK), Zimbabweans United for Democracy (ZUNDE), Zimbabwe Social Democrats and the Swaziland Vigil.

While we protest outside the Embassy, Mugabe will apparently be tucking into elephant steaks at a birthday party at the Victoria Falls. We understand that Zanu PF caterers have ordered two elephants to satisfy the jumbo appetite of the incompetent and corrupt Mugabe Mafia.

Details

Time and Date: from 2 – 6 pm on Saturday 21^st February

Venue: outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 439 Strand, London WC2R 0JR

Photo opportunities: singing, dancing and drumming. Dancers will demonstrate Mugabe’s latest dance moves.

Nearest station: Charing Cross

February 16, 2015

Temba Mliswa Should Face the Wrath Now!

In the interest of the ruling ZANU-PF party, it is quite critical there is need to consider the expulsion of Temba Mliswa as an urgent issue. Mliswa’s contact is inconsistent with a true ZANU-PF cadre who stands to perpetuate the party’s aspirations which are anchored on unity, peace and development.
It is crystal clear that Mliswa is an instrument for controversy and division in the party ever since. One thinks it is prudent for ZANU-PF to expel Mliswa along-side his Uncle, Didymus Mutasa who is equally a liability than an asset to the party.
Mliswa puts the reputation of the party into disrepute by his lack of personal discipline. But the recent discovery of seven illegal AK 47 rifles in his possession is quite puzzling. This puts his intentions into question. He is such a suspicious personality.
I think it is detrimental to keep this man in the party for he can erode the public image of the party. He is in the habit of causing a reign of terror in Mashonaland West. He is feared by all fellow party members for his rascal behaviour. This is a real threat to the fabric and cohesion of the party.
This is the time to exorcise the party of all demonic persons like Mliswa so that all energies can be focused towards national development as propelled by ZIM ASSET.

February 16, 2015

Harare Bans Chicken Backyard Rearing

HARARE City council has banned the rearing of chickens in backyards saying this was against by laws.
Director of Health Services Dr Prosper Chonzi insisted that council by-laws (1962) have to be respected.
“No poultry house shall be placed nearer than three metres from any boundary or nearer than six metres from premises used for human habitation,” he reminded residents. “No person shall keep any poultry by reasons of continued crowing, quacking clucking, gobbling or like noise tends to destroy the comfort of neighbourhood.”
He said those found on the wrong side of the law will be prosecuted. Howeversaid the poultry projects were their only source of income adding that not every unemployed person could sell tomatoes and trinkets.
“I lost my job in June last year and, with my $200 retrenchment package I started keeping poultry for sell. This is my only source of income; how do they want me to survive with my family,” said Milton Moyo from Budiriro 5 high density suburb.
A Mt Pleasant resident said the city needs to change its outdated by-laws as life in Zimbabwe has changed.
“They wrote to me saying that if I continue to keep poultry I will be prosecuted but this is my house,” declared Tim Mandishona.
“The said neighbours are my customers and they never complained about any noise. We will meet in court! “This Smith regime law must be abolished to suit our Zimbabwean way of living.”
Mandishona said if the local authority felt residential areas were not ideal then it must provide them with alternative places to operate from.
Most residents in Harare are making a killing by keeping poultry in their backyards as customers shun South African imports which they say are genetically modified and tasteless.

February 16, 2015

Bosso Fails to Beat Bulawayo City

HIGHLANDERS FC are still searching for their first pre-season win despite their coach Bongani Mafu expressing satisfaction with his team’s preparations for the new season.

Yesterday, the Bulawayo giants played their third official pre-season game against Zifa Southern Region Division One Soccer league newboys Bulawayo City who held them to a goalless draw at Barbourfields Stadium.

It was the first time that Highlanders has failed to score, having played to identical 1-1 draws with Chapungu and FC Platinum at home.

They paraded their new signings Obadiah Tarumbwa, Teenage Hadebe and Nqobizitha Masuku who played the first half and imposed themselves well before being pulled out at half time.

Tarumbwa played as a silent striker, coming from the midfield and showed some deft touches but never got an opportunity to force a save from Bulawayo City’s goalkeeper Ndodana Sibanda.

Teenage partnered Douglas Sibanda in central defence and exerted himself well while Masuku was paired with Welcome Ndiweni in central midfield and was on top of his game.

Highlanders’ first chance at goal came at the stroke of halftime when Thomas Chideu twisted and turned in the box before firing a shot that was pushed for a corner by a well positioned Ndodana. From the resultant corner, Bulawayo City’s goalie dived to his right to punch away a Knox Mutizwa goal-bound header off a Bruce Kangwa cross.

Ndodana kept Bulawayo City in the game with two stunning saves first tipping for a corner a Chideu dipping long-range volley eight minutes into the second half before denying Douglas a spectacular goal in the 77th minute.

Bulawayo City seemed comfortable to get a draw and never troubled Highlanders goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda who was a spectator throughout the game.

Despite failing to find the back of the net, Highlanders coach Mafu said his combinations are coming through and they will soon start “smacking” opponents.

“One of these days someone will get smacked for real. I liked the way the players responded in the second half because in the first stanza we gave our opponents too much respect but I told them during the break that they have to go back and enjoy their football. I told them that they have to entertain the crowd so that they come back next week and I must say the boys went a gear up and were unfortunate not to get a goal,” said Mafu.

“We now have a team at Highlanders and you can see that they are good players. I still need a right back though but if we fail to get one we are going to try the young man (Lewis Ncube) and give him game time until he improves.”

Bulawayo City coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube was full of praise for his goalkeeper who kept them in the game and was content with his team’s overall performance.

“I was surprised that we managed to hold a Highlanders side that is better than us in terms of fitness. You could tell that we struggled with transition going forward and vice versa. However, I’m happy with how we played and even our goalkeeper did well to keep us in the game with brilliant saves,” Ncube said.

Teams

Bulawayo City: Ndodana Sibanda, Tawanda Chikore, Khumbulani Dube (Terrence Majo, 51st minute), Zibusiso Sibanda, Brighton Dube, Xolisani Moyo, Innnocent kutsanzira (Mlamuli Phakathi, 66th minute), Warren Dube (Bekithemba Ngwenya, 51st minute), Ntokozo Tshuma, (Trynos Ndlovu, 23rd minute), Eddy Nkulungo (Trevor Ndlovu, 66th minute), Mkhululi Moyo (Qinani Sibanda, 66th minute)

Highlanders: Ariel Sibanda, Lewis Ncube, Douglas Sibanda, Teenage Hadebe (Felix Chindungwe, 46th minute), Julius Daudi, Nqobizitha Masuku (Tendai Ngulube, 46th minute), Bruce kangwa, Knox mutizwa (Rahman kutsanzira, 46th minute), Welcome Ndiweni (Edmore Muzanenhamo, 72nd minute), Thomas Chideu (Ozias Zibande, 72nd minute), Obidiah Tarumbwa (Gabriel Nyoni, 46th minute). – Chronicle

February 16, 2015

BREAKING NEWS : Standard Chartered Bank Shuts Down – Mutoko

British owned commercial bank Standard Chartered Mutoko branch has been downed. The bank, which lost $40 000 fourteen months ago in a mysterious theft that saw the conviction of manager Tafara Ben Maunze and a bank teller Clemence Nkalimo closed its doors last week.
The two, who were sentenced to twenty four months imprisonment and restitution of $20 000 each, were later mysteriously released on bail pending appeal.
ZimEye last year exclusively revealed the magistrate ruling on the case, partying with the convict’s lawyer just after the key hearing. [READ MORE -]

Shut down...Stanchart branch, Mutoko — Shut down…Stanchart branch, Mutoko

Arriving at the property Thursday, only the security guard was left manning the premise.
An official comment form the bank could not be obtained at the time of writing but speculation was that the shutdown was all to do with the failure of the courts to uphold judicial principles.
It was furthermore not clear when or if ever the bank would re-open.
Meanwhile last week, one of the bank’s customer service employees, a Mr Maphosa, was said to have already been paid his benefits in cash amounting to $44 000.

February 16, 2015

Lecturers’ Strike Continues One Week – COMMENT

Musavengana Hove| Almost a week has elapsed since lecturers at Zimbabwe’s state universities began their strike over non-payment of last years’ bonuses and delay in payment of their January salaries.
Government’s failure to pay civil servants is well-known by now but what staggers the mind is the docile climate that has come to characterise state universities. It is compelling to write off student activism as a phenomenon past its prime. Student activism used to be no mean power broker in Zimbabwe during the 1990s. When students used to project freely themselves the government used to listen to their clamour. The power that used to be associated with student leaders was something to be considered by the government when dealing with issues critical for the smooth-running of education system, including the lecturers’ welfare.
Lecturers strike for their own cause, being non-payment by the government not students but if the Student Representative Councils (SRCs) thorough across state universities could come together and fight in solidarity with the lecturers whose rights the government is trampling on, it would be for the good of our higher education system.
The strike by lecturers is an academic battle to restore the dignity and value that was once associated with our education system.
If the SRC leaders were bused to Mazowe to endorse Grace Mugabe whose fast-track PHD is still a talk in Zimbabwe’s academic circles, why should the same “patriotic” student leaders remain quiet when professionals with authentic credentials are being stripped naked by the government.
What is so academic about Grace Mugabe’s accession to the post of secretary of ZANU-PF women’s league?
What is so academic about the relationship between ZINASU and MDC Renewal?
It is not only shameful but uncalled for to see future leaders fight for association in old-fashioned political entities which are not only retrogressive but have DNAs that disregard youthful vitality.
It would be no surprise if the Zimbabwe Congress of Student Organisation (ZICCOSO) was to send a solidarity message to Finance Minister Chinamasa for failing to avail funds to cater for the lecturers’ welfare on time.
It is pathetic to see the once vibrant ZINASU waiting in mendicant fashion for donors and MDC formations to pour in money for them to realise their founding principles and values.
Our “future leaders” have become copies of the old establishment self-evident but shameful reasons.
Student leaders are now frontiers of political parties not the students they claim to represent.
University students continue to multiply but instead of uniting into a relevant voice that the government can hear, their unions are an unpleasant discord.
The political economy of these unions has turned them into stooges who know nothing as to why they exist.
ZICCOSO waits for the order to strike from ZANU-PF’s commissariat department while ZINASU waits for anyone to give its grease its leaders’ hands for them to wake up to their mandate.
The shameful results are self-evident, that is, the downgrade of our once prestigious higher learning system.
This semester is a decider for thousands of destinies. Dissertations are mid-course and it is the time when students are in the most critical need for lecturers.
When lecturers come back for work, we are likely to see a marathon teaching style where students are going to be taught how to pass exams rather than critical engagement with concepts and theories that apply to their different disciplines.
This partly explains why our universities are now producing half-baked graduates a matter that has been raised by a number of mainstream media.
The development has been attributed to high enrollments exceeding the capacity of lecturers who are up against poor working conditions.
This should be a cause for concern for Zimbabwean students.
It is time students came together to chart a new chapter, with the restoration of dignity in our education system as a starting point.
Student leaders should come out of the decaying institutions in which they are helping to destroy their own future and face reality.
Youths are builders not pallbearers.
Musavengana Hove is a part 4 Journalism and Media studies student at the National University of Science and Technology. Email him [email protected] for feedback

February 16, 2015

Policeman Stabbed Over Whatsapp

A BULAWAYO woman went berserk and stabbed her police officer husband with a fork on his private parts following an argument over WhatsApp messages.
Chengeto Gumbo Kanengoni, 25, who is employed at Mashonaland Turf Club, allegedly went on to stab Joseph Manhokwani once on his right arm and several times on his back before biting him on his left and right upper chest.
She also hit him on the leg with an electric iron. Kanengoni had gone through her husband’s mobile phone and seen a message in which Manhokwani was talking about his mother, with his sister.
The content of the message was not disclosed when Kanengoni appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Marilyne Mtshina facing a charge of domestic violence. Kanengoni was remanded out of custody to February 16.
Prosecuting, Raymond Makhaza told the court that on February 5 at around 7PM, Kanengoni came back from work and found her husband preparing supper when she got inside the house and locked the door.
Makhaza said Manhokwani asked his wife why she had locked the door and Kanengoni told him she went through his phone and came across WhatsApp messages in which they were discussing her mother-in-law.
“The two had a misunderstanding which led to Manhokwani leaving the house for a few hours to avoid quarrelling,” said Makhaza. When Manhokwani came back home the same day at around 10PM they both retired to bed.
The court heard how Kanengoni later woke up and started shouting at her husband. She grabbed a steel kitchen fork and stabbed her husband on his jewels.
Makhaza told the court that Kanengoni went on to bite Manhokwani on his left and right side of the upper chest before hitting him on his right leg with an electric iron.
While Kanengoni was assaulting her husband their neighbour Alouis Chipato came to his rescue and took them to his house where Manhokwani narrated how he was always being threatened by his wife and her sister.
The matter was reported to the police leading to Kanengoni’s arrest. chronicle

February 16, 2015

Baby Niece Raped In Exchange For A Cow

An elderly man from Lupane allegedly tied up his teenage niece on different occasions so that his 59 year old friend could rape her.
Philimon Mlindema Sibanda of Gweshanga Village, who was the girl’s guardian, allegedly went on to force his niece to marry Freddy Ndlovu after a series of rapes, in exchange for a cow.
The two allegedly agreed on the marriage terms at a beer drink.
Ndlovu, also known to villagers as Mareza because they allege he is a serial bed-hopper – would have sex with the girl on the floor while his wife slept on a bed in the same room.
The complainant, from Silwane Village in the same area was 16-years-old when the alleged rape occurred in 2007.
The two elderly men were on Friday dragged before Hwange regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga facing rape charges.
Both denied the crime arguing that the sex was consensual.They were both remanded out of custody to March 4 for continuation of trial.
Ndlovu told the court Sibanda offered him the girl at a beer drink.
“We were at a beer drink with Sibanda when he offered the girl to me. I went to his homestead where he showed me three girls and I chose the complainant and paid a beast as lobola,” he said.
Ndlovu left the court in stitches when the magistrate asked whether the intercourse was consensual.
“Your worship, she agreed because she didn’t pinch me like those other women usually do when they’re forced into sex,” he said.
Sibanda denied tying up his niece and claimed the marriage was consensual as the two were in love.
“I never tied her up, instead she told me she was in love with Ndlovu and they got married properly. I didn’t doubt her since Ndlovu is also called Mareza because of his notoriety with women,” said Sibanda.
The complainant, however, told the court she was forced because her uncle tied her hands so that Ndlovu could have sex with her.
Prosecuting, Tawanda Sigauke told the court that the trial delayed because police could not locate the complainant who had relocated to Botswana with her new husband, after she fled Ndlovu’s homestead.
“On February 2, 2007, Sibanda called the complainant and told her that he had found a husband who wanted to marry her. On February 7, Ndlovu visited the co-accused and Sibanda introduced him to the girl as her husband to be.” said Sigauke
The girl didn’t consent, the court was told.It is alleged that Sibanda demanded and got a beast from Ndlovu.
“On the same night on February 7, Sibanda tied up the complainant’s legs and hands and locked her in the same bedroom hut with Ndlovu. The first accused laid the complainant on the floor, pulled up her skirt,tore off her panties and had sexual intercourse with her without her consent. The accused rested for a while and raped her for the second time without her consent,” said the prosecutor.
The court heard that Sibanda untied his niece in the morning while Ndlovu left for his homestead.
Ndlovu returned to Sibanda’s homestead a few days later.
Sibanda allegedly forced his niece to sleep in the same room with Ndlovu where he allegedly raped her twice at night, it is alleged.
The prosecutor said in the evening the girl fled as Ndlovu wanted to rape her again and she slept at a neighbour’s homestead.
Sibanda followed her and tied her hands before handing her over to Ndlovu who took her to his homestead as a wife.
At home, Ndlovu told the court, he had sex with the girl on the floor while his wife slept on the bed.
The matter came to light when the complainant narrated her ordeal to Lamlela Ncube who then helped her report to the police leading to the two men’s arrest.-chronicle

February 16, 2015

Farmers Fear The Worst As Dry Spell Continues

THE continued dry spell in most parts of the country has seriously affected crops, especially maize, threatening hopes of good yields. The outbreak of armyworms and quelea birds has worsened the situation for maize and sorghum farmers.
The Meteorological Services Department had forecast heavy rains in some parts of the country from Friday last week to tomorrow (Tuesday).
Farmers in the southern parts of the country have lost hope of a harvest and said even if the rains come, the crops would not recover.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union president, Mr Abdul Nyathi, said most farmers in Masvingo, Matabeleland North and South have been severely affected, especially those who planted maize.
“The maize is a write-off and it will never recover even if it rains as we have gone for too long without rains. There is still hope for some small grains if it rains.
“At the moment it is very hot in Gwanda and the crops have wilted.
“The situation is bad and farmers have lost hope.
“The season has been so bad,” he said.
Mr Nyathi said the rains had not been favourable for crop production as they were heavy in some areas causing flooding and leaching while some areas did not receive enough for crop development.
“In some areas maize was affected by leaching and it is yellow and not developing well. This will compromise yields.
“The armyworms have done some damage and now we have received reports of web worm which is affecting maize,” he said.
He said the armyworm outbreak was under control.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Mr Wonder Chabikwa said the crop condition in most parts of the country was good except for the southern regions where maize has been severely affected by the dry spell.
“The southern parts of the country have gone for 10 days without receiving rains and the weather is hot.
“If we get to 14 days without receiving rains most of the crops in the southern region will be a write-off.
“We hope it rains so that those who planted small grains will have food.
“We have encouraged farmers in the dry areas to grow small grains but some of them prefer maize, which they say tastes better,” he said.
Plant Protection and Research Institute director Dr Godfrey Chikwenhere said while the armyworm outbreak was now under control there were new challenges caused by quelea birds and web worm.
“The armyworm is not causing any problems at the moment as the moths are now laying eggs. Quelea birds have wrecked havoc in Mashonaland Central in Muzarabani area and West Nicholson in Matabeleland South.
“We are being assisted by the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority in controlling the birds,” he said.
He said the web worm was affecting maize in Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central and some parts of Mashonaland East, especially areas around Harare.
Dr Chikwenhere said teams from the PPRI and Agritex were on the ground to assess the damage and curb the pest.
He advised farmers to drive away the birds during the day.
Meanwhile, the MSD head of forecasting, Mr Tich Zinyemba, said there will be an increase in rainfall activity across the country, with a bias of heavier falls to the north-east in Mashonaland Provinces; Harare and the North of Manicaland.
“These falls should be increasing gradually as the week progresses with 30mm in 24hrs being expected in some areas. The amounts should gradually decline from north to south.
“Please note that we are experiencing high temperatures at the moment, and therefore these can result in violent storms, in terms of strong winds, hail and lightning. We urge the public to take the necessary precautions to avoid damage to life and property,” he said.
Zimbabwe is expected to receive normal to above normal rains during this season but these are not good for Agriculture.
Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr Joseph Made, has said there was need to invest in irrigation to aid agriculture.
He said due to climate change, farmers could no longer rely on rain-fed agriculture as the patterns were no longer predictable.-herald

February 16, 2015

International Women Day 8th March 2015

By Nomazulu Thata
A second letter to all women in Zimbabwe in preparation for the grand boycott!
“Passive resistance”
Dear Zimbabwe Women of all ethnic societies,
As we slowly and surely approach the international women’s day of the global village: the 8th March 2015, I would like to remind you once more about the grand boycott that we shall all start ceremoniously on the 8th of March. We are all clear about the reasons why we have to make this famous boycott: We are also clear about the objectives why we have to make this passive resistance a success. It is not easy to be part of this grand “passive resistance.” It is the most challenging thing we can do as women of Zimbabwe. But tell me what the alternative to this life is? We are all in this together? I am in the Diaspora and I wish to come home and contribute to the development of Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, I want to work hard like all other well wishing democratic Zimbabweans to make sure that there is bread for all children of all ethnic groups. Give this thought for a moment dear Zimbabwean women, if we sacrifice for a month and bring this regime down we are going to have it better after the government of Zanu PF has gone from the corridors of power. God will hear our cries and bless us with a progressive change of government different from Zanu regime. We just have to brave it and give change of government a chance. This is our moment! Dear women of Zimbabwe let’s make history in our life time and send the despot packing.
I am sure you got it right; it is not advisable to take to the streets to fight the Zanu regime because they will harm us considerably. Passive resistance has worked in most countries and we want to use this non lethal tool to bring down the rot regime of Zanu Pf. Please stay home for the whole month of March. Do not take to the streets as you will be harmed. We shall ask many other women of other countries in the global village to demonstrate with us in spirit and to be with us and make vigils on the 8th of March in remembrance of our plight, our challenges in bringing up families with little or no assistance at all. Remember always that we women of Zimbabwe deserve better than the life we are living at the moment weather you are at home in Zimbabwe or in the Diaspora.
Introspection:
In most progressive countries women have done well. Just to mention a few, we have Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who is alo respected democratic leader in Europe, President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, and President Dilma Rouseff of Brazil. Mrs. Clinton is weighing her options of becoming the first woman President of USA. In Africa we have the President of Liberia, Mrs. Sierloff Johnson; in Central African Republic we have Catharine Samba Panza as President. We have top executive members of big companies performing their tasks at par with their men folk. Ms. Thokozile Mkwananzi is a star in her right, working for a big company: Nissan in USA. Bulawayo should indeed recognize her contributions to the cause our citizens in need of educational assistance and the recognition of Chieftaincy in Mathebeleland. Dr. Lindiwe Chopamba is head of a corporate also in the USA. A brave young lady of Pakistan: Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize, a price she won out of absolute bravery. She will be role model for many girls in the generations to come. In Zimbabwe we have Noviolet Bulawayo who shook the world with numerous literature prices. We are indeed very proud of her. She is our hope for Zimbabwe, she will carry on that message we want to be passed on to further generations of girl-children of Zimbabwe. Indeed we have to celebrate the success of these women of the global village. We women must learn to appreciate the success of other women so that we learn how to appreciate what we have done ourselves.
But these grand developments elsewhere on women and their empowerment are not in Zimbabwe. We approach the International Women’s Day with a very heavy heart, mixed feelings. The former Vice President, Mrs. Joice Mujuru was purged by women who serve patriarchal structures of our societies.(Grace Mugabe and Oppah Muchinguri) While she suffered this there was not a single sign of women demonstrating against this patriarchal brutality of Zanu PF against a widowed woman whose husband was the most decorated soldier in the country. At the same breath, Ms. Priscilla Mishihairabwi-Mushonga is facing the same axe from her boss, Professor Ncube. Again, no single woman in Zimbabwe has protested against this patriarchal brutality on the widowed woman. It tells us a lot how widows are viewed in our society: Inhlamba to say the least. (Culturally a widow is an insult) It would appear casual and normal for women to be used and abused and discarded at will by their male bosses in those institutions of power. Women of Zimbabwe please let’s smell the coffee and work together. We cannot see our women brutalized emotionally, judiciary and physical and we look on without doing anything. Where is women solidarity? We seem not to be aware how much power we have in our hands if we worked together. Mrs. Mujuru’s physical appearance was even mocked, she is ugly, her casual dress code in her own private home scrutinized and judged: (she was wearing a mini skirt! But she was in her home residence and very private.) Who does not know how opulent Mai Mujuru decently dresses when she was on duty as Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
Year 2015 February, fifteen years after the turning of the second millennium, Mugabe was talking to the press in Addis Ababa, having been thrust upon with an AU chairmanship; he says “women can never be equal to men.” The good question is how many men in Zimbabwe share his disposition? It is not surprisingto us in Zimbabwe to hear a nonagenarian uttering nonsense in a world body like the Africa Union to a group of patriarchal, that Mugabe know too well, masquerading as social democrats, as a matter of fact they are all male chauvinists to the core. Evidence of this is that President Zuma of South Africa abuses most vulnerable women to marry himself every year it seems. We shall be told it is the Zulu tradition that allows him to marry as many women as he likes. It is dire poverty and lack of education that make these women go along with it.
To say women can never be equal to men show that Mugabe is now senile and since 1980, Zimbabwe was reduced to a moment of madness. This man is out of touch with the world that is developing exponentially, socially and economic. He thinks analog in a digital world. Does it surprise us then that men in Zimbabwe are seeking cure by having sexual intercourse with toddlers and girl virgins? Such utterances are jovially laughed at by men in the corridors of power. These powerful men will never liberate women, even in their maddest senses. They use women and give them false power in a patriarchal institution to serve them, but some women do not see this until they are brutally purged just like Mai Joyce Mujuru. Painful still for Mai Mujuru, when her husband was killed she came out loud, crushing dissenting voices that questioned the nature of General Mujuru’s death and she was defending that institution that murdered her husband. Then politics is indeed a very dirty game.
It will be challenging to celebrate the international women’s day of 2015. Let’s look at the plight of babies, toddlers, children, young women, mothers and grandmothers in Zimbabwe. How many toddlers, young girls young women have been raped by sick men who are looking for the cure of HIV. How many toddlers have been raped by their grandfathers, uncles, cousin and all those close relatives who were given the hands of trust? How many girl-children have been abused by their own mothers? Recently over two weeks ago the Independent newspaper reported an incident of a five year old toddler who was sacrificed by her own mother for a train fare to travel to South Africa looking for those jobs. When the five year old girl started crying, shouting with pain, resulting from the penis penetration of the man, the mother, who was present in the hut where rape of a toddler took place, did not rescue her, she wanted the mission accomplished, she wanted that money. She waited there to see it to finish and demand the money she wanted from him. How do we explain all this moral decay to ourselves? Apparently the man was not satisfied with the sex with the mother but asked to go for the five year old to square the money he was to pay for sex. This is Zimbabwe for you in 2015.
We are approaching the international women’s year indeed with a heavy heart. There are questions that linger in our minds: how did it happen in my own country Zimbabwe? How did it happen that a 22 year old woman from Mathebeleland North can take a knife and behead her child? Was she mentally ill? How does a woman dweller in a shanty sub-suburbs of Harare intentionally throws her child in the well and the child drowns and dies. She did that because the second man she married did not want her baby of the first relationship. How does a woman plan to give birth alone and throws the baby in the Blair toilet? How much does it take in a woman to abandon a nine year old girl-child at the market and the child becomes a street kid? All these are not isolated cases, but they recur time and again in the social media. We are becoming used to these cases and we no longer empathize with such cases any more but directly judge them: how evil. Sure, to ask all these beautiful morals! We shall never comprehend their mind set, why they did it. The bottom line is that Zimbabwe is in serious dire straits! The police state of Zimbabwe is all out to send these women to jail. It is never asked, why are the moral fibers in the societies decaying to unprecedented levels of the history of the people of Zimbabwe? What corrective should the government do to prevent such heinous crimes, below the pale? While we prepare ourselves for the grand boycott, please make sure there is enough food in the kitchens to avoid going out for shopping. Keep away from unnecessary danger created to harm us women. However we prefer that all nurses and doctors report to work as we are not fighting our own people. Three weeks is a foreseeable time frame that is practical and short and can bring change to our lives forever. Our reasons and objectives are clear:
Reasons for the total boycott: passive resistance
“Women and children are experiencing more acute poverty in Zimbabwe. The number of children suffering from malnutrition has risen to levels not recorded in the country’s history.
Families headed by women are now very common and experience higher levels of poverty than those headed by men. Most Zimbabwean children are not getting even basic primary education. Educational structures have collapsed. Reintroduction of school fees has made primary education almost unattainable for most children, who cannot pay fees in foreign currency. The number of street children in all large towns in Zimbabwe has risen to unprecedented levels. The hardships of life mean mothers and fathers have become less sensitive to the basic needs of their own offspring. A nation with a street population of the magnitude we have in Zimbabwe cannot prosper, because the nation has lost one of its most vital resources: the children who are the future. People with mental and physical handicaps are not given the help they need. People suffering from HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe are advised to have sex with very young girls and sometimes with babies, to rid themselves of the disease.” Young girls: as young as 13 to 14 years are sent for early marriages to alleviate hunger in most rural areas. Boys are now preferred to go to schools than boys because of bare poverty in woman headed homes. Girls will still forfeit schools if they are on monthly periods because they do not have simple sanitary pads. Food insecurities in most parts of Matabeleland and Midlands are not addresses by the government, it’s done selectively, given to those they think they support Zanu PF. The systematic killings that happened in the early 1980s where by 20,000 people of Mathebeleland and Midlands perished, the brutal execution of the farm invasions of the year 2000, the Murambatsvina of 2005, and the brutal killings of the 2008 elections time that saw thousand lose their lives using the killing code: Mavotera papi? Dear women of color these are our genuine objectives why we want this regime to go. Further the First Lady of the land has amassed wealth using diamond returns and has multiple farms, and she has of late made 200 families homeless in Manzou area just to put animals in the area. This should irk us all dear women and girls to do something, we cannot watch this crazy bioscope on our midst and look on. We are not protected by this government at all, our young women and girls are raped, every 90 minutes, a young girl or young woman is sexually assaulted by sick men who think they can cure AIDS by raping virgins, thereby infecting them further with the deadly virus. This Zanu government is patriarchal; you know how Mai Mujuru was ripped of her post as VP. This is evidence of how women are used, abused and dumped when they do not need those women anymore. (I am not condoning faults in Mai Mujuru, I am looking at her as a woman, and how she got used and abused by men in her party) There is no water, no electricity in most towns and cities of Zimbabwe, if at all very unreliable. If there was water, raw sewage will be running right inside the most densely populated townships in all cities of Zimbabwe, and children will be playing in the mud sewage! Unemployment is running at 90% of the working group margin. Companies are relocating to their countries because their Zimasset is unsustainable to make business. Flood victims are left on their own and unattended by the government, instead whatever donations that are done in their name, the goods and money are looted by disgraceful officials without shame! Hundreds of young people have drowned or attacked by crocodiles and got eaten by trying to cross the Limpopo River seeking better life in South Africa as cheap laborers. The economy can shut down anytime now as the government has not clue.
I therefore ask you women of color to prepare for this boycott by stuffing our kitchens with food so that we do not need to go out during that time to the shops for shopping, you will be shot by a desperate regime that is brutal, and you know this. Keep out danger and stay home.
Objectives: our passive resistance
We are tired and angry and something must be done to alleviate suffering in our land. The situation in Zimbabwe cannot go on like this. We wish ourselves a good government that will guarantee us good living conditions for all citizens without fear of tribalism and racialism, as summarized below:
Respect women and men as equals, in accordance with the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights. Honor and respect the rights of children. Stand up for the rights and liberties of women, women’s protection, women’s sexual independence and self-sufficiency. Eradicate all forms of violence against and exploitation of, women and girls. End the exploitation of domestic servants. Make women and girls aware that health and education are basic human rights. Campaign against the sexual abuse of children and babies; sex offenders who pass on the disease HIV/AIDS should be treated as criminals. Their crime is a crime against humanity!
Prosecute pedophiles and make Zimbabwe safe for children of all ages. Find the means to care for people living with HIV/AIDS. Develop programs to combat malaria, diarrhea and other water-borne diseases. Promote supplementary feeding programs for children in urban and rural schools to alleviate hunger in growing children. Develop programs that reduce child- and infant-mortality rates Develop the concept of compulsory lavatories in rural areas to improve hygiene, thus reducing water-borne diseases. Make clean water available equally in cities and rural areas. Provide compulsory and free primary and secondary education for all children of Zimbabwe. Promote the advancement and economic empowerment of women and girls.
Fasting!
During the boycott time the whole of March starting from the 8th of March, the International Women’s Day, women will be asked to fast. God will hear our innermost prayers if we give up that, what makes most men tick: sex. Usually when people fast they give up what they like most. In this case we ask all women of Zimbabwe to give up conjugal rights of the bedroom with our spouses. We kneel down and pray that we can bring change by small things that people can consider very insignificant: “passive resistance.” Even passive resistance can bring change, it has happened before in many other countries; let it happen again in our lifetime done by us here in Zimbabwe.
Please be on the watch out for information every week until the 8th of March 2015 on Nehanda Radio. In the meantime please do stuff up the kitchen with food so that you do not go our during the boycott days! We mean business it is not a play in the garden, we are serious! Enough is enough!
Ndini Chirikadzi chenyu
Yimi Ugogo omncane
Yes we can!
Nomazulu Thata is a political activist who resides in Germany. She is a senior member of the party Zunde: the Deputy National Chairperson. This call to boycott is a call to all women citizens of Zimbabwe of all political parties and non political oriented persons, it is therefore nowhere in conflict with her party Zunde position and aspirations. She can be contacted on: [email protected]

A worker abused by businessman Phillip Chiyangwa through the indigenised Zimbabwe Glass Company, has killed himself.
The victim, a 37-year old Gweru man, committed suicide by downing a poisonous substance after he was kicked out of his in-laws’ house, where he was staying with his wife and two children.
Chiyangwa has abused workers as he stopped paying them for several years while yet splashing money on lavish parties, brand new vehicles, and squandering resources on an untold number of girlfriends who last year he was reported blowing more than $50,0000 per month on.
Some of Chiyangwa’s victims are disabled employees.

Chiyangwa shows off his latest acqusition at Zimoco showroom last week - Picture by Kudakwashe Hunda — Chiyangwa shows off his latest acqusition at Zimoco showroom – FILE Picture by Kudakwashe Hunda

Music legend Oliver Mtukudzi has had to cancel his Friday show due to an unexpected flue condition.
An announcement was made by his media team who wrote:
We regret to inform our fans that Oliver Mtukudzi will not be able to perform in Bulawayo tonight as earlier advertised. This is because he has been taken ill with flu and his diabetic condition is currently volatile. His Doctor has advised rest and is monitoring his condition.
Please note that the show that was organized by Groove Entertainment will go ahead as scheduled. Groove Entertainment has met all their obligations and done everything to prepare for the show.
We regret any inconveniences caused and we would like to promise our fans that we will hold another show in Bulawayo as soon as our dates permit.
Thank you
Tuku Music

February 13, 2015

BREAKING NEWS: Doctor Arrested

Defiant Bulawayo medical practitioner, Doctor Nkonzo Ndebele was yesterday arrested for failing to pay $350 per month maintenance order imposed on him by a Bulawayo maintenance court in September last year.
Appearing before magistrate Tinashe Tashaya and prosecuted by Adelaide Chimbete, Dr Ndebele was remanded into custody until the 2rd of March to answer charges why he has not met the maintenance order since it was issued by the court. A dejected Nkonzo was denied bail by the prosecutor after he had previously failed to appear in court to answer the maintenance charges.
Dr Ndebele who according to his estranged wife makes about $30 000 every month from his numerous surgeries in town, was ordered by the court to pay $350 per month for the upkeep of their six-year-old daughter. He was also ordered to pay all the costs of the child’s school fees and buy uniforms at least once each term.
Since the order was effected in September last year, Ndebele has not adhered to any of the provisions of the order. Instead huge amounts of money have been spent on legal fees as the two continue to fight over the apportionment of the property acquired over their eight year customary marriage.
In recent press reports, Ndebele was quoted to have said he was above the country’s laws and no one would do anything to him. He has since violated a restraint order against his wife issued by the courts and is currently on bail for contempt of court.

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