The Government has temporarily evacuated Zimbabwean staff from its embassy in South Sudan capital, Juba due to threats of a civil war in that country.
This was revealed yesterday in a Press statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Policy Research and Training deputy director Ms Sophia Nyamudeza.
“In view of the security deterioration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has temporarily evacuated personnel from our Embassy in Juba. The embassy staff is already in the country,” she said.
Ms Nyamudeza said the Republic of South Sudan is experiencing renewed fighting between opposing armed forces.
“The Republic of South Sudan experienced renewed fighting between opposing armed forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar, from 7 July to 11 July 2016.
“The fighting relapse in South Sudan has raised fears of a return to civil war in the country,” she said.
Even though ceasefire was announced, she said the situation remained uncertain.
“While a ceasefire was announced by President Kiir and Vice President Machar on 11 July 2016, the situation remains uncertain, tense and uneasy.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware that some Zimbabwean nationals had been deployed to South Sudan for peacekeeping operations under the UN and AU Missions.
“If the security situation continues to worsen it is expected that their relevant agencies will take care of them,” she said.
At least 272 people have died in the latest clashes between forces loyal to South Sudan’s President Salvar Kiir and his rival Vice President Riek Machar.-state media
Maid Raped At KnifePoint for 19Days
An unemployed married man from Plumtree allegedly raped his maid for 19 consecutive days and impregnated her in the process.
Rudolph Chipare (30) would allegedly rape the 20-year-old maid at knife point after his wife left for work. The alleged rape began on June 8 and ended when the woman gathered strength and notified her cousin who reported the matter to the police.
A medical examination was conducted and it revealed that the woman was pregnant.
Chipare is remanded in custody and will appear before regional magistrate Mr Mark Dzira facing 19 counts of rape on August 11.
Prosecutor Mr Tinashe Dzipe alleged that on June 8 at around 6PM, Chipare ordered the woman to accompany him to a “new house” so she could clean it.
“She took his daughter (2) and accompanied Chipare. Upon arrival at Dingumuzi Community Hall, he led her into an empty room. Chipare then grabbed the woman and raped her once,” said Mr Dzipe. “He then threatened to harm her if she revealed the matter to anyone and ordered the woman to go home and tell his wife she was coming from a nearby bush to relieve herself.”
The next day while the woman was sweeping in the man’s bedroom at around 8AM after his wife had left for work, Chipare allegedly ordered her to move closer to his bed.
“Chipare dragged her into bed, tried removing her underwear and the woman resisted. He then pulled a knife from under his blanket and threatened to kill her if she resisted. He eventually overpowered the woman and raped her once,” said the prosecutor.
Mr Dzipe also alleged that on the following day, Chipare raped the woman on his bed while his daughter was next to them crying.
“On June 11 around 7AM when Chipare’s wife had gone to work, he used the same modus operandi and raped his maid while his daughter was crying.
“Chipare continued raping his maid around 7AM for the following 14 days in the presence of his daughter. He would produce a knife to scare the woman before raping her and then threaten to kill her,” said Mr Dzipe.
The matter came to light a day after the woman’s 19th rape ordeal.
“Her cousin took her to the police and they made a report leading to Chipare’s arrest. The woman was taken to Plumtree Hospital and results confirmed that she was pregnant,” said Mr Dzipe. -state media
Mugabe’s Exit in 19 Days’ Time
As the army (salaries dodged for two months) is stretched beyond the limits…
Staff Reporter| 19 days are now left for President Robert Mugabe’s fall, the popular Kariba based pastor Phillip Mugadza says. As more churches join in the anti-Mugabe campaign, at a time that the Zim National Army is stretched into greater frustration through the non-payment of salaries, the Kariba based Remnant Church leader, famous for staging a touching demonstration against Mugabe in Victoria Falls last December, says he is concluding a historic 40 Day Spiritual Warfare Prayer Push for Mugabe’s fall on the 9th August.
He has in anticipation already released a song for it, Mugabe must fall -(click here to listen).
It is time to pray Robert Mugabe out, says pastor Mugadza.
Mugadza says the massive over one month long anti-Mugabe prayer to be launched in Africa Unity Square in Harare starts Friday, 1 July, stretching all the way up to the 9th August 2016.
“It will be held under the code #Mugabemustfall, because Mugabe has failed the country and therefore he and his government must step down before the Heroes Day holidays”, Mugadza told ZimEye.com in Harare Thursday.
“We will be holding prayers from 1700hrs to 1800 hrs every day and we shall be having different pastors taking turns in preaching until the final day”.
“We have deliberately chosen to hold this national prayer up to the Heroes holidays, hoping and praying that the President is going to do the honourable, that is, announcing his stepping down on the Heroes day, if he is a true hero,” the clergyman told ZimEye.com
“We are calling on like-minded pastors and churches to join us from their areas to serve the people and this process should not be treated as a church but as a national thing.
“We have been misinterpreting the scriptures when we were praying for the leaders. We have been saying God help our leaders and now they have proved beyond reasonable doubt that they have failed and it is high time to pray them out,” he said.
Mugadza, who was in December last year in Victoria Falls, arrested for demonstrating against President Mugabe said he was not afraid of the police.
Mujuru Will Boost Zimbabwe’s Economy
Why Dr Teuraropa Mujuru?
By Francis Mufambi|Zimbabwe is in the throes of a torrid sociopolitical and economic storm of cataclysmic promotions. The majority of citizens are not employed, the employed minority are under employed and not paid. Even when paid, the salaries and wages are far below the poverty datum line which renders the employed poverty stricken and debt ridden .
This is the manifestario of a generational leadership failure by a class of leaders who failed to see the need for regular leadership change which emanated from the excitement of getting independence and the fear of losing the gained independence resulting in the growth of a comprador black colonialist leadership who thrived on the propaganda of preserving independence.
The young people have been disenfranchised by the old philosophy that they are the leaders of tomorrow and today was never theirs. This pacifying school of thought made them not realise that they would never reach tomorrow but without living today.
The comprador black colonialist took stifled, for three decades, the rise of a young leader(s) who would gain legitimacy and be able to tackle the old guard and stem the crippling tendency of power drunkenness and hallucinating with hegemony as now happening.
The Lord Acton quote that ‘power is corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ is a yardstick to measure the Zimbabwean Animal Farm version of how not to govern.
Having a situation of leadership vacuum and uncertainty, the Mugabe generation is now trapped in a noxious aura of nostalgia and euphoria stemming from their uninterrupted long stay in power. Ab initio it is fair and obvious now to conclude that the political problems created and presided over by Robert Mugabe for his fixation with power are manifesting themselves in the form of economic meltdown and social corruption.
It is only Zimbabwe in Africa which experienced skyrocketing inflation and could print differing currency denominations daily. It was this dark phase where empowerment meant dispossessing those we disagreed with, when preserving independence meant killing the opposition and when not thinking alike was a criminal offence.
A social problem competing with other negativities rose when rampant corruption, tribalism, nepotism and racism became part and parcel of societal relationships premised on a warped definition of patriotism. The society became polarised and hatred the order of the day. At this stage everyone could tell Zimbabwe was never a country (not colony) again.
This is where we are Zimbabwe, and what’s next? At this stage we as a country have reached where the Zartman theory could be perfectly applied. The theory states that for a solution to be found a problem should manifest until it reaches a ripening stage. The political problem has manifested until the good divided itself from the evil, the economy has ground to a halt, the citizens and leadership are socially corrupted such that they have lost conscience. The world known peace loving Zimbabwe has reached the zenith of their solutions and are feeling the heat. We are at the proverbial crossroads. We are in all seeking a national solution and this ought to be a lasting solution.
The government long lost legitimacy and nolonger has the John Lockean social contract with the people but has rather fallen back to the Hobbesian predicted state of nature where life is brutish and short while chaos abounds. In order to mantain itself in the levers of power it has depended on militarising the villages and villagising the military.
As fragmented as the country is, Zimbabwe needs a UNIFIER, a person who can be understood and respected by those who are trapped by fear in the ruling system, those in the hopeful opposition and the critical mass of freshness of those citizens who have not participated in politics in their lifetime. This is where Dr Mujuru aptly fits. Dr Mujuru is known for speaking against violence, tribalism, gender inequalities and abuse of vulnerable groups. The time we are in needs a person who understands the history of Zimbabwe and its liberation and embraces the dynamics of modernity, technology and diversity of now and tomorrow. Unlike Robert Mugabe who never went to the battlefield to witness the real sacrifice at the wrong end of a riffle, Dr Mujuru as a commander has no desire to intellectualise, theorise, wax lyrical and paddock the meaning of the liberation struggle because she understands the concerns of the men and women who perished in the bushes trying to unlock the evil system of the Rhodesians, she understands the contributions and losses suffered by unarmed citizens and what they hoped would be charged by the war.
Mujuru’s age falls in between the young and the old meaning that she can grasp easily the needs of the younger generation and have an understanding of the needs of the old. Such a hybrid leader can strike a balance in respect of political socialisation between and among the differing generations. The government experience of 34 years is what Zimbabwe needs most to avoid political experiments with a delicate economy like ours which has potential to become irreparable in no time.
The choice is clear, the choice is Joice.
Francis Gava Mufambi is a political and legal commentator writing in his own capacity. He can be contacted at [email protected]
ZRP Cops Caught Stealing Govt Civil Servants Salary Money | LIVE REPORT
LIVE REPORT: As government struggles to pay civil servants salaries this week, ZimEye.com sources have uncovered dodgy underhand government dealings in which hundreds of ZRP cops are being allowed to siphon hundreds of thousands of dollars through fake civil servants salary cheque payments.[ALSO READ: Mugabe Dithers Civil Servants Salaries Again, Massive Strike Looms]
The cops are not even qualified for the job and were elevated as part of a 2013 election rigging program. There are at least two of these at every police station in the country. In 2014, ZimEye.com exclusively revealed how a Zimbabwe Eletoral Commission boss, Shupikai Mashereni shortly before his assassination, openly boasted that MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai was hit by birds of the night (zvishiri) during the 2013 elections in which he lost to Robert Mugabe.
At the time of writing, several names of fake cops caught in the act had been submitted and police bosses reached for a comment. Police spokesperson Charity Charamba appeared unresponsive even though thrice audibly answering via her official cellphone line.
ZimEye.com will now reveal these cops, their names, police station and all their other identity details.
The below is the account following which ZimEye now appeals to the public to name and shame other cops stationed at police stations in the country. Spot a fake cop? Send their name, ID number and residential address to WhatsApp +447426863301.
ZimEye Source: I don’t know kuti VaChinamasa vanozviziva here kuti pane vanhu vanonzi maGENERAL HANDS varikuno kuPolice? Vanhu ava before 2013 they were employed under public Service but patanga takuenda kuma elections a2013 vakachinjwa zvechimbi chimbi vachiiswa kuMinistry of home affairs. Vakapiwa maForce numbers without training and Knowledge of the Police work. Saka vanhu ava vanotonzi mapurisa according to the books and they are paid salary inoenderana neye mupurisa. No difference between them nemupurisa kunyangwe vachiswera vakarara muma police establishments. This strategy was implemented to gunner enough support for ZANU PF in 2013 elections. In the long run this has caused a lot of harm than good to already broke Govt. I’m not sure whether that was done only in the Police or in all security establishments…….
Qu: So how many people are these roughly? Why were their job titles changed to Police Officer, so they can merely participate in the rigging of elections ?
ZimEye Source: Each police station in Zimbabwe including DHQs and PHQs has got two or three of these. Another reason was for Chihuri to achieve the Commissioner General’s title because he wanted 50000 police officers to achieve that title. He was far from achieving it before including these Ghost officer. There duties are cleaning police camps. They are mainly Zanu PF youth. Both managing elections and their votes counts.
Mugabe Dithers Civil Servants Salaries Again, Massive Strike Looms
President Robert Mugabe’s administration has once again dithered on civil servant salaries.
Another strike is now in the loom.
The civil servants will know their July pay dates on Friday, Mugabe’s Public Service Minister Prisca Mupfumira said yesterday.
Mupfumira quoted by the state media said people “should not be misled by malcontents peddling falsehoods on social media”.
Speaking after meeting the Apex Council team leader Mrs Cecilia Alexander, Mupfumira warned civil servants against embarking on what she termed, “illegal industrial action”.
She said while Govt workers had a constitutional right to strike, such actions should be undertaken procedurally.
“I, together with my Deputy Minister (Tapiwa Matangaidze) and my officers, met the Apex Council team leader and her team to update them on what is happening with regards to the July salaries,” she said.
“We are working with Treasury and the dates will be availed to them on Friday. Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa was out of the country and we have appealed to have the dates improved from last time. Government promises that soon things will be back to normal after the bonus payments made us go off-rail.
“The civil servants should not be moved and must be assured that their salaries are coming, contrary to what they are getting from social media.”
Normally civil servants get paid beginning mid-month, but revenue challenges have seen tradition being broken.
The development saw teachers, nurses and the rest of the civil service getting their June salaries this month leading to the workers embarking on a three-day strike.
Minister Mupfumira said the strike was illegal as negotiation channels had not been exhausted.
“There were supposed to be four meetings ending in a deadlock and moreover they were supposed to give us notice of their intention to strike, but that was not the case,” she said.
“Most of the workers reported for duty, but I raised the issue to the workers today (yesterday) who apologised and said in future they would follow laid down procedures. The workers also told us that their strike was not politically-motivated and had nothing to do with the stayaway called by shadowy groups last week.”
She said her ministry was now planning for the workshops it intended to have with civil servants soon.
Mrs Alexander said: “I met the Minister to get a position on the pay dates against what is circulating on the social media. She is not aware who generated those dates, but pay dates will be availed to us on Friday.
“They told us that they are now seized with paying pensioners (yesterday) and grant aided institutions on Thursday. We have been assured there would be significant improvement and we await that.”
President Mugabe last week appealed to civil servants to be patient saying the country was faced with an array of challenges that included illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the West.-state media
#ThisFlag, Zimbabweans In Australia To Demonstrate Thursday
Media Release |Zimbabweans resident in Australia, will stage a peaceful protest at the Zimbabwean Embassy in Canberra on Thursday 21 July 2016, from 11:00am to 1:00pm in solidarity all with their peace loving compatriots across the globe and with those on the ground in Zimbabwe, to express their profound dismay and strong condemnation of the ZANU PF government of Robert Mugabe for its brutal and barbaric response to the citizens’ rightful and peaceful protest and for failing to address the citizens’ genuine concerns.
Representatives of the Zimbabwean people in Australia who will gather at the Zimbabwean Embassy will present a signed petition to the Zimbabwean Ambassador and will denounce in no uncertain terms the bad political and economic policies of Mugabe and his clueless government.
Among the demands being made by the Zimbabweans worldwide are the following:
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An end to police brutality and the use of state security agents to crash any dissenting voices.
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An end to the rampant corruption among government officials and state organs.
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The resuscitation of the economy by genuinely engaging with the international community and implementing sound economic policies.
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Restoration of all basic freedoms as enshrined in the new constitution and repealing all repressive legislation
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An end all human rights abuses including arbitrary arrests, brutal beatings and torture of citizens who dare to air their grievances.
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Ensuring that all government employees are paid on time.
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Demilitarising public institutions
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Provide a platform for free and fair elections and allowing all Zimbabweans in the diaspora to participate in the electoral process.
Zimbabweans are also demanding that if Mugabe cannot do the above, he should immediately step down and pave the way for a transitional and competent authority to run the affairs of the country for a period which will lead to democratic elections that will be supervised by the international community.
Dubbed ThisFlag#, this initiative has gathered momentum and has seen protests all over the world as well as back in Zimbabwe, a clear indication that Zimbabweans are fed up with Mugabe’s dictatorship.
About 250 Zimbabweans are expected to participate in Thursday peaceful protest where the multi-coloured Zimbabwean flag with be the unifying emblem and a symbol of defiance by the Zimbabwean people.
Ends
Kereke and Tomana Clash In Court
Munyaradzi Kereke and former Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana are headed for a showdown after the former demanded that the PG’s Office pay legal costs incurred in his private prosecution arguing he didn’t refuse a public prosecution.
Kereke was recently convicted of rape in a private prosecution after suspended Prosecutor-General Tomana refused to prosecute him, saying there was no evidence linking the legislator to the offence.
Regional magistrate Mr Noel Mupeiwa sentenced Kereke to 14 years behind bars for raping his then 11-year-old niece six years ago. Four years of the sentence were set aside for five years on condition he does not commit a similar offence within that period.
Through his lawyers, Kereke is refusing to pay legal costs sought by private prosecutor Mr Charles Warara saying he was not the one who barred his prosecution nor the one who runs the PG’s office. State Media
Man Steals 110K Army School Money
A 42-year-old Gumford Automotive (Pvt) Ltd employee yesterday appeared in court for converting to own use $110 000 he was given to purchase a bus by Parachute Battalion Primary School.
Samson Madzonga was facing theft of trust property charges when he appeared before magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe. He was granted $200 bail.
As part of his bail conditions, he was ordered not to interfere with witnesses and to stay at his given address. It alleged that sometime in September 2013, the school and parents agreed to raise funds to purchase a bus. From that period up to September 2015, they raised $110 000.
The court heard that the school sourced quotations from various suppliers and finally settled for Madzonga and his company Gumford Automotive (Pvt) Ltd.
It is alleged that the school entered into an agreement with Madzonga and his company in 2015 to the effect that they were going to import a 63-seater Yutong bus from China on behalf of the school for $110 000.
It is alleged that the company pledged that the bus was going to be delivered to the school by end of December 2015. The court heard that the school transferred $110 000 from its CBZ Bank account into the company’s account and Madzonga acknowledged receipt of the money to the school.
It is alleged that from January 2016 to June 2016, the school representative went to Madzonga’s office several times inquiring about the delivery of the bus but were given empty promises.
This prompted the school to file a report with the police against Madzonga and his company.
The court heard that Madzonga and his company converted the money to their own use and nothing was recovered.-state medoa
Chombo, Chihuri Responsible For Toddlers Death – Gweru Residents
Residents in Gweru have petitioned the Home Affairs Minister, Ignatius Chombo and Police Chief Augustine Chihuri, for failing to properly execute police duties.
Over 300 residents stormed Nehanda Police station on Friday and demanded for an explanation over the missing of four-year-old Blessed Muringo, last month whose remains were later discovered outside Mkoba 20 in Gweru.
The media reports that Blessed went missing on June 12 after his mother had left him alone at their family home in Mkoba 15, rushing for a church service.
Results of DNA tests done on a body found in a state of decomposition in a bushy area outside Mkoba 20 last week confirmed that they were Blessed’s remains.
No arrests have been made so far.
The residents accused the police of being indifferent in the manner they were handling investigations and only dispersed after the intervention of MDC-T Mkoba MP, Amos Chibaya, who promised to engage the officer commanding Gweru district over the matter.
“We, the Mkoba North community, are not happy with Nehanda Police Station’s actions and investigations in the above matter,” read part of the petition signed by more than 300 residents.
“Blessed Muringo disappeared from home on June 12, 2016, but to date no arrests have been made. We, therefore, demand a full inquiry into the issue and would like to see a thorough investigation done. We demand police efficiency in dealing with issues affecting the community, we, therefore, demand answers in the way the investigations are being handled.”
KWEKWE FIRES: Five Arrested, Including Former Mayor, MP
Police have arrested five people, on charges of public violence, which occurred on Saturday in Kwekwe during the #Beatthepot campaign.
ZimEye.com spoke to their lawyer Reginald Chidawanyika who confirmed the arrests.
Kwekwe police intensified the hunt the for the Movement for Democratic Change members following successful Saturday demonstrations, in which they failed to stop hundreds of women from marching in protest against hunger and state tyranny. The women had running battles with the police as they beat their pots.
The five who are spending the night in the cells handed themselves over to the police earlier Tuesday, they include, former MDC T MP for Kwekwe Central Blessing Chebundo, former MDC T Kwekwe Mayor Shadreck Tobaiwa, MDC T Midlands North Vice chair Tendai Kokera. Others are Provincial Secretary for Organizing Moses Mashizha and Youth Provincial chair Sekai Marashe.
They handed themselves to the Kwekwe District Head Quaters Law and Order section accompanied by their lawyer Chidawanyika this afternoon. Police have been looking for them since Saturday.
Still in Kwekwe yesterday 3 provincial officials Aaron Panganayi Sithole Kwekwe Deputy Mayor and councilor Weston Masiya including a youth were given $200 bail after spending 2 days in police custody.
Kwekwe police claim they have more than a hundred on their list to arrest because of this Demonstration.
Utete Tribute : Farewell To A Civil Servant Of Integrity
Charity Maodza |Zimbabwe buried a true national hero in the mould of Dr Charles Utete. He is the first civil servant to be interred at the national shrine. President Mugabe could be visibly seen that he was shaken by the sudden death of a civil servant that he worked with for a very long time. He was a true aide to the president of this nation and as the chief secretary to the President; he is accountable to all that the achievements that the President has been credited for during his service.
Dr Utete left a legacy that all civil servants must pursue, emulate and uphold. He was an upright worker, one who knew no corruption. If there was any crime that you could nail against him, that would be industriousness. He is a book that today’s crop of civil servants must read. He brooked no corruption of any form. He was a real professional and this explains why many companies jostled for his signature for him to sit on their boards. This is the reason why Government continued to summon his service while he was on retirement.
I interfaced with him while he was the board chairman of the Zimpapers. He gave the Zimpapers an unparalled professional guidance that saw the Zimbabwe exchange listed group growing in leaps and bounce in the harsh macro-economic environment. It was during his leadership that Zimpapers launched a radio station called Star FM and many other publications such as H-Metro and B-Metro. He had to resign from Zimpapers after some political meddling in the operation of same. In a casual chat with Dr Utete, he confided in me that he could not stand the political pressure which was bent on firing “my winning team.” He hanged the boots soon after the former Zimpapers Chief Executive Officer, Mr Justin Mutasa was expelled.
Dr Utete’s conferment of a national hero’s status flies in the face of people who used to accuse Zanu PF of giving such status to politicians only. Zanu PF has proved that the national shrine is for everybody who contributes outstandingly to the social, political, economic and cultural growth of this country. Rest in peace Dr Utete.
Mawarire Faces Mugabe Wrath, Told To Leave Zim
Pastor Evan Mawarire came under fire this afternoon, after President Robert Mugabe accused him of being sponsored by foreign countries allegedly on a mission to destabilise Zimbabwe.
It is the first time President Robert Mugabe has mentioned Evan Mawarire publicly by name.
Mawarire last week was briefly arrested and charged with subverting a constitutionally elected government before being freed by a court in the capital, Harare. Hundreds of cheering supporters greeted his release.
His calls on social media for a boycott earlier this month drew a strong response from people frustrated by Zimbabwe’s deepening economic problems. Mawarire was arrested ahead of the strike.
The 92-year-old Mugabe accused the pastor of urging Zimbabweans to engage in violent protests, questioning whether he was a “true preacher”.
“You can’t urge people to adopt violence, violent demonstrations as the way of life or a way of solving grievances, no. We will say no, forever no,” Mugabe said at the burial of his former chief secretary, Dr Charles Utete.
“So beware these men of cloth, not all of them are true preachers of the Bible. I don’t know whether they are serving God. They spell God in reverse,” the president said.
“The Mawarires, if they don’t like to live with us, let them go to those who are sponsoring them, to the countries that are sponsoring them,” Mugabe added.
Mawarire left the country last week but has denied reports he fled to seek asylum elsewhere.
Mugabe’s government has previously accused French and American ambassadors in Harare of supporting Mawarire’s #ThisFlag movement. The diplomats have denied the accusations.
Mawarire, who is currently in South Africa, says his protests are peaceful and are against government corruption, alleged police brutality, delays in paying state workers’ salaries and cash shortages.
Jonathan Moyo Undressed In Masvingo
Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo| Zanu PF Politburo member and Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Jonathan Moyo was humiliated by provincial members who walked out on him as he was addressing a party meeting.
The Zanu PF Provincial members accused him of denigrating war veterans. Moyo who is the ruling party’s secretary for Science and Technology, chaired a heated provincial meeting last Saturday in the ancient city. Disgruntled provincial members interjected as Moyo was addressing the meeting and accused the controversial Professor of being biased towards the G-40 faction, of which he is widely believed to be the chief architect.
The meeting which was attended by representatives of all the seven administrative districts ended abruptly as angry delegates walked out of the meeting in frustration. A Zanu PF provincial member said the situation exploded when Moyo declared deputy secretary for transport Daniel Shumba, a member of Grace Mugabe’s G-40 to do the introductions. Provincial party members then opposed the move arguing Gutu MP legislator, Lovemore Matuke said to be more senior than Shumba should do the introductions. Delegates then accused Moyo of attempting to impose the G-40 agenda on party members. “When it was time to introduce guests Moyo proposed that Daniel Shumba should do the introductions and salutations .The delegates refused to buy Moyo’s declaration.The provincial party members told Moyo that Matuke was the right person to do the introductions.As commotion ensued, angry delegates walked out of the meeting protesting at Moyo’s decision,” said the party official who declined to be named.
An official in Moyo’s office said the minister was not in a position to respond to party affairs.
Mutsvangwa Kicked Out Of Parly
Christoper Mutsvangwa has lost his Norton Parliament seat, after Zanu PF notified the National Assembly of his expulsion from the party.
Mutsvangwa was formally recalled from parliament this Tuesday with the presiding speaker, Cde William Mutomba notifying the house. According to the proclamation from the Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda, Parliament has received a notification from Zanu PF that Mutsvangwa no longer represents the party in the National Assembly.
The speaker said he will also notify other relevant authorities and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) that a vacancy has since arisen in the Norton constituency, thus paving way for a by-election.
Section 129 of the constitution of Zimbabwe states that a National Assembly member’s seat falls vacant if the member ceases to belong to the political party which he or she was a member of when elected to the house.
Head Squanders $ 2000 School Cash
Terrence Mawawa| Chivhu A local school head squandered over $ 2000 cash at Makumimaviri Primary School before being transferred from the school, an internal audit report has revealed.
It is alleged that Chengeto Mavhondo blew $2253 cash from the school coffers before she was transferred to Northwood Primary School.
According to an internal audit report carried out at Makumimaviri Primary School, Mavhondo failed to account for $2253. “Auditors observed that the school withdrew a total amount of $ 6227 and made payments amounting to $3974, leaving a balance of $2253 that has not been accounted for,” read the audit report.
Mavhondo claimed that the payment vouchers were available but the financial records were missing. However the auditors further indicated that some payment vouchers were just compiled but there no specific dates and they were not signed for authorisation by the Finance Committee members.
It also emerged that when Mavondo was the head the school was operating without a receipt book register, violating the provisions of section 5.3.1 of the Finance and Administration Circular Number 6 of 1994.
Chikomba District Education Officer Ngoni Mujuru confirmed the incident and said investigations were under way. It is understood the matter has also been referred to Mashonaland East Provincial Education Director(PED), Christopher Chihota. Several school heads in Chikomba district have been discharched from duty after being found guilty of misappropriating funds.
Tsvangirai: Obert Gutu Lied
Morgan Tsvangirai has contradicted his party spokesperson, Obert Gutu on the MDC leader’s catapulting of Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri to the party Presidency. Tsvangirai’s spokesperson writes opposing Gutu who a few days ago voiced out pointing that the sudden appointments are Tsvangirai’s personal hand and not the party’s. FULL TEXT:
Bu Luke Tamborinyoka| On Thursday, 14 July 2016, two MDC’s organs, the national executive and national council met for nine hours at the party’s headquarters at 44 Nelson Mandela Avenue, Harare.
As usual, the national executive met first for four hours from 10am and made recommendations to the national council, which sat for another five hours starting from 1400 hrs until the evening. There was happiness and ululation after the council meeting as delegates welcomed the resolutions.
The national council is the party’s supreme decision-making body in between congresses and is mandated to make policy decisions. At every Congress, council makes a report to Congress on the decisions that it would have made in the five years between the Congresses.
Last Thursday, the national executive recommended to council that the President increases the number of his Vice Presidents, considering the mammoth task that needs to be done ahead of the election and other exigencies of our political moment as a party. The national council thoroughly debated this matter to the extent that each province was asked to state its position on the issue.
The MDC has 12 provinces and representatives from all provinces put forward their position on this issue. First to state its position was Bulawayo province and Mashonaland Central was the last to make its presentation. Of the 12 provinces, nine said the President should be allowed to increase his deputies while three provinces thought otherwise. It is important to note that even the three provinces that were of a different position did not disagree with the principle of the President increasing the number of his deputies. They only had problems with other factors such as the timing and not necessarily the principle itself.
In the MDC, party organs are bigger than individuals. Individual whims and caprices are subordinate to the will of the majority. Whether an individual has chosen to stay away from the meeting,or whether one’s position was in the minority the majority decision becomes the party position as long as the meeting was quorate, as last Thursday’s national council meeting was.
It is this august body, the national council that gave the President the powers to increase his own deputies by appointment. In any case the MDC constitution gives powers to the national council to run the party in between Congresses. Article 6.4.1 and 6.4.2 (a) of the party Constitution give the national council absolute power not only to implement congress resolutions but to run the party between Congresses. In addition, Article 16.1 of the party Constitution says such powers include the power to determine “the process of any selection including the power of making any appointment to any position.” It is this body that gave the President the directive to appoint his deputies. This directive should be read within the broader context of the fact that the 4th Congress of October 2014 gave the MDC President the powers to make appointments into the standing committee, on top of the elected officials. These are the powers the party President used to appoint the secretary for elections, Hon. Murisi Zwizwai into the standing committee as secretary for elections and Hon. Amos Chibaya as deputy organizing secretary following the death of Hon. Thamsanqa Mahlangu.
In addition, Article 9.1.1 (f) says the party president shall perform any function, duty and exercise any power as directed by the national council.
The President was also given powers to directly supervise standing committee members, reshuffle or transfer them to other departments. That is why soon after the death of Hon. Mahlangu, the secretary for elections,Hon. Zwizwai was temporarily transferred to act as deputy organizing secretary.
Some have raised valid issues concerning gender and tribe but as President Tsvangirai pointed out last week, it was the nature of the job that needed to be done that determined the candidates that were appointed and not any other factor. It did not matter where the cats came from. As long as they catch mice!
We are a democratic party and naturally members see things differently. That difference and diversity of opinion should be celebrated but in the end, it is the majority opinion that prevails. Last Thursday, the majority opinion of the party’s supreme decision-making body between Congresses gave Morgan Tsvangirai powers to increase the number of his deputies.
In a democracy, the sentiment that loses the debate must not take it to heart. Whether you lost the vote in a meeting, or you chose not to attend, your personal whims and preferences must be subordinate to the majority sentiment. In the MDC, it is the collective and not the individual that reigns supreme.
The party President does not have to consult individuals. He consults structures, party organs and the Constitution. And this was duly done. For the record, on the morning of Friday, 17 July 2016, the President spoke to all national leaders, including Vice President Thokozani Khupe, about the appointments he was going to make in line with the directive of the national council.
Contrary to some misguided and mischievous views being peddled on the political market, split opinions do not necessarily mean that an organisation will split. Split opinions are the very essence and oxygen of democracy and they do not amount to a split of the institution.
The appointments of Eng. Elias Mudzuri and Advocate Nelson Chamisa was okayed by a superior organ of the party. Any two or individuals plotting under a tree can never be above the national council of the party, whatever their political station in the party hierarchy.
The two appointments satisfy the Constitution they satisfy the directive of the council and the expectations of ordinary Zimbabweans within and without the party structures who have welcomed the increased number of the President’s lieutenants in the cockpit of the party.
We note a mischievous attempt to brand Tsvangirai as a dictator who does not consult. Contrary to this warped and erroneous view, those who know him well are aware that if the man has any weakness at all, it is that he consults too much; even where such consultations may be necessary. He is a leader who listens to everyone and anyone whatever their station in life.
The national council runs the party between the Congresses and is equally a custodian of the Constitution. It is the Constitution and it cannot break itself.
Luke Tamborinyoka
Presidential Spokesperson and Director of Communications
Movement for democratic Change
VIDEO:Man Kills Mother In Law in Chipinge| BREAKING NEWS
5 Million Zimbabweans are Mentally Ill
- Only six (6) psychiatrists in the country
- Minister of Health Speaks
- Politicians among the most mentally unstable
By Ndaba Nhuku|Five(5) million Zimbabweans have been hit by mental illness to date, an investigation 
reveals.
This follows a report by Dr Dickson Chibanda, a psychiatrist, who as early as 2007 highlighted that 40 percent of the country’s 12 million population, that is 4 800 000 people or more than a third of the population, have been hit by poor mental health. Another study, by ActionAid International, says economic challenges have led to widespread trauma among those affected.
The harrowing three cases below illustrate why Zimbabwe needs to take issues of mental illness in the community seriously.
‘‘A SUSPECTED mentally retarded man killed his mother, wife and two children with an axe in Masvingo on Monday. The man, Stephen Mabika (29), chopped off the heads of the four after killing them…..’’
‘‘A MAN suffering from a mental illness stormed his aunt’s home and raped her before grabbing an axe and hacking the woman’s three children to death, the Bulawayo High Court heard yesterday. After Ndodana Ncube, 42, killed the children aged between five and eight, he force-marched their mother to a neighbour’s homestead where he raped another woman and returned to his father’s home to torch six huts where five family members were sleeping. Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese heard this when Ncube… appeared before him facing 17 counts of murder, rape, kidnapping, attempted murder, malicious damage to property assault and robbery. Ncube was, however, freed after the High Court ruled that he was mentally unstable when he committed the horrific crimes in terms of the Mental Health Act….. the medical report showed that he was suffering from an organic psychotic, a mental disorder related to head trauma, substance use disorder…….”
‘‘A 27-year-old mentally challenged Gutu woman yesterday morning left villagers in Gadzingo communal lands shell-shocked after she allegedly killed a local herdboy with an axe before feeding on parts of his brain and flesh from the severed head…..’’
Certainly with a caring society one or two of these cases may have been prevented, and society spared the pain.
Because of the huge challenges present in our society, it is time the health sector took mental illness seriously. For how long shall we continue reading gory reports in the media about murders and rape cases committed by individuals suffering from mental illnesses? The contemporary society should be concerned with the prevention and treatment of mental illness than reacting to it with the judicial dagger. We are all to blame because most of these men and women live amongst us, are our family members, society knows them, the health sector knows them; but we collectively neglect them till something has happened and the judiciary system is compelled to act. People suffering from mental health need care, support and treatment before they are driven into these murderous acts.
Reading in detail most of these cases we find that the individuals concerned were discharged because medical reports compiled by psychiatrists showed that they were suffering from dual diagnosis, mental health problems and substance and alcohol abuse. Substance misuse could be as a result of trying to cope with their mental illness. Alternatively, mental health could also have been triggered by substance misuse. But the most essential thing is that Zimbabwe must raise the awareness of mental illness and the health sector put up more facilities that can treat those in need of the services. Mental health specialists are needed in the health sector and criminal justice system.
On the hand, we need to be bear in mind that most of us will suffer from one form of mental health illness or another. We may only not be aware that we are ill. There are many contributory issues as to why our society is saddled and overwhelmed with mental illnesses; high unemployment, use of illicit drugs and alcohol, poverty, political violence, break up of families, cultural beliefs not relevant to contemporary society, HIV, violence. They all need a combined effort by the state, employers, families and the health sector to deal with. Communities and individuals also need to save meager resources at our disposal by not chasing after fake witch doctors and false prophets in the belief that mental health illness is a result of witchcraft and jealousy. The government and health sector, under the Mental Health Act have an overall duty to ensure that mental health needs of the society are met by training more front-line specialist mental health workers.
The statistics of mental health among Zimbabweans is staggering. This should not surprise us considering the depressive atmosphere in the country; everyone is stressed out and stretched to a point of madness due to our economic quagmire and at times, political violence. Thus, most of our mental health problems are a direct result of bad national governance and ruthlessness.
For example, in Sept 2007 Dr Dickson Chibanda, a psychiatrist, highlighted to participants at a workshop that 40 percent of the country’s roughly 12 million population, that is 4 800 000 people or more than a third of the population, were then suffering from poor mental health. The good doctor rightfully attributed the high level of mental illnesses where it belongs; the country’s economic crisis and the then government’s cruel Operation Murambatsvina, which left more than 700,000 people homeless or without a livelihood after destroying their homes and the informal sector. A November 2005 study, The Traumatic Consequences of Operation Murambatsvina, conducted by ActionAid International, an international anti-poverty agency, in conjunction with the Counselling Services Unit (CSU) of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) and the Combined Harare Residents Association, also concluded that Operation Murambatsvina had resulted in widespread trauma among those affected. We have again recently seen the same cruel government destroying houses it had legalized for construction near Harare Airport road.
Only six (6) psychiatrists
Even the Minister of Health acknowledged how his government has become the cause of our mental illnesses. Speaking during the launch of the Zimbabwe mental health strategic plan for 2014-2018 in January 2015,Dr Parirenyatwaindicated his displeasure that mental illness is still not given the attention it deserves despite its increase as a result of pervasive economic hardships. As expected of him, the minister conservatively estimated that a mere 1, 3 million Zimbabweans have some form of mental illness, with his ministry stating that there are only 91 390 diagnosed mentally-ill patients in Zimbabwe, yet7 763 new mentally ill patients were attended to in only ten months in our hospitals from January to October 2014!
Even though, all these figures have to be taken with some doubts because our depressed economic situation and lack of trained personnel, the figures cannot be dismissed. For example, we had less than six (6) psychiatrists in the whole country in 2014 yet these are the only specialists trained to diagnose mental illnesses. So who is diagnosing the gigantic figures of mental disorders in Zimbabwe considering that all hospitals are in shambles?
Leaders are the worst mental health patients
And where are those suffering from acute mental health issues being treated when there are only two specialist mental health institutions in the country? Obviously we can only have a true reflection of what is happening and the national needs for mental health services if we have adequate funding, because without it, no strategy will ever succeed. We need a national conscience to care for more than half of our population that is suffering from one form of mental illness or another. There are too many people out there crying and yearning for these services. Some may not be aware they are ill, others may have relatives hiding them, chained, wandering in the streets, or they are refusing treatment out of ignorance, fear or lack of resources. It is not their fault. As individuals and as a society we have a role to play by supporting agencies, the ministry and charities raising mental health awareness, offering care and treatment to the afflicted. We need to strengthen our cultural values that promote family and communal cohesion so that we are able to support each other.
Let us not forget that our leaders need the treatment too! The cruelty of some of them and all the political violence and murders we are always witnessing are just a manifestation of their mental illness!
‘Mental illness is one thing that was grossly ignored after the liberation war. Any war ends with lots of trauma patients and there is need to address that. At the moment, our economic situation in the country causes so much stress we need much use of that profession called psychology and psychiatry. And some of our leaders from the liberation war need a lot of that treatment. ‘ Chenjerai Hove – 28 January 2015
Mawarire: I’m Not Going to Become a Politician
#ThisFlag pastor, Evan Mawarire promises that he will not transform himself into a politician.
The clergyman told the South Africa based CNBC he has no intention whatsoever to join politics.
“I think that we are already in politics. I am not going to become a politician,” he said.
He continued, “I’ve got to remain a citizen because this is where our power is.”
When asked by the channel’s Trust Matsilele: so what is going to happen to all these masses who are rallying behind you if they don’t have a face to express what they stand for?, Mawarire was unrelenting. He said:
“I think that no matter where the masses go in terms of their political movement choice, this flag is always a rallying point for them to come back to or to still be a part of, that is the beauty of it, that’s why it has to remain apolitical so that it can continue to speak for the citizen no matter which politician or which government comes into play,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mawarire also said he is returning to Zimbabwe adding that he did not at all run a way. FULL VIDEO INTERVIEW BELOW:
Makandiwa’s Penis Miracle | VIDEO
More than 2 years after preacher Emmanuel Makandiwa claimed that he has performed a penis-enhancing miracle on a Namibian man at a New Year’s Day service in Harare, the church has remained mum on providing independent medical evidence to corroborate the claim.
The Namibian man was said to have travelled to Zimbabwe in search of help for his penis which he is quoted as saying was the size of a two-year-old’s. He added that the problem was affecting his love life, and therefore his prospects of finding a wife.
“First month grow, second month grow, third month grow, fourth month grow, fifth month ummm stop,” Makandiwa said.
ZimEye.com is this morning at 9am leading a video discussion on the development.
Meanwhile, below was an analysis by blogger Fungai Machirori:
Of penises, politics and Pentecostalism in Zimbabwe
We are just past the first weekend and here in Zimbabwe, newspaper stands are already brimming with tabloid-style headlines of scandalous news – of the penile sort – to do with former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai and miracle-working Pentecostal prophet, Emmanuel Makandiwa.
Yesterday, Zimbabwe’s news media revealed that Makandiwa, founder of the increasingly popular United Family International Church (UFIC), had performed a penis-enhancing miracle on a man from Namibia at a New Year’s Day service in Harare. The man is reported to have travelled to Zimbabwe in search of help for his penis which he is quoted as saying was the size of a two-year-old’s. He added that the problem was affecting his love life, and therefore his prospects of finding a wife.
“First month grow, second month grow, third month grow, fourth month grow, fifth month ummm stop,” Makandiwa is said to have commanded the man’s infantile penis which, I must assume, is still expanding exponentially as you read this.
On Saturday, the day before this revelation, the press was again teeming with phallic-related news; in this instance, an exposé of trouble in the un-paradise that is Tsvangirai’s love life. Apparently he and his current wife, Elizabeth Macheka, are living separately due to a range of unresolved issues, including those of the “sensitive personal” variety. The public jury is out and judgments ranging from erectile dysfunctional disorder to hexes over the former PM’s “male member” are moving around freely. Tsvangirai has, however, refuted any such claims, stating that he is fit on all counts.
Ironically, reports suggest Macheka packed up and left the marriage home during a visit Tsvangirai made to seek the counsel of Nigerian megastar prophet TB Joshua, who in 2012 gained cred for his prediction of the death of Malawian leader Bingu wa Mutharika. Well, let’s say he predicted the death of an African leader who was old and unwell, to the silent hopes of many.
And so we, the general Zimbabwean populace, find ourselves having spirited Twitter, Facebook and offline debates, enthralled by speculation about two men’s penises. Actually, make that three men as people are now also seemingly curious about how endowed Makandiwa must be if he can work such miracles on others.
A weekend victory for phallicism, I say. And, I fear, a portent of what is to come in 2014 for Zimbabwe.
As prospects for political change continue to decline, it is the rise of Pentecostalism and tales of the supernatural that seem to have filled the void in the collective imagination of most Zimbabweans. In fact, the myriad problems ordinary Zimbabweans face – such as crippling poverty and lack of access to social amenities – seem to correlate with the growth and popularity of charismatic Christian churches offering instant relief from anything from bankruptcy and HIV to unhealthy addictions… if you only just believe.
Early last year former Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono convened a press conference with Makandiwa and his fellow popular prophet, Uebert Angel, to publicly announce that the two men had not flouted any financial regulations by delivering ‘miracle money’ said to have inexplicably appeared in congregants’ personal bank accounts. And with that controversial move, the already blurred line between the church and the state in Zimbabwe grew murkier.
While a penis-enlarging miracle might seem like child’s play (that pun was really not intended!) for a man of such influence, a man who has even promised to perform the Christ-like feat of walking on water, it does epitomise the vulnerability of so many Zimbabweans who remain desperate for a change in their personal fortunes. Desperate for hope; for at least one pleasure, one relief.
And the commonality of the desperation is compounded by Tsvangirai’s pursuit of the same from TB Joshua.
Just think about Tsvangirai’s case a bit more deeply, if you will. Here is a man, aged 61, married as many times as he has lost in his bid to become Zimbabwe’s elected president (three), who makes a trek to a death-predicting spiritual leader in pursuit of answers and solutions to the problems beleaguering his personal and political aspirations. In a continuation of the comedy of errors that is his love life, he returns home to find his wife gone and, a few weeks later, speculations about his impotence all over the media.
What hope should the ordinary Zimbabwean hold onto, therefore?
Tsvangirai’s manhood may have come under literal scrutiny this weekend, but the truth is that it has been inspected – in a figurative sense – since July’s presidential election and his tepid response to a resounding loss, albeit a loss that seems to have been compounded by many factors out of his control. More and more, Zimbabweans are beginning to feel that he is not the man to deliver them to the ‘promised land’, and that he himself needs to start chanting his MDC-T party’s slogan of chinja maitiro (change your ways) and step away from its leadership.
I will end my analysis with a final irony. It is quite interesting to me that even though much of Zimbabwe’s mainstream press is alight with all these stories about phalluses, few – if any – can bring themselves from the comfort of their euphemisms to actually call the “male member” what it is. A penis.
And this is a perfect metaphor of the times. A fascination with the scandalous and supernatural and yet an inability, a systematised reserve or fear, of calling things as they are. A diversion of the “male member” at the expense of critical, constructive and progressive debate about the male members of society who still very much control the structures that govern our daily lives from the radical prophets to the un-radical politicians.
It should strike us all as unusual that a phallocentric culture cannot bring itself to name the symbols upon which its power is premised.
Indeed, this is the present tragedy of Zimbabwe.
Fungai Machirori is a blogger, editor, poet and researcher. She runs Zimbabwe’s first web-based platform for women, Her Zimbabwe, and is an advocate for using social media for consciousness-building among Zimbabweans. Connect with her on Twitter.
Mugabe Denounced by ZANU PF Senator
A top ZANU PF senator has denounced President Robert Mugabe saying he must be done away with.
According to a ZANU PF memo leaked to ZimEye.com, Senator Tobias Matanga stood up during an inter-district meeting on Saturday 16th July in Chipinge and chanted the following slogan:
“Pamberi ne ZANU PF
Pasi naPresident Robert Mugabe.”
Below was the memo in full print which ZimEye.com is still investigating on:
REPORT ON THE CHIPINGE INTERDISTRICT MEETING HELD TO RELAY THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
16 July 2016
- Background
Mrs Sharai Sakabuya, a Central Committee Member was requested to be the Guest of Honour at the Chipinge Interdistrict meeting to relay the President’s nine-point message to people after Hon Mabel Chinomona failed to turn up. The Provincial PC, Cde Simon Mapfumo chaired the proceedings which commenced at about 11.00 am, at Tanganda Primary School.
- The Issue
During a packed briefing, Senator Tobias Matanga, stood up to make an intervention on the subject of SI 64 of 2016, and made the following slogan
Pamberi ne ZANU PF
Pasi naPresident Robert Mugabe.
Pastor Jessica Chapfiwa, a war Veteran and a Provincial Council Member, Woman’s League, immediately interjected and asked the Senator what type of a slogan he had made. Nevertheless, the Senator proceeded to make his intervention and sat down. After some time, and on whispered advice from the Cde Mapfumo, the Senator stood up and apologized for having made such a slogan. As if contradicting himself, Senator Matanga said that he was a very senior member of ZANU PF and throughout his long stay in the Party, he had never made such a slogan. Surprisingly, he did not proceed to explain why then, given his experience in Party matters, he blundered so badly, if indeed it were a blunder.
But it is also known that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”. Or psychologically, the mouth reveals what the heart harbours. True, a number of people have made sloganeering mistakes before, but each case needs to be examined in its own right. In the case under discussion, the sequence of events clearly dismiss the slogan as an accidental mistake. For example if the Senator had been remorseful for the slogan he had made, he could have apologized immediately before proceeding to make the intervention to the subject under discussion, as he did. Furthermore, a contrite person does not have to be reminded and advised to apologize.
Senator Matanga is a member of Mapfumo or Hon Enock Porusingazi’s Group. Hon Porusingazi, who was suspended for 5 years, started attending ZANU PF meetings, outside the allowed PCC meetings, shortly after Cde Mapfumo was coopted as the Provincial PC this year. Cde Mapfumo stubbornly and arrogantly defends Hon Porusingazi by arguing that he attends ZANU PF meetings in his capacity as an MP, and as such he was according the “High Table Status”. (Previously at a similar meeting at the same venue last month, the Provincial Chairman, Dr Samuel Undenge was also present and he ignored the objection to Hon Porusingazi’s presence at the meeting as a suspended member, let alone at the high table).
- A Trend of Related Events
A recap of some of the events adds credence to the opinion that Senator Matanga’s slogan was a revelation of the new thinking in Cde Mapfumo and Hon Porusingazi’s group.
- Last year, at a meeting in the Game Area of Ward 13, Cde Thomas Chipadza, another member of Porusingazi’s group made a slogan that “Pasi na Grace Mujuru”. Despite being rebuked by the MP, who was addressing the meeting, Cde Chipadza never made any retraction.
- Towards the Congress of 2014, Cde Mapfumo phoned the Chairperson of Ward 17C in Nyagadza, Ms Rose Murira, and asked her how she was going to travel to Harare as a delegate. When the lady replied that she was going to check with the MP of Chipinge East Constituency, Cde Mapfumo rebuked her for being very behind the latest developments that all people “belonged” to Mai Mujuru. The lady, in her confusion, reported the conversation to the Chairman of Ward 17C, Cde Ngadziore.
- Cde Davison Chivhovho, another member of Porusingazi’s group removed a t-shirt from a Party member called Cde Mtisi, in February this year. The t-shirt had President Mugabe’s insignia. The member was subsequently chained. This matter was reported to the Provincial Chairman, who has since ignored the case. Instead, Cde Chivhovho, who has many other criminal charges, was coopted into the Provincial Council.
- At the Interdistrict meeting under discussion, Cde Mapfumo threated Chairpersons with disciplinary action if they held meetings without his approval. He also told the police who attended the meeting to bar any ZANU PF meetings that were held without his approval. But surprisingly, Cde Mapfumo does not organize ZANU PF meetings himself, if that was his sincere wish. In the meantime, ZimPF are holding an abundance of meetings.
- To expose his double standards and creepy agendas, he instructed Ms Chipo Museri, the current ZANU PF Councilor in Ward 13 to organize a meeting ahead of the current MP doing the same, in order to lie that she had sourced a grader to rehabilitate the road to Nyamadzi School, where the MP was constructing a classroom block. Cde Chipo Museri is reported to be sponsored by Hon Porusingazi’s group to stand in Chipinge East Constituency to unseat the current MP. But it is now on record that Councilor Museri has made up her mind to stand in the same constituency as ZimPF candidate, battling out with Earnest Porusingazi, the son of Hon Porusingazi. If the formeris the correct position regarding Councilor Museri’s decision, it is against the standing Party guidelines for a Party member to destabilize a sitting MP, let alone by the person of the Provincial PC, Cde Mapfumo. If the position is the latter (that she will be the ZimPF candidate) then this position is strongly supported by the unfolding events and Cde Mapfumo’s behavior).
- The Interdistrict meeting was to relay the President’s message. But Cde Mapfumo totally deviated from the purpose and used the platform to denigrate Cde Win Mlambo who was not present at the meeting because he had been deployed in Harare.
- During the strikes of 7 and 8 July, MDC and other opposition activists in the small town of Chipinge forced the closure of supermarkets like OK and TM. It was public’s expectation that the PC, who comes from Chipinge must have arisen to the occasion and organized a reaction. He did not. The same in-activity from the PC was noticed when the small town was awash with ZimPF posters on Friday the 15th of July when Mai Mujuru was set to address a rally in Mutare. We had to organize youths to remove the posters during the night.
- Comments
A number of negative events have taken place since the cooption of Cde Simon Mapfumo into the Provincial Council. It appears Cde Mapfumo is determined and is in a hurry to cause the reversal of all decisions which were taken by the Party, which negatively affected his group. It is also evident that Cde Mapfumo has managed to re-assemble a number of the dissolved DCC members of which he was the DCC Chairman, firmly in the Provincial Council. But very worrisome is Cde Mapfumo’s in-activity while ZimPF is having field days in Chipinge.
The greatest threat to the Party is not the opposition, but ZANU PF members who lie about fellow members and those who are double-dipping. Disappointingly, the Party stands by and watches the circus.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Lumumba Court Application Dismissed
State Media – Former Zanu-PF activist William Mutumanje, also known as Acie Lumumba, who is facing charges of undermining the authority of President Mugabe, wants his matter referred to the Constitutional Court following the dismissal of his application in which he was challenging placement on remand.
Lumumba’s application hit a brick wall after Harare provincial magistrate Mr Vakayi Chikwekwe ruled that there was no need to set aside the court proceedings saying the State can always seek the Prosecutor-General’s permission to prosecute.
He said the anomaly on the State’s part that formed the basis of Lumumba’s application could not warrant his removal from remand.
Mr Chikwekwe remanded the matter to Friday this week for trial commencement.
However, Lumumba’s lawyer Mr Arshiel Mugiya notified the court of his intentions to apply for referral of the matter to the Constitutional Court on the next remand date.
He argued that there are constitutional issues which needed to be determined by the apex court.
Lumumba made an application last week challenging his placement on remand on the basis that the Prosecutor-General did not authorise his prosecution.
Normally cases of this nature and that of insurgence and publishing or communicating falsehoods which are prejudicial to the State among others, require the express authority of the PG in terms of Section 34 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
Lumumba argued that the letter, which authorised his placement on remand, was not authored by the PG.
“Your Worship, Section 34 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act is clear that an accused person who is being charged for undermining the authority of the President, the authority of the Attorney-General, now the Prosecutor-General, must be sought,” he said.
The prosecutor Mr George Manokore assisted by Ms Lionella Chitanda, argued that there was a section which allows the PG to delegate his powers.
Mr Manokore said, “Your Worship, Section 6 (2) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act empowers the PG to delegate his powers to any legal practitioner in his office.
“Also Section 11 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which the defence is also basing on, talks of the local public prosecutor not the AG, hence the section is irrelevant to the application he is making,” he said.
It is the State’s case that on June 30, Lumumba, who was addressing people during the launch of his political party, said: “Mr President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, f*** you. I am drawing the red line, our kids are in trouble so it is a red line I know and my name is Lumumba, Lumumba Lumumba.”
Ammara Brown Flies to UK for Hit Shows
Zimbabwe’s fresh and most popular songbird Ammara Brown flies to the United Kingdom in a few hours’ time for a string of appearances on UK soil for the first time.
Ammara’s shows promoted by TD Vibes and Food World, will see her light up the weekend various cities, Luton and Wolverhampton Friday and Saturday. TD Vibes’ CEO, Sonny Chibuwe told ZimEye.com Ammara will jet into London on Wednesday on her way from South Africa.
SEE POSTER for details:
Tsvangirai Hit By Obert Gutu | PICTURE
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been hit at by his spokesperson Obert Gutu, the latter who has triggered a state media probe on Tsvangirai.
This was shortly after the MDC boss had announced his decision to anoint Nelson Chamisa as his Deputy President, which has disturbed the spokesperson and the rest of the MDC leadership. They express that the MDC leader violated the constitution to catapult Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri to the Presidency.
Gutu took a swipe at Tsvangirai in a Facebook post which, faced with the embarrassment, he within minutes soon deleted. ZimEye.com managed to obtain the post (SEE THE BELOW).
The state media following Gutu’s lead, have since taken umbrage at Tsvangirai writing on Tuesday that he “threw the MDC-T constitution into the dustbin when he appointed to the vice presidency Advocate Nelson Chamisa and Engineer Elias Mudzuri last Friday”.
This is contrary to claims by party officials close to Mr Tsvangirai that the appointments were procedural, the state broadsheet declared.
It continued saying, the development has further divided MDC-T as some top party officials are meeting nicodemously and strategising against the appointment of Adv Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri.
The MDC-T constitution, which is supposed to be the opposition party’s bible, is clear on how vice presidents are supposed to assume power.
Mr Tsvangirai actually violated Section 6.4.3.1 of the MDC-T constitution amended and adopted at its 6th congress at the City Sports Centre in Harare, in November 2014.
Section 6.4.3.1 of the MDC-T constitution reads: “The National Standing Committee shall compose of the following office bearers elected by Congress:
(a) the president
(b) the deputy president
(c) the national chairperson
(d) the deputy chairperson
(e) the secretary general
(f) the treasurer general
(g) organising secretary
(h) secretary for information and publicity
(i) chairperson of the youth assembly
(j) chairperson of the women’s assembly who shall each be elected directly by congress from nominations made by the provinces.”
The MDC-T constitution also states who the party leader should appoint:
“And (k), the secretary for elections, who shall be appointed by the president, provided that the Standing Committee may invite any party secretary to any of its meetings.
(l) The deputy secretary general, the deputy treasurer general, the deputy organising secretary and the Deputy Secretary for Information and Publicity shall be part of the National Standing Committee until the next congress,” reads the MDC-T constitution.
The MDC-T constitution makes it explicitly clear that a deputy president is elected according to section 9.1.4, which reads: “The president shall, with the exception of the deputy president and deputy chairperson, appoint deputies to officers of congress from a pool of National Executive members elected from provinces and other office bearers where such is provided in this constitution.”
The MDC-T was formed in 1999 and its constitution was approved by the inaugural congress held in Chitungwiza in January 2000.
The constitution was amended and adopted at the second congress at the City Sports Centre in Harare on March 18, 2006.
It was again amended and adopted at the third congress at Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo on April 30, 2011.
The MDC-T constitution was amended and adopted further at the 6th Congress of the party at the City Sports Centre on November 1, 2014.
Yesterday, another senior party official came out guns blazing branding Mr Tsvangirai a dictator and urging Adv Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri to introspect on the violation of the MDC-T constitution.
“It is clear the party constitution states that positions for vice presidency are part of the presidium and are elective positions,” said the senior MDC-T official.
“This will not be taken lying down. There is general consensus right through to the structures — they are saying a big no to dictatorship. People are saying it is actually embarrassing for the appointees to accept those positions.
“They should look at themselves (Adv Chamisa and Eng Mudzuri) as principled athletes. Who would accept a medal in a race they did not participate? People were canvassed and money changed hands.”
VIDEO:Harare Shop On Fire
Boy(9) Blocks Man From Inserting Manhood Into Sister’s Private Parts
Terrence Mawawa Zvishavane |A nine-year-old boy foiled frantic attempts by a local man to rape his sister.
In an unusual act bravery the minor jumped on top of his sister and thwarted an attempt by Chinondo Mapfumo from inserting his erect manhood into the 18-year-old girl’s private parts. As Mapfumo attempted to rip apart the girl’s undergarments after tripping her, the minor jumped on top of his sister to thwart the man’s efforts to rape the juvenile’s sister.
Mapfumo of Mapfumo Village appeared before Zvishavane Magistrate Peter Madiba last week-facing attempted rape charges.
In early May around midnight, Mapfumo went to the girl’s bedroom where she was sleeping with her brother. He persistently knocked on the door -saying he wanted to see the boy’s sister. In a state of panic the brother and sister decided to seek help from neigbhours. As they ran away, from their home, Mapfumo tripped the girl and tried to tear her undergarments apart. The boy who was running ahead of his sister turned and saw Mapfumo battling to rip apart his sister’s undergarments. The minor jumped and sat on top of his sister. In the ensuing melee, the girl hit Mapfumo on the head with a stone and managed to escape. She reported the matter to the police the following day, leading to Mapfumo’s arrest.
Tsvangirai’s Dirty History Of Unilateralism
Dr Masimba Mavaza |Recent events in the MDC expose Morgan Tsvangirai and the serious lack of democracy in the party he has led. The MDC faithfuls have shown to be more than bootlickers as they cannot stand and defend their own constitution. Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man’s self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man. This fear is the fear which is visible in the MDC ranks were Tsvangirai defacate on the constitution with no shame. Tsvangirai’s acts of authoritarianism can be traced from unilaterally declaring Theresa Makone chairlady of the Women’s Assembly at the expense of the women’s choice Lucia Matibenga in 2010.
Or take the appointment of his relative Hebson Makuvise Ambassador to Germany ahead of straight forward cadres. Appointment of Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni at the expense of his party councillors. Manyenyeni was his golf buddie and he without consultation appointed him. This is not including the dictatorial tendencies which made the breakaway with Ncube possible. Biti and the embarrassing thumping of Mangoma at Tsvangirai’s instigation. The excuse MDC gives is that Mugabe is doing it.
Is Mugabe the role model for MDC too?
Article 3.1 of the MDC’s constitution describes MDC as a social democratic party whose core values shall be solidarity, justice, equality liberty freedom TRANSPARENCY humble and obedient leadership. 3.3. Implores MDC to seek the mandate of people to govern or in any decisions. Alas these are not the reality to be seen in MDC.
The mandate given to the president is enshrined in Article 9.1.3 which among other things is to defend the constitution. In MDC the President trashes the constitution with impunity and without fear. He makes sure any one who talks about it is fired. The question is if he makes it to the State house will you remove him?
Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship. Tsvangirai just surprises even his Secretary General and deputy by making unprecedented unconstitutional announcements and appointments. He has acted as the congress and the centre of power. His excuse is Mugabe is doing it. Without fear the appointment of two extra Vice Presidents was unconstitutional and totally self serving.
Tsvangirayi could say
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be a king that’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone – if possible – Ndebele Shona black man or white man. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness – not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this country there is room for everyone. And the good party democratic is rich and can provide for everyone. Is this real??
Greed has poisoned Tsvangirai’s soul has barricaded the MDC with hate, has goose-stepped the democratic hope of Zimbabwe into misery and bloodshed. We have developed hope, but we have shut ourselves in hero worshiping. Tsvangirai holds MDC at ransom what will he do to Zimbabwe? He thinks too much and feels too little. More than machinery he needs humanity. More than cleverness he needs kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, democracy will be violent and all will be lost.
If not checked Tsvangirai is betraying millions of despairing men, women, and little children – victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people he is creating such a system.
The misery that is now upon MDC is but the uncertainty of Tsvangirai and the bitterness of men who fear the way of democratic progress. Their silence in fear of being marginalised is a danger to civilization. They forget that the hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Their children will throw stones at their graves in anger.
The party which promised change has changed into the serpent.
It should be known that the people have the power The power to create happiness! the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. The power to give our country hope.
Then – in the name of democracy – let people use that power – let people unite. Let people fight for a new country a democratic country that will give men a chance to work – that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world – to do away with national barriers – to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a country which will never be fooled. Movement For Democratic Chaos. MDC. must not be given a chance to manifest its chaos. Jamukai Rambai
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Tsvangirai:My Cancer is Better Than Mugabe’s Evils
MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai is suffering from serious illness — colon cancer — but still has time to throw a jibe at President Robert Mugabe — describing his handling of the country as worse than his condition.
Tsvangirai said while his health condition which he disclosed on June 27 had “shaken our country and greatly disturbed the spirits of the people of Zimbabwe”, the cancer of corruption posed an even more dangerous threat to the country than his cancer of the colon.
Addressing journalists at his Highlands home in the capital last week, Tsvangirai bemoaned the suffering Zimbabweans are going through which he blamed on Mugabe and Zanu PF.
“Oh yes, corruption, mis-governance and just plain cluelessness at the national level have become a more dangerous cancer, even more dangerous than cancer of the colon!” Tsvangirai said derisively.
“The nation is hurting and life is tough for everyone outside the parasitic elite that is feeding on the national trough.
“It is this elite that is fuelling the cancer of corruption and is oblivious to the dire situation facing the ordinary people in Pumula, Plumtree, Mufakose, Dotito and Chirundu.”
The former prime minister in the inclusive government said the country is at a precipice in need of astute management “but it is apparent that there is leadership vacuum at national level”.
His critics including Zanu PF bigwigs say because of the nature of the disease, the once firebrand trade unionist turned opposition strongman could lose his cutting edge, a trait that has made him the face of Zimbabwe’s painstaking pursuit for democracy for nearly 16 years.
Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandi Chimene appeared to celebrate the opposition leader’s condition, saying it was payback time for him.
“Tsvangirai is suffering with cancer; it’s payback time for wishing …Mugabe to die, but Mugabe does not have cancer.
“Who are we to question God’s will? Why opposing our president who is 92 years old? I would even sacrifice for my president by giving him my 20 years and I will die,’’ she said while addressing supporters in Mutare recently.
“If you look at his face that is what is in his brains. He is not appealing. He is ugly. You should not vote for him because he is a loser,’’ Chimene added.
But in his address last week Tsvangirai said he was on the road to full recovery after undergoing surgery in South Africa and that he was ready to challenge Mugabe in 2018.
“I want to say today that I am recovering well and once again, I want to thank everyone, especially the people of this country from across the political, religious and tribal divide, for standing by me.
“Indeed, we are all mortal beings and sometimes our bodies get shaken by the vagaries of nature but as you can see, God is always on our side and I am on the path to full recovery.” daily news
ZANU PF Bulldozes Its Students Into Teachers College
Staff Reporter |The ruling ZANU PF party has handed over a list of students to be enrolled as trainee teachers, at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Teachers’ College in Gwanda, Zimeye.com can exclusively reveal.
Impeccable sources at the college told Zimeye.com that against the college recruitment policy, the party through its Members of Parliament in Matabeleland South, presented names of people to be trained at the college after the college had already completed interviews for prospective students.
According to the sources, the college adminstration has been ordered to stick to the list provided whether or not the persons involved were previously interviewed by the college.
A source within ZANU PF Gwanda structures confirmed that the party had also submitted its list of potential students to the college, claiming that the list was not of final students to be enrolled at the college.
“The party did solicit for qualified young people from around the province through its MPs for consideration at college but never imposed the names to college,” he said.
“The move was basically to curb corruption at the college where authorities were recruiting people unfairly,” he added.
Officials at the college refused to comment on the matter claiming that issues to do with recruitment of students were above their jurisdiction.
Four Killed in Chiredzi Horror Crash
Terrence Mawawa, Chiredzi| Four passengers died on the spot Monday morning when the commuter omnibus they were travelling in veered off the road 20 km from Chiredzi town.
According to ZimEye witnesses and details from Chiredzi police, the driver of the commuter omnibus was speeding.The omnibus was travelling from Checheche to Chiredzi.
It is understood the driver saw an oncoming vehicle while attempting to overtake another commuter omnibus and in an attempt to avoid a head on collision, he lost control of the omnibus. The vehicle veered off the road and overturned -killing four people on the spot while several others were seriously injured.
“The driver was competing for passengers with a Svorex commuter omnibus. As he attempted to overtake the Svorex omnibus, he saw an oncoming vehicle. In a bid to avoid a head on collision, he lost control of the omnibus,” said an eyewitness who spoke to ZimEye.com
Chiredzi police confirmed the accident. “We can confirm that there was a fatal accident here this morning but you can find out more information from Inspector Charity Mazula(Masvingo Provincial police spokesperson)-she is the right person to furnish you with more details,” said an officer at Chiredzi Police Station.
Inspector Mazula was said to be out of office and she was not readily available for a comment.
AU Fails To Elect New Leader
The race to replace AU commission chairperson Dr Dlamini Zuma has hit a snag and the African Union has postponed the elections, this was after the three candidates failed to raise the required 2/3 majority.
Former Uganda Vice president Specioza Wandira Kazibwe polled 11 votes against 16 scored by Botswana’s Foreign affairs Minister Pelomi Venson-Moitoi and Equatorial Guinea candidate Agapito Mba Mokuy, who garnered 12 votes. And when the first candidates were eliminated, 23 states voted for Botswana, still short of the two thirds.
More than 28 African countries abstained from the vote and this is being blamed on the west African regional block ECOWAS which had raised objections to the quality of candidates that were competing for the position but failed to stop the elections from going on.
According to sources who attended the voting, when ECOWAS failed to stop the vote, it tried to introduce a last minute candidate and this was foiled so they west African regional block led by Nigeria decided to stop the vote and this led to the deadlock and elimination of all candidates.
In the mean time, a new interim Chairperson will be appointed when the current Chairperson steps down, and it will possibly be from one of Dlamini Zuma’s deputies. And a new voting round will be held at a later date. News24Africa
African Union launches Passport
The African Union (AU) has finally
The passport is aimed at facilitating the free movement of people in the continent.
The introduction of the African passport is expected to pave the way for the AU’s 2063 Agenda for “a continent with seamless borders” to help facilitate the free movement of African citizens.
The project, which was agreed upon last year, also aims to improve intra-African trade and to ease the movement of domestic goods between member states.
President of Chad and Chairperson of the AU, Idriss Deby Itno, and President of Rwanda Paul Kagame received the first passports from the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
Commenting on the importance of fast tracking integration on the continent to achieve socio-economic growth for the wellbeing of the African citizens, President Deby said, “I feel deeply and proudly a true son of Africa after receiving this passport”.
There have been scepticism whether the African passport would materialise considering that calls by the AU for open borders have previously fallen on deaf ears.
However, it could still be a long-wait before ordinary African citizens can get the passport as the document remains the privilege of heads of government, and diplomats.
Member states are expected to start producing the passports in accordance with their national visa policies.
The AU Commission Chairperson, Dr. Dlamini-Zuma noted on Twitter, “We suggest to the Summit for consideration, that Member states issue the#AfricanPassport to their citizens, within their national policies”.
However, the fact that the issuance of African passport is aligned to national visa policies has raised the scepticism whether African citizens will soon start using the travel document considering the slow implementation of a similar proposal. The 30-day visa-on-arrival policy, which AU member states are expected to implement has been sluggish. Only a few countries have implemented the visa-on-arrival policy (these include Rwanda, Mauritius and Ghana).
According to the African Development Bank (AfDB) Index, Africa remains largely closed off to African travellers and on average, “Africans need visas to travel to 55% of other African countries, can get visas on arrival in only 25% of other countries and don’t need a visa to travel to just 20% of other countries on the continent”. ThisisAfrica
Horror as Harare Shops Go Up In Flames | BREAKING NEWS
A catastrophic fire disaster has hit Harare threatening to destroy the capital city. With no fire brigade in sight an hour later, whole shop buildings in the CBD area have gone up in flames with some being reduced to ashes, ZimEye.com sources reveal.
The fire is said to have started at a shop which sells firework materials before it suddenly spread to other buildings.
The affected buildings are at Corner Julius Nyerere and Charter road up to around Seke road intersection…
More to follow as the story develops….
Tsvangirai Rubbishes Makandiwa Prophecy
MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai says he has played his role in the struggle to free Zimbabwe from the Zanu PF “dictatorship” and would not be hurt if he loses the forthcoming presidential race in 2018.
Tsvangirai, who is battling cancer of the colon and has over the past two months been undergoing chemotherapy treatment in South Africa, was responding to United Family International Church leader, Emmanuel Makandiwa’s recent prophecy that President Robert Mugabe’s successor was a Zimbabwean currently based in the Diaspora.
“I don’t know who goes to n’angas (traditional healers) and prophets, but I don’t rely on that. I have a responsibility. God has created me for a purpose and if that purpose is not to be president of the country, that’s fine,” he told a Press briefing in the capital on Friday.
“I have fulfilled what I think I was created to do and I am doing it to the best of my ability. Whether there are prophecies, I think it’s immaterial, as far as I am concerned.
“Who knows, you can wake up one morning dead (sic), and you say, I prophesied that you won’t be president, when you are dead (sic).”
In a recent prophecy, Makandiwa said the country’s next president would emerge from outside the borders, ruling out Tsvangirai and opposition Zimbabwe People First leader Joice Mujuru, who are touted as front runners.
The prophecy also threw spanners in the works for Zanu PF contenders, First Lady Grace Mugabe and Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who are also reportedly angling to succeed President Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirai has been at the helm of MDC-T since its formation in 1999 and has watched his party split twice, as he lost to Mugabe in three successive presidential elections — 2002, 2008 and 2013.
MDC-T insiders told NewsDay that Tsvangirai’s announcement and body language has triggered panic, fears of an imminent split and fierce jostling to succeed him.
“Most of his standing committee members did not attend the Press briefing at his home. They are unhappy, especially at his choice of Nelson Chamisa and there is going to be a private meeting around Tuesday to discuss a reaction to Tsvangirai’s appointments,” a source said.
However, Tsvangirai, through his spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka, dismissed speculation that the appointments would destroy his party, insisting he followed a directive of the party’s national council.
“In the MDC, party organs are bigger than individuals. Individual whims and caprices are subordinate to the will of the collective,” he said.
“On Thursday, the national council of the party, the supreme decision-making organ in-between congresses, sat. It is that body that gave the president the powers, and even at congress, delegates had said the president can have more than one deputy. We are a democratic party and we do not split simply because we see things differently.”
The camp opposing the move is reportedly led by secretary-general, Douglas Mwonzora, who is in currently in Hungary together with party spokesperson, Obert Gutu. Khupe, too, did not attend the Thursday meeting.
Another source said the rivals to last week’s move are plotting to fire Tsvangirai from the party on allegations that he was being a dictator.
“He has effectively fired himself from the party because his appointments were illegal. Those appointments mean he has formed his own party and left the MDC-T,” the source continued, adding there was no possibility the matter would be solved quietly.
“If someone slaps you in the face, you have to slap back even harder and this is what we are going to do when we meet on Tuesday, hit back even harder.”
Khupe insisted she was not consulted on the appointments and yesterday declined to comment.
“Can you refer all the questions to President Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, because I am not speaking on the issue,” she said.
Party insiders said the appointment of Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri as co-vice-presidents of the MDC-T was meant to spite Khupe, hence, the decision to leave her out of the Thursday meeting.
But Tsvangirai said he does not consult individuals when making “important party positions”.
“The party and its president do not consult individuals. They consult structures, party organs and the constitution and this was duly done. In any case, the principle of more than one VP had been agreed at congress. Even the three out of 12 provinces that were of a different view in council did not disagree with the principle, but some had issues with the timing,” he said. newsday
Minister Battles for Life After Serious Car Accident
Midlands Provincial Affairs minister Jason Machaya is battling for life after a serious accident which left him with a deep cut on the head.
He was yesterday admitted at Avenues Clinic in Harare after he was involved in a car accident along the Harare-Gweru Road yesterday.
His wife confirmed the accident, which occurred just outside Chegutu.
She said Machaya was travelling alone from Harare to his Sherwood Farm in Kwekwe. “One of the wheels of his Land Rover Discovery 4 came off and the car rolled over and he is in a serious condition. We are now transferring him to Avenues Clinic,” she said.
A Zanu PF source said Machaya sustained a deep cut on the head. Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said she was yet to get the details of the accident.
“I am yet to get the details, let me check for you,” she said.
Many Zanu PF ministers have died in suspicious car accidents, which have left the nation speculating on the causes.
Machaya narrowly survived a government chop last year, where he lost his post as Zanu PF Midlands provincial chairman after he was linked to former Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s camp.
Of late, he has been linked to Zanu PF’s G40 faction and had his suspension from the party lifted.- Newsday
DISTURBING PICTURES: ZRP Causes Another Accident, Pre-School kids Escape Death | BREAKING NEWS
By Chrispen Tabvura| Bulawayo – In yet another ZRP escapade, police chased down a kombi driver carrying preschool kids leading a horrific accident.
The driver failed to give way at the intersection of Hebert Chitepo and 12th Avenue and was hit at the side, leading to the vehicle collapsing.
The minors were assisted onto an ambulance shortly afterwards.
According to witnesses at the scene, the kombi driver was being chased down by traffic cops who were on City Centre patrol during the peak hour.
Several kids who were retrieved from the smashed kombi, were taken to United Bulawayo Hospitals for treatment and their condition was not immediately available at the time of going to press. The minors escaped death by a whisker as they were all swiftly pulled from the kombi alive. While being pulled out, the kids were heard audibly crying for help.
The driver of the kombi refused to talk to the press as he was still in a state of shock. “I am not in the mood to talk to you,” the man briefly responded saying.
Eye witnesses blamed the kombi driver for not giving way. “This driver was speeding and I was driving behind him, he was escaping from the mobile police,” said one Miss Luphahla who was in tears.
The police have returned to their controversial road blocks, with many kombis now playing cat and mouse to avert the cops.
Coltart Flashes Prayer-Alert For Mujuru
David Coltart |For all those Christians who believe that Joice Mujuru has no role to play in Zimbabwe’s future because of her past I ask that they prayerfully consider the application of Galatians 1:13-24. I am not equating Joice to Paul, nor am I endorsing Joice in any way. But I seek to challenge those who think that our past irredeemably prevents us from playing a role in the future of our country. If that were the case then not a single person who fought for Rhodesia would have any part to play. I think the important issue is whether a person has turned from their past. If there is a genuine turning, a real repentance of past conduct and clear evidence of a determination to forge a constructive new future for our country, then any person who does that must be able to contribute to our future.
Indeed that is the essence of the cross. When Jesus promises that we are forgiven, we are forgiven, irrespective of what we have done in the past. There are no exceptions to that promise.
Zimbos Clear Mawarire On “Mnangagwa Link”
Staff Reporter |Zimbabweans who participated on this morning’s ZimEye Live-Report programme have overwhelmingly endorsed the #ThisFlag Pastor Evan Mawarire, dismissing all negative allegations that have been circulating on social media about him.
This morning ZimEye.com had a telephone call from the Scotland based preacher Mr Howard Nyoni, who claimed that #ThisFlag Pastor Evan Mawarire is currently in South-Africa for secret meetings with Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Other theories have also been circulating on social media about the Pastor who has captured souls and minds not just in Zimbabwe but globally too.
Opposition circles have had a tendency of labeling competitors either “state agents” or Zanu PF. ZimEye’s Simba Chikanza talks to Mr Nyoni about his claims and also engages the ZimEye community on the same.
Follow the debate on the video available on : Join ZimEye LIVE REPORT Monday morning for the first phase of the discussion www.facebook.com/ZimEye
Evan Mawarire Secretly Meeting Mnangagwa In South Africa? – DISCUSSION
Wild claims have been made that #ThisFlag pastor Evan Mawarire is secretly meeting Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in South Africa at present… Many have rushed to further claim that Mawarire is a decoy to diffuse the people’s struggle.
Join ZimEye LIVE REPORT Monday morning at 9am for the first phase of the discussion https://www.facebook.com/ZimEye
Mugabe to Block WhatsApp, Facebook for All ZANU PF Members
President Robert Mugabe is reportedly working on a blanket ban on Zanu-PF members from accessing social media “as it is a platform for regime change purveyors out to fight the Government and destabilise the country.”
Senior ZANU PF politburo sources say the party has begun Phase-1 of the project. This was revealed by Deputy Secretary for Land Reform and Resettlement in the Zanu-PF Politburo, Abedinico Ncube who said demonstrations and the stay away the country witnessed in the past few weeks were fomented by social media. He said people must not be fooled by MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and ZimPF leader Dr Joice Mujuru who are being funded by Western countries to disrupt peace in the country.
“I urge all Zanu-PF members in this district not to use social media as it a Western technology that they implement through these fake oppositional parties to destroy the Government. Mujuru and Tsvangirai with their people circulated false information through social media that our economy is falling so that people must fight against the Government, they deceived you to resist bond notes giving you false reasons, please don’t be fooled by these lies, our economy is not falling instead we are rising as long as we work together,” said Ncube, who is also the Minister of Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Culture and Heritage.
He added that councillors must encourage people to shun stay aways.
“Tell teachers and headmasters, nurses and doctors to go to work as usual without any disruption. Anyone who will be caught communicating false information will be arrested. Zanu-PF members must support and defend the party. Those in leadership positions must preach unity to the people. As a party we condemn those demonstrations because we know that it was a way of deceiving peaceful Zimbabweans. I am happy because these criminals failed to achieve their mission of destroying the country,” said Ncube.
He urged civil servants to remain loyal to the Government.
“I assure you that our Government is working on bridging this economic crisis and very soon people will be smiling. The bond notes are being printed in Germany and soon they will be in circulation. I urge everyone to prioritise goods that are manufactured within the country so that we don’t import too much because that is what is killing our country. Irrigations are being resuscitated and improved so that there will be food in the country,” said Ncube.
Addressing Zanu-PF supporters at another inter-district meeting in Insiza, Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Aldrin Musiiwa said revival of industry was key in addressing the economic challenges the country is facing.
“The revival of industry is key to the achievement of the economic targets outlined in the country’s blueprint, Zim Asset. One of the pillars of Zim Asset is value addition and beneficiation. It is through value addition and beneficiation that the country’s manufacturing base is anchored on,” he told the gathering.
Musiiwa said the restriction of importation of some goods was meant to protect and promote local companies.
“In order to assist local industry there is a need for Government, through the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, to implement measures that will stop the de-industrialisation of the country. Limiting imports will lead to industrial recovery, as it stimulates demand for locally produced goods,” he said.
Musiiwa said party members needed to uphold the values of Zanu-PF and respect its leaders.
“The President will continue with meetings countrywide to assess the progress of the party and Government programmes. Unity should be strong in the party. There is a need to condemn divisions and factions within the party. There is a need for discipline. The party will expel and suspend comrades that are undisciplined. The enemy is still at work hence the need to remain vigilant. The party is now on a road map towards the 2018 elections,” he said.
Bedroom COUP : Liz Tsvangirai ‘New MDC President’
In a well skimmed bedroom coup d’etat, Liz Tsvangirai has now become the de facto President of the Movement for Democratic Change, effectively replacing her ailing husband Morgan.
Impeccable inside sources revealed to ZimEye.com Friday, that Liz, a daughter of a senior Zanu PF member dealt her long time nemesis Vice President Thokozani Khupe a major blow by appointing two of her husbands so called ‘home-boys’ to the Presidency.
Khupe who has been on the ground working with party structures mobilising them in well attended protest marches across the length and breadth of the country, was effectively relegated to a weaker position after the appointment of Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri to the presidency.
Sources say Tsvangirai has not been well, incapacitated to a point that Liz is now actively involved in the party’s major decision-making, working with a small group of the infamous kitchen cabinet members, in a clear violation of party constitution, protocol and procedures.
In Zanu PF, Grace Mugabe who haboured political ambitions could not brazenly take over power through the bedroom, though she wielded it, instead Grace contested and became an official member of the Zanu PF leadership by being elected to the powerful Womens’ League. Grace now as a result leads the G-40 faction.
In the MDC all became clear Friday when ailing Tsvangirai called a press conference, together with Liz as they sat at the top table to make a major announcement the rest of the national executive team were in the dark on. Not even his deputy the popular Khupe knew of this development, with party spokesperson Obert Gutu quick to run to Facebook distancing himself from it all.
Khupe also told weekend papers she too was in the dark concerning the two men who have since joined her as co- Vice Presidents.
Glaringly obvious at the press conference was that party protocol and constitution had been thrown out through the window, the rest of the top party leadership were relegated to mere spectators, while young Liz sat there firmly in power somewhat sealing up the bedroom coup.
Khupe told weekend papers yesterday that she had nothing to do with the appointments, a clear indication that MDC-T is headed for a roller-coaster ride over the leadership changes.
Tsvangirai claimed he wanted to strengthen the party’s leadership ahead of the 2018 elections, but there is speculation he is preparing to exit the scene through nature’s hand after announcing last month that he is suffering from colon cancer.
Khupe, a long-time lieutenant of the former trade unionist, now appears highly unlikely to take over from Tsvangirai if he exits the scene. She appeared uncomfortable speaking about the subject after leading MDC-T supporters in a demonstration dubbed #beatthepot held in the streets of Bulawayo.
“If you want any comment on that issue [new VP’s], can you please talk to Morgan Richard Tsvangirai,” Khupe said.
MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora is outside the country and missed both the national executive and council meetings that recommended the expansion of the presidency.
However, close sources say Tsvangirai wanted to stem the growing factionalism in the party as senior leaders were jostling to succeed him and as some had even unofficially spoken to Zimbabwe People’s First about an alliance.
“Tsvangirai’s confidence in his lieutenants like Khupe and Mwonzora was waning as speculation grows that they are privately talking to Joice Mujuru about a coalition,” a close source said.
MDC-T spokesman Obert Gutu said he was not in the picture about the development since he was away in Victoria Falls when the national council meeting was held.
“I will touch base with the party when I’m back in Harare on Sunday [today] on the developments. I am currently away at the Law Society Winter School,” Gutu said.
Tamborinyoka was not reachable for comment.
Kent University law lecturer and former Tsvangirai adviser Alex Magaisa said the decision might have been influenced by the need to contain factionalism in the party.
“It could be that creating a triumvirate of vice-presidents is a political balancing exercise in the MDC-T succession race, as the leader tries to manage the ambitions of competing candidates and their factions,” Magaisa wrote.
He added that the appointment of Chamisa and Mudzuri was meant to contain factions in the party.
“Probably because they are the two more popular succession candidates who were not in the top echelons of the party. Far from promoting factional interests and fortunes of either man, these appointments may be aimed at containing them,” Magaisa added.
According to our Bulawayo bureau, senior provincial leaders are planning to hold an urgent meeting to discuss Tsvangirai’s decision.
Party officials in the city told The Standard they were not happy with Tsvangirai’s move, and have started deliberating on the way forward. standard
Miners Reject Rands
Small-scale gold producers are refusing to be paid in South African rands for gold delivered to Fidelity Printers and Refinery because of differences with the sole gold buyer over the conversion rate used against what is being offered on the black market.
This comes at a time, Government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe are on an exercise to stamp out gold smuggling in the country. The central bank estimates that 40 percent of gold produced in the country is smuggled out. The producers said their differences with FPR have come about because the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe unit is using a rand rate which is lower than the rate prevailing in the market.
They said as a result accepting the Fidelity Printers rand rate will result in a loss of between $3 and $5. Currently gold is trading at $41 dollars per gram and at R592,59 at Fidelity Printers.
The rand is currently trading at 14,33 to $1.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation national technical advisor Marufu Sithole confirmed the development.
Mr Sithole, who is a gold buying agent and operates Chimona Mining company in Shurugwi said:
“Small-scale gold producers are now facing challenges especially when buying mining accessories and consumables such as explosives, fuel, food and other services. The rate of the rand prevailing in the market is different from that being offered by Fidelity Printers.
“Some buyers in the market are using an exchange rate of $1 to R15 while on the other hand the rand is still being rejected by most businesses. They want the US dollar and this is forcing buyers to go to the black market to source for US dollars,” said Mr Sithole.
“If you compute you will find out that gold will have been traded at $38 per gram, which is $3 less than the market rates. My advice to Government is that they must regulate the trading of currencies in all businesses because the non-regulated miners are refusing to trade their gold as we speak,” he said.
A gold buying agent in Filabusi in Matebeleland South Christine Chikombe said buyers in her area are faced with the same problem.
“They are refusing rand and I am running short of US dollars because Fidelity Printers here only have rand,” she said.
A Fidelity Printers official who preferred not to be named said: “Still no cash, our guys at head office are making frantic efforts to get cash but the situation is getting dire. Rands are available and bank transfers can also be done,” said the official.
Small-scale miners who have been given a priority in terms of getting instant cash are also shunning the new measures put in place by RBZ, particularly Real Time Gross Settlements due to the low withdrawal limits set by banks.- state media
Arrested Man Jumps Through Window During Trial, Flees Court
Terrence Mawawa Masvingo |There was mayhem at Chivi Magistrate Court last week when a suspect escaped through the window during trial.
Prosper Chingwende, a local tout bolted out of the court room through the window soon after Magistrate Bishard Chineka had announced he would be remanded in custody to July 20.
Chingwende appeared in court facing assault and touting charges. Chingwende fled from the court room soon after the ruling had been made. Surprisingly the police and prison officers watched as he escaped.
“The accused just bolted out of the court room through the window when he was told he would be remanded in custody,” said a court official. Police and prison officers later chased Chingwende and apprehended him at Silver City residential area, Chivi Growth Point.
Chingwende said he ran away because he was afraid of being remanded in custody during the winter season.
“The incident has left us confused. Although the court windows do not have burglar bars,the police and prison officers just watched helplessly as he ran away. As trained officers they were supposed to take action as Chingwende bolted out of the court room.”
“The police and prison officers only chased him when he had already left the court room.We do not expect such things to happen when the court is in session,”added the official based at Chivi Magistrate’s Court.
VIDEO:Lady Squanda Truly Stole Bedroom Sheets, Promoter Speaks Out | LIVE REPORT
LIVE REPORT: – Top dancehall musician, Lady Squanda who has been caught on video torturing comedian, Skimbo, truly “stole” bedroom sheets and pillow cases from a Kwekwe lodge, it is said. Squanda’s promoter Fidelis Isaac speaks to ZimEye.com on his experience on LIVE REPORT. The story continues below the video stream…
The Daily News in an earlier report last week says Lady Squanda had attended a show organised by award-winning DJ Fydale dubbed “DJ Fydale UK Tour Welcome Bash”.
Other artistes who performed at the same gig include Killer T, Fireman and Kilamani.
Sources close to the happenings who declined to be named said Lady Squanda and her manager Sparks were booked at the lodge by DJ Fydale together with other artistes who had come for a show on Friday night.
Fydale paid for everything and left.
“On Saturday morning, workers at the lodge realised that the following things were missing; drying towel, pillowcases, bed cover, two sheets, and coffee mugs.
“They called DJ Fydale telling him that there were items missing. Fydale then gave them Squanda’s number and they called her. She promised them that she would come back,” the source said.
Lady Squanda is said to have later on switched off her phone.
“After about seven hours, the lodge owners called her and she was no longer picking up her phone. She ended up switching it off. They then called Fydale and threatened to report the matter to the police.
“Fydale then negotiated on Squanda’s behalf, and paid for the missing items. Fydale did not want the story to come out but people at the lodge were angry.
“When Fydale called her she said handizvizive ukabhadhara wakapusa (I don’t know anything to do with the issue, if you pay it’s your own business.)
“Fydale always books artistes at the lodge and has never encountered any problems. He was really disappointed by what Squanda did,” the source added.
Fydale said he got a call from the lodge but did not want delve into the matter.
“I am not sure if it happened but I got a call from the lodge and I paid them,” he said.
Lady Squanda dismissed the accusations as entirely false.
“It is a lie, I did not take anything. I got a call from the lodge over the matter and I said I would go back to sort it out.
“Unfortunately, I could not go back as I had a show in Marondera. If I took their stuff why did they not make it a police case?” she queried.
The lodge’s manager only identified as Saungweme said Lady Squanda did not officially check out on Saturday morning.
“She was booked by Fydale. When checkout time came, she didn’t leave the keys. So when cleaners came they realised that there was stuff missing from the room. When all this transpired I was not there, but I can give you someone to talk to who was present,” she said.
This is not the first time the female chanter has courted controversy.
In 2013, she faked her own death, later on composing a song about the hoax death rumours.
In 2014, she reportedly did not deliver cell phones she had been sent with by people from the United Kingdom to Zimbabwe.
Colleges to Issue Out Degrees – Jonathan Moyo
The Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Ministry is considering the transformation of more colleges into industrial training centres, a move meant to ensure that the education sector meets the country’s new thrust for industrialisation and modernisation.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo revealed this during a graduation ceremony held at Mupfure Self Help College in Chegutu recently.
“We are participating in this 27th graduation ceremony against the background of an ongoing process within government to review and realign our education system from ECD to university and to do so in order to make it relevant to Zimbabwe’s quest for industrialisation and modernisation.
“We have proposals before us that we are considering — which are the transformation of three colleges to make them industrial training and trade testing centres. These are Danhiko, St Peters Kubatana and Mupfure Self Help College,” he said.
Prof Moyo added: “The proposals are real because they have been inspired by the excellent work that these three institutions have done over the years and we fully support the process that they are going through to transform themselves and join the two existing industrial training centres — which are the Msasa Industrial Training Centre in Harare and the Westgate Industrial Training Centre in Bulawayo.”
Prof Moyo said he was happy that Mupfure had already aligned to the new thrust and was working on finding better ways of engaging the industry in its projects.
“I am happy that Mupfure Self Help College has been developing a curriculum that is informed by the new initiative that we have launched as Government through our ministry and that is the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) initiative to ensure that we produce, through our education system, graduates who are STEM competent,” he said.
Prof Moyo said the STEM initiative was in response to the ministry’s obligation which is to research, develop, plan and train the human skills that are required not only in terms of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, but also the country’s new thrust of industrialisation and modernisation.
He said he was also happy that the country’s polytechnic and teachers’ colleges were preoccupied with the transformation agenda so as to become degree awarding institutions.
The ceremony saw 180 students graduating — 123 male and 57 female.
The theme for their graduation ceremony this year was “Manpower Development for Socio-Economic Transformation through education With Production”.-state media
KWEKWE FIRES : Khupe Salutes Women Of Courage
Thokozani Khupe |I wish to salute the brave women of Kwekwe, Chitungwiza, Cape Town, the UK and the USA Diaspora who sprung into action with the #BeatThePotcampaign to highlight the devastating hunger that Zimbabweans are facing everyday due to the poor governance policies of President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF. It was a very encouraging sight to see Zimbabwean women’s determination and resolve being tougher than armoured police water cannons, the fully geared riot police, and the intimidating state agents. Women overcame their fear to demand that Mugabe and Zanu PF must make way for a government that will put food on their tables, and a government that will be ushered in by a free, fair and credible elections.
The fight for bread and butter issues continues with the #BeatThePot campaign, and women are invited to join this growing movement of women that will change the direction of this country.
Enough is enough, Sokwanele, Zvakwana!
Enough is enough, Sokwanele, Zvakwana!
#BeatThePot
Thugs Steal Meat To Buy Beer
Two men from Gweru landed in jail after they stole meat from a parked car and exchanged it for a bottle of Gold Blend Whisky.
Tinashe Mutondo (36) and Givemore Churu (24) were convicted on their own plea of guilty to theft by Gweru Magistrate Mr Tayengwa Chibanda. In passing sentence, Mr Chibanda said he had taken into account that Mutondo was once convicted of theft while Churu was a first offender.
He sentenced Mutondo to six months in prison and suspended one month on condition of good behaviour and another one on condition he pays the complainant $20.
Churu was sentenced to four months imprisonment; one month was suspended on condition of good behaviour and another one on condition that he pays the complainant $20.
Prosecuting, Mr Lloyd Mavhiza told the court that on July 2, the two men were doing a piece job at Midlands State University when they connived to steal three plastic bags of meat from a car which was parked at the car park.
He said Mutondo and Churu went to Top Shop Beerhall in Senga and exchanged the two plastic bags of meat for a 750 ml bottle of whisky.
“At around 6PM, the two accused persons proceeded to Senga Shopping Centre to braai the meat from the remaining plastic bag,” said Mr Mavhiza.
Prosecuting, Mr Lloyd Mavhiza told the court that on July 2, the two men were doing a piece job at Midlands State University when they connived to steal three plastic bags of meat from a car which was parked at the car park.
He said Mutondo and Churu went to Top Shop Beerhall in Senga and exchanged the two plastic bags of meat for a 750 ml bottle of whisky.
“At around 6PM, the two accused persons proceeded to Senga Shopping Centre to braai the meat from the remaining plastic bag,” said Mr Mavhiza.
Two police officers became suspicious when the two accused invited patrons to join in the feasting and arrested them.
National Hero Status For Mugabe Aide
Staff Reporter |Former Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Charles Utete has been declared a national hero. Utete who collapsed and died on Friday morning, at his home in Harare during breakfast will be buried at the national heroes acre on Tuesday.
In a condolences message sent from Rwanda where he is attending the African Union Heads of States meeting, President Robert Mugabe described Utete as a dedicated public servant. ZANU PF Secretary for Administration Ignatious Chombo, told the media on Sunday that the ZANU PF politburo had voted 100% to grant Utete the national hero status. Utete served as President Mugabe’s secretary from 1981 before retiring from civil service in 2003. After retiring he was appointed to chair a presidential advisory board on civil service a position he was holding at the time of his death.
Utete was born in Chivhu on October 30 1938 and is survived by his wife Verna and five children.
ZRP HuntsDown Pastor Mawarire as Lady Squanda Walks Scot-Free
ZRP cops have allowed dance-hall singer Lady Squanda to walk free as they yet hunt down #ThisFlag pastor Evan Mawarire.
Pastor Mawarire was arrested for calling for protests against the government, which charges were altered to those of treason – see the full ZimEye report here.
Even after releasing him on Wednesday night, the police are still holding onto Mawarire’s cellphone while yet choosing to ignore the visible crimes committed by Squanda, a ZANU PF supporter, whose video has gone viral in which she tortures the comedian, Skimbo.
ZRP spokesperson Charity Charamba was telephoned by ZimEye.com on Sunday concerning the matter but could not comment as the phone kept cutting.
Meanwhile, the controversial Zim Dancehall singer has been axed from a tour of the UK by Promoter Simbarashe “BodySlam” Chakare.
Chakare swiftly announced he has expunged Lady Squanda from the UK September tour.
“Bodyslam UK Tour Madirirano team watched Lady Squanda Video of abuse, we are truly upset and we don’t encourage such behaviour therefore she is totally removed from the touring team for September, will try to fix the lineup with someone who is suitable,” he wrote.
Chakare then announced that Skimbo will now be replacing Squanda on the UK tour. “Bodyslam Uk Tour Madirirano team have replaced Sqaunda with Skimbo and Darula final decision pamamonya ipapo topinda,” he said in the statement. READ MORE …
Dokora Forces Catholics To Recite National Pledge Ahead Of Mass
Terrence Mawawa Masvingo |Suspected state security agents recently confronted authorities at the Roman Catholic run Gokomere Central Primary School for conducting the Holy Mass ahead of the controversial National Pledge,it has emerged.
The National Pledge ,introduced by Primary and Secondary Education Minister ,Lazarus Dokora,is viewed by members of the Christian community as a deliberate attempt to dilute Christianity in Zimbabwe.
Authorities at Gokomere Primary School have expressed concern at the manner in which they were threatened by suspected state security agents over the holding of the mass ahead of the National Pledge . Authorities at the school said suspected state security agents confronted the school head for starting the school programmes by holding the Holy Mass instead of the National Pledge.
The head was threatened after explaining the Holy Mass was vital for the institution.
The revelation was made at a graduation ceremony at the school, Roman Catholic Head for Masvingo Diocese,Bishop Michael Dickson Bhasera expressed shock at the way the said government officials indicated total disregard for the Holy Mass.
“Recently the head was visited and asked why they began the proceedings at the school with the Holy Mass instead of the National Pledge.The head then explained that in the Catholic Church the Holy Mass was the foundation.Such an outlook calls for courageous renewal on the part of the Catholic school.Teachers and the responsible authority need to take a firm stance in defending the gospel,”said Bishop Bhasera.
Man Brutally Shoots Cheating Wife 11 Times, Kills Self
An enraged Bulawayo man discovered through WhatsApp messages his wife was cheating on him and in a fit of anger pumped her with 11 bullets before shooting himself.
The man Knowledge Matwasa had discovered WhatsApp messages and pictures that suggested Aquila was in love with another man.
The incident happened last Sunday in Johannesburg, South Africa when the man, Matwasa allegedly shot himself on the forehead after shooting his wife.
The two have been married for more than 20 years and have three children. They are, however, alleged to have had longstanding marital disputes. Knowledge’s brother, Mr Charles Matwasa confirmed the incident saying as a family they had tried to intervene in the two’s marital dispute but failed to restore peace as the two would only temporarily live in harmony before they start fighting again.
“My brother told me about his sexual problems with his wife, where he claimed he was now impotent. We tried everything in our power to rectify the situation, we even tried traditional means but it failed. The issue was also brought to the attention of his wife’s family and they summoned them for counselling. When I later asked my younger brother about the situation he told me that things were now better,” said Charles.
It is alleged that while the husband was trying to find solutions to his personal challenges, Aquila was seeking marital pleasure from other men. As the couple continued fighting, the husband was suspecting that his wife was having an affair with another man as the wife was nagging him for divorce. Reports are that Knowledge allegedly saw pictures and messages on his wife’s cellphone that proved that his wife was enjoying a picnic in Cape Town with another man. “He called me at around 10pm telling me how much he misses me, I think this was a way of him saying goodbye to me. Around 1am, this is when the incident took place,” said Charles. Plans are underway to bury the couple back home. State media
Missing $15 Billion Shocker As Gvt Embarks On Hoax Investigation
Government could be setting itself up in another tangled web of official pronunciations from which it will have problems to extricate should it fail to deliver.
This comes after another brazen announcement that results of the probe into the missing $15 Billion are expected by September by the Auditor-General’s Office after it claims to have commissioned a top auditing firm, that government will not name.
Zimbabwe did not benefit much from the Marange diamond revenue as a result of much swindling and looting by top Zanu PF politicians who include former Vice President Joice Mujuru who now leads Zimbabwe People First. A proper investigation into the looting will claim scalps of senior politicians entangling Zanu PF in a web of official statements that do not match actions on the ground, thus, the need to lead the nation on another wild goose chase.
Auditor-General Ms Mildred Chiri said that the firm had started work on a two-month time line to conclude the probe.
The unnamed chartered accountancy firm won the right to conduct the audit following a month-long bidding process. Ms Chiri said the company’s identity would remain confidential to avoid jeopardising investigations.
Ms Chiri said bidding ended on June 29, and after the adjudication process was competed, the winning bidder was informed of its terms of reference.
“We have communicated to the auditor of the high expectations that we anticipate from the work that they have been tasked to do. The issue of the alleged diamond looting has attracted much public interest so we are expecting that they will bend their backs to give us the results of what transpired.
“As an auditing firm, they also have an undertaking to conduct their work diligently as part of their mandate, so we are hopeful that they will give us results,” she said.
Ms Chiri said her office had notified the Mines and Mining Development Ministry of the “full co-operation” expected from Government departments during the audit.
“We are in constant communication with the Ministry of Mines and we will be working together throughout the process. They have already pledged their full cooperation during the process, as some of the issues fall under their purview,” she said.
The terms of reference stipulate that the auditors should also look into how diamond mining companies managed their finances, receipts of payments and receipts from all sales.
Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa and Secretary for Mines Professor Francis Gudyanga could not be reached for comment last week.
However, Prof Gudyanga last month told the media that the ministry would lend its full support to the probe.
In an interview with ZBC-TV on the occasion of his 92nd birthday, President Mugabe revealed that the country could have lost billions in suspicious dealings in the diamond mining sector.
This prompted the Mines Ministry to alert the Auditor-General’s Office to the matter, resulting in the current audit.
In May, a British legislator said his country was a possible haven for diamond proceeds from Marange, telling the house of lords that funds from illicit dealings could be stashed in London banks.
Contributing to a debate on money laundering, Lord Chidgey described London as a “destination of choice” for proceeds from Zimbabwe’s diamonds fields.
Following this, Prof Gudyanga said the probe into the illegal diamond dealings could be extended beyond Zimbabwe’s borders.
Recently, National Prosecution Authority national director of prosecutions Mrs Florence Ziyambi wrote to six countries where millions of dollars realised from diamond mining activities in Zimbabwe were allegedly externalised by Jinan Private Ltd, seeking mutual assistance.
It is believed cash was irregularly transferred to banks in the United Arab Emirates, China, Zambia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and the DRC.
Early in 2016, the Mines Ministry ordered all diamond mining companies in Marange — Anjin, Jinan, Mbada Diamonds, DMC, Kusena and Gye Nyame — to cease operations, leading to the State’s takeover under the Zimbabwe Diamond Consolidated Company. sunday mail
Opinion : No Tribal Or Gender Discrimination In The Appointments
Eric Chapanduka |I take this opportunity to congratulate Hon Nelson Chamisa on the occasion of his appointment to the office of the vice president of the Mdct party. His appointment was what many people hoped for .Gifted with composure of mind, elected as a member of parliament trained as a lawyer his countenance has never been sad. Nelson you are now the watchtower over many people in proverbs 16vs 7 “when a man’s ways please the lord He maketh his enemies to be at peace with him”. The distinguished and honoured nelson is a man of faith ,the exercise of his faith is seen at rallies, in church and in parliament.
Hon Chamisa’s path had some interruptions, but those ripened him for a higher position. I remember when he yielded to the controversial SG results, God had already designed his passage .It was a design of the wishes of many people .These are the works of wonder. Chamisa’s persuasion is very strong .He has a national appeal and is an elected member of parliament. I also take this opportunity to congratulate Hon Mudzuri for his appointment to the office of vice president of the mdct party .
The outcome of the national council meeting was a substantial reality of the wishes of many. Furthermore, appointments by President Tsvangirai after a recommendation from the national council underscore that the appointment process was above board.
But one fascinating point that has emerged from across the political divide is the points being raised by others especially those about the tribal makeup of the presidium .I do not think any party should do a tribal impact study before any appointment. Every tribe shares the Zimbabwean nationality .These appointments do not deprive any tribe but they add value to tackling the national crisis. There is no tribal discrimination inherent in the appointments whatsoever. My feeling is for our society to be harmonious and cohesive, people should be chosen on merit rather than tribal origin.
There was absolutely no discrimination against any tribe .It may be necessary to examine the appointment process to discover if there was any discrimination but even before that discovery and if people are bothered by decision of national and that of the president they may as well be pacified by the tribal makeup of the national council itself . However those of us in the Mdctparty should be the ones bothered more especially when people try to import tribal discrimination arguments from their parties into the mdct -appointments debate or discourse in order to score cheap political points, that to us, is mischievous and silly.
The mdct is a mass party .No tribe is at a comparative disadvantage because of these appointments .I do not see any tribe that was treated less favourably. Vice president Hon madam Khupe’s position is still the same .The positions of Vice president Hon Chamisa and Vice president Hon Mudzuri are not representative of tribes there are subordinate positions they are vice presidents of the party and are subordinate to the President and not representing regions as in the case of traditional chiefs . There was no discrimination on the grounds of gender vice president Hon Khupe still keeps her position.
There was no discrimination on tribal grounds .The president could have appointed anyone recommended by the national council regardless of their tribal origin. The appointments were not a bad design the country is in an acute national crises .I really do not see what motivates people in criticising everything our party does. Tsvangirayi is a great democratic fighter of our generation. Any criticism as long it is not progressive should be dismissed with the contempt it deserves. People are free to say want they want and there is no limit as to what people can say the same way there is also no limit to confusion.
As the biggest opposition party in the country Mdct offers an alternative to the current quagmire people should realise that the current economic quagmire has an alternative which needs a lot of responsibilities and hence the appointments should be seen in that light but not as a case of tribal domination .Interestingly ,it can be seen that when Hon Chamisa and Hon Mudzuri received the advantage of the honour of appointments to the presidium, Vice president Hon Khupe did not suffer any disadvantage to her post .
I think it is better to concentrate on the significance of the new appointments before one examines the concept of dilution. The significance of the new appointments does not lesson the validity of the previous vice presidential post otherwise we end up misleading the women nationally of gender discrimination and the Matabeleland voters of tribal discrimination .Misleading people is very dangerous. To be precise the appointments does not give rise to a situation where Hon madam Khupe’s post loses value.
The extent of the national crises requires a new approach and that approach should be urgent with a solution and the solution requires more responsibilities which required more people into the presidium and either by election or appointment but the extra responsibilities require new vice presidents to tackle those new responsibilities and if those new vice presidents have new roles it does not dilute the previous vice president’s role and if that is the case then there should be no fears .
There is no tribe that has been favoured after another in the case of these appointments and the same could have happened in the case of an election. However what has arisen is a new approach to tackle the acute national crises.
There is no imaginary danger in the party. President Tsvangirayi is excellent in the promotion of candour .He has allayed fears about any scare including that of his health .He is recovering well and the evidence can be seen by the naked eye.
VIDEO: ‘CIO ATTACK’-Lady Squanda Violently Tortures Man
Dancehall singer Lady Squanda has been exposed after being caught in a leaked abduction video of CIO abuse levels she is seen torturing comedian, Skimbo.
Thousands of Zimbabweans at the weekend launched an appeal to get Squanda arrested while also calling for a boycott on her music shows.
Squanda is said to have been offended by a comic sketch done by Skimbo, in which the latter spoke on a story covered by the newspapers alleging that the singer had stolen items from a lodge she was booked in. Skimbo is seen trapped inside a vehicle while being assaulted at the back seat.
Squanda violently bashes the man on the head while being assisted by two men.
“This boy needs be beaten up(laitta!)…,” Squanda is heard saying in the video.
She is then seen physically bashing the man while ordering him, “Go and tell Fidel that Squanda says you have hurt me,” she says.
At the end of the video, Squanda forces Skimbo to lick her right bare-foot. He is also forced to repeat his name while being forced to swear that he will never do another TV sketch on Squanda.
ZRP Collapses In Confusion, Chaos
Dear Editor,
Following recent publication of police radio messages by ZimEye exposition, ZRP police bosses suspected that the radios were leaked by Police officers based at Western common age in Bulawayo.
On the 9th day of July 2016, all commanders at Western Commonage were called to attend an emergency meeting.
The meeting was co-chaired by Chief Superintendents Manzini Moyo, the officer commanding Bulawayo West District and Ndlovu who is in charge of all communication systems in Bulawayo.
The agenda of the meeting was PASSING OFFICIAL INFORMATION TO THE PRESS particularly to ZimEye.com
The two bosses ordered all sergeants and above who were present to surrender their cell phones. The two bosses had three police officers with computer technology knowledge.
The three computer experts ordered that all pin codes be removed from the cell phone. All the cell phones were taken away for two days and they were inspected in a bid to find out the culprits responsible for leaking the official information. No one was found to be the one responsible (sic).
– ZRP Source
Prophets Strip Corpse Naked, Pray for It
TWO siblings are in hot soup after invading a funeral, undressing a corpse and praying for it to come back to life. The self-proclaimed prophets were arrested for violating a dead body.
Harupere Kamudzi (37) and her brother Godknows Kamudzi (32) of Waterfalls, Harare, have since appeared before Mbare magistrate, Mr Stanford Mambanje.
It is the state’s case that on April 15, 2016; the duo told mourners at a funeral in Waterfalls that the deceased, Egfa Mapfumo, was not dead but was just sleeping.
They claimed that God had sent them to awaken the deceased from her sleep. The siblings lifted deceased’s body from the coffin and stripped it naked while making chants.
They went on to lay the naked body on the floor before massaging it with salt and warm water.
The awestruck mourners were assured that Egfa would “wake up soon since she had been affected by the cold mortuary”.
However, a report was made to the police, leading to the pair’s arrest. When the Kamudzi siblings appeared in court last month, they pleaded not guilty to charges of violating a dead body.
In their defence, they said they had been invited by the deceased’s relatives to raise her from the dead.
On Friday, they were supposed to appear before Mr Mambanje but didn’t show up. A warrant of arrest has since been issued for the pair.
Mr Richard Makondo prosecuted.- state media
Army Starves as Grace Blows $4million In Singapore | READERS
President Robert Mugabe’s government must continue frustrating the army, newsreaders scoffed saying on Saturday.
As it emerged soldiers have not been paid their salaries on time for the 2nd month(click to read), readers scoffed at President Mugabe and his wife Grace who Finance Ministry sources have claimed blows $4million on every foreign trip. Below were some of the comments:
Domnique Vint: Let me go get KFC and will wash it down with wine……the army is trained to survive under extreme conditions so 2 slice of bread without margarine is okay for them,Mgabe and Grace with their family are eating healthy in Singapore…..$2000 plate plus a waitress tip of $500 ha ha ha
Jiggah Chitsumba: Sweet melodies to my ears, make it 3 months uncle Bob.
Jessie Tsitsi Murapa: They dont deserve any salaries..regai zvife nenzara.vachadya utsinye ihwowhwo.Pamberi neZanu PF.rambai makadaro government .musazvibhadhare idyai imimi vakuru wawo.iwo wachingorowa vanhu
Tendayi Grasham Gwengwere: Mugabe is taking you ARMY FOOLS for a ride in return he forces you to brutalise your Mother’s Brother Sisters and friends. I hope to feel the hunger .
Kwekwe Explodes : ZRP Cops Flee Angry Protesters
Staff Reporter | Riot Police were today reportedly chased down by angry protesters in Kwekwe.
It is also alleged that two police officers were killed in the melee, ZimEye.com is following up on this.
…ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW…
This was after they had attacked peaceful marchers, hundreds of women who joined their counterparts in other provinces, in the “Beat the Pot” campaign launched last week by MDC Vice-President Thokozani Khupe.
Reports reaching ZimEye claim that even in the midst of police intimidation and harassment, women came out in large numbers and beat their pots and pans in protest against hunger and government’s poor policies. Some of the female leaders who organised were at the time of writing being looked for by the police.
“Thousands marched peacefully in Kwekwe today defying Police refusal to grant clearance. At the end police used water canon and tear gas to disperse people as they gathered to be dispersed by leaders,” read the report.
It is also reported that there have been arrests although ZimEye.com had no names at the time of going to press.
Mujuru Dead Anytime – Grace Mugabe
As Former Vice President and ZimPf leader, Joice Mujuru’s members were yesterday blocked from attending the party’s Mutare rally, faithfuls began recollecting how First Lady Grace Mugabe has announced saying Mujuru will soon be in the grave.
Mrs Mugabe’s statements loudly vocalised a week ago, have sent the Zim community into turmoil amid a mist of controversy on the First Lady’s conduct and her conscience.
The revelations first published on ZimEye.com last week have laid the pointing finger on Mrs Mugabe and her 92 year old husband, Robert.
Mrs Mugabe said Mujuru’s life is temporarily dangling on her husband’s mercy string.
Mujuru is “busy going around challenging why she still hasn’t been arrested for her corruption not knowing that she is still living on the mercy of the President who feels pity for her. We have overwhelming evidence against her and its a matter of time before we get her when we want to,” said the First Lady.
“Gaddafi style.”
Grace Mugabe claims Mujuru plans to kill her “Gaddafi style,” when her husband, President Robert Mugabe dies. Mrs Mugabe, a former presidential typist who surprised many by launching a political career two years ago, also calls Mrs Mujuru a criminal.
“She [Joice] has been telling people that once Mugabe dies, she will draw me close to her, and my secretaries told me that she will drag me in the streets, with people laughing while my flesh sticks on the tarmac,” Mrs Mugabe said two years ago. Ousted Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was shot by rebels in October 2011 and then dragged through a Misrata street, screaming for mercy before he died.
Meanwhile several ZimPF members yesterday told ZimEye they are not surprised at Mugabe’s work to sabotage the party. “There is an end to everything and this is what we are seeing, a drum beating louder and louder until it rips apart,” said a war veteran only identified as Cde Sibanda.
– ZimEye.com
Opinion :People Power To What End?
DR MASIMBA MAVAZA |Zimbabwe is fast advancing from civil disobedience or civil unrest to violence to anarchy. When protesters can shut down major highways and roads and get away with it and then get invited to the police station as if the are kings. When court decisions are motivated by the mobs outside you know things are spiraling out of control. What final straw will break the camel’s back, what catalyst will cause discontent and violence to spread to areas in which they are not accustomed?
Will those that created the chaos soon become the ones that will protest when the system breaks down? A system they had strived to destroy. Will they be there with their hands out wanting help once things go past the point of no return? When you cause a system to fail you cannot turn around and then complain about how the system no longer works for you.
The Zimbabwean problems started from very small issues which could have been resolved by simple understanding. We can blame the third force but the reality is the third force was put into action by irresponsible pompous selfish gluttons surrounding our president masquerading as leaders. The words of Mhofu Herbert Ushewekunze keep ringing in my ears. “The president is surrounded by deadwood”
The protests started as a Joke by a drunken woman from Mutare asking the overstayed VP to depart from the hotel. To make maters worse the VP decided to respond and the response was disastrous. Then people got courage and pockets of protests mushroomed. The bungling prosecution then gave glory to a clergy and the complaint becomes a revolt.
Civil unrest is common in the world, it always has been and always by degrees. Civil unrest can turn into rioting, looting, bombings and marches on governmental buildings. Peaceful protests in many people’s minds can enact changes, and it does on occasion, but sometimes demonstrations cannot enact change. Once failure becomes obvious people become angrier and soon civil unrest boils over and takes it to the next level. This level can be avoided by simply listening and reading the mood.
Civil unrests are as old as history they are triggered by arrogance of some leaders and lack of punishment on them. Taking people for a ride is the best recipe for disaster. Some reasons for civil unrests are that Taxes are too high, taxes for some are to low, jobs are scarce and certain public policies cause people to take to the streets. Now it seems that some people make too much money while others make considerably less, and this causes civil unrest as well.it is made worse when those in leadership try to hide an elephant in an open one roomed empty house.
The irresponsible comments by our leaders causes civil unrest to turn into a civil war? Food is the cause or more precisely the lack thereof. Food insecurity that can be caused by any number of things such as droughts, wars, poor governmental management, costs of food and the list goes on. If the results are a food shortage or lack of access due to pricing then you have civil unrest that can turn into a civil war. Citizens must know that as a citizens are granted equal access not guaranteed equal results. However, some do not understand or refuse to understand this, so dependency on a governmental fiscal policy that may very well collapse at some point will mean millions will not have access to food because certain programs will not be available and will not have jobs. This then is made worse when billions are missing. Individuals stay in hotels ministers force parastatals to give them a loan and want to be left alone. Then they say the loan was pocket change. Ahhhhhh
There will be a trigger, something that sets it off and then there is no turning back. No one knows what will trigger it, or when it might happen.
Our downfall as a leadership is a Failure to act when the problem is obvious is more than incompetency.
Unless money is no object then you are aware of the food prices in this country. They never seem to go down, it is always up and of course, wages never keep up, in fact, they have went the other direction for many people.
Food could conceivably get to the point where most of it is unaffordable for the average person. Food supplement programs would not be able to keep up. The facts are as a country we cannot simply afford to pay for everyone’s dinner forever, there is no denying this. This may be the trigger as some have predicted, because the government may simply say the money is all gone, so then what for the millions upon millions that rely on that money to eat.
Civil War may be closer than we all think, so what does this mean to our leaders. It may be too late to change what would cause it to happen the only thing you can do is prepare for the effects of it. Or simply fire and bury the rot.
More people lack access to clean drinking water than they do food on a daily basis. The numbers are staggering in both cases, but it shows what the priorities are. You always hear of starvation around the world and hungry children right in our own country. You hear of famines caused by droughts. But ours is caused by corruption abuse of power and total prodigality.
Unemployment, higher food prices, government debt, collapse of the welfare system and government incompetency all bubbling and boiling together may cause an explosion that triggers civil unrest that can turn into a civil war.
People take their food seriously, and some will kill to get enough for themselves and their family. Theft of food is on the rise, because the cost of food is on the rise. People are becoming desperate, and it may not be so much the lack of food, but the perception that food at some point will not be available to most people.
What lengths would you go to get food for your children, your spouse or partner? Your answer is all you need to understand about how deadly a civil war over food would be become if everyone were doing what he or she needed to do to feed their families. A starving person is never a good citizen in the minds of those in charge. A parent will go to any length to feed their starving child will this too make them a bad citizen then.
In the beginning, you would have the authorities against the people but soon the authorities would realize they are people too and they need to feed their families as well. Local governments will collapse quickly, causing even greater shortages, but soon it would be a complete lack of food and lack of order.
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Welshman Ncube Visits Cancer Stricken Tsvangirai
MDC leader Professor Welshman Ncube today (Saturday) chose to visit his nemesis, Morgan Tsvangirai, the man he once vowed he would never work with.
Ncube has for years labelled Tsvangirai a dictator, a development that led to the MDC’s first split in 2005.
In what could be a sign that the two MDC founders are now uniting, Ncube descended on Tsvangirai’s Highlands house. This was a day after he wrote in a ZimEye.com article his view that people must now unite to remove Robert Mugabe (click here to read more.)
He wrote saying: “Being in Bambazonke this weekend, I took the opportunity to visit Morgan Tsvangirai to wish him well in his fight against cancer.
“I will be even happier when all of us in the opposition coalesce so that we can confront the dictatorship from one same corner come 2018.”
Stolen $15Billion Diamonds: Audit Begins
The Auditor-General’s Office has commissioned a top auditing firm to investigate alleged looting of proceeds from diamond mining operations in Marange, with the results of the probe expected by September.
Auditor-General Ms Mildred Chiri told the state media that the firm had started work on a two-month timeline to conclude the probe.
The unnamed chartered accountancy firm won the right to conduct the audit following a month-long bidding process. Ms Chiri said the company’s identity would remain confidential to avoid jeopardising investigations.
Ms Chiri said bidding ended on June 29, and after the adjudication process was completed, the winning bidder was informed of its terms of reference.
“We have communicated to the auditor of the high expectations that we anticipate from the work that they have been tasked to do. The issue of the alleged diamond looting has attracted much public interest so we are expecting that they will bend their backs to give us the results of what transpired.
“As an auditing firm, they also have an undertaking to conduct their work diligently as part of their mandate, so we are hopeful that they will give us results,” she said.
Ms Chiri said her office had notified the Mines and Mining Development Ministry of the “full co-operation” expected from Government departments during the audit.
“We are in constant communication with the Ministry of Mines and we will be working together throughout the process. They have already pledged their full cooperation during the process, as some of the issues fall under their purview,” she said.
The state media understands that the terms of reference stipulate that the auditors should also look into how diamond mining companies managed their finances, receipts of payments and receipts from all sales.
Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa and Secretary for Mines Professor Francis Gudyanga could not be reached for comment last week.
However, Prof Gudyanga last month told the state media that the ministry would lend its full support to the probe.
In an interview with ZBC-TV on the occasion of his 92nd birthday, President Mugabe revealed that the country could have lost billions in suspicious dealings in the diamond mining sector.
This prompted the Mines Ministry to alert the Auditor-General’s Office to the matter, resulting in the current audit.
In May, a British legislator said his country was a possible haven for diamond proceeds from Marange, telling the house of lords that funds from illicit dealings could be stashed in London banks.
Contributing to a debate on money laundering, Lord Chidgey described London as a “destination of choice” for proceeds from Zimbabwe’s diamonds fields.
Following this, Prof Gudyanga said the probe into the illegal diamond dealings could be extended beyond Zimbabwe’s borders.
Recently, National Prosecution Authority national director of prosecutions Mrs Florence Ziyambi wrote to six countries where millions of dollars realised from diamond mining activities in Zimbabwe were allegedly externalised by Jinan Private Ltd, seeking mutual assistance.
It is believed cash was irregularly transferred to banks in the United Arab Emirates, China, Zambia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and the DRC.
Early in 2016, the Mines Ministry ordered all diamond mining companies in Marange — Anjin, Jinan, Mbada Diamonds, DMC, Kusena and Gye Nyame — to cease operations, leading to the State’s takeover under the Zimbabwe Diamond Consolidated Company.
“I Am Well!”, Pastor Mawarire from South-Africa
Staff Reporter |The whereabouts of the #TheFlag Pastor Evan Mawarire have been a subject of much speculation over the past few days, he came out Saturday evening to allay fears, revealing that he is currently in South-Africa and that he is well and fine.
State agents have over the years had a tendency of targeting democracy fighters with some like Itai Dzamara being made to disappear, but Mawarire allayed all rumours and concerns over his safety giving the assurance that he is fine. Mawarire who has become a figure of resilience in Zimbabwe and globally, has survived state harassment and attempted abductions over the past few days, with some speculating that he had been forced into hiding.
But not so with the preacher who sounding refreshed and confident of the mission ahead, in a new video encouraged everyone that he was fine assuring them that he had not been hurt in any way.
“God is doing something in Zimbabwe and you can’t get left out, usasaririre Mwari pavanenge vachigadzira nyika yedu kuti inake.”
“The reason we are raising our voices is because we are trying to build our country, you have done very well, at this stage Zimbabweans have found their voice and that is our greatest weapon, Our voice is our weapon never never keep quiet because that is how we build our country,” said Mawarire.
He emphasized non violent ways of airing grievances commending efforts so far that have had no violence or insults involved; “just using our voices and registering in a democratic way and that is going to help us, and the important thing is unity, that is what you Zimbabweans have made us so proud, you have done well in that area. You make everyone proud to be Zimbabwean.”
Mawarire said he was in SA and was meeting groups of Zimbabweans, “to talk about what is going on at home.” #ThisFlag campaigns continued today with demonstrations being held in South Africa and Australia.
Quit CITES Africa Urged
Internationally acclaimed wildlife expert Mr Ron Thomson has urged African countries to renounce their membership of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), because the club is not serving them any purpose.
He said the international body had been hijacked by animal rights activists who do not have any knowledge on wildlife conservation.
He said the animal rights activists through their non-governmental organisations were making outrageous decisions detrimental to countries engaging in sustainable wildlife business.
Mr Thomson said the US paid Kenya to burn its ivory stock as a way of setting the agenda for the September COP17.
Mr Thomson’s remarks come in the wake of proposals submitted to COP17 to be held in South Africa in September seeking to up-list elephants and lions into Appendix I of endangered species.
Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction and if the proposals succeeded, Zimbabwe will be banned from international hunting and trading of elephants and lions.
Currently, elephants and lions are in Appendix II where hunting and trading is allowed under CITES regulations.
Zimbabwe had already rejected the proposals ahead of COP17.
In his contribution made during the launch of Zimbabwe’s roadmap to COP17, Mr Thomson, who is also the president of the South Africa- based True Green Alliance, said the destiny of African elephants now lies in the hands of foreigners who have no knowledge or interest in the in best practice elephant management programmes.
“My suggestion to Africa that it has to think very carefully about its continued membership in CITES,” he said.
“If I was a head of state in Africa, I will say let us get out of this club. When CITES was first formed, they said our purpose in CITES is to regulate the wildlife trade and to stop the illegal wildlife trade.
“After 41 years, CITES has not regulated wildlife trade and it has not stopped the illegal trade. So what good is it to anybody? It has achieved nothing. What it has only achieved is to give animal rightists a weapon to fight people like Zimbabwe, South and Namibia and these other countries of Africa who want to utilise their wildlife resources on a sustainable basis.
“What good has it (CITES) done us? No good at all. Foreign people who know nothing about Africa and its wildlife are telling Africa what it can do with its elephants, rhinos and all these animals.”
Mr Thomson dismissed the notion of endangered species touted by America and a host of its NGOs said wildlife is managed by population and not at species level.
He said wildlife rules applied in West Africa could not be applicable in Southern Africa.
“You can only manage it at the population level. Rules have to be applied population by population. If there is a problem in West Africa there should be a rule that applies in that particular region and the whole of Africa.
“Nobody is thinking about the habitats and that is very wrong. We must have independence of thought and accountability. We are accountable of what happens to animals here and not CITES,” he said.
On the burnt Kenyan ivory stock, Mr Thomson said: “Kenya was given an outright grant of $150 million to restructure Kenya’s tourism industry. That was followed by another $150 million which is being spread over the next 10 years.” Herald
Highlanders Football Club risks Closing Down
Premier league football giants, Highlanders Football Club are on the verge of collapse if urgent measures are not taken to rescue the team.
Board member Finance, Davies Sibanda told ZimEye.com that the country’s oldest football club is in a severe financial crisis that may force it to close down any moment.
According to Sibanda, the club has called for an urgent life members meeting to be held this weekend at the club’s sports club in Bulawayo. The meeting will seek to get a solution and decision from the life members on the club’s future.
“The club is in a serious financial crisis so much that we cannot survive beyond the next few weeks if nothing stringent is done to save the club,” he said.
“We are serving on the benevolence of our creditors who have now run out of patience with us,” he continued.
According to sources, the club has not been able to pay its players’ winning bonuses for the last five games. Last week the team almost failed to fulfill its away fixture in Mutare as it did not have money for diesel.
The team only managed to leave Bulawayo late in the afternoon after a member donated diesel for the bus. The team only arrived in Mutare late at night leading to the players complaining of jet-leg.
The club’s major sponsor BANCABC has only been able to pay the players’ monthly salaries.
Make Sex Work Legal – Poet
Top performing poet, Linda Gabriel, is advocating for the legilisation of sex work, arguing that sex workers also need to pay their bills and put food on the table.
In many Western countries sex work is legal with systems in place to not only protect the women and men involved health-wise, but also offering safe environments for them to operate their trade. Other facilities also include regular medical check ups and provision of protection including legal assistance should there be a need.
Gabriel, who cut short a three-month European tour and a 90 days residence programme in Germany by six weeks to focus on perfecting her poem, You Think You Know Me, said sex workers’ job should be made easier.
The poem, which Gabriel said spoke to themes around sex and sex work across cultures, will be performed at the Vavasati International Women’s Festival in South Africa in August.
“The themes in You Think You Know Me are universal and relate to many people from different cultures. The Russians and Germans relate with the themes around sex and sex work, issues that are not going to end anytime soon because they have been with us and are still with us,” she said.
“These sex workers need to put food on the table and they want to pay bills. So, if legalising sex work makes the job of sex workers easier and looks like any other job, why not!”
Gabriel said she was allocated three slots from August 3 to 5, which was “a major achievement” given that this was her debut at the festival, so she decided to return home.
“I decided it deserved me to come back home to perfect the craft together with my director, Elizabeth Muchemwa,” she said.
The European tour afforded Gabriel opportunities to teach and perform poetry in schools and colleges and attend festivals.
“This tour was very exciting considering that there are people I have wanted to meet in the last four years and they have wanted to meet me as well,” she said.
Gabriel said she also met two exciting Nigerian writers, Niyi Osundare and Titilope Sonuga at the Poeise Festival in Berlin.
“I was excited to moderate a discussion between Osundare of Achebe’s generation and Sonuga, representing the young generation of writers,” she said.
Gabriel’s work interrogated themes of sex work, religion, sexual and reproductive health, HIV and Aids, forced child marriages, rape and corruption. Newday
Early Morning Protests By Women To Force Mugabe Out – Khupe
Staff Reporter |The Movement for Democratic Change Vice-President Thokozani Khupe, has resolved with other women across the country and in the Diaspora to #BeatThePot, every morning till President Robert Mugabe surrenders and leaves office.
Khupe launched the #BeatThePot campaign which went viral this morning, with women all over the country braving heavy police presence, to beat their pots in protest against hunger and tyranny. Khupe told ZimEye.com, “We have resolved that from tomorrow going forward at 8am women must beat pots outside their homes for five minutes.”
Court Frees Zvorwadza and Co
Staff Reporter |Stendrick Zvorwadza and 14 others who were represented by ZLHR lawyer Kennedy Masiye, who appeared in court today have been released on bail
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZHLR), “The NAVUZ members were arrested around mid-day on Friday 15 July 2016 and were charged with disorderly conduct in a public place as defined in section 41(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.’
MAGISTRATE Rumbidzai Mugwagwa released the 14 Members of the National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe (NAVUZ) on $50 bail.
Mawarire A Hot Credible Voice
Good day Zimbabwe
On behalf of Transform Zimbabwe, and on my own behalf, I would like to express our support for the fight for democracy by the citizens in demonstrating and striking against the Zanu PF regime. There is no doubt that Pastor Evan Mawarire and #ThisFlag has become a credible and strong voice in this fight! We salute such brevity and may that spirit continue!
In light of this I would like to condemn, in the strongest sense, the arrest of Pastor Mawarire, a brave man of God who clearly stands out to be a cut above the rest. We condemn an unrepentant regime for arresting a voice that the nation is growing to love simply because what he is advocating resonates with the masses. A regime that brooks no criticism is evil and not fit for the 21st Century!
As Pastor Mawarire stood for us all, let us stand up for him and send a clear message to Mugabe that we react when one of our own is attacked.
Transform Zimbabwe stands firm on the demands by the people of Zimbabwe to demand for accountability from their government, demand for an end to corruption and demand for fairness and justice. These are the ideals that all Zimbabweans are fighting for, and indeed these are the ideas that Pastor Mawarire stands for.
If I may end by repeating his words, hatichada taneta!
We stand with him in prayer in these trial times. We pray for his family as well. We also stand ready to act should this regime prolong his incarceration and persecution any longer.
God bless Zimbabwe
Jacob Ngarivhume
President, Transform Zimbabwe
#PullingTogether
IN PICTURES: MDC-T Beat the Pot Torches Bulawayo Up
ZRP Torment Zvorwadza Pushed Into Saturday Court
Staff Reporter Human rights campaigner Sten Zvorwadza and 14 others are currently appearing in court on charges of disorderly conduct, at the time of writing. They are represented by Kennedy Masiye.
The group which comprises three women and eleven men was arrested and initially charged for committing public violence.
More to follow….
Maid Raped By Boss
A Budiriro man was slapped with a 15-year jail term for raping his 24 year old maid.
Gibson Chinokoro (48) will, however, spend the next 12 years behind bars after regional magistrate Adonia Masawi suspended three years on condition of good behaviour.
According to the State, on June 14 this year, Chinokoro knocked at the complainant’s bedroom door and asked for a blanket, which he was given, but seconds later, he is said to have returned and invited the complainant to the dining room to discuss issues taking place at the home.
The court heard the woman complied and went into the dining room and sat on a sofa opposite to where Chinokoro was sitting. Chinokoro is then said to have told the complainant he was not in good books with his wife and as such, he wanted her to be his second wife and promised to give her a stand and a house in Harare, but she refused.
The court heard the woman then returned to her spare bedroom to sleep and after some hours, she was awakened by Chinokoro who had sneaked into her blankets.
Chinokoro is said to have gagged the complainant’s mouth with a piece of cloth and raped her once.
On the next day, the complainant left and told her sister, who then accompanied her to make a police report leading to his arrest.
Stylon Marufu appeared for the State.newsday
30 years Jail for Gukurahundi Killers
In first of firsts set to see Gukurahundi murderers President Robert Mugabe included, prosecuted, a High Court judge on Thursday condemned people who fan tribalism in the country, saying such thinking should not be condoned as it belongs in the Dark Ages. Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Francis Bere made the remarks as he sentenced two men from Gokwe to 30 years in jail for participating in the brutal killing of a gold panner in a tribally-motivated fight for the control of gold pits in Shangani.
The judge convicted McIntosh Nhawu (29) and Tapiwa Liberty Maupa (33), both from Zhomba area, of murder with actual intent. The pair was part of a gang that crushed Mandlenkosi Sibanda’s head with a concrete block weighing 29kg in 2013.
Justice Bere, in his judgment, said although Nhawu and Maupa did not directly attack Sibanda (27), they were accomplices by virtue of being part of the gang that executed the criminal enterprise.
The judge also expressed concern over delays by law makers in aligning criminal laws with the constitution with regard to the imposition of the death penalty. In passing sentence, the judge described the murder as senseless and brutal, which called for a deterrent sentence.
“This is a bad case of murder and in aggravation we accept that it was senseless and brutal. Whenever death occurs, as the courts we’ve an obligation to continuously emphasise the sanctity of human life,” Justice Bere said. He said the court was particularly concerned with the tribal undertones that characterised the murder.
“Anyone who advocates tribalism is an enemy of this nation and such thinking has long been thrown into the dustbin of history. As courts, we would be failing in our duties if we don’t condemn such kind of thinking which must be nipped in the bud. There is no better way of doing so than imposing a deterrent sentence to discourage like-minded people. In the circumstances, accused persons are each sentenced to an effective 30 years in jail,” ruled Justice Bere.
The other three suspects who were allegedly linked to the gang, Admire Makoni (23) of Chitungwiza, Brighton Munyiri (27) and Peter Manyuchi (18) both of Buhera, were discharged at the close of the State case after Justice Bere concluded that the State had failed to prove a prima facie case against the trio and acquitted them.
The owner of the bottle store, Ms Sikhanyisiwe Nkomo, told the court that she woke up after hearing noise which emanated from outside her house. “I woke up and peeped through the window and saw about six men throwing stones at Sibanda. They were shouting in Shona saying, ‘let us kill these Ndebeles.’ After the mob had dispersed, I went to the scene and found Sibanda lying motionless and called the police,” she said.
According to a postmortem report, the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, homicide and subarachnoid haemorrhage. Both accused persons denied the charge, arguing that they were only innocent bystanders who witnessed the incident but did not participate in the commission of the crime.
The owner of the bottle store, Ms Sikhanyisiwe Nkomo, told the court that she woke up after hearing noise which emanated from outside her house. “I woke up and peeped through the window and saw about six men throwing stones at Sibanda. They were shouting in Shona saying, ‘let us kill these Ndebeles.’ After the mob had dispersed, I went to the scene and found Sibanda lying motionless and called the police,” she said.
According to a postmortem report, the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, homicide and subarachnoid haemorrhage. Both accused persons denied the charge, arguing that they were only innocent bystanders who witnessed the incident but did not participate in the commission of the crime.
Maupa and Nhawu though their lawyers, Ms Tshimumoyo Ndlovu and Mr Solomon Mguni, pleaded for mercy, saying they were breadwinners looking after minor children.
WATCH: Mawarire’s This Flag Hits Australia
LIVE UPDATES – Mujuru Rally in Mutare
LIVE REPORT: ZimEye.com today, Saturday brings to our valued readers live updates of the Joice Mujuru People First rally at Sakubva stadium in Mutare.
1520Hrs – We have encountered a signal failure … connection loss with our Mutare correspondents.
Low turnout. Rally starts 3hrs late…
1500Hrs – Women march into Sakubva 
1330Hrs – Spokesperson Rugare Gumbo tells ZimEye the meeting has not yet started. Joice Mujuru has arrived.
1130Hrs – People have started entering the stadium. Some have traveled from as far as Harare and other regions. Joice Mujuru not yet arrived.
Refresh this page for the details as they roll…
Mujuru Man Arrested
A Joice Mujuru youth was on Thursday reportedly arrested for in Mutare on charges of allegedly insulting President Robert Mugabe.
The man only identified as “Mharabada,” was arrested for putting up Mujuru posters.
A ZANU PF agent then charged at the man saying he had insulted Mugabe.
The People First’s spokesperson for the area, Moses Mutyasera, gave the below account:
“One of our youths was arrested on Thursday for putting up posters and giving flyers.
“He spend the night in police custody at Mutare Central Police. One of those given flyers and claims to be a Zanu pf Provincial Coordinator for Sakubva, instructed two (2) police officers passing by to arrest our member alledging that Mharabada had insulted the President and his Party.
“The matter will be heard at Mutare Magistrate court and he will be represented by our lawyer Simon Simango.
“This is a case of victimisation by Zanu PF and the Police on Zimpf members ahead of our Saturday rally,” said Mutyasera.
Tsvangirai Sex and Tribe: Thoko Shuck
…penetrates deeper beyond sex and tribe into the dark realm of…
Shamiso Joy Mtandwa | It was a Déjà vu moment, as was the case with Joice Mujuru back then, when President Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday woke up and appointed two Karanga men as Vice Presidents of his party, effectively shooting down his deputy Thokozani’s Khupe’s chance of replacing him.
Outspoken politician and women’s rights activist, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga has added a new dimension to the ongoing succession debate within both the MDC and Zanu PF as she asserts that the Karanga have lost the battle in the ruling party and are now focusing on the opposition.
Consequently, the leadership changes in the Movement for Democratic Change, in which Tsvangirai appointed two more male Vice-Presidents, have brought back to the fore debate surrounding gender, ethnicity and succession politics.
“There is a coalescing that is taking place around these two issues, where the current politics is about patriarchy fighting between Zezurus and Karangas and a general belief that those of the Southern region, are not contested in the power game and therefore should be grateful for crumbs,” said Misihairabwi.
“Thoko suffers a double tragedy in that neither her gender nor her ethnicity has a role in the current planned framework.”
In the exclusive interview with ZimEye.com Misihairabwi said, ” Its not just about a woman it is about underhand political realignments across political parties. In Zimbabwe we have a problem of denialism over two fundamental issues, the one is about a gender war, the second is about ethnicity.”
She went further to explain, “so in Tsvangirai the Karangas are claiming right of ownership with the succession being placed in the hands of the Karangas, whilst there is a clear realisation that Karangas may have lost in Zanu PF”.
She commented on the unconfirmed rumours on the possibility of a second Government of National Unity (GNU), or some sort of transitional arrangement, ” The next alliance come GNU has to be seen to be addressing the issue of ethnicity.”
“The question for women is on whether when we are in these spaces; we do understand that men in politics do not operate on the basis of loyalty that is founded on what you have done for them in the past, it is about functionality,” she said.
“For instance who can provide for my basic and immediate needs? And for now Tsvangirai’s basic and immediate needs are not found in Khupe.”
She said the development penetrates deeper beyond sex and tribe into the dark realm of a Mugabe secret plot.
Misihairabwi said President Robert Mugabe has already let the cat out of the bag, “it is telling that this comes immediately after Mugabe referred to coalition meetings allegedly being held between parties, could there be a direct link to these changes to those comments? What else do we not know that is happening, behind the scenes?”
Kagame Calls On Mugabe At AU Summit
President Robert Mugabe arrived in Rwanda for the 27th Ordinary Session of the African Union General Assembly, with Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame paying a courtesy call on him, in which they are reported to have discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and international affairs.
President Mugabe, the continental bloc’s immediate past chairman, is in Kigali for the AU mid-term summit that is expected to focus on, among other things, full integration of the continent through establishment of Free Trade Area and Africa’s quest for two permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council in line with the common African position on the proposed reform of the United Nations also known as the Ezulwini Consensus of 2005.
However, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said there were fears that some African Union countries were now backtracking on the Ezulwini Consensus due to the time it has taken to reform the UN.
Speaking to the media after a closed-door meeting between President Mugabe and President Kagame, Minister Mumbengegwi said the courtesy call was in recognition of President Mugabe’s role as the immediate past chairperson of the African Union and a member of the Bureau of the of the AU in his capacity of rapporteur.
“They discussed a number of issues that are coming up during the summit in the very preliminary manner,” said Minister Mumbengegwi.
“But they spent a lot of time discussing broader world issues as well as bilateral issues where they felt that the two countries were not working hard enough to see that we work upon our economic relations between the two countries that we can be able to cooperate in a number of areas which the two ministers of foreign affairs have been tasked to explore the possibilities of much deeper cooperation between Zimbabwe and Rwanda.”
Mumbengegwi said so far, senior officials and ministers of foreign affairs had been meeting to prepare the agenda for the summit and to consider issues under the purview of the executive coun- cil.
He said the major focus of the Summit of Heads of State and Government that starts today and ends on Monday was full integration of the continent and implementation of the Ezulwini Consensus.
To integrate the continent, Mumbengegwi said this would be done through creation of the continental Free Trade Area that is expected to come into effect in 2017.
As a result, the continent intends to introduce an African passport that seeks to facilitate free movement of people, goods and services around the continent with holders of that passport accessing all African countries without requiring a visa. Herald
To integrate the continent, Mumbengegwi said this would be done through creation of the continental Free Trade Area that is expected to come into effect in 2017.
As a result, the continent intends to introduce an African passport that seeks to facilitate free movement of people, goods and services around the continent with holders of that passport accessing all African countries without requiring a visa. Herald
Judgemental Attitude Prison Horrors
Google defines offense as; annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself. It also means resentment or an insult. In many cases, an offended person may not be aware that s/he is offended.
Offense is caused by hurt. Mostly when our level of expectation is not met, and we get disappointed. In Luke 17:1 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!’
On the other hand people holding an offense can easily be offended by someone doing good. Do you get offended when someone say ‘I just bought a Mercedes Benz ’ or when you see a friend with a very happy family (when yours is not doing well at the moment). Instead reply and say ‘I am happy I know where to ask for advice when I am buying my house.’ When it seems others are advancing ahead of you, this is not the time to get offended, but to get connected with them in humility in order to learn how they are doing it. If your methods are not working dump them, and change for better. It is better to be humble and succeed than to feed your pride into failure.
Judgmental
The Google definition is; having or displaying an overly critical point of view, that is, critical, condemnatory, negative or disapproving. Offended people tend to be judgmental.
We are quick to judge the sinners. In life we are quick to judge. We do not wait to get the full story. In most instances the people we judge are just troubled souls, seeking salvation, love and grace. You do not know how they grew up and what they have been through. If we were to put you in their shoes you won’t like it, even for a day. Some have been let down, cheated, abused and hurt by the seeming good guys. Our role is not to bring the final sentence on them but to help them get better. To facilitate their next step by our few acts of grace and mercy. To help then unwind themselves from the effects of their past. To show them that they can make it!
In Church
What would you do if your troubled family member gets saved in a church you do not like and becomes a dedicated member of that church? Tough indeed, isn’t it? We are quick to judge other churches and their leaders without considering how many people’s lives that have been changed for good in that church. We were brought in a tradition that our church is good, and the others are bad. Today I want to challenge you to see other churches differently, as good as your church, by first considering the struggling people who have been transformed.
You might be saying, ‘but people who go to that church keep sinning and even their leaders.’ Well, are all the people in your church holy and do not sin. Are your leaders perfect? Are you sinless? Show me a perfect church. We all need the grace of God.
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© Copyright 2015 by It’s My Footprint, www.itsmyfootprint.com.
“Mugabe Exit In 30 Days’ Time”
Tendai Biti| The time has now come for us to realise that Zimbabwe is in an emergency situation which needs urgent attention by all of us who want a better Zimbabwe.
The formal economy is dead, the informal economy has been killed by ZANU(PF)’s import restrictions, there is no cash coming into the country to meet the government operational needs, looting in state enterprises and government is continuing unabated, expect no significant investment inflows into the country as foreigners have lost all confidence in Mugabe and are awaiting fundamental political change first. Even if IMF lends Zimbabwe $1 billion that will only be a temporary solution which will not solve our fundamental and deeply entrenched structural problems.
We have to save Zimbabwe now before our country becomes a serious risk to peace and stability within the region.
As PDP we support and fully appreciate the sterling work that is being done by the new social movements. However, to be realistic, we do not expect ZANU (PF) to solve the pressing problems which have been identified because they require a fundamental paradigm shift. This will not happen as long as Mugabe is in charge.
Zimbabwe has a crisis of leadership, a crisis of confidence, a crisis of paralysis as Mugabe no longer has the energy or the necessary acumen to manage the affairs of the country. We are facing systemic contagion which would have a severe impact on many lives within the country and also within the SADC region.
We as Zimbabweans must no longer rely on outsiders to solve our problems for us. We are mature and responsible enough to put aside our past differences and converge as matter of urgency to demand that Mugabe and his government step down immediately and allow a Technical Transitional Authority (TTA) to arrest the social and economic decline and also prepare the country for free and fair elections as soon as possible subject to necessary conditions being in place.
As PDP we are of the opinion that there is absolutely no need to wait till 2018 for elections as the country will not survive for that long. We also cannot expect to be bailed out by the IMF as this would only be a temporary measure which does not address the festering wounds of poverty, unemployment, hunger, lack, serious house and national food insecurity, fiscal indiscipline, corruption and patronage, looting and leadership failure.
As a political party our position is that a TTA need not be a political body, but a transitional body made up of experts who can address political and economic reforms while ensuring that we immediately address the social decline as mentioned above. PDP has been calling for a TTA since 2014 and we are elated that there now seems to be a convergence on this matter.
Our churches, civic organisations, political parties, youth groups, vendor associations, labour organisations, trade unions and all the other identifiable democratic formations must come together now to chart the way forward to enable us to have a collective position within 30 days, after which we must demand that Mugabe steps down
We truly believe that there is no other solution to Zimbabwe besides a fundamental political change that allows the country to begin to seriously and competently address our economic problems once and for all.
It is evident that Zimbabweans worldwide have run out of patience and we must now all rise above our personal ambitions and our differences and put our country first.
Another Zimbabwe is possible!
– Tendai Biti – PDP President People’s Democratic Party
Mugabe Fails To Pay Army For 2nd Month Running
Reuters/Staff Reporter| Zimbabwe has failed to pay the army for the second straight month, on time, military sources said yesterday, underscoring the precarious financial position of President Robert Mugabe’s government as it faces rare popular protests.
The development confirms how the army could not be used to quash protests last week in a a sequel of events that saw Police Spokesperson, Charity Charamba rushing to claim that the soldiers were not needed to stem the civic unrest, as she attacked ZimEye.com for publishing the breaking news (click here to read).
The military is paid on the 14th of the month, but soldiers and air force officers said they were still to receive their pay and had not been given an alternative date.
The delays are likely to fuel tensions in the southern African nation, which has been hit by drought, a drop in mineral prices and chronic cash shortages — all factors behind this month’s popular protests against 92-year-old Mugabe.
“The mood is sour among the rank and file. Life is tough and we are not being told by our superiors whether we will be paid this month or not,” one private said.
One colonel said even senior officers were in the dark about when their pay was going to arrive.
There was no comment from Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, who was attending an African Union summit in Rwanda with Mugabe.
Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Alphios Makotore could not be reached for comment. — Reuters
Govt Shoots at Malema
State Media:Government yesterday blasted South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema for openly declaring his support for violent protestors whose ill-fated “shutdown of Zimbabwe” was funded by Western imperialist governments.
This comes after Malema recently tweeted that his party was on the side of the violent protesters and that they were going to win “just like the country did in 1980”.
In a statement, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Christopher Mushohwe said Malema’s laughable attempt at “turning himself into a trans-border politician on behalf of reactionary forces in the region and beyond”, exposed his agenda and ignorance of regional politics.
“Zimbabweans cannot understand how a politician who purports to support land restitution in his own country, South Africa, and in other countries in the region affected by settler colonialism, can suddenly turn around to support and celebrate politics and political activities which white activists of erstwhile settler landowners in Zimbabwe represented by Ben Freeth find hospitable.
“Zimbabweans, too, cannot understand how a politician pretending to be on the side of the still disinherited Southern African peoples can be at one with politics that win the active support of ambassadors of countries whose role in the history of colonisation and raping of the continent of Africa is a matter of poignant, painful record,” he said.
“Mush worse, Zimbabweans who cherish peace and reject politics of violent and destructive demonstrations as shown by their rejection of the failed lockdown called for this week, cannot understand, let alone appreciate, how a politician masquerading as an economic freedom fighter sides with fringe political upstarts bent on reversing the gains of the liberation struggle.”
Dr Mushohwe said Malema should be reminded that Zimbabwe’s 1980 victory did not just happen but was brought by the revolutionary Zanu-PF.
He said Zanu-PF’s status as a defender of the black majority cannot be “challenged by storm-in-tea-cup politicians of Malema’s ilk who now delight and revel in the company of apartheid political bed-mates”.
He said Zimbabweans had no time for Malema’s cheap talk whose party “attracts support and sponsorship of oppressive racial capital, while falsely dressing themselves in the garb of exploited workers”.
“A politician who cannot appreciate that Zimbabwe has been under crippling illegal Western sanctions for more than a decade and half, simply for recovering stolen land from its people, cannot be expected to be an ally of the Zimbabwean people. Nor can he be expected to understand the dynamics that shape the politics of our country, let alone to be counted upon as a useful voice in the continuing struggle we are bound to win,” Dr Mushohwe said.
He said Zimbabwe will survive and prosper through its own efforts and with the support of genuine allies and friends.
Horror Accident: 3 Killed in Plumtree
State Media-THREE people including a three-year-old boy died while about 15 others were seriously injured after a Harare bound Metrolyn Bus, which was coming from Botswana, burst a tyre and overturned along the Bulawayo- Plumtree Road yesterday.
With 74 passengers onboard, comprising Zimbabweans and Batswanas, the bus veered off the road and careened for about 300 metres towards the bush.
It overturned and slid on its side for about 50 metres, uprooting trees in its wake.
Four people, among them an elderly woman whose arms, an official at Plumtree District Hospital said may be amputated, were rushed to the United Bulawayo Hospitals for further treatment.
About 11 passengers are admitted to Plumtree District Hospital, with injuries ranging from serious bruises to fractured limbs.
The three-year-old boy’s skull was crushed while the two other dead passengers are suspected to have been trampled panicky passengers who stampeded to get out of the bus.
More to follow…
Pastor Mawarire Returns to Zimbabwe In Days
#ThisFlag pastor Evan Mawarire is on his way back to Zimbabwe.
Mawarire who left the country shortly after his release on Wednesday night, is traveling back home to continue his civic campaign to bring government to account so the state fixes itself on its treatment of civilians.
The Leeds (UK) based Pastor Antony Tembo confirmed to ZimEye.com of Mawarire’s usual international itinerary to the US and UK. Tembo is holding a special prayer meeting for Mawarire and the nation at large on Sunday. 
Mawarire made the announcement last night, Friday. He said he only traveled to the unnamed destination for a pre-planned church program schedule.
“I have traveled to attend to a previously arranged engagement outside the country and will be back home…,” said Pastor Mawarire. His full statement read: “fellow Citizens thank you for your concern for my safety and whereabouts. I am well and safe taking some time to recuperate.
“Unfortunately I have been unable to communicate via my phone as usual because the Police are still in possession of my phone.
“I am also reliably informed that groups of men have been apparently looking for me at my home and office. Currently I have traveled to attend to a previously arranged engagement outside the country and will be back home to my family and work soon. #ThisFlag and indeed all the other significant movements in Zimbabwe are not about one person. Take ownership of this work. I take my hat off for all your amazing efforts in building a better Zimbabwe. We will never be silenced. HATICHADA & HATICHATYA, ASISAFUNI njalo ASISESABI, FED UP & NOT AFRAID. (Please share this on whatsapp too)”
Mawarire won a historic court case against the government this week after he was accused of treason among many other allegations. More to follow…
Liz Tsvangirai’s Skin Bleach Pictures
Former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s cancer-skin bleach rumour has continued as she spruces her appeal.
Health experts early this year raised warning that Mrs Elizabeth Tsvangirai(Macheka) has severely whitened her skin following her marriage to the opposition politician three years ago when he wielded national power, wealth and glory.
Bleaching is the process of whitening the skin using artificial chemicals which attracts several side effects key of which is psychotic disorder.
Mrs Tsvangirai has already manifested disturbing psychotic signs including attacking her husband saying he has erectile problems while yet concurrently sexually engaging him. The long list of side effects are as follows:
Skin cancer
Psychiatric disorder
Neurological and kidney damage due to high level of mercury used in the creams
Severe birth defects
Acne
Swelling of the skin
Thinning of the skin
Cataracts
Setting down of fat on face, chest, upper back and stomach
Increase in appetite and weight gain
Osteoporosis
Dark grey spots
Asthma
Liver damage
Some of these side effects could be seen almost immediately while some are seen after prolonged use of skin whitening creams, one expert warned on Tuesday.
“Turning the Heat on Zimbabwe’s Pot”
MDC Leader Professor Welshman Ncube| To any discerning or enlightened citizen, it is apparent that finally, the gravy on ZANU PF’s political train, and related contraband have become contaminated. The resultant stench is so contagious as to have a pervasive ‘passive impact’ on each and every conceivable aspect of our lives. Fortunately, Zimbabweans are not prepared to suffer in silence. In actual fact, we never have been. Those that believe that the current civil disobedience and ‘resistance’ movement sweeping the nation are a new phenomenon in the Politics of Things (PoT) may need slight correction. The Movement for Democratic Change – in any form – is a result of popular resistance against ZANU PF political hegemony that dates back to 1999. In the intervening period, ZANU PF has successfully applied its military bully tactics and electoral chicanery to bludgeon Zimbabweans into submission, albeit claiming to still operate within the paradigm of a constitutional, multi-party democracy.
Sixteen years down the line, a divided opposition, often seemingly content with shadow boxing and playing smoke and mirrors has of late exhibited strong signs of fatigue, thus allowing a discredited ZANU PF to gather a few atoms of superfluous credibility especially in the eyes of a bemused and complicit African Union. However, as the crescendo of economic and social stress begins to choke Zimbabweans, worsened by an arrogant ruling party that has marinated itself in corruption, diamond dealing and looting, citizens have said enough is enough.
Peter Ackerman and Jack Duval, in their epic book ‘A Force More Powerful – A Century of Nonviolent Conflict’, warn that dictators are prepared to shoot to kill in order to protect their ill-gotten wealth. They then offer us hope that, like Mahatma Gandhi said, the only way to resist a violent oppressor is through peaceful and passive resistance. Thus, as I sit and ponder on the direction which my country is taking now, I just wonder if the ruling party ZANU PF has any idea what fate is in store for them. Their inability to comprehend new normal around PoT will be their downfall and luckily, we do not have to wait for long. President Robert Mugabe and his cronies have access to formidable state resources in AK47s, rocket launchers, tanks, helicopters, water cannons, radio, television and other state institutions. Says blogger Marius Oosthuizen: “We learned through the Arab Spring that the removal of a dictator leaves a power vacuum quickly filled with the worst of what society has to offer. Under the veil of Mugabe’s rule lurks a frustrated and underpaid army, a militarised police force and a patronage network to rival Angola’s under dos Santos.” The question being asked by some in our body politic is: To what extent can the commendable efforts of #ThisFlag and #Tajamuka/Sesijikile in confronting ZANU PF have an end game which will see the demise of ZANU PF? What seems clear is that we appear to be entering unchartered waters in the history of our country. Only the bravest of the brave dare predict the outcomes.
My suggestion is that now it is time not only to think and plan hard but to learn from comparative history and also to seek the advice of peaceful civil disobedience experts. History is replete with cases of civilians taking up the vintage points in the frontline to force dictatorships out of power, and yet it is not easy. Those who expect quick results from the efforts of #ThisFlag and #Tajamuka/Sesijikile have to study the democratic history of India, Serbia and Phillipines – to name just a few countries. Juvenile enthusiasm and bravado on their own are not sufficient, especially in Zimbabwe’s case where almost forty years of ZANU PF’s PoT has crystallised into Patronage of Things. Not even the Centre for Applied Non Violent Action and Strategies (CANVAS) can prepare one enough for a deranged African government drunk with political entitlement. Says Dr. Gene Sharp in the treatise ‘The Politics of Nonviolent Action’: “Political power is the totality of means, influences, and pressures – including authority, rewards, and sanctions – available to achieve the objectives of the power – holder, especially those of government, the state, and those groups in opposition”.
According to CANVAS, the process has to have a starting point, points of contacts, agreements with existing organizations, superior networks, clear issues and capable of being implemented. Perhaps one can argue that we politicians fail because we are blind to the Pervasion of Things and tend to over-rely on structures and even state institutions some of which are tainted. To what extent is it possible for the opposition parties, even when united entirely in some coalition to take out ZANU PF using electoral instruments that have been designed by a ZANU PF institution!
Ackerman and Duval observe that “Throughout the century, taking power without using violence was said to be impossible, until it happened – and then it was said to be inevitable.” The Serbian OTPOR! (RESISTANCE in Serbian) movement dealt a fatal blow on Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic without firing a single shot. Mahatma Gandhi’s salt campaign – an embodiment of his satyagraha (truth and holding firmly) philosophy liberated millions of Indians from British hegemony. We now know that “non violent discipline is necessary to mobilize civilians, recruit activists, delegitimize the oppressor, and co-opt the oppressor’s defenders, such as the military and police.” But freedom, even that which is gained in the nonviolent realm, comes with a cost.
In 1989, Chinese students fed up with their government’s communist hypocrisy staged a peaceful demonstration in the Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Government responded with assault rifles and tanks, killing thousands of unarmed civilians attempting to intercept the troops. That attempt at democracy died to this day. For us in Zimbabwe, we now have nothing to lose, because we already have lost jobs, families, livelihoods and dignity. On my part as a leader of MDC, I can only be glad that #ThisFlag and #Tajamuka/Sesijikile have re-ignited the people’s passion for freedom and democracy. There is every indication that the Politics of Things are about to swing the people’s direction. That makes me happy. I will be even happier when all of us in the opposition coalesce so that we can confront the dictatorship from the same corner come 2018.
Prayer for Zimbabwe in UK, Leeds
Tsvangirai Backs Pastor Mawarire
MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai’s remarks to the press;
We meet in the context of two developments that have shaken our country and greatly disturbed the spirits of the people of Zimbabwe.
The first is my health condition which I disclosed to the people on the 27th of June 2016. I want to say today that I am recovering well and once again, I want to thank everyone, especially the people of this country from across the political, religious and tribal divide, for standing by me. Indeed, we are all mortal beings and sometimes our bodies get shaken by the vagaries of nature but as you can see, God is always on our side and I am on the path to full recovery.
The second issue is the acute deterioration of the economic situation that is fast accelerating towards a full-fledged implosion. The nation is hurting and life is tough for everyone outside the parasitic elite that is feeding on the national trough. It is this elite that is fuelling the cancer of corruption and is oblivious to the dire situation facing the ordinary people in Pumula, Plumtree, Mufakose, Dotito and Chirundu. Oh yes, corruption, mis-governance and just plain cluelessness at the national level have become a more dangerous cancer, even more dangerous than cancer of the colon!
The MDC national executive and national council met for nine hours yesterday to discuss the worsening situation in the country and to chart a way forward that would create a better life for the people of Zimbabwe.
The party welcomes the emerging national consensus where other civic groups and ordinary citizens are now joining us on demonstrations and protests as a legitimate and constitutional avenue of public expression. We have a Congress resolution that as a party we shall embark upon on and support every group and sector that will go into the streets to legitimately express its concerns and petition this government to address its genuine grievances.
It is a matter of public record that on the 14th of April 2016, our structures in Harare embarked on a peaceful demonstration against this government, which was followed by similar successful protest marches in Bulawayo and Mutare. As I have said, we are happy that others have taken this route as a legitimate expression of national displeasure at how the country is being mismanaged.
It is in this context that I want to laud Pastor Evan Mawarire, the Tajamuka pressure group and the ordinary citizens of this country in Beitbridge and elsewhere who continue to send a loud message to this regime that the nation is now fed up. Our colleagues in the struggle need to be lauded and commended for their positive effort.
Indeed, we heartily welcome them to the struggle, which I assure you will never be a crowded arena. At our meetings yesterday, the MDC executive organs welcomed the national convergence that is emerging in our troubled country where all players are now agreed that the way forward is to put pressure on this illegitimate regime. We have indeed become a big tent of patriotic Zimbabweans singing the same chorus from different social stations. That should be commended.
The party’s national council was unequivocal in its resolution yesterday that President Robert Mugabe and his government must leave office or face popular protests as they have failed to find lasting solutions to the problems facing the people. To this end, the party resolved yesterday to continue its provincial protest marches while co-coordinating and preparing for robust and comprehensive national action on a date to be announced. In that national action, we will be rallying the nation and all democratic forces to converge on the national demand that Mugabe and his government must retire. While our provincial demonstrations will continue, the logistics and mechanics for the national action are currently being worked out.
After our deliberations on the national crisis yesterday, the national council resolved that there has to be a political settlement that inspires confidence nationally, regionally and internationally. To this end, the national council, the party’s supreme decision-making body in between Congresses, resolved that the way forward is a multi-partisan National Transitional Authority.
Once bitten twice shy. It is our firm belief that the NTA must not be sculptured as the inclusive government we established seven years ago. The NTA must, by statute, operate parallel to the national executive authority of the country but with a specific mandate. The current regime should be left to deal with its own mess in terms of managing the economy. We cannot and should not make our hands dirty in this area.
The NTA will have a very limited tenure and a specific mandate to, among other things:
(a)Supervise the implementation of the Constitution, including the alignment of laws to the same
(b) Oversee and monitor the work of Commissions such as the Human Rights Commission, National Anti-Corruption Commission, National Peace, Healing and Reconciliation Commission, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and others.
(c) Oversee the political reform agenda, some reforms of which are now enshrined in the new Constitution as well as being involved in the preparation for credible elections.
(d) Oversee and monitor food aid and distribution
(e) Develop a shared National Vision and economic reconstruction programme. Our country needs its own Marshal Plan
The broad mandate of the NTA will be to steer the country on a path towards the return to legitimacy through truly free, fair and credible elections whose outcome is not disputed.
Details of the transitional mechanisms including the composition, structure, form, relationship to the State executive, establishment processes, signposts and roadmap to elections will be negotiated with other stakeholders whom I will engage soon on these proposals.. What is important for now is the consideration of the principle of the NTA as a starting point for the country’s return to legitimacy and economic and political recovery.
The country is at a precipice and what is now required is leadership but it is apparent that there is leadership vacuum at national level. As the MDC, we are tabling this as an important starting point for the nation that we love. I am giving President Mugabe an opportunity to soft land the national crisis. He will have only have himself to blame if citizens take matters in their own hands. The ball in his court. I urge SADC and the AU to provide wise counsel to him. The ball is now in his court.
In line with the directive given to me by the National Council yesterday, I have now appointed Hon. Nelson Chamisa and Hon Elias Mudzuri as Vice Presidents of the party. The two will join Hon. Thokozani Khupe in assisting me in the execution of my responsibilities and preparing the party for the next election.
Lastly, we as a party are heartened by the convergence on action as a legitimate and constitutional pressure point on this regime. We in the MDC had seen this coming. On the 18th of August 2014, I wrote the first of my two letters to all SADC Heads of State in which I warned the region that the citizens of this country would soon be taking matters in their own hands in bringing this regime to account. The recent legitimate protests by Zimbabweans vindicate my communication to the region.
However, beyond protests and demonstrations, there is need for leadership and the sculpting of a coherent, durable plan which we hereby lay on the table as a party. We have no other country except Zimbabwe. We urge all Zimbabweans to rally together in demanding a better deal for us as citizens than our current sorry plight
I Thank You.
Morgan Tsvangirai
MDC’s Beat The Pot Campaign On
Despite fears over what police say is a volatile situation in Zimbabwe, the High Court in Bulawayo has given the Women’s Assembly of the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai the green light to stage a peaceful demonstration over challenges faced by most households in the country currently struggling to make ends meet.
Lawyer Kholwani Ngwenya who represented the MDC T, told the press that High Court judge Nicholas Mathonsi acceded to an urgent application by the MDC T women’s wing to bar the police from stopping a march which they intend to hold tomorrow.
Ngwenya said Mathonsi stated that the constitution is clear on guaranteeing citizens the right to demonstrate peacefully, adding that provisions of the Public Order and Security Act cannot be used to deny that right.
The MDC-T Women’s Assembly had made an urgent application to the High Court after Bulawayo police, citing what they said was a volatile situation in the country, indicated that they did not have adequate manpower to monitor the demonstration dubbed “beat the pots campaign.”
MDC-T vice president Thokozani Khupe told the press that she is happy with the court’s decision, saying it upholds the superiority of the constitution.
Khupe said the MDC-T Women’s Assembly is ready for tomorrow’s demonstration. She said the women want to clearly send their message to President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF government that they have had enough of the suffering in the country, emphasizing that the protest shall be peaceful.
The beat-the-pots demonstration is meant to show women’s disgruntlement over the ongoing economic crisis that is causing hunger in the homes of ordinary Zimbabweans. Similar marches expected to be held across the country in the following weeks. Studio 7
Army Takes Over Govt | TURKEY COUP
NY Times ISTANBUL — The prime minister of Turkey said on Friday night that factions of the military had attempted a coup. It was not immediately clear who was in control of the country, a NATO member, which has been convulsed by military takeovers at least three times over the past half-century.
“Some people illegally undertook an illegal action outside of the chain of command,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in comments broadcast on NTV, a private television channel. “The government elected by the people remains in charge. This government will only go when the people say so.”
Reuters reported in a short series of bulletins that the military had issued a statement saying it had “taken over” for “democratic order” and that “all existing foreign relations will continue.”
Reuters reported in a short series of bulletins that the military had issued a statement saying it had “taken over” for “democratic order” and that “all existing foreign relations will continue.”
The whereabouts of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has dominated politics in Turkey for many years and has sought to establish a firm control over the military, was not immediately clear.
Military forces shut two bridges over the Bosporus in Istanbul, and fighter jets were seen flying over Istanbul and Ankara, the capital. The main airport in Istanbul was reported to have halted flights.
Mr. Yildirim said security forces had been called in to “do what is necessary,” according to Reuters.
Mphoko to Be Arrested For Obstructing Justice
DR MASIMBA MAVAZA |Obstruction Of Justice may consist of any attempt to hinder the discovery, apprehension, conviction or punishment of anyone who has committed a crime. The acts by which justice is obstructed may include bribery, murder, intimidation, and the use of physical force against witnesses, law enforcement officers or court officials obstruction can be committed by abusing authority in the case of of the honourable VP Mphoko. It is saddening and a very dark day in Zimbabwean legal History that a whole VP walks into a Police Station masquerades as a lawyer. Abuses his powers and releases two suspects who have stolen from the same government he leads. The act of the VP was not only shameful but criminal.
The Vice President is not supposed to say that someone should or should not be prosecuted.
We have a system of justice that is supposed to be independent of politics and individuals. It is improper for a Vice President to say that someone will or will not be prosecuted. No one is supposed to be above the law.
It is not only those ancient days when it was accepted that the Justice Department was independent from the president and politicians that the Attorney General now the PG and others should make decisions absent from political considerations, and that when it seemed as if independence might not be possible, the AG should recuse him/herself and appoint a special prosecutor.
If there’s suspicion and clear evidence that people broke laws, an inquiry should begin. If the AG feels undue pressure from Vice President and his gang then he should appoint a special prosecutor to try to wall off the investigation from political pressure.
This is an example of just how badly the VP has distorted our system, when everyone later takes it for granted that this is how things are done. It is also an example of why we need to investigate and prosecute lawbreaking. If you don’t lay down the law the things that are allowed to slide becomes the norm.
The arrival of a broadly based democracy was invariably followed by rising public expectations of the state: as the provider of basic standards of public amenity, as the guarantor of minimum levels of security and, increasingly, as a regulator of economic activity and a protector against misfortune of every kind and a Role model of Justice These expectations are shuttered by the way leaders without shame violate the law and go scott free. The immense powers exercised by the VP over his own citizens have arisen almost entirely from the collective aspirations of the population at large, aspirations which depend for their fulfilment on persistent intervention by the state in many areas of our national life, and which no democratic politician can ignore.
The truth is that a powerful executive is inherent in the democratic character of the modern state.
In one sense it can be said that the unspoken object of most modern democratic constitutions is to treat the people as a source of legitimacy, while placing barriers between them and the levers of power.
In a nutshell the embarrassment of the decade is to see the whole VP ordering a constable to release a suspect. Protocol would have demanded that the VP calls the minister responsible who will call the police commissioner who will order the descending rank to release the suspects. The behaviour of the VP if true was totally out of line and inhumane. This could be total madness or just insanity whichever is greater.
In normal circumstances the VP would resign in shame but in this situation he will remind us that he was in the bush long enough to respect any law. Albeit all this will be said from his Hotel room.
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Tsvangirai Officials Nabbed For Anti-Mugabe Song
Terrence Mawawa Zvishavane |As tension continues to mount in the country as a result of civil unrest caused by the deepening economic crisis, five MDC Youth Assembly officials have been arrested for insulting President Robert Mugabe in a song.
In a move which reflects panic and uncertainty by the government, in the wake of the increasing socio-economic woes,the five youths were arrested for the song police say was targeted at denigrating the 92 year old veteran ruler.
The five Midlands Province youth officials are Trynos Shava(Secretary for Defence),Enock Msindo,Peter Hove(District Youth Secretary),Ruizhi Shoko(National Executive member) and one Sibanda who is the District Deputy Organising Secretary.
The five were arrested in Zvishavane for singing a song the police said was an insult to Mugabe.
The youths were singing the song which included the following statement: “Hatitongwe neanopfeka mapampers(We cannot be ruled by someone who wears diapers).
MDC Midlands spokesperson Munyaradzi Mutandavari confirmed the arrest saying the five were detained at Zvishavane Police Station. “The five youths have been arrested for merely singing.
The regime is desperate to muzzle the people.It is quite clear that Mugabe has failed the nation and he has to step down,”said Mutandavari. The five youths will appear in court soon facing charges of undermining the President.
Pastor Mawarire Escapes Zimbabwe | BREAKING NEWS
#ThisFlag founder pastor Evan Mawarire has left Zimbabwe after a second attempt to abduct him.
While ZimEye.com can exclusively reveal Mawarire’s exact whereabouts were unknown on Friday night, the preacher himself revealed he has skipped the country, “to recuperate”.
A ZimEye correspondent telephoned the preacher at 7.30pm and the line gave a brief abstract ring tone before being switched off. Later attempts reported that the phone “is not available at the moment”.
Mawarire revealed his phone is still in the hands of the police. His full statement said: “Fellow Citizens thank you for your concern for my safety and whereabouts. I am well and safe taking some time to recuperate.
“Unfortunately I have been unable to communicate via my phone as usual because the Police are still in possession of my phone.
“I am also reliably informed that groups of men have been apparently looking for me at my home and office. Currently I have traveled to attend to a previously arranged engagement outside the country and will be back home to my family and work soon. #ThisFlag and indeed all the other significant movements in Zimbabwe are not about one person. Take ownership of this work. I take my hat off for all your amazing efforts in building a better Zimbabwe. We will never be silenced. HATICHADA & HATICHATYA, ASISAFUNI njalo ASISESABI, FED UP & NOT AFRAID. (Please share this on whatsapp too)”
Mawarire won a historic court case against the government this week after he was accused of treason among many other allegations. More to follow…
Lumumba Walks Free from Court as State Struggles Again| BREAKING NEWS
Viva Zimbabwe leader Acie Lumumba (William Gerald Mutumanje) walked out of Harare magistrates court a free man today after the state struggled to proceed with its case.
State prosecutors failed to lift their case after it emerged they bungled at legal procedures on the case in which he has been charged for undermining President Robert Mugabe.
The Prosecutor General’s papers were faulty, causing the case to be adjourned to Monday next week. More follows…
CIO Operative Jailed For Brutal Assault On Woman
Terrence Mawawa | Gweru A member of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation(CIO) has been sentenced to 12 months in prison following a brutal attack on a Gweru woman.
Nkosilathi Magama, who is an employee in the President’s office,was jailed after he severely bashed and seriously injured the woman who is an employee of the Gweru City Council. The woman who is a general worker at Gweru City Council sustained serious head injuries after being brutally assaulted by Magama.
The conviction of the CIO operative comes after members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), were humiliated after the release of #This Flag’s Pastor Evans Mawarire.
Magama’s wife,Tabeth Chikotora, had a misunderstanding with the woman on June 21,2016.
The altercation ensued after the woman told Chikotora to pick up papers that Magama threw on the pavement after the council employee had already swept the area. Magama came out of his bar and began to shout at the woman.
He then took a broom and severely assaulted the council employee.He proceeded to head butted her and hit her against the wall several times. In a rare act of unusual bravery,Magistrate Tayengwa Chibanda sentenced Magama to 12 months in prison and four months were suspended on good behaviour.
There were celebrations outside the court room as scores of people celebrated the landmark ruling .
Opinion:Sit Down Chamisa You Lost At Congress You Can’t Be VP
Opinion My friend, I know you deserve this given the poor performance of your party in current political processes, in fact your party needs you. With a heavy heart, I am asking you to decline sipping from this poisoned chalice. I have chosen to appeal to you publicly for one reason, that you may afford 2023 voters with a reason for finding in your favour when your commitment to principle is put under scrutiny.
First, you participated in the party’s elective congress for a post of SG and officially lost. It is undemocratic that you should by favoured appointment preside over those who beat you. You have a duty under the party’s constitution to respect the results of the party national Congress. May I remind you of your own stance, your own views and your own speeches when Emerson Mnangagwa lost Kwekwe parliamentary election and Mugabe appointed him Speaker. The message to voters at this and future congresses is that votes don’t matter, essentially contrary to the founding values of your party.
Secondly, it is contrary to the national constitution that 3 of the top 4 persons in your party represent only the karanga tribe. I suspect that there is no provision in the party’s constitution permitting the National Council and Standing committee to overturn or override national congress decisions. There most certainly no provision allowing practices that effectively amend the party constitution.
Appointments by their very nature are undemocratic. You, as one of the most prominent leaders of our generation have an obligation to set an example, you and the party value meritocracy, while I know you personally and can easily be convinced that you would do better than others in that role, the appointing authority has not justified your appointment in any manner. It now falls on you to do so. Why Chamisa? Why Mudzuri? Do we believe that the Tonderai Ndiras of this world meant for us to abandon the people’s right to choose their own leaders.
Your generation needs you to stand up as you have done before for what is right. Your country needs you to say no to favoratisms of all kinds. Your party needs you to avoid others walking out and away yet again.
Appointments by their very nature are undemocratic. You, as one of the most prominent leaders of our generation have an obligation to set an example, you and the party value meritocracy, while I know you personally and can easily be convinced that you would do better than others in that role, the appointing authority has not justified your appointment in any manner. It now falls on you to do so. Why Chamisa? Why Mudzuri? Do we believe that the Tonderai Ndiras of this world meant for us to abandon the people’s right to choose their own leaders.
Your generation needs you to stand up as you have done before for what is right. Your country needs you to say no to favoratisms of all kinds. Your party needs you to avoid others walking out and away yet again.
Breaking News: Former Mugabe Aide Utete Dies
Staff Reporter| FORMER Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Charles Utete has died. Utete reportedly collapsed and died at his home in Harare early today, Information minister Christopher Mushowe confirmed to the media Utete has passed on. “It is true and we are still trying to find more information,” Mushowe said. When Utete left his post as Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, President Robert Mugabe said, he had become a central figure in the Government’s system and contributed immensely to the development of the country.
More to follow…
VP Appointment Saga Gutu Exposes Tsvangirai
Staff Reporter | In a rather weird post on Facebook, Morgan Tsvangirai’s national spokesperson has distanced himself from the VP announcement made earlier today.
Curious journalists were left dumbfounded when Gutu wrote on his wall, “As MDC-T national spokesperson, kindly be advised that I have absolutely NO comment to make on the appointments for the office of Vice President that were announced at a press conference this morning.”
This morning Morgan Tsvangirai held a press conference to announce the appointment of two more Vice-Presidents, Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri.
The post by Gutu a lawyer by profession could be an indication there is trouble in paradise, and the succession battle is far from over for the embattled opposition party. The lawyer who has traditionally responded to all party issues, this time referred journalists to Tsvangirai himself. Putting Tsvangirai in a rather awkward position, who only appeared in the public yesterday, but within 24 hours could well be undoing everything he has built in years, as all hell breaks loose, with his leadership limitations being a subject of public debate.
Two VP’s :Tsvangirai Sacrifices Ndebele People And Women
Staff Reporter | True to form, Morgan Tsvangirai woke up this morning and put finalty to the succession battle in the MDC by sacrificing women and the Ndebele constituency, on the alter of political expediency.
Tsvangirai appointed two Karanga men to the Presidency Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri, going against the founding values of the MDC that require a tribal, gender and race balance in the leadership. The people of Matebeleland have long been marginalised in Zimbabwean politics playing second fiddle to their powerful Shona counterparts. The Ndebele suffered a terrible, horrendous Gukurahundi attack, which has never been fully resolved or acknowledged by the ruling Zanu PF party. Many have looked to the MDC going outside the box to be a home for previously marginalised groups be it on tribal grounds or gender. As the sun sets on Tsvangirai’s political career he has missed the point altogether.
The two men are meant to stop his deputy and long time ally a Ndebele woman Thokozani Khupe from getting to the throne. Khupe has had fierce running battles with male contenders in the party, it remains to be seen how she will manouvre this one.
Gender activists could not hide their outrage, Samukeliso Khumalo said, “For democracy to be achieved at national level, it should start at political party level. It is shocking to find a so-called democratic movement handling leadership appointments like a privately-owned entity. One would expect top leadership positions such that of VP to go through a congress with all party leadership contributing through a vote.”
Other feminists could only say “tribalism and patriarchy at play”.
“Opposition parties in Zimbabwe should lead by example and practice what they preach. The President of a party should desist from making decisions as an individual, transparency and accountability is a principle that all leaders of repute should live by. Leadership change is good but the process of changing leadership should be of moral excellence,” said Khumalo.