bouncing back?…Pius Ncube
FORMER Roman Catholic Bulawayo Diocese Archbishop Pius Ncube is set to bounce back in the Roman Catholic top set-up amid revelations that a delegation from the diocese is pushing for him to be appointed an archbishop emeritus.
An emeritus is an individual who after having retired, is allowed to retain their title as an honour. According to the catholic-hierarchy.org; “A Bishop Emeritus is a bishop that is no longer acting as the leader of the diocese due to advanced age, ill-health, among other reasons.”
Sunday News can exclusively reveal that the former head of the Bulawayo Roman Catholic Diocese, who resigned after being embroiled in an acrimonious sex scandal with the late Rosemary Sibanda, could now be on his way back if the Pope endorses the move that is being led by a group of elders from the Bulawayo Diocese.
The former archbishop has been reportedly hibernating at Marist Brothers’ College in Dete since the scandal was exposed in 2007. If the move succeeds, the former archbishop will hold a position that is similar to South African apartheid stalwart and Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu from the Anglican Church, thus maintaining influence.
The delegation which has been tasked with lobbying is reportedly led by Bulawayo businessman and educationist, Mr Clemence Kunzekweguta and has already requested a meeting with the Apostolic Nunciature of Zimbabwe, who is the Papal representative in the country, Archbishop Marek Zalewski.
Sunday News has it on good authority that the delegation was initially meant to meet Archbishop Zalewski a couple of weeks ago but the meeting was postponed to last week and further postponed to this week after Archbishop Zalewski had to travel to his home country, India on a family emergency.
Contacted for comment, Mr Kunzekweguta confirmed the move but did not divulge much information saying it would be premature to comment on the matter as they were yet to meet with the Apostolic Nunciature.
“As you might not know this is a very sensitive matter, besides we don’t want to rush matters, as they say in SiNdebele; inhlwa ungayibamba ngekhanda ayisabambeki, iyabuyela emlindini (issues if rushed one ends up losing control).
“What is happening right now is that we want to go to Harare first then we can have a possible way forward because right now if we rush matters the Archbishop or even Rome might not take it in the right spirit,” said Mr Kunzekweguta.
Questioned on why they had chosen to fight for Ncube to be given such an honour considering his past, Mr Kunzekweguta said it was a matter of forgiving and moving forward.
“We want to heal families. This year, the Catholic Church chose it to be a year to forgive each other as a family and a nation therefore we felt that this will be a perfect opportunity for us as a church to emulate this and prove to the world out there that we live what we preach,” he said.
He, however, declined to reveal the names of the rest of the delegation that he was travelling with to Harare.
When Sunday News later contacted Mr Kunzekweguta on whether the meeting had materialised he said that Archbishop Zalewski had postponed the meeting.
Questions sent to the Roman Catholic church headquarters in Rome two weeks ago had not been responded to while officials at the Bulawayo Diocese said only Archbishop Thomas could respond. They, however, said he was out of Bulawayo and continued efforts to get in touch with him were fruitless. In Harare Archbishop Zalewski was constantly said to be in a meeting.
Sources revealed that the delegation initially tried to engage Bulawayo Diocese Archbishop Thomas but he declined alleging that this was a matter best handled by the Apostolic Nunciature office.
Reports are that the former archbishop is still held in high esteem by most Catholics countrywide. In 2007, Ncube made headlines when he was allegedly filmed having sex with a married woman. Following the unearthing of the sex scandal he resigned from the diocese. His resignation was submitted and accepted by the then head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI.
On 16 July 2007 Ncube was served with High Court summons for a $20 billion (Zimbabwe dollars) lawsuit by the husband of the woman, Mr Onesimus Sibanda, who accused him of having an adulterous relationship with his wife, Rosemary, now late.
Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy, meaning that they must never marry and must abstain from sex. He resigned and went to the Vatican before coming back home. He has been keeping a low profile since then.-State Media
State Media-Social media use will soon be regulated in Zimbabwe, with the State already drawing up legal and policy instruments to govern information communication technologies.
Local web developers are also in the process of stitching together products similar to social networking sites such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Youtube, Skype and Twitter so as to enable greater supervision.
These measures are tailored to protect citizens’ rights following a surge in social media abuse through propagating falsehoods, defamation, character assassination and national security threats.
Countries like China have similar regulations and have developed their own social networking sites.
Sina Weibo, the equivalent of Twitter, is one of the most popular networks in China.
Following his return from a Japan working visit on April 2, 2016; President Mugabe advocated for hi-tech systems that engender development instead of abuse and infringement of people’s rights.
The President revealed that the Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Minister Supa Mandiwanizira is seized with the matter.
Last week, Minister Mandiwanzira told The Sunday Mail that internet supervision is imminent.
He said that it will be incorporated into the National ICT Policy.
He also said the Universal Services Fund – established with contributions from telecommunications companies – will be used to spur technological innovation.
“There is an enormous abuse of the internet, particularly social media. Hardly a day passes by without a story alleging scandals involving social media. A vivid example is that of Tafadzwa Mushunje who was condemned by social media users after she was reported to have allegedly injected a toddler with HIV-infected blood.
“It later emerged that the story was absolutely hogwash and a fabrication. But imagine the impact that that had on a young girl like Tafadzwa. That is one classical example of how the internet is being abused and that cannot continue.
“In his statement, the President was saying we need to look at systems that protect the freedoms accorded to all Zimbabweans by our Constitution where those freedoms are being undermined by social media.”
Minister Mandiwanzira said experts are considering technological and legislative means to stop the menace which also extends to the hacking of internet accounts.
He said the broad initiative will result in cheaper and greater internet access.
“We need to put in place laws that protect internet users while also promoting internet usage.”
The minister stressed that the policy is not meant to infringe citizens’ pricacy.
“When we talk of having laws here (social media regulation), we have no interests in snooping on people’s communication. That is not our business, our interest is in protecting people.
“The President is saying let us do something about it and we are doing something about it. He mentioned the example of China which has gone to great lengths to protect the integrity of the internet.
“lt is in the interest of every country to protect the integrity of the internet so that it is a tool for development, not a tool for destruction. Our mandate is to look at various options as instructed by the President, and we are already on it.”
On local innovations, the minister said, “Last month, at the E-Tech Africa Expo, I mentioned that the ministry was working towards a fund that will promote ICT innovation, especially on applications, software development (gaming and education software) and others.
“We are targeting innovations that primarily address local market demands, which, we hope, can be grown for the global market. We want to promote locally-developed software as a step towards import substitution. The software development initiative has the support of all networks.
“It has been agreed that a portion of the cost of every (cellphone) call made will be directed to the Universal Services Fund. We started collecting that money on January 1, 2016; and believe the fund will have US$25 million in the next 24 months.”
“Furthermore, we also want local people to be very creative and talented. We are looking for those who have already developed something that could potentially have a market but don’t know where to go.
“We want to identify such people. The fund will invest in them to develop the product, register the necessary patent and then offer it to telecoms networks. It will thereafter be sold by the networks locally to the 13 million subscribers on local networks, creating local millionaires in the process,” he added.
Minister Dokora. Pic By Chris Tabvura
The Public Service Commission has started expelling school heads linked to abuse of development levies, and 74 are before provincial disciplinary panels it has emerged.
The crackdown involves the PSC and the Primary and Secondary Education Ministry.
In 2015, Government started auditing all Government and mission schools following indications of abuse of funds.
Though only 2 000 out of 8 000 schools have been audited, authorities have unearthed irregularities ranging from flouting tender procedures to fraud.
The ministry estimates that over U$1,2 billion circulates in the learning institutions yearly, and some heads, bursars and school development association officials have been helping themselves to part of the sum.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail last week, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Lazarus Dokora said preliminary investigations pointed to rampant abuse of funds.
He said the expelled heads and those under investigation were charged with misconduct and abuse of office.
“At the moment, we have at least 74 cases which are at various stages of hearings throughout the country. There are also other cases that are before the courts, and more have been referred to the Public Service Commission for determination.
“Some school authorities have been charged with misconduct and others who are also found guilty will either be expelled, suspended or demoted. The decision, however, rests with the PSC.
“I have previously stated that the situation at most of our schools cannot continue. As Government, we need to put a stop to it, and we are still consulting stakeholders over the matter.”
According to the preliminary audit report, 20 heads in Mashonaland Central and 10 in Midlands have appeared before disciplinary panels.
Harare and Bulawayo have four cases each, Matabeleland South six, Manicaland seven, Mashonaland East eight and Mashonaland West nine.
War Veterans leader, Chris Mutsvangwa has dropped a bombshell response to the mystery Mugabe letter that rocked social networks this week.
Writing to ZimEye.com Saturday, Mutsvangwa rubbished the letter of apology in which he allegedly grovelled President Robert Mugabe, begging for forgiveness and expressing reverence to the 92 year old ruler.
Mutsvangwa, who earlier on refused to comment on the matter to other newspapers, exclusively told ZimEye.com the letter is not of his penmanship. Below was his message sent directly from his phone purportedly by his wife. It read “1. And the spelling of the surname on page is wrong. No signature and no stamp
2. Different names Mutsvangwa….Mutswanga in one letter
3. That English it’s not Christopher’s.”
Meanwhile Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) spokesperson Douglas Mahiya dismissed the letter as the work of a faction in Zanu PF known as G40.
“People must never underestimate other people’s intelligence and their ability to understand procedure,” he said.
“The chairman of the ZNLWVA (Mutsvangwa) is an experienced politician, he worked for the intelligence, was a member of the politburo and a long-serving member of the country’s diplomatic service.
“He knows how to handle such things if he wants to engage the President. He would never use social media.
“We are not surprised because, to us, this is the work of enemies of the war veterans, enemies of the revolution and obviously it is the G40.”
In the letter, purportedly written by Mutsvangwa, the war veterans boss heaps praises on Mugabe and profusely apologises for “my transgressions”.
“It is with a sunken heart, utmost sincerity and absolute humility that I throw myself at your feet to apologise profoundly to you personally, Your Excellency, your family, the party and the people of Zimbabwe, for all that I may have said to offend any or all of them, therefore, earning my current social and political censure and rancour,” the letter reads, addressing Mugabe by several titles.
“I wish to assure you, Your Excellency, that I never, by word or action, harboured any intention to impugn you or be part of any plot, either real or imagined, to remove you prematurely or unconstitutionally from office. As part of the finest crop of fighters, who were groomed in the crucible of the liberation struggle, indeed under your able stewardship, I have never found it in my heart to even fault you, let alone wish you out of power or dead.”
Following the aborted meeting of war veterans in February that ended with police using tear-smoke to disperse them, Mutsvangwa lost his position in the Zanu PF politburo after being suspended along with his wife Monica.
He was then axed from Cabinet amid indications he would be relieved of his duties as war veterans’ chairman, following a vote of no-confidence motion led by Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandi Chimene.
The fawning in the letter goes overboard, describing Mugabe as a “superhuman” and that war veterans are ready to die for him.
“To me and to the majority of my fellow combatants, you are an icon, almost superhuman and an infallible being,” the letter, which started making the round yesterday morning, reads.
“Yes, admittedly, when we talk or act, people around us are bound to analyse and interpret. Quite often, however, they may misread or exaggerate the meaning of our words or actions, thus misinforming or misleading authority to react in ways that, as in my case, amount to overkill.”
Mutsvangwa, according to the unsigned letter dated April 4, compares himself to a sparrow.
“In my present predicament and without at all attempting to understate the seriousness of my transgressions to those I may have offended, I feel like a mere sparrow, for whom all the howitzers that seem now arrayed in salvo against me may ultimately be a disproportionate weapon of choice to whip me back if I have strayed from the party line,” the letter, in typical verbosity characteristic of the ex-minister, said.
But a source close to Mutsvangwa said there were errors in the letter that the war veterans’ chairman would never make.
“The spelling of the surname is wrong, no signature, no stamp. Two different names — Mutsvangwa and Mutswangwa — in one letter. The English is not Christopher’s,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
The letter said Mutsvangwa was a loyal and dedicated party cadre.
“Zanu PF is the party of my life and family,” the contested letter continues.
“I have neither home nor life outside Zanu PF. With this in mind, Your Excellency, I appeal to you to find it in your heart to forgive me and my wife, Mornica (sic) as well, for everything that we may have done to offend the system that nurtured us into adulthood and political maturing.”
The letter says Mutsvangwa was prepared to recuse himself from the Thursday meeting between Mugabe and war veterans “in the interests of allowing an orderly, dignified and constructive conversation between you and your fellow war veterans”.
At the meeting held on Thursday, Mutsvangwa was not at the top table and did not actively participate in proceedings, sitting quietly with his wife Monica among other wartime commanders in the then high command and general staff. In parting, the letter purports Mutsvangwa accepting his punishment, but still supplicating for pardon.
“Rebuke us with words and with the rod even, we are your children. I have not refused to be rebuked. To err is human, but do not throw us to the wolves,” the letter concludes.(Newsday/ZimEye)
Preacher puts own clothes on multi-million dollar auction
Worshipping God or mere man? – Walter Magaya’s watch auctioned for $9million.
Magaya multi million dollar “awe”
As the Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries (PHD Ministries) is in preparations for the construction of the new church in Waterfalls, Harare, many people have been left shocked with a preliminary auction done in church during the Friday service.
The leader Walter Magaya started the auction with (2) two of his anointed shirts which church members turned to bidders. They initial price was pegged at $20 but the price rose to an alarming figure which was beyond human logic. The first bidder was that of $1000 by a lady from United Kingdom and was skyrocketed to $5000 by one member in an effort to go home with the shirt but the next bidder’s efforts were fruitless as competitors followed up to $8000. The U.K based woman came back again making the shirt land at $9 000.00.
Additionally, other congregants as well as some who were making phone calls through the ministry’s official lines, began to request what Magaya was wearing. Among them all was a watch which attracted a whopping $3 000 000 ($3 Million United states dollars) but rocketed up to $9 000 000 ($9 million)
In addition it was more astonishing as people continue to bid for belts, at $2 000.00 whilst the others were continuously requesting for other items including one request for the shirt which Magaya was wearing that very moment.
The least expensive was mineral water which the preacher used to drink which rose from $0.50 to somewhere around $50.00.
All will be completed tomorrow (Saturday 9th April 2016) at Waterfalls Headquarters.
The below pictures show controversial and humiliated ZIFA sponsor Wicknell Chivayo having dinner, as reported, this week in Dubai with the Mugabe family.
The stunning pictures were taken in Dubai and now released by Chivayo as he continued his row with Proffessor Jonathan Moyo. The man recently bragged to Moyo firing a warning on the Higher Education Minister that he will be punished by the First Family anytime soon following his recent outburst against Chivayo.
A Masvingo woman has given birth to a baby without a head. The woman who went into labour on Wednesday evening, left nursing staff at Masvingo provincial hospital’s maternity wing stunned after giving birth to twins, one of them headless.
The other baby who appeared normal, died a few minutes after delivery as the child had an extraordinarily very bighead, a condition medical experts said was incompatible with life. Acting Masvingo provincial medical director Dr Amadeous Shamu, yesterday confirmed the birth of a headless child at Masvingo General Hospital, saying the situation was caused by congenital abnormalities.
“It’s true there’s a case like that (birth of a headless baby) but it’is very rare to have such a situation though it’s generally known as a congenital abnormality, which is basically a deformation that occurs to a foetus during the early stages of pregnancy,’’ he said. “The headless foetus was incompatible with life after premature birth, while the other twin who was born alive but with a very big head, died after a few minutes,’’ added Dr Shamu. He said the mother of the twins was still detained to monitor her condition.
“We can’t unfortunately disclose the identity of the woman save to say that her condition is stable. It’s very rare for a person to give birth to a child without a head,’’ said Dr Shamu. – state media
bewitched?…George Charamba
Senior ZANU PF officials involved in factional wars are reportedly taking their issues to witch doctors to get juju to counter each other. An official of the party claiming to be close to President Robert Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba’s family, revealed to ZimEye sources that Charamba has already been a victim of the superstitious shenanigans.
According to the sources, the member claims that last week Charamba survived death by a whisker after suffering a strange ailment which the family has since attributed to witchcraft as advised by a traditional doctor.
Charamba is reported to have left for Japan with President Mugabe on the 23rd of March via Singapore on a state visit.
A day into the official visit, Charamba is reported to have fallen ill of a strange illness in Japan. According to the sources, the family claims that Charamba was experiencing stomach cramps that “locked” his excretion system and was failing to relieve himself.
The illness was so severe that he had to immediately be flown from Japan to Singapore for emergency attention.
Charamba was meant to have connected with the President flight on the way back home on Friday but the doctors couldn’t release him as they were still trying to understand unique features in the ailment. He was only released from hospital seven days later at the insistence of the family, according to the source.
Charamba’s issues with other ZANU PF officials are reported to have started in January when he clashed with the G40 faction by giving statements praising Vice President Emerson Mnangagwa against the other faction.
According to the member, Charamba’s family immediately took the President’s spokesperson to consult a witch doctor who advised the family that he had been bewitched by rival ZANU PF factions who actually want him dead.
Since his return from Singapore, Charamba has not reported for duty and is not at any hospital in the country.
The senior ZANU PF member claimed that Charamba is currently undertaking treatment at a traditional doctor’s surgery somewhere in Manicaland.
Mr. Charamba got entangled in the ongoing ZANU-PF factional wars taking sides with a faction aligned to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. That faction is battling against another called Generation 40 (G40), believed to be determined to thwart the Vice President’s presidential ambitions.
It all started in January when Charamba featured in a radio interview attacking an anti-Mnangagwa faction,insisting he spoke for the President and not himself.
Although he did not mention anyone by name, Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, Jonathan Moyo, swiftly came out guns blazing, saying Charamba was out of order.
Since then, there have been calls from certain circles for his sacking from the President’s Office.
State Media-President Robert Mugabe yesterday commissioned a state-of-the-art passport production centre at KGVI, which prints 16,000 booklets daily. This development will eliminate the long queues that over the years characterised the Registrar-General’s Office. Long queues and sleeping overnight to obtain a passport has been a daily order at the passport office.
Commissioning the centre, President Mugabe said Zimbabwe remained committed to the adherence to robust standards of travel documents and international security. “We’re happy as a country to be among the pioneers of e-passport production,” said President Mugabe.
He urged the Home Affairs Ministry to explore ways of further reducing the cost of obtaining passports and other travel documents, and the decentralisation of the process.
“We also should ensure that our people can easily obtain these documents, not too far away from their homes throughout the country,” he said. President Mugabe said the e-passport would boost the country’s security by enhancing border controls, in addition to expediting the processing of travellers at immigration points.
He said it would also thwart the production of fake travel documents. “The achievement we’re witnessing today is a result of passionate commitment to excellence and strict management of resources. “I would like to encourage others in government to emulate the continuous innovation and improved business process in order to improve service delivery as displayed here,” said the President.
The introduction of e-passports, said President Mugabe, also marked an important step forward in the implementation of the Home Affairs Command and Control System (HACCSY) that is spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and extended to the immigration department under the same ministry.
The President said a similar approach should be used to bring to fruition the other key components, such as automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) and the computerised border management system envisioned under HACCSY.
The new passport production system was established with technologies provided by Japanese companies — Marubeni Corporation, Marpless, Uno Seisakusho and Toppan Insatsu Printing in partnership with GET. These Japanese companies’ involvement in the project was made possible by the introduction from NIP Global, an Israeli IT company.
Speaking at the same occasion, Japanese Amabssador to Zimbabwe Yoshi Tenadi Hiraishi, expressed confidence that the centre would greatly contribute to the improvement of Zimbabwe’s essential social infrastructure by reinforcing the country’s capacity to produce passports both in quantity and quality.
“I’m very pleased and excited to note that this has been realised by utilising Japanese technologies,” he said. “In addition, let me ask everybody to pay attention to the high quality service of Japanese companies, which have an internationally established reputation.”
Looking at the occasion in the context of bilateral relations between the two countries, Hariashi said the commissioning of the centre could be regarded as an important milestone to mark the start of nourishing bilateral relations between the two countries following President Mugabe’s recent visit to Japan.
President Mugabe was in Japan last week where he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed a Joint Statement in which both leaders agreed to further strengthen the two countries’ bilateral relationships in the field of economic, technical and other co-operation.
-Chitepo Family Speaks Out on Hours Before Death- By Simbarashe Chikanza|The family of the wife of the late ZANU leader, Advocate Herbert Chitepo, Victoria, reveals to ZimEye.com of what happened hours before Mrs Chitepo’s death.
The Chitepo family said the motherly icon who was found dead in her bathroom early Friday morning, was healthy, happy and even talked for a lengthy time the night before. Her daughter Thokozile told ZimEye, Mrs Chitepo attended the war veterans’ meeting and came back home where she had a lengthy family talk. On the day of her departure, yesterday, Mrs Chitepo was just preparing to go to the ZANU PF Central committee meeting when her daughter found her lifeless in the bathroom. Thokozile said Mrs Chitepo died a happy, reflective and caring woman. She said, ” just yesterday the meeting with the war vets brought a lot of memories for her for all the things the duration of the war, the struggle and now since independence.
“And she kept… we talked until late, about oh, how it’s so good that we can do this; must be sure how many of the ex- commandants are now able to take care of their lives and after all they have committed, she truly truly was concerned about people’s success, she was happy when she saw people successful
“.. I think between her and my father there was something about just wanting to make it better for people. ”
Thokozile however did not suggest any foul play in her death.
Mrs Chitepo was found dead on Friday morning. A state postmortem was underway at the time going to press. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW
A 14-YEAR-OLD girl drowned in Khami River at Nyamandlovu as she tried to save her brother who had fallen into the river.
Villagers identified her as Hlelo Sibanda, a Grade Six pupil at Sikhululeni Primary School.
They said she along with Carlton Dube, 12, and Philisani Sibanda, 9, all of Village 1 Seafield, under Chief Deli, left home last Friday to bath at Khami River.
A villager, Siphetha Ndlovu, said: “Hlelo was in Grade Six while the two boys were in Grade Four. As they were bathing, Carlton slipped and fell into the river where he almost drowned. Hlelo dived into the river and swam towards him, intending to save him, but unfortunately drowned herself”.
She said Carlton was then saved by Philisani.
“The two boys rushed home and told their older brother’s wife, Regina Tshuma that Sibanda had drowned. Tshuma quickly notified villagers and we rushed to the river but we couldn’t find her. We immediately reported the matter to the police who then retrieved the body,” Ndlovu said. State Media
Struggling…Shuvai Mahofa Terrence Mawawa Chiredzi | Controversial Masvingo State Minister Shuvai Ben Mahofa embarrassed her self again in public wwhen she failed to climb up the stairs to address a meeting in the lowveld town.
Mahofa himiliated herself before hundreds of Zanu PF supporters when she addressed the meeting seated at the Chitsanga Hall steps.
On the same day Mahofa also forced her delegation to have a briefing outside Chiredzi Town Council offices after she failed to climb up the stairs to the boardroom in the first floor.
The briefing was done outside after the minister had failed to climb the stairs. Although Mahofa was quick to apologise, hundreds of people who witnessed the embarrassing incident called on the minister and her ilk to resign and pave way for fresh and dynamic people. Mahofa said:”my apology for addressing the meeting while seated. I am not feeling well but I could not miss this important gathering.”
Zivanai Muzorodzi of Community Tolerance Reconciliation And Development Trust(COTRAD), said Mahofa’s resignation was imminent following the disgraceful incident.
“This is a mockery to the people of Masvingo. How can we have a minister of such calibre? We have been following Mahofa’s stories with passion and we are deeply saddened by the fact that she is failing to execute her duties. It is in her interest to resign because the hectic nature of her job endangers her own health. To worsen the matter, operations in the whole province have been affected by her poor health,” said Muzorodzi.
Masvingo based political analyst Prosper Tiringindi said it was noble for Mahofa to resign and pave way for an energetic minister.
“We feel sorry for Mahofa because she is our grandmother but I frankly believe she has to resign and leave room for someone else to take over,” said Tiringindi.
Mahofa who over a year ago also shifted her office to the ground floor at Benjamin Burombo Building, is now seen as a political liability in Zanu PF and in the entire province.
The woman who should have been the First Lady of Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF Politburo member, Victoria Chitepo, was today found dead, 41 years later after her husband was brutally killed by suspected ZANU comrades.
Mrs Chitepo who is the widow of the late national hero and former Zanu leader Herbert Chitepo, has died. Mugabe greets Victoria Chitepo before her death
She was 89.
Her husband, who was the first black African barrister to qualify on British soil, was killed while in exile in Zambia in 1975 in what the late Masipula Sithole referred to as factionalism in Robert Mugabe’s ZANU(then ZANLA army).
Mrs Chitepo was found dead today by a relative who had come to take her to the Zanu-PF Central Committee meeting.
Her daughter Thokozile Chitepo confirmed the death to the state media. More to follow…
The Welshman Ncube led MDC has condemned the arrest yesterday by the police of Media Centre director Ernest Mudzengi saying the development exposes President Robert Mugabe’s barbarism.
Mudzengi was on Thursday arrested for running an online portal which published a story of President Robert Mugabe’s Gushungo holdings bombing.
Mudzengi was later released without charges after the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights had intervened.
In a statement Friday Kurauone Chihwayi the MDC national spokesperson said the arrest was barbaric.
“The MDC unreservedly condemns the callous and barbaric arrest of Mudzengi and many other media practitioners who have truthfully written about President Mugabe,his ministers and government officials,”he said.
“We are urging the regime to keep away from media houses to enable them to execute their duties without any fear or favour and incessant attempts to zip up the media should stop”.
MDC said the continued arrest of journalists is a ploy by government to frustrate the media so that they stop playing their watch dog role.
“The Mugabe regime should respect freedom of the Press to allow correct information to smoothly flow to the news consumers,” said Chihwayi.
The state continues the scrapped criminal defamation laws to arrest journalists who would have reported critically on President Mugabe.
under fire…Saviour Kasukuwere
War veterans on Thursday told President Robert Mugabe to fire Zanu PF party’s political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere who they accused of destroying the party.
Since his appointment to the position 18 months ago Kasukuwere has been on a spree of suspending and firing Zanu PF bigwigs on allegations of siding with the ousted former Vice President Joice Mujuru.
The Zanu PF political commissar is also part of the party’s group of young Turks, G-40 which is pushing for President Mugabe’s wife Grace to succeed the aging President.
Kasukuwere and his G-40 have labelled war veterans as uneducated drunkards.
President Mugabe has not cautioned Kasukuwere making war veterans to believe that he (Mugabe) is behind G-40.
At their historic meeting with Mugabe in Harare Thursday, war veterans said the entire commissariat department must be reshuffled.
“The primary role of the commissariat department must be mass mobilisation and political education of the party members and not of expelling and suspending members from the party,” said the angry former liberation war fighters.
The war veterans said they wanted to take over Kasukuwere’s portfolio in the party because he (Kasukuwere) has no liberation war credentials.
Prior to their meeting with Mugabe, former Vice President Joice Mujuru and now the leader of the Zimbabwe People First project, challenged war veterans to confront Mugabe over G-40.
Staff Reporter
Villagers from Matobo area have told liberation war veterans to “go to hell” over the remains of Cecil John Rhodes buried at the famous World’s View mountain at the Matopos National Park.
In a presentation of their grievances to President Robert Mugabe yesterday, the War Veterans culture and heritage thematic committee said that they had resolved to force government to remove Rhodes’ remains “and send them back to the United Kingdom.”
In a fact gathering episode with Zimeye.com the villagers said that the war veterans must find pertinent issues to have the president address than waste time and resources focusing on issues that have nothing to do with the failures by government.
The majority of the villagers interviewed said that there is no way the community of Matobo will sit back and allow Rhodes’ remains to be removed from the area.
According to the villagers, Rhodes’ remains have become a part of their heritage and culture.
To the villagers the Rhodes tomb is their livelihood as they receive thousands of tourists every year who mingle with the villagers and buy artifacts and local produces giving them a means of survival.
“If they want to see a different kind of war, let these war veterans come try to temper with Rhodes’ grave,” said one villager Bongani Nyathi from the area.
“They have allowed Mugabe to fail to run the country and now want to turn their efforts to issues that have nothing to do with them,” said Mpumelelo Nkomo.
The issue over the removal of Rhodes’ remains from Matopos has been on going for a number of years. Every time it is brought up, the residents of the area resist the proposal.
Matobo villagers are famous for defending a white commercial farmer who was on the verge of losing a farm to ZANU PF CIO agent Jonathan Mashingaidze until the farm was given back to the commercial farmer.
The villagers have warned the War Veterans to brace themselves for a tough battle ahead if they harbour thoughts of removing Rhodes without their consent.
The above leaked paper shows official Mugabe’s salary figures
President Robert Mugabe — who in 2014 claimed he was earning $4 000 a month, did not reveal how his salary had multiplied three-fold in less than 12 months without being gazetted by the government.
Speaking at Harare Central Hospital where he commissioned medical equipment bought through a $100 million Export-Import Bank of China loan facility, Mugabe described his $12 000 pay as meagre and not in line with salaries of his peers in the region. The 91-year-old leader said he earned a basic salary of $10 000 per month and allowances totalling $2 000.
“We should all just be grateful that we have food on our tables. Kana pane sadza nenyama ndizvozvowo (if there is only sadza and meat, that’s it). I am suffering just like you,” he said.
attacked…Walter Magaya
PHD Ministries leader Walter Magaya has been attacked by humiliated ZIFA sponsor Wicknell Chivayo.
Chivayo who this week announced he is quitting on his sponsorship arrangement for the warriors, has attacked Magaya saying he is a crook.
The man has stood strong on his statement released four months ago on Magaya in which he also described prophets as a bunch of crooks sweet-talking people into offloading their money.
As he won the Star FM Businessman of the Year Award in December, he raged writing:”I just received a call, I’m told I won an award yesterday evening at Star FM as the Business Person of the Year. I’m an obnoxious though inspirational young tycoon involved in big business so in my view most grateful level headed people now feel I don’t receive the acknowledgement I deserve which is fair enough.
“I was also told this Business Person of the Year Award aims to reveal, recognise and reward a hard working person setting them up as positive role model for others to aspire to.
“As much as I’m humbled and very grateful for such recognition, I don’t see why there was need for any competition and a voting process. This was an obvious no brainier and it goes without saying. I was also very disappointed to hear the finalists where Sir , Philip Chiyangwa and Walter Magaya. Who chose these names and what criteria did they use to categorically define a business man? A big Yes, without any doubt my elder brother same mother same father Boss Phil the incumbent , undefeated ZIFA chairman, Gushungo and King of Selfies being my role model is a very successful businessman and qualifies but who is this so called Magaya?
“What business does he run that we know and where is it? They should nominate Prophet of the Year Award not suggest that collecting tithes is a business. Churches have become a business in Zimbabwe hence the reason there’s so much competition amongst prophets…Don’t be fooled and tricked by these bunch of crooks starting new churches sweet talking you with the prosperity gospel and exciting miracles…. My father in heaven is only a prayer away pfugama unamate.”
By Andrew Kunambura| President Robert Mugabe’s spokesman, George Charamba, was on Monday released from a Singaporean hospital where he had been admitted for seven days for treatment of an undisclosed ailment.
Charamba accompanied President Mugabe on a trip to Tokyo, Japan, where he had gone to solicit investment deals and support the Japanese premier’s quest for reforms at the United Nations. The trip was at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister, Shonso Abbey.
Charamba was part of the delegation which left Harare on March 23, arriving in Tokyo two days later following a brief stopover in Singapore.
While in Japan, Charamba had to fly back to Singapore on Monday last week after suddenly complaining of “breathing problems”, according to sources. On arrival in the city, diplomatic sources said he was admitted at an unnamed hospital until early this week.
He had been expected to link up with the rest of the team when they landed in Singapore from Tokyo for the connecting flight to Harare but failed to do so, the sources added. His doctor is said to have refused to release him, saying he wanted to assess his condition.
“He reacted to an antibiotic and was admitted in Singapore. We understand the doctor had ordered him to take a rest for three days. He has since been discharged and is now expected back in the country today,” said a government source on Monday.
Charamba, who normally has a visible presence around President Mugabe, was conspicuous by his absence at the Harare International Airport when scores of ruling party supporters, government dignitaries and the party’s top brass turned up to welcome the ZANU-PF leader and his delegation from the Far East country.
He has been unusually quiet following his public fights with senior ZANU-PF members. Charamba was not answering calls to his mobile number yesterday.
Charamba got entangled in the ZANU-PF factional wars in which he took sides with a faction aligned to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The Mnangagwa faction is battling against another called Generation 40 (G40), believed to be determined to thwart the Vice President’s presidential ambitions.
It all started in January when Charamba featured in a radio interview attacking an anti-Mnangagwa faction, insisting he spoke for the President and not himself.
Although he did not mention anyone by name, Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, Jonathan Moyo, swiftly came out guns blazing, saying Charamba was out of order.
Since then, there have been calls from certain circles for his sacking from the President’s Office. Financial Gazette
By HON Jessie Majome| Public Hearings on the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Bill
The Parliament of Zimbabwe through the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Portfolio Committee together with the Human Rights Thematic Committee and the Peace and Security Thematic Committee will hold public hearings on the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Bill.
In line with Section 141(a) of the Constitution, “Parliament must facilitate public involvement in its legislative and other processes and in the processes of its committees;…” members of the public are invited to the public hearings to give submissions on the above Bill. The public’s contributions will be compiled in Parliamentary Reports which will be presented in each house of Parliament (National Assembly and The Senate) for the Second Reading of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Bill.
Members of the public can also hand in written submissions at public hearings or post to:
The Clerk of Parliament
Parliament of Zimbabwe
P. O. Box CY 298
Causeway
Harare
OR e-mail to [email protected]
There will be a country wide tour where public hearings will be held in every province. The first meetings will be held on 11 April 2016 in Kwekwe at Kwekwe Theatre and Gutu at Gutu Council Boardroom, please consult the schedule below for date and venues of public hearings.
Please note that military uniform, party insignia, saying/singing slogans and heckling are not allowed at public hearings.
Issued by
Fungayi Jessie Majome MP
Chairperson of the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Portfolio Committee
***
Team A
11 April 2016 Kwekwe Kwekwe Theatre 1100hrs
12 April 2016 Gweru Gweru Theatre 1000hrs
14 April 2016 Victoria Falls Chinotimba Hall 0900hrs
14 April 2016 Hwange ZPC Social Club 1500hrs
15 April 2016 Plumtree TMB Hall i.e. Plumtree Town Council Hall 1400hrs
16 April 2016 Lupane Lupane Local Board Community Hall 1030hrs
16 April 2016 Bulawayo Bulawayo Holiday Inn 1500hrs
20 April 2016 Harare Senate Chamber 1000hrs
Team B
11 April 2016 Gutu Gutu Council Boardroom 1200hrs
12 April 2016 Masvingo Masvingo Civic Centre Hall 1000hrs
13 April 2016 Mutare Mutare Civic Centre Hall 1000hrs
14 April 2016 Marondera Marondera- Mbuya Nehanda Hall Dombotombo 1400hrs
15 April 2016 Bindura Tendai Hall 1300hrs
16 April 2016 Chinhoyi Chaedza Community Hall 1400hrs
20 April 2016 Harare Senate Chamber 1000hrs
By Jealousy Mawarire| Last week I came across a piece, “Till Mujuru’s sins be white as snow” written by one of the many shadowy columnists in the Herald newspaper under a banner “Radar”.
My sources at the Herald told me it is none other than George Charamba, who now shuttles between Nathaniel Manheru and Radar, depending on which political opponents he would be wishing to attack.
The piece, which was premised on some rudimentary and often pathetic appreciation of the word of God as contained in Isaiah 1v 18 and such other verses that the author contrivingly, tried to contextualise in his attack of Jealousy Mawarire and Dr Joice Mujuru, was a response to the articles I have done to put on record the truth about Dr Mujuru and the many allegations that have been wrongly advanced by her political foes especially from Zanu-PF and President Robert Mugabe’s many bootlickers.
Yes, there are griots, praise singers around Mugabe who, after a session of unbridled blasphemous bootlicking, help themselves to national resources through outright theft, shady empowerment deals and some such murky activities whether its community share trusts, operationalization of the indigenisation and economic empowerment act among the many looting vehicles that Mugabe and his bootlickers have put in place to expropriate national assets and the country’s natural resources, be it diamonds or even elephants, lions and rhinoceroses.
Mawarire’s crime, according to the “Radar Charamba”, is that he is “digging deep the archives and dusting up every piece of evidence that will exonerate his Joice. For this reason, Mawarire “is most likely blasphemous” because Dr Mujuru “most likely sinned against God, and he (Mawarire) cannot replace Him (God) and seek to wash her sins white.”
Other than exhibiting doubt about the things he was writing about as shown by his continual use of the word “likely”, Radar Charamba admits that indeed evidence is replete which exonerates Mujuru from all the allegations levelled against her.
What is interesting, however, in Charamba’s “Radar” piece is the admission that “Mawarire is digging deep the archives and dusting up every piece of evidence.” Charamba inadvertently admits that Mawarire is not cooking up or contriving some such evidence to exonerate Dr Mujuru from the many false allegations propagated by a coterie of Mugabe’s bootlickers.
Admittedly, the evidence is there and what Mawarire is doing is just “digging deep the archives and dusting” it for all and sundry to see. And, surely, digging deep archives and coming up with evidence to exonerate my wrongly vilified principal is never blasphemous.
It is, primarily, doing research and every researcher relies on the empirical data he unearths to advance his cause and in so doing, I have never claimed to be God, his young brother or any such acquaintance save for the fact that I am his child, begotten of him through the ministration of his word by his servant Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa, a preacher and prophet he has assigned in my life.
It is a fact which Radar Charamba knows, that Jonathan Moyo exonerated Mujuru of any wrong doing when he told Steven Sakkur of the BBC in a HardTalk interview in January 2015, that all those allegations that First Lady Grace Mugabe hysterically propagated through the so-called “meet the people rallies” were as worthless and fake as her PhD degree.
They were just political banter in the same way the First Lady’s attainment of the same PhD was a joke of the year.
It is also a fact, and Charamba knows this too, that Godfrey Tsenengamu, Godfrey Gomwe and Vengai Musengi, in an interview with ANN7 have apologised to Dr Mujuru, and Dr Mujuru has a DVD of the same interview. The trio apologised for being used by Mugabe to falsely accuse her on allegations of witchcraft, corruption and plotting to assassinate Mugabe. This evidence is there and a lot such, we shall share with Zimbabweans in due course.
Back to Radar Charamba’s Herald article, I was particularly interested in one statement that Charamba makes which is fundamental. He says “it is clear that God does not like the idea of people worshipping other gods.” This is true, and as Zimbabwe People First, we have come out categorically clear that, “we say ‘No’ to worshipping of leaders which we equate to idolatry.”
We have also made it clear as a party, that “notwithstanding our non-negotiable independence, we declare our total dependence on God. He is the only One we shall praise and worship, not any individual.”
This is a value that we hold dearly as a party. It is expressed in our Motto “Worship, Respect, Support.” It is therefore surprising that individuals like Charamba who hail from an organisation that worships an individual, an organisation that deifies Mugabe, seek to tutor us on the subject of blasphemy and God being a jealous God who does not brook the idea of his people worshipping other gods.
Charamba, if he did not know, belongs to a cult called Zanu-PF where Mugabe is their god, according to Saviour Kasukuwere, the National Political Commissar of the party.
Kasukuwere told Zanu-PF supporters, while launching Auxilia Mnangagwa’s parliamentary election campaign in Chirumanzi-Zibagwe last year, that “there is only one Zanu PF and it is the one which is led by our god, President Robert Mugabe,”
If there is someone in this country who wants to play god, it is Mugabe who doesn’t chide his subordinates when they declare him a deity.
On the contrary, ZimPF is led by Dr Mujuru, a devout Christian who understands that no human being, dead or alive, can play the role of God.
It is in this vein that Dr Mujuru understands that if she has sinned against God, as is the case with any individual, the right thing to do is to seek the face of God in true repentance and after that her sins, whether as red as crimson, will all be washed as white as snow.
This is a personal and private exercise with her God which does not take forever before one is forgiven. We all have that privilege as children of God, to seek his face and ask for forgiveness, that is, if we don’t take ourselves to be gods like what happens with Zanu-PF and Mugabe.
While Dr Mujuru has a role, at a personal level, like any individual who doesn’t presume to be a god, to ask God for forgiveness, it is the role of others who understand her political and social life to correct the many distortions that her political opponents have been propagating for political expediency.
It is that which I, Jealousy Mawarire, will do, to my uttermost ability and for that, I make no apologies to Charamba or his god, Robert Mugabe.
I am fully aware that Charamba and his clones in the state media are out to paint a false picture that “Joice Mujuru has been identifiable with corruption and greed which even her expulsion from Zanu-PF has not cleansed her of,” but in equal measure, we shall make Zimbabweans know the real greedy among us.
In our endeavour to correct the many lies that have been broadcast about Dr Mujuru, we shall expose the real corrupt people in our midst.
It is a fact that Dr Mujuru is not a greedy person and for this reason, she did not line up to get any farm during the land reform programme despite the fact that she, and her late husband, lost two farms that she bought in 1985, Kumurinje and Kadogen farms in the Shamva area. She was content that the one farm that General Solomon Mujuru got would suffice for her and her husband.
Unlike some greedy, so-called Dr Amai, who is in the habit of taking all prime land that she sets her eyes on, regardless of the fact that some black Zimbabweans are now settled on the same land, Dr Mujuru and her husband got only one farm during the land reform programme despite the fact that they had lost two of their farms to the same programme.
It is also a fact that where the Mujurus had more than 700 hectares of arable, red clay soils with title deeds, the widowed Dr Mujuru now has less than 500 arable hectares of sandy loom without title. On the other hand, President Mugabe and his wife, from being landless in 1999, now own more than 33 farms with a total hectarage of 76 000.
These are stubborn facts on the ground and many Zimbabweans who care to know, understand that President Mugabe and his wife are multiple farm owners who did not just loot the country’s land, but have been trying, through parliament, to force Zimbabweans to pay for personal loans that they took from banks to invest on the farms that they invaded. That is what is called greedy Mr Charamba.
We have also observed some veiled insinuations and attempts at questioning Dr Mujuru’s morality. It is surely a cause of concern not only to Dr Mujuru, but to all those that fight for gender equality and women’s rights, that when female politicians rise to the occasion, some misogynists like Charamba seek to play voyeurs who peep into their sexuality and sexual lives.
It is a fact that Dr Mujuru has been widowed for close to five years now and has carried herself with dignity and uttermost respect for her late husband and his family. She has not been involved in any scandal save for the lies propagated by mentally unsound individuals who, themselves, failed to keep their marriage vows and bore children for married men while they were still under monogamous marriage contracts.
Dr Mujuru has done so much for this country and its womenfolk that it is ironic that women are being hired by power hungry male politicians to vilify her.
As Minister of State (Community Development and Women’s Affairs) she introduced a strategy to speed up the advancement of women’s issues.
According to the Herald 26 September 1985, the programme called for a “realisation that the development of women was a key factor to general development of a society because of women’s central role in the family and their numerical majority in society.”
The paper also adds that the strategy was aimed at “strengthening government’s will to devise policies, avail resources and programmes that would benefit women.”
As Minister of State (Community Development and Women’s Affairs), Dr Mujuru also championed the enactment of key legislation that had fundamental transformational benefits to the status and well-being of women in this country and the least that women should do to her, is to refuse to be used by men to vilify one of their own.
The Legal Age of Majority Act of 1982, which allowed women who had passed the age of 18 to enter into any contracts without the consent of a male guardian, was championed by Dr Mujuru. She was also instrumental in the enactment of the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1985 which recognised, for the first time, both the direct and indirect contribution of a woman to family prosperity.
The Act gave the courts the power to equitably distribute the family wealth according to the contribution, both direct and indirect, in the event of divorce and to determine which spouse was to get maintenance fees.
During her time in government, Dr Mujuru also championed the enactment of laws that ensured women got paid their full salaries while on maternity leave, equal pension contribution for both men and women and separate taxation for married people.
As a young, poorly educated minister of government in 1980, she championed adult literacy to benefit both men and women who had been disadvantaged educationally, by the colonial and patriarchal systems.
She, personally, undertook studies from ‘O’ levels until she attained her Doctorate degree recently, not only for her personal development, but to give inspiration to young women and show them that they, too, could overcome seemingly insurmountable social, cultural, economic and political obstacles and still attain what they desire to be in life.
Dr Mujuru’s contribution in government, and particularly to the women’s cause is a brilliant example which shows that the role of individuals in government is not to drill boreholes and hand-out small packets of salt to villagers as Kasukuwere would want us to believe, but to provide legislative frameworks and creating an environment conducive for people to express themselves and pursue their aspirations in life. In so doing, you empower the whole country rather than a few individuals who can drink from your seasonal borehole.
Dr Mujuru did not just promote women’s issues in government but as one who became the youngest government minister at independence, she has a keen interest in the youths and how they could help in developing the country.
She laments that the older generation has betrayed the youths who, today, are a tragedy because they are not learning anything from the leadership of the older generations other than confrontation.
Dr Mujuru believes that in a democracy, there are values that need to be followed and the most critical and central to ZimPF is tolerance and for tis reason she has ensured that in ZimPF we build an institution that promotes constructive, peaceful divergence of views and that “ it is never “My Way” or “No Way” and that the youths play an important role in crafting their own future and that this future is guaranteed if the youths accept that every other citizen should be allowed to create that future.
Next week, I will deal extensively with Dr Mujuru’s vision on the role that youths and our Diaspora can play in Building Zimbabwe in peace.
This article was first published on Jealousy Mawarire’s blog, “Mawarirespeaks.wordpress.com
THE decapitated head of a man from Masvingo, who went missing last week, has been found near his garden. Lameck Mazodze, 62, of Mazodze Village under Chief Shumba, went missing on Saturday last week. On Tuesday, a boy from the same village, Josiah Mudzivo, 15, got a whiff of a pungent smell leading to the discovery of the head about 500 metres from the garden.
Police are still searching for the rest of his body. Family members yesterday dismissed a suggestion that Mazodze could have been attacked by wild animals and claimed he could have been murdered.
“His underwear, one of his shoes and a cellphone were found in the garden just beside a stump he was uprooting,” said a villager. Acting Masvingo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa said police were investigating the incident.
“I can confirm receiving a sudden death report of a man who went missing on March 26, only for his head to be found near his garden. We’re still investigating what could have killed the man,” said Asst Insp Dehwa.
Family members said they last saw Mazodze alive when he left home on March 26 saying he was going to work in his garden, less than a kilometre from his homestead.
Mazodze’s wife, Esnath Chadya, said the family was not bothered when her husband failed to return home as he had earlier told her that he wanted to do a piece job at Nemamwa Growth Point, about 10 kilometres away.
“We continued with our chores as usual. My husband sometimes spends weeks working at Nemamwa,” said Chadya. She said Mudzivo informed the family that there was a bad smell coming from their garden. “We became worried and when we couldn’t reach my husband, we called the police,” Chadya said.
She said an initial search led them to her husband’s shoe, underwear and cellphone. His daughter, Precious, 30, insisted her father was murdered. “I don’t believe that my father could have been attacked by wild animals as alleged by other villagers.
“Even if some villagers suspect he could have been attacked by hyenas, I know it’s not true. There has never been a case of a person getting killed by wild animals in this village,” said Precious.
She said if a wild animal had attacked her father, the family would have heard the noise because the garden was a stone’s throw away from the homestead. Precious said the family would have closure only if the rest of her father’s remains were found.-State Media
outburst…Dumiso Dabengwa By Chrispen Tabvura|The leader of Zapu, Dumiso Dabengwa has attacked his former boss, the late Dr Joshua Nkomo, accusing him of reneging and prematurely giving in to (Robert Mugabe) ZANLA demands and leaving them compromised, in the acceleration of events that led to the signing of the 1987 Unity Accord.
Dabengwa was speaking in retrospect, during the memorial service of the late ZIPRA commander, Lookout Masuku, at an event organised by Ibhetshu lika Zulu.
Lieutenant-General Lookout Khalisabantu Vumindaba Masuku, affectionately known as Mafela died on 5 April 1986 at Parirenyatwa Hospital, in Harare after succumbing to cryptococcal meningitis.
“Our leaders did not do justice to us, as they failed to update us on the reneging tactics displayed by our ZANLA colleagues. They opted to be diplomatic and this led us to where we are, in abject poverty and our reputation in shambles,” said Dabengwa.
Going further he added saying: “the history for the liberation is also totally distorted and without the mentioning of ZIPRA, as if we did not fight for the freedom of Zimbabweans. We are now acting as if we are shadows of freedom fighting, our children are deprived of the true history.”
Speaking on the same forum, the controversial former Minister of National Healing and Reconciliation, Moses Mzila Ndlovu, called for the removal of all Shona names on Bulawayo streets to replace them with the names of Ndebele freedom fighters.
“We need to have all streets named after Shona freedom fighters in Bulawayo renamed, especially Robert Mugabe way be renamed after our Ndebele fighters, who have been down played and suppressed,” charged an emotional Mzila.
“Baba Dabengwa, I am going to tell the truth and will always die telling the truth. The Shona speaking people in ZANU PF never liked Ndebeles from ZAPU. They designed the grand plan to eliminate all Ndebele activists and their leaders, which they did when they forced Joshua Nkomo into exile,” Ndlovu said.
He went further to assert, “after that they locked you Baba Dabengwa and Lookout Masuku on trumped up charges and later released you after the Unity accord, which was agreed after the massacre of more than 20 000 Ndebele speaking people.”
Beitbridge- A local man lost one of his testicles after being mauled by his own dog last week.
Last Dube of Beitbridge, has been hospitalised after the dog he has lived with for the past two years suddenly attacked him on his way to the veterinary department so that it could be vaccinated. Dube said the dog attacked him without provocation.
The dog pulled him to the ground at least three times as he attempted to free himself in the vicious attack.
It then ravaged his pelvic area in an unabated attack on its master.
Dube whose manhood was also badly damaged was visibly in pain when he narrated the ordeal.
“I was on my way to the veterinary department when the dog suddenly attacked me. I have been feeding the dog for the past two years and I am still wondering what went wrong. I don’t know what provoked the dog. I was badly hurt and I am still in deep pain,” said a traumatised Dube. Although he survived the relentless attack, Dube said the dog should be shot as soon as possible. Eyewitnesses watched from a distance as the dog attacked a hapless Dube.
“We could not come to Dube’s rescue because the dog was vicious. It ripped off his trousers and tore his pants and he was seriously injured. He lost one of his testicles as a result of the attack The man was only rescued by a taxi driver who drove towards the dog. That is when it released him. He was then taken to hospital since he was wincing with pain,” said an eyewitness.
A veterinary officer here said the dog could have been infected with the deadly rabbies virus.
Harare- Police investigating the Gushungo bombing fracas have released journalist and Media Centre director, Earnest Mudzengi, who they had detained early yesterday.
In a statement the Zimbabwe lawyers for Human Rights said they “are relieved that journalist and Media Centre Director Ernest Earnest Mudzengi has just emerged out of Harare Central Police Station, where he fielded questions from police detectives over an article published on The Zimbabwe Sentinel, an online news portal.
“The story which the police detectives took interest in quoted jailed Zimbabwe People Front Party leader Owen Kuchata declaring that his political party would roll out demonstrations to compel President Robert Mugabe to step down as leader of the troubled southern African country.
“Police also questioned Mudzengi, who received legal assistance from Gift Mtisi of ZLHR, about the operations of the Media Centre and recorded a statement from him as they consider to treat him as a witness in a case in which they are reportedly investigating.”
sad loss…WInnie MandelaAfrican National Congress (ANC) struggle stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s application for ownership of her late former husband Nelson Mandela’s Qunu home was dismissed with costs by the Mthatha High Court on Thursday.
In his last will and testament, Mandela left the Qunu property to all members of the Mandela family as a place to unify them. The former President was married to Graça Machel when he died on December 5 2013.
Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyers filed papers during 2014 and claimed that the property had been obtained while she was married to Mandela and belonged to her in terms of AbaThembu custom.
Advocate George Bizos, one of the executors of the former president’s will, opposed the action lodged by Madikizela-Mandela. The matter was dismissed with costs.
Madikizela-Mandela was left out of Mandela’s will, which was released in February 2014.
Shortly after the court decision, the royal family of the Kingdom of AbaThembu issued a statement in which it welcomed the judgement handed down in respect of the ownership of the Qunu property.
“We still believe that there was no need for Nkosikazi Nobandla Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to wait to be told by a court of law that Nkosi Dalibhunga Nelson Mandela was indeed a man of integrity who properly applied his mind before he finalised his will,” said spokesperson Daludumo Mtirara.
“We believe that Nkosikazi Nobandla Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Mandela was misled by some members of the family. We further believe that she did not receive a legal advice she mostly required. We want this judgment to be used as a frame of reference for learning purpose because we are guided by custom, tradition and trends.
“This matter should have been addressed by the Mandela royal family, if no agreement, elevated to the royal family of the Kingdom of AbaThembu. We are aware of the tasks that is before us in aligning procedures and processes to address challenges that the sister royal houses might be facing. Even though she lost the case in court, she remains a member of the Mandela royal family by virtue of her former marriage and the Mandela children that she beared. However, she must respect our traditions and the functioning of the traditional royal structures” [all sic].
Winnie Mandela’s lawyer Mvuzo Notyesi indicated afterwards that they intended appealing the decision. mail and guardian
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai today announced his shadow Cabinet that he said will work hard in crafting and articulating alternative policies and programmes for the country.
He announced his shadow cabinet before the party’s national executive committee that met in Harare today to discuss the national crisis, adding that he had no doubt about the capacity of the men and women he had appointed.
Tsvangirai stressed to the executive that the shadow Cabinet will not be a shadow of the ZANU PF Cabinet in the strictest sense because the current government had failed and there was nothing either to monitor or to shadow. Moreover, he said the current Cabinet was structured taking into cognizance the need to balance the ZANU PF factions and not necessarily to transform the lives of people.
He said the MDC would not follow a template tainted by patronage, tired nationalism and factionalism. He bemoaned the apparent policy discord currently in government and said the MDC team will be robust in taking government to account and in policy articulation.
Apart from the shadow Cabinet, President Tsvangirai also appointed a team of portfolio secretaries that will shadow key Commissions, regulatory and statutory bodies.
The Shadow Cabinet
1. Finance —— Hon. Dr. Tapiwa Mashakada
2. Energy Development and Procurement ——– Eng. Elias Mudzuri
3. Transport and Infrastructure ——– Hon. Morgen Komichi
4. Policy ——- Hon. Nelson Chamisa
5. Tourism, Parks and National Resources ——- Hon. Sithembile Mlotshwa
6. Information Communication Technologies ——- Mr. Khalipani Phugeni
7. Local Government and Public Works ——- Mr. Jameson Timba
8. Mines and Small scale Mining ——- Hon. Gabuzza Joel Gubuzza
9. Urban Development and Re-Enginering ——- Hon. Eddie Cross
10. Foreign Affairs ——- Hon. Theresa Maonei Makone
11. Health ——- Dr Henry Madzorera
12. Public Service, Labour and Social Security ——- Hon. Purina Mpariwa
13. Defence ——- Hon. Gift Chimanikire
14. Home Affairs ——- Rtd. Major Giles Mutsekwa
15. Women’s Affairs ——- Hon. Fanny Chirisa
16. Legal Affairs ——- Mr. Douglas Togarasei Mwonzora
17. Commerce, Industry, Trade, Small and Medium Enterprises — Mr. T. Mureyi
18. Education, Tertiary and Vocationl Training —– Prof. Heneri Dzinotyiwei
19. Agriculture, Infrastructure and Food Security —- Mr. Valentine Ziswa
Portfolio shadow secretaries for statutory bodies and key institutions
1. Zimbabwe National Roads Authority (ZINARA) ——- Hon. Bheki Sibanda
2. Judicial services Commission ——- Hon. Innocent Gonese
3. Zimbabwe Electoral Commission——Hon. Murisi Zwizwai
4. Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority ——- Mr. Blessing Chebundo
5. Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission——Jon. Jessie Majome
6. Gender Commission ———- Hon. Lillian Timveos
7. Zimbabwe human Rights Commission —- Hon. James Makore
8. Zimbabwe Media Commission——Mr. Job Sikhala
9. Peace and Transitional Justice Commission—-Hon. Concilia Chinanzvavana
10. Sports Commission ——- Mr. Clifford Hlatshwayo
11. Public Service Commission —— Hon Tracy Mutinhiri
12. Traditional Leadership ————- Hon. Misheck Marava
13. National arts Commission ———– Hon. Agnes Sibanda Mloyi
14. Zimbabwe National Water Authority —– Dr Mandhla Nyathi
15. People Living with Disabilities, Special Needs ——- Mr. Denias Mudzingwa
The shadow Ministers for Lands and Water Development and Youth Affairs will be announced in due course.
Luke Tamborinyoka
Presidential Spokesperson and Director of Communications
Movement for Democratic Change
Harvest House
Chitungwiza Municipality has been implicated in a massive corruption case which has prejudiced the local authority of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The graft which was unearthed by an internal audit, includes the illegal selling of land by individual Councillors to unsuspecting home seekers.
Newsday reports of an data trail revealing that several councillors and workers usurped the role of the planning department by identifying undeveloped stands and submitting land for verification and allocation to the department of housing.
The culprits would then allocate the stands to themselves and other connected beneficiaries, thereby enriching themselves while prejudicing council of the much-needed revenue.
“Councillors are policymakers and identification of undeveloped stands and open spaces should remain the duty of the planning department,” the report said.
One councillor (name withheld) was implicated in the sale of more than 40 stands. Several other councillors were also implicated in the scam.
The report said site plans were being drawn by outsiders for use by council, a development that had worsened the illegal allocation of stands.
Chitungwiza mayor, Phillip Mutoti yesterday referred all questions to the town clerk, George Makunde.
Makunde was at first evasive when asked to comment by NewsDay and demanded to know who had leaked the report.
“Who gave you that report? Where are you getting those things?” he queried.
But when pressed further, Makunde said the matter was being looked into and promised to issue a statement when investigations were complete.
“It is a matter that is still being investigated, but all I can say is that we have received reports from residents complaining that certain Councillors are taking over repossessed stands and selling them or building their houses on them.”
Chitungwiza municipality is not new to corruption in 2010 the town’s former MDC-T mayor, Israel Marange, was arrested and convicted for corruption.
That was after the MDC-T had fired more than 10 of its Councillors on similar allegations.
Leading human rights activist and torture survivor, Zimbabwe Peace Project Director, Jestina Mukoko, was this week honoured by US Second Lady Dr Jill Biden, among global activists, as they celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the International Women of Courage Award.
Mukoko a journalist by profession was on December 3, 2008, abducted during the night, from her home, by state security agents and held for several weeks in which she endured and survived the most gruesome torture.
In 2010 Mukoko, was awarded the International Women of Courage Award by the US government. In the picture coverage below Mukoko is seen with other women of courage from around the world, being honoured by Mrs Biden.
Police in Harare has raided the Media Centre and its director Ernest Mudzengi for running a website Zimbabwe Sentinel website www.zimsentinel.com for publishing a Gushungo story.
Mudzengi was picked up by three plain clothes police officers who said they wanted him to interogate him over a story on Gushungo Dairy (owned by President Robert Mugabe) bombing plot published by his website which was authored by a freelance jounalist Mlondolozi Ndlovu.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has since deployed a lawyer to represent Mudzengi.
“Human rights lawyers have finally located journalist and at Harare Central Police. Police have informed lawyers that they are treating Earnest Mudzengi as a possible witness in a case in which they are investigating,”ZLHR spokesperson Kumbirai Mafunda told ZimEye.com.
Freelance jounalist Frank Chikowore wrote on his Face book page
“The arrest of Mudzengi is an affront to freedom of expression enshrined in the country’s constitution.
“There is no reason to arrest Mudzengi as some of the alleged plotters have since been convicted by a competent court of law in this land. Mudzengi MUST be released unconditionally”.
Professor Jonathan Moyo who claims to be a veteran of the liberation struggle, made a no show at the highly important war veterans meeting in Harare today, Thursday. Moyo has openly said he is a war comrade who following his stint in Tanzania, was dispatched to the United States for studies (listen to the below audio).
It was a no holds barred Thursday afternoon in Harare, when veterans told Robert Mugabe, they want Moyo’s sidekick Saviour Kasukuwere fired and a war veteran put in his place. They argued charging that the national commissar job is for ex fighters only. Moyo was unavailable for commenting at the time of going to press. CONTINUE READING – LIVE UPDATES –
Mugabe continues to plough into the country’s liberation history while skirting the issues raised by war veterans… issues like the duties of the commissariat department in the party, regarding the mass suspensions.
Mugabe said “…people should not lie that have gone to Singapore for treatment. I won’t die vanyare…”
In reaffirming that he has no intention to leave office anytime soon despite his age and frailty, Mugabe calls on mmbers to avoid concentrating on succession and focus on building the economy.
“Many countries are willing to help us..the Chinese..India and Japan…they want to help but zvinwe vanoti bhadharaiwo”
15:20
If you were disciplined during the war, you should continue to do that after the war. You should respect your elders…
15:05
Mugabe still addressing….
“Our party used to have a strong ideology…war vets did not fight for financial gains..but independence,”he says.
#zimbabwe#mugabe to #warvets: we went to war to give independence to Zimbabweans oppressed by whites. Not to say i shld get some money.
14:55
Mugabe has promised to give war vets mines, urges them to take any mine they want…he says the country is theirs…”the whole of the mining companies are open…start your mines we have trained people but they only want to work for whites”
He promises land to war veterans..”there are still white farms that we can chase away…”
“After realising there was a lot corrupt activities foing on in the allocation of land…all applications for land will now come to my office..”
14:45
In a shocking revelation, Mugabe says, in the 2013 elections, he pleaded with army chiefs to reclaim electoral victory and assured them to retain their positions after the victory.
“The war veterans’ demands will be looked at depending on what Finance minister (Patrick Chinamasa) will say.
He, once again, blames sanctions and says things are easing up. This is despite the gloomy economic outlook that Zimbabwe is facing as companies shut down amid a deepening cash crisis.
“We are in a diffiult position due to sanctions..but things are easing up.”
The opposition parties have always accused Mugabe of manipulating the country’s electoral system by militarising it.
14:35
Mugabe appears to duck the issues raised by the war veterans as he rattles on about political power dynamics in elections in Zimbabwe, focusing on the 2008 elections where he lost to Morgan Tsvangirai and accusing former Vice-President Joice Mujuru of de-campaigning him.
“Others were no longer happy, saying the country could not be kept captive by Mugabe… (like) Mavambo(/Dawn/Kusileparty leader Simba Makoni) … vana (Joice ) Mujuru formed Mavambo kuti vaone kushamwaridzana navarungu
14:25
President Mugabe goes down the history lane, narrating the path of the liberation struggle. He then emphasises that war veterans need to unite.
“I have actually suggested to (Secretary for War Veterans in Zanu PF Sydney ) Sekeramayi that we will meet again in 2017.Zvichemo zvaiswa apa zvizvhinji zvisina kuzadziswa, you are pleading for help on your welfare… we were forced into a coalition with (Opposition MDC-T leader Morgan) Tsvangirai because of some of our leaders…we have to safeguard the values of the party”
14:15
Mugabe: Mujuru wanted me to lose in 2008 so that she would form coalition government with Morgan Tsvangirai
13:45
In a thinly veiled attack on Zanu PF National Political Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, the committee on ideology said the party’s commissariat is to teach the party’s ideology, and not to fire or suspend members.
This comes as Kasukuwere has been behind a spat of suspensions and expulsions in the party. They called for constructive criticism and suspension of members should be done according to party constition.
The central committee should have the final vedict.
13:25
War vets have requested representation in central committe and politburo “…politics and guns should co-exist even in America…party commissar is the commissar of the army”
The war veterans have requested annual meetings with the president to examine the party’s ideology, and the establishment of a war veterans wing in Zanu PF.
13:25
Thematic group on ideology continues with its report
“War veterans supported indigenisation, but most war veterans said have not benefited…they demanded transparency….and 20% quota in every indiginisation deal”
“There is no unity and loyalty in the party…this is weighing on patriotism….lack of ideology is now causing factionalism..this is threatening splittong of the party”
In what could be a reference to slogans that praise First Lady Grace Mugabe, the committee on ideology has recommended that ‘slogans should prop the name of party…president and not a living person who is not the president…slogans should first be approved by central committee like before”
13:17
Thematic group on ideology presents its report
“…the party is anchored on socialism…we looked at various things..our slogans, what we are doing as a party, politics the supremacy of politics over the gun, we also looked at educational ideology”
“War vets agreed that the party has done a lot to maitanin socialism but all efforts failing due to lack of money to support agriculture.”
13:00
President Mugabe seen struggling to keep awake, briefly closing his eyes and dozing off as the thematic committee on the economy gives its report.
“Preference for appointment for strategic positions ..eg permanent secretaries..ambassadors…lands officers etc..should be given to former combatants not withstanding their academic qualifications since they were tried and tested during the struggle”
“War vets’ children shld be given preference to presidential scholarships… and war veterans should be given 30 % in disused mining claims.”
12:40
Thematic committees are now presenting their reports.
1. Welfare committee
The welfare committee reports highlights that government should expand services so that former combatants can access health care, education..fees for their children, scholarships, land, duty free vehicles, and residential stands
2. Thematic Committee report on economy
“Economic status of war vets does not reflect on their contribution to the liberation struggle… this is contrary to the provision of the constitution which requires the state to legalise the improvement of their economic welfare…they said their are entitled to a good pension, health care..which has not been done”
“We want preferential treatment as provided by the constitution….war vets should be exempted from paying tax on land, and inheritance of land by spouses of war vets should be enshrined in the constitution.”
The committee demands demands a stake from mineral produce…for a war vets revenue fund.
“Affirmative action shld be taken by state to help war vets who want to venture into business, as individuals or groups”
12:30
War veterans ministers Tshinga Dube pleads for unity..says all revolutionary parties have managed to maintan unity among its combatants.
Says Tshinga Dube, “War veterans were grouped into five…the first group deliberated issues of war vets welfare. The second was on economy…to ensure that the economy is turned around for the good of the war vets. The third…party ideology and the fourth was in threats to the liberation. Fifth was on liberation heritage.”
He acknowleges Chiwenga, Chihuri, Zimondi, Valerio Sibanda, Shiri…members of high command.
12:20
War veterans like Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa, Joice Mujuru and many others who have left Zanu PF are not present at the meeting in what can be viewed as a meeting of only those war veterans aligned to Zanu PF.
Not much fireworks are expected from this meeting as war veterans are going to give feedback on the thematic committees that met yesterday and President Mugabe will address before the meeting ends.
12:10:
Accompanied by Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, President Robert Mugabe walks in. The entourage includes Kembo Mohad, Ignatius Chombo, and Sydney Sekeramayi
Conspicuously absent is the First Lady Grace Mugabe who has previously stoked conflict after publicly chiding war veterans leader Christopher Mutsvangwa.
Sitting on the front row with Mugabe is Oppah Muchinguri, Mohadi, Sekeramayi, Tshinga Dube, Mphoko and Chombo.
According to the programme, the meeting starts at 1:30 p.m.
So far thousands of the war veterans have gathered at the City Sports Centre and they are seated according to their provinces.
Mashonaland provinces bay look lively, playing to music from the police band..while Masvingo and Midlands and Bulawayo look tense.
Christopher Mutsvangwa is seated in the front row, not the the high table, with Victor Matematanda sitting close to him.
On the high table are the following, Simon Khaya Moyo, Simbarashe Mumbebgegwi, Webster Shamu, yes Webster Shamu, Marble Chinomona, and Cain Matema.
Prying into spouse’s phone a crime….judge rules
Harare High Court judge Justice Tawanda
Chitapi has ruled that it is illegal for a spouse to pry into their partner’s mobile phone to read messages and other information in the phone without the owner’s permission.
Justice Chitapi made the landmark ruling as he sentenced Fortunate Nsoro (36) of
Chitungwiza for knifing her husband to death for refusing to show her a “suspicious” text message that he had received on his
cellphone.
Nsoro fatally stabbed Petros Mutasa (55) in February last year, in a dispute over the text message which her husband had received on his cellphone.
Justice Chitapi convicted Nsoro of culpable homicide and sentenced her to 10 years in jail.
He suspended two years for five years on
condition that she does not commit a similar crime within the period.
The judge used Section 57(d) of the new
Constitution, which guarantees every person the right not to have the privacy of their communications infringed.
Below are the latest details concerning the baby boy found dumped in a blair toilet at Fairfields, Mvuma on Saturday. READERS’ NOTE: Those wishing to donate to the lad’s welfare are advised to do so via Mvuma Hospital where the lucky boy is currently hospitalised.
The latest witness statements say the lad was dumped on Thursday not Friday as earlier claimed, and so likely spent two nights in the pit. Baby shortly after he was discovered on Saturday morning.
The little lad was spotted Saturday morning after his voice was heard crying 6 feet below while soiled in smelly human waste in the pit. People who rescued him struggled to do the task only to finally manage using the help of specials tools.
MYSTERY EXPLAINED:
A certain Mr Mtangi who witnessed some of the drama on Thursday last week has spoken of his recollections.
Mr Mtangi voluntarily states that he regrets ignoring to alarm bells raised by his wife, that a woman who was with them at the bus stop on the morning of Thursday 31st March 2016 around 10am had visited the toilets at Mushaike- Fairfield’s business centre and returned with out the baby hence a towel which was seemingly strapping the baby at her back, was dangling on her waist without the baby.
Urayayi further states that, he was accompanying his wife to board a bus to Harare where his wife was taking their own baby for medicals, and in no time had a Harare bound bus arrived and his wife still awe struck boarded the bus and left whereas, the baby dumber walked scort free heading for Mvuma town +-14 km away from Fairfield’s with the belief that her baby had drowned in what she thought was a fasces infested pit latrine.
Urayayi best describes the woman as of middle height and most probably in her middle 20’s, thereabout between 23-28 years of age and of chocolate completion.
The woman was wearing a black gin skirt, a purple blouse and carrying a black satchel.
Mr Mtangi further states that, before the dumbing of the cute baby boy, the woman looked confused and troubled, hence he dared to enquire since he was equally troubled with his own kid’s illness.
The baby miraculously survived in the latrine, six meters in the ground for more than 2 and half days- approximately 50hrs without and devoid human interaction up and until he awoken on the 2nd of April in the comfort of human faeces when he heard my voice!
When I saw the baby cry, I could tell it was going to survive and the boy did survive.
Long live sir “Fairfield’s Chamakanda” the name I attribute to this handsome “beautiful” miraculous baby!
A SECURITY guard has been arrested after he allegedly shot dead a suspected illegal gold panner at Epoch Mine in Filabusi following a 15km high-speed chase.
A group of about 15 gold panners allegedly sped off in a Toyota Hiace when security guards approached them, at around 7PM on Tuesday.
The vehicle was parked at the mine, where thieves stole 102 gold carbon boxes on Monday.
The chase ended at Filabusi Business Centre when Lufukudo Mgande of Para Reserve Security and Private Investigators, fired a bullet that shattered the rear windscreen of the Hiace.
It hit the panner, Wellington Moyo in the back of his head. He died on the spot.
Police, the state media established, freed the rest of the panners after searching the vehicle and finding metal detectors.
Residents declined to speak on the matter saying they didn’t see the incident as it occurred at night.
But the security company’s managing director Spare Sithole said Mgande was not to blame for the fatal shooting of Moyo.
He said his guards were professionals who would not recklessly shoot suspects. In this case, he said, they fired warning shots, before shooting at the vehicle.
“After realising that they were not stopping he tried to shoot the kombi’s tyres but missed because of the bumpy roads. The bullet hit the panner in the back of his head. We sincerely apologise that a life was lost but my security guard shouldn’t shoulder the blame,” he said yesterday.
Sithole said the guards were following a lead following a burglary.
“On Monday at about 2AM we received information that there was a break in at Epoch where 102 gold carbon boxes were stolen. Yesterday night at about 7PM we were investigating the case and we saw the kombi and tried to stop it. However, they sped off resulting in a high-speed chase,” said Sithole.
He said the panners only stopped after a security guard had shot a tyre on the vehicle.
“He was executing his duty. He fired warning shots but they didn’t heed his warnings. Even after the panner was shot his friends didn’t stop. They only stopped after he fired the second shot when he aimed at the kombi’s wheel,” said Sithole. He decried disrespect given to security guards saying they deserve the same respect as is given to other law enforcement agents.
“As long as security guards are called omahobho they’ll never be respected. They’re serving the country and should be given respect. They’ve initiated citizen arrests on several criminals but people are not recognising their importance,” he said.
When a state media news crew visited Filabusi yesterday, the kombi had been impounded at the local police station. Matabeleland South Acting police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nkosilathi Sibanda said the matter had not reached his office.
A 14-YEAR-OLD boy from Luveve suburb in Bulawayo has appeared before a magistrate’s court for allegedly sodomising three boys from his neighbourhood.
The boy, whose name cannot be disclosed for ethical reasons, allegedly had anal sexual intercourse with the three minors aged eight, nine and 13, a court heard on Monday.
He appeared before provincial magistrate Abednico Ndebele facing three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
Ndebele did not ask him to plead and remanded him out of custody.
“The accused is a minor and in order for him to be tried, permission has to sought from the prosecutor general’s office. You shall therefore be advised of the dates when you will be expected to appear at the Bulawayo regional court for his trial,” said Ndebele.
The boy admitted to having anal sexual intercourse with the three minors.
“I admit to the crimes against me,” he said.
Prosecuting, Mufaro Mageza told the court that on a date unknown to the prosecutor during the month of September 2015, the boy approached the 13-year-old victim and asked him the whereabouts of a pair shoes that he had borrowed.
Mageza said the boy threatened the teen and forced him to have anal sex with him.
He said he would harm the boy if he told anyone about the incident.
The prosecutor said his second victim was the nine-year-old boy.
The court heard that on September 8, 2015 at around 6PM, the victim was playing with his friends and the accused at his place of residence.
“Whilst they were playing the accused person instructed the complainant to pull down his trousers to knee level and bend over.
“The complainant complied and the accused had anal sexual intercourse with him once,” said the prosecutor.
The court heard that the eight-year-old became the boy’s final victim before the matter came to light in October.
“On a date unknown but during the month of September, 2015, complainant was playing with his friends when he was approached by the accused.
“The accused instructed the complainant to pull down his trousers and he complied after he had been threatened,” said Mageza.
“The accused had anal sexual intercourse with him once,” said the prosecutor.
Mageza said the three minors were medically examined and a medical report can be produced in court as an exhibit.
Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo| A prisoner who is a notorious robber, has vanished out of Mutimurefu Prison in classic James Bond style.
Kudakwashe Nyashanu is nowhere to be seen after he successfully crept out of the prison.
A senior Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services (ZPCS) boss has since landed himself into trouble after assisting the inmate to escape from jail in a suspected case of corruption, ZimEye.com can reveal. SEE THE SATELLITE MAP below to track alternative routes Nyashanu likely took during the drama. [ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW]
Shepherd Chinhara a senior officer based at Mutimurefu Prison, 15km from the city of Masvingo, assisted Kudakwashe Nyashanu, who was serving a 76 month jail term for robbery, to escape from prison by concealing him in his vehicle boot.
According to police reports, Chinhara drove his car and parked it near the place the inmates were carrying out their duties. He then left the car boot open and Nyashanu jumped into the vehicle. Chinhara immediately drove away from the place towards the main gate where he instructed a junior officer not to conduct a routine check of the vehicle.
However other inmates who witnessed the whole drama alerted the prison officer on duty, leading to Chinhara’s arrest but Nyashanu had already escaped.
“Chinhara who is a senior prison officer has been implicated in a jail escape scandal at Mutimurefu Prison and he has since been arrested. He is assisting the police with investigations. He used his influence to assist the inmate to escape from jail. He is expected to appear in court later this week. Chinhara is currently in custody after being nabbed over the issue,” said a police source.
Although his motive was not known at the time of writing, it is widely believed Chinhara was promised payment in cash.
A member of the Police Constabulary was fatally stabbed on Monday evening in Shurugwi after he attempted to arrest a suspect who was wanted in connection with an assault case.
Isaac Muzira died on the spot after he was stabbed with a knife on the left side of his chest by the suspect, identified as Thamsanga Sibanda.
Chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba yesterday confirmed the incident.
“On April 4 at around 2pm, police constable Muzira was on duty and in police uniform together with constables Chitimbe and Mushambi when they received a report of assault,” she said.
She said this was after William Sibanda had reported that Sibanda had assaulted him following a misunderstanding involving gambling. Snr Asst Comm Charamba said investigations were still in progress.State Media
President Robert Mugabe has beaten Joice Mujuru on vital factors of tact, strategic vision and planning, so far. At the rate of unfolding events, a 94 year old Mugabe will send his pro·té·gée Mujuru to the cleaners in 2018.
Joice Mujuru is Zimbabwe’s comfie queen, always relaxed who even when her husband was killed in 2011 and then a few years later, her farm violently burnt down, soon after being openly warned of her imminent fate, would remain cuckolded inside until she suddenly fell from her “heaven”, banished forever by Robert Mugabe.
Mrs Mujuru has today continued her chill-spree saying she will win the upcoming 2018 elections resoundingly with neither brand nor plan while carrying the murderer Didymus Mutasa’s face. Unless they brand themselves and be identified with a set agenda or objectives, they will continue to grapple in Zimbabwe’s political darkness – into oblivion.
So far their body language betrays a worrisome double mindedness. A factor comparative analysis from across the Limpopo will point that Mujuru has failed what the young Julius Malemas have managed through strategic branding and focus which now make him the Malema the ANC’s greatest threat ever. The fact that to date, the PF project has no clear brand or catchy party slogan, and not even a single campaign message string that resonates with the masses, demonstrates that it is spirit-less. It betrays the suddenness with which the party was formed, propelling it onto the limelight when it was least prepared.
Consequently, since the party was officially launched some weeks ago, not only does it seem to follow every direction the wind blows, but many in its leadership have strenuously tried to brush off past misdeeds of various natures which refuse to die. Not even the tag of opposition politics is strong enough to white-wash the dirt and blood on the hands of many in the leadership.
Their lack of strategy and identity were this week betrayed by two isolated events. The spirited way in which they came out in full support of the notorious disgraced War Veterans. Every democracy loving Zimbabwean knows and understands fully well the history of the notorious war vets during the previous elections. The violence they unleashed upon innocent citizens, the rape of women, the wanton looting the trauma that whole communities are still suffering from today. Full reports are at large concerning this an example being the following – Zimbabwe’s 2008 Elections Featured Systematic Rape.
One wonders what lapse of judgement would cause this new kid on the block to quickly embrace an outfit that has outlived its purpose in a future Zimbabwe that even the 92 year old Robert Mugabe distances himself from. He is currently panicking and sees them as a volcanic liability, while Mujuru remains chilled about them.
While PF wants to posture as a new democratic force with a new value system and ethos departing from its mother the ruling Zanu PF party, its failure to deal decisively with the question of war veterans openly displays the fact that the umbilical cord has not completely been severed.
Furthermore, recent reports in the newspapers that former Minister Didymus Mutasa might well be on his way back home to Zanu PF further build onto this theory. Also compounded by the fact that even in the building of structures those who have terrorized whole communities, such as the party’s provincial chairman for Matebeland South, Jabulani Mathuthu, are rewarded without any sensitivity to the people that in their hey days of power, they terrorised.
In this left right dance, the Mujuru camp wants to curry flavour with the pro-democracy movement, while at the same time remaining fully embedded and hoping to keep links with Zanu PF.
Warriors in action
THE Mighty Warriors remained on track in their campaign to qualify for the Africa Women Cup of Nations when they narrowly beat Zambia in the first leg of the final soccer qualifier at Rufaro yesterday.
A first-half goal by striker Kudakwashe Basopo just before the half-time break kept their hopes alive as they struggled to settle in the game, especially in the opening half.
However, Mighty Warriors coach, Shadreck Mlauzi, was contend with the 1-0 win over their neighbours from the north of the Zambezi River as he hailed his defenders for not conceding a goal in yesterday’s match.
“We could say we are a good side especially our defensive aspect, we rarely concede. So going away again it’s going to be a very different ball game altogether.
“So what is important is as we are going away with a (slender) 1-0 lead. What we wanted to avoid was that scenario where we conceded an away goal. So at the end of the day we are happy we did not concede.
“So going forward I think on our side it’s plus two goals given that when we go away we are not going to sit back, we are still going to search for a goal and hopefully consolidate what we have done here,” said Mlauzi.-State Media
Moyo….Wicknell-Chivayo Humiliated ZIFA donor Wicknell Chivayo has fired “bullets” at Higher Education Minister Prof Jonathan Moyo who this week said ZIFA does not need Chivayo. Below was Chivayo’s unedited outburst written on his social networking portal:
I just decided to rush to London and spend the weekend with my sisters , I’m having too much stress with these football issues. Others are misquoting me saying I’ve made a U turn , I said the balance over 3 years which is clever way of saying NO MORE….The next money I will ever give them will be next year in November….I was also very disturbed to hear yesterday that Professor Jonathan Moyo said the Warriors don’t need Chivayo’s money they need corporate sponsorship.
With the greatest respect Honourable Minister your opinion surely is irrelevant at this stage…. HOOO NHAI MAKA JAIRA KUCHICHIDZIRA VANHU VASINA MARI VASINGA PINDURE NE KUTYA OFFICE DZENYU….MA OFFICE ENYU HAACHA TYISA NEKUTI RINO DOKA GUSHUNGO VAKU RONGEDZESAI MAVA KUMBA MUKOMA… TAKAZVIONA IZVI AMAI MUJURU VAI TSENGA MVURA ICHI BUDA MASVISVINWA asi nhasi kana kusangana navo HANDIVA MHORESE because I have no need to….THE BIG MAN BEHIND YOU NDIYE ANE YESE MUGARE MAKAZVI ZIVA BOYZ DZANGU. HIS EXCELLENCY ROBERT GABRIEL MUGABE is the only reason why we respect you…..
At this stage i would be more interested to hear what the Minister of Sports or the Minister of Finance would have to say. If one of those two said Warriors don’t need your money I would honestly feel very relieved. I’m having sleepless nights WILLARD KATSANDE is calling and texting every day if you withdraw my boss I’m resigning as the Captain , MUSONA is also calling and texting our Boss journalists are very unprofessional please forgive us we need you , COSTA NHAMOINESU Boss we are sorry for that article , us as players are happy with your efforts. PHILLIP CHIYANGWA is calling and texting Wicky my dear brother i love you forever please forgive the nation this reporter anopenga chete. MINISTER OF SPORTS Mr Chivayo we apologize for the wrong article the country is grateful for your support for football…..
Then who are you to come up and say the WARRIORS don’t need his money. Nhai MUKOMA JONONO I’ve always thought you where a Proffessor maybe your PROF title means PROPHET….what is corporate sponsorship ? Do you think I print this money at home ??? What difference does it make if I’m taking it from my company ??? Ask your best friend Phillip Chiyangwa other than HARD CASH which account I always transfer all the money that I have given him in retrospect from ??? If an individual is richer than corporates then why not allow him to do as he wishes for the nation? Where are the said corporates and what has been stopping them from coming in all these years. Corporates are run by individuals who make the decisions and can actually react the exact same way so let’s all focus on the issue at hand.
When I came to drop PHILLIP CHIYANGWA at your house after the match ndakaona parking yenyu yaka zara zvi motikari zvaka siyana siyana ko makadii kutiwo as a patriotic citizen I’m donating this car to the COACH WE MA WARRIORS….All i was saying was CHAKANAKA CHAKANAKA mukaka haurungwe tendai mwana we vanhu anogona. Makapedzisa kuiona rini 4 – 0 mu National Sports Stadium ? Ma players aiziva kuti PAY MASTER , mbada yedu SIR varimo mu ground. That’s all the motivation they needed. Others are said to be demanding apologies but let’s get it right I’m a self made MILLIONAIRE i would never stoep so low and over react over such a small thing on the expense of the NATION but semunhu ane mari yake if that reporter and his paper don’t APOLOGISE for writing a false story where I’m performing exceptionally kana CENT MUNONYEBA never ever in my life. If they apologize ko ndiri munhu mukuru I will forgive them…However having said that once bitten twice shy MARI NDOUYA NAYO MU GROUND HARD CASH ndopa ma players angu GAME OVER NDOENDA…
Ndino ziva ma politicians mukaona attention yawandisa pa munhu one munovhunduka kuti akazo torwa ne imwe party angatinetse mangwana but zvandiri we ZANU PF hard core wani TEAM BOB for life…MABAYA WRONG BUTTON VAKURU VANGU ndiri muzukuru wa CHENJERA ndinoera MOYO CHIRANDU ndinobva pa GANDAMI apa mu WILTSHIRE…MUGARE MAKA ZIVA KUTI HAPANA KANA ZVAMUNO NDIITA….
By Ndaba Nhuku| The humiliated ZIFA sponsor who this week pulled away from his pledge and now brags saying he can employ the national coach, Kalisto Pasuwa at $7,000 per day Wicknell Chivayo… a convicted fraudster
for the next 7 years, Wicknell Chivayo, is a convict of money laundering of a shocking nature. He is even a Chikurubi maximum prison inmate- resident, ZimEye.com can reveal.
This reporter can reveal Chivayo has even altered his surname to dodge forensic detection. The 35 year old Wicknell Chivayo (real name – Wicknell Munodaani Chivhayo), is a cheque fraud and money laundering convict well known at Chikurubi prison between 2005 and 2008, the High Court has revealed.
Contrary to his self-doctored claim using the late politburo member John Nkomo’s name in which he says he inherited money from his father, indelible court files blown open this week reveal Chivhayo made his fortune rather from crime loot through mainly bank fraud as this investigation shows with impeccable traceable detail.
While former Army Captain (and UCAD leader) Albert Matapo also revealed Chivhayo is a long serving inmate and Chikurubi resident, court archives show the man is the leader of a syndicate that pocketed an initial R1million from stolen cheques Chivhayo himself encashed into his own bank account. Court records narrate before he rose to fame, “Chivhayo on the 4th and 5th July 2002, “unlawfully received some money which was the proceeds of crime and which was in the form of three cheques which he deposited into his bank account, and that on 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9 July 2002 he withdrew the money from his bank account and disposed of it, when he knew or ought to have known that the money was derived or realised, directly or indirectly, from the commission of an offence.
“Alternatively, Chivhayo was charged with theft by false pretences, the allegation being that during the period extending from 28 June 2002 to 15 July 2002 he unlawfully and with intent to steal misrepresented to Digby Sean Nesbitt that he had deposited R837 000.00 into Shane Peter Nesbitts bank account in South Africa in exchange for $37 665 000.00, which sum Digby Sean Nesbitt was induced to hand over to him, whereas the sum of R837 000.00 had not in fact been deposited into Shane Peter Nesbitts bank account.
“Chivhayo pleaded not guilty to both charges. He was, however, found guilty of the main charge and was sentenced to five years imprisonment with labour, of which two years imprisonment with labour was conditionally suspended. He applied for leave to appeal against the conviction but the application was dismissed by the learned Judge in the court a quo on the ground that there were virtually no prospects of success on appeal. His application for bail pending appeal was also dismissed”.
COMMENT: At first we had Paweni. Then came Peter Pamire and Philip Chiyangwa. Now we have Sir Wicknell Munodaani Chivhayo. These people have no foundation for their wealth except that they have used hook and crook tactics and spill blood to rob the weak and the unwary. With good cash in their hands they have turned to ZANU PF, giving it donations to secure protection and amnesty. If this is the so called “in line with ZimAsset”, that means Zimbabwe is doomed and is now a cheap nation without ethics and rules.
This week many heads rolled to realize that Wicknell Chivhayo had promised to pay the national coach Pasuwa some monthly salary only to renege on the undertaking on the very last minute. For the last two months the kept mum as he went unpaid and would not come out clearly for fear of having the promised deal aborted. It was just sad in that Chivhayo’s promise was never deeded in writing as a contract that is why he can call the shots at any time. Pasuwa is not to blame because even the “wise” Chiyangwa who is also an illiterate desperado, failed to realize the need for a written contract. Desperate as the national team and ZIFA are, anything that looks like cash is welcome because our government is broke to the marrow.
It is now unfortunate in that even cash from thugs, gangsters, robbers and fly-by-night murderers is now finding its way into becoming acceptable cash for sponsoring national events like soccer. That only happens in the Third World because if it were in the first world, someone could be behind bars as we speak. The anti-money laundering regulations are clear enough. No sane government would want to be associated with robbery proceeds or blood money. This is the sad day that we find Zimbabwe struggling to accept any form of money without even checking where it is coming from.
Wherever Chivhayo stole the millions from is now a puzzle. He is now a hero who can afford $3000 for lunch to pay Pasuwa. At four vacations a month, what more can he ask for when Zimbabwean authorities are that docile and desperate? And the fact that he now donates and wines and dines with people like Philip Chiyangwa makes him eligible for protection as an untouchable figure. The internet is already awash with the dirty past works of Chivhayo on how he used to steal and rob people. All that has been forgotten and he is the very person who has now been favored with government tenders like the Gwanda solar project when he can’t even read or write, let alone appreciate what business is all about.
Only in Zimbabwe do we worship village yokels, zombies and confused cockroaches once they start smelling like real money. Where else in the world could a Form 2 drop out become head line news of the day when the world already knows that he is a thug and a robber?
Chivhayo is now rich or rather wealthy. But he stands eligible for being a rich fool because he is empty headed. He can’t express himself. He is illiterate and can only use his cash to find his way and associate with top government ministers who are also feeding from his trough. Now he is a protected man and his money is being sanitized. Where is the ZACC? Where is the Minister of Sport? How about the Minister of Justice? Where are we going with this infraction of ethics and rules? How can we accept stolen money to fund our national team? Worse still how can we be promised cash that will never come as the sponsor keeps changing posts and tries to escape the obligation as he pours vitriol on journalists doing their job?
It’s a sad for Zimbabwe. Cry the beloved country. Even murderers, thugs, prostitutes, or thieves get hero-worshipped in the idolatry of Zimbabwe where any headline with a robber or thief sells the papers. It’s a sad day.
Some of the women pose for a pic in Harare today
Armed police hoardes in central Harare on Wednesday blocked a peaceful march organized by the Zimbabwe Women in Politics Alliance who are demanding a quick repatriation process of the women stranded in Kuwait after falling prey to bogus Kuwaiti employment agencies.
Police detained one of the organizers of the event, Lynnette Mudewe who they summoned to Harare central police station.
The march was also meant to hand over a petition to the Kuwaiti Embassy in Harare and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights’ Kumbirai Mafunda, said the police were at 11am holding (3)three protesters including Lynette Mudehwe over anti-trafficking demo. “Zimbabwean police currently holding three human rights campaigners Tendayi Lynnette Mudehwe, Ndakaziwa Gatsi and Loveness Kudzanga in a truck at Megawatt Building in central Harare as they prepare to stage a protest demanding that government expedite the return of several Zimbabwean women, who are victims of human trafficking in Kuwait.
“Protesters are proceeding with the demonstration at the Kuwait Embassy in Belgravia in Harare,” he said at the time.
However the demo was eventually blocked by the police and Miss Mudehwe detained.
On Tuesday The Zimbabwe Women in Politics Alliance said it was deeply concerned with the continued trafficking of Zim women and the slow pace the government of Zimbabwe is taking on the repatriation process of those still stranded in Kuwait.
Over 200 Zimbabwe women are said to have been trafficked to Kuwait over the past few months.
A 27-YEAR-OLD Victoria Falls woman was yesterday ordered to perform 280 hours of community service for stabbing her husband with a kitchen knife following a domestic brawl.
Tracy Moyo of Mkhosana high-density suburb was convicted on her own plea of guilty when she appeared before Victoria Falls resident magistrate, Rangarirai Gakanje charged with physical abuse.
The court heard that on July 12 last year, Moyo’s husband Zamani Sibanda (33) arrived home from Chinotimba and found his wife away from home. She arrived a few minutes later, and a fierce quarrel ensued after Sibanda asked about her whereabouts.
Moyo, in a fit of rage, stabbed him several times on the right leg. Sibanda was then rushed to hospital for medication, leading to Moyo’s arrest.
In her defence, Moyo said Sibanda caused her to lose her temper after he labelled her a prostitute.
“I admit to the charge, but he is the one who started to slap and punch me accusing me of being a prostitute. He then took the knife from the kitchen to stab me, and as l was trying to take it away it accidentally stabbed him on his right leg,” she said.
Moyo was initially sentenced to 10 months imprisonment before eight months were suspended on condition of good behaviour and the remaining two months were commuted to 280 hours community service at Victoria Falls Magistrates’ Court.-Agencies
TWO prominent businesspeople with suspected links to President Robert Mugabe have been fingered in the ongoing international financial fall-out over what has become known as the Panama Papers.
Panama Papers are a series of confidential financial information leaks held by Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca and Mugabe is named as having allegedly benefited through Zanu PF-linked business tycoons John Bredenkamp and Billy Rautenbach.
According to reports, in 2009 Mossack Fonseca ended its relationship with Bredenkamp allegedly after revelations of his links with Mugabe.
“Bredenkamp, on the firm’s books since 1997, had been described in 2002 by a United Nations expert panel as ‘experienced in setting up clandestine companies and sanctions-busting operations’.
“In 2008, months before Mossack Fonseca cut ties, Bredenkamp was sanctioned by OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control, a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the US government charged with planning and execution of economic and trade sanctions in support of US national security and foreign policy objectives) for allegedly being a ‘crony’ of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe and a well-known Mugabe insider,” media reports quoting the papers claimed.
Mugabe, at the height of his political confrontation with Western countries and in the aftermath of the imposition of sanction by the European Union and the US, challenged his accusers to bring evidence that he owned anything outside Zimbabwe.
Bredenkamp has consistently denied allegations linking him and his business ventures to Mugabe. In 2012, Bredenkamp successfully overturned European Union sanctions against him and his companies.
But, according to the Panama Papers: “One company, Tremalt Limited, purchased equipment for armies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations alleged. It took seven years before a Mossack Fonseca employee reported internally that an Internet search implicated a separate company the law firm said was owned by Bredenkamp in a series of allegations concerning arms deals.”
Another government-linked business magnet, Rautenbach, has also been fingered in the reports and described in the documents as one of Mugabe’s “alleged bagmen”.
Other leaders named in the leaks include Yulia Tymoshenko, “a former Ukrainian Prime Minister and oligarch nicknamed the ‘gas princess’; Beny Steinmetz, an Israeli billionaire who had reportedly used a Mossack Fonseca-incorporated shell firm in the British Virgin Islands to pay a bribe to a wife of the homicidal dictator of Guinea, where Steinmetz was seeking (and subsequently got) a huge mining concession”.
Eleven million documents were leaked from one of the world’s most secretive companies, Mossack Fonseca.
The leaks also detail the offshore activities of family members and associates of former Chinese Premier Li Peng, ex-British Prime Minister David Cameron, Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak, and former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, among many other oligarchs across the world. newsday
Dear Editor, The below picture has been received from Glenn Stutchbury/Ross Kennedy of Vic Falls Safari Lodge. A Black mamba – approx 6.5m long – spotted near a cemetery in Triangle – fundi’s reckon a mamba this size probably hatched during the 60’s and would carry enough venom to kill 400 men
Dear Editor,
The below picture has been received from Glenn Stutchbury/Ross Kennedy of Vic Falls Safari Lodge. A Black mamba – approx 6.5m long – spotted last week near a cemetery in Triangle – fundi’s reckon a mamba this size probably hatched during the 60’s and would carry enough venom to kill 400 men.
Two ZBC journalists who broadcast the picture of witch doctor Nehanda Nyakasikana (D.O.D 1897) standing aside the famous Marondera man in shorts (Tezvara), are in hot soup. Tezvara picture doctored into Witch Doctor Nehanda Nyakasikana’s photograph
On Monday state broadcaster, ZBC, caused a stir by broadcasting a video displaying the doctored Tezvara standing with Nehanda.
The mishap went viral on social media with Zimbabweans from all walks of life ridiculing ZBC’s incompetence.
ZBC on Tuesday apologised for the video saying it was going to correct the story.
“ZBC apologises for the “tezvara” picture yesterday. Mbuya Nehanda’s role in the struggle will be tackled today,” said the state broadcaster on its Twitter handle, Tuesday.
Sources at Pockets Hill, ZBC head offices told ZimEye.com that two video editors who as is alleged, “doctored” the Tezvara picture, were under fire.
“The two have since been asked to write comprehensive reports explaining why they decided to doctor the picture, but we see this as a witch hunt because they are not responsible for the final broadcast. Their duty is to edit not broadcasting content,” said one journalist who requested not to be named.
Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo| Teachers here have slammed the move by the Education Ministry led by Lazarus Dokora to distribute templates of his national pledge craft to schools, calling it a direct attempt to indoctrinate pupils with the Zanu PF mantra.
Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Sylivia Utete Masango, representing her boss Dokora, last week dished out to the templates to school pupils in Masvingo claiming the national pledge would be mandatory because it reminded pupils about their social background, national heritage and the gains of the liberation struggle.
The national pledge, expected to be launched on May 3, requires pupils to salute the national flag while reciting words perceived to be deeply political in nature.
The national pledge reads in part:”I salute the national flag, respecting the brave fathers and mothers who lost lives in the Chimurenga /Umveleke. We are proud inheritors of the riches of our resources. We are proud creators and participants in our vibrant traditions and culture.”
Angry teachers in Masvingo Urban blasted Dokora for the deliberate attempt to inculcate the Zanu PF Chimurenga mantra in school pupils.
Teachers who spoke to ZimEye.com after the pupils received the templates said:”We are deeply worried about the move to introduce the so called national pledge. Dokora has gone too far in an attempt to please his boss President Robert Mugabe. The national pledge which will be launched on May 3 does not have any direct benefit to the pupils.
In fact it is a political move aimed at indoctrinating school children.”
Pastors have also attacked the move with a Masvingo based one Pastor Godfrey Zenda also weighing in his protest saying it violates spiritual freedoms of the citizenry.
Mugabe is expected to attend the official launch of the national pledge at a school in Matabeleland next month.
Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo|Barely a few months after she swiped at First Lady Grace Mugabe as a young woman who should not be found usurping men’s authority, Masvingo Minister Shuvai Mahofa has laid into her own boss Robert Mugabe saying his leadership has the failed the nation. In her first address in the ancient city last week, Minister Mahofa told party members at Victoria Primary School she was disappointed by the lack of zeal on the part of her boss Mugabe’s administration.
The outspoken Mahofa who has just returned to office after a lengthy absence following what many believed was a deadly sickness caused by food poisoning, attacked Mugabe’s administration for allowing the food crisis in Masvingo Province to continue. She said the failure by the government to come up with poverty alleviation methods, reflected a lack of commitment.
“Masvingo is a province that is hard hit by drought and we did not receive food aid from government in February and we want our allocation to come.The food being distributed is not enough to feed the people in need in the province. We need to be more committed towards food relief efforts.I am surprised by what is happening. Even those who lead us have to reflect the passion to help those in need of food aid,” said Mahofa.
Although Mahofa subtly mentioned the need for commitment from her said “leaders”, many party immediately expressed displeasure saying the minister’s words were pointing at President Mugabe.
“Mahofa must show respect for the government leader who is President Mugabe.How can she say the government has failed to feed the province of Masvingo yet she is part of the system?Therefore her utterances were loaded with evasive talk. She has to be careful with what she says,” said a senior provincial member.
bribery claim…Munyaradzi Kereke
Zanu-PF Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke yesterday accused former Minister of Media, Information and Publicity Webster Shamu of demanding $2 000 to reveal who framed his rape case and the minister was trapped and caught with the extortion money.
Continuing with his defence yesterday, Kereke said Shamu demanded the money so that he could help him manage the rape case.
“I reported the matter to higher officials in Government and a trap was set involving Central Intelligence Organisation boss Musafare Nyamudahondo and his junior,” said Kereke.
“We used marked notes and drove to Shamu’s Borrowdale Brooke home, me ahead and Nyamudahondo following. All evidence was collected and the highest office is aware of this.”
Kereke alleged that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission bosses were bribed with houses and money so that they did not investigate former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Dr Gideon Gono.
“Gono summoned two ZACC bosses one Butaunashe and (Eric) Harid and gave them $10 000 and $10 500 respectively as gifts to go on holiday.
“Houses were bought for (Ngonidzashe) Gumbo and placed on shelf companies using State money.
“A house was bought in Alexandra Park for a female commissioner who was in charge and another in Borrowdale for Gumbo.
“I wrote to Retired Maj-Gen Happyton Bonyongwe to look into the matter because it was a clear corruption between Gono and ZACC.”
Kereke told the court that Dr Gono paid a Standard reporter, Caiphus Chimhete, and fed him with information to smear his career.
“Chimhete invaded my privacy when he entered my bedroom pretending to be a relative of my wife Patience Maramwidze during an inspection in loco,” said Kereke.
“However, David Butau confessed and apologised to me for the rape case after his relation with Gono turned sour.
“This was after Butau was accused of externalising 450 000, which saw him fleeing into exile to United Kingdom.
“I managed to help him prove that the 450 000 was money meant for agriculture equipment transferred to him by Gono to buy foreign currency.”
The magistrate, Mr Noel Mupeiwa, ruled that hearsay evidence was not allowed after Kereke started divulging what Butau communicated with the mother of the alleged victims, Chipo Maramwidze.
Kereke suspected Butau of having an affair with Chipo.
Kereke disowned the gun register book produced in court as an alien document. “I signed for a black ledger book printed by Fidelity Printers with serial numbers on each page not the tiny counter book brought in court,” he said.
A FATHER is defending his own daughter’s alleged rapist in a classic case of colluding motives.
The alleged rapist, Tavengwa Timire, 34, a teacher at Gebbuza High School in Hwange, has been arrested for allegedly raping his wife’s mentally challenged younger sister on numerous occasions.
Timire of Ingagula in Hwange, pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of rape when he appeared before Hwange regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga.
Interestingly, the victim’s father will today testify in favour of the alleged rapist son-in-law.
Timire, an Art teacher, claimed his wife’s younger sister, based in Bulawayo, was out to fix him.
“We had consensual sex,” Timire told the magistrate as he disputed that the victim, 20, is mentally retarded.
He was staying together with the victim in Hwange when the alleged abuse took place in 2010 and 2011 until she moved in with another sister in Nkulumane 5, Bulawayo. The woman was once his student at Gebbuza and Timire could not explain the kind of grudge that would make her fabricate rape charges against him.
The court heard Timire’s wife, the alleged victim and their sister based in Bulawayo were now not on talking terms as the accused’s wife begrudges them for reporting her husband who she had been shielding since 2011 to protect her marriage.
Prosecuting, Tawanda Sigauke said the alleged rape started in April 2010.
“Sometime in April 2010, the accused sneaked into the victim’s bedroom and raped her once. In September 2010, Timire again entered the spare bedroom and had sex with the complainant,” said Sigauke.
The court heard that Timire’s wife, who suspected that her husband was having an affair with her sister, had also sneaked into the room and was hiding under the bed while the two had sex. She allegedly slapped her younger sister but didn’t report the case, the court heard.
“Between January and August 2011, Timire allegedly raped the victim several times as he would enter her bedroom in the absence of his wife,” said Sigauke.
The matter came to light when the victim relocated to stay with the Bulawayo-based sister and revealed to her how Timire had been sexually abusing her.
The court heard that for some time, the Bulawayo-based sister tried to engage her elder sister (Timire’s wife) on the issue but she chose to keep quiet to protect her husband and her marriage.
“He approached me begging for an out of court settlement but I refused because he took advantage of my sister’s mental condition and connived with his wife to conceal the crime,” the victim’s Bulawayo-based sister told the court.
A report was made at Nkulumane Police Station leading to Timire’s arrest.-State Media
JUNIOR doctors have finally signed contracts with the government, ending a month-long impasse.
The doctors yesterday told the state media: “We did it in the interest of patients.”
The doctors, just out of university, refused to sign contracts on March 1 saying the agreements were tantamount to slavery.
A group of young doctors at Parirenyatwa led their colleagues to append their signatures on the agreements yesterday.
“In the interests of patients, we’ve decided to end this stalemate and join the country’s health sector although we’re not happy with the contracts being offered. We also discovered that some signed the contracts Nicodemously, so we feared victimisation,” said the doctors, through a representative.
At Mpilo Central Hospital, sources said doctors took the contracts home and promised to return them today after signing.
Gerald Gwinji, the Ministry of Health and Child Care permanent secretary, said the junior doctors are starting work today. “Yes they’ve signed. Check with the institutions tomorrow (today), you’ll find them working,” said Gwinji.
Over 60 doctors had petitioned the Health Service Board (HSB) over a decision to employ them as contract workers.
The decision resulted in an acute shortage of health personnel at public hospitals as junior doctors refused to sign the contracts. In a document titled “Petition against the proposed doctors’ contracts”, sent to the HSB, the junior doctors said: “We junior doctors of the class of 2016 are petitioning you to rescind the document presented to us as a ‘Contract for an Internship Training Programme’. After perusing this document, we have found it to be grossly flawed as it violates our constitutional rights, labour laws as well as women’s rights.
“The contract doesn’t state how much one earns during the period and prohibits us from joining any grouping or trade union so that the government can exploit us.”
The contract, the junior doctors said, denied female doctors maternity leave if they fall pregnant, a clause which was amended in a revised contract.
The government has offered them a gross monthly salary of $895, before allowances.
The new contract now states that female doctors can only fall pregnant after serving for 12 months.
Referral hospitals such as Mpilo, United Bulawayo Hospitals, Parirenyatwa, Harare Hospital and Chitungwiza, which together serve millions of patients each year, were the hardest hit.-State Media
A make or break meeting is underway in tomorrow in Harare with President Robert Mugabe. The President is being descended upon by war vets recently angered at the treatment of their leader Chris Mutsvangwa among other ills allegedly committed by Mugabe’s wife, Grace.
They are meeting Mugabe tomorrow, in meeting analysts says represents their last chance to ever speak to Mugabe while he is in power – READ WAR VETS LAST CHANCE.
War Vets Minister Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube told the state media the meeting is going ahead despite wide reports of intimidation and discrimination in the selection of delagates set to meet Mugabe.
“The war veterans are meeting tomorrow (today) on their own to come up with thematic reports to be discussed at tomorrow’s meeting.
“In actual fact, the kick off conference is on tomorrow in preparation of the main meeting with the patron (President Mugabe) the following day.
“Delegates started arriving today (yesterday) while some will arrive tomorrow morning to join their fellow comrades for discussions.”
At least 10 000 war veterans are expected at the meeting scheduled for the City Sports Centre in Harare.
Zimbabwe has 34 093 surviving war veterans and a third of them, mainly representatives will attend the indaba.
Dube said accreditation of delegates progressed well countrywide including in Harare where there were challenges on Monday. He said resources for the event were being mobilised.
“Things are now moving in the right direction in terms of logistics and we are managing,” Rtd Col Dube said.
“We had challenges because the process of mobilising money is cumbersome but things are in the proper order at the moment.
“As for accreditation of delegates, we haven’t received any reports of hiccups meaning everything is going according to plan in all the provinces.”
The National Railways of Zimbabwe top management received almost $1 million in salaries last year processed through an executive bank account held with a local bank, The Herald Business has learnt. The revelations come at a time when NRZ workers have not been paid their 2015 salaries. NRZ workers are currently on strike to force the company to pay up. NRZ acting general manager Lewis Mukwada confirmed the payments to senior management but said other junior workers were also paid in the same way.
“The payments that went through the executive account in 2015 related to 2014 salaries that were still being disbursed. It is thus not true that management salaries are up to date,” said Eng Mukwada.
“Payments to NRZ executives have a separate pay office and are processed through an executive bank account held at CBZ bank. This is in line with common industry practice. The manner in which NRZ has been disbursing its salaries is that it starts with the lowest paid first and end up with senior management,” he said.
“Because these disbursements are not covering the full salary, and sometimes stretch to more than one month before the next disbursement is made, the organisation has cumulatively picked up 14 months of salary arrears. This applies to everyone, including senior management.”
Eng Mukwada said there is nothing untoward about the method of payment for senior management as it was common practice in business.
“The managers whose salaries are paid through the executive account are the general manager, directors and branch heads (a total of 20 members of senior management). Allowances for the NRZ board members are also processed through the Executive account,” he said.
Information at hand shows $843 318,86 was moved from the NRZ main account into the National Railways of Zimbabwe Executive Account Number 20220310136 held with CBZ, Bulawayo, during 2015. Total debits from the executive account for the 12 months amounted to $844 662,90. From that executive account, top management received varying amounts sometimes thrice a month.
The executive account, which opened January 2015 with a balance of $3 605,61 received $97 000 in the same month made up of $10 000, $50 000, $20 000, on January 9, 14 and 19 respectively.
More deposits were made on 20 and 27 of the same month of $12 000 and $5 000 respectively.
Many more deposits were to be made into the account throughout the year, bringing the total to $843 318,86. The documents show that Eng Mukwada received a total $44 386, in varying amounts some as high as $3 833 received in January last year. During some months, Eng Mukwada received as many as three payments.
For instance, Eng Mukwada received two payments of $2 928 and $1 227 in September and two more payments in October of $2 811 and $1 114.
Furthermore, he received three payments on December 14, 18 and 31 of $2 973, $1 114 and $2 020 respectively. The late technical services director, Egnettah Kurebwaseka received up to $85 687 during the year.
Other top managers who received payment from the same account include the former operations manager Dannies Nyoni who received $68 058. Mr Nyoni has since left NRZ.
Marketing director Elector Mafunga received $45 924 throughout the year while human resources manager Gilbert Ndlovu made $38 477 paid out in varying amounts.
The national rail carrier is currently locked in a fight with workers who say that they have not been paid for the last 15 months. The workers have downed tools in protest accusing managers of creaming off while they sink deeper into poverty.
The Zimbabwe Amalgamated Railway Workers Union president, Kamurai Moyo said NRZ workers were owed for the whole of 2015. However, the organisation paid workers last year to clear arrears for 2014.
“Railways employees have not been paid their salaries for the whole of 2015. Workers were receiving salary arrears for 2014. For 2014, NRZ is paying 80 percent of monthly salaries,” said Mr Moyo.
He said so far employees in sub grade A1-B2, NRZ’s lower grades, have been paid their 80 percent for January 2015. For employees in the B3-B5 sub grades management has offered to pay varying amounts which the workers are not sure how they were arrived at.
Other beneficiaries from the same account include Shadreck Ndabambi — $19 973; David Sithole — $27 698, among others.
NRZ is wholly owned by Government and was established to provide, operate and maintain an efficient system of public transportation of goods and passengers by rail.
The NRZ operates a rail network stretching 2760 route kilometres of 1067mm gauge track. But the parastatal is operating well below capacity due to operational challenges including obsolete systems and the general economic environment.-State Media
On trial…CMED’s Mhaka
CMED (Pvt) Ltd managing director Davison Mhaka has been arrested on allegations of obstructing the course of justice after he reportedly cooked up papers showing how $2,7 million in the botched fuel deal was spent.
Mhaka was arrested on Monday and appeared before Harare provincial magistrate Mr Vakayi Chikwekwe yesterday facing charges of defeating or obstructing the course of justice and violating the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act.
He was remanded to April 20 on $500 bail.
As part of his bail conditions, Mhaka was ordered to continue residing as his house in Avondale West in Harare, surrender his passport to the Clerk of Court, report every Monday at CID Serious Frauds and not to interfere with State witnesses.
Mrs Idah Mateke-Maromo prosecuted.
According to the State, sometime in February 2013, CMED, through its fuel division, invited companies to bid for the supply and delivery of diesel amounting to five million litres.
It is alleged that four bidders responded by supplying quotations, among them First Oil Company (Private) Limited, represented by Alex Kudakwashe Mahuni and Alloys Nyamadzawo.
On February 22, 2013, First Oil Company was awarded the tender to supply and deliver the fuel to CMED.
It is alleged that to induce payment, Mahuni gave CMED confirmation letters from Petrotrade and National Oil Company of Zimbabwe that they were holding the commodity on behalf of First Oil Company and that the diesel would be released upon payment to their company.
On March 1, 2013 CMED transferred $2,2 million into First Oil Company’s ZB Bank account and six days later, a further $100, 000 was paid to First Oil by CMED.
The State says despite the payment, no diesel was delivered. This resulted in an overall prejudice to CMED of $2,7 million.
Investigations carried out revealed that Mahuni and Maxwell Katunga, being signatories to First Oil Company account, instructed ZB Bank to transfer $2 360 000 from their account to EBG Hong Kong Limited’s bank account number OSA 11013768250901 held by Ping AN Bank Co Limited in China.
According to the State, ZB Bank indicated that the two confirmation letters from Petrotrade and National Oil Company of Zimbabwe were inadequate to facilitate the release of the money as it wanted CMED to have title to the fuel before releasing the money.
On March 5, 2013 CMED, represented by Mhaka and Brian Manjengwa, the then parastatal’s fuels manager, wrote to ZB Bank instructing them to release the money although they had not secured fuel.
The money was then transferred to China and despite numerous follow- ups no fuel was delivered to CMED.
On July 2, 2013 a fraud case was reported to police by CMED leading to the arrest of Mahuni, Katunga and Nyamadzawo under CR Number 457/07/13 and DR Number 30/07/13.
Investigations were conducted and what remained outstanding was to get a confirmation from EBG Hong Kong Limited Bank in China regarding the movement of the money.
It is alleged that in a bid to defeat the course of justice and to conceal the movement and disposal of the money, Mhaka, working in cahoots with Mahuni and Katunga -who are still at large -approached an IT expert in South Africa through Daniel Chidenyu, a Zimbabwean national based in the neighbouring country.
Mhaka requested through Chidenyu that the IT expert, only identified as Pablo, to concoct company registration documents and bank statements reflecting the disposal of the $2,7 million.
In August 2015, the IT expert allegedly produced a document purporting that several transactions were made and that companies named during the transactions existed.
The document was allegedly handed over to Mhaka after being paid 250 000 rand.
The State further heard that, armed with the said document, whose contents Mhaka knew to be false and malicious, presented it to the National Prosecuting Authority so that they would be exonerated from fraud charges.
It is alleged that sometime in November 2015, Mhaka on realising that their fictitious documents were not conclusive, contacted Chidenyu and instructed him to make closed circuit television footages purportedly showing one Killiana Bangure and Fanuel Kapanje withdrawing the fraudulently acquired funds from the bank.
Chidenyu reportedly turned him down citing that he had not been paid for the previous transaction.
Police carried out investigations into the authenticity of the document through Interpol and it was confirmed that all the accounts and companies mentioned in the document did not exist.
On February 23, Chidenyu came in Zimbabwe where he volunteered the information to the police and a statement was recorded.
In light of the foregoing, the accused person defeated the course of justice, lied before the court and concealed the movement of stolen money, the State
Zimbabwe’s gender rights activists, are on Wednesday staging a march in Harare, demanding an end to human trafficking.
This comes as an investigation revealed that hundreds of Zimbabwean women, have been smuggled and eventually turned into slaves and commercial sex workers in Kuwait.
The march movement includes top personalities the likes of Lynnette Mudehwe and Linda T Masarira, the Founder and National Coordinator for Zimbabwe Women in Politics Alliance.
“We feel let down and surprised at the slow pace at which the government of Zimbabwe is dealing with the trapped women in Kuwait after a period stretching about a month now, this is a case of misplaced priorities by the government,” said Linda Masarira.
She continued stating: “it is every government’s responsibility to ensure that their citizens are safe regardless of their geographical position worldwide. We also condemn the continual processing of travelling documents to unsuspecting women by the Ministry of Home Affairs and also to that effect, we don’t see any reason why these bogus employment agencies can still be left operating ,they must be immediately banned.”
The unedited petition by the Zimbabwe Women in Politics Alliance to the Kuwait embassy read: WE THE UNDERSIGNED, being members of the Zimbabwe Women in Politics Alliance including other civic society organizations and concerned Zimbabweans are:
Concerned about the trafficking of Zimbabwean women to Kuwait in the pretext that they will get jobs, which apparently is not the case.
Disturbed by the involvement of Kuwaiti officials and bogus agents in the trafficking of Zimbabwean women
Touched by the sexual harassment and enslavement of desperate Zimbabwean women being trafficked to Kuwait
Alarmed at the silence of the Kuwaiti embassy on the issue
Worried about the situation of some Zimbabwean women stuck in Kuwaiti
And petitioning for the safe return of the victims to their homeland; make the following demands;
That the Kuwait Embassy must play an active role in ensuring the safe return of the Zimbabwean women
The Kuwait Embassy must issue a public statement to clear the air on the trafficking of Zimbabwean women by its Embassy officials and other bogus agents
The embassy of Kuwait should ensure that its visa issuance system matches with best practice and they consider the safety of applicants first lest they expose desperate Zimbabwean women to bogus individuals masquerading as employers
Necessary steps are taken to ensure perpetrators are brought to book and that there is justice for victims.
We therefore append our signatures to this petition in solidarity with the victims of human trafficking.
by Ndaba Nhuku | The next 36 hours are the most crucial final moments in the history of Zimbabwe as Robert Mugabe’s replacement moment draws nearer. These are vital especially after the First Lady Grace Mugabe, said she wishes to wipe out the pride and memory of those who are slowing down the country’s progress with their brag of their military drag. (pun intended). There is sudden silence and trepidation. CONTINUE READING…
Meeting war vets …Robert Mugabe
“The party is the one that lays down systems and procedures…We might have associations as part of Zanu PF but they are merely associations…You can have charitable associations, war veterans associations, whatever they do, they should come through the party organs….There is no association with powers to dictate what the party has to do, so associations should come through party procedures…We went to war together and nobody can claim to be better than the other, even during the war we used to say politics lead the gun,” President Mugabe said.
President Mugabe, made the above assertion in response to the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), allegedly, advocating for him to resign, or rein in his wife Grace, on her perceived political ambitions to succeed him.
I think the President is right. The War Vets played no better role towards the liberation struggle of our country than anyone else. Without a political leadership they wouldn’t be there. Without our parents feeding them they wouldn’t have fought the war. Thus, we were all together in this horrendous war, and none can claim to be better than the other; or to have sacrificed more than others. It is therefore, foolhardy, for the War Vets who have no designated entitlement to be forcing any party, including Zanu PF, to pick a leader of the Association’s preference as a successor to Mugabe.
Furthermore, even the national Constitution recognises War vets, but doesn’t accord them any right to interfere with internal political party procedures. And please bear in mind that the Constitution says nothing about the ZNLWVA, but recognises war vets as individuals.
What does the Constitution say about War Vets?
23. Veterans of the liberation struggle
1. The State and all institutions and agencies of government at every level must accord due respect, honour and recognition to veterans of the liberation
struggle, that is to say–
a. those who fought in the War of Liberation;
b. those who assisted the fighters in the War of Liberation; and
c. those who were imprisoned, detained or restricted for political reasons
during the liberation struggle.
2. The State must take reasonable measures, including legislative measures, for the
welfare and economic empowerment of veterans of the liberation struggle.
The government has since the late Chenjerai Hunzvi leadership of the ZNLWVA, done a lot for the war vets.
As war vets leader, in 1997 Chenjerai Hunzvi advocated for their welfare needs whilst before, they had just been marginalised and abused to serve Zanu PF political needs.
Hunzvi was the only one who aggressively and bitterly criticised the Zanu PF leadership for profiting itself at the expense of the rest of the war vets who were ignored and left to live in poverty. He managed to force the government to give each war vet $50 000 in gratuities, including some other more exaggerated and ridiculous claims such as the war disabilities, a tax free pension and other freebies in health and education for themselves and their children attending state schools. Whilst this was commendable for them, unfortunately, it was unplanned and not budgeted for, subsequently crippling the economy, hence becoming the first incident that set war vets on a collision course with the general population.
The Constitution also clearly states that: “The State and all institutions and agencies of government at every level must accord due respect, honour and recognition to veterans of the liberation struggle…’’ Thus, this can be under any political party in government, and not particularly Zanu PF. Therefore, war vets should be appreciative that the Constitution covers their welfare needs, and their Association should be able to address concerns pertaining to these with any government of the day. This doesn’t mean the Association has to interfere with political parties by dictating its own wishes. Rather seek to enforce what it is rightfully, entitled to in the constitution without fear or resorting to blackmail.
The Constitution doesn’t exclusively recognise the body ZNLWVA, but recognises war vets as individuals with fundamental rights, just like those of any other Zimbabwean, to belong to an association and associate with any one of their choice. Thus, there is no clause that gives ZNLWVA any special status, it is not in anyway named as such in the Constitution; And there is nothing that says it should force itself or be forced to be an appendage of Zanu PF. The Constitution says,
58.1. Every person has the right to freedom of assembly and association, and the right not to assemble or associate with others.
2. No person may be compelled to belong to an association or to attend a meeting or gathering.
Thus the war vets are not compelled to belong to Zanu PF, hence many of them are found in other political parties; MDC T, MDCs, ZPF, etc. Can they dictate what they want in all these parties? If no, why then do they want to dictate to Zanu PF when their association in the party is supposed to be on voluntary basis? As it is, they have been used to destroy the country by thinking they are an organ of Zanu PF when they are not. The special relationship with Zanu PF or its politicians from the liberation era doesn’t mean forgetting their national role which inevitably crosses to other political organisations.
Whichever way the arguments swing, one thing is certain which is that when the Men of War descend on Harare on Thursday, this will be their last chance to speak into Robert Mugabe’s ears or forever hold their silence and never see another chance, I repeat, never again under the sun, to change the scope and substance of their future. History will mercilessly judge them as either idiots or heroes.
The king of Chimurenga music, Thomas Mapfumo, is jetting into the United Kingdom for the Leicester independence bash.
Mapfumo will be all live on April 16th for the 1st time ever Chimurenga Bira Festival. He will be featuring with his Blacks Unlimited(USA) band.
It will be Chimurenga NON-STOP PUNGWE at Leicester Corah Suite.
Also gracing the function will be workers’ union campaigner, Ray Majongwe, Steve “Dhongi Zvatsonyana” Makoni, Multi Skilled….Zee and The Heritage Survival.
Mapfumo will the following day engage a meet and greet at the Dunstable Family BBQ …. Sunday April 17th.
For tickets, contact:
Luton………………….King Alfred 079 3176 5639
Birmingham…………DJ Tee…… 075 5402 4914
Reading………………Memory…. 074 0258 8678
Leeds………………….Tau………. 079 3235 7240
Milton Keyes………..Sox………..078 7798 7016
Coventry……………..Boxer……..074 4757 7742
Derby………………….Ronnie……079 3260 7193
Nottingham………….Vinnie…….075 4937 7560
Leicester…………….Big Kev…..074 6062 7784
Manchester……….. Thomas….075 4937 7560
London………….Charmaine…..078 7725 5802
London………….Edwin………… 079 6023 7643
Birmingham……Andrew……….074 7849 9845
Manchester……Thomas……….074 2712 1160
A POLICE officer who is serving a suspension for demanding bribes to clear livestock has been arrested for attempting to rape a pregnant teenager at Jotsholo Police Station. Augustine Gumbo, 27, a constable, was allegedly caught naked after he broke into the witness quarter at the station on Saturday at around 11PM and tried to force himself on the 16-year-old.
Gumbo has a pending court case for abuse of office and forgery. The teenager is a State witness in a case where her husband, 22, allegedly slept with her and impregnated her when she was 12-years-old.
Her family allegedly agreed to let him marry her at the time but reported him to the police when he failed to pay lobola after she got pregnant for the second time. He was being held at the station pending a court appearance.
Police sources said Gumbo lusted after the young girl when he saw her doing menial chores at the station on Saturday afternoon. “Gumbo then came back later that night and tried to ravish the five months pregnant teen,” said a source.
“He entered the room where the witness slept, which is next to the charge office and jumped into her blankets and tried to rape her,” said the source.
Officers in the charge office were alarmed by the heavy struggles in the witness’ room.
“They said the sound of falling furniture prompted them to check what was happening. They found the woman trembling with fear. She told them someone had attempted to rape her,” said a police source.
“The officers started to look around using a torch and found Gumbo, who was dressed only in a shirt, hiding under a table. Realising he had been caught, he asked his colleagues to forgive him and let him go.”
The source said one of the police officers refused and said he would never protect a rapist. “The officer said he would arrest even his own father if he found him raping someone,” said the source.
When the 16-year-old broke the news to her husband the following day he allegedly ran amok. “He charged at officers and threatened to beat up everyone at Jotsholo Police (Station). He accused police of arresting him so that they could have his wife for themselves.”
National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi declined to comment saying the case was now in court. “The matter is now under trial and you should get comments from the court.”
ANALYSIS- The state broadcaster, ZBC, has caused a stir by broadcasting a video displaying a doctored picture of witch doctor Nehanda Nyakasikana (D.O.D 1897) which shows the Marondera man in shorts standing by her side. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW….
The development is seen portraying perhaps the Nehanda’s insignificance in the place of honour which she was placed by notorious historian Aeneus Chigwedere. ⚡ COMMENT: Should the witch doctor Nehanda Nyakasikana be the face of Zimbabwe’s heroism? Are there not better individuals of note in this nation’s glory? She was of no royal blood and was not even a Sabhuku. People from her clan who hail from that era do not even recognise her. What about King Mapondera, King Lobengula and King Harare and others, men and women who had living institutions of international repute and government that gave the white invaders a hard bashing, what happened to them? Who is that notorious historian who deleted Lobengula and Mapondera, men of pure royal blood and put the evil witch doctor in their place? DISCUSSION:
Threat….Psychology Maziwisa
Zanu PF political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere’s blue eyed boy, the Highfield west Member of Parliament Psychology Maziwisa, says they will beat up “uneducated war veterans” should they attempt to dress down President Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe is this week headed for a showdown with war vets on the 7th April.
Maziwisa, a self-confessed G40 faction member, said this to Newsday after Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association spokesperson Douglas Mahiya had threatened embarrass Mugabe at their Thursday meeting.
“We are sick and tired of people who think the President must bow down to them all the time. Who the hell do they think they are?” Maziwisa said.
“Make no mistake, we respect those who fought to bring about the independence of this country, but we equally expect them to respect our party constitution and especially our President. Any insult to the President is an insult to all patriotic Zimbabweans.”
He added: Will they win the war? They must refuse to be used or soon we will clash with them and it is not going to be a pleasant sight at all. If they think that these are just empty words, I dare them to utter just one more word of disrespect towards President Mugabe and see if all hell will not break loose.”
Leader of the Zimbabwe People First Joice Mjuru yesterday also urged war veterans to confront Mugabe at their Thursday meeting.
She said they should ask Mugabe to tell them which faction the aging leader belongs to.
Mugabe is accused of supporting a factions of his party’s young Turks G-40 which is pushing for his wife Grace to succeed him.
I would like to complain about poor and incorrect reporting by your staff.
In an article written on 2nd of April, titled “Robbers Attack Tourists in Kariba” I would like to start off with the title.
· Firstly, NO-ONE was attacked. Attacked means that someone or something was violently acted upon. An attacker is very different from a thief. A thief is someone who steals something.
· Secondly, the robbery was described as “notorious”. Notorious means “well known or famous”. As the owner of the establishment I am not aware that the robbery was famous…it has not been on the news; it has not had a book written about it; it has not been put up in lights. The camp may well be notorious but there was nothing notorious about the robbery.
· Thirdly, our units are CABINS, not lodges. Neither are they made from “thistles”.
· Fourthly, they do not have windows in the bathrooms.
· Finally, the tourists were not of Swedish origin.
In fact, the only piece of information that is correct in your staff’s report is the name of the lady to contact.
I strongly suggest that you publicly retract the report you made, since it is not only incorrect, it is defamatory to my business, and to the tourism industry of Kariba as a whole.
My next email is addressed to my lawyers…namely Canaan Dube of Dube Manikai and Hwacha and thereafter to Tapiwa Muchiniripi, my other lawyer, to see what recourse I can claim against you for defamation of character.
Manager/Owner
FORMER Zanu PF secretary for administration and Cabinet minister Didymus Mutasa has left the door open for a possible return to the ruling party over a year after he was unceremoniously kicked out.
Insiders told NewsDay that the Zanu PF central committee will this Friday consider several disciplinary cases, including “most expulsions” that arose in the run-up to and aftermath of the December 2014 congress.
Mutasa is a key member of the newly-formed Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) party that comprises mainly former Zanu PF stalwarts forced out of the ruling party in the past 18 months prior to and after the 2014 congress. The party is led by former Vice-President Joice Mujuru with Mutasa serving as one of the elders.
Mujuru and her team were expelled from Zanu PF on charges of plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe.
Reports have claimed Mugabe is working on a grand plan to destabilise Mujuru’s party through divide-and-rule tactics as well as infiltration of its structures.
“The central committee will hear most, if not all, disciplinary issues including the expulsions of most members in the past. People might be shocked that Mugabe is considering bringing back Mutasa,” a Zanu PF source close to Mutasa said.
Contacted for comment, Mutasa curtly said: “We will cross the bridge when we come to it.”
Asked if he had been approached over the issue, Mutasa retorted: “I have not been approached by anyone. I know nothing, but if they do decide, we will make a decision then.”
Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo was also non-committal.
“I have no idea and, in any case, the issue of the politburo and central committee agenda is the preserve of the secretary for administration (Ignatius Chombo) in consultation with the President,” Khaya Moyo said. Chombo was not available for comment as his mobile phone went unanswered for the better part of yesterday.
However, ZimPF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo insisted that Zanu PF was a closed chapter, ruling any chances of them rejoining the ruling party.
“I cannot go back to infighting and such other nonsense. There is no going back, but those who want to are free to rejoin that party,” Gumbo said yesterday.
Joice Mujuru
People First leader Joice Mujuru’s party has urged war veterans to confront Robert Mugabe.
The party issued the below statement calling on all ex fighters to boldly tell Mugabe to his face reminding him that he owes his political survival to their sacrifices.
The press statement read:As a democratic, inclusive and people centred party, whose main thrust is to BUILD our beloved country through the promotion of the values of the liberation struggle, of self-determination, self-dignity and self-pride, we urge the war veterans, to seize the opportunity of their meeting with President Robert Mugabe, to remind him and his government, the need for a peaceful and democratic Zimbabwe where every citizen enjoys the fundamental freedoms of association, choice, speech and the right to demonstrate and choose a government of their choice.
We also believe that war veterans, as nationalists, would take this opportunity with their patron, to register displeasure at the economic policies pursued by Mugabe’s administration that are inimical to industrial growth and foreign direct investment.
It is firm belief that the veterans of our liberation struggle will speak against the threat to close the few industries and banks that are soldiering on in an economic environment that is already investor unfriendly.
While we believe that the welfare of our war veterans is of utmost importance, we also strongly believe that it is against the liberation war values of self-determination and self-dignity, to reduce these gallant sons and daughters of the soil to charity cases which survive on the benevolence of the state president.
It is therefore incumbent upon the war veterans to speak and act against a system that has pauperized them while enriching a few unscrupulous individuals who obscenely flaunt their corruptly gotten wealth in the form of 50-bedroomed mansions while the generality of Zimbabweans reel under very debilitating economic conditions and are barely able to feed themselves once a day.
We urge war veterans to remind Mugabe that true leaders do not boast about the houses they build. They boast about the investment they make in people – how they BUILD people.
Zim PF acknowledges the multi-faceted roles played by our parents, zvimbwidos and mujibhas in supporting the armed struggle; the suffering visited upon the detainees and restrictees whose crime was to call for a just and democratic system in Zimbabwe. We also cherish the supreme sacrifice of those comrades who left the country to go and train as freedom fighters so that they could liberate the people of Zimbabwe.
We acknowledge that many lost their lives and that many were maimed for life in the liberation of this country and it is with this understanding that we urge the war veterans to remind Mugabe that he owes it to those who paid the ultimate price, to make Zimbabwe a democratic not pariah state.
Zimbabwe People First recognizes the invaluable contribution of the War Veterans during and after the liberation struggle.
We shall continue to encourage and promote their involvement in building a democratic and prosperous nation without the current inherent and pervasive vestiges of corruption.
The recent attacks on War Veterans cast a dark shadow on ZANU PF as a party and government. Who would have dreamt that 36 years after independence our liberators would be targets of attack by the party and government they helped create?
Under normal circumstances we expect the patron of the War Veterans, who is also the president of the Republic of Zimbabwe, to be fully behind the expectations of our liberators and their fight for the unhindered exercise of their fundamental democratic rights including that of congregating for the purposes of demonstrating. Anything other than that poses a big question of “whose side is he on and why?”
Zimbabwe People First has War Veterans as an integral part of the structures and organs of the Party to ensure that they respect that hierarchy and in turn are respected and represented in the same Party structures.
We therefore urge all concerned to respect and give the War Veterans the dignity they deserve from all sectors of the community while, at the same time, urging war veterans to be the nationalists that we know they should, and fight for the total emancipation of the people.
They should seize this opportunity to speak against the ills of their patron’s government, the plight of the generality of Zimbabweans and how this situation can be turned around, fundamentally, by democratizing our politics and national governance and pursuing economic policies that put the needs of our people first.
Together we are builders of Zimbabwe in peace!
A group of Zimbabweans living in South Africa is circulating a highly disturbing campaign urging fellow Zimbabweans to kill former Vice President Joice Mujuru when she lands in South Africa next week.
Mujuru, now leading a new political formation, Zimbabwe People First, is expected to address a series of meetings with Zimbabweans in South Africa next week beginning in Pretoria on the 14th of April.
The message urges Zimbabweans no to attend Mujuru’s rallies accusing her of being the reason why they are living in the diaspora ever since her hay days when she was still vice to President Robert Mugabe.
“Zimbabweans please don’t attend the meeting organised by
Joice Mujuru of ZPF on 14 April 2016 in Pretoria. We are appealing to those who can put the law into their hands to do so by killing or assaulting her including her organisers,” reads the inflammatory circular.
The note riles Zimbabweans not to be “fooled” by Mujuru’s new party. According to the writers, Mujuru was dismissed from ZANU PF for her corruption and now claims to be coming in to perform better than Mugabe.
“Refuse to be used, Enough is Enough. Mujuru must go with ZANU PF,” reads the note.
Sources within the Zimbabwe People First in South Africa attribute the source of the note to ZANU PF supporters in South Africa.
There is serious rivalry between ZANU PF and Mujuru’s ZimPF supporters in South Africa which are threatening to generate into violent clashes.
Comment could not be obtained from Mujuru nor her spokesperson Rugare Gumbo.
under fire ..Jacob Zuma
President Jacob Zuma faces another bid for his impeachment when parties debate the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) call for him to be removed from office in the National Assembly today.
National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete confirmed yesterday the debate is set down for today afternoon.
Calls for President Zuma to step down have come from opposition parties, within the African National Congress (ANC) and tripartite alliance itself, in the wake of the Constitutional Court’s ruling last Thursday.
The court found that he breached the constitution and his oath of office by not complying with the Public Protector’s findings on the Nkandla spending matter.
The court also found the National Assembly’s adoption of a resolution absolving Zuma was unlawful.
Briefing media at parliament, Mbete welcomed the judgment but insisted the National Assembly had not violated the constitution.
She said parliament respected the judgment and that it clarified how the Public Protector’s reports should be handled in future. But she tried to downplay the Constitutional Court’s damning assessment.
“There’s no Constitutional Court that says we violated (the constitution).
“The Constitutional Court said certain things were inconsistent with the law.”
With the president’s removal set to be debated today, Mbete is also facing calls for her to resign.
The DA’s Chief Whip John Steenhuisen said: “We believe it’s apposite that she steps down and makes way for new leadership able to re-establish parliament’s role as an executive oversight organ.”
However, Mbete said she was not going anywhere.
She also dismissed the need for any apology to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.
The Speaker is likely to preside over today’s debate.
“We have agreed to the application for there to be a debate on the motion. I think surely we should welcome the fact we are not suppressing debate on the motion.”
She also said she wanted to meet with party leaders to discuss the judgment further.
Meanwhile, President Zuma told a supportive crowd in his home province on Sunday that there were people spending sleepless nights plotting his downfall.
“Kunomshikashika omkhulu kabi, ubona abanye bengalali nje bengikhafula ubusuku nemini,” said President Zuma in isiZulu, loosely translated meaning there was a big storm brewing with people spending sleepless nights plotting his demise.
President Zuma was addressing more than 10 000 people at a drought relief imbizo at the Melmoth Sports Grounds in KwaZulu-Natal, where he received a warm welcome.
In his address the South African leader also spoke specifically to black South Africans, encouraging them to use their vote to make a change.
President Zuma said black people were lazy to go out and register to vote, whereas white people went out in large numbers because they knew the power of voting.
This was his first public appearance since his televised apology to the nation regarding the handling of security upgrades at his Nkandla homestead.
Towards the end of his speech, President Zuma told the gathering that he had heard that a white man was going around speaking about him.
He did not specify who the man was.
“I heard about a white man, I don’t know where he gets off, he too was speaking about me.
“All of a sudden everyone thinks their opinion matters.”
Zuma earlier reminded his constituency that he had been tasked to be the president of the country.
“A nation is a nation because of its people . . . While I have been given the task to lead the country, even if you are not a Zuma, regardless of who you are . . . let me lead you,” said President Zuma.
Zuma said he would not be in power for long because he was old.
He also used the opportunity to call for calm and respect saying there was no president who did not wish for peace in his country. — Eye Witness News/News24/State
Government is widening its crackdown on social media platforms such as Facebook and the messaging WhatsApp arresting people for allegedly insulting and denigrating President Robert Mugabe.
President Mugabe at 92 is the world’s oldest president and jokes about his age are a staple in the country. But the state is now intensifying efforts to silence the critics by arresting them.
The latest victim of the Police is a 46 year-old Nyanga man, Ernest Matsapa, charged with the crime of “criminal nuisance” as defined in section 46 (2) (v) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9.23.
Matsapa is alleged to have “unlawfully and intentionally sent an audio and visual message on WhatsApp social media network platform group called Nyanga Free Range of which he is a member.”
The audio and visual clip according to state papers has the impression that President Mugabe is incapacitated and has become a burden of the majority of people, including his family due to diminishing responsibility.
The state alleges that this is denigrating Mr. Mugabe and that, “such material is likely to interfere with the ordinary comfort, convenience, peace or quiet of the public or any section of the public, or does any act which is likely to create a nuisance or obstruction.”
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights or ZLHR says it has represented over 150 people charged with insulting Mr. Mugabe since 2010, though many cases were dropped.
In court, ZLHR has challenged the constitutionality of Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) on several occasions, on the basis that it infringes on freedom of expression, particularly of a public figure, and one who must be subjected to scrutiny as a political candidate.
But Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is also justice minister, has defended the law as necessary to prevent “the breach of public order and public safety”.
The Constitutional Court is yet to make a ruling. Lawyer Peggy Tavagadza of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights old VOA Studio 7 that police do not have a legal leg to stand on. According to the ZLHR, Matsapa is the second Zimbabwean to be targeted this year by authorities.
In February, police officers in Bindura, Mashonaland Central province arrested Edson Chuwe, a school headmaster at Shamva Primary School, Edna Garwe who is employed as a typist at the same school and Leman Pwanyiwa, who serves as the secretary of Shamva Primary School Development Committee, and charged them for undermining the authority of or insulting President Mugabe in contravention of Section 33 (2) (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 or alternatively criminal nuisance as defined in Section 46 (2) (v) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
The three school authorities were accused of mocking President Mugabe on social media after they purportedly posted satirical pictures of the ruling Zanu PF party leader on Facebook.
Police claimed that the trio had “doctored” some degrading photographs of President Mugabe using the school computer and had shared a message through WhatsApp, which read; “Mr. President isn’t it time to bid farewell to the people of Zimbabwe”.-VOA
Robert Mugabe’s divided and troubled Zanu-PF Politburo is meeting ahead of a potentially explosive war vets meeting with President Mugabe.
The party’s Secretary for Administration, Ignatius Chombo, said the Politiburo meeting will discuss important matters. Dr Chombo also confirmed that a Central Committee meeting has also been scheduled for Friday.
The meeting is coming at a time Zanu-PF is facing numerous disciplinary cases affecting several provinces.
Said Chombo: “The Zanu-PF Politburo meets on Wednesday at 10am while the Central Committee will meet on Friday at 10am again,” he said.
“These are very important meetings and all members should attend on time. The routine meetings are going to discuss important issues affecting the people.”
Although Chombo did not reveal the agenda of the meeting, it is understood that the Politburo will receive feedback from the National Disciplinary Committee on various disciplinary cases it handled.
The meeting would be seized with matters of the economy in light of the progress made in the implementation of Zim-Asset.
Among the cases that were dealt with by the NDC include the suspension of provincial chairpersons Kizito Chivamba (Midlands), Ezra Chadzamira (Masvingo) and Joe Biggie Matiza (Mashonaland East).
The trio was accused of mobilising people to boycott a meeting organised by the Women’s League to thank President Mugabe for his successful tour as African Union chairman.
With regards to the Central Committee meeting on Friday, President Mugabe hinted on his arrival from Japan on Saturday that on the agenda would be several appeal cases by fired and suspended party members.
“Mochienda monoronga. Tinenge tiine musangano weCentral Commitee musi wa8. Saka maprovinces ose vanosungirwa kuuya nenhengo dzavo ikoko,” said President Mugabe.
“Munoziva kuti Central Commitee ndiyo yakabata musangano, yakamirira Congress. Saka zvinangwa ikoko zvinouya, zvichemo zvinouya ikoko. Kana vaye vanenge vachiti takatongwa tinoda nyaya yedu iende kumusoro inokwanisa kuenda kuCentral Committee yozeyewa nedisciplinary committee yaikoko. Saka moronga tigoita musangano wakanaka weCentral Commitee unorakidza gwara.”
The Politburo last met on March 3, where it focused on Zim-Asset and the food security situation in light of the El Nino-induced drought that has seen crops wilting in most parts of the country.-State Media
The wedding of the month has been selected that of Rudo and Theophelus Mutsigwa, who tied the knot on Sunday in Harare. Mutsigwa is the son of famous ZAOGA pastor Chris Mutsigwa- PICTURES:
Banks have introduced stringent cash management systems including limiting maximum cash withdrawals to $500 per transaction and switching off some of their ATMs following a liquidity crisis that has hit the market, it has emerged.
Although some bank officials tried to put the matter under a lid, market snap surveys in and around Harare, however, revealed that even the Zimswitch facility had been disabled and customers were unable to receive cash backs from some supermarkets.
Tobacco farmers were also not able to access their money as some ATMs were off and they were only allowed to withdraw limited amounts from banking halls.
Last week, the central bank directed all tobacco farmers to open bank accounts into proceeds of their tobacco will be deposited.
In the previous seasons, farmers would cash their cheques at the banks at the auction floors, but will now have their money deposited directly into their bank accounts.
Last year, over 70 000 farmers, mostly small-scale, registered to grow tobacco, but the majority of them had no bank accounts.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya confirmed the cash challenge and appealed to the banking public to adopt the use of plastic money in order to minimise high demand for cash associated with traditional payment dates.
“As the central bank, our key function is to ensure financial stability in the economy and that people are able to get their money when they want it. We are aware of the situation and the high demand for cash because of salary and bonus payments (for civil servants),” he said adding that banks had been requested to increase their cash imports.
“However, importing cash is not an overnight event . . . it takes time but we are confident that the banks will be able to sufficiently meet the requirements of the banking public.”
The central bank governor encouraged the banking public to use plastic money, particularly given that the country was using multi-currencies, which it did not print and con- trol.
“I also urge people to use point of sale when transacting. It is a national responsibility for everyone; especially at a time we are not in a position to print money. There are local businesspeople that do not bank their daily takings, preferring to keep the money in safes at home, fuelling cash shortages,” he said.
Zimbabweans generally prefer keeping hard cash even though there are some alternative payment systems such as point of sale and mobile platforms. It has also been observed that the country has low confidence in the banking system following the loss of savings after the transition to the multi-currency system from hyperinflation.
There have also been concerns about transaction charges on the various platforms such as POS, mobile money platforms and the fees of maintaining bank accounts (which in turn results in highly short-term deposits).
Dr Mangudya said the central bank advised tobacco farmers to open accounts so that they could access their money through ATMs and accounts and urged banks to comply.
“When farmers want to purchase goods that cost huge amounts, they should use wire transfers and use cash when purchasing smaller goods. When farmers access their money through banks, they can be able to get loans in the future which are good for their business as these loans will assist them in the production of the crop,” said Dr Mangudya.
However, analysts say promoting the use of plastic money in a highly informalised economy such as Zimbabwe would be difficult as cash was the widely accepted form of payment and financial inclusion was still low.
Capital markets analyst Fiona Chigwida said the push for the use of plastic money would only be possible when financial inclusion reached the 90 percent level that the RBZ set as its target.
“You cannot introduce measures in response to a crisis. The use of plastic money is good but Zimbabwe is not ready for it especially after the trauma of the hyperinflation and subsequent closure of some of the banks. Maybe Dr Mangudya needs to concentrate on building confidence in the banking sector first.” State Media
Terrence Mawawa, Mvuma|A local businessman is nowhere to be seen after impregnating a form two pupil. Stephen Matikizha, the Mvuma based businessman, vanished after impregnating one of the socially disadvantaged pupils he looks after at his shop.
The matter came to light at a recent meeting that was chaired by ward 11 councillor Gabriel Mavezera. The councillor expressed concern at the increase in cases of sexual abuses and Matikizha panicked and accused the councillor of raising allegations against him.
Local sources said Matikizha had sex with the minor on several occasions until she fell pregnant.
“The whole community has been shocked by Matikizha’s paedophilic behaviour. All along many people viewed him as a good Samaritan -oblivious of the fact that he insinuated secret motives in looking after the children. Matikizha’s wife also became suspicious after noticing the girl’s breasts discharging white fluids. A lot of clandestine activities transpired at Matikizha’s shop ,” said another local businessman.
Matikizha has since fled from the area and is believed to be in Harare leading a police search for the businessman.
Councillor Mavezera said the incident was unfortunate since Matikizha took advantage of vulnerable children abusing them in the way.
It is also understood the other girls who stay at Matikizha’s homestead have also raised complaints against the businessman.
His wife has also indicated she is not aware of her husband’s whereabouts.
Econet Wireless is by far the biggest contributor to a pool of funds managed by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) meant for infrastructure development in outlying areas, the telecoms sector regulator has said.
In a disclosure of information that has for years remained a closely guarded secret, Potraz finance director Biggie Chiripanhura said Econet has contributed around $55 million to the Universal Services Fund (USF), far outdoing its peers, Telecel at $10 million and NetOne at $4 million in the period 2009 to 2015.
All telecommunications operators contribute at least 1.5 percent of their gross revenue to the USF, down from two percent which they previously paid.
The fund was established to provide funding for extending communication networks in marginalised rural areas.
“Econet has been a major contributor and has paid less than $55 million since 2009,” he told the parliamentary portfolio committee on information communications technologies on Monday.
“USF has a budget of $13 million in a year.”
Econet has on numerous occasions complained over lack of disclosure with regards USF contributions and how the money was used.
Potraz acting director general Baxton Sirewu told the committee it was not true that government owned telcos such as NetOne have not been contributing to the fund.
“They are paying but they are in arrears due to financial challenges,” Sirewu said, without revealing how much the regulator was owed.
“Econet carries about 98 percent of the internet traffic while the other two share the reminder that is why it pays more,” he said.
Sirewu said the regulator will this year construct 11 base stations using USF funds in remote areas, with three already under construction.
“We are also tendering for eight sites across the country right now. The tender is being finalised and will be awarded this month,” he said.
To date, 12 base stations had been constructed using USF funds, he said, adding the money was also being used to support skills development programmes and enhancing provision of postal and courier services.
-The Source
Terrence Mawawa, Beitbridge|A Beitbridge man got the shock of his life when he found his wife intimate with his best friend in the toilet inside the couple’s house.
Mike Siwela was stunned last week when he found his wife right in the act with Douglas Tarusenga, his best friend and housemate.
Siwela said he was coming from work when he decided to go to the toilet before going into the main bedroom.
“I rushed to the toilet before going into the main bedroom. I knocked on the toilet door and proceeded to open it, (and) I saw my wife and Tarusenga dressing up. In-fact I saw him tucking in his manhood and closing his trousers’ zip. I locked the two in the main bedroom and immediately called my mother in law,” said the heart-broken Siwela.
Siwela later tried to stab himself with a knife but he was overpowered by his in laws. He said he was disappointed there were no criminal charges for the adultery case but added he would pursue the matter with the civil court.
The police also advised him to go to the civil court.
The two have a three year old son and Siwela said he was prepared to divorce his wife and focus on taking care of his child.
“Of course I once tried to kill myself but I have been counselled and I am prepared to move on with life. I will also take the matter to the civil court,” Siwela said.
at court…Munyaradzi Kereke
ZANU-PF Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke yesterday accused former Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono of maliciously fabricating rape charges against him to cover up his multimillion- dollar fraud at the bank.
Kereke is accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2010 and indecently assaulting her sister who was 15 years at that time. Giving evidence in his defence case, Kereke said Dr Gono and an RBZ official, Mirirai Chiremba, were involved in serious criminal activities.
“In 2008, two external auditing companies, BDO Kudenga and KPMG, picked that a total of $8 379 900 have been taken out of RBZ,” he said.
“I summoned Chiremba to my office and he agreed that $4,5 million was given to Dr Gono while $3,5 million was given to a senior member of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). KMPG auditors also discovered that in 2008 and 2009, various amounts of money in foreign currency were taken out of the bank as Dr Gono’s travel expenses.
“In July 22, R1,8 million was siphoned from the central bank. In November 29 the same year R3,4 million was also taken out of the bank.”
Kereke added that in April 2010, $200 000 belonging to Homelink (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of RBZ, was taken out of CBZ Bank account number 01122087470013. “The money was given to the Financial Gazette, where Gono and a senior CIO boss are directors,” he said.
“On January 18, 2012 I made a follow up to one J. Chisese, who collected the money and two days later I was blocked from the Reserve Bank.”
Kereke’s lawyer, Erum Mutandiro, intended to produce the documents of the alleged fraud by Dr Gono, Mr Chiremba and their accomplices but the private prosecutor Mr Charles Warara, objected.
“We don’t know if he didn’t steal the documents, he surfaces in the streets with photocopies of documents which we don’t know if they were officially obtained,” said Mr Warara.
“Accused is not appearing in this court as an official, Chiremba came to testify and he did not ask him all this. He cannot defend himself by smearing others. The people he is mentioning are not in court and cannot respond to his allegations.”
Magistrate Mr Noel Mupeiwa ruled that only public documents certified by the ministry, its head of department or office or produced in court by an authorised person can be admitted as evidence. Kereke told the court that he was a parent to girl children and believed that rapists should be punished.
“I am a Christian and attend Johanne Marange apostolic sect. Both counts are fiction and a creation of events that never happened. In March when it is alleged I kissed one of the girls and fondled her breast, I had travelled to United States of America via South Africa and returned in June.”
Kereke produced photocopies of his passport to the court but Mr Warara said he needed time to analyse it. -State Media
FIRST LADY GRACE Mugabe, has encountered humiliation by being stripped off the country’s ZUPCO(Zimbabwe Passenger Company) bus brand. Mrs Mugabe’s portraits have been violently removed from many of ZUPCO’s passenger vehicles, in what is believed to be the nailing of her political fortunes as the race to replace her 92 year old husband hots up (PICTURES BELOW).[STORY CONTINUES BELOW]
Several carriers seen by ZimEye.com, show at the back violent marks of a stripping everywhere where Mrs Mugabe’s body was shown. Not even a single pixel of ink was left standing on the print.
Over a year ago, Mrs Mugabe’s pictures were artfully splattered on all ZUPCO buses as she campaigned her way into ZANU PF’s politburo and indicated she is headed for the Presidency. Her husband would soon stand on podiums pleading with supporters saying, “Why do you not want the President’s wife to lead (rule)?”
But war veterans who want Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to replace Mugabe, have reacted angrily with Mrs Mugabe herself revealing she is now being labelled “a prostitute”. A full blown selfie video shot in Harare reveals a ZANU PF youth openly calling Grace a prostitute. “Pasi neHure,” the heavily built lad screams into the camera.
Controversial businessman Wicknel Chivayo has exploded in anger and cancelled his sponsorship of the national team, effectively ending his relationship with ZIFA. Quit…WICKNELL CHIVAYOThis was in reaction to a state media news article that alleged he has dumped national coach, Kalisto Pasuwa. Writing from his social networking portal, Chivayo erupted writing, “I make my own money and I spend it how I like NO APOLOGIES….For as long as they have no power to GARNISH my life they can surely GO TO HELL ever since I made it here I know I can make it anywhere…To cut a long story short THIS OFFICIALLY MARKS THE END of my sponsorship for the WARRIORS for 2016.”
Below was his full post:
I was very disappointed to read this article yesterday in the Sunday Mail suggesting I have failed to honour my commit my commitment to pay the coach’s salary. With the greatest respect this foolish and over zealous reporter needs psychiatric attention. I run multi million dollar businesses and I don’t work for ZIFA so if nothing has been communicated to me I’m not supposed to guess, speculate or conjecture. It must be noted ZIFA has no bank account and owes creditors 6 million dollars. So many people have writs of execution to attach property or money identified as belonging to ZIFA.
To ensure players get their money you have to be extremely circumspect and discreet otherwise the money will be intercepted and forfeited. My vision was simply to turn around football all in the interest of the nation. I had to reduce my holidays from one every 2 months to one every 4 months. From the 1 million dollars I committed as sponsorship to date I have parted with 478 thousand dollars and above that Pasuwa’s car cost me 69 thousand dollars Mlauzi’s 41 thousand. Simple calculations show almost 600 thousand dollars used in 3 months as opposed to the agreed 3 years. If I say i have given players 72 thousand dollars and 28 phones you must know that’s nothing but the truth. My reputation in retrospect speaks for itself.
Always remember I’m under no obligation whatsoever to support soccer. Pasuwa came to my office last week and I assured him I was unaware he wasn’t being paid but I insisted and showed him evidence of various payments I made on behalf of ZIFA not knowing the issue of his salary had not been taken care of. I gave him 3000 dollars FOR LUNCH and told him I would open an escrow account with BANK ABC this week where I would subsequently deposit his salary for one year and he would earn monthly as stipulated by his contract.
The basis of this article was to give an impression that I have failed to pay him or I have given ZIFA the money and they have not paid him. None of the above is correct and it must further be noted that Pasuwa is not the only head ache ZIFA has so for him to go to the press and start telling them about his daughter and his rental issues in Greendale before telling me or waiting for me to resolve the issue is gross disrespect. Such behavior displays an ungrateful person and is totally unacceptable in my world. He drives a brand new TOYOTA that I bought , a car that I see being driven only by executives. I can afford to pay him 7000 dollars every day for the next 10 years and still not feel it. As soccer supporters journalists must also all remember I’m doing something NO ZIMBABWEAN has ever done since independence so the least I expect is appreciation. Most of you broke idiots sit around in corners assuming that I did this for the publicity…HELL NO…who would be so stupid to spend 600 thousand dollars for mere publicity.
I’m in the paper for signing massive deals often and that’s good enough publicity, save to say this page, instagram, snap chat and my twitter account. I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart to support the nation. How many of you have ever seen what 10 thousand dollars looks like in real life now imagine 600 thousand dollars in these tough times. If any thing sponsoring soccer has in fact caused me more headaches than joy…THE TAX MAN came chasing after me and did a fictitious nonsensical lifestyle audit and demanded 1.4 million dollars. I’m not afraid because God looks after me at all times. I’ve made it very clear before that I can never ever intimidated for supporting national programs. I’m a citizen of this country and I’m equally protected by the constitution so the law will take its course.
I make my own money and I spend it how I like NO APOLOGIES….For as long as they have no power to GARNISH my life they can surely GO TO HELL ever since I made it here I know I can make it anywhere…To cut a long story short THIS OFFICIALLY MARKS THE END of my sponsorship for the WARRIORS for 2016. It takes a lot of love to spend 600 thousand dollars on people you don’t know or are even related to so you will all appreciate my reasons for reacting this way in the circumstances. I can’t tolerate ungrateful people and i will never take this type of rubbish in my life. It’s a different thing if I wasn’t paying their bills and giving them money immediately upon request. However having said that as a gesture and as a level headed person I will go ahead and set up the escrow account today and make sure PASUWA’S one year salary is secured…. Other than that for now i will also give others a chance to support NATIONAL PRIDE…..GO WARRIORS GO….ALL THE BEST TO AFCON…..
Chinese diamond mining company, Anjin Investments, says it has no clue on the mysterious disappearance of the $15 billion which President Robert Mugabe claimed was realised from the Chiadzwa fields.
The director of the company, a fifty-fifty joint venture with the government of Zimbabwe, Munyaradzi Machacha told the touring Indigenisation portfolio committee of Parliament that his company had never realised anything close to the amount that Mugabe recently claimed was looted from the fields.
“ We have not had diamonds of that value, maybe government knows better but like we said we never produced such diamonds. We are actually struggling to service our debts so even if it was Anjin being targeted, our overall production does not speak to that figure.”
Machacha said that since the company began its operations they had generated a total revenue of about $324,5 million from the 9 million carats they produced up to 2015.
Out of the total revenue, the company claimed that $78 million went towards taxes and other statutory obligations.
Machacha would not comment on whether the company, that government has since directed to cease operations, would still fulfil its $10 million pledge to the community share ownership trusts in Marange-Zimunya saying he would wait for the outcome of the court application in which Anjin is challenging government decision to stop its operations.
Machacha said the company did not understand the government decision given “what we have done in contributing to the national economy. It is clear that what is said about us has no basis. There are a lot of things that are said by some people that are not true but are presented as facts. I wish your committee had come earlier maybe you could have saved us but now we are in the intensive care and we are struggling for oxygen hoping we could survive a day longer.”
Anjin, which is run by Chinese nationals, is a joint venture between the government’s Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and China’s State-owned Anhui Foreign and Economic Construction Company
Mugabe recently made the stunning claim that $15 billion had been looted from Chiadzwa under his government’s watch. Daily News
Below is the latest on the Mvuma (Fairfields) accident in which a cyclist was killed on the spot last Wednesday night.
Mr Patrick Hofisi Huchu was knocked down by Mr Michael Mabhidi, the driver, leading to his death on the spot. Gruesome footage at the scene reveal Huchu’s head split into two after being hit as he smashed onto the tarred road near Fairfields Business Center.
The driver is a local transporter who pirates between Mvuma and Fairfields.
It was it was a case of drunken driving.
Meanwhile a full postmortem was awaited at the time of writing. More to follow as the investigation unravels…
go with Mugabe…Mnangagwa told “You have also over stayed, go first if you want Mugabe to go” – Minister
Minister of State for Presidential affairs for Manicaland Mandi Chimene has fired a salvo at Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa saying that all those in Government calling on President Mugabe to leave office should go as well as some of them have been ministers in Government since 1980.
Addressing a Zanu-PF youth inter-district conference at Marymount Teachers’ College in Mutare over the weekend, Chimene, said: “it is shocking to hear some people saying President Mugabe has overstayed in office, yet some of the people saying that have been in office since 1980.”
The ever volatile Mugabe loyalist said that all the people calling for Mugabe to go have actually over stayed their welcome in ZANU PF and must be kicked out.
“The same people have actually overstayed their welcome and they should be kicked out of the party,” she screamed echoing sentiments of the G40 faction she is aligned to.
Chimene angrily described the unwanted elements in party as rubbish that must be swept out.
“Some are saying the Zanu-PF house is on fire with more people in line for firing, but who wants to continue having rubbish in their houses?”
She went further to accuse the unwanted members as unappreciative of President Mugabe’s benevolence to them.
“It is funny that those fronting for President Mugabe’s ouster are some of the major beneficiaries of his benevolence. Some have a well-known history of losing elections, but assume offices through appointments, but today they are demonising the same person. Some have a fleet of cars obtained from serving in Government, but they are proving to be ungrateful. Some are staying in mansions because of President Mugabe, but today he is no-longer capable to rule this country. We should be thankful.”
She added: “Some of you, both husband and wife were appointed ministers as well as Politburo members by President Mugabe, but you still continue back-stabbing him. You should accept the reality on the ground that you were fired from your positions and move on with life.”
Just like the majority of Citizens who benefited and lived and under the arm and wings protection from his stay in office today are the one who want Mugabe out.
resolute…Patrick Chinamasa
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa has refused to quit.
The cabinet minister who was publicly humiliated by President Robert Mugabe’s nephew and Zimbabwe’s indigenisation minister, Patrick Zhuwao, on Saturday said he refuses to back down.
A defiant Chinamasa insists he can see himself through the rising tide caused by Zhuwao over the indigenisation heavy burden put on foreign owned banks currently struggling to survive the harsh troubled economy.
The Minister turned up for work today, Monday, with his secretary indicating there is no change whatsoever to his employment contract despite a flaming rumour circulating at the weekend that he was quitting.
The two “Patricks” have been on each other’s throats as Zhuwao said Zimbabwe does not need foreign investment and he scorned Chinamasa’s attempts to restore Zimbabwe’s relationship with the International Monetary Fund, IMF.
Zhuwao says depositors’ funds at foreign-owned banks are not safe as the banks failed to meet the March 31 deadline to submit plans for “indigenisation” – local majority ownership.
Several South African banks and financial institutions, such as Standard Bank and Old Mutual, have large operations in Zimbabwe.
But Chinamasa, has quickly contradicted Zhuwao, saying all foreign-owned banks and financial institutions have submitted credible plans.
Chinamasa is supported by the RBZ in this latest row with Zhuwao.
Zhuwao set this and other deadlines and alterations to the indigenisation law over the last year. Most of the changes he announced were not legal, according to lawyers in Harare, and have been previously contradicted by Chinamasa.
Chinamasa issued a brief statement at the weekend saying that foreign banks had submitted “credible indigenisation and economic empowerment plans” ahead of the deadline set by Zhuwayo.
Last month, Zhuwao threatened foreign-owned companies – including banks – with closure, warning that if they missed the March 31 deadline to submit plans to give locals majority shareholdings he would withdraw their operating licences.
“The indigenisation plans,” Chinamasa said in his latest written statement, “are promotive of socially and economically desirable objectives and goals as set out in the gazetted indigenisation frameworks.
“The submitted plans are consistent with the letter and spirit of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act…”
Zhuwao quickly reacted by issuing a statement to journalists in Harare in which he wrote: “(Chinamasa’s) position puts at risk the savings and investments of depositors and shareholders in an all-ready compromised financial services sector.”
Zhuwayo and Chinamasa have previously argued in public and via statements about the indigenisation laws.
John Mangudya, governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, also said last week that banks had complied with the indigenisation law.
Mugabe signed the Indigenisation and Empowerment Bill into law in 2008, but a serious push to implement it only began after Zhuwao’s appointment last year. Agencies/APA/Additional Reporting
Several government departments including the Zimbabwe National army and the Zimbabwe Republic Police, owe the Masvingo City Council up to US$16m in unpaid water bills, it has emerged.
Authorities at the city council revealed over the weekend government departments including the police, army, the Cold Storage Commission and Masvingo Provincial hospital had outstanding water bills, grossly affecting council operations.
The authorities further disclosed senior army and police officers threatened council employees over the unpaid water bills. As a result of the ballooning debt, the local authority is grappling with service delivery,among other viability matters.
Although the city fathers have also been blamed for poor service delivery, sources at the Civic Centre, the city council headquarters, said the situation had been exacerbated by the said arrears.
According to documents seen by ZimEye.com the list of debtors is as follows: “The ZRP owes the city council $3,2 million, the Zimbabwe National Army $10 million, Cold Storage Commission $ 1,2 million, National Railways of Zimbabwe $ 200 000, Masvingo Teachers College $320 000, Masvingo Provincial Hospital $270 000, Construction Department $760 000 and Local Government Ministry $ 200 000.”
Masvingo City Mayor Councillor Hubert Fidze conceded the unpaid water bills were grossly dampening the local authority’s operations.
“We are facing serious viability challenges as a result of unpaid water bills. Several government departments owe us a lot of money and most of them are uncooperative,” said Fidze.
The city council is under immense pressure from residents associations to upgrade the water augmentation system among other services.
A WOMAN from Victoria Falls, who told a court she has endured sexual starvation for seven years, is suing her husband’s alleged mistress for $5,000. Bekezela Ndlovu, 35, a secretary at Oasis College, is claiming the money from Faith Mawodzeka who works at the Victoria Falls Border Post.
Bekezela said her husband Jordan Ndlovu, 40, has not had sex with her since 2009 because he has been sleeping with Mawodzeka. She wept in court when Jordan turned up to testify in favour of his alleged girlfriend.
Jordan denied having an affair with Mawodzeka despite his wife chronicling before Victoria Falls magistrate Rangarirai Gakanje, events she said proved the two were cheating.
Mawodzeka is not married and works at the border post while Bekezela and Jordan were married in 2003 under Chapter 5.11.
In her summons, Bekezela said the affair has caused her emotional and physical distress. She accused Mawodzeka of insulting her over the phone. Bekezela said her husband would assault her whenever she confronted him about the affair while at one point she was also insulted by Mawodzeka’s daughter.
She said for seven years they would go for counselling sessions but the affair continued.
Jordan testified against his wife and accused her of washing dirty linen in public as he defended his alleged girlfriend.
Bekezela has since moved out of the matrimonial house and now stays with a friend in the same suburb. She told the court her husband admitted being in love with Mawodzeka when his parents convened a meeting to solve the issue. She also told the court that her husband would sometimes spend about two weeks at Mawodzeka’s house.
The court heard Jordan and Mawodzeka spent most of their time together while at work and when Mawodzeka’s child died, he bore the funeral expenses.
Jordan and his girlfriend would allegedly go shopping in Botswana together. The civil trial continues this week. State Media
A 31-Year-Old Chinamhora man allegedly raped a psychiatric patient and gave her a plate of groundnuts and a rake to keep her silent about the assault, a court heard on Friday.
The man, Konoro Chideu, was facing rape charges when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Elijah Makomo.
He pleaded not guilty saying that on the day the woman was away with her relatives who were consulting traditional healers about her mental health.
However, he was denied bail and ordered to approach the High Court for his bail application. He will be back in court on April 14. Allegations are that in December last year Chideu was at his homestead standing alone in the yard when the woman arrived and asked for a rake.
The court heard that Chideu told the woman to go into the kitchen hut and she complied. It is alleged that Chideu followed her into the kitchen hut and proposed love to her; she rejected his advances. He allegedly grabbed and raped her.-State Media
Zimbabwe’s Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede has been struck down over his controversial published claims in which he charges that contraceptives cause cancer and were introduced by western governments to annihilate the black race.
Mudede’s claims that some birth control measures cause different types of cancers in women are not backed by scientific facts, since research linking the use of contraceptives to cancer has not been carried out in Zimbabwe, the Cancer Association of Zimbabwe (CAZ) has said.
The Cancer Association of Zimbabwe’s information officer, Mrs Priscilla Mangwiro, said current evidence showed that the benefits of using contraceptives far outweighed the risks.
“Studies elsewhere could have shown that prolonged use of some contraceptives for more than eight years slightly increase chances of women developing reproductive cancers, but no such studies were done in our country,” said Mrs Mangwiro.
She said while the area of contraceptives was shrouded with a lot of controversy, the benefits of using them were far more than the associated risks.
Mr Mudede and his colleague Mr Richard Hondo in February, launched their book titled Genetically Modified Organisms and population control drugs in developing countries, aimed at discouraging women from using contraceptives and consumption of GMOs, by linking them to a number of health-related effects, including cervical and uterine cancers.
Government, through the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council, has also dismissed Mudede’s claims saying they were not backed by any scientific evidence.
However, Mr Mudede insisted birth control drugs were introduced to control the black minority by Westerners.
“The grand plan seems to be the control of the world’s black population. The unfortunate thing is that these contraceptive drugs have ruinous, often fatal side effects, and are targeted at black women,” said Mr Mudede in his book.
According to the Cancer Association of Zimbabwe, the majority of cancers in developing countries are infection-related, with 60 percent of them associated with HIV and Aids, with the other causes attributable to unhealthy eating habits and sedentary lifestyles.
Mrs Mangwiro said in order to prevent cancers, Zimbabweans should exercise regularly, eat balanced diets and avoid tobacco use.
“About 50 percent of cancers could be prevented and another 30 percent of cancer deaths could be avoided by mainly not using tobacco, having a healthy diet and being physically active, moderating the intake of alcohol and maintaining a healthy weight,” she said.
The National Aids Council has also incorporated cancer awareness in its programmes considering that 60 percent of cancers were HIV-related.-State Media
resigned?…Patrick Chinamasa is not the first to suffer, as the ministry has many scalps, among them: Former Finance Minister Simba Makoni who had the same done on him with President Robert Mugabe later firing him. Another cabinet supremo, Chris Kuruneri was picked up while in office, and sent to prison where he languished for over a year without a trial.
ALSO READ – Chinamasa Refuses To Quit | Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, was on Sunday rumoured to have resigned with former RBZ Govenor, Gideon Gono, said to be taking over soon.
The report widely circulated among ZANU PF bigwigs, claimed Chinamasa, who has been battling to recover from his humiliation by Robert Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao, has thrown in the towel.
Several telephone calls to Chinamasa were failing at the time of going to press.
The minister’s relatives told ZimEye they were also failing to access him.
The rumour flared when with the silence, it emerged government is at present carpeted over the Chinamasa Zhuwao war.
The two a day before, Saturday, went on each other’s throats over the indigenisation policy with Zhuwao openly rubbishing the Finance Minister, over his absolving of banks from the 51% mandatory requirement of which Mugabe’s relative has been demanding all non-complying foreign companies to be closed by Friday 1st April. Consequently Zhuwao offloaded a full letter press statement to the effect of nullifying Chinamasa’s ministerial position.
If Chinamasa truly has finally met his fate, he will not be the first. The ministry has many scalps, among them: Former Finance Minister Simba Makoni had the same done on him with President Robert Mugabe later firing him. Another cabinet supremo, Chris Kuruneri was picked up while in office, and sent to prison where he languished for over a year without a trial. More to follow…
First Lady Grace Mugabe is believed to be the spirited “mouse” behind the 1635 Generation Consensus movement. The organisation spearheaded by her G40 faction’s Acie Lumbumba, who features in a carefully edited motion video released last week(below), is said to be a protest group.
But opposition analysts dismiss it with one saying, “it doesn’t add up when youths who belong to the very system which is oppressing the people purport to be interested in finding solutions to the current problems bedeviling our country. The people’s enemy in Zimbabwe is ZANU PF and its leader. The youths in ZANU PF form the backborne of that evil regime. CONTINUE READING BELOW –
So whatever generational consensus (16-35) they are talking about is nothing but an already failed ploy to divert the attention of our hungry and unemployed youths from rising and fighting the oppressor. Leave ZANU PF, then afterwards we can start talking about the future from a common view point because as it stands, you are part of the problem,” wrote one only identified as Juice Card.
Zimbabwe: The Generation Consensus
By Maurine Kademaunga|Zimbabwe has become a perfect graveyard of buried hopes. Although hunger is a stark reality, the real tragedy is not going for a day without a meal, the real tragedy is the poverty of our aspirations and the death of our hope. It is easy for those who are eating on behalf of us to romanticise poverty, to see poor people as inherently lacking agency and will. More often than not those in higher places have blamed the ordinary young person for failing to be entrepreneurial and to take charge of their sorry state. It is indeed a sorry state, with an unemployment rate as high as 90% and the majority of the affected being young people. And with an Executive that is incompetent and shameless to publicly admit that an estimated 15 billion of revenue from diamond industry was stolen by “investors” under its nose, a figure way beyond the country’s public and publicly guaranteed debt which as at the end of June 2015 stood at 8, 4 billion.
A strained fiscus, an under-performing economy, hunger due to poor disaster-responsiveness, tragic health care system, a disgruntled civil service and a whole generation robbed of its future all make a lethal cocktail for revolutionary actions. Some have put forth the beautiful and irresistible word unity/generational consensus, and in their call they start with the presupposition that young people have been quiet for too long and therefore must speak. Engaged further, those who carry this message of unity seem to be prepared to blame all other leaders from across the political divide save for one, the “iconic and infallible” President of the Republic.
Perhaps I should start by addressing the treacherous and misplaced conjecture that young people have been quiet for too long, it needs to be rectified. Many young people have confronted the powers that be, either as political leaders, political activists, civil society or just concerned citizens like Itai Dzamara.
Dzamara whose unnerving disappearance is a mystery yet to be solved. The students under the banner of the Zimbabwe National Students Union have continuously organised and agitated their lot to confront the party in government on critical issues that affect students and young people in general. Throughout these struggles of being the voices of the voiceless, limp and life was lost. Their issues well-articulated and their solutions clear, to get our economy working again our politics must be right, democracy, sound economic policies and respect of human dignity must be implemented. They defended their position fearlessly through violent repressions, irregular elections and abject poverty. Others such as Tonderai Ndira, Rebecca Mafikeni and others paid the ultimate price of death. The repressive and despotic regime exploited every resource at its disposal to impede any form of resistance. Some young people willingly participated in these terror campaigns, as perpetrators of violence against our vulnerable elderly populace in the rural areas and as repressors of actions of young urbanites who dared to speak up against the incompetent and corrupt regime of the day. And I think that these young people are the most perilous feature of the matrix because the most dangerous people are not the tiny minority instigating evil acts, but those who do the acts for them. My point here is not to dismiss the essence of the message they carry, my point is that not only must the message be correctly delivered, but the messenger themself must be such as to recommend it to acceptance. The narrative as is fails to acknowledge that young people have and continue to speak out although in fewer numbers due to the curtailing political environment which builds fear of being violently subdued and gagged. The young people of Zimbabwe have never been an inarticulate and ignorant lot but are mere victims of enslavement to superior cruelty and weaponry.
For unity to be achieved and for it to be useful as a scheme to find solutions to the many problems bedeviling our country, some form of grounded consensus need to be reached. First, we need to come to an agreement on the root cause of our economic woes. The uncomplicated logic and common-sense of it is to hold to account the current government and its leader, on all issues and more specifically on their election promise of creating 1, 5 million jobs. The second and perhaps most central detail is to acknowledge that there is no progress to be realised without the change of leadership, that 36 years of incompetence, avarice and unbridled tyranny is more than enough grounds for our dear leader to hand in his notice and pave way for a younger, agile leader who must be chosen by the people in a free and fair election to take over and work with a competent team while being guided by the wishes and aspirations of the majority to get Zimbabwe working again. The sort of consensus that will bring results must acknowledge our ugly political history and have its foundation in an uncompromising commitment to non-violence including a robust national healing and reconciliation program. This commitment must be backed by clear demands for electoral reforms as precursory steps to a free and fair election where international observers will oversee. All these demands must be made with the understanding that democratic space must be opened up and that there must be non-partisan and non-factional inclusivity in nation building and all political processes. Any young person who is patriotic enough must be able to stand by this truth and defend it! Anything that falls short of these preconditions is not worth giving a second thought. As John Lindsay puts it those who profess to favour freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are (wo)men who want rain without thunder or lighting. To be dare, that is the whole essence of the revolution!
Perhaps I should end by making one thing clear, that I am not saying there are greater or lesser persons in the search for a solution to bring an end to these grinding times, we are all equals with a common pulse to survive that stems from the same law of becoming and dying and for this reason differences of habit and political persuasion are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts open. My reflections aim to simply drive home the point that while unity is a beautiful word it must be approached with caution and due diligence must apply so as to build a formidable force whose actions are sustainable and profitable. The question whose interests is this unity serving must have one clear unambiguous answer, the people of Zimbabwe and at no point should it appear (as is the case at present unfortunately) to be serving the interests of the tyrannical leader of one political party unless of course the unity is an internal housekeeping issue between those in ZANU PF and their estranged comrades. Lastly while poverty and our painful reality of privation and despair are great rallying points for us as young people, they also function with the logic of the zipper, the thing that brings us together also pulls us apart.
“Tinoti Ebeneza” hit maker, Toggy Chivaviro, has signed with world renowned online music distribution giant TUNECORE.
This development is to ensure his music fans around the world are not starved of this music which has become a blessing to many souls.
“Gods grace is surely taking us somewhere,” a statement read.
It continued, “TuneCore is like the distributor , they take the music to more than 150 online stores, chief among them being YouTube, Amazon, ITunes, Spotify, Rhapsody, Googleplay, Deezer, Groove, eMusic, SmifyAfrica, Nokiamusic, Yahoomusic, iHeart Radio, Vervelife, Nmusic,Saarvn, ClaroMusica, Akazoo.I have been with them for 2 years now, serving about 5 stores on a trial basis with remarkable results, but this time with the way our latest album Mhepo Inoperekedza is being received by fans, they signed us for the full package ensuring about 150 stores across the globe.( you can check these stores on http://www.tunecore.com/index/music_stores)
This is the direction that music distribution is taking , the cd and DVD are going out the cassette and vynl way.Now we are even getting responses from as far as Australia, Japan, USA, Brazil etc.
Remember even in those countries there are many Zimbabweans that we may not be able to send our cds or DVDs to.CD distribution is being eroded by piracy, also many people now listen to music on their phones rather than cd players or shuttles.A person can just google MHEPO INOPEREKEDZA and get so many options to download the song for some cents, TuneCore collects our royalties and every month we receive our dues.
Revs songs have been doing extremely well on YouTube with more than 5 of them standing above 100 000 views each.Ebenezer , which was uploaded around May last year now stands at 637,870 views and still going, making it probably the most viewed ALL-ZIMBABWEAN song in such a short time.Its fast gaining ground on Oliver Mutukudzis Neria uploaded by BBC Africa in September 2009 which stands at 687,799 views.
Mhepo Inoperekedza has been quickly received by our fans and we are happy that this time its not only one song but quite a number, infact almost the entire album. Already songs like Mhepo , Zvichanaka and Chikomborero have entered various radio charts and doing well there.We hope by going digital and international the number of our fan base will grow and many souls will be uplifted.
This coming weekend we are taking our new albums to Durban , after a huge reception in Capetown last weekend.
…Joice Mujuru
Former Vice President Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First party is failing to make in roads into Matabeleland South region as would be members are resisting the party’s provincial chairman who was once an unpopular ZANU PF warlord.
Impeccable sources within the party claim that they are failing to attract new members into the party as people in the province vow that they cannot find themselves under the leadership of someone who once terrorised them leading ZANU PF violence.
People in the region accuse the party’s provincial chairman Jabulani Mathuthu for carrying brutal attacks on villagers in the Gwanda and Beitbridge areas in the run up to the 2008 general elections and the aborted Presidential run off.
One Mujuru aspirant who is a member of the Tendai Biti led People’s Democratic Party said that while he is being attracted by Mujuru’s prospects, he can never be find himself working under the leadership of Mathuthu who he accuses of murdering innocent people in his ZANU PF days.
“While I may be attracted to joining Mujuru to bring down Mugabe, unfortunately I can’t bless the leadership of murderers like Mathuthu,” he said.
A colleague of Mathuthu who remained in ZANU PF and spoke on condition of anonymity said that he was shocked when Mujuru appointed Mathuthu to lead the province with the kind of history he has in the province.
“When Mathuthu lost the 2008 elections in Gwanda North he mobilised a gang of youth from the National Service behind the party leaders’ back and went on a revenge trail terrorising people in Gwanda North for not voting for him pretending to be violently campaigning for President Mugabe in the run off,” said the man.
“I can bet with my last cent Mathuthu will never win even a single person to Mujuru from both ZANU PF and opposition,” he said.
However, some senior Zimbabwe People First members in the province dispelled the allegations saying that Mathuthu is a changed man now working very well with people on the ground.
“You have to understand that the concept behind the party is reintegration of communities to build a new Zimbabwe and because of that people are prepared to forget all past ills and focus on the future of the country.”
“So far Mathuthu has been able to recruit a great number of very prominent politicians in the province to the party and the province is on the right track under his guidance,” said the party member asking media to contact the party’s Secretary General in Harare for an official comment.
Efforts to get a comment from Rugare Gumbo who is believed to get the party spokesperson failed at the time of writing.
President Robert Mugabe nephew Patrick Zhuwao has publicly humiliated the finance minister Patrick Chinamasa.
Zhuwao said he is issuing a press statement to ‘correct’ Chinamasa on indigenisation compliance.
Below was his delivery:
It is with a heavy heart and great disappointment that I am forced to issue a press statement in response to the press statement issued by Honourable Minister P. A. Chinamasa, Minister of Finance and
Economic Development, on submission of Indigenisation Plans by the Financial Services Sector as published in the print media of today, 2nd April 2016.
It is unfortunate that Honourable Chinamasa has chosen to engage in the media on an issue that ought to have been clarified outside the glare of the public given the sensitivities that may adversely affect depositors and shareholders in the financial services sector.
I have previously requested my colleagues to desist from making
utterances that display their ignorance of the Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Act [Chapter 14:33] and advising them that such actions would leave me with no option other than having to force me to correct them in public.
In the interest of the public, and in pursuance of the observance of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Act [Chapter 14:33], I am duty bound and obligated to correct the record. To that end, this statement serves to outline the following issues that relate to compliance with the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act [Chapter 14:33] by the Financial Services Sector:
Section 3(1)(a) sets out the principal objective of the
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act [Chapter
14:33] as requiring that at least 51% of the shareholding in all
businesses should be indigenously owned.
None of the financial institutions mentioned in Honourable
Chinamasa’s press statement satisfy that specific requirement
of the legislation. This thus renders them as non-compliant.
I communicated this position to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor in a letter to him dated 31st March 2016 which I copied to Honourable Chinamasa and the Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet. See Annexure A.
My letter to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor was in
response his communication to the Zimbabwe Investment
Authority in which he erroneously sought to usurp the
authority of the National Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Board.
It must be borne in mind that foreign owned financial
institutions are obligated, individually, to observe the laws of
the land and that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe cannot shield their illegality by submitting that the letter that was written by the Governor constitutes compliance with the laws of the land.
It is unbelievable and astounding that a national institution can be used as an accomplice to subvert the principle of
indigenisation which is enshrined in the Constitution of
Zimbabwe and the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act [Chapter 14:33].
It is critical to make an enquiry into whether the plans allegedly submitted by the financial institutions are in line with the provisions of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act [Chapter 14:33] and its subsidiary legislations, primarily the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment (General) Regulations, 2010 set out in Statutory Instrument 21 of 2010.
It must be noted that General Notice No. 9 of 2016 does not
supersede the primary act and the regulations. In fact, General Notice 9 of 2016 simply sought to direct companies on how best to achieve the provisions within the Act and Regulations.
Ultimately any plans to be submitted by 31st March 2016 must
remain guided by provisions of the Act and regulations.
The Regulations of 2010, require that the minimum 51%
indigenous shareholding must be achieved, by business that
were already in existence at the time, over a period of five
years, between 1st May 2010 to 27th February 2015.
Should any business, for whatever reason, require lesser shares than the 51% indigenous shareholding, then such business must have, within its plan submitted in 2010, requested such a lesser share and only for a period prescribed by the Minister.
Given the above points at law, as provided for within the Act
and its Regulations of 2010, it is critical to acknowledge that as from 1st March 2015, the foreign owned financial institutions were in fact already in breach of the law as they had, firstly, not achieved the minimum 51% indigenous shareholding within 5 years, between 2010 and 2015, and secondly, they have never applied and had approved a longer period within which to achieve the 51% shareholding.
This critical point of law, being an existing breach of the law by foreign owned financial institutions as at 1st March 2015, must be acknowledged before they can seek to remedy their existing breach.
In a letter copied to me by the licensing authority, being the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, regarding the assumed compliance position of foreign owned financial institutions, it is clear that the Banks are in fact not compliant with the law. The Reserve of Zimbabwe has misinterpreted “socially and economically desirable objectives” as allowing them to disregard achieving a minimum 51% indigenous shareholding.
It is therefore incorrect to state that the allegedly submitted
plans are consistent with the letter and spirit of the Act and its
Regulations.
It is in this context that I am responding to Honourable Chinamasa’s statement that suggests that foreign owned financial institutions are now compliant on two grounds, namely that they submitted their new plans by 31st March 2016, and that such new implementation plans make provision for “socially and economically desirable objectives” that remedy their initial breach which came into effect from 1st March 2015.
The first point is still at issue. My officials do not yet have records that foreign owned financial institutions submitted their plans by 31 March 2016.
The second point at issue is the misrepresentation that foreign owned financial institutions have now remedied their non-compliance through submitting within the implementation plans certain “socially and economically desirable objectives”.
The law is very clear, that “socially and economically desirable
objectives” or the approval of “lesser shares” shall not and can never
do away with the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act
[Chapter 14:33]’s obligation that a business must and shall come to
achieve a minimum 51% indigenous shareholding.
The law will only allow an additional period, beyond the five year
period, over which such a business can achieve 51% indigenous
shareholding. During that period of exercising “lesser shares” such a
business must be undertaking “socially and economically desirable
objectives” that are being referred to.
What is clear from the Implementation plans said to have been
submitted by the foreign owned financial institutions before the
deadline of 31st March 2016 is that there is no commitment by these foreign owned financial institutions, already in breach of the law since 1st March 2015, of achieving the minimum 51% indigenous shareholding over a stipulated period of time.
These foreign owned financial institutions cannot, in perpetuity, remain with only 20 – 31% indigenous shareholding. Such a situation is in clear violation of the law. Moreso, “socially and economically desirable objectives” can never dispense with the obligation to arrive at a minimum 51% shareholding.
It is therefore my view that the statement by Honourable Chinamasa is incorrect as it does not outline the correct compliance position of foreign owned financial institutions as is required by the law. Such a position puts at risk the savings and investments of depositors and shareholders in an all-ready compromised financial services sector.
Thank you
President Robert Mugabe has warned liberation war veterans that his administration shall never be controlled by any association let alone the War Veterans Association.
Addressing thousands of ZANU PF supporters who traveled to welcome him at the Harare international Airport yesterday, Mugabe told the war vets that “everyone participated” in the liberation war and so no one should be seen holding the country at ransom using liberation war credentials.
“We all went to war. No one can tell us about war. Politics leads the gun and those who were in Zanla and Zipra should tow the party line,” said Mugabe.
“All the ex-detainees, restrictees should follow party procedure. We are not run by associations,
never, ever,” he said.
Mugabe went on to warn that ZANU PF will not hesitate to dismiss anyone who refuses to tow the ZANU PF line.
“It was Zanu-PF which gave direction, and those who had been “misled” into attacking the party leadership should “mend their ways” or risk being booted out.”
Mugabe said he was the one who was sent to organise the party after the death of Herbert Chitepo and had managed to unite Zipra and Zanla forces and they went to the Geneva conference as a united force.
“We went to Geneva a united front and after independence we had to split because of disturbances caused by dissidents. We then had a unity accord and became one party again. So the party leads everyone, it gives direction.”
Mugabe said the meeting between him and the war veterans’ association scheduled for next week would be used to tell each other the truth and also to address any grievances that the former liberation fighters might have.
Mvuma – A mother dumped her baby down a blair toilet, over 6 feet below. The baby only discovered early yesterday morning, is still alive and crying ZimEye.com can reveal.
While the circumstances surrounding the dumping remained unclear at the time of writing, the baby was retrieved from the deep pit where he lay 6 metres below for the whole night since Friday.
The little lad was spotted after he was heard crying while soiled in smelly human waste in the pit. People who rescued him struggled to do the task only to finally manage using the help of specials tools (SEE PICTURES…)
A hospital source confirmed to ZimEye.com the baby is male.
“The boy was retrieved, is alive and looks healthy. He is approximately 3-6 days old,” another source told ZimEye.
Chances that the baby was dropped into the pit by mistake were ruled out yesterday due to the size of the opening. “We have ruled that possibility out because the hole is too small for such an accident to occur and the boy was also in a bag,” a hospital source told ZimEye.
The boy is currently at Mvuma hospital awaiting both charity assistance and a police investigation. More to follow…
Zanu PF warlord (former), the dreaded Didymus Mutasa yesterday had his remaining shreds obliterated by MDC Deputy boss Thokozani Khupe.
Khupe stomped on Mutasa’s home area as she held a successful meeting seen to have brought a final close to Mutasa’s chapter of reign.
Women work ten times harder than men, and yet they still do not have the full enjoyment of their rights and freedoms, Khupe, said Saturday.
She was flanked by senior party officials, who included Lynette Kore among others, as she descended into the home area of former Zanu PF, Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa. Mutasa a powerful politician and God father in the area, fell from grace after he was expelled from the party.
Khupe was addressing hundreds of party supporters who had gathered to celebrate International Women’s Day, in Mutasa Central at the Watsomba Center. She went further to say: “ Women constitute 52% of the population, they contribute more than 80% to the GDP of the country, half of the food consumed in Zimbabwe comes from a woman’s hand.”
She lamented saying that poverty wears a woman’s face yet they have great capacity for wealth creation to sustain families and whole communities.
“This year’s International Women’s Day theme is Planet 50-50 by 2030, step it up for gender equality. If this theme is followed to the letter and spirit we will indeed achieve gender equality by 2030,” said Khupe.
Eighteen cattle were killed when a Tombs Motorways bus coming from Botswana hit 24 cattle on approaching the 87 kilometer peg along the Harare-Bulawayo road, between Chegutu and Half Way at Sangongore farm.
ZimEye.com is told the bus had (8) eight passengers on board and no one was injured in the process.
Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident to the State Media.
He urged drivers to avoid speeding, especially when passing through farming areas.
Harare – Zimbabwe will never give back land to dispossessed former white farmers as it is a national resource and the sovereign right of black people, President Robert Mugabe said on Saturday.
Mugabe told hundreds of Zanu-PF supporters at the Harare International Airport on his return from his visit to Japan that the late vice president Joshua Nkomo had told him on his death bed that Zimbabweans should not let go of the land that was in their hands.
Don’t be fooled that we have reached a point where we will give back land to the whites. They have money and we don’t. They have tractors and some are even renting from some of us. Beware, the land must remain a national resource, a sovereign right,” he said.
The country should shun regionalism and tribalism and ensure the national resources were equitably distributed.
Mugabe warned Zanu-PF supporters against being “tricked” into joining the newly formed Zimbabwe People First party led by former vice president Joice Mujuru, saying it had nothing to offer.
“The Zimbabwe People First is lost. Don’t listen to media reports that they have made inroads in our strongholds, they don’t have any people. Then you think someone can leave a party like Zanu-PF to join People First, what for?”
Zanu-PF’s central committee would meet on April 8 to map out strategies and hear grievances from the provinces, he said.
The land issue remains thorny in the Southern African country where thousands of white commercial farmers were forced off their land during the chaotic fast-track land reform programme which claimed a number of lives in 2000.
Just last week, the country held a stakeholders’ workshop to look at ways of compensating the farmers whose land was expropriated by the government since independence in 1980.
African News Agency
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe was reportedly offered asylum by his then Senegalese counterpart Abdoulaye Wade in the aftermath of his electoral loss to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai at the 2008 polls, former Education minister David Coltart has claimed.
In his autobiography, The Struggle Continues: 50 Years of Tyranny, Coltart said former South African President Nelson Mandela had a very low opinion of Mugabe and thought his successor Thabo Mbeki understood the Zimbabwean leader better.
Mugabe lost the first round of voting to Tsvangirai only to force through a violent run-off whose outcome was rejected by the international community and the opposition at home.
As diplomatic efforts to resolve the impasse in Harare continued following the disputed 2002 presidential elections, Coltart said in October 2003 he and former Finance minister Tendai Biti met Wade in Dakar and presented him with a dossier of events in Harare.
The meeting triggered a chain of events that sucked in the Senegalese leader, including a reported altercation with Mbeki over Mugabe.
“We handed him a dossier cataloguing human rights abuses and electoral fraud in Zimbabwe,” Coltart wrote.
“Being a lawyer himself, Wade was interested to hear the views of two Zimbabwean lawyers. He was sympathetic, and he told us that he would do what he could to get sense to prevail.
“Wade became critical of Thabo Mbeki’s failure to be more proactive in Zimbabwe. In 2009 he offered Mugabe asylum, saying ‘My friend Mugabe does not want to make concessions, we are at a dead end, he can no longer govern the country alone’.”
It was also reported that earlier Wade visited Zimbabwe in 2007, where he had a tense meeting with Mugabe over the deteriorating situation in the country.
Biti confirmed the meetings and that Mugabe had offers for asylum from a lot of other countries.
“Wade was part of a new crop of African leaders that found it unpalatable for an old nationalist leader to bog down the continent. We had (John) Kufuor in Ghana, (Mwai) Kibaki in Kenya and a very different (Yoweri) Museveni in Uganda,” he said.
“Mbeki himself was relatively new and Mugabe had become so politically unfashionable that everyone was offering him an opening.”
Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said he had not read Coltart’s book and could not say much. “I would not want to comment much because I have not read the book. But I do not know anything about that (asylum),” he said.
Following a State visit to Harare in November 2007, Wade told reporters in Harare that Mbeki had no monopoly on finding a solution to the Zimbabwe crisis.
“We should, at the level of Heads of State, together with brother Mbeki, undertake mediation. I think that Zimbabwe should be treated as an African problem, to be solved by all African leaders,” he was quoted as saying.
“Thabo Mbeki does not have the sole right to meet with Mugabe. Mbeki has done a lot, but the problem has not been solved.”
Wade’s visit to Harare had been postponed twice as relations between him and Mugabe remained clouded by suspicion.
After meeting with Wade, Coltart said he had stopped over in South Africa before a chance meeting with revered anti-apartheid icon Mandela.
Coltart said he had explained to Mandela that “because of his deep-rooted fears, Mugabe was unlikely to give up real power through dialogue” and Mbeki needed to appreciate that given the latter’s “policy of quiet diplomacy”.Newsday
A horrific accident has been reported at the 300-305km peg along the Harare Bulawayo road.
10 people are said to be have died on the spot.
The accident was of a head on collision between a Mitsubishi colt and a Toyota Hiace at Vungu River.
16 others were left critically injured and taken to Gweru General Hospital (see pictures).
ZimEye.com has been told the people in one of the vehicles were all of a family traveling from Bulawyao to a funeral in Harare.
While details were sketchy at the time of writing, ZimEye.com is reliably informed the accident occurred close to the Vungu river and the below live satellite map update is available for readers to navigate to the exact accident scene.)
More to follow…
The following was a comment from a contributor in the ZimEye newsroom: “Condolences to relatives of those who died at the Vungu river accident. How many lives need be lost on narrow roads whilst this Zanu PF bandwagon of murderers and looters continue to wantonly pillage state resources? Single-carriage Motorways or Highways left by Smith decades ago need dualising yet Obert Dumbuguru Mdudla Mpofu and Mnangagwas are getting stinking rich by the day through diamond money. The missing 15bn would go a long way to dualise the Harare-Bulawayo-Beitbridge, the notorious Harare-Masvingo, Byo-Vic Falls and all other highways. When will these brazen criminals be punished for looting state resources with unbridled impunity?”
UPDATE – Since the circulation of this story, facts surrounding this article have had corrections sought on them – SEE KARIBA ROBBERY: Story Correction (Click to Read).
ZimEye.com is receiving reports of a notorious robbery at Warthogs Bush Camp in Kariba last night. (navigate to the exact scene of the attack using the interactive Live Satellite map below)
Despite there being guards on duty, the unnamed thieves managed to sneak into one of the lodges, through the bathroom window and took with them a large bag belonging to tourists who are of Swedish origin, the report by a Kariba publication said.
The camp site’s lodges are built of quality albeit traditional logs and thistles (SEE PICTURES AND SATELLITE MAP).
Their passports were also in the bag.
It was not clear at the time of writing if the attackers injured anyone. Meanwhile, anyone finding these items has been asked to please contact one, Tracy on – 0772 224 505. Thieves often discard personal items that are of no use to them, such as ID cards.
– ZimEye
MDC-T Vice President, Thokozani Khupe, this week continued with her nationwide International Women’s Day celebrations attracting huge followings in rural Matebeleland. Below was a pictorial coverage of some of her meetings in places such as Lupane and Silobela.
prophet basher…Wicknell Chivayo
President Robert Mugabe has beaten Joice Mujuru on vital factors of tact, strategic vision and planning, so far. At the rate of unfolding events, a 94 year old Mugabe will send his pro·té·gée Mujuru to the cleaners in 2018.
Econet Wireless is by far the biggest contributor to a pool of funds managed by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) meant for infrastructure development in outlying areas, the telecoms sector regulator has said.
“Tinoti Ebeneza” hit maker, Toggy Chivaviro, has signed with world renowned online music distribution giant TUNECORE.
