Ray Nkosi | President Robert Mugabe has all but neglected Zimbabwe’s First Lady, at independence, Mrs Janet Banana.

Janet celebrated her birthday over the weekend with just a few Zimbabweans, knowing or remembering that there was a First Lady, before Amai Sally Mugabe. Her husband, a methodist minister, Canaan Sodindo Banana, served as Zimbabwe’s first President from  from 18 April 1980 until 31 December 1987. 

Banana whose later life was soiled by allegations of sodomy, is famed for bringing together, two of the country’s political parties, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), in an accord still in force today. Banana succumbed to cancer on 10 November 2003.

President Mugabe makes no mention whatsoever, of the late Banana’s family. Janet celebrated a quite birthday, with her son Nathan taking in his father’s footsteps, by entering politics celebrating her life on social media.

Wrote the younger Banana;

Today “Zimbabwe’s First Lady” at independence Janet Banana, my mum, a sister, a teacher, a friend, a grandmother, a work mate celebrates her birthday.

They say history is for the victors and some will be remembered whilst others are forgotten, but facts can never be changed.

Today a great woman, mother, sister, teacher, friend most in Zimbabwe no longer know about will be celebrating her birthday.

Supporters of Limpopo’s controversial “Prophet of Doom” scrambled to enter the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane on Monday morning where Prophet Lebetho Rabalago was making his first court appearance.

The provincial department of health has brought an urgent application for the court to interdict Rabalago and members of his Mount Zion General Assembly church in Zebediela from spraying people with Doom. Some of the people in the group of about 60 people wore T-shirts with the words “Hands off the Anointed One” written on them.

Rabalago‚ whose case postponed to March 20‚ appeared in court wearing two-toned formal shoes and a slim fit maroon jacket.

He was accompanied by bodyguards. Rabalago is expected to convince the court why the interdict sought against him should not be made final.

On Monday‚ his legal representative Edmond Lubisi requested more time to prepare.

After court‚ Lubisi said the matter was postponed to so that the parties involved could exchange documents.

Asked whether he believed they had a strong case‚ Lubisi said the case involved the law and faith‚ adding that the two should be kept separate.

The group of supporters‚ most of them women‚ sang outside the high court building on Biccard Street.

On their way to catch a bus after the hearing‚ they sang “Where there is Doom‚ there are no problems”. – Agencies

ZANU PF in fighting in Masvingo Province reached new levels yesterday after a faction linked to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangwaga brought back suspended chairperson Ezra Chadzamira amid protests by members of G40.

The party’s acting chairperson Amasa Nhenjana immediately rejected the move, saying he remained at the helm despite the decision made during a provincial co-coordinating committee (PCC) meeting held at the Masvingo show grounds.

Nhenjana was ordered to revert back to his position of deputy chairperson in a move that has widened cracks in the party, with rival Lacoste and G40 factions already at each other’s throats just a week after bagging the Bikita West seat in a by-election.

Zanu PF in Masvingo is also divided over the selection of candidates for the forthcoming Mwenezi East by-election.

According to reports, long-serving party member, Jusby Ommar, has been disqualified from contesting in the primary polls together with five other candidates, out of a total of 16 hopefuls.

Speaking at a press conference while flanked by the party’s provincial commissar, Jeppy Jaboon, women league chair Veronica Makonese and several legislators linked to G40, Nhenjana said he remained the acting chairperson.

“The move to demote me was done unprocedurally and we categorically reject it,” he said.

“I was appointed by the politiburo and the same procedure should be used in demoting me. For now, I am still the acting chairperson.

“I am surprised they want to demote me now after winning in Bikita West.

“These are the same elements that wanted to sabotage the party in Bikita West, and after failing, they want again to see the party losing in Mwenezi East, where our sights are at the moment.
“This is here for all to see.”

However, Chadzamira said the decision was made by the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) where Nhenjana was also a member.

“The PEC restored me today……it was not an individual decision,” he said.

“He was also part of that meeting and am suprised he is making an about turn.

“I was exonerated by the national disciplinary committee last year. I do not attend PEC.”

On the Mwenezi East by-election, Chadzamira said the provincial elections directorate vetted candidates but dismissed reports that Ommar was disqualified.

“The PEC turns into the provincial elections directorate and that is the body that considers CVs,” he said.

“But as for Ommar, he was not disqualified. Of course there are others that did not meet the party criteria, but not Ommar. His candidature will be considered.”

Zanu PF national political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere, yesterday said he was out of the country and needed to get the details first before commenting.

“I cannot comment at the moment, I can only do so when I get the full report,” Kasukuwere said.

He confirmed that Chadzamira was barred from holding any post for two years even after he was cleared by the party over the charges he was facing. – State Media

President Mugabe and other continental leaders will soon start closed session deliberations ahead of the official opening of the 28th Ordinary Summit of the African Union here.

The agenda is packed, and even before the official opening ceremony begins in a couple of hours, Africa’s leaders must have already made headway on at least four key issues.

The first is consideration of the Progress Report on the Implementation of the Decision on Financing the African Union.

The drive is for the AU to full self-finance and move away from the current scenario where almost all its operations are funded by foreign donors.

President Mugabe has for years advocated for self-financing as a measure that will guarantee Africa’s power of agency over its own destiny.

The proposal on the table is for African countries to introduce a 0,2 percent levy on all imports, with the money going directly to the AU budget.

AU Commission Deputy Chair Dr Erastus Mwencha says this alone would raise at least US$1,5 billion, and some African countries have already started implementing the levy.

African leaders will this morning also consider a report of the Commission on the Continental Free Trade Area and the Mechanism to Eliminate Non-Trade Barriers; as well as possibly adopt the outcome document of the retreat of Heads of State and Government on the Institutional Reform of the AU.

Thereafter they will elect the new AU Bureau, which will be the bloc’s political leadership over the coming year.

Towards midday, the Summit enters an open session, which will consist of the official opening ceremony.

Among the dignitaries expected to address at the opening ceremony are outgoing AU Commission Chair Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma; new United Nations Secretary-General Mr Antonio Manuel de Oliveira Guterres; Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Cuban Vice-President Salvador Valdes Mesa; and outgoing AU Chair President Idris Deby Itno of Chad.

The Summit, which is themed “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend Through Investments in the Youth”, then goes into a lengthy closed session until the official closing ceremony late on Tuesday.

It is during this closed session that African leaders must find Dr Dlamini-Zuma’s successor, after having failed to agree on a candidate six months ago at a mid-term Summit in Kigali, Rwanda.

Those eyeing the post of “Africa’s top civil servant” are Botswana’s Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, Dr Moussa Faki Mahamat (Chad), Agapito Mba Mokuy (Equatorial Guinea), Dr Amina Mohammed (Kenya), and Dr Abdoulaye Bathily (Senegal).

Insiders told this writer that the Kenyan candidate appeared to be the front-runner though the race remained tightly contested.

African leaders are apparently uncomfortable with the Sadc candidate for the post as her President, General Seretse Khama Ian Khama, is a proponent of the International Criminal Court at a time the vast majority of the continent’s leaders are pushing for reforms of the organisation.

The AU feels the ICC has unfairly targeted Africa as a tool for regime change and to ensure leaders are compliant to Western whims and caprices.

Further, President Khama has not done much to sell the candidate, while candidates from other countries have seen their leaders going all out before and during this Summit to sell them as they best replacements for Dr Dlamini-Zuma.

A candidate must have the support of two-thirds of the AU leadership to become Commission Chair.

African leaders will also fill the posts of Commission Deputy Chair (to replace Dr Mwencha, whose mandate ends at this Summit); and eight commissioners responsible for peace and security; political affairs; trade and industry; infrastructure and energy; social affairs; rural economy and agriculture; human resources, science and technology; and economic affairs. _ State Media

Ray Nkosi | Hundreds of Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First supporters in Bulawayo including vendors, who were highly expecting a visit by their party leader this weekend were left disappointed after she cancelled her visit to the city at the last minute.

Mujuru was scheduled for a busy weekend in the City of Kings where she was expected to meet, vendors in the streets of Bulawayo on Saturday before proceeding to preside over a social soccer challenge sponsored by her party.

On Sunday she was scheduled to address her factionalism ridden Bulawayo Province party executive.

Party insiders claim that Mujuru cancelled the trip after her security warned that they could not guarantee her an incident free meeting with the squabbling Bulawayo executive team.

The rival factions in the Bulawayo membership who are fighting over the Vice President position earlier threatened to sort each other out when Mujuru lands in the city if nothing concrete is resolved in the meeting.

Mujuru’s Bulawayo spokesperson Methuseli Moyo could not immediately be reached for a comment on the matter. However, the sources said that the visit has been rescheduled to next weekend to give the provincial committee to sort its issues.

https://youtu.be/vHudHOxJudg?t=4

Chimurenga music legend Thomas Mapfumo has thrown his weight behind South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema, who last week said it was high time that President Robert Mugabe steps down.

Malema addressed the media in Braamfontein, South Africa last Monday where he urged the soon to be 93-year-old leader to relinquish power. The firebrand EFF leader said Mugabe could not even control a spade, therefore he was no longer capable of discharging his responsibilities.

However, his utterances did not go down well with some Zanu PF members, who dismissed Malema’s call on their leader to step down.

On Friday, Mapfumo came out guns blazing, rallying behind Malema whom he said spoke the truth about Zimbabwe.

“I tend to agree with Malema. I think he gave a perfect description of us Zimbabweans, that we are a bunch of cowards. Cowards are not only in Zanu PF, but the majority of us. Malema spoke the truth. Everyday Mugabe and his cronies are looting and yet no one is challenging that,” Mapfumo said in an exclusive interview with The Standard Style.

The Chimurenga music maestro who is finalising his forthcoming album said Zimbabweans, including himself, should not sit on their laurels while the country is “burning”.

“There is a lot of corruption happening and only yesterday [Thursday] I was reading on the internet that Zimbabwe was now among the top five most corrupt countries in the world. Grace Mugabe is busy buying expensive rings costing millions of dollars using ‘looted’ money but no one is challenging that. Why are people silent?” said the singer who is now based in Oregon in the United States.

The Vanhu Vatema hitmaker also took a swipe at MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai whom he described as a “useless and selfish leader”.

“Tsvangirai is useless. He won in the 2008 elections but later joined the government of national unity taking over the prime minister’s position. That shows how selfish he is. What kind of leader is that? Why doesn’t he step down and give a young leader a chance so that he can rest because I heard he is not well? He is like Mugabe who is holding on to power,” he said.

“I can’t even talk of [Joice] Mujuru because she still idolises Mugabe and sees nothing wrong in him. I believe the current crop of opposition leaders has run out of ideas. We want leaders who stand for the masses. Leaders like [Tanzania’s president John] Magafuli and Thomas Sankara [Burkina Faso’s revolutionary hero] are good examples of selfless and revolutionary leadership that our continent needs. If Africa had such kind of leaders, surely our continent would have been far.”

On the formation of a coalition by opposition political parties, Mapfumo said the idea was good but will not benefit the ordinary man on the street.

“It is a good idea, but I think it’s a sheer waste of time because Mugabe has rigged — the playing field is not even. A coalition should be about the masses and not leaders and it won’t work. Whom will it benefit?”

The fearless singer described war veterans as mercenaries, who are after nothing but money.

“They are the same people who caused this situation when they demanded money for going to war. Why should you be paid if you were fighting for people? They are mercenaries concerned about their pockets. Their patron is a thief and we have not heard that they have chased him, meaning they still love him,” he said.

“Zimbabweans should not be fooled by the so-called factions in Zanu PF because those are the same people and they will not change. Wait and see when the elections come. I bet you won’t hear any of these factions, it will be one Zanu PF and they always unite to defend their loot. War veterans should first apologise to Zimbabweans for the violence they caused during past elections if people are to believe them.”

Mapfumo, whose music has rubbed the government the wrong way, said his latest project — a 12-track album — would be released on Independence Day. He said one of the tracks on the album Chauya Chauya kuZimbabwe Kusiri Kufa Ndekupi has a significant political impact on Zimbabwe and provides power for positive change and unity. – Standard

Children of Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (CZNLWVA) members have severed ties with the ruling Zanu PF, saying they could not continue associating with a party that has spurned their parents.

CZNLWVA chairperson, Innocent Mhlanga confirmed the development in a December 24, 2016 letter addressed to Zanu PF youth secretary, Kudzanai Chipanga.

“This letter serves to confirm that CZNLWVA has withdrawn its affiliation to the youth league largely because the Zanu PF youth league continues to interfere in our day-to-day activities as an association,” he wrote.

CZNLWVA also accused the youth league of holding meetings with bogus children of war veterans and using them to denounce the party and government leadership, including War Veterans’ minister Tshinga Dube and Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“We are a group working on the welfare of children of war veterans and not a political force. Even though some war veterans were expelled from Zanu PF, they remain our parents and we, therefore, cannot be seen insulting our own parents for political mileage,” Mhlanga said.

He said CZNLWVA was not part of the meeting, where Zanu PF Harare youth provincial leader, Edson Takataka, dressed down Dube, accusing him of continuously recognising Mutsvangwa’s executive, despite the fact that the latter was fired from the ruling party.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Chipanga said the Zanu PF youth league ceased to recognise CZNLWVA after its leaders were expelled from the party last year.

“We dismissed their leadership last year and in terms of operation, they should have known that we had cut all relations with them. However, there are other children of war veterans, who have continued to work with us and those are the ones who we are working with,” he said. – Newsday

PUBLIC Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Prisca Mupfumira, says Zimbabwe is bracing for an influx of Mozambican refugees following a fresh wave of political instability in the neighbouring country, where Renamo bandits have renewed their armed conflict against the Frelimo government.

Speaking to journalists in Harare last week, Mupfumira said by virtue of being part of the signatories to the Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, Zimbabwe was obliged to look after people, who seek asylum.

“Now, we have a situation in Mozambique, where there is some unrest and there have been an influx of refugees into Zimbabwe,” she said.

“We will have to receive and look after them and screen them to find out who are genuine refugees and who are not. We don’t just accept anybody as refugee.”

“We will not look after the criminals, but genuine refugees. Zimbabwe is part of the signatories to the Convention on Refugee Protocol, hence, we are obliged to look after genuine refugees, not the criminals and people who have left their countries for whatever reasons.”

Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines refugees, and sets out rights of those granted asylum, as well as responsibilities of countries that grant asylum.

Latest statistics from the Labour and Social Welfare ministry indicate that over 9 000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and Ethiopia are housed at the Tongogara Refugee Camp in Manicaland province.

DRC refugees consist of about 75% of the population, as it is constantly facing tribally-ethnic insurgencies, while the other countries share the remaining 25%. – Newsday

THE Joice Mujuru-led opposition Zimbabwe People First (ZimpF) has rallied behind South African opposition Economic Freedom Fighters leader, Julius Malema’s call for President Robert Mugabe to step down.

Malema last week urged Mugabe to step down, while also describing Zanu PF officials as cowards for failing to advise the President to hand over power, attracting scorn from Information minister, Christopher Mushowe.

ZimPF interim youth spokesperson, Khulani Ndlovu said Malema was spot on, adding that Zimbabwean youths had failed the nation and the region by allowing Mugabe to continue clinging on to power.

“As youths, we are deeply concerned that as a youthful nation, we have failed to unpack the elephant in our own house, much to the disappointment of our neighbours from South Africa,” he said.

“As ZimPF youths, we feel challenged by Malema’s sentiments. While Malema singled out Zanu PF as cowards for failing to be honest with the old man, it is necessary to exercise self-audit as citizens of Zimbabwe and ask ourselves if we have been honest enough to both, Mugabe and Zanu PF.”

Ndlovu said Zanu PF officials were not only cowards, but were also not fit to replace Mugabe.

“While Malema rightfully observed that Mugabe is surrounded by cowards, who have failed to gather bravery and courage to advise Mugabe to step down, we as a party further observe that none of those around him is fit to replace Mugabe,” he said.

“We strongly condemn Zanu PF as a system, because the party has diverted from the founding principles of the liberation. We as Zim PF youths say: Mugabe, together with your cabal, please you have done enough damage to the economy, please pave way for a people-centred government by making election reforms a priority. We are for the people, thus we say people first.” – Newsday

MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai has reportedly been given the greenlight by his supporters in Matabeleland region to form a grand coalition with his Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) counterpart, Joice Mujuru, ahead of next year’s general elections.

MDC-T sources told NewsDay yesterday that the general sentiment expressed by party supporters during Tsvangirai’s 10-day-long “meet the people tour” in the region was that nothing short of a coalition would dislodge President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party.

Tsvangirai wound-up his regional tour on Saturday and is next week scheduled to visit other provinces to gather the electorate’s input in the execution and transaction of political business within and outside the party.

“The prospects of a coalition are very bright. We are edging closer to its realisation because our structures have been giving the president a greenlight to go ahead with the coalition,” a source said.

Party spokesperson, Obert Gutu, seemed to corroborate the source, saying the consultations in Matabeleland have been positive, although he refused to comment on the coalition issue.

“So far, the consultations have gone on extremely well,” he said.

“President Morgan Tsvangirai is a specialist in retail politics, he is a seasoned grassroots mobiliser, dating back to his days as a trade union leader. He has spent the past 10 days in the Matabeleland region, consulting party structures, as well as mingling and comparing notes with various opinion leaders in business, the church, civil society etc.

“This enables the party to make an informed and people-centred decision pertaining to political alliance building. We are extremely pleased with the feedback we have obtained from various stakeholders in the Matabeleland region.”

MDC-T has been at war with itself, literally, as other top leaders in the party are reportedly against the proposed grand coalition and are allegedly pulling all the stops to ensure the coalition suffers a stillbirth.

But, Gutu said: “We are a political party that encourages and tolerates robust debate on all pertinent issues affecting the party and the nation at large. Our policy decisions are consensus based and once the party officially adopts a particular position on any issue, all party cadres abide by that decision whether or not they were individually opposed to that particular policy. This is majority rule at its best.”

Mujuru has also come out publicly saying she has high hopes the coalition will take shape and that the two parties would join hands to confront Mugabe and his Zanu PF electoral machinery come 2018.

“I am sure he (Tsvangirai) saw that we mean serious business. ZimPF and the MDC-T are very serious about working for the freedom that the people of Zimbabwe are looking forward to,” she said. – Newsday

Conservative Member of Parliament James Duddridge, a former Minister for Africa, said on Wednesday that President Robert Mugabe should be given a soft landing upon exiting. Duddridge said this during a debate about relations between the UK and West Africa and accused some of the British  media of having “a  whiff of colonial snobbery”. Below is the full text;

Before diving into the substance of the debate, I bring Members’ attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. The reason for the debate was to probe the Government on their reaction to the recent election in Ghana, but in my mind, and I suspect in the minds of other hon. Members, the debate has somewhat morphed into a veritable tour de force of pan-regional issues. I hope it will be an opportunity for Members to delve into specific countries and highlight specific thematic trends and general trajectories across west Africa and the UK’s relationship with that region.

I start with Ghana, which I had the privilege of visiting relatively recently, alongside my hon. Friend Adam Afriyie in his role as the prime ministerial trade envoy to Ghana. That was a very interesting time. It preceded the election and built on the relationship I already had with a number of Ghanaian politicians, including Hannah Tetteh, the ex-Foreign Minister, on whom I heap praise for her work across the region. I felt a measure of sadness about the transition of people with whom I was used to doing business, but equally I am optimistic about the new Government, which is perhaps ideologically slightly more closely aligned to the Conservative party.

The new President, President Nana, has a strong team but does not have the benefit of Short money, as we would have here. I would urge the Minister to see what we can do to help the structure of Government in Ghana and addressing that country’s challenges.

One challenge is that of customs, with goods going in and out. There was a horrendous amount of corruption throughout the 20 processes. I did jokingly ask the excellent high commissioner Jon Benjamin to put in the diplomatic telegram that I had suggested at a number of points taking the head of customs to one side and shooting him by way of example. Clearly, that is not something that I would literally encourage, but such was the need for shock therapy in Ghana. I hope the new Government of Ghana will take the opportunity to engage in that challenge.

I saw a number of good companies, including Blue Skies, which provides fruit to the UK. As well as praising my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor in his trade role, and praising the ex-Foreign Minister for Ghana, and Jon Benjamin the high commissioner, I thank the high commissioner here, Victor, who was very good in exposing issues around the region and introducing me to west African colleagues based in the United Kingdom. I wish him well in his future.

Perhaps the view from the Foreign Office and the Minister is that Morocco is part of north Africa, but it looks towards west Africa more and more. Only this January there was a Ghanaian-Moroccan economic summit in Accra to look at how they could do business. The King of Morocco has reached out to west Africa over a number of years for trading relationships. I note that Morocco was reported in the African press as having the numbers to formally enter the European Union—sorry, not the European Union! That was a Freudian slip. It meant to say that it has the numbers to enter the African Union, which I think would plug a gap that has far too long been an anomaly in the African Union, notwithstanding Western Sahara.

One of the advantages of the Minister’s new role is that, for the first time in recent times, north Africa has been linked up with the rest of Africa. Over the past 20 years, our UK Government ministerial response to Africa has been disjointed and spread, wrongly, across a number of Departments. Sometimes that was for good reason and sometimes it was just for historical reasons. The reunification in the Foreign Office of Africa is positive, and I will come on to describe other trends and changes that I would like to encourage in the Foreign Office in relation to the structure of Government. The role carried out by my right hon. Friend Grant Shapps for a number of years is probably the right role in terms of Government structure, with Ministers operating across the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office wholly dedicated to the African continent.

It would be odd not to mention in a debate on west Africa the topical issue of Gambia. I particularly praise the Minister for going down and visiting the crisis centre and also for the way in which he let everyone know about it. I compliment him on his Twitter feed, which showed a video of him giving a speech praising the excellent work that they do in the basement of the Foreign Office, looking after British citizens when there is an international crisis. That is excellent work and it is brilliant that he could visit and publicise it.

West Africa is not often in the popular press, but Gambia started to hit the Daily Mail and The Sun. I was uncomfortable with some of the things that I read and the characterisation of the new President as the “ex-Argos security man”. There was more than a whiff of colonial snobbery to that. No one has ever described me as the guy who used to stack the shelves at Bejam’s, which preceded Iceland, but I am indeed the same person. Simply because of the nature of people’s view of Africa, that is how they described the new President, an entrepreneur whom I am sure will make a great President. Gambia cannot go the way of Mali with security and migration, which the prime ministerial envoy to the Sahel so ably dealt with. That role has sadly not been refilled, but it is very difficult to find someone of the skillset of Stephen O’Brien.

I note that Nigeria is offering refuge to the retiring, or ousted, President of Gambia. That is difficult and somewhat distasteful, but it is the practical and effective thing to do. I ask Members to reflect on providing soft landings to other leaders as and when it comes about. By no stretch of the imagination can one consider Zimbabwe part of west Africa, but there are parallels, not only for Nigeria but for other countries, in relation to soft landings for exiting world leaders.

A WOMAN (44) has been jailed for five months for forcing her daughter (15) into marriage on grounds that she wanted someone to look after the minor.

A Shurugwi magistrate also sent the man (40) who had married the Form Two girl to jail for 24 months in probably the first convictions for marrying off or marrying a minor since the Constitutional Court banned child marriage in January last year.

The Shurugwi court heard that the man had sex with the girl for the first time while her mother, whose identity has been withdrawn to protect the identity of the minor, stood guard at the door of his bedroom hut.

The illegal marriage lasted for one night as the girl’s grandmother reported the matter to the police.

First to appear before Shurugwi resident magistrate Mrs Evia Matura facing one count of pledging her underage daughter into marriage was the mother. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five months in prison.

The woman told the court in mitigation that she gave her daughter into marriage for free because she thought she was dying since she is anaemic. She said she wanted someone to look after her daughter before her death.

“I’m of ill health. I’ve continuous headaches and so I thought I would die and my child would have no one to look after her. When he married her, she was in school and had promised to further her education,” she said.

Prosecutor, Ms Nyengeterai Nechirava said on January 12 the woman forced her daughter to enter into marriage with Jelias Nyika but she refused.

“That same night at around 10PM, she packed the complainant’s clothes and took her to Nyika’s homestead before he had sexual intercourse with her that very night while she stood guard at the bedroom hut door,” she said.

The court heard that on January 13, the complainant’s grandmother reported the accused person to the police, leading to her arrest.

Second to appear in court was Nyika who was sentenced by Mrs Matura to 24 months in prison for having sex with a minor. Nyika had pleaded guilty to the charge.
He will however serve an effective 18 months in prison after six months of his sentence were suspended on condition of good behaviour.

The prosecutor said on January 12 at around midnight, the woman handed her daughter to Nyika.

“After Nyika was given the complainant by her mother as his wife, he took her to his bedroom and had sexual intercourse with her while her mother was standing outside after which she proceeded to her homestead.

“Nyika was arrested after a report was made to the police by the complainant’s grandmother,” she said.

In a landmark ruling last year, the top court struck off the statutes Section 22(1) of the Marriages Act, which permitted children under the age of 18 years to formally get married.
It ruled that Section 22(1) of the Act was inconsistent with Section 78(1) of the Constitution, which sets 18 years as the minimum age of marriage in the country.

The ruling was made following an application filed by two Harare women challenging the Customary Marriages Act. – State Media

Last November, HRDC, under which Dete falls, put heaps of gravel on some roads as it planned to embark on a rehabilitation exercise.

The local authority however abandoned the project, leaving the gravel and uncovered trenches which residents now say pose a danger to them. Scores of residents from Ntuya, Bote, Soweto and Hlalani Kuhle suburbs including Zanu-PF youths took to the streets to express their displeasure.

The Chronicle visited the area on Thursday and noticed that streets were barricaded by heaps of gravel while some trenches had also been dug on roadsides.
Dete Residents Association chairman Mr Douglas Mpofu said council had abandoned the area.

“They dumped gravel on every street saying they would finish in two weeks but up to now the heaps are still there. People can’t drive to their houses and it’s an inconvenience as they have to park elsewhere. There have been cases of children falling into trenches,” said Mr Mpofu.

A resident of Mtuya suburb Mrs Sithokozile Moyo said: “We have a challenge as we have to monitor our children every time so they don’t play in dirty water or drown. Water accumulates in yards because it can’t drain away yet we can’t even move the gravel because they have threatened to arrest us.”

Another resident Mr Shepherd Dube said residents were now having transport problems.
“It’s difficult now to go into the business centre because of lack of transport. There also used to be a bus that would come into the suburbs but it has since stopped because of the state of roads,” he said.

HRDC CEO Mr Phindile Ncube said funds from the Zimbabwe National Road Administration were exhausted before the project was completed. He could not be drawn into giving details about the tender for the project, how much was received and how much was needed for the project.

Instead he dismissed residents’ concerns as being politically motivated.
“Those are not genuine concerns. There are people positioning themselves for political gains. We get funding from Zinara and it got finished hence we will discuss this at our full council meeting on Tuesday,” he said. – State Media

Botswana police have arrested the eighth Zimbabwean who escaped from Gerald Estates Centre Prison recently. The man was arrested last week. This was after 18 prisoners breached prison security and disappeared.

Of the 18, 15 are Zimbabweans. According to media reports, Botswana Prison Service with the assistance of the police, army and other state security agents, arrested Rowland Moyo last Tuesday.
He is facing robbery charges.

Moyo was arrested at Galo Mall in Francistown. Prisons spokesperson, Senior Superintendent Wamorena Ramolefhe confirmed Moyo’s arrest.

“Moyo was arrested at around 9pm. We are on the trail of the other escapees and we can assure the members of the public that more arrests will be made soon,” Snr Supt Ramolefhe said. Moyo was the second suspect to be arrested in Francistown.

Other jail-breakers were recaptured in Tutume, Tatisiding and Masingwaneng.
Only one escapee, Thabani Ncube, who is facing a murder charge in Botswana was arrested in Zimbabwe.

Ncube is currently in custody in Zimbabwe where he has pending criminal cases.
Moyo and six others, Gaomodimo Molosiwa, Mlindeli Moyo, Sicelo Sibanda, Godwin Mapunganyika, Charlotte Ndlovu and Methuli Sibanda are expected to appear in court soon where they will be charged with escaping from lawful custody.

The 18 escapees, who were described as dangerous, face serious charges of murder and robbery.
Three of them are Batswana while 15 are Zimbabweans.
Botswana police have indicated most of the suspects who escaped are believed to be in Francistown and its environs.

Chakalani Barati, Musa Willy, Elvis Ndlovu, Dzikhamani Ndebele, Innocent Nyoni, Edwin Ncube, Sunganai Tafiraushe, Givemore Chaloba, Brilliant Thabisani and Bruce Masuku are still on the run. – State Media

South Africa has distanced itself from utterances made by leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Mr Julius Malema, saying his remarks are not in line with the policies and approaches of the South African government to Zimbabwe, Sadc and the entire African continent.

Addressing journalists in South Africa on Monday last week, Mr Malema claimed that President Mugabe’s continued stay in power was not good for Zimbabwe, the Southern African Development Community and what he called the African revolution project. He further insulted Zanu-PF members, labelling them cowards for endorsing President Mugabe as the party’s presidential candidate for next year’s harmonised elections.

South Africa’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Mphakama Mbete said utterances by Mr Malema on President Mugabe and Zanu-PF were his personal views and would not affect warm diplomatic relations between South Africa, Sadc and the African Union.

Mr Malema’s utterances were also condemned by the secretary-general of the Teachers Union of Zimbabwe Mr Ottoman Magaya who said just three months ago, over 110 trade unions from different countries met in Durban, South Africa, where they spoke in solidarity with President Mugabe’s socialistic stance and his fight against neo-colonialism.

The Zimbabwe Government did not take Mr Malema’s strident attacks on the person of President Mugabe lightly. Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Christopher Mushohwe told Mr Malema that his remarks were irritating and uncalled for, describing him as an ignorant youth and a talkative joker. “The Government of Zimbabwe finds quite irritating and uncalled for insulting statements by the so-called Economic Freedom Fighters leader, Julius Malema, directed at Zimbabwe, and at the person of President Mugabe,” said Dr Mushohwe.

The Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) welcomed Dr Mushohwe’s response saying it was sorry for “the unfortunate and reckless comments by these lapdogs.”

It said the attack was very cheap, unnecessary, desperate, unwarranted, baseless and immature.

“Since the early 1960s during the decolonisation of African states until to date, we have been infiltrated by London stooges, who are brought and introduced to disrupt progress. They do that consciously or unconsciously. We have seen genuine African heroes being murdered or dethroned,” said the PAC. – State Media

POLICE have questioned a nurse in Lupane after receiving a tip-off that she was to blame for the death of a new born baby delivered at a local clinic.

Sr Ella Phiri reportedly administered injections to the baby at Lake Alice Clinic in a bid to stop her from continuously crying in September last year, but police have since been tipped off by some medical staff that the midwife’s actions could have caused the baby’s death.

The mother of the new born baby did not make a report.

Matabeleland North provincial medical director Dr Nyasha Masuka yesterday confirmed that police were investigating the matter. “Police went to the clinic to investigate acting on a tip off. I can’t confirm anything until I get an official report from the district medical officer.

“I would like the mother of the child to make an official complaint so that the issue can be dealt with professionally,” said Dr Masuka.

Sources at the clinic told The Chronicle that police came to the clinic for investigations after receiving a tip-off on the baby’s death.

Police are said to interested in interviewing two student nurses that were present when the injections were administered.

The baby is said to have been “paralysed” by the injections and died on the way to St Luke’s Hospital.

“A woman gave birth to a baby girl at the clinic on September 27 last year and she was assisted by Sr Phiri. Weighing three kilogrammes, the baby was healthy and normal but she was crying continuously and not breastfeeding because the mother’s breasts were not yet producing milk.

“Sr Phiri gave the mother a bottle so that she could squeeze some milk into it and feed the baby,” said an employee at the clinic who refused to be named.

The source said the baby, however, continued crying until September 29, when Sr Phiri administered an injection in the presence of a student nurse only identified as Munkuli.

“She advised the mother to bath her baby in cold water. At around 2PM on the same day, Phiri returned to the ward in the company of Munkuli and another student nurse called Gumpo.

“The baby was still crying and Sr Phiri administered another injection. The baby suddenly became sick and looked paralysed. She stopped drinking milk and started breathing with difficulty. Sr Phiri used oxygen equipment to assist the baby but her situation deteriorated,” said a source.

The source said Sr Phiri called for an ambulance from St Luke’s Hospital in Lupane, which took the baby but she died before arrival at the hospital.

She reportedly admitted to the police that she administered Benzylpenicillin Sodium but did not record it. – State Media

“The people were intimidated by the military but all was ignored due to … “

YOUNG PEOPLE’S DIALOGUE BOARD MEMBER FOR MEDIA, INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY SETFREE MAFUKIDZE INTERVIEWS #GAMBIAHASDECIDED MOVEMENT LEADERS ……..

On Young People’s Dialogue LIVE-BLAST! we have the privilege of hosting Fatoumatta and Lawyer Salieu Taal from the Republic of Gambi. Salieu is one of the brains behind the #GambiaHasDecided campaign which advocated for the protection of the people of Gambia’s vote in which former President Yayah Jammeh lost to opposition coalition leader, Adama Barrow.

Setfree N Mafukidze: Fatouma and Salieu Taal, welcome to the Young People’s Dialogue LIVE-BLAST! Session. I will give you just a brief background of the Young People’s Dialogue.
The Young People’s Dialogue is a trust that advocates for the participation of young people and taking up leadership roles in economics, politics, social, sport and all other positive aspects that promote development of Zimbabwe. We felt the need to have you join us as we are keen to learn on what transpired and what is the way forward for the people of Gambia.

Fatouma: I will let Salieu Taal one of the brains behind the #GambiaHasDecided team and a prominent Lawyer called at the bar both in the UK And in The Gambia the elaborate on the issues of the Gambian crises and the way forward . Thank you.

Setfree N Mafukidze: Thank you for coming through Fatoumatta, while we wait for Salieu to come through you could give us highlights of what the situation is like in The Gambia at the moment?

Fatouma: Again it is a pleasure to be invited to such a prominent group to discuss our current crisis . I hope Counsel Taal’s contributions will be of immense importance to the group and in the coming elections in Zimbabwe. We must learn by experience. And The Gambia experience must be of great significant in the continent. With less than a population of 2 million people we have demonstrated to the world that the power of the people is greater than that of one person .

Setfree N Mafukidze: I suggest we go ahead with questions related to the Gambia and Salieu joins us later, shall we proceed? Let’s get the ball rolling. Now Fatoumatta and Salieu I understand an election was held in your country to choose a new President and the results of it led to the fall of former President Yayah Jammeh who was defeated by opposition politician Adama Barrow.

Can you briefly give us an insight into the personality of the outgoing President as well as his achievements during his 22 year rule?

Fatouma: On the 1st of December 2016, elections held in Gambia saw the incumbent lose to a coalition of 8 parties after the imprisonment of the leader of the largest opposition party the UDP.

I cannot point any achievements in his (Jammeh) rule of 22 year old rule; we have lived a life of terror and fear . This can be demonstrated by the blocking of internet from the eve of the elections and the kidnapping of key persons and killings of nine inmates in 2012 whose appeal processes were not exhausted in the courts. As we speak there are over a dozen political prisoners whose whereabouts are unknown.

Setfree N Mafukidze: In other words Yayah Jammeh has not done much to protect the citizens of Gambia; how did he rise to power in the first place?

Fatouma : He rose to power in 1994 through a military coup that ousted the then President Dawda Tawara.

Setfree N Mafukidze : This clearly shows the power of united opposition movements to rid themselves of despots. Given that, what were the modalities leading to coalition and how was the Presidential candidate chosen?

Fatouma: After analysis by a mediator in the name of Fatoumatta Tambajang, she brought all parties together with the exception of GCD who won 8%.

Setfree N Mafukidze: So you are saying the coalition was brought into place by initiation by a single individual?

Fatouma: Yes through a primary election which the UDP (Adama Barrow ) leader won.

Setfree N Mafukidze: Now that the coalition won the election and are taking over power what are the long term plans regarding the coalition of parties?

Fatouma: They serve for three year transition period, after which fresh elections will take place.

Setfree N Mafukidze: What are the lessons for Zimbabwe which can be drawn from the Gambian experience in this past election in respect of how a coalition can successfully dislodge a dictator from power in an election?

Fatouma: It can demonstrate a peaceful change of government by the people for the people. The people were intimidated by the military but all was ignored due to proper communication by the Coalition making people aware of all consequences should they go out in the streets. We tried to avoid a state of emergency by remaining peaceful; we had silent disobedience.

Setfree N Mafukidze: Interesting, but we all know Yayah Jammeh lost the election and conceded defeat only to make a sudden change of heart in a few days. What could have prompted that sudden change of heart?

Fatouma: He had the support of the military who he controlled. People rumoured that the majority of them were not Gambian but rebels from Casamance, a town in Senegal that borders his hometown Kanilai.

Setfree N Mafukidze: As a result of his relations with the military have there been any casualties caused by Yayah Jammeh’s insatiable desire to cling to power and what has the regional block ECOWAS done to ensure that the safety of the Gambian people is preserved?

….Salieu enters…

Salieu Taal: Hello everyone

Fatouma: This was the reason the block focused on peaceful negotiations as they were uncertain on the level of influence they had and the exposure thereof; they wanted to reduce the risk of casualties .

Setfree N Mafukidze: We are now joined by Salieu Taal one of the founders of #GambiaHasDecided. Welcome to LIVE-BLAST! Salieu. Now without wasting much of your time, can you briefly tell us more about #GambiaHasDecided and it’s influence on the Gambians to resist dictatorship?

Salieu Taal : Thank you,#GambiaHasDecided is an initiative that was started by a group of professional Gambians both young men and women who included Lawyers like myself, Accountants, Marketing experts, Information and Technology experts and different types of people, music promoters who though comfortable in their professions felt the need to really ensure that their vote is heard; because we massively voted against Jammeh for the first time in the history of The Gambia.

The professional’s class came out and voted; young people and everyone else voted. There was a unanimous resolve to ensure that we remove Jammeh by the ballot box.

Having done that Jammeh decided to cancel our vote and said wait a minute; I am not going to accept your vote and there is nothing you can do about it, hence he started his antics using the court systems and everything under the book to frustrate us.

We saw this play; we saw it happen and we have fairly experienced people in different areas of businesses including Law. So we decided if we don’t get up and mobilize people this guy will get away with this. We then said let us start a peaceful protest and I invited friends of mine at my house and we were brainstorming then came up with #GambiaHasDecided an already trending hashtag and said we are going to start a campaign under the slogan GAMBIA HAS DECIDED, because all of us had decided that Yayah Jammeh is no longer President, we can not go back on this and we have to make sure our voices are heard, we need to make sure we create a platform for the voice of all Gambians to be heard.

So we quickly created a logo because we have a graphic designer expert in our group and we agreed to print t-shirts and also erect bill boards and other forms of media to ensure that the Gambian space is occupied by #GambiaHasDecided.

First thing we did was we went online and changed our profiles, a lot of us have a lot of followers so it just went viral like a fire; nobody knew who was behind it, they just started seeing profile pictures changing to #GambiaHasDecided everyone was changing because that was the mood and it was hot and ready. After we did that the next thing was we printed t-shirts with contributions from our own pockets. Everyone started wearing the t-shirts in the streets then we started fundraising for more t-shirts and then did the billboards and it just went crazy, everyone would wake up to see massive bill boards with simple inscriptions like ” Gambia has decided for Justice and Peace.” The authorities could not handle it, it spread like a fire.

Setfree N Mafukidze : This is inspiring Salieu, lessons can be drawn and the power of social media has been noted whilst at that, how has been the participation of Gambian Youths in the political framework of their country; how many were registered to vote in the election in question?

Fatouma : The youths are now fully conversant in politics, they were the ones always behind Jammeh, but the backward syndrome in the Jammeh administration continuously trampling on people’s rights went out of control and they gained awareness, they abandoned him along the way, over 50% voters were youths. In November 2016 the crowd following the Coalition to the filing of their candidate was attended mostly by youths who wanted change.

Setfree N Mafukidze: The Gambian military turned their back on Yayah Jammeh what could have prompted them to abandon their Commander in Chief?

Fatouma: The Commander on the 2nd of December 2016 pledged his allegiance to the incoming President Adama Barrow which was also later revoked. So we were skeptical when on the 19th he came our to celebrate with the people. I think but it’s my personal opinion that it’s because of the ECOMOG taking over Kanilai again according to unconfirmed sources.

Setfree N Mafukidze: Can these Commanders be trusted to continue working with the new President Adama Barrow?

Fatouma: We are all in doubt but from what we have learned it was a rule of terror and once the feared is far and away peace shall prevail. Gambia is small and everybody knows everybody so building trust can be easy.

Setfree N Mafukidze: How literate is the Gambian population and to what extend does the “casting of lots” voting system aid to combat electoral theft?

Fatouma: In our own outgoing President’s words, we have the most rig proof elections, counting is on spot, I guess this makes it hard to cheat with all parties on the ground as results are known on the spot.

Setfree N Mafukidze: Interesting there Fatouma, having noted the active involvement of young people in the campaign to protect the Gambian people’s vote, what role will young people including yourself and Salieu be playing in the new government, if any?

Fatouma: Not sure about Salieu but I would assume his legal expertise in policy making would be essential. He is one of the lawyers, as for myself I have sat in education committees in the UK and have had exposure; my dream is to see our schools the way they were before the Jammeh administration.

Salieu Taal : Personally as part of #GambiaHasDecided and as a youngish person at 43, I am involved in a lot of activities that affect government; I sit on a number of boards like the Chamber of Commerce and other places.

What I would do is encourage government to integrate the youths into active policy making not just design the menu and serve the food; I think the youth should design their own menu and this will require first helping build the capacity of the youths to be Councillors and Members of Parliament and even some to become Ministers.

I think to achieve this it requires mentoring and it’s something I am very interested in doing so that we can teach the youths that they are the majority of the population who need to partake in policy development and nation building and not just be on the receiving end.

Fatouma: We tried. It was a long hard journey. But thanks also to the people from the Diaspora we made it . If Jammeh closes internal communication links they help us from abroad to make our voices heard

Setfree N Mafukidze: Some Gambians and West Africans living abroad in Europe and elsewhere seem so much in love with Robert Mugabe despite his excesses. Whats your opinion about Mugabe talking from a West African’s perspective?

Fatouma: I personally don’t like dictators as I see him as one. Staying in power too long also disqualifies him in my like books.

Salieu Taal: Let me assure you that any right thinking Gambian would not like or adore Robert Mugabe, I think those are the sentiments of the larger cross section of Gambians.

Fatouma: The next elections in West Africa are in Togo and I pray that they follow The Gambian experience and respect the will of the people in peace.

Setfree N Mafukidze: Let me take this opportunity to thank everyone for following yet another YPD LIVE-BLAST! Session; many thanks to our brother Salieu Taal, Sister Fatoumatta from The Gambia. It has been a pleasure having you all on LIVE-BLAST! and I must say we have learnt a lot from The Gambia. As the Young People’s Dialogue we look forward to a good working relationship with you in future.

A four-roomed house was destroyed in Budiriro, Harare, last week by a rival as the battle to control Ngungunyana Housing Co-operative turned ugly.

The chairman of a faction which is reportedly trying to take control of the housing co-operative, Mr Luke Chesango, is alleged to have fired six shots in the air to disperse a crowd that wanted to stop the driver of his grader from destroying his rival’s house.

Mr Chesango was picked up for questioning by the police in Budiriro on Thursday afternoon in connection with the incident.

No one was injured when the shots were fired. thestate media witnessed Mr Chesango being arrested. He was taken to Budiriro 2 Police Station. The grader was still parked at Mr Tikho Sibanda’s house, which had been destroyed.

In an interview, Mr Sibanda said they had been having squabbles with Mr Chesango for a long time.
According to Mr Sibanda, Mr Chesango was elected chairman by Ngungunyana residents in the absence of Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing officials.

“Chesango was assisted by his lawyer, Paul Mangwana, to get an eviction order against me.
“I had to go into town to get a recession of judgment and stay of execution papers so that the default judgment could be suspended.

This is when my child called me to inform me that Chesango’s grader was already destroying our house.

“When they tried stopping the driver of the grader, that is when Chesango fired the gun and escaped.”

Mr Sibanda told thestate media that he was elected as chairman of the co-operative in 2009.
In 2013, Mr Chesango allegedly formed a parallel structure and mobilised people.

In 2015, Mr Sibanda was accused of leading a committee that abused member’s subscriptions.
Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi was not reachable for comment.-state media

A SOLDIER sustained serious injuries after he was attacked by three kombi touts along First Avenue in Bulawayo as he attempted to rescue a colleague who was being accused of pirating.

A court heard that Mr Mcdonald Jasi was attacked by Delisani Moyo (41), Dumisani Sibanda (32) and Xolani Mhlanga (22) when he was trying to rescue his workmate from being assaulted by the trio.

Moyo, Sibanda and Mhlanga were arrested last Tuesday after the soldier escaped from them and reported the matter to the police. The trio appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Tinashe Tashaya facing a charge of assault.
They pleaded not guilty and Mr Tashaya remanded them in custody to February 3.
Moyo, Sibanda and Mhlanga told Mr Tashaya that they were part of a crowd that witnessed the incident, but never attacked anyone.

Prosecuting, Mr Nkathazo Dlodlo said on January 24, Mr Jasi who was driving his motor vehicle saw a crowd around a certain car.

“The complainant parked his motor vehicle and went to the crowd. He discovered that the accused persons wanted to assault his workmate after accusing him of pirating with his private vehicle,” he said.

“The complainant intervened, trying to rescue his workmate from being assaulted by the accused persons. The accused persons assaulted Mr Jasi several times all over the body by kicking and hitting him with fists.”

Mr Dlodlo said the soldier sustained serious injuries and was treated at the United Bulawayo Hospitals. -state media

ZANU PF in fighting in Masvingo Province reached new levels yesterday after a faction linked to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangwaga brought back suspended chairperson Ezra Chadzamira amid protests by members of G40.

The party’s acting chairperson Amasa Nhenjana immediately rejected the move, saying he remained at the helm despite the decision made during a provincial co-coordinating committee (PCC) meeting held at the Masvingo show grounds.

Nhenjana was ordered to revert back to his position of deputy chairperson in a move that has widened cracks in the party, with rival Lacoste and G40 factions already at each other’s throats just a week after bagging the Bikita West seat in a by-election.

Zanu PF in Masvingo is also divided over the selection of candidates for the forthcoming Mwenezi East by-election.

According to reports, long-serving party member, Jusby Ommar, has been disqualified from
contesting in the primary polls together with five other candidates, out of a total of 16 hopefuls.
Speaking at a press conference while flanked by the party’s provincial commissar, Jeppy Jaboon, women league chair Veronica Makonese and several legislators linked to G40, Nhenjana said he remained the acting chairperson.

“The move to demote me was done unprocedurally and we categorically reject it,” he said.
“I was appointed by the politiburo and the same procedure should be used in demoting me. For now, I am still the acting chairperson.

“I am surprised they want to demote me now after winning in Bikita West.“These are the same elements that wanted to sabotage the party in Bikita West, and after failing, they want again to see the party losing in Mwenezi East, where our sights are at the moment.
“This is here for all to see.”

However, Chadzamira said the decision was made by the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) where Nhenjana was also a member.

“The PEC restored me today……it was not an individual decision,” he said. “He was also part of that meeting and am suprised he is making an about turn.

“I was exonerated by the national disciplinary committee last year. I do not attend PEC.”
On the Mwenezi East by-election, Chadzamira said the provincial elections directorate vetted candidates but dismissed reports that Ommar was disqualified.

“The PEC turns into the provincial elections directorate and that is the body that considers CVs,” he said.

“But as for Ommar, he was not disqualified. Of course there are others that did not meet the party criteria, but not Ommar. His candidature will be considered.”

Zanu PF national political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere, yesterday said he was out of the country and needed to get the details first before commenting.

“I cannot comment at the moment, I can only do so when I get the full report,” Kasukuwere said.
He confirmed that Chadzamira was barred from holding any post for two years even after he was cleared by the party over the charges he was facing. Standard

Vendors and #Tajamuka activists yesterday failed to show up for a demonstration they had called in the Harare central business district (CBD).

The protest was in reaction to a blitz launched by Harare City Council(HCC) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police to evict vendors from the CBD, as part of desperate measures to contain a typhoid outbreak that has so far claimed two lives.

While #Tajamuka activists and the vendors did not turn up, there was heavy police presence and water cannons at the protests venue – the open space at the corner of Julius Nyerere and Jason Moyo.

A truck-load of riot police was also nearby while several other police officers milled around the place.

In its demo alert, #Tajamuka also invited disgruntled members of the public. “Even if you are not a vendor but you are outraged by the economic injustice being meted out against vendors, you are welcome.

“We will meet with all vendors and all patriotic Zimbabweans to confront the city of Harare and the ministry of Local Government,” it said.

“No vendor will be expelled from their livelihood. Munhu wese achabva achienda industry awana basa. (Vendors will only move after getting jobs in the industry,” #Tajamuka said.
Efforts to contact Tajamuka leader Promise Mkwananzi were fruitless as his mobile phone was switched off.

However, the pressure group later issued a statement stating that heavy rains had disrupted logistics, making the demonstration unsuccessful.

“We pledge to continue to pursue the right to peaceful protest as encapsulated in Section 59 of our country’s Constitution. In that regard, our demonstration has been postponed to a later date,” #Tajamuka said.

Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (Viset) leaders were also not available for comment as their mobiles were also unavailable.

Recently, Zimbabwe Peace Project(ZPP) accused police and HCC of disregarding a court order by High Court judge David Mangota to stop the removal of vendors from the CBD.
ZPP said the two institutions continued to violate laws by forging ahead with the raids on informal traders despite a court injunction.

“According to the lawyers representing Viset, the court order was delivered to HCC officials and the police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri.

“Despite this, police and council municipal police are still raiding vendors in the city centre in contempt of the court order,” ZPP said in a statement. Daily News

HARARE – Mutasa Central MDC MP, Trevor Saruwaka, yesterday said House of
Assembly speaker, Jacob Mudenda, has no right to determine the colour of
clothes he wears in Parliament.

In October last year, Saruwaka was ejected from Parliament for wearing a
jacket adorned with Zimbabwe’s national flag colours.

In protest, he approached the High Court over the move, which created
commotion in Parliament resulting in police intervention.

Saruwaka argued in court yesterday that his ejection from Parliament for
wearing the jacket was unlawful and an infringement of his right to
freedom of conscience and religion.

He further said there was no provision in the Standing Rules and Orders of
the Parliament that bars him from wearing such colours.

In the application, Saruwaka – who is represented by attorneys from
Kadzere, Hungwe & Mandevere Legal Practitioners – cited Mudenda and the
chief security officer of Parliament as respondents.

Saruwaka said he is an avowed follower of the Rastafari religion, adding
that the colours on his jacket are synonymous with his religion.

“…it is respectfully submitted that, applicant (Saruwaka) being of the
Rastafari religion, has a right to freedom of conscience and religion in
terms of Section 60 of the Constitution, which right includes the right to
propagate his religious beliefs whether in private or in public within the
confines of the law.

“By arbitrarily denying applicant access to Parliament, respondents have
elevated themselves above the Constitution without lawful cause. There is
no legal basis upon which applicant can be barred from entering
Parliament,” the court heard.

He said he is entitled to protection by the law.

“It is further submitted that, respondents do not have the power to
determine the colour of the jacket applicant wears. The respondents are
therefore acting outside the scope of their powers by ejecting applicant
from National Assembly sessions on account of wearing the jacket in
question,” he said.

He added that according to the provisions of Standing Order 76 (7), only
jeans, T-shirts and sleeveless outfits, are prohibited from the House.

“Nowhere is it mentioned that jackets such as the one worn by the
applicant are prohibited,” he said, adding that his jacket does not in any
way offend the national flag.

Saruwaka’s Parliament “drama” took place after Mudenda ruled in June last
year that the national flag would not be allowed in the House, following a
plethora of protestors donning the flag during demonstrations against
President Robert Mugabe’s 36-year rule.

Several MDC parliamentarians, including Saruwaka, had entered the House
with national flags draped around their necks.

The national flag became a protest symbol after it was popularised by
self-exiled cleric – Evan Mawarire of #ThisFlag movement.

The movement demanded Mugabe’s immediate resignation, citing his
administration’s failure to deal with corruption, nepotism and a serious
economic meltdown. – Daily News

Former Finance minister Tendai Biti is famed for using dramatic language to drive home a point whenever he speaks about Zimbabwe’s decay and Zanu PF’s role in the tragedy, but this time government might agree with his assessment of the state of the country’s roads.

After weeks of heavy rainfall, the country’s poorly maintained road network deteriorated to shocking levels and jolted President Robert Mugabe’s government into action.

Last week the government declared Harare’s potholed roads a national disaster in a desperate move to raise funds for their rehabilitation and Biti — now the leader of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) — said it was too little too late.

He said it was not only Harare’s roads that needed attention but the whole country’s infrastructure was “now a disaster.”

“This government can’t pay salaries for its workers and expecting them to secure money to fix the country’s national road network was expecting too much from them,” he told The Standard.

“Declaring the roads a state of national disaster is just theoretical, the roads are a disaster and the country now qualifies to be a pothole capital of the world.

“Just like the [Democratic Republic of Congo] DRC, which has the worst road network, Zimbabwe is a failed state.”

Biti said during his tenure as Finance minister, it was established that Zimbabwe needed $14 billion to rehabilitate the road network, which was three times the country’s budget.

Of that amount, about $5 billion would be used to rehabilitate major trunk roads.

The PDP leader said naturally, a declaration of state of disaster would attract donors and international financers to fund the rehabilitation of roads, but Zimbabwe had become unattractive for capital.

“This is the huge prize the country is paying for running a corrupt government,” he said.

“The Lima process [that involved Zimbabwe’s reengagement with major donors] has failed and money cannot be accessed from international monetary institutions, including the African Development Bank.

“Only a new government with credibility can get foreign funds.

“This government has failed to build the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam in 37 years, what can they achieve today?”

For decades, the government has neglected maintenance of the road network inherited from the colonial government.

The majority of the roads have outlived their life-span and there has been little investment on infrastructure.

The Beitbridge-Harare road, which links Zimbabwe and Zambia to the county’s biggest trading partner, South Africa, has deteriorated over the years, causing many otherwise avoidable accidents that have resulted in thousands of deaths.

Most motorists have lost tyres to potholes while the patching of roads have been done poorly, denying the heavily taxed motorists comfortable rides.

The rail network has not been spared either and the National Railways of Zimbabwe’s operations are almost at a standstill.

This has piled pressure on the road network as haulage trucks are filling the void left by the disappearance of goods trains.

In 2014, when Obert Mpofu was appointed Transport minister, he doubled toll fees and increased the number of toll plazas, claiming he was doing so to increase revenue for road rehabilitation.

At the time, Mpofu said the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) was collecting $40 million annually in toll fees, which he said was only enough to tar 30km.

He said relying on Zinara’s collections would take the country 100 years to repair its 80 000 km road network.

But despite the promise, the roads deteriorated under Mpofu’s watch while reports of corruption continued to rock Zinara, with some bosses at the road authority becoming targets of Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission raids.

Conflicting statements have been issued by ministers on how much Zinara has been getting through toll fees, with Transport minister Jorum Gumbo last week revealing that the road fund was collecting $200 million annually.

In the rural areas, the gravel roads are a sorry sight. Perennial neglect has seen some of the roads disappearing as the District Development Fund has failed to cope with maintenance requirements due to poor funding from government.

Bridges have collapsed while grass has closed in on the roads, most of which have been reduced to mere foot paths. Some roads constructed by the colonial regime have been reduced to strip roads.

However, the biggest disaster has been in cities, including the capital Harare whose 5 000km road network is now infested with potholes.

The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) said while it believed that the deterioration of the road network was due to council’s failure to maintain them, Zinara must return the management of licence fees to the local authority.

“We would, however, like to point out that the road problem in Harare has deteriorated over the last five years largely due to non-maintenance by the Harare City Council,” CHRA said on its Facebook page.

“We firmly believe that in order to find a lasting solution to the roads problem in Harare, you need to push for and support our call to return the management of vehicle license fees to the city council from the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration.”

Biti said the Zanu PF government had no capacity to raise funds to rehabilitate the roads because of its tainted record.

But Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere — who toured Harare’s roads before the declaration of the state of disaster — believes the move was the panacea for the mounting problems.

“We have agreed on a programme with the minister of Transport [to rehabilitate the roads],” he said.

“We will get the necessary and important support from government.”

Kasukuwere admitted that the government had no money to fix the roads but insisted that a way out would be found.

“It’s tough but we have to repair the road network. We will find the resources,” he said.

“Roads are key to communication and economic activity.

“It’s not going to be easy but with the initial support, the Ministry of Transport has set aside we will start [working the road]”.

During the tenure of the inclusive government, government secured a loan from the Development Bank of South African to rehabilitate the Mutare-Harare- Plumtree highway, raising hopes that the country would upgrade its national highways to international standards but it became the only major infrastructure project undertaken during the period.

Last month, the government signed an agreement with a Chinese company to rehabilitate the Beitbridge-Harare highway at a cost of $2 billion, but Biti said at most, the project must cost $700 million — $1 million per km, not $3 million.

“This is a result of corruption, figures are inflated,” he charged.

Zimbabwe’s neighbours Zambia, Botswana and South Africa have invested heavily in their road infrastructure and the country is now on the verge of losing its status as a transport hub in the region. – The Standard

Namhla Ntandwa |Former Vice-President and Zim People First leader, Joice Mujuru, has lost an ally and party founding member, Colonel (Retired) Claudius Makova, amidst speculation that Emmerson Mnangagwa, is out to finish her.

There is no love lost between Mujuru and Mnangagwa as their political battles date back to over a decade ago when President Mugabe favoured her to deputise him, ahead of Mnangagwa who apparently had majority provinces on his side.

For Mnangagwa dealing with Mujuru is unfinished business as he loads every gun at his disposal to shoot at her, furthermore, not making an attempt to conceal his devious political schemes.

Left on her own, Mujuru now has to fight Mnangagwa with bare knuckles, her husband Solomon now late and no longer President Mugabe’s favourite female politician whose largess she enjoyed to no end as a Zanu PF politician.

Mujuru last week made sensational claims that she knew the scheming ruling Zanu PF party was out to destabilise her new outfit which poses the greatest threat to Mugabe, claiming that one of her officials still to be named had been lured with a $90 000 bribe.

“We hear that among our war veterans in the party, someone was given $90 000 so that they keep quiet. Such is the level of Zanu PF infiltration, which has targeted us more than the MDC-T,” said Mujuru as she threw the final dice in campaigning for her Bikita-West candidate.

“They are no longer worried about the MDC-T, but the focus is now on us,” she said referring to Morgan Tsvangirai, who has survived jail and assassination attempts from the ruling Zanu PF party agents.

Several weeks ago Mujuru fired another top ally former Information deputy minister, Bright Matonga, on spying allegations. “Matonga was expelled a few weeks ago after being accused of being a spy for the military and especially for a faction of Zanu PF associated with Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa,” a ZimPF source told journalists.

And now soon after this Mujuru’s revelation of infiltration, close ally Colonel (Retired) Claudius Makova resigned from Zim People First citing the dismal loss in the Bikita-West election to Zanu PF.

Disturbing however, is that before the ink has dried on Makova’s resignation letter, he has made state media headlines, singing praises of President Mugabe, in the Emmerson Mnangagwa controlled state media.

The state media reports that the former provincial co-ordinator  has indicated his desire to return to Zanu-PF while lavishing President Mugabe with praises, saying the revolutionary party remains strong under his leadership.

“Nobody wanted to leave Zanu-PF, but we were expelled. There is no way I can go back and bow to these small boys. I will only bow to senior people such as President Mugabe and Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa. I have great respect for President Mugabe, ” Makova is quoted saying.

Speaking to journalists in Harare last week, Rtd Col Makova also opened up on goings-on in ZimPF, including the leadership’s frustration at failing to garner grassroots support for a proposed opposition coalition.

Rtd Col Makova quit his post following ZimPF’s thumping defeat at Zanu-PF’s hands in the January 20 Bikita West National Assembly by-election – the first poll the opposition outfit has participated in since its launch in early 2016.

The Mnangagwa media further claims that the defeat sent senior party officials scampering for cover from the humiliation, with some said to be baying for the blood of their leader, Mujuru.

“I realised that if my party has lost in my own backyard, I cannot expect to win again in my area. It’s time to give others a chance, but I will remain an ordinary member.”
Rtd Col Makova said he was still bitter about his expulsion from Zanu-PF after being linked to Dr Mujuru’s ill-fated attempt to unconstitutionally unseat President Mugabe in both Government and the ruling party.

He said he would, however, “consider the option of returning”.
“It was not a choice to form People First, but there was no other alternative. I am hurt and I do not see myself going back. But if Zanu-PF apologises for what it did, then maybe I will start considering that option.

By Shyleen Mtandwa |  Barely three months after his election into office, Norton independent legislator, Temba Mliswa is mobilising resources needed for the construction of a mortuary at Norton hospital.

“Norton hospital is not in good shape, at the hospital there’s no functioning mortuary and one is needed,”said Mliswa.

“We are looking at around $18 000 to $22 000 as quoted by the department public works for the whole project to be completed.”

“We have 16 wards in Norton and we have said that each ward should raise $1000 because we believe in community ownership of every project in Norton,”he said

The firebrand politician said he was working with development partners to develop Norton.

By Ray Nkosi  Organisers of President Robert Mugabe’s 93rd birthday to be held in the Gukurahundi wounded Matobo district, next month, are in severe factional fights threatening the success of the event, with reports of internal sabotaging.

A faction aligned to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is reported to be causing confusion in the preparations of the already controversy ridden birthday celebrations.

ZimEye can reveal that party sources close to the organising committee say that the organisers are failing to agree with each other on a number of issues evidently influenced by factional wars in the party.

According to the sources there is a team of identified members who are reportedly deliberately sabotaging the preparations of the event in what they described as; “directives being issued to the team by some senior officials in Harare.”

The sources claim that the team deliberately delays or ignores sourcing for vital materials and equipment needed in the preparations for the birthday bash expected to gobble up almost a million dollars. Due to the team’s sabotage activities the preparations are reportedly running way behind schedule guaranteeing a possible flop of the event.

As the divisions became very evident and dirty with near fist fights among the committee members, Minister for Provincial Affairs, for Matabeleland South Abednico Ncube, had to last week convene an urgent meeting of the organising committee to try and solve the factional divisions in the committee.

Addressing the committee, Ncube called on the organisers to be united and focus on making the event a success “for the sake of President Mugabe.”

“We may have our separate differences within the party but we all remain loving our President and we therefore must remain united for his sake as we prepare for his birthday celebrations,” said Ncube.

Leader of the Matabeleland based cultural group Ibhetshu Likazulu, Mr Mbuso Fuzwayo last week told the media that the hosting of the event a few kilometers from ZANU PF and Mugabe orchestrated Gukurahundi genocide mass graves will not be a success as it is not having the blessing of the spirits of the people who are buried in shallow graves around the area.

A local headman who would not be named, yesterday told ZimEye.com that they are not surprised by the fights within the organisers as the spirits in the area are fighting for the people against ZANU PF’s forced hosting of the event in the area.

“The gods are at play in this whole confusion. We can also see it as bystanders as these people fight and quarrel right in front of us even failing to agree on simple things like the direction which the tents must face,” he said.

“In our culture we believe that those who the gods want to destroy they first make them confused and mad and that is exactly what is happening to these ZANU PF people here,” he added.

The no nonsense Party National Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere is reportedly going to be meeting with the committees this week and heads are expected to roll in his assignment to bring sanity into the event preparations.

It is almost a year since former vice-president Joice Mujuru announced her entry into opposition politics after her expulsion from Zanu PF in 2015.

Her Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) on January 21 fielded a parliamentary candidate for the first time in the Bikita West by-election and its performance left some doubting Mujuru’s capacity to take on President Robert Mugabe in next year’s elections.

However, Mujuru (JM) yesterday told our chief reporter Everson Mushava (EM) that the polls had proven that ZimPF was a force to reckon with and she is confident that she will be a big factor come 2018.

Below are excerpts of the interview.

EM: What motivated you to go against the National Electoral Reform Agenda (Nera) position not to take part in elections until there were reforms? Why did you field a candidate in the recent Bikita West by-election?

JM: Thank you very much for making time to come and have a discussion with me after the Bikita elections. First of all, let me tell you that People First respects the ideas and the will of the people.

The decision to go to Bikita West was not an individual call, it came from the people.

Yes, as Nera, we are talking about levelling the playing field, areas that need reforming and so on. It has not been our position that we don’t participate in any election.

Going to Bikita is not something that we regret, but it is something that we agreed upon as a party.

EM: After ZimPF’s “poor showing”, there are sentiments that you were left weakened.What is your comment on that?

JM: I don’t know who marks or who gives the levels at which parties should be commended as having done an excellent job at a given period of time and so on, but let me tell you that as PF, we are saluting ourselves because we are a party that has been in this business for less than a year and have done a lot under very difficult circumstances.

We went in knowing for sure we were going to encounter such problems like we have been hearing from other opposition parties we work with in Nera.

We now appreciate practically what others have been saying when they said the playing field is not level.

I can now tell you the ground is not level because we have tested it.

Right now I am a well-informed leader of PF that it is not fabrication that the playing field is not level. We have tested the pudding.

EM: Is there any truth in the allegations that Zanu PF was engaged in vote-buying and intimidation of voters ahead of the by-election?

JM: Like I said before, we experienced it. For example, when someone who is able to use an advanced iPhone would come on voting day and say “I can’t read and write, so help me”.

We could see desks set 100m from the polling stations (manned by officials), threatening people that they were seeing who they were voting for. It was a way of frightening voters.

How on earth can we do something like this to the voters? Because of the nature of Zanu PF, people believed it and they have been telling us.

The kraal heads were told to march their people to the voting centres and this is exactly what we have been hearing and for us we can say, “yes we have now witnessed that”.

EM: Don’t you think your participation in the polls may affect your relationship with other Nera members who are pushing for electoral reforms?

JM: I think about two, three days ago [Dr] Morgan Tsvangirai was in the papers informing the nation and the world that he is comfortable working with PF.

I am sure he saw that we mean serious business. PF and the MDC-T are very serious about working for the freedom that the people of Zimbabwe are looking forward to.

We are not just talking about this freedom with Dr Tsvangirai’s party or Dr Tsvangirai himself, but many other opposition parties.

We are doing it bilaterally, multilaterally and so on. So I don’t think there will be anybody questioning our worthiness at going into a coalition.

EM: There are some in ZimPF who are accusing you of failing to stamp your authority and stop Retired Colonel Makova from imposing Kudakwashe Gopo, your losing candidate in the Bikita West by-election. They say he dragged the whole party into the polls unprepared. What is your comment on that?

JM: I don’t understand when people are talking about authority of an individual. When you try to question such decisions, they will say we don’t want one centre of power.

The decision to take Gopo as our candidate for Bikita West was not supposed to be an individual or the president’s decision.

It was a party decision. It was not a Makova decision.

Yes, Makova was the provincial coordinator and mind you, when you are the coordinator you are just a postman, you have no decision of your own, you take the people’s will and Makova was approached by the Bikita West people and he only passed it on to the party.

We discussed about the issue and agreed we were going to go into Bikita West.

JM: MDC-T claimed it distanced itself from supporting you because you fielded a candidate accused of human rights violations during his time in Zanu PF. Did you learn any lessons from this?

JM: As democratic forces, we wouldn’t want to be seen as moving sideways. We want to be pulling together, we don’t want to be creating difficulties amongst ourselves when we know for sure that we have one enemy and then we are seen creating enemies amongst ourselves, but with this situation of Bikita West, that one I didn’t hear about it. If it happened it’s unfortunate.

EM: Do you think the problems encountered during the by-election can be resolved before the 2018 plebiscite?

JM: Like I have said already, it is now the first-hand information that we can share with others who had this experience before us.

But right now as PF with this involvement, we can tell you that these things happen and we think in future we will find ways of how to really try and make things work the other way.

We now know Zanu PF has its own tactics of doing things and we have to strategise against them.

EM: Are you still committed to a coalition with other opposition parties ahead of 2018 and are you happy with the progress made so far?

JM: Like what I have said already, from what you have heard from Dr Tsvangirai that he is ready to work with PF and that even from our side, we are also ready to work with other democratic forces that are ready to work with us.

Right now it is MDC-T we are talking to on bilateral basis, but we also have many more that we are talking to.

So for 2018, we are sure the democratic forces will be ready to work together because the enemy we are facing is one.

We are not enemies amongst ourselves as opposition parties.

But we know what the Zimbabwean people are aiming to have at the moment, so our focus is to bridge the gaps that separate us so that come 2018, which is very close, we will pull together.

EM: Some observers say you and MDC-T are arrogant because you only want a coalition among yourselves. Is that how you see the talks from your side?

JM: There were many issues put to thought because of us not going to Cape Town [for talks with other opposition parties last year] but that we are probably trying to get rid of other parties before 2018; that is not true.

As we have been working with other parties, and may be you noticed that many parties attended out provincial rallies. You can’t say we are discriminating against other political parties.

EM: Do you think your loss in Bikita will compromise your bargaining power in the negotiations?

JM: I don’t think there will be a compromise at all in any talks that are yet to come. In fact, it should give them confidence that PF is a force to reckon with because of what we have done is such a short space of time.

If you compare us with other parties, we have managed to participate in an election, in less than a year we have managed to register our party, in less than a year we have managed to have 10 launches in each province.

So how many parties do we have in Zimbabwe that have managed to do that in a short space of time?
As I am telling you right now, we have managed to come up with a constitution, having consulted countrywide.

The rural people are joining us because they are saying this is the time that we should just show the world that no, what we fought for never came and this is the time that it should come to the people.

EM: Does the lack of substantive office bearers have any bearing on the alleged infighting in your party?

JM: You know it’s a party that is less than a year old and I know of parties that are many years older than us that have not held their conventions, but with us a convention is inevitable and we have said it just has to be there.

For your own information, it is going to happen because our constitution is ready now and we wouldn’t have gone to that convention without a document that we are satisfied with.

EM: When will ZimPF be finally launched considering that it is almost a year since you first announced your intention to form a political party and that 2018 elections are drawing close?

JM: I don’t know why people love to talk about fights. Fights are where you see people having blood gushing all over, taking each other to courts and people paying fines and so forth.

I think when people have different opinions, people want to turn them to fights, different opinions are allowed even among brothers and sisters, even between a husband a wife fights are allowed.

Those are democratic processes and if you don’t have such things happening, how would you then try to crystalise your process?

How are you going to come up one day and be proud of the good job that you have done in future?

What we are doing is not only for the present. People are working on the process of having this country run properly under a good party and that party should be based on a well-set foundation and if you don’t set the foundation properly, it will not go any far.

So what we are doing takes time and when we are doing it, like what we have told you, consulting people takes time.

EM: Don’t you think time is running out for 2018?

JM: For PF, this is where democracy plays out; we have to go to and fro consulting people. It is good to see the common fabric that is running within the minds of the people. We have to take our time to know the people we are dealing with.

What if some of them wake up one day and become informants? It’s the game of politics. You need time to learn about each other, understanding issues.

EM: You recently told SABC that you are ready to forgive Mugabe if you win the forthcoming elections. Can you tell us more about your position?

JM: We are a Christian country, and I believe forgiveness is what we are taught and some of us we have grown to understand and if you are a leader who does not believe in forgiveness and you want to apply the rule of an eye for an eye and retributive tendencies are applied and all those ills that you can think of that cause the nation to be at each other’s throat, can we call that a nation?

I am sure that the nation of Zimbabwe is tired; they want peace, like what we have agreed in our Constitution.

We have a department for the peace and reconciliation because we believe in peace, like what happened, many other things happened in this country, a lot of people have pronounced a lot about Gukurahundi, they gloss over it.

As Zimbabweans, we have a culture and those are the things we say as PF we need to make sure that they are more pronounced, developed, not just for us, but for future generations.

We have our own ways of solving disputes as Zimbabwe. There are peaceful ways of addressing mistakes.

EM: Having been in the ruling party for 43 years, do you miss being in government?

JM: If I ask, is there a government to miss today? I don’t think so. And let me tell you, with what is happening, that there is this group that is sharpening its tools to fight another group, and in PF we say we want peace, you ask yourself, would I be willing to be in such a situation.

What role would I be playing right now? Some of us are not of the fighting spirit.

Rather than sitting on the terraces and watch Zanu PF decimate the little that is left of this country, it’s better we join hands with democratic forces in Zimbabwe and give peace and freedom to the people of Zimbabwe. – The Standard

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Fester Dube| Former Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono’s former aide, Munyaradzi Kereke has been recorded performing a u-turn on his previous pronouncements and statements against Gono.

The humiliated former Zanu-PF National Assembly representative for Bikita, has been recorded “unreservedly” apologising to Gono for tarnishing his image by making corruption allegations.

In the run up to the 2013 elections, Kereke made declarations which were published through the Mai Jukwa Facebook campaign. They included strong allegations that Gono stole the central bank’s gold coins.

But Kereke, who is serving a 10-year sentence for child rape, told the state media he has since withdrawn all court cases against Dr Gono who has given “credible and plausible explanations on a lot of the grey areas” that had caused problems between the two.

Kereke went on to apologise to President Robert Mugabe for tarnishing the country’s image, saying he and his former boss had not listened to President Mugabe’s advice on conflict resolution.

Kereke reportedly said, “From my heart, I would want to say to Dr Gono it’s good to rediscover each other, mukoma. It’s good to rediscover each other, mukoma. Rediscovering in the sense that we had gone so far, lost in our own appetite to fight and fight and fight and fight.”

The statements published in the Sunday Mail continued stating on Kereke’s words,

“More like fighting, but both of you are on a cliff. You can almost imagine what would happen. You are on a cliff and you are busy brawling. You may roll over and the results would be casualties beyond yourselves. It affects family, it affects the image of the country. It affects a lot of other things.”

“So I withdrew all my cases from the courts and elected that path where parties should really talk over as a way to get an end to this. And also factually, Dr Gono was able to give credible, plausible explanations on a lot of the grey areas that had caused us problems,” said Kereke who was in high spirits with a huge Bible by his side. Pressed to explain what really went wrong since the two had an “excellent” working relationship at the RBZ, Kereke said: “I think Dr Gono would be the best person to respond to that. You know, when two parts of the same body are attached and you separate them abruptly, there is trauma. There is bleeding. The part that has been amputated will remain with questions, but I want to say all of that is in the past now. All of that is in the past.”

Kereke explained how the dispute started, saying at one point when he returned to work from his annual leave, he was shocked when he was denied access into the Central Bank.

“Just so you know, I went on leave; it was in December. In January, when I drove to work, the doors were closed. No discussion, nothing. So, a lot of the issues about what went wrong, I would not be the best person to answer.

“But I want to insist again, this is now in retrospect. Whatever it was, I want to believe it’s finished now. We are now on the same page. We are now people who have found common ground.

“We have been communicating through lawyers, wanting to clarify areas where we had differences. I want to say that process went on very smoothly and cordially because either side wanted real closure, to get to the bottom of things. So, yes, we communicated through our legal counsels.”

Kereke added: “But the moment communication was opened, he was able to say ‘Ahhh, munin’ina, you know what, these funds whereas from the information you had, the file which you had, this went to Air Zimbabwe, this went to Zec’ and so on.

“We reconciled and I said, ‘Ahh, mukoma, this is correct.’

“So, there is no issue. We were able to tick line by line all these things and cleared all the grey areas. I came to the conclusion that there was perhaps on the part of my brother. . .he ought to have communicated better so that there was proper synchronisation of information.”

Asked whether he regrets what he did to Dr Gono, Kereke was emphatic in his response.

“Very much so. In fact, in my statement, I said things could have been managed differently and better perhaps,” he said.

Kereke went on to explain that he was making the apology out of his own volition.

“Certainly and for the record, no one talked me into this. It is a matter of wanting to clear my own conscience. It is a voluntary process. It is a process, I want to believe also Dr Gono has to move on with his life, so do I. We needed to clear the air. Certainly, no one talked me into this. . .

“We had driven each other to the cliff where everything was embarrassing now. We were losing face even to our wives and to our children. So, sense had to come in. We realised this is not good.

“And for the country, Dr Gono was governor of the Central Bank, appointed by the country’s leadership. On my part, I think I needed to have acted differently regardless of whatever he would have done. Whatever he would have done, I should have acted differently. I think in a way, I wasn’t sensitive. Without any shame, I tender my apologies to the country and to Dr Gono.

He went further to exonerate Dr Gono from all the corruption allegations he levelled against him.

Asked whether Dr Gono was corrupt, Kereke responded: “He is not. This has come about, you know, when you block dialogue, no pressure moves anything unless it’s contained. If you boil water, close it in a can, it blows up the thing. There is no movement.

“I think we didn’t share information as much as we have now done. We didn’t explain things because there was that sudden amputation. So, the question was: These things that I have, could they be the ones; the reasons I have been shunted out? Or what is it? But through dialogue, you then see that you join the two pieces together and they make a logical story which is quite plausible. . .

“Dr Gono and I, we were beyond workmates. We were like brothers. I think that’s perhaps the reason why the dispute had to go to such extremes. When you go to brothers who are very close, more like your own arm, you wake up one night, zaaappp, it’s taken off. There would be trauma. Any small glitch tends to snobble into a bigger dispute.

“Having said all this, I tendered my apologies to Dr Gono and his family to say, ‘Ahhh, mukoma, let’s be sensible. Regardless of whatever you had done, muri mukoma, muri mukuru kwandiri. You are my brother. I am sorry for the way I acted.’ He accepted the apology. Likewise, he said, ‘Munin’ina, whatever went wrong at any stage in our relationship, know that I have forgiven you and we want to live normally.’

“That’s at our level. But to the country, with a very clear conscience, I want to profusely apologise to the country’s leadership and the nation at large. To say really this brawl with Dr Gono risked tarnishing the image of the country. It was not good at all. We could have acted better and in a different way.

“I have an example. His Excellency always says, ‘Mukanetsana, even at party level, regardless kuti umwe atora dhongi remunhu or mbudzi, try to resolve the issue quietly muri kumacorner.’ I think, in a way, Dr Gono and I hatina kuteerera that advice. Fortunately, we have come to realise that it was the right advice.”

Kereke said he was aware that the dispute had affected Dr Gono’s businesses and his standing in the eyes of his partners.

“I have clearly stated in my statement that, ‘Don’t look at the brother-to-brother dispute that had come up as a reflection of his integrity, as a reflection of his inability to deliver. Please, see that this was a dispute.’

“People were throwing sling-shots. If you google the speeches he would give, sometimes the jabs he would give, offensive language that also came from me to him. It affects relationships.

“So, to the business community, honestly and with all sincerity, take it from the fact that the two parties have now reconciled. They did all they did in the midst of a conflict which was mishandled by both parties. We are pleased that it is over.”

Turning to the two families, Kereke said: “. . . to our families, we are so sorry. We acted irresponsibly as parents, fighting in public, in front of your eyes, in front of your ears. Know that this dispute is over and let’s live together again as family.”

Kereke explained that he had chosen to speak  state media because of its credibility and remarkably high circulation figures.

“I think it’s about credibility. The tragedy with our media these days is that they can turn something which is virtuous into something awfully terrible, depending on which side of the political equation that journalist is.

“I know certainly that The Sunday Mail has credibility, believability among the public. It’s also about circulation because we want people to know that the yesteryear conflict is no more. We have reconciled. We are one family.

“If Dr Gono were to bring me on a public holiday, we have the forthcoming Easter Holiday, cooked beef in a lunchbox, I would eat it without doubting or suspecting that there could be something in it. He can bring me a cup of coffee. He knows my sugar levels in tea. I take it without asking. So, it is at that level that we have come to reconcile.”

Asked what lessons he had learnt from the way he had handled the dispute with Dr Gono, Kereke said: “First, my advice to bosses is: If a junior has done something which you feel is not in congruence with what you would want, communicate effectively.

“You don’t lock the door and assume you have communicated. So, our separation with Dr Gono created the false impression that we had a lot of bad issues against each other. I couldn’t understand why all of a sudden I was shut out. So, it’s communication.

“Secondly, resolve your disputes as much as possible through dialogue. It is the right way. The results are much, much more effective. Look, we could have dragged each other to the courts, but the moment we took the dialogue way, information started to flow, exchanging files which clarified a lot of issues.”

He went on: “And we were saying, ‘What was the problem.’ All these years fighting when all these grey areas could have been cleared in a matter of a few weeks through proper dialogue. So, my advice would be don’t choose the aggressive path of fighting. If anything, embrace each other in the context of your difficulties; put communication and sensibility ahead of everything else.

“But in our own culture and even Biblically, I can’t remember which verse it is, which says, ‘Do not speak angrily to someone older than you’. I think I went off the rails. He could have come, poured hot water on my face. He could have come and insulted me in any way. . .I ought not have reacted the way I did.

“It was wrong and very, very bad. And I am sorry for that. . . Let me state it again boldly, handina kufoswa. It’s the conscience to want to do the right thing.”

PASSION Java Ministries’ leader Prophet Passion Java’s fortune is crumbling like a deck of cards, as one of his last pieces of property is set to go under the hammer to recover an undisclosed sum owed to ViewSat Limited, a United Kingdom-based telecommunications firm.

The charismatic preacher, known for his extravagant lifestyle, is reportedly struggling to make-ends-meet after he was reportedly chucked out of his Borrowdale Brooke lodgings for failing to pay rentals.

He could not be reached for comment as mobile phone was not reachable with officials at his church saying he was “away in Ethiopia”.

Church members close to the 29 year-old man of the cloth said he had gone to Ethiopia to stay with his in-laws.

Due to mounting debts, a stand measuring 1 350m2 in Kadoma was recently attached by the Deputy Sheriff of the High Court and will be publicly auctioned by Bard Real Estate.

The property is set to be auctioned on February 3, 2017 at Raylton Sports Club in Harare to settle Prophet Passion’s obligations with ViewSat Limited.

In a notice last week, Bard Real Estate said: “In the matter between ViewSat Ltd vs Passion Java Ministries and 2 others: SS194/15: a certain piece of land situate (sic) in the district of Gatooma called stand 2983 Kadoma Township of stand 3341 Kadoma township measuring 1 350m2. Also known as stand 2983 Blue Ranges Kadoma. Improvements: unserviced residential stands Chinhoyi.”

ViewSat is one of the fastest-growing operators within the global broadcast and transmission services industry for television and radio channels.

Launched in 2006 to provide digital satellite services to private broadcasters in Africa, ViewSat is now active across the global marketplace with operations extending to Asia, Europe and North America.

The state media  Religion could not ascertain by the time of going to print if the property to be auctioned was in respect of US$37 500 owed to ViewSat for international telecommunication services provided to his church.

In April 2015, ViewSat was issued with a writ of execution directing attachment of movable property from Passion Java Ministries, Prophet Passion and his then wife, Yasmin Java.

The writ of execution was issued under case 11007/14.

Read part of the writ: “To the Sheriff for Zimbabwe or his lawful Deputy, you are required and directed to attach and take into execution the movable goods of Passion Java Ministries (formerly Kingdom Embassy), Passion Java and Yasmin Java of 109 Robert Mugabe Road, Harare and of the same cause to be realised the sum of US$37 500 plus interest thereon at two percent per month compounded on a monthly basis from 1st May 2014 to the date of payment plus costs of suit in the above mentioned suit and for you so doing this shall be your warrant.”

The writ followed a default judgment by Justice Mathonsi on March 3, 2015 at the High Court ordering the recovery of the US$37 500 and costs of the suit.

Some of the property attached at that point included a Leyland truck, public address system and chairs.

Prophet Passion dumped his former wife Yasmin in 2015 after a four-year marriage. The couple had been blessed with a son. He has since replaced Yasmin with Ethiopian beauty, Lily Tsegaye, who is said to be five months pregnant.

Prophet Passion is not new to controversy.

He once claimed to have performed a “miracle abortion” after allegedly praying for a woman who was four months pregnant. The woman claimed her lover had denied responsibility for the pregnancy and she was stranded.- State Media

Dear Commissioner-General (Dr) Augustine Chihuri,
It is not often that your good office is addressed this way, but that we have resorted to this route might be an indication of the gravity of the matter at hand.

It is no longer a laughing matter. It is one of national importance.

The presence of the police on our roads, highways, motorways etc has reached proportions that it would be a miscarriage of justice if we keep quite about it.

Should we do so, our children will find us guilty, not by commission but by omission.

The police force has worked over the years to build its reputation.

But it is a sure bet that in the past year — given their presence and penchant for fining people left, right and centre — this behaviour might have eroded public confidence in the force.

Let’s be practical, Commissioner-General, lest you might think we are using emotions here.

How does one explain four roadblocks between Harare Drive, which marks the boundary of Harare, and Mazowe, a distance of less than 40km? An average of a roadblock every 10km!

The first of these roadblocks is right by Marlborough Police Station, which is understandable: a security check point for what is going or leaving the capital city.

Then either side of the Eskbank tollgate, either just after the National Defence College or just at Eskbank Farm, is the second of the roadblocks.

This is usually the mobile highway patrol team. If you miss them there, you are bound to meet them by the Christon Bank turn-off.

The third of the roadblocks is by Henderson Research Station, which has morphed into a 24-hour operation. Then comes the fourth at Mazowe Citrus Estate.

If you are proceeding the Bindura way, there are bound to be some more, as well as on the Mvurwi Highway.

This high presence of police officers on the highway is not confined to this route, but I have cited it because it is a road I use regularly.

Between Harare and Bulawayo, the country’s two major urban settlements which — by their standing — have high vehicular and human traffic, the number of roadblocks is too numerous to count.

Entering and exiting an urban settlement, one is bound to meet a set of traffic police officers, and most of the time, asking for the same things or after the same offences that would have been asked at the previous blocks.

The same presence of police officers replicates itself between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls, the country’s major tourist destination.

Turn the other side of Harare — driving to Mutare — the same can be said of the presence of police officers.

For a country as peaceful as Zimbabwe, for a citizenry that is struggling to eke out a decent livelihood, which is made all the more difficult by cash shortages, and for a motorist who has to contend with a potholed roads, this makes travelling a nightmare. Your chief spin doctor, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, will be quick to respond that potholes have nothing to do with the police force and that the force is simply meeting its constitutional mandate. But introspection asks of all of us: what we are doing for Zimbabwe’s image?

To fine a motorist, who is a tourist to the country, for his rented vehicle for not having “honey-comb” reflectors is surely not the best way to market Zimbabwe.

Neither does it augur well for our economy that an informal trader who is moving to and from agricultural markets can be fined for his vehicle not having the gross vehicle mass or net vehicle mass displayed.

Fine, we know all these misdemeanours are contained in legislative material, and it is up to us, the electorate, to ask our MPs to review them.

But what does common sense entail?

What would be wrong with a police officer, on noticing that a vehicle’s number plate lights are not functioning, advising, warning and cautioning the motorist that at your next destination, please attend to this anomaly?

Why the inclination to fine there and then?

Commissioner-General, it is not just the presence of the police officers on the highway that is disconcerting: it is their behaviour; their lack of respect; their assumption that every motorist is guilty; that every motor vehicle has a defect; that everyone must pay a spot fine.

Even as the officers stop you, the body language and demeanour tell you that you are in trouble before any question has been asked or answered.

And is it by mere coincidence that police officers seem to have exchanged their baton sticks for spikes? That memo must have missed our attention.

Compare the attitude of our police officers with those of neighbouring countries. In South Africa and Botswana, for instance, the officers are ever-smiling, courteous and if they are to fine you, for sure you would have committed road traffic offence worthy of such a punishment.

And in the said countries, wherever they mount a roadblock, some distance before, you are warned that you are approaching such a stoppage, which gives you time to prepare, mentally or otherwise.

There are signs, and if it is night time, the signs are reflective, giving the motorist enough warning of an impending police stop.

Contrast this with Zimbabwe scenario, the aforementioned Henderson Research Station roadblock, in spite of it being mounted well into the night, is hardly visible after dark.

It takes a motorist who is a frequent traveller on the road to know that there is always a roadblock.

Whoever told the police that their drums, the ones they use to block the road, should be painted black and white? Whilst this might work during the day, at night it just doesn’t add up! Reflectors are needed.

Same with the Norton roadblock, just by the service station.

There are other considerations. We are in election season. What is the behaviour of the police force doing to the electorate? Are we not creating discontent against the ruling establishment?

There is no nation that can do without policing. The police are an integral part of any state. But it looks like we have taken policing to a different level in Zimbabwe.

We would understand the tactics as employed by speed trap police officers, it is a trap, so it supposed to catch a motorist who is driving above the speed limit.

But when every traffic officer decides to play hide-and-seek with motorists, choosing street corners, bushy areas and highway bends to mount roadblocks, that indicates a desire to merely fine motorists rather than to promote order.

Then the seriousness, or lack thereof, of the offences, makes many believe that it is all a fund-raising gimmick.

This is the same hard-pressed citizenry, which has to contend with long hours at the bank, that is asked to hand over the little it has to the police.

We are talking here of a citizenry that is well-mannered, well-cultured, well-disposed. Getting into the car every morning to get to work has become a headache. Which roads to use? Which are likely NOT to have roadblocks? What to say when you encounter them?

Who looks forward to driving to Victoria Falls when one is assured of encountering at least a dozen roadblocks?

Who will bother driving to KwaMereki, a normal weekend routine, when that drive is to be met with five roadblocks on potholed roads?

It takes the cheer the away.

In conclusion, I have written you as Commissioner-General because of the level of desperation and frustration we have reached. No one seems to care in the police force.

Is this the kind of legacy that Commissioner-General (Dr) Chihuri would like to leave for Zimbabweans, that his police force has been so menacing, so heartless on the highways?

What we ask of you, Commissioner-General, is change in tact, change in approach.

This is our Zimbabwe, the only country millions of us will ever know, and we would like to live, enjoy and be buried here.

But our police officers, traffic police officers, are not making this life an enjoyable life. We are not criminals. We are law-abiding, taxpaying people trying to get from one day to the next with as little fuss as possible.

 Yours Sincerely,

Garikai Mazara

Extra Editor

The whole fabric of Zimbabwean society is under a cloud of manipulation in which followers are made to worship their leaders. The above discussion was held on Saturday afternoon on ZimEye.com

Ray Nkosi | Movement for Democratic Change President, Morgan Tsvangirai, has ended his week long tour of the Matebeleland regions, below are pictures as he talks to party structures.

Luke Tamborinyoka | President Morgan Tsvangirai today wound up his 10-day listening tour of the three Matabeleland provinces with an address to the Bulawayo provincial assembly.

Most of the issues discussed were of an internal and strategic nature, and cannot be subject for megaphone communication. However President Tsvangirai said he had come, had seen and heard the deep seated sentiment from the people and was now wiser after spending 10 days in the region.

The jubilant crowd made significant input into both the post- Mugabe governance architecture and the political alliance building process, to which they gave their thumbs up.

Next week, the President continues with his tour of the provinces in which he wants to be guided by the people’s feelings in the execution and transaction of political business both within and outside the party.

In the post-Mugabe era and in the alliance building process, the people’s input is going to be a key ingredient.

Indeed, public participation has been the missing link in Africa and President Tsvangirai, through his mass-line approach, is ensuring that public input participation takes its rightful place in decision-making.

Luke Tamborinyoka
Presidential Spokesperson and Director of Communications
Movement for Democratic Change

Seventeen police officers from Inyathi and Nkayi have been arrested and charged with abuse of office in connection with illegal gold mining activities in Bubi District.

The Police Act prohibits officers from pursuing business interests without first notifying the Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri.

Police sources said the officers — 11 from Inyathi and six from Nkayi — were arrested on Wednesday last week and have been appearing before an internal tribunal at the Nkayi District police headquarters.

Police prosecutors have preferred a range of charges ranging from criminal abuse of office, leaving their posts unattended and engaging in activities which violate the Police Act.

After the internal hearings, which are expected to continue into next week, the police officers will face criminal charges.

Some of the officers who were charged were deployed at Durban Mine where violent clashes over control of gold claims have previously been reported.

A police source said the Officer Commanding Nkayi District, Chief Superintendent Never Tembo and another officer identified as Superintendent Ntundle, presided over the hearings.

He said the officers were allegedly charged for failing to execute their duties, with members of the public accusing them of turning a blind eye to illegal activities by gold panners.

“The 17 officers have been charged under the Police Act after being suspected of being involved in mining at the gold claims and failing to discharge their duties. Some senior police officers tried to cover up the activities of the officers but the matter came to light following increased public complaints and violent clashes,” said the source.

“Their hearings started on Monday at Nkayi Police Station.”

The source said four of the officers were positively identified by omakorokoza who accused them of forcing them into mine shafts.

The names of the 17 officers could not be established yesterday with police keeping a tight lid over the matter.

National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said he was not aware of the case and referred questions to Matabeleland North police.

Acting Matabeleland North police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Eglon Nkala had earlier referred all questions to the national spokesperson’s office.

There have been violent clashes between rival gangs of illegal gold miners in Bubi District.

On Monday, five gold panners who were part of a group of 30 men rounded up by police for wreaking havoc in Inyathi were jailed for two years for a range of transgressions.

Their arrest followed the deployment of 200 police officers from Nkayi in the Inyathi area to restore order. – State Media

Say goodbye to Singapore, President Mugabe. And Beijing and wherever else you’ve been on your LONG Christmas holiday.

Harare’s potholed streets await your shiny motorcade. Don’t worry though: your road is fine.

Residents of the Zimbabwean capital – parts of which have been recently battered by rains – have remarked upon the speed with which the road leading to Mugabe’s Borrowdale mansion is being fixed ahead of the president and first lady Grace Mugabe’s scheduled return home on Friday.

Heavy rains in the capital dislodged parts of the road surface earlier this week, making the highway the president’s limo thrums along at least twice a day (when’s he’s actually in the country) uncannily similar in its “pot-holeyness” to some other roads in Harare.

Tweeted watchdog @ZimMediaReview: “Some roads are more equal than others.”

In contrast, residents of other areas of Harare end up trying to fix potholes outside their homes themselves. Or the craters get roughly filled in with mud and sand by workers – only for the mud to be washed away in the next shower of rain.

“Stampede to fix the presidential motorcade route. Shocking. Why should this route get special attention?” tweeted Zimbabwean lawyer Fadzayi Mahere as she posted a video of trucks and workmen fixing the Borrowdale road.

Mugabe turns 93 next month and has been in power in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. – News24

ZIMBABWE’S long time ruler Robert Mugabe faces fresh trouble over his alleged Gukurahundi crimes which he committed between 1983 and 1987.

His Zanu PF party has announced that it will hold the nonagenarian’s annual birthday bash in Matabeleland South’s Matobo district where most innocent civilians perceived to be the late Joshua Nkomo, then leader of the ZAPU party, supporters were butchered in cold blood by Mugabe’s Korean trained army.

A pressure-group-turned-political-party – Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) – has vowed to stop Mugabe’s lavish party arguing that the fete would be “a celebration of the 1980 genocide which claimed an estimated 20 000 people in the Midlands and Matabeleland provinces.

The killings are popularly known as Gukurahundi – an incident which soon-to-be 93 year-old Mugabe has described as “a moment of madness.”

“We cannot allow Zanu PF to throw a birthday party near the Bhalagwe Gukurahundi mass graves. To us this is a celebration of the atrocities,” MRP said during a presser to announce its intent to contest Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections in Bulawayo mid week.

Bhalagwe is a disused section of the Antelope Mine where the Fifth Brigade – believed to have been sent by Mugabe tortured and mercilessly buried people alive in the shallow grave. The mine has never been opened since then and bones of the deceased have not been properly buried to date.

Relatives of the Gukurahundi victims believe that reburying their relatives properly constitute a step towards justice. However, the Zimbabwe government led by Mugabe has since time immemorial made sure that the matter remains a “closed case” and at worst taboo to discuss publicly.

Asked what he thought about the decision by Zanu PF party to hold the celebrations in Matobo, former ZIPRA intelligence supremo and current ZAPU president Dumiso Dabengwa said “the matter was not for politicians”.

“It is (you) civil society who must decide what to do about the issue. It’s not for us politicians to take a move,” Dabengwa said during a civic dialogue meeting organised by the Public Policy Research Institute of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Wednesday this week.

“The Maleme community did it and the civil society there in Matopo took a stand and said no this cannot happen here; so I am sure you can still do something about this,” he added.

Ironically, ZANU PF continues with the preparations for the bash scheduled for next month undeterred.

In a statement gleaned by The Citizen Bulletin, Matobo villagers said they have no power to stop Mugabe but they do not want him to set his foot in the area whose dwellers are still apparently grieving Gukurahundi atrocities.

“We have no powers to stop His Excellency from celebrating his birthday where ever he wants to, if we had, we would not want him to dare step his foot in Matobo but history will record that we are against it and that we warned,” a statement issued by the villagers through Matobo Community Development Trust read in part.

“We appeal to the broader Civil Society, opposition parties, media and everyone who is sane and cares to stand in solidarity with us during this painful time of celebrating Mugabe’s birthday.

“We may be arrested, tortured and even disappear; we live in fear but our spirits are unwavering. We are being threatened and forced to attend by the regime against our will,” further read the statement. – Citizen Bulletin

Women always suffer in silence, this old adage has been proven to be true after an unidentified woman recorded a touching conversation with her husband.

The woman is heard complaining about how her husband never seems to have time for her.

She weeps bitterly begging her husband to treat her like a woman but her plea seems to fall on deaf ears.The woman attempts to rape him after the hubby declines her more than generous offer.

Watch Tete Rasta dissect this particular case, as well as look into some areas that affect sexual intimacy amongst couples.

HIGHER and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo this week came short of accusing his Finance counterpart Patrick Chinamasa of a sinister plot to foment anarchy at State universities after reducing his budget by half.

In an angry statement signed by ministry permanent secretary, Machivenyika Mapuranga this week, Moyo said Chinamasa had reneged on his undertaking that the 2016 wage bill would spill into 2017 without adjustments. The statement said staff at universities had reacted angrily to the proposed salary cuts.

“Key players have been alarmed by this decision taken by the ministry of Finance, which, according to the staff association, had given assurance that the 2017 wage bill was to be based on the October 2016 salary bill, meaning that the 2017 salary bill would remain at the 2016 levels and the staff association formally communicated this position to staff of all State universities,” the statement read.

While indicating that a salary cut would be viewed as unfair labour practice, the workers had according to the ministry demanded a reversal of the move.

“They unreservedly expressed their position that the salary budget should be reversed to 100% with immediate
effect. Members categorically stated

that State universities are not able and have no capacity to pay for the other 50% towards employment costs,” the statement said.

Early this week, NewsDay Weekender was inundated with calls from universities across the country confirming government had officially communicated its intention to slash salaries, but Mapuranga shot down the claims when contacted for comment.

“I met with nine vice-chancellors this morning and they did not tell me anything of that sort. There is nothing like that,” he said on Tuesday before releasing the stinging statement.

Moyo’s ministry seems to have ganged up with workers against Chinamasa.

“The ministry and vice-chancellors agreed that there appears to be a shocking lack of appreciation by Treasury on the strategic role universities play in the socio-economic development of the nation and universities are operating in the same harsh economic environment like any other sector,” Mapuranga said.

“The majority of the students who enrol at local universities and tertiary institutions are from poor families and Treasury continues to ignore this reality.” – Newsday

By Joylene Mtandwa, Chinhoyi | A local man here is on the run after he was caught red handed having sex with his neighbour’s dog.

Davison Mudzungairi, of Chikonohono township in Chinhoyi, was last week found in a compromising position with a dog by his neighbour, at the corner of a dura wall.

“I had a strange sound outside the gate when I was throwing litter in the bin at around 2000hrs. “It was not a barking sound but just an unusual sound, and when I got out of the gate I was shocked to see Davison riding the screaming dog,” the shocked neighbour explained.

“I clapped him from behind and he disembarked from the dog and ran away,”he said.

The neighbour said he reported the case to the police who have since launched an investigation on Davison.

China has committed to fund the implementation of several projects here as relations between Harare and Beijing continue to flourish to greater heights, President Mugabe said last night.

The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, who was in high spirits, revealed this soon after landing at the Harare International Airport from his annual leave in the Far East.

President Mugabe, who was accompanied by First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe, was welcomed by his two deputies Cdes Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, Cabinet Ministers Sydney Sekeramayi (Defence), Ignatius Chombo (Home Affairs), Chris Mushohwe (Information, Media and Broadcasting Services), Harare Metropolitan Minister of State Miriam Chikukwa, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda, Information Media and Broadcasting Services secretary Mr George Charamba, and services chiefs.

President Mugabe took time to reflect on his vacation, which was interspaced with official business, which saw him meeting President Xi and attending the France-Africa Summit in Mali.

Said President Mugabe: “We were on vacation, but we used it during our stay in China to meet our brother and friend President Xi Jinping to discuss our programmes here and to inform him on the progress we have made; the progress we have not made; the need we still have for China to fund some of the projects, which need funding, but it was a fruitful stay, and as usual of course President Xi Jinping said they will help us as much as possible.”

During his two-day State visit here in 2015, President Xi and President Mugabe oversaw the signing of 12 landmark deals cutting across all sectors of the economy.

President Xi’s visit to Zimbabwe followed President Mugabe’s visit to Beijing in 2014 where a number of economic deals were also signed.

The exchange visits by the two Heads of State and Government have seen Chinese firms going into partnership and joint ventures with local companies as part of efforts to turn around the economy.

The deals are at various stages of implementation and fit in well with the objectives of the country’s economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset).

During President Xi’s visit here, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa penned four agreements on behalf of Zimbabwe with the first one being an economic and technical co-operation agreement with China, while Chinese Minister of Commerce Mr Gao Hucheng signed on behalf of his country.

The two also signed an agreement on avoidance of double taxation.

Minister Chinamasa signed two loan agreements for the expansion of Hwange Thermal Power Station and TelOne’s fibre optic project with the chairperson of the China Eximbank, Ms Hu Xiaolian.

On the Hwange Power Station expansion, the Zimbabwe Power Company represented by its managing director Engineer Noah Gwariro and Sinohydro represented by the chairman of its parent company Power China, Mr Yan Zhiyong, signed a co-operation agreement on Hwange 7 and 8 project.

The expansion project at Hwange, which is now at an advanced stage will see Sinohydro adding two units with a capacity of 600 MW.

Mr Gao signed four more deals on aviation co-operation with Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Joram Gumbo and construction of a national pharmaceutical warehouse with Health and Child Care Minister, Dr David Parirenyatwa.

He also signed a handover and acceptance of certificate on the donation of equipment for wildlife protection in Zimbabwe with Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri and an agreement on the exchange of notes for the construction of a new Parliament building with Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere.

Policy Co-ordination and Promotion of Socio-Economic Ventures in the President’s Office Minister Simon Khaya Moyo signed an agreement with the chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission chairperson, Mr Xu Shaoshi, on enhancement of investment.

Two more private sector agreements were also signed between the International Business of China and China Africa Sunlight Energy on the development of coal and methane gas mines, as well as the establishment of 600 MW thermal power station in Gwayi. The other agreement was between AVM Africa Limited and Beijing Automobile Assembly. – State Media

Retailers and other businesspeople charging extra for payments made in bond notes or bank cards and less for US dollar transactions will be prosecuted when the Reserve Bank Amendment Bill, which sailed through the National Assembly on Wednesday becomes law.

Responding to questions from Members of Parliament on Wednesday, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa reiterated that bond notes were interchangeable at a rate of 1:1 with the US dollar.

He said those apprehended for charging more for goods paid for using bond notes will be prosecuted

The Bill now awaits transition to the Senate.

“The Reserve Bank Amendment Bill, which is before this House, is addressing those concerns, said Minister Chinamasa. “It is coming up with a law to penalise and criminalise that kind of conduct.”

Minister Chinamasa was responding to an oral question without notice from Glen View North legislator Fani Munengami (MDC-T) on the “three tier” pricing system, whereby some shops were selling the same goods at different prices, depending on the method of payment.

Mr Munengami claimed that a product can cost $90 when using cash, $100 when swiping and if one buying using bond notes, $120.

Government, Minister Chinamasa said, was making concerted efforts to ensure that point of sale machines were readily available.

“As of now, we do not have sufficient point of sale machines to distribute countrywide”, he said. These machines have to be imported.

“Resources are being mobilised on a daily basis to ensure that we import more point of sale machines, which eventually should be able to reach every shop where there is connectivity.”

Minister Chinamasa said it was daylight robbery for banks to charge more in transaction fees than the price for a loaf of bread and said he would hold discussions with Reserve Bank Governor Dr John Mangudya so that the anomaly is rectified.

He then called for tangible evidence to enable Dr Mangudya to enforce punitive measures against any banks charging exhorbitant fees.

Minister Chinamasa said this after Buhera South MP Cde Joseph Chinotimba (Zanu-PF) had expressed concern over high bank charges customers were paying when buying goods using plastic money.

He said hiccups in network or interconnectivity where customers have to wait for more than 10 minutes before a transaction is concluded, had been referred to the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services. – State Media

Ray Nkosi | City of Bulawayo’s Director of Housing and Community Services Isaiah Magagula has died, reports indicate.

Speaking to ZimEye.com in the early hours of Friday the sources indicated that the long serving City Council official passed on the same day.

Details are still coming through and ZimEye.com is closely monitoring the developments. More To Follow…

TWO teenage students died and 83 others were injured after a lightning bolt struck Chinatsa Secondary School in Marondera District on Thursday.

A sombre atmosphere gripped villagers in Marondera East’s Chinatsa area following the tragic incident that forced the school to temporarily close.

When NewsDay Weekender visited the school yesterday, it was deserted, as students did not turn up for classes while parents were seen milling around in shock.

Mashonaland East provincial education director, Christopher Chihota confirmed the incident.

“I can confirm the incident and the unfortunate death of two children. I am yet to get a briefing from the district education inspector, who is currently at Marondera hospital, hence, I am not certain of the number of those who are detained. However, I am told that they are in a stable condition,” he said.

Chihota would not say when the school would re-open.

“We have not discussed anything and it depends on the recommendations from our officials on the ground. We have not provided any help yet because there are discussions going on. But the Civil Protection Unit met this morning to discuss the issue,” he said.

The lightning strike left a visible trail of destruction, burrowing a 200m trench across the school yard, while burnt uniforms and shoes were strewn all over the place.

According to a police memo gleaned by this paper, on January 26, at around 3:20pm, students were gathered under a tree near the assembly point waiting for dismissal when lightning struck, leading to the death of the two.

The deceased students are Munashe Munemo (15) and Blessed Muchenga, (17) who were in Form 2 and Form 4, respectively.

NewsDay Weekender gathered that the injured students were taken to the nearby Wenimbe Clinic, where 57 of them were treated and discharged, while 25 were transferred to Marondera Hospital, where they were still admitted as of yesterday.

According to villagers who were at the school yesterday, the incident was a mysterious, given that no rains fell on the day. The villagers said a bad omen had befallen the area.

Among those who reacted to the tragedy were Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi (pictured), Marondera Central legislator Lawrence Katsiru and Marondera Rural District Council chairperson Patrick Chidhakwa, who visited Marondera Hospital where they met the victim. – Newsday

 Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo |The vital Renal Unit equipment donated to Masvingo Provincial Hospital by the Chinese Government has been stolen, it has emerged. Health experts have described the theft of the Renal Unit equipment as shocking and catastrophic. The Renal Unit Section situated close to the female medical ward lost its float switch, UV light and dialysis circulation pump under mysterious circumstances.

Sources at the hospital told ZimEye.com yesterday, the Renal Unit Machine was yet to be officially commissioned. It is understood medical doctors who have links with private clinics have been fingered in the scam and investigations are in progress.

“The chief suspects are medical doctors in that unit. Investigations are in progress and we hope the suspects will be brought to book,”said an official at the government run hospital. It is understood the Renal Unit Machine is valued at $100 million. Detectives from Masvingo Central Police Station ,armed with a search warrant also raided a local private clinic in search of the missing parts. Masvingo Provincial Medical Director Amadeus Shamu told ZimEye.com ,the police were investigating the matter.

“The crucial parts are missing but we cannot rush to conclude that the parts were stolen.We are waiting for a comprehensive report from the police,”said Dr Shamu. Health Minister,Dr David Parirenyatwa also said investigations on the matter were being carried out. As a result of the missing parts, the Renal Unit Section has all but suspended operations , putting the lives of hundreds of patients across the province and surrounding places at risk.

OPPOSITION MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, yesterday gave the clearest hint yet that he is already looking beyond President Robert Mugabe following a meeting with the clergy and civic groups in Bulawayo.

Tsvangirai said the MDC-T wanted to avoid the chaos that unfolded in The Gambia after that country’s former President, Yayha Jammeh, refused to step down following the former military ruler’s electoral loss to Adama Barrow on December 1.

“We were talking of a post-Mugabe transition, what form it will take if we are going to have a peaceful and stable transition. I wanted to hear various views and what we can do to ensure that transition takes place, and peacefully,” he told journalists after the closed-door meeting with the clergy and civic society leaders held at a local hotel.

Jammeh had to be forced into exile following threats of military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States, and Tsvangirai said the MDC-T wanted a peaceful and stable transition seemingly suggesting he will win next year’s presidential poll.

Amid growing talk of negotiations for a possible opposition coalition, Tsvangirai said the MDC-T was committed to a pre-election pact, but denied reports the opposition party had already hammered out an agreement on how parliamentary seats were going to be shared among parties to the alliance.

Reports suggested the MDC-T and Welshman Ncube’s MDC party were close to signing an agreement, amid speculation that the latter was going to be given leeway to field candidates in Matabeleland.

“There are reports going around saying there is a seat that has been given to so and so. There is no such thing. We haven’t discussed that, we haven’t even started the negotiations, so how can you start talking about distribution of seats?

“As far as we are concerned, there will be a pre-election alliance and a post-election agreement in the whole process,” Tsvangirai said.

The former trade union leader also waded into the emotive Gukurahundi storm, describing it as a burning issue along with tribalism and marginalisation.

“There was also the issue around the question of unresolved historical grievances, what are the expectations from the MDC-T to look at. In all my interactions, we have suggested how to put closure to these historical imbalances and people have suggested various ways, reparations to affected communities, devolution, truth and reconciliation commission, the issue of identity documents.

“There was also the burning issue of how do we build a society, which has ethnic and cultural diversity so that we begin to bridge the gap between various ethnic groups in this country,” Tsvangirai said. – Newsday

SEVENTEEN police officers from Inyathi and Nkayi have been arrested and charged with abuse of office in connection with illegal gold mining activities in Bubi District.

The Police Act prohibits officers from pursuing business interests without first notifying the Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri.

Police sources said the officers — 11 from Inyathi and six from Nkayi — were arrested on Wednesday last week and have been appearing before an internal tribunal at the Nkayi District police headquarters.

Police prosecutors have preferred a range of charges ranging from criminal abuse of office, leaving their posts unattended and engaging in activities which violate the Police Act.
After the internal hearings, which are expected to continue into next week, the police officers will face criminal charges.

Some of the officers who were charged were deployed at Durban Mine where violent clashes over control of gold claims have previously been reported.

A police source said the Officer Commanding Nkayi District, Chief Superintendent Never Tembo and another officer identified as Superintendent Ntundle, presided over the hearings.

He said the officers were allegedly charged for failing to execute their duties, with members of the public accusing them of turning a blind eye to illegal activities by gold panners.

“The 17 officers have been charged under the Police Act after being suspected of being involved in mining at the gold claims and failing to discharge their duties. Some senior police officers tried to cover up the activities of the officers but the matter came to light following increased public complaints and violent clashes,” said the source.

“Their hearings started on Monday at Nkayi Police Station.” The source said four of the officers were positively identified by omakorokoza who accused them of forcing them into mine shafts.

The names of the 17 officers could not be established yesterday with police keeping a tight lid over the matter.

National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said he was not aware of the case and referred questions to Matabeleland North police.

Acting Matabeleland North police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Eglon Nkala had earlier referred all questions to the national spokesperson’s office.

There have been violent clashes between rival gangs of illegal gold miners in Bubi District.
On Monday, five gold panners who were part of a group of 30 men rounded up by police for wreaking havoc in Inyathi were jailed for two years for a range of transgressions.

Their arrest followed the deployment of 200 police officers from Nkayi in the Inyathi area to restore order. – State Media

Former  ZIFA president, Cuthbert Dube is set to lose an incomplete house in Harare’s leafy suburb of Glen Lorne in a dispute with FBC Bank.

Bard Real Estate –as duly instructed by the Sherriff of the High Court –will offer Dube’s property for sale by public auction at Raylton Sports Club on February 3.

According to the notice in Herald yesterday, the property measures 9493 square metres and has an incomplete house comprising several bedrooms, bar, bathrooms, toilets, garages, lounges, dining room, kitchen and balconies.

Outbuildings include a pavilion, change room, swimming pool and staff quarters with two living rooms. – Agencies

CONTROVERSIAL Esigodini businessman Baron Dube makes nearly $10 000 per month and has six gold mines, a farm, four shops and a herd of 200 cattle, his estranged wife told a Maintenance Court hearing in Bulawayo yesterday.

Ms Nikki Cameron (23) dragged the gold baron to the Maintenance Court demanding $650 per month for the upkeep of their three minor children aged four years, one year and five months.

Dube (42) of Habane Township in Esigodini is allegedly not contributing towards the upkeep of his children.

“Your Worship, I need the money to buy food, clothes and pay school fees for my children. I know that he can afford $650 because he owns six mines. He has two mines in Esigodini and other mines at Inyathi, Filabusi, Fort Rixon and Woodlands,” said Ms Cameron.

“Baron prefers to pay someone to drive him all over the place yet he doesn’t want to support our children. I’ve been in this marriage for the past five years and have been assisting in managing his business but he never appreciates.”

Dube said he can only afford to pay $150 per month because he was unemployed and has six other children, bringing the total number of his children to nine.

He told the court that Ms Cameron was lying about the number of businesses he runs.

Asked by Magistrate Tashaya how much he makes per month, the businessman said:

“From shops I realise $300. I can give her $150 per month because these other six children are at school and they are in arrears. I need to clear all the arrears at their school”.

Mr Tashaya told the gold baron that it was clear that he was lying in court and postponed the matter to February 3.

“You told me that you are unemployed and your wife is telling me that you are a businessman. You are telling the court that you have 56 cows while your wife whom you have been married to for the past five years says you have 200 cattle. Why are you lying in court?” asked the magistrate.

Mr Tashaya told Dube that he would order him to pay more than $650 if he discovers that he was lying in court.

“I’m postponing this matter to February 3. Dube come with the ownership books for the cattle and mines. I want to see the number of cattle that you have.

Can you please bring your mine licences, birth certificates of your other six children and your bank statement,” he said.

In November last year, there were violent clashes at one of Dube’s mining claims in Filabusi that claimed the life of his nephew.

Qalisani Moyo, who was popularly known as “Friday” of Sanale area in Filabusi, was axed to death after his right foot was chopped off in a fight over the gold claim at HeyHill Farm.

Dube later revealed that on the day his relative died, they were supposed to travel together to the claim for a meeting, but he later decided against going there. – State Media

FOUR people escaped death when a Mazda B1800 they were travelling in fell into a flooded Gweru River along the Gweru- Matobo Road yesterday.

The vehicle, according to the Gweru Chief Fire Officer Mr Emmanuel Musemwa, fell into the flooded river when the driver failed to negotiate a narrow bridge.

He said the incident occurred at around 11AM at the Gweru River bridge. Four people who were in the vehicle survived due to the heroic efforts by fellow motorists who jumped into the flooded river and rescued them.

“These people are lucky to be alive but it’s sad that the driver attempted to cross the bridge which was flooded. The four were taken to Gweru Provincial Hospital for monitoring by medical staff. We encourage motorists and members of the public to desist from crossing flooded rivers. They should wait for water levels to drop because if it wasn’t for the alert motorists, we could have lost four lives,” he said.

When The Chronicle arrived at the scene, members of the Gweru Fire Brigade were attempting to retrieve the vehicle which had been swept some few metres down the river.

Ms Seletina Mucheki (21) one of the survivors said she was travelling with her husband Mr Itayi Chafa (28), their daughter Nancy (2) and the vehicles’ driver offered them a lift.

Ms Mucheki — a member of Zion Christian Church — said they boarded the vehicle near Ascot Stadium as they intended to go to Arizona 43 Farm, some 40km from Gweru. She said when they got to the bridge; some motorists had parked their vehicles waiting for the water to subside.

“Since I was at the back I don’t know what the driver thought but I saw him driving across the bridge. Before I knew it, the vehicle started swerving to the right side. I then saw that we were being pushed by the waters in the bridge and I got hold of my daughter. I started praying to the God of Samuel, Anginas and Nehemiah and I felt calm. I knew we were going to survive and here we are. We thank God for this miracle,” he said. – State Media

A SENIOR Zanu-PF official from Bulawayo Nacisio Elijah Makhulumo has been fined $100 for not reporting to the police that his firearm was missing.

Makhulumo pleaded guilty to failure to report a missing firearm when he appeared before Bulawayo Provincial Magistrate Mr Tinashe Tashaya on Thursday.

“I’m sure you are aware of the dangers that may come with not securing a firearm. You are lucky that no one killed someone with it. You need to take more caution in securing it. Let this be the only time that you face such an offence,” said Mr Tashaya.

“You are sentenced to pay a $100 fine or face 90 days imprisonment. The money has to be paid to the Clerk of Court on                                          or before January 31.”

Makhulumo said he was not aware that his gun had gone missing.

Prosecuting, Miss Sithembiso Sweswe said the firearm went missing on December 3 last year until it was picked up by someone in Hillside suburb last Wednesday.

“Accused person lost an FN pistol serial number 95974, black in colour at a place unknown to him. No report was made until Wednesday,” said Miss Sweswe.

“The pistol was recovered by one Farai Paradza hidden under a heap of thorn branches opposite Christian Brothers College in Hillside suburb where he was slashing some grass. Paradza surrendered the pistol to the police at Hillside police station.” – State Media

MULTICHOICE Zimbabwe has asked six employees who were working from its Bulawayo office to resign for alleged misconduct.

The six, including the regional manager, allegedly signed resignation letters last week on Thursday.

The employees are said to have been selling their own decoders, prejudicing the company in the process.

Sources said only the messenger remains on the job.

“I understand that Multichoice fired all its workers on Thursday except the messenger who protested and won,” said a source.

“I think what got them into trouble was the fact that they were selling their own decoders during working hours and claiming that they belonged to Dstv.”

The source said some workers from Harare had been temporarily deployed to fill the vacant positions while Multichoice fixes the problem.

“We heard that the regional manager was called for a hearing in Harare last year in December and she sold out her colleagues. The whole branch is alleged to have misused company resources and they were making lots of money from using the company’s name to sell their personal gadgets,” a source said.

Multichoice spokesperson Ms Elizabeth Dziva promised to respond to questions on Monday as she was waiting for her boss who was out of the country. – State Media

Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo | MDC officials here have vowed to defy a ban imposed on the selection of candidates by party leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Irate officials here have described the move to ban the candidate selection process as a deliberate attempt by Tsvangirai and party Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora to impose candidates ahead of the 2018 polls.

In 2013 the imposition of candidates contributed towards the party’s dismal performance in that year’s watershed polls, party sources have said. Senior party officials here blasted both Tsvangirai and Mwonzora for attempting to trample on the provisions of the party constitution.

“This is a clear attempt to impose their favourite candidates.This time we will resist the deliberate attempt to subvert the will of the people.They are preaching democracy but they do not want to implement fair principles,”said a member of the MDC Provincial Executive Committee who declined to be named.

Mwonzora maintained the selection of candidates had been phased out.He also wrote a memo to all party structures indicating the new position. “It has come to our attention that some provincial members are trying to initiate the candidate selection process ahead of the 2018 elections. Let me state that the Election Directorate -headed by the national chairman-has finalised the candidate selection rules,”said Mwonzora. However provincial executive members here told ZimEye.com despite Mwonzora’s memo, they would not stop the candidate selection process.

That sooner or later Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe chief John Mangudya’s bond notes project
would run into problems was a foregone conclusion. The bond notes, which were touted as the panacea to Zimbabwe’s cash problems, have so far proven to be a cancer that is slowly eating away at the little gains of economic stability achieved by the introduction of the US dollar in 2009.

Earlier warnings that the surrogate currency would be discounted by the Zimbabwean
public were quickly dismissed. Elsewhere, we carry a story on the problems wrought so far by the issue of bond notes.

Yet despite assurances from the central bank last year and to date that the bond notes have
some sort of value derived from a US$200 million Afrexim Bank facility backing the notes, the situation on the ground shows that his assurances are not enough.

External payments glitches have intensified. Expatriates cannot send a few dollars to family overseas.
Already banks, themselves unwilling participants in a project they secretly knew would
fail, but too scared to resist a regulator’s desperate move to end a cash crisis, are
demanding hard currency from customers seeking to transfer funds out of the country not
withstanding current bank balances.

Essentially, what banks are saying is although we played along to the whims of the
central bank to launch bond notes with a value that is said to be at par with the American
unit, the balances they claim we have with them are nothing but just electronic money, which unfortunately cannot be mistaken for hard currency.

Anyone who has attempted to import anything into the country will testify to this.
This situation is not only preposterous but also a blatant disregard for the financial
welfare of citizens by the state.

Instead of promoting and preserving the financial well- being of citizens, the
government, through the central bank, is leading a campaign to erode the financial
integrity of its citizens and plunge them into untold misery. It is now apparent that
Mangudya’s assurances that bond notes would have par value with the US dollar and be used
in lieu of the currency and share the same account despite protestations to separate the
two accounts, was nothing but a yarn spun so beautifully.

Could this be systematic theft from the populace through devious means? Many are beginning to believe this was all an elaborate scheme to deprive Zimbabweans of their valuable dollars. More worryingly, the greenback seems to have vanished suddenly from circulation.

In the circumstances, citizens have a reason to mistrust the central bank and the financial institutions. Unfortunately, it seems a confidence crisis has occurred. Against such a background charecterised by low confidence in the currency, it is just a matter of time before the chickens come home to roost. -Independent

THE introduction of bond notes has put ordinary Zimbabweans and importers in a rut with many facing bottlenecks as some local banks reject the use of the fiat money for foreign payments amid a severe shortage of US dollars that has paralysed the economy.

Zimbabwe has been facing foreign currency shortages since last year as shown by long, winding queues at banking halls and demand for cash-backs in supermarkets. Since the introduction of the multi-currency system in 2009, the United States dollar has been the dominant currency.
As first reported by the Zimbabwe Independent last November, local banks, which on the surface appear to be supporting the introduction of US$200 million worth of the new promissory currency in bond notes into the market, are now raising concerns over chaos on accounting standards and operational headaches since the introduction of the bond notes.

Bank executives who spoke to this paper said most local banks are having challenges accepting the currency to fund import payments for customers as they cannot carry out cross-border transactions.
The Reserve Bank had initially indicated that upon expiry of the bond notes (when exports reach US$6 billion), those customers who would have deposited foreign currency would be entitled to demand their funds in foreign currency.

“In principle if a customer deposits the bond note, that note cannot be used to carry out any cross-border payments or fund prepaid cards (VISA/MasterCard). As it stands now other banks have taken the stance that they do not accept bond notes for prepaid cards or cross-border payments,” a senior banker with a local financial institution, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

“We are also facing challenges from some customers that have requested that their USD accounts should not be diluted with the bond notes despite the currency being at par with the greenback. The challenge with this request is how banks can comply with such an instruction from a customer given that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe turned down our proposal to have mirror accounts for bond notes and more so it has reiterated that the notes are at par value with USD.”

“…Another concern that the industry is raising is that before the introduction of the bond note, banks were made to understand that if a customer intends to carry out a cross-border payment, the bank would present the bond notes to the RBZ and the central bank would supply the US dollars. However, practically this is not happening on the ground.”

The bankers have also raised concerns on automated teller machines (ATMs) which they say are configured to dispense money below the daily withdrawal limits, thereby pushing the cost to the customer.

“From an operation point of view, our machines have also been affected by bond notes. ATM operations are currently being affected by the small denominations because the cassettes can only take up to a maximum of 40 notes, which means customers have to perform several transactions resulting in build-up of queues and accelerated wear and tear of the machines, hence $5 bond should be introduced urgently,” another executive working for a foreign-owned bank said.

Bond notes, according to Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya, are backed by a US$200 million African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) facility and are largely an export incentive.

Official figures show that total exports stood at US$2,83 billion against a projected target of US$3 billion while imports were at US$5,21 billion, resulting in an annual trade deficit of US$2,38 billion.
When reached for comment on challenges being faced by banks since the introduction of bond notes, central bank governor John Mangudya said this was yet to be brought to his attention.

“We are not aware of the banks that are refusing to accept bond notes to fund cross-border transactions. Cross-border transactions are effected from debiting foreign exchange accounts of the transacting party or entity. Such transactions require funding in the country’s nostro accounts,” Mangudya said in a written response to questions sent by the Independent.

“The bottom line is that the country needs to enhance exports and other foreign exchange receipts in order to sustain its import requirements. We need to enhance productivity across all the sectors of the economy. As previously advised, the $5 bond notes shall be released into the market in February 2017, in line with the release of the export incentive scheme pay-outs which basically conforms to the drip-feed process in sympathy with export receipts.”

The Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) said bond notes had played a role in easing the cash shortages, adding that they were not a permanent solution to problems besetting the economy.

“The introduction of bond notes has reduced further foreign currency leakages as the notes are only useful within the country. The notes have resulted in the improved availability of cash in the market and queues at banks have substantially reduced. Bond notes are however not a panacea for cash shortages as the under US$80 million worth of bond notes so far issued to the market, as published in the media by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, is a minor part of the overall money in circulation in the country,” BAZ president Charity Jinya said in a written response to emailed questions .

“It is important to understand that bond notes are legal tender meant for internal circulation within Zimbabwe and cannot be used to finance offshore payments. They have thus relieved banks of part of the burden of importing foreign currency notes from offshore, and these resources are being availed to critical import payments.

“The banking public is encouraged to make greater use of electronic payment channels to reduce demand for cash and banks are working round the clock to ensure that more point of sale devices are availed to businesses for the convenience of the public.”

In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of China Shougang International which had sued Standard Chartered Bank for not reimbursing its deposits worth nearly US$48 000 which were raided by the RBZ during its quasi-fiscal operations at the height of the economic meltdown and hyperinflation which ended after the introduction of the multi-currency regime in 2009.

Banking officials are also raising concerns over the lack of transparency on the US$200 million Afreximbank facility after President Robert Mugabe invoked the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act to gazette Statutory Instrument 133 giving legal effect to the introduction of bond notes.

As it stands, the banking sector relies on official figures released by the apex bank on the current holdings of bond notes.

Early this month the central bank more than doubled the current holdings of bond notes to US$73 million in just less than a month as the central bank moves to ease a biting cash crunch amid concerns the apex bank could run the printing press unabated.

Banking officials further said while bond notes have relatively eased the cash crunch, failure by government to constitute an independent committee to oversee the supply of bond notes into the market could dampen market confidence.

Meanwhile, the government says it is still crafting a statutory instrument that will give legal effect to the setting up of the panel despite initial assurances by the central bank that the committee would be in the place when the bond notes were introduced. zimbabwe indepednent

A faith-based rights group has accused the Harare City Council (HCC) and police of disregarding a court order to stop the removal of vendors from the central business district (CBD).

The Jestina Mukoko-led Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) said the two institutions had continued to show intent to violate laws after forging ahead with the raids on informal traders in the city centre despite a court injunction.

“According to the lawyers representing Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (Viset), the court order was delivered to HCC officials and the (police) commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri.

Luke Tamborinyoka | President Morgan Tsvangirai today continued on his listening tour when he engaged opinion leaders in Bulawayo and Plumtree in Matabeleland South.

The tour continues to reflect a region with deep-seated feelings of marginalisation, neglect and abandonment by an uncaring government that has no love for its people. The people continued to pour their hearts out to a leader they love and whom they thanked for giving them an opportunity to input into the alliance building process and the sculpting of a new society beyond Mugabe and Zanu PF in 2018.

So frank and open were the meetings that at one point in Bulawayo, one opinion leader made an emotional outburst in which he bemoaned the marginalisation of the people in the Matabeleland region.

Both in Bulawayo and Plumtree, they were strong feelings not only about the collapse of the political economy, but also of the deep wounds inflicted by the State-sponsored Gukurahundi atrocities. There were several suggestions on how to deal with this grievance so that the nation puts closure to this painful period in the country’s history.

The suggestions ranged from the payment of reparations to the implementation of devolution as a permanent solution to the bad politics of exclusion that Zanu PF has pursued in the past.

President Tsvangirai took time during the engagements to clear the air about the false reports that he had already traded off some seats to the coalition partners. The alliance negotiations had not even begun and the reports were false and malicious as there was no agreement yet. He said the new government must be inclusive and must prioritise merit and not tribe.

The opinion leaders had strong feelings on gender representation in the new government and said while they supported the alliance, it must be sculpted in a way that would inspire the people and ensure that change comes in 2018.

Most of the input by the people are of a strategic nature and are meant to enrich both the alliance building process and the post-Mugabe government policies that should promote development and inclusivity.

As part of his mass-line approach to politics, it is President Tsvangirai’s belief that public participation can only enhance and enrich the party’s approach to national issues that affect the people.

The opinion leaders that are being engaged represent the breadth of leaders ranging from traditional leaders, civic leaders as well as leaders in church and business, among many others sectors.

Tomorrow, President Tsvangirai addresses a provincial assembly meeting in Bulawayo, after which he will go on a short break before proceeding to the other provinces to solicit the people’s views at this delicate political moment for the country.

Luke Tamborinyoka
Presidential Spokesperson and Director of Communications
Movement for Democratic Change

Ray Nkosi | Many wives are starved of sex, while their husbands pleasure themselves to no end with other women outside the home. What can a woman denied of her conjugal rights do? Her reason for being in the matrimonial arrangement, if there is no sexual intimacy, can she be blamed for seeking sex outside? After all a healthy lifestyle includes good sex. What is your take? Should women suffer in silence? Join Tete Rasta on ZimEye LIVE at 6pm (Zim Time) to discuss this hot topic. 

Should pastors/preachers be referred to as “Papa/Father/Daddy” ?

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) January 27, 2017

A good leader is

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) January 27, 2017

By Ray Nkosi | Hungry Doctors and nurses at Gwanda Provincial Hospital are reported to have shared amongst themselves five tonnes of rice donated to patients by the Chinese through the Presidential Feeding Scheme programme.

Impeccable sources within the hospital told ZimEye.com that the hospital received 169 bags of 50kg rice late last year meant for patients but the hospital authorities instead shared 100 bags amongst doctors and nurses as well as the general staff at the hospital.

The sources said each person got almost 20kg of rice.

“Sometime before Christmas we got notice that we were supposed to collect a bucket of rice each; everyone at the hospital excluding student nurses benefited and everyone was meant to sign on collection,” said one of the sources in confidence.

“We thought this was a benevolent gesture from government since we have not yet received our annual bonuses,” said added.

The sources said that they have since been ordered by the Department of Social Welfare to reimburse the hospital of the rice.

“However, we are now being ambushed to return the “stolen” rice at the behest of the Social Welfare ministry who are saying we were not meant to benefit,” said the source.

Although Dr. Chimberengwa could not be reached for comment authoritative sources said the rice was distributed to staff members after management felt it was likely to go bad whilst being kept at the hospital.

“If indeed the rice was not meant for us we are willing to pay back but we should not be held at ransom as nurses because the decision came from the top,” said a nurse.

AN armed robber who brutally murdered a security guard at Grafax Cotton Company offices in Gokwe before stealing cash, two solar inverters and a generator nine years ago, has been sentenced to death.

Doubt Mathe, whose age was not given, of Zunguziva village under Chief Chireya in Gokwe, yesterday appeared before High Court Judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi, sitting on circuit in Gweru, charged with murder.

Mathe was convicted of murder with actual intent and sentenced to death. In passing sentence, Justice Mathonsi said people should respect the sanctity of human life.

He said the circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime shows that it was premeditated.

The judge said the murder was committed in the course of a robbery, therefore the death sentence was appropriate.

“The courts do not condone murder. We should respect the sanctity of human life. There is a need for stiffer penalties for murders committed with intent,” said Justice Mathonsi.

It was the State’s case that on June 15, 2008 at around 1 AM, Mathe and his accomplices, one of whom is now deceased and the other one who is at large, brutally murdered a security guard, Taurai Mache (24), who was manning Grafax Cotton Company offices in Gokwe.

They hit him with a hoe handle, cracking his skull.

On June 14, 2008 at around 6 PM, the now deceased Mache reported for duty and found Ms Winnie Sigwala, who was a cotton buyer, still at work.

Ms Sigwala then proceeded home within the same premises.

At around 12 midnight, Mathe and his two accomplices went into the Grafax Cotton Company premises armed with a hoe handle and found Mache on duty.

The three started assaulted him with the hoe handle several times on his head until he fell unconscious while bleeding profusely.

After the attack, Mathe and his accomplices proceeded to Ms Sigwala’s house where they found her asleep. They broke the door and gained entry into the house.

The three demanded money from her, threatening to kill her after informing her that they had already killed Mache. Sigwala directed the accused and his accomplices to where the money was.

They stole Z$50 billion, two solar inverters and a generator which they put in a bag belonging to Ms Sigwala. – State Media

DEFENCE minister Sydney Sekeramayi has been implicated as having been instrumental in the post-independence atrocities committed by President Robert Mugabe’s government that left over 20 000 civilians dead.

A declassified document from US spy agency, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), quotes Sekeramayi as having indicated that a crack North-Korean trained military unit codenamed Fifth Brigade had specific instructions at deployment.

“Renewed violence at the end of 1982 provoked the government into a full-scale military campaign against Zapu. The dissidents attacked cars, buses and trains and destroyed government construction equipment; they seized several hostages and killed six whites,” the report said.

“The 5th Brigade was sent to Matabeleland in January 1983 with a mandate to be ‘relentless in neutralising dissident elements,’ according to Minister of State for Defence Sekeramayi.

“Although there were some exaggerated Press reports of atrocities against Ndebele villagers by the all-Shona brigade, there is little doubt it engaged in indiscriminate brutality and destroyed property, including entire villages, in several instances,” the report said.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Sekeramayi said he was yet to see the declassified report.

“I am yet to see that report,” he said.

When NewsDay quizzed him on whether the quoted words were consistent with what he might have said at the time, the Defence minister insisted: “I have not had sight of the report you are referring to.”

According to the CIA, the government followed a campaign, also codenamed “Mailed Fist”, whose aim, besides ending dissident violence also targeted the elimination of “Zapu as a political organisation”.

Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has denied culpability in the atrocities, arguing he was neither head of government nor the army at the time. Mugabe has described Gukurahundi, which continues to raise emotions, as a “moment of madness”.

Several accounts have accused Mnangagwa and Sekeramai of playing a leading role.- Newsday