A TEACHER and a Form Two pupil at Redza Secondary School in Zaka died when a bolt of lightning struck them as they sat under a tree, police confirmed yesterday.
Theresa Mukaka, 45, and Charles Farai, 14, all of Mukaka Village under Chief Ndanga, were rushed to Ndanga District Hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
Acting Masvingo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dehwa said the incident occurred on Saturday at around 4PM.
He said Zaka resident magistrate Dorothy Mwanyisa waived postmortem.
Asst Insp Dehwa said: “Surprisingly it wasn’t raining and the two were under the tree to shelter from the sun.
“They were rushed to Ndanga District Hospital and pronounced dead. They are expected to be buried early this week in their village”. Chief Ndanga said the whole area was in shock.
He said it was disturbing that a bolt of lightning came out of the blue and struck the two on a clear day.
“We’re still shocked about what happened at Redza Secondary School where a female teacher and her pupil were struck by lightning and died. The most disturbing thing is that it wasn’t raining,” said Chief Ndanga.
Lightning has claimed three people in Masvingo since the beginning of the year. Late last month a Chivi woman was fatally struck by lightning when it started raining while she was coming from a church service.-State Media

Bulawayo – A disabled family of three based in Bulawayo, John Munetsi Jemwa, his wife and little daughter, are appealing for help to start a small business for their sustenance.
The struggling family is one of many here left neglected by the now defunct Jairos Jiri Association. (READ MORE- Family Needs Urgent Help)
Their proposed project “has a very high turn over, is disability friendly, and has a great potential to drive us to greater heights and raise enough income to sustain us as a family,” Mr Jemwa said.

Below is a breakdown of what they need to kick start the business and how they intend to run it.
Popcorn Making Project
The family is looking for $1200 to establish a Popcorn Making Project.
The funds will be used as follows.
(1)  Gas double popcorn Making Machine with a Mobile trolley R7000
(2)  Gas cylinder 19 kg R1000
(3)  Popcorn corn for R4000 for 250kg
(4)  Cooking Oil 150Litters R1800
(5)  Popcorn packaging for R2500
Popcorn Balls
X-mas popcorn bowl
Birthday popcorn bowls
Gourmet popcorn enamel bucket
Caramel ball Cauldron/Tin
Mixed colour surprise basket
Buttered – normal movie type
Crazy Frog popcorn
Low Fat and Low Salt
Plain Salted.
In South Africa: Salt and Vinegar, Biltong, Mushroom, Braaivleis, Sour cream .
Gourmet:  Butterscotch Chocolate Covered Cherry, Milk Chocolate Caramel, Strawberries & Cream
White Chocolate Caramel
(6)  transport bus fare R700 and Luggage R1000.
We are going to sell the Popcorn around Bulawayo and also at Harare Agricultural shows annual events.
We will also target Schools, Hospitals, Sport events and public gatherings, Church fund raisers, Gyms, Restaurants, Supermarkets/shops, Flea markets, Farm stalls, kids parties
Tourist spots, Exhibitions, Game shops, Video rental shops,Taxi ranks, Police stations, Bus terminals and Railway stations.
We have a number of events lined up for Bulawayo
(1)  This coming April we have the Annual Zimbabwe International Trade Fair
(2)  Soccer season starting on April 2
(3)  We also have school sporting events
(4)  Political and church gatherings
John Jemwa can be contacted on the following numbers +263773661922 or +263712587170.

By Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo |An estranged woman last week stabbed her husband over nude pictures in his cellphone.
Josephine Zvomo of Mucheke suburb searched her husband ‘s cellphone and noticed nude pictures of a popular flea market vendor in the city.
In a fit of rage Zvomo attacked her husband Robson Mundawara and stabbed him with a kitchen knife. Mundawara managed to survive by a whisker after sustaining a deep cut on his right hand, Zvomo having attempted to go thrust the knife into his chest.
She accused Mundawara of having an affair with the flea market woman.
Mundawara confirmed the incident and said he got the pictures through a WhatsApp message.
” I was coming from the shower when my wife attacked me. She had gone through my cellphone files and saw the nude pictures.
She did not give me time to explain. As I tried to explain how I got the pictures,she stabbed me. She wanted to stab me in the chest. I blocked the knife and sustained a deep cut on my hand. I went to the hospital and got three stitches on the wounded hand,” said Mundawara.
The woman’s pictures went viral last week when her boyfriend’s wife posted the photos on WhatsApp to expose her.
Cases of domestic violence are on the increase largely as a result of cheating spouses.

Some 13 Zimbabwean women have been rescued from Kuwait and are now home.
The news comes as Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has warned Zimbabweans being offered lucrative job opportunities and generous scholarships outside the country to be careful.
Mumbengegwi has expressed concern over reports coming from the embassy in the state of Kuwait regarding Zimbabweans who have been recruited for work or scholarships only to be duped by human traffickers.
He said the case in which a local diplomat was implicated in such scams is being investigated by the relevant authorities and appropriate law will be applied to bring the culprits to book if found guilty.
Although diplomats enjoy immunity from prosecution in the host country, it does not mean impunity.
Mumbengegwi said the appropriate section of the Vienna Convention which governs the conduct of diplomats will be invoked to deal with those found guilty of human trafficking.
“It has to be established if the mentioned embassy was aware that they were issuing visas for purposes of human trafficking and if that is proved, then the law will take its course,” said Minister Mumbengegwi.
On Monday the 29th of February, the ZBC News broke the story of the alleged human trafficking scam.
Investigations that followed resulted in the arrest of eight people including an official from the Kuwait Embassy, Brenda Avril May.
So far, 13 women have successfully been brought home though some are in poor health.
The State Media has also established that in some cases, victims would find an opportunity to send SOS messages to their relatives back home, but their captors demand repayment for air fares and the money they paid to buy the so called slaves.

An HIV positive man, 55, habitually raped his daughter after claiming he had a dream in which two white men directed him to sleep with the minor to get cured.
Disgusted Bulawayo magistrate Mark Dzira yesterday said the man was worse than an animal. He jailed the man, from Plumtree, for 20 years.
The man raped his daughter, 16, and she fell pregnant and had to drop out of school.
The court heard how the man raped the teen and continued to demand sex for about two months. She ended up texting her mother who is based in South Africa and told her about the sex attacks.
“I was staying with my father as he separated from my mother who stays in South Africa. On October 29 he called me to his bedroom and said he had a dream that he wanted to share with me,” said the girl.
“He said two white men appeared in the dream and instructed him to sleep with me if he wanted to be cured of HIV. After that he ordered me to get into his blankets and I refused.”
Dzira heard how the man grabbed his daughter and raped her once.
“I didn’t tell anyone. I was afraid of my father because he’s a very violent man. He continued demanding sex daily from that day until I informed my mother. Police were informed and I was taken to hospital where nurses confirmed I was pregnant.”
The girl’s mother said she collapsed when she received a text from her daughter.
“I received a text from my daughter saying her father had raped her. I then made a police report, leading to his arrest.”
Dzira condemned the man’s behaviour saying he had no place in the community.
“You’ve reduced your daughter’s life to nothing but a trauma-filled experience that will haunt her forever. Her own father didn’t only rape her, but also impregnated her. The pregnancy was legally terminated but still you’ve destroyed her life.
“You killed your child and kept on piling up trauma in her life by demanding sex from her, something which is taboo for sane humans,” said Dzira.
“Some animals behave better than you and there’s no way the girl was going to lie and claim you raped her. You’re therefore sentenced to spend 20 effective years in jail and there’s no reason why I must suspend any of those years.” State Media

A FORMER Padenga Holdings employee has been slapped with an eight-year jail term for defrauding her employer of $15 551.
Chenai Cythia Karachi was sentenced on her own plea of guilty to 78 counts of fraud when she appeared before Kariba magistrate, Felix Chauromwe last Friday. She told the court she had committed the offence to impress her boyfriends.
The unmarried, but heavily pregnant Karachi will effectively serve four years in jail after two years were suspended on condition of good behaviour, while another two were set aside on condition she restitutes her former employer.
It was the State case that Karachi committed the offence between January and December last year.
In passing sentence, the court considered that Karachi was a first offender who did not waste the courts’ time by pleading guilty. Philip Urayai prosecuted.

BREAKING NEWS –Police in Harare have arrested and detained about 15 Morgan Tsvangirai MDC party employees.
The 15 have been taken to Harare central police station where they are being detained.
MDC spokesman Obert Gutu told ZimEye.com the allegations are that his party employees at the weekend beat up a Zanu PF supporter at the party’s Harvest House head offices.
Gutu said initially the police had also arrested Morgan Komichi the party’s deputy chairman and later released him without charges.
More to follow……………..

A Zanu PF linked Indigenisation Company has been implicated in the multi-million dollar NetOne corruption which forced the sacking of the Parastal’s chief executive officer Reward Kangai last week.
Kangai was sent on three months forced leave by NetOne board chairman Alex Marufu after the company’s new chief finance officer Sibusisiwe Ndlovu had discovered several financial irregularities on the Parastal’s balance sheets.
Marufu told Journalists in Harare on Monday Kangai connived with some Zanu PF linked companies in the NetOne corruption.
“We have discovered transactions with the following entities for the evidence of fraud or irregularities- Bopala which we understand is owned by Mr Agrippa Masiyakurima. Matters of interest include a deal to sell NetOne sim cards to 500 000 Zanu PF youths for which $80 000 was paid in advance. Of the 500 000 sim cards committed to, the actual number delivered was just under 3 000 which 3 000 was signed by NetOne staff at the weekend blitz at Zanu PF headquarters,” said Marufu.
“Also of interest is a contract to supply Eco-friendly towers for the base stations, which contract we believe was awarded without going to tender. Masimba Construction was contracted for the supply of the towers.
“Redan/Puma Energy, contract for the supply of fuel. Contracts with international providers such as, Gemalto, Nokia Siemens, Network, Covergys and Techotree,”Marufu anncounced.
Kangai last week accused Marufu of targeting him for allegedly resisting change which the board had introduced.
To express his anger Kangai wrote to the permanent secretary of Information and Communications Technology, Postal and Courier Services Sam Kundishora complaining of Marufu’s conduct.
 
 

BREAKING NEWS
Staff Reporter
Gweru deputy sheriff has attached City of Gweru vehicles and other movable properties over yet to be disclosed debts.
All of the senior council staff business vehicles and some service vehicles were seen being towed away by the messenger of court this morning.
Gweru City Council is owing it’s workers up to nine months salaries after allegedly spending $185 000 paying for a debt on behalf of the MDCT President Morgan Tsvangirai.
Sources within the council claim that the messenger of court was summoned by the workers to recover unpaid salaries after seeing media reports that the local authority had spent the $185 000 on other council unrelated bills.
The mayor and town clerk of Gweru are currently on a $300 bail each after being arrested for fraudulently using the $185 000 on MDCT business.
Council authorities and personnel working on behalf of the Deputy Sheriff refused to talk to media on the matter.

Speaking during the National Assembly and Senate sittings which began on Thursday, Machingaifa showered praises on Mugabe saying he shares the same rank of work as Jesus.

ZANU PF officials are on record referring Mugabe’s heir apparent Mnangagwa to Jesus Christ, saying he is the “Son of Man.”
Machingaifa went into overdrive pouring on Mugabe colourful adjectives and likening him to “the Son Of God.” “Our Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins; today the President is suffering on our behalf, and I have not erred on that regard,” Machingaifa said when challenged on his deliberation.
Several other Zanu PF officials have in the past used the Messianic analogy on both Mugabe and Mnangagwa.
While congratulating the 92-year-old leader on his “successful completion of concurrent terms as African Union and SADC chairpersons,” Machingaifa said, “the President is a brave leader whom I liken to Jesus Christ; he is carrying the cross just like our Lord Jesus did when he died on the cross for our sins,” he said before being challenged by MDC-T Masvingo Senator Misheck Marava.
“… I think that amounts to blasphemy. While we respect our President we must not put him to temptation,” said Marava.
 
Machingaifa however continued, “our Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins; today the President is suffering on our behalf, and I have not erred on that regard,” he said.
 
“Six months after getting into Parliament, we now spot big bellies; how many years has he (Mugabe) led this country yet he has not heard the opportunity to grow his belly because he will be busy leading this country.”
 
MDC legislator Theresa Makone then interjected saying Mugabe was a Catholic who would find Machingaifa’s words offensive.
 
“I want to tell you now that in our faith of the Holy Catholic Faith, Robert Gabriel Mugabe will never dream one day of being or likened to someone nearly similar or half similar to our Lord Jesus Christ….We will not accept, as Roman Catholics and the President himself will not accept to be likened to our Lord Jesus Christ,” said Makone.
Meanwhile parliament is now in its two-week Easter Recess and All Portfolio Committee and Thematic Committee business have been suspended. Committee meetings will resume on Monday 5th April. The National Assembly and the Senate will resume sitting on Tuesday 5th April.

Zanu PF has gagged its members of parliament from questioning government ministers in parliament.
The embargo was announced by the party’s secretary for administration and Zvimba North MP Ignatius Chombo at a provincial coordinating meeting which was held in Chinhoyi on Saturday.
Newsday reports that Chombo pin pointed  Chegutu West MP Dexter Nduna and his Makonde counterpart Kindness Paradza who he said were  getting “too excited” in Parliament by asking tough questions to expose the ruling party’s Cabinet ministers.
At the meeting Chombo said Nduna’s “too many questions” directed at Mines minister Walter Chidakwa last week had unsettled the latter.
According to Parliament’s Order Paper for last week, Nduna had asked 59 of the recorded 98 questions posed to Chidakwa over the mystery surrounding the $15 billion worth of diamonds, which went missing in Chiadzwa.
Although both Nduna and Chombo could not be reached for comment yesterday, a Zanu PF MP, who declined to be named, accused the Executive of seeking to stifle the legislature’s oversight role.
“We are now in a dilemma. How can a member of the Executive curtail us from doing what we were voted to do, to act as an oversight of the Executive? Besides, we agreed that we should not be overshadowed by MDC-T MPs,” a Zanu PF Mashonaland West MP, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
Paradza, who chairs the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs, reportedly angered Cabinet ministers when he played a slide show, which painted a sorry picture of the state of affairs at the country’s Botswana and Ethiopia embassies.
The Makonde MP said he had attended the PCC meeting, but denied Chombo had ordered him to tone down his questions in Parliament.
“I know you are there to tarnish my name. I was never mentioned by name . . . Chombo named Nduna and not me. As for the report, yes, it was factual. That is the reason Cabinet acted on it,” he said.
But businessman, Philip Chiyangwa appeared to be backing Chombo.
Chiyangwa, who sits in the PCC courtesy of being a central committee member, said the MPs were embarrasing ministers by not sticking to caucus rules.
“My friend, we are veterans. I have been a Member of Parliament for Chinhoyi and accordingly, MPs should put their ministers to task during caucuses, not to embarrass our ministers like what they are doing at the moment. They (MPs) are seeking unnecessary publicity by embarrassing their party ministers, something that should be expected from the opposition. We are watching them,” he said.
 

Bindura-Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University (ZEGU) has won a special government favour which among other things cancels the $2.3 million fee the government had charged it for the State land on which the institution is built.
There had been widespread reports the university was going to be demolished following a humiliating land rights court challenge.
But president Robert Mugabe endorsed it on Friday calling it a noble business investment for the community. Only indigenous initiatives, Mugabe said, will unshackle people from the imbalances created by the colonial education system.
The land, Mugabe said, was fully paid for by the blood of sons and daughters of Zimbabwe who liberated it as well as the Church’s prayers over the years.
The government was attacked at the weekend with Higher Education Minister Prof. Jonathan Moyo later defending Mugabe saying: ” ZEGU is a private church related university & its Chancellor is Archbishop Prof Ezekiel Guti.”
He added stating that there is no confusion as “the land belongs to the State and not Bindura and was allocated (not sold) to ZEGU by the State.”
Officially opening the university, Mugabe who is an an in-law relative of Guti said access to education for all was one of the reasons why Zimbabweans fought against the colonial regime.
The site had been under dispute with miner and businessman, Mr Charles Chakumba, taking the university to court for reportedly constructing the institution on his gold mining claims.
Mr Chakumba has since withdrawn the court application, the State Media reported saying.
He had been operating in the area, Barasse Farm, until 2010 when the church was also allocated the same piece of land for the construction of a university by the Bindura Municipality.
“Ipo pano patiri panga pachinzi ndepavo,” Mugabe said. “Vana ani? Vauyi? Manga musingapapihwe nemunamato chete saka manga muchidawo vakaita sesu kuti tisadharare, tivati chibvai muno, kana iri hondo yova hondo. Zvinorwadza asi takuti takapihwa kuti ndoopedu tigozvirega zvichitorwa. Kwete! Aaah kwete. Kana kuri kufa ngatifei kunosara vamwe (They also claimed this ground we are standing on. Who were they? Settlers? You were not only helped by prayer, you also needed dedicated freedom fighters like us to tell them to pack and go. Even if it meant war it was to be. War was hard but we could not let our heritage go. We were prepared to lay down our lives so that others live)”
ZEGU is the brainchild of the founder and president of the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa Forward in Faith (ZAOGA FIF) Professor Ezekiel Guti.
The university started operations in 2012 with an enrolment of 201 students.
President Mugabe said the $2,3 million the university had been charged for the State land should not be paid as the institution was benefiting Zimbabweans.
In any case, the President said, Government would support the university’s expansion projects.
“Mari iyoyo hamubhadhare. Kwete makabhadhara neminamato, takabhadhara neropa,” he said. “Vakai, hamubvise kana kobiri ndozvatakarwira, ndozvakafira vamwe vedu.”
President Mugabe said indigenous initiatives would bring total economic emancipation to the people.
“Thank you (Prof Guti) for that thought,” he said. “He refused to beg and to be under some white people. God gave us hands and it is these which we should use to bring prosperity to ourselves.”
He urged ZEGU to be wise in its decisions as it chooses what to imbibe from established universities.
“One of our expectations is that, as the youngest university, ZEGU will, from inception, provide quality university education,” said the President. “To achieve this, ZEGU will have to provide relevant curricula that is focused on our country’s development needs. I am sure the young university has great potential to fulfil our quest for university quality education through its mandate anchored in our socio-economic entrepreneurship.”
He added that excellence in education would be attained if staff members were resourced.
“As a new university, we expect it to be a fertile ground and indeed an ideal environment that promotes intellectual exchange, a place which will be renowned for developmental research and experiments that benefit the country at large,” he said.
“The university should seek and seek again that useful and practical knowledge. When we want to know more about Zim-Asset, we should be able to turn to it and when we want, in a specific way, to improve our agricultural produce, we should be able to turn to it.”
Prof Guti said the university was complementing President Mugabe’s drive for access to education for all.
“You have bemoaned the death of good morals and we will address that gap,” Prof Guti said in a speech read by his wife Dr Eunor Guti. “Our vision is to develop a total person that is academically and morally grounded.”
Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo, commended President Mugabe for championing the education for all concept saying the number of universities had grown from one to 16 since 1980.
He described the establishment of ZEGU, the sixth private university in Zimbabwe, as a milestone in the illustrious history of education in Zimbabwe.
Prof Moyo said of the more than 95 000 students at the country’s universities, about 21 872 of them were doing science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
ZEGU, which will have its inaugural graduation this year, is offering degree programmes in the faculties of arts, education and commerce.
Plans are underway to introduce the faculties of law, health sciences and agriculture. (State Media/Additional reporting)

A warrant of arrest for a student nurse who vanished while on bail has been issued by the Gwanda magistrate.
Tariro Takavarasha, (24) is facing rape charges. Reports are that while training at Gwanda Provincial Hospital, Takavarasha allegedly raped a prostitute. He was supposed to appear before Gwanda regional magistrate Mr Joseph Mabeza on 11 March but he never turned up leading to prosecutor Mr Johannes Tlou applying for his warrant of arrest.
Mr Mabeza granted his application. Charges against him are that on 23 February, he met the prostitute at a night spot in the gold mining town and invited her to his place of residence.
It is alleged that when they were about to engage in a sexual intercourse, the woman advised Takavarasha to use a condom but he refused. The two got into a misunderstanding leading to Takavarasha turning violent.
He allegedly threatened to kill her before  raping her once. Takavarasha then allegedly assaulted the woman with an unknown object leading to her sustaining a deep cut on the forehead.
However, she managed to sneak out of the house after Takavarasha had gone out to fetch a bucket for her to relieve herself in. She left her undergarments and shoes in the room. She reported the matter to the police, leading to Takavarasha’s arrest. She was referred to Gwanda Provincial Hospital for medical examination. – State Media

Zanu PF national commissar Saviour Kasukuwere has stood up speaking
on behalf of the people of Masvingo declaring that the province is behind President Robert Mugabe. He claimed the region is now backing and even rallying behind Mugabe’s leadership.
He was speaking at the end of a ruling party’s. provincial coordinating committee (PCC) meeting at Victoria Junior School here during a visit to assess the state of the party in the province.
Mr Kasukuwere said he was happy with the state of Zanu- PF affairs in Masvingo.
Kasukuwere however emphasised the need for discipline and unity if the ruling party was to maintain its dominance in the province. He said it was crucial for the ruling party’s structures to work in line with the national leadership.
“I have come to meet with the provincial structures of Zanu-PF here to make sure that the party is going in the right direction and I am happy with the state of affairs in Masvingo,’’ he said.
 
“I am
happy that the province is 100 percent behind the leadership of President Mugabe both in Zanu-PF and the country and there is unity within the ruling party in the province.”
Mr Kasukuwere underscored the need for the ruling party to consolidate its political dominance in Masvingo.

‘’We also talked about the issues of discipline, because we want our cadres to remain disciplined and continue to work for the growth of the party in Masvingo”,he added.
He said ousted Zanu-PF provincial chairman Ezra Chadzamira remained suspended until the ruling party made a final determination on his case.
Mr  Chadzamira was suspended by Kasukuwere together with Midlands’ Zanu-PF chair Mr Kizito Chivamba and Mashonaland East chairman Mr Joel Biggie Matiza for alleged disobedience and insolence.
The trio have since appeared before the Zanu-PF national disciplinary committee to answer to the charges and the committee is yet to pass its verdict.
Amasa Nenjana is the acting Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial chairman.
In his address during the meeting, senior Masvingo politburo member Mr Josaya Hungwe, said Zanu-PF was a formidable party in the province riding on the back of a complete whitewash of opposition parties in the 2013 harmonised elections.
Mr Hungwe said the clean sweep of all 26 National Assembly seats was clear testimony that Masvingo was now a “one party state”. He urged aggrieved party members to use the right channels to seek redress.
He said Masvingo was facing severe food shortages with at least every household in need of food assistance.
The meeting was also attended by top Zanu- PF officials in Masvingo among them Provincial Affairs Minister Senator Shuvai Mahofa, Youth League national Secretary Pupurai Togarepi, politburo members, Mr  Lovemore Matuke and Daniel Shumba. – State Media

A GWANDA magistrate has issued a warrant of arrest for a student nurse who disappeared into thin air while on bail.
He is facing a charge of raping a prostitute. The trial of Tariro Takavarasha (24) who was training as a nurse at Gwanda Provincial Hospital was supposed to start before Gwanda regional magistrate Mr Joseph Mabeza on 11 March but he did not turn up leading to prosecutor Mr Johannes Tlou applying for his warrant of arrest.
Mr Mabeza granted his application. Charges against him are that on 23 February, he met the prostitute at a night spot in the gold mining town and invited her to his place of residence.
It is alleged that when they were about to engage in a sexual intercourse, the woman advised Takavarasha to use a condom but he refused. The two got into a misunderstanding leading to Takavarasha turning violent.
He allegedly threatened to kill her before he raped her once. Takavarasha then allegedly assaulted the woman with an unknown object leading to her sustaining a deep cut on the forehead.
However, she managed to sneak out of the house after Takavarasha had gone out to fetch a bucket for her to relieve herself in. She left her undergarments and shoes in the room. She reported the matter to the police, leading to Takavarasha’s arrest. She was referred to Gwanda Provincial Hospital for medical examination.-State Media

ZimEye.com tracked the suspected CIO agent seeking to interview him. Our efforts were spurned with repeated denials. Even after several telephone calls to the man, our reporter was shockingly told Fagio Marowa will not talk to journalists and anyone seeking to interview him must submit written questions. – 

President Robert Mugabe sounded like a broken man — a man on the ropes — but hardly a defeated man, as he prepares for what could be the fight of his life. ALSO READ – PICTURES SHOW:Mugabe Disaster in Bindura.
Mugabe evoked memories of Simba Makoni, Dumiso Dabengwa and Joice Mujuru at his Bindura rally, to remind his supporters of people who had ostensibly betrayed him, yet he had defeated them, and the scene of the rally was to remind anyone who crossed his path that he was ready to take them on.
It sounded like a warning more than anything else as he dared his would-be opponents to lay their cards on the table, although it would be surprising if any did.
It was telling that Mugabe raised the 2008 spectre, where he felt he was betrayed by the now infamous bhora musango campaign, but more instructive was that he felt he was ready to deal with any internal rebellion looking more to the 2019 Zanu PF congress, rather than the 2018 election that many fear could be the ruling party’s waterloo.
“Wait until we go to congress,” he admonished. “If there are those who think they can do a better job than the president, you then choose them, if congress chooses, then fine.”
In a lifetime in politics, Mugabe has fought many battles and has been victorious in most of them.But unlike before, age could be taking its toll.
But could there be life left in the old dog?
In the same breath, he invited war veterans to what he described as a no-holds barred meeting early next month, but he let no one be under the illusion that this would be a free-for-all meeting. Instead, he could use it to lay down the law.
“We will be saying; speak your mind. I will leave if that’s what you want,” he said.
“It has to come through the party. But will that help you at this moment?”
One moment Mugabe says he is willing to go if asked to leave, but then says any challenger should wait until 2019 — an indicator that he is here to stay.
In true Machiavellian fashion, Mugabe has in the past called for honest debate on his succession, but instead he has used such discussions to identify those angling for his job and he has descended on them ruthlessly.
War veterans have been at the forefront of the latest episode of dissent against the veteran ruler and the April meeting will serve as a reminder of who the godfather is and the former freedom fighters will be called to order.
It was instructive that Mugabe contradicted himself and in so doing, deligitimised the war veterans’ call for a bigger role in the country’s politics.
In the past, Mugabe has subtly hinted that elections cannot undo what was achieved by the liberation struggle, saying the pen cannot supersede the bullet.
But now he is singing a different tune, saying politics always leads the gun.
Many would think this was a slip of the tongue, but it was calculated and delivered with chilling effect.
Mugabe genuinely believes there is a plot involving war veterans to push him out of power as part of a raging war to succeed him.
The former liberation war fighters are openly backing Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa against the G40 faction, which has links to First Lady Grace Mugabe.
One of the gladiators believed to be behind G40, Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo took to Twitter yesterday to repeat Mugabe’s point, that the gun cannot command politics as the pummelling of Mnangagwa’s faction intensified.
“Plots to end Pres Mugabe’s tenure through gun politics are anti-legacy of liberation struggle and unconstitutional,” Moyo tweeted.
“An issue has arisen that some in the nationalist movement now wrongly think the gun should command politics.
“Zanu PF and Zimbabwe’s constitutions uphold the principle that politics commands the gun. It’s called democracy.”
War veterans have been key to the veteran leader’s re-election at polls since 2000.
Last month police fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse veterans who had planned a march to Zanu PF headquarters, amid tussles between party factions over who should succeed Mugabe.
War veterans’ leader Chris Mutsvangwa — fired from the Cabinet by Mugabe two weeks ago — accuses some members of the ruling party of trying to manipulate the president by rallying behind his wife Grace.
Earlier this month Mugabe said his successor must be chosen democratically by the ruling party, but that it would not be his wife as some have speculated.
Mugabe said on Friday former army general Solomon Mujuru, husband of former vice-president Joice Mujuru, had failed to get him to retire ahead of elections in 2008.
Mujuru died in a fire at his farm in August 2011. His wife Joice was fired from the vice-presidency in December 2014 over accusations of plotting to remove Mugabe from power and she launched a new political party — Zimbabwe People First — on March 1 – Standard

Images of a paltry crowd that listened to President Robert Mugabe speak in Bindura last Friday were worth a thousand words. ALSO READ – Mugabe Fights for His Life: G40 Ambush

The orphan who was sexually abused by the headmaster of Hartzell High School is expected to testify against him next week.
The little girl will testify in camera on Wednesday against Shorwi Kawadza who allegedly sexually abused and infected her with sexually transmitted infection.

A 34-YEAR-OLD Honde Valley man, in Mutasa district, was on Wednesday sentenced to three months in prison for having sexual intercourse with a goat.
Tonderai Marombedza pleaded guilty to charges of bestiality as defined in section 74 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act chapter 9,23 when he appeared before Nyanga magistrate Ignitio Mhene.
He was ordered to pay $100 for the offence or spend three months behind bars. A further three months were suspended on condition he would not commit a similar offence in the next three years.
Charges against the accused are that on March 10 in Sagambe Village, the complainant went to tie her goats at a nearby grazing area and went back home to do other chores.
In the afternoon, some villagers, who were on their way to Sagambe shopping centre heard an abnormal noise coming from the grazing area. They went to investigate and caught the accused having intercourse with a goat.
They moved in to nab the accused whom they took to police.
Kelvin Mufute appeared for the State.-Newsday

Reuters- President Robert Mugabe on Friday said veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war had indicated they wanted him to retire and he would consider it if they asked him directly.
Mugabe, at 92 Africa’s oldest leader, pointed out however that others had tried to push him out in the past and failed.
He told supporters at a rally in Bindura, north of Harare, that leaders of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans Association (ZLWVA) were pushing for him to step down.
Mugabe, himself a war veteran and patron of the ZLWVA, said the organisation would hold a “frank” meeting with him in the first week of April, where the veterans should freely express their views.
“They have this thinking that the president has overstayed and should go. So war veterans come to Harare … so that we can discuss this. No one should intimidate anyone,” Mugabe said in his native Shona language.
“We will be saying: speak your mind. I will leave if that’s what you want. It has to come through the party. But will that help you at this moment?”
Friday’s comments are likely to be met with scepticism, coming from a man who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.
War veterans have been key to the veteran leader’s re-election at polls since 2000.
Last month police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse veterans who had planned a march on ZANU-PF’s headquarters, amid tussles between party factions over who should succeed Mugabe.
Zimbabwean media has quoted ZLWVA chairman Chris Mutsvangwa, fired from the cabinet by Mugabe two weeks ago, as accusing some members of the ruling ZANU-PF party of trying to manipulate the president by rallying behind his wife Grace.
Earlier this month Mugabe said his successor must be chosen democratically by the ruling party, but that it would not be his wife as some have speculated.
Mugabe said on Friday former army general Solomon Mujuru, husband of former Vice President Joice Mujuru, had failed to get him to retire ahead of elections in 2008.
Mujuru died in a fire at his farm in Aug. 2011. His wife Joice was fired from the vice-presidency in Dec. 2014 over accusations of plotting to remove Mugabe from power and launched a new political party on March 1.
Mugabe said he was surprised by calls for him to step down midway through his five-year presidential term.
“Wait until we go to congress. If there are those you think can do a better job than the president, you then choose them. If congress approves them, fine,” he told Friday’s rally.
ZANU-PF’s next leadership congress is due in 2019, a year after a presidential vote. No senior party members are expected to openly challenge the veteran leader.
(Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa and Andrew Roche)

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has snubbed President Robert Mugabe’s Bindura rally.
At the rally one of the G-40 faction members, Saviour Kasukuwere told the gathering that that any attempt to remove President Robert Mugabe from power was a cardinal sin before bursting into song-Regai vatonge baba, VaMugabe (Let Mugabe rule).
The reasons for Mnangagwa’s absence were not clear at the time of writing.
G-40 is made up of Higher and tertiary Education minister Professor Jonathan Moyo, Indigenisation minister Patrick Zhuwao and Saviour Kasukuwere.
Also not present at Mugabe’s Chipadze rally was the second Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko who traditionally accompanies and introduces Mugabe’s wife Grace at her offensive “meet” the people’s national rallies.
The G40 group of young Zanu PF turks is fighting against Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the party’s succession battle.
They are pushing Grace to succeed her aging President.

A catastrophe due to poison-chemical spreading looms in Chipinge after Chibuwe villagers killed three lions they say have been wrecking havoc in the area.
A local Youth Empowerment lobby, Platform for Youth Development, PYD, says the angry villagers used some suspected poisonous chemicals to eliminate the lions which had killed over 200 herds of cattle in the past few months.
PYD says members of the National Parks and Wild Life Management Authority on Thursday rushed to Chibuwe village where the lions’ copses were and addressed villagers on the dangers of poisoning wild animals.
“The National Parks and Wild Life Management team led by Evans Mhosira held a meeting at Coppa in Chibuwe where they promised to send a team of experts to carry a post-mortem on the dead Lions,” PYD said.
“They warned the community that the poison which was used to kill the lions could lead to human death if not handled with caution”.
“They also said animals like dogs and birds which would have fed on the bodies of the Lions can spread diseases that will eventually harm the ecosystem,” said the empowerment lobby grouping.
At the same meeting PYD said the local councillor Charles Mugidho Mahlonga said the problem was with the Save Valley conservancy management.
“The major challenge we are experiencing is the wrangle between the conservators and the
villagers over boundary and fence”.
“This conflict calls for the two parties to come together and find means to co- exist than fight,” he said.
PYD said villagers could not hide their joy for the death of the marauding lions despite having been educated on the dangers of poisoning wild animals the National Parks and Wild Life Management.
“Villagers from Masimbe,Muzondakaya and Muchaiyana villages of ward 20  were heard saying Mwari watizwa kuti mhondoro dzafa tanga tambaashungurudzika munharaunda,” said PYD.

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is today driving to a Zanu PF rally in Bindura to counter inroads by former Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) in his party’s strongholds.
According to top Zanu PF and government officials who spoke to the local Newsday, the rally could be a way to prop up First Lady Grace Mugabe, who is set to resume her rallies soon as her Generation 40 (G40) camp solidifies its stranglehold on Mugabe (92), Zanu PF and government structures.
“She (Grace) will soon mostly likely start with Manicaland province and move to Matabeleland. The President will also be addressing (parallel) rallies throughout the year as the party looks forward to 2018,” the source said.
Mugabe’s rally, according to top party officials, was calculated to douse fissures threatening to tear his governing party apart.
This comes as the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) – the party’s mainstay — is divided along factional lines with its members reportedly plotting to ditch Mugabe as its patron.
Zanu PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairperson Dickson Mafios yesterday confirmed that Mugabe would officiate at the opening of the Ezekiel Guti University in Bindura today and later address a rally at Chipadze Stadium.
Commenting on the threats by war veterans to remove Mugabe as ZNLWVA patron, Mafios said: “We cannot have the (war veterans chairman Chris) Mutsvangwa story every day. We don’t want a person like him who creates a crisis for the economy when he is a crisis himself. We want people who are keen to build the economy, like the President.
“You can’t come here to tell us that the President must go when he appointed you. If he appointed you, he has the powers to fire you and you are gone for good. As Mashonaland Central, we are behind the President and we are confident he will lead us in the 2018 elections.”
Mafios, however, said Mugabe would deal with Zanu PF factional fights, the economic morass, anxiety and the El-Nino-induced drought as well as pay homage to the province for “steadfastly rallying behind him” in all previous elections.
“He (Mugabe) will first officially open Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University and proceed to address a rally in Chipadze Stadium,” Mafios said.
“He is bringing a special message to the province, as you know that it is the stronghold of the party. He will also address the political situation in the country and assure us on the agenda to improve the country’s economy.”
Mafios said thousands of Zanu PF supporters were expected to attend the rally.
The governing party is experiencing a new wave of factional turbulence pitting the First Lady’s G40 group against Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s allies. Axed War Veterans minister and Norton MP Mutsvangwa is reportedly aligned to Mnangagwa.
According to party sources, Mugabe was likely to use the rally to lash out at Mutsvangwa, who recently addressed a joint war veterans meeting with his predecessor Jabulani Sibanda in Bulawayo as well as Mnangagwa loyalists.
“At the Bindura rally, the President will likely use the platform to rebuke Mnangagwa and the groups of war veterans and youths fighting in the Vice-President’s corner attacking the First Lady,” the source said.
The source added Mugabe was also increasingly fretting over Mujuru’s party, which was reportedly targeting Zanu PF supporters, and this could trigger several rallies by the veteran leader to woo back the lost supporters and expelled party officials.
Mujuru’s allies, on the other hand, said they were aware of Zanu PF’s “sinister plots” to curtail their campaigns through the use of propaganda and violence, but vowed to fight on and dislodge Mugabe in the 2018 polls.
After he was suspended and recalled from government, Mutsvangwa declared that he neither cared for his politburo nor Cabinet positions. Newsday

The trial of former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation Group Chief Executive Officer Happison Muchechetere who is facing fraud charges was on Thursday postponed to the 4th of  May.
The accused through his defence council led by Advocate Thabani Mpofu is waiting for a determination of an application to the Constitutional Court.
The trial was supposed to kick off this Thursday but the state was not yet prepared as the docket had been referred back to the police station.
Muchechetere is accused of swindling the national broadcaster of US$800 000 by inflating the price of an Outside Broadcasting Van he bought in China in 2013.
Advocate Mpofu told the court Muchechetere constitutional application has not been exhausted as they need to attend to some procedural issues.
He suggested that on the next remand date on May 4, the case must be heard in chambers.
It is the state case that on January 18, 2013, Muchechetere procured an OB Van in China without going to tender.
ZBC is obliged to procure goods and services in line with the Procurement Act (chapter 22:14).
It is believed the accused misrepresented that the OB Van cost US$1 050 000 yet he allegedly inflated the price as it was established that its market value was US$395 000.

By Terrence Mawawa, Chivi|Scores of people were injured at Shindi High School as they scambled for First Lady Grace Mugabe’s donations.
Mrs Mugabe’s pickings, distributed in the name of philanthropy, left several people dead during her ‘death’ rallies held last year (SEE FULL STELLITE MAP). Critics even argue the First Lady has been simply raiding the Zimra (border confiscated goods) warehouses to dish out to people.

At Shindi High School villagers were nearly crushed to death as they scramble for maize meal,shoes and grocery items distributed by Chivi Rural District Council Chairman Killer Zivhu, who showered praises on Mrs Mugabe. Zivhu described the First Lady as a woman who had a kind and warm heart for the starving masses.
“We wish to thank our kind -hearted First Lady for giving each household here mealie meal and no one has been left out of the food distribution process.Therefore we should support those who care for us and let us all vote for Zanu PF in 2018,”said Zivhu.
This comes at a time when there are reports her party Zanu PF is intercepting food relief bags from various donor agencies in a way to silence perceived opposing voices.
Political analysts believe Mrs Mugabe is using food aid to penetrate the volatile province of Masvingo. The First Lady is working with President Robert Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao, Higher Education Minister Jonathan Moyo and National Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere to advance the G40 faction’s cause in the explosive province.

By Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo|In an incident strongly linked to political violence, a house belonging to a Zim-People First(ZPF) official, was torched down by suspected Zanu PF youths.
The house belonging to Zimbabwe People First coordinator for Bikita West, Tsuru Gurwe,was attacked at around midnight, and his property completely destroyed. Ironically the incident happened following a series of altercations with Zanu PF youths last week who vowed to fix him.
Gurwe told ZimEye.com a group of Zanu PF youths confronted him and said they would punish him for “pulling away” Zanu PF supporters to Zimbabwe People First.
Gurwe reported the matter at Bikita Police Station but no one has been arrested in connection with the arson attack.
“I reported the matter at Bikita Police Station but no one has been arrested so far. My first suspects are Zanu PF youths who threatened to deal with me for recruiting people to ZPF.
“Zanu PF members can do anything in an attempt to threaten us but that will not work.
“They know that we are the only opposition party capable of dismantling them,”said Gurwe.
Although political observers are still sceptical about the Joice Mujuru led ZPF, it has emerged the party is gaining grassroots support mainly in Zanu PF strongholds.

One of the suspects accused of attempting to petrol-bomb the First Family’s Alpha Omega Dairy Farm yesterday maintained that it was a military- sanctioned operation, and he had been tasked by his superiors from the Zimbabwe National Army to monitor and trap the culprit.
Through his lawyer, Mr Exactly Mangezi, Borman Ngwenya (30) said he kept one Major Mashava informed of the activities.
He said Owen Kuchata, who has since been jailed for the offence, was their target in the operation.
While cross-examining State witnesses, Mr Mangezi produced proof in the form of phone records showing communication between Ngwenya and Major Mashava.
However, two police officers who arrested Ngwenya and his alleged accomplices,, said the phone records were irrelevant in the matter saying no one knew what he communicated with Major Mashava.
Detective Sergeant Zorodzai Chatikobo said Ngwenya as a soldier might have indeed communicated with Major Mashava discussing different issues not the one before the court. The officers maintained that Ngwenya had a case to answer since he was arrested at the scene during the night.
“Your Worship, this is a mere phone record. Who knows what they were talking about? We cannot conclude that they were discussing the bombing operation. This is not a voice recording whereby we could listen to what they were discussing,” he said.
He added: “When I was called for briefing at Harare Central, I was told that there were four people who wanted to bomb Gushungo Dairy that we were supposed to ambush. I was not told that Ngwenya was on a military operation. I only got to know that he was a soldier after his arrest.”
Det Sgt Chatikobo said upon his arrest, Ngwenya never mentioned being an undercover agent.
Another cop from ZRP Support Unit department, Artwell Chimanga -who was part of the arresting team – said when the gang was arrested, they all had petrol bombs in their bags.
“At first, they lied that they were going to Mazowe Mine, but later changed their statements and said they were headed to Alpha Omega Dairy Farm,” he said.
He narrated to the court how they ambushed and arrested the quartet after receiving information from CID Law and Order Section.
Prosecutor Mr Michael Reza also called two vendors from Mbare as witnesses.
Shingai Ngilazi told the court that Ngwenya bought the bottles they used from him, while Tawanda Makambaire submitted that the fertiliser they used to make the bombs was purchased from his market store.
Regional magistrate Ms Fadzai Mthombeni heard that on January 22, around 4pm, police received a tip-off that the four were planning to bomb Alpha Omega Dairy’s processing plant and tuckshop during the night.
Acting on the tip-off, police proceeded to the farm and laid an ambush about 100 metres from the quartet’s target. At around 10pm, the detectives saw the men approaching the dairy’s processing plant and immediately arrested them.-State Media

An Umguza man was kidnapped, stripped naked and his buttocks burnt after being accused of stealing a mobile phone.
Three men Sibangilizwe Dube, 42, Thamsanqa Ncube, 48, and Zebediar Tshuma, 52, all from Billars Farm in Umguza were allegedly trying to get a confession from 23-year old Ntandoyenkosi Sibanda. The trio pleaded not guilty to assault before Bulawayo Provincial magistrate Abednico Ndebele on Wednesday.
Sibanda described how the three tied his hands and legs then poured opaque beer all over his nude body as they tortured him. “Dube tied both my hands and feet. Ncube stripped me naked and advised Dube to bring hot charcoal which they used to burn my buttocks and chest so that I confess. Tshuma poured beer all over my body as he flogged me using a whip.
I was then tied at the back of a pickup truck and taken to Sazini’s homestead were they suspected I had taken the phone. My mother took me to a clinic. From the clinic I was transferred to UBH (United Bulawayo Hospitals) for treatment,” Sibanda said.
Sibanda, who works at Ncube’s farm, is alleged to have traded the phone for mbanje.
“When we beat up Sibanda, he confessed that he had exchanged the phone for three twists of mbanje,” said Dube.
Ndebele remanded the trio out of custody to April 16 on free bail.
Prosecuting, Mufaro Mageza told the court that the phone was discovered missing on February 6 at about 6PM. – State Media

Controversial Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been put to task over tribalism.
Mnangagwa on Wednesday defended himself saying government does not use either tribalism or regionalism in awarding liberation hero status to those who would have contributed immensely to the country.
He said this during the National Assembly Question and Answer session when responding to a question by Matabeleland South proportional representation MP Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
She had asked the VP on the criteria used by the government to award liberation hero status following one’s death.
She expressed concern over the government’s response following the deaths of three prominent academics last year: former National University of Science and Technology (Nust) Vice Chancellor Professor Lindela Ndlovu, the director of the African Institute of Agrarian Studies Professor Sam Moyo and University of Zimbabwe’s senior lecturer Vimbai Chivaura.
She queried why only Chivaura was accorded liberation hero status yet the three academics’ contributions were all well-known. VP Mnangagwa said the government does not discriminate based on where people come but responds to requests made by provinces.

“They would not have approached the government because if you’re working, you will be assisted without any tribalism being involved. When you’re working, it’s for the betterment of the country and not for a particular tribe.”
The VP also explained the difference between a liberation war and liberation hero.
“A liberation war hero is a person who carried a gun. A liberation hero is someone who may have been outside or within the country but did not hold the gun but did some work which is known that he or she was a nationalist who supported the freedom of this country,” he explained.
“So in that manner, there are people who were not of age, like the learned brothers, whom we didn’t think would participate in the war but after independence, we realised that their works are good and have uplifted the country.” – State Media

VICE-PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxillia, has handed back the title deeds for a co-operative farm she had reportedly confiscated to force the appointment of a pro-Zanu PF executive in her Chirumanzu-Zibangwe constituency, it has been learnt.
The co-operative’s chairperson, Pio Musambasi confirmed receiving the documents from Mnangagwa last Thursday. Initially, Mnangagwa sent an emissary, Simon Sigauke, a Zanu PF district chairperson in her constituency, to return the title deeds for Wadzanai Co-operative Farm, but Musambasi refused to take them, saying he had engaged lawyers to handle the matter.
Mnangagwa then approached Musambasi’s lawyer, Reginald Chidawanyika to resolve the wrangle.
“Yes, I have returned the title deeds after she (Mnangagwa) approached me and asked me to hand them back to the old executive,” Chidawanyika said yesterday, adding the VP’s wife had apologised for interfering in a matter that did not concern her. “She admitted she had erred.”
Two weeks ago, Mnangagwa called a rally at Wadzanai Farm and replaced the Musambasi-led executive with her preferred Zanu PF members, notwithstanding that the farm was a private commercial property.
Mnangagwa then forced Musambasi to hand over the farm’s title deeds.
After Musambasi complained that she had no right to interfere with the co-operative’s operations, Mnangagwa sent Sigauke to hand back the title deeds.
Wadzanai Co-operative Farm, according to Musambasi, was registered in 1983 after about 171 families, who had been displaced from the land by the Rhodesian government, pooled resources and bought the land, where they conducted various business activities. Musambasi said Zanu PF supporters had started pushing to change the property into communal land in 2008 and even appointed seven headmen to take charge of the property. southern eye

A Harare Magistrate Elijah Makomo on Wednesday freed an official from the Kuwait Embassy, Brenda Avry May, who was arrested on allegations of human trafficking.
Makomo granted Avry May US$500 bail after advising the both the prosecution and the police that there was no reasonable basis to deny the accused bail.
Mr Makomo reminded the prosecution that seriousness of an offence is not the ground to deny an accused bail, adding that even suspected murderers can be admitted to bail.
He said there is no evidence placed before the court that suggests Avry May can abscond.
Mr Makomo noted that Avry May was released by the police as they wanted to proceed by way of summons and she availed herself after the police requested her, meaning she is a proper candidate for bail.
The accused together with the former Kuwait Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ahmed Al Jeeran are suspected to be the key people behind the trafficking of Zimbabweans to Kuwait.
They allegedly recruited desperate Zimbabwean job seekers purportedly to go and work in Kuwait as waitresses and nurse aids but forced them to become sex slaves.

Axed war veterans chairman Jabulani Sibanda has suggested that the former freedom fighters restructure their association and add a position of president in what is viewed as a covert operation to remove President Robert Mugabe as patron.
There have been reports especially in the private media of plots to try and remove President Mugabe from being the patron of the former freedom fighters body.
Although he denied plots to remove President Mugabe as war veterans’ patron, Sibanda was quoted yesterday in the private media saying that he was working to make sure that he (President Mugabe) loses elections in the 2018 polls.
Addressing war veterans in Bulawayo on Saturday, Sibanda called on former freedom fighters to “come together” and restructure the war veterans body to have the positions of president and national chairman to strengthen it.
“You need to give more power to the position of the person at the top and upgrade it to president and then have a national chairman,” said Sibanda, a member of axed Vice President Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First Party.
Sibanda was brought to the meeting by war veterans national chairman Chris Mutsvangwa in a move strongly condemned by the Zanu-PF Women’s league.
Yesterday, one of the war veterans who passed a vote of no confidence on Mutsvangwa, Mandi Chimene, said the suggestions were symbolic of the greatest form of treachery.
“That’ll never happen. This is the greatest form of treachery, it doesn’t go beyond this. After all Jabulani is a renegade war veteran and it raises eyebrows how he was allowed to address that meeting,” said Chimene.
“Jabulani wants to pull the people into the dark but we’re very alert. We’ve read their plots a long time ago. Zanu-PF is like a general hospital, when we admit you, we give you a bed but when we discharge you, we keep that bed. Jabulani is trying to walk away with the hospital bed and we won’t accept that.”
Chimene said Sibanda should concentrate on his party and stop trying to sway former freedom fighters.
She also attacked Mutsvangwa, accusing him of trying to cause chaos among war veterans.
Chimene said by liaising with Sibanda, Mutsvangwa revealed that he shares a similar agenda with the axed war veterans’ chairperson.
“That’s why we decided that we can’t work with him and passed a vote of no confidence against Mutsvangwa,” she said.
War veterans secretary general Victor Matemadanda, said they were planning a march to Harare to demand answers over why their colleagues were dispersed by the police using tear gas at an aborted meeting last month.
This is despite clarifications by President Mugabe in his address to the nation that Mutsvangwa had called for an unsanctioned meeting without notifying the head of state and security ministries.
“We want to toyi-toyi to Harare,” said Matemadanda. “We need to prepare. When we go to be de-commissioned everyone should go even our children, vendors, wives and husbands, cross-border traders. We’ll all go and ask . . . we’re talking of a three million men march that is everyone concerned.”
He said they wanted to know why they were tear-gasssed and had what “was said to be water” sprayed to disperse them in Harare when the “weapons we had were newspapers while under trees” when they had “supposedly planned to meet the President”.
Matemadanda said there were some politicians who “think their blood is more precious than that of others”.
“A war veteran isn’t an individual, it’s a spirit,” he said.
He scoffed at recent expulsions of some Zanu-PF members saying this would not do the party any good.
“When you talk of expulsion, it’s a paper expulsion,” he said. “Put it in my blood. Inject expulsion in my blood.”State Media

Two Hwange Colliery Coal Limited (HCCL) board members representing British businessman Nicholas van Hoogstraten’s interests have resigned, as the

An outcry has sparked in Harare West after a woman was found dead in a state of undress.
The incident happened in Greencroft and the woman’s naked body was spotted in a grass patch along Hallingbury Road.
Harare West MP Jessie Mjome says this is the 3rd murder in the small area in two years to date.
The body was discovered around 1.pm on Sunday by two people walking along Hallingbury road.
Nearby residents said they heard a voice of a woman screaming at around 8.pm on Saturday and as they tried to investigate they only saw a vehicle which looked like a Mercedes Benz speeding from the scene.
Wounds could visibly be seen on the back of the body, suggesting that the woman was dragged along the tarred road before she was thrown in the tall grass by the roadside.
Greencroft residents took a swipe at the City of Harare for not cutting the tall grass in the area, saying this aids the activities of thieves and murderers. MP Majome echoed the same worries saying:
“As reported on the link below, residents have every right to blame council for uncut grass and unlit street lights which create havens for criminals who pounce of unsuspecting victims (who are often women). Ironically just two days before an environmental indaba was convened by Cllr Peter Manjoro just a few metres from the crime scene whereat echoed residents’ cries for street lighting and grass cutting. The council promised to deliver these soon.
“In 2013 Zachaeus Nemadire was found dead in the Lavenham Rd, Bluff Hill, Ward 41, a street which did not have street lights. Click here for full story https://www.facebook.com/jessiefungai.majome/posts/312556312237419 . In 2015 the body of Sarudzayi Chindawi was found in a green way in Mabelreign. To my knowledge both murders have not been solved, ” she said.
Police, who attended the crime scene declined to comment, according to the State Media.
They took the body to Marlbereign Police Station for investigations.

Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial leadership wants the suspended ousted War Veterans minister and Norton legislator Christopher Mutsvangwa recalled from Parliament.
Party provincial chairman Ephraim Chengeta told NewsDay that they are going to meet and deliberate of Mutsvangwa’s fate.
They are accusing the outspoken former minister of associating with the former war veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda.
The expelled War Veterans Minister is also under fire from his constituency for neglecting service delivery issues.
They said instead of attending to water shortages and burst sewer pipes Mutsvangwa decided to build a massive industry hub in Norton where he is dreaming of exporting   motor parts to overseas.
He is also said to have erected a large television set at Katanga shops. – See more at: https://www.zimeye.net/mutsvangwa-builds-massive-industry-smog/#sthash.9yLIFLpQ.dpuf
“In Norton we still do not have running sewage pipes; the roads are not tarred. There is no water in our taps, at a time when yet Harare is supplied with water which flows from right here in Norton,”said some residents.
“Our Dear Honourable MP jumped to dream of bigger things, yet most of his people here do not have Title Deeds for their properties.
“What kind of grievances do you need to be told of than what we have given you during your campaigns”.

Southlea Park residents are accusing Zanu PF central committee member Philip Chiyangwa of invading Odar Housing consortium offices and converted them into  his cash collecting offices.
Chiyangwa is demanding $42 million from the residents as compensation for settling at “his” farm.
President Robert Mugabe’s Nephew is  threatening to evict the over 8000 residents whom he wants to pay him $4 500 per house hold.
The residents through Southlea Park Home Owners Association have however taken the businessman to court challenging the ownership of the farm which was acquired by the government in 2006 under Garikai /Hlalani Kuhle programme.
The residents told ZimEye.com that  Chiyangwa had no authority of using the housing consortium’s offices which were built with their contributions.
They said Chiyangwa connived with the troubled  Odar Housing Consortium chairman Ben Matenga and converted the offices into cash receiving offices.
“This is criminal because residents were not consulted .This property was built with money which residents contributed, “said one of the residents.
“Chiyangwa has no authority what so ever of using these offices. He is interfering with a case which is before the courts and he should be arrested for contempt of the court,” one resident said.
Southlea Park was this week  awash with Chiyangwa’s  flyers which had some threatening messages.
“It has come to my attention that land baron Nyambuya (President of Southlea Park Home Owners Association) is masquerading as state agents for my land .Odar Housing Consortium led by Mr Ben Matenga is the official appointed by Sensen to oversee processes of stands owners on our behalf.We implore those who have not paid to do so as legal action will be instituted against them,” read the flyers.
Matenga was not available for comment.
Chiyangwa grabbed the land in September last year  from  Odar Housing Development Project a consortium of 56 companies which was appointed by government to oversee housing developments.
He is claiming that he bought the farm from a consortium of former white commercial farmers who owned the land before it was acquired by government in 2006.

More than 13 000 civil servants have been omitted from the government payroll despite rendering their services.
A state media report says the government has not been capturing them on its pay system, creating an obligation of more than $84 million per year in salary arrears to the already cash-squeezed treasury.
The report follows a Civil Service audit report which reportedly “reveals” that 96 percent of the number was found in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
“At least 12 392 persons were found to be rendering services but not on the payroll, implying a committed expenditure of $6 959 760 per month translating to $83 517 120 per annum. It has been observed that 96 percent (11 813) of these members are from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. This has the effect of distorting the payroll leaving the system open to abuse in the form of members being allowed to provide services without authority,” reads the report.
“Thereafter they will request for payment for services since there is a legal obligation for the State to pay for services provided which, in essence, amounts to committed expenditure on behalf of Government.”
The report said the Public Service Commission had put in place procedures and timelines for appointment and documents to be processed and submitted to the Salary Service Bureau as well as mechanisms to flush out irregular appointments.
“The Commission will identify and charge the members who failed in this exercise to process and submit appointment documents within the set timelines,” reads the report.
It was noted that at least 3 307 members who were on the payroll could not be accounted for amid revelations that some were already working in the Diaspora with some residing as far as Australia.
The audit also noted that the ministry deployed 1 000 classroom teachers to the provincial, district offices, clusters under BEST programmes, Better Schools Programme Zimbabwe, physical education programmes among others creating an unnecessary expenditure of $540 876 per month translating to $6,5 million annually in replacements.
Overstaffing through lower teacher people ratio, relief teachers stood at 5 588 creating an unnecessary expenditure of $2 794 000 per month which translated to $33 528 000 per year.
“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education did not put in place mechanisms to reduce the wage bill and failed to adhere to the stipulated teacher-pupil ratios in schools,” reads the report.
Another observation was that School Development Associations employed teachers without requisite qualifications, yet colleges were churning out educators and this resulted in headmasters and deputy headmasters not teaching.
“Heads, some deputy heads and teachers-in-charge were not teaching despite indications on paper that they had classes contrary to the provisions of the ministry’s circular Number 15 of 2006. Some claimed to be teaching guidance and counselling whilst they were not. They use guidance and counselling as a cover for not teaching,” the report reads.
The audit also noted that there were 121 agricultural extension workers deployed by the parent ministry in urban areas where there were no posts for such activities.
On tertiary institutions, it was noted some teacher training and technical colleges were teaching Ordinary and Advanced Level subjects under the guise of bridging courses with some even offering boarding facilities yet they were actually running normal secondary school lessons.
“It was further noted that the lecturers providing such services were also claiming part-time allowances from Government, incurring expenditure amounting to $161 544 per annum,” the report reads.
Government has been closing all leakages as part of its effort to reduce its salary bill.

Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs Minister Martin Dinha’s son, Michael has been involved in a horrific road accident.
Minister Dinha confirmed the accident to ZimEye.com Tuesday, “my son Michael involved in a bad accident Bindura -Harare road near Christon Bank on the 68km peg. He avoided a head on with someone who had encroached his lane driving a Honda Cvr.
Dinha however told ZimEye his son is alive and well while recovering in hospital. ” Am currently at Parirenyatwa he is fine but about 3 passengers were injured including our Office Clerk Mrs Elizabeth Muchenjeri,” he said.

Two Italian residents of Zimbabwe were on Sunday killed in disturbing circumstances during an anti poaching exercise in Mana Pools. Since the deaths of Claudio Chiarelli and his son Massimiliano, ZimEye.com has received the below detailed report from the the Zambezi Society:

Richard Maasdorp and Gary Layard of The Zambezi Society today visited the scene of the tragic incident which took place in Mana Pools National Park on Sunday 13thMarch and resulted in the deaths of Claudio Chiarelli and his son Max Chiarelli.
The two deceased died instantly when caught in the mistaken fire of a National Parks patrol of three rangers at about 3.30p.m in the afternoon of Sunday 13th March.
Claudio and Max, together with Francesco Marconati were providing voluntary support to deploy two National Parks anti-poaching patrols consisting of 6 rangers with the intention of uplifting the three rangers who were in the field following a fresh spoor of poachers.
The group had parked their vehicle on the side of the road in the middle section of the Mana Pools National Park to await the arrival of the three Park rangers who had been tracking poachers in dense bush since 9.00a.m. that morning.
The intention was to meet at the road and hand over three fresh rangers to continue the follow-up.
Claudio and Max Chiarelli with Francesco Marconati took the opportunity to open the bonnet of their vehicle to inspect the engine. Meanwhile, the 6 Park rangers they were transporting had dismounted from the vehicle and arranged themselves next to it while waiting for their three colleagues to arrive.
Unbeknown to them, the vehicle had been parked within just 15 metres of where the poachers’ tracks had crossed the road.
Meanwhile, the anti-poaching patrol in hot pursuit, heard voices, crouched down, and slowly moved forward through the thick undergrowth.
Through a gap in the bushes, they saw part of a blue shirt. They assumed this was a poacher and let off a burst of gunfire.
Tragically, both Claudio and Max were killed instantly.
As the anti-poaching patrol rangers were crouched, they were unable to see the road at all.
Fortunately, the 6 rangers awaiting deployment did not return fire.
Richard Maasdorp, Strategic Director of The Zambezi Society stated: “Today (Monday 14th March 2016), we witnessed a thorough on-site investigation by the Zimbabwe Police CID and members of the National Parks Investigations Branch and Senior Management.
The Zimbabwe Parks & Wildlife Management Authority and other state organs now, more than ever, need support and resources to contain their battle against wildlife poaching.
We, the Zambezi Society, extend our very deepest sympathy to Mrs Chiarelli and her daughter and the family on this terrible tragedy. We posthumously thank Claudio and Max Chiarelli, as a father and son combination, for the years of dedication that they have shown in support of wildlife conservation in Zimbabwe. This tragedy is deeply regretted.”

SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma is expected to visit Zimbabwe this year in fulfilment of conditions of the Bi-National Commission established between the two countries during President Mugabe’s State visit to the neighbouring country last year.
The Bi-National Commission is co-chaired by the two Heads of State and Government and elevates the two countries’ political and economic relations to presidential level from the ministerial rank where they reposed for years.
The Bi-National Commission requires that the presidents meet annually cementing political and economic relations. Prior to President Mugabe’s visit to South Africa political and economic highest bilateral engagements were only done at ministerial level.
During his visit President Zuma is expected to join his counterpart President Mugabe to assess progress made under political and economic agreements signed last year.
Addressing the sixth edition of the Investment and Trade Initiative in Harare yesterday, outgoing South Africa Ambassador to Zimbabwe Vusi Mavimbela said the Bi-National Commission significantly takes the two countries’ relations to a higher level and will be an annual engagement at the level of Heads of State.
“So last year during His Excellency’s visit to South Africa a number of agreements were signed one of which was the Bi-National Commission. What that Bi-National Commission means in practice is that as His Excellency President Mugabe went to South Africa last year President Zuma would be coming to Zimbabwe very soon,” said Ambassador Mavimbela.
“What is good about this is that when that agreement was signed in front of the Heads of State it means that it was endorsed by those Heads of State and the ministers and all of us have got to go and do our work.
“Now on an annual basis the ministers and all of us will have to come and sit in front of the Heads of State and say we signed this and that agreement, what has been the progress? What have we done?
“And we all know the pressure that comes with that responsibility because the ministers and everybody cannot then say we were too busy with this and that when they talk to their principals. I am happy that our relations are at that level,” said Ambassador Mavimbela.
Zimbabwe and South Africa share strategic strengths including geographic proximity, skilled and abundant resources, technological expertise, abundant natural resources among other things, which if leveraged on, could help in addressing the current poor trade balance between the two countries.
From an investment perspective, a number of South African companies continue to operate in Zimbabwe, principally in the mining, tourism, agriculture, banking and retail sectors.
Future investments estimated from South African companies operating in Zimbabwe include the $8,85 million by Tongaat Hulett in the agro-processing sector; Panasonic Business Systems have also committed towards an investment of $1,2 million in advanced manufacturing and $521 million to be invested by Nucoal in the coal, oil and gas sectors.
According to FDI Markets, between 2003 and 2015 South Africa invested R20 billion in Zimbabwe in the mining, agriculture, banking and retail sectors.
A further attestation to the economic activity between the two countries, is highlighted in the ongoing participation of South African companies in the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, where 23 exhibitors participated last year.
This year 33 South African companies representing diverse sectors including agro-processing, mining, health care, infrastructure and ICT among others, are expected to exhibit at the ZITF.
The two countries also share striking similarities in their economic blueprints, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation and South Africa’s National Development plan both of which highlight the same issues relating to food security and nutrition, social services and poverty eradication, infrastructure and utilities and value addition and beneficiation.
These issues reinforce the need for business communities from both countries to synergise efforts in dealing with challenges.
“You are coming here under that broad political and economic framework of agreements and you are actually part of the engine that must make sure that those broad agreements are concretised and have become a reality,” said Ambassador Mavimbela.
He called for urgency in the implementation of the agreements signed last year as the two leaders would require a progress report when president Zuma visits Zimbabwe.
“What is going to happen is that we are going to look back to at the past year and say what is that we achieved after those agreements were signed.
“So we need to move with much more seriousness, urgency and agility to make sure that we make good all those agreements that were signed and be able to report progress,” said Ambassador Mavimbela.
Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa, Mr Isaac Moyo, said discussions are already underway to facilitate President Zuma’s visit.
“We have already started talking about when that could be,” said Ambassador Moyo.
This year 32 South African companies are in Zimbabwe under the Investment and Trade Initiative and will visit Gweru and Bulawayo for business linkages.-State Media