NINE people have died since Good Friday in separate road accidents countrywide while 43 were injured, police said yesterday.
Statistics show that 10 people died during the same period last year while 87 were injured.
National police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed the deaths.
“We continue urging people coming from holidays to observe road traffic regulations. Motorists should check their tyres to ensure that they are in good condition before they embark on a journey and avoid speeding,” she said.
She said speeding was the main cause of the accidents. In 2015, police recorded 10 deaths down from 19, the previous year. Prior to this year’s Easter holiday, the ZRP deployed more cops on the country’s major roads.
They held joint operations with the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe and the Vehicle Inspection Department to ensure sanity prevails on the roads.
Speeding, human error, misjudgment, overloading and defective vehicles are some of the reasons police say contribute to road accidents in the country.
The flow of traffic on Zimbabwe’s major roads usually increases during holidays like Easter as more people take the opportunity to travel. – State Media

TWO men brandishing a pistol took advantage of a Zesa power cut to rob a filling station in Bulawayo where they got away with $650 and a cellphone.
They allegedly fired a shot at Sauerstown Service Station some five minutes after electricity went out in the suburb at around 7PM on Sunday. Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango referred questions to national spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi.
Chief Supt Nyathi on Wednesday said police were preparing a statement which had not been availed yesterday. Kudakwashe Kubvuruno, 31, a petrol attendant said: “It was raining and scores of people had sought shelter at our filling station before Zesa went off. The rain eased for a bit and everyone left the filling station. When I returned to my office, which I share with an EcoCash agent, I didn’t notice two men who crept behind my back.
They fired a shot and immediately pounced on me.” He said they demanded all the cash that he had, and went through his pockets.
“They took away $650 and my cellphone and immediately fled from the scene. I saw them run away onto the road where a vehicle briefly illuminated them. I only noticed that one of them wore a green tracksuit jacket.
“I didn’t notice whether the car stopped for them as I was in panic. That’s when I noticed that the EcoCash agent was nowhere to be seen. He later said he fled during the attack and hiked to the city centre,” said the attendant.
He said he reported the matter to the police. Kubvuruno said he suspects the robbers might have studied his movements earlier because they only searched the pockets he had put money in.
Aldophous Dube, the owner of the service station, said he was wondering why robberies always seem to coincide with power cuts.
“One would suspect the robbers will be aware that Zesa will be cut off. I can’t blame the police because the police patrols in this suburb are excellent. Actually, I’m told the robbery occurred after police had passed through during the patrols.
“We’ve heard of a number of such similar robberies and we just hope this team could be caught as soon as possible,” said Dube. chronicle

GOVERNMENT yesterday said more Zimbabwean women were stranded in Kuwait and require assistance to be repatriated home after they were lured to that country by a syndicate of human traffickers promising lucrative jobs. Victims in the well-knit scam believed to be involving Kuwait embassy staff in Harare were promised employment. On arrival in the tiny Arab country they were forced into prostitution and other menial jobs.
So far 15 women have been successfully brought home with the assistance of the Zimbabwe embassy in Kuwait. Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Ambassador Joey Bimha yesterday confirmed that a large number of Zimbabwean women were still trapped in Kuwait although he did not give exact figures.
He said Government was doing everything in its power to assist the victims. Ambassador Bimha said it was possible that Zimbabweans could have fallen for the same hoax in other countries but there was no evidence to that effect yet.
“Yes, we still have a number of people who need assistance in Kuwait,” said Ambassador Bimha. “I do not have the exact figures with me, I have to check with our embassy in Kuwait for the latest figures,” said Ambassador Bimha.
“So far we have only received information from Kuwait but we have about 45 diplomatic missions and it can be possible that some Zimbabweans have fallen victim to the same problem in other countries. “We will advise as and when we get more information.”
In a statement yesterday, the Foreign Affairs Ministry urged Zimbabweans to be wary of dubious scholarships and employment advertisements on the internet. The ministry said with regard to the Kuwait issue, the law would be implemented to the fullest to ensure that perpetrators were brought to book.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is greatly concerned with the recent reports coming from our embassy in the State of Kuwait and those appearing in the media regarding Zimbabweans who have been recruited for work or scholarships in the Middle East, were in the process, duped by human traffickers,” reads part of the statement.
“The ministry refers to Zimbabwe’s law (against human trafficking) Trafficking in Persons Chapter 9/25 of June 2014, on prohibition, prevention and prosecution of people involved in human tracking. This piece of legislation would be executed to its full potential so that perpetrators of this heinous crime face the full wrath of the law.”
The ministry said an inter-ministerial committee encompassing relevant stakeholders has been set up to probe all reports of human trafficking from Kuwait. It said all embassies were ready to assist Zimbabweans who might require assistance abroad.
So far seven people believed to be part of the human trafficking syndicate have appeared in court in connection with the human trafficking scam. The accused persons are Josephine Gondo (57) and Tonderai Gondwa (26) from Chitungwiza, Fadzai Nyahondo (19) from Glen Norah and Edgar Muchineripi Gora (33) from Waterfalls.
The other three are Lucia Chibayambuya (26) and her brother Lawrence Chibayambuya (23) and Faith Magora, all from Marondera. A Kuwait embassy staff, Brenda Avril May (62), also appeared in court over the same matter.-State Media

More than US$1,2 billion in development levies is circulating in Government and mission schools and a chunk of it is being abused by heads and bursars, an audit has revealed.
Other alleged culprits dipping into the US$1,2 billion largesse include school development association officials.
Audit reports gleaned by The Sunday Mail show that some school authorities have been duplicating receipt books as cover to lay their hands on development funds.
A school in Chitungwiza, for instance, claimed to have sunk a borehole for US$19 000 – an amount sufficient to drill five boreholes.
Another inflated the cost of refurbishing one of its buses to US$27 000.
A learning institution in Harare allegedly falsified its yearly wage bill, pegging it at US$261 709 and officials pocketed the difference, and gave its annual administrative and tea budgets as US$67 000 and US$5 000 respectively. The SDA “purchased” a bus for US$1800 when the actual cost was no more than US$100 000.
This was also despite a standing Government directive for all schools to buy buses from State Procurement Board- approved dealers.
Yet another school splurged US$44 000 on general repairs, a figure authorities query.
Most culprits have been flouting tender regulations, inflating invoices and quotations, and under receipting and banking.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Lazarus Dokora told this paper that such flagrant fraud had informed Government’s decision to consider removing cash control from SDAs.
“We know for a fact that more than US$1,2 billion is collected through levies, and if only half of that was used to develop the schools we will be talking of something else.
“We have a backlog of 2 000 schools and are collecting a lot of money. How then do we explain the backlog in infrastructure development? Some schools are overstaffed and these employees earn far more than teachers and heads on civil service salaries. This has become a conduit for corruption.
“There is a disconnect between the levies collected and their use. Most of these schools’ levy collection systems are robust, but when it comes to use, (it’s a different story altogether). What the auditors observed was shocking. It’s clear the situation cannot remain like that.”
Zimbabwe Schools Development Associations secretary-general Mr Everisto Jongwe said it was “an open secret” that some school heads were corrupt.
“It is not a secret that levies are abused. Audits have shown that heads and bursars are implicated. In some cases, we have received reports of headmasters who call for the dissolution of committees that question the way the would have used money, or if they refuse to cooperate with them.
“On that same note, we are not against the dissolution of SDAs, but we need to be consulted so that we can make an input. Parents are important stakeholders in the development of schools and children and should be involved.”
In 2015, Government commissioned an audit into schools’ operations following indications of fraud and abuse of funds.
Comptroller and Auditor-General Ms Mildred Chiri has previously reported on such activities in some Government departments and parastatals, including the education sector.
One case before the courts involves a bursar in Epworth who allegedly connived with the school’s ex-headmistress to steal more than US$8 000.
Another bursar in Westlea, Harare is accused of converting US$30 000 to personal use, while another in Karoi allegedly helped himself to US$39 000.
SDAs are primarily responsible for school development and hiring additional staff were the need arises, and are funded from levies. sunday mail

Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) leader Joice Mujuru has called for a thorough investigation by the Chinese Communist Party’s graft-busting organ, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, into claims of widespread looting of Marange diamond revenue by Anjin Investments.
Mujuru’s aide, Bright Matonga, told the Daily News yesterday that ZPF would engage the Chinese Embassy in Harare about the issue after President Robert Mugabe recently made the stunning claim that $15 billion had been looted from Chiadzwa under his government’s watch.
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.
Matonga said Mujuru’s quest to get Chinese President Xi Jinping to look into Anjin’s operations was necessitated by the knowledge that the company was co-owned by the Zimbabwe National Army and the Chinese military, as well as the fact that “corruption is not tolerated in the Asian country”.
Xi has in the past few years gone after both high-ranking “tigers” as well as lowly “flies” in his anti-corruption drive in China.
Among the senior Communist Party officials who have fallen following Xi’s campaign include former security chief Zhou Yongkang, one of China’s most powerful politicians of the past decade, who was accused of accepting bribes and leaking State secrets.
“We want to know from the Chinese side if they are going to take action on the company and their nationals who are said to be engaging in corrupt activities this side,” he said.
Matonga also questioned the “mega deals” that were signed by the government and China, saying that ZPF suspected that they were not meant to benefit the country, but a few individuals.
Speaking in a televised interview last month, Mugabe said $15 billion worth of diamonds had been looted over several years by mining companies operating in Marange, one of which is Anjin.
“We have not received much from the diamond industry at all. I don’t think we have exceeded $2 billion, yet we think more than $15 billion has been earned. So, where have our carats been going?” the nonagenarian asked.
However, industry experts doubt the veracity of Mugabe’s figures, with the global diamond industry trading about $13 billion a year, and Zimbabwe not among the biggest producers of uncut diamonds.
They argue that Mugabe could have once again been misled about the real state of affairs in the industry as two years ago, the nonagenarian also publicly accused former ZMDC chairman, Godwills Masimirembwa, of receiving $6 million from Ghanaian investors, but was later forced to make an embarrassing U-turn — admitting that he had been fed wrong information by his aides.
According to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), global rough diamond sales have averaged $12,6 billion a year in the last decade, with Zimbabwe’s declared rough diamond output averaging a miserly $266 million per year.
It remains to be seen how the already brooding Chinese will react to Mujuru’s move, as they have since warned Zimbabwe to beware after the government ill-advisedly moved to seize all the diamond mining claims in Chiadzwa, including those in which Chinese companies have interests.
The Asian powerhouse, which has been one of the few major economies that have kept their relations with Harare warm over the past 16 years of political and economic turmoil here, told the Daily News after the government’s controversial decision was announced that Zimbabwe must respect property rights.
“We hope that the Zimbabwean side would earnestly safeguard the legitimate rights of the Chinese companies and employees, according to the local laws and the ‘Agreement on the encouragement and reciprocal protection of investments between China and Zimbabwe,” Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Huang Ping said in a terse email response to questions.
“The Chinese side is willing to enhance communication and negotiation with the Zimbabwean side, and together create a conducive environment for companies from both sides to conduct mutually-beneficial cooperation,” Ping added. Daily News

A RUSAPE man Marevasei Marume (38) raped and impregnated his 16-year-old step daughter.
Marume Mahere Village, Mayo will now spend 15 years behind bars after Rusape regional magistrate, Mr Livingstone Chipadza suspended three years on condition of good behaviour.
Marume was denying the offence, saying the girl’s biological father had influenced her to cook up the allegations since he was bitter that he had married his former wife.
Rusape Area prosecutor, Mr Tirivanhu Mutyasira, told the court that Marume raped the girl in full view of her three siblings. He added that when the girl’s mother confronted him over the rape he thrashed her leading to her losing two teeth.
“On an unknown date, but during the month of July 2015 at around 7pm, the complainant was sent by her mother to sleep at the accused’s homestead as they were attending a funeral in the same village.
“Around midnight, Marume returned to his homestead and entered into the sitting room where the complainant was sleeping with her three siblings aged five, nine and 13.
“Marume entered into the blankets where the four were sleeping. When the complainant asked him what he was doing in their blankets, he said he was covering her young sister with a blanket. Marume then proceeded to rape the complainant. He told her that he had the right to do so because he bought had bought her some panties.
“The 13-year-old son asked what Marume was doing, but he did not respond. He threatened the complainant with unspecified actions if she ever revealed the abuse to anyone.
“The following morning, the complainant’s mother returned from the funeral and the girl told her what had happened. The complainant’s mother asked the accused about the case and he became violent. He assaulted her, resulting in her losing her two front teeth,” said Mr Mutyasira.
The matter was only reported to the police in November after the complainant’s employer noticed that she was pregnant.
When she asked her, she was told that she was raped by her step-father.
A report was made to the police leading to Marume’s arrest.-ManicaPost

The below is the latest update from the raging inferno which torched Mukaro Girls College last week:
By Terrence Mawawa, Gutu| At least 62 form two pupils at Roman Catholic owned Mukaro Girls’ High School, 20 km from Mupandawana town, escaped death by a whisker when a raging inferno torched down their hostels.
The pupils were in St Joseph 1 and 2 hostels when the inferno razed the complex, destroying all their belongings in the process.Two upper six students in an adjacent room also lost their belongings. The incident happened last Monday around midnight.
The school head Acquainos Mazhunga confirmed the unfortunate incident saying the school immediately assisted the affected pupils by buying them uniforms. He told ZimEye.com the pupils lost everything except the night dresses they were wearing.
Mazhunga said the fire was caused by a candle that was left burning by a pupil who did not blow it off before before retiring to bed.He added the fire was eventually extinguished by a Fire Brigade team from Mupandawana.
“It is a huge catastrophe for the pupils and the school. The children were left with nothing, “said Mazhunga.
Gutu District Education Officer Christian Chirikure said: “Everything belonging to the pupils was gutted by the fire.”
The development has seen the school being questioned on its preparedness for fires as it allegedly does not have basic fire extinguishing equipment. Parents are fuming demanding answers charging that the head at the boarding school is neither qualified nor trained for the job.

SIXTY Zimbabwean youth leaders are set to visit the United states of America this June for a for a six-week leadership training course sponsored by the White House.
The course also covers academic coursework and mentoring. In the US, the group will be among 1 000 youths invited to participate in President Obama’s Mandela Washington Fellowship Programme for Young African Leaders.
The participants, according to the United States embassy in Harare, were chosen through a highly competitive application process with more than 1 600 candidates who submitted applications for selection for the programme.
The final list has 31 males and 29 females. Of the group, 19 participants are resident outside Harare, and three are young leaders with disabilities.
“President Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative is a part of the commitment of the United States to invest in the future of Africa,” said the US embassy in a statement on Thursday.
“The White House created this initiative out of the recognition of the critical and increasing role that young Africans play in strengthening democratic institutions, spurring economic growth, and enhancing peace and security on the continent.”
The Zimbabwean contingent will be among a group travelling from across Africa for a program designed to hone the skills they need to serve their communities.
Each fellow will be placed at a US university to concentrate in one of three tracks: business and entrepreneurship, civic leadership, and public management. Fellows will also have opportunities to meet with US government, civic, and business leaders.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders started in 2014. Since then, 60 Zimbabwean young leaders from diverse sectors, including business, civil society and the media, have participated in the programme.
Upon returning to Zimbabwe, the fellows continue to build the skills they developed during their time in the United States through support from the Embassy; the Regional Leadership Center in South Africa, and the YALI Network.
Through these experiences, Mandela Washington Fellows have access to ongoing professional development opportunities, mentoring, networking and training, and competitive seed funding to support their ideas, businesses, and organisations. RADIOVOP

A MIDDLE aged nurse at Mutare Provincial Hospital allegedly offered accommodation in a hospital ward to a man who had escorted a patient before he joined the latter in bed in a nasty case of aggravated indecent assault that occurred recently.
The incident, which has sent tongues wagging at the provincial referral medical institution, saw a male nurse, Norest Makanga, offering accommodation to a middle aged man who had accompanied a patient to the hospital for treatment.
Apparently, the patient’s escort had travelled a relatively long distance to Mutare Provincial Hospital and could not find transport back home in time, hence the need to seek accommodation for the night at the hospital.
Manicaland provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Tavhiringwa Kakohwa, confirmed that a report was made to the police post at the hospital and investigations were in progress.
“Yes, a report was made to the police post at the hospital and investigations are still in progress. We are hoping to have the matter finalised soon,” said Insp Kakohwa.
However, reliable sources at the provincial referral health institution said that investigations were carried out soon after the incident, revealing substantial evidence that Makanga had a case to answer.
Makanga is understood to have since been moved from the casualty ward to the CSSD department where he would not be dealing with patients anymore.
When contacted for comment recently, Manicaland Provincial Medical Director, Dr Patron Mafaune, referred this reporter to the public relations department.
“I cannot comment on that case. I think you just have to contact the public relations guys. They will be in a position to give you a detailed comment,” she said before refuting to entertain any more questions.
Sources said that this was not the first time that the nurse had been linked to cases of a similar nature.
“As we speak there is a board of inquiry sitting over the issue. Apparently this is not the first time that Norest Makanga has been linked to cases of similar nature.
“He had been lucky that there was not much evidence in the past, but it appears there is overwhelming evidence this time around,” said a Mutare Provincial Hospital senior staffer who cannot be named for professional reasons.
Efforts to get a comment from Makanga were fruitless. Manica Post

A Chiredzi maid who raped her employer’s four-year-old son has escaped jail.
The 17-year-old girl was found guilty and sentenced to a wholly suspended five-year imprisonment term. The teenage girl who was a maid in Tshovani Township in Chiredzi appeared before Regional Magistrate Judith Zuyu last week facing charges of raping a minor, taking advantage of his visual impairment.
The girl is said to have worked for the complainant’s mother for five years until the day she was found on top of the minor by his mother.
It is the State case that on an unknown date but in the month of September 2015, the mother of the minor decided to go home early. It was upon her arrival that she found her maid right on top of the minor.
The accused, however, told Magistrate Zuyu that she did not commit the crime. She said her employer arrived at the house when she was changing the boy’s pants and had already put the pants outside the room.
She claimed that the story was framed because she was demanding her wages from her boss. However, evidence was produced to show that there was indeed penetration. The accused was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison wholly suspended on condition that she does not commit a similar crime in the next three years. Mirror

Former liberation war fighters say they are going to challenge President Robert Mugabe to destroy his wife  Grace’s G-40 faction on their meeting with the aging leader  early next month.
Newsday reports that Victor Matemadanda, the National Liberation War Veterans’ Association secretary-general told war veterans in Kwekwe that G-40 which he said was working with some senior police officer  will be a thing of the past, come 7 April when they are meeting Mugabe.
Matemadanda accused G-40 of using the police to attack them his members.
“Those who served in the Smith regime (mapuruveya), who are now bosses in the ZRP, are now causing us problems. They are the ones who were behind the attack on war veterans in Harare and have been trying to block party meetings,” he charged.
He also said the current wave of confusion in the party was being caused by people feigning love for Mugabe, while clandestinely campaigning for former Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First opposition project.
The Kwekwe meeting was held in defiance of a directive by Zanu PF national commissar Saviour Kasukuwere barring all party meetings until restoration of normalcy in the province.
Kasukuwere acknowledged imposing the ban, saying: “The meeting (yesterday’s), I do not know about it. Thank you for letting me know.”
Matemadanda singled out provincial secretary for administration Tapiwa Matangaidze, youth representative Anastancia Ndlovu and provincial commissar Makhosini Hlongwane for allegedly sowing divisions in the party.
Midlands spokesperson Cornelius Mupereri said yesterday’s meeting was not a rally, but a consultative gathering which was on the calendar of the provincial commissariat.
Yesterday, party spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said he was not sure if the Midlands provincial leadership had defied Kasukuwere or had been given permission to proceed with their meeting.
“From what I read in the papers, the Midlands leadership said it has been having a series of meetings and the Kwekwe meeting was the last one. They could have got permission from the commissariat to do the last meeting. I, therefore, cannot call it defiance,” Khaya Moyo said.

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is reportedly angry with Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa over his trip to China last year in which his deputy came out of high-level meetings acting like someone who has embraced Beijing’s push for leadership renewal in Harare and trying to sound like renowned reformist Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.
At the invitation of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Mnangagwa visited Beijing from July 6 to 10 2015. During his five-day visit, he met business leaders as well as a number of senior ruling party and government officials, including Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao.
Mnangagwa and Yuanchao held closed-door meetings together with CPC officials. The visit, which followed Mugabe’s trip to Beijing in August 2014, was officially said to be designed to “promote political trust and pragmatic co-operation”.
However, diplomatic sources say it ended up generating further political distrust for Mnangagwa from Mugabe who was not happy with what transpired and his deputy’s Deng-like posture afterwards. The late Deng, who took over after Mao Zedong in 1978 until his retirement in 1992, is the architect of China’s far-reaching market economy reforms and prosperity.
Straight-talking Chinese leaders reportedly gave Mnangagwa a sobering reality check when he From Page 1
was in Beijing by raising several critical issues that Mugabe and his government usually feel uncomfortable dealing with.
While moving to ring-fence their growing investment portfolios and future prospects by inviting and engaging the establishment’s preferred successor to Mugabe — Mnangagwa — the Chinese raised a number of concerns on Zimbabwe.
Some of the issues were later expressed by the vice-president in an interview with China’s CCTV.
In the interview with CCTV, Mnangawga said Zimbabwe had fallen far behind other countries in development. He said the government needed to swallow its pride and literally “bite the bullet” by reviewing some controversial economic policies to attract foreign investment.
He also said there was need for reforms “to bring Zimbabwe back to the table of nations”.
“We have to see how we can create an investment environment which will attract the flow of capital. These are the tasks we face and we have to look at even legislation and our social systems need to be reformed in order to catch up with current global trends,” Mnangagwa said.
“So we are looking at the reform measures that China has gone through to help us move forward…
“You cannot say there are areas of our economy which we are happy with, infrastructure we are behind by 15-16 years, agricultural development the same, manufacturing; in fact capacity utilisation in some areas of our industry is down to 20%, so again, we have to retool by acquiring new machinery, technology and machinery so that we are competitive.”
While Mnangagwa’s assertions were viewed as progressive by many Zimbabweans, diplomats and government officials say Mugabe and his close courtiers, especially Zanu PF leaders grouped around his wife Grace, saw them as an attempt to push for leadership renewal using the Chinese while also projecting himself as a viable successor in the Deng mould.
Mugabe, government officials say, also saw Mnangagwa’s remarks as an attack on his leadership and policies, particularly the Look East policy.
“The President was not happy with what Mnangagwa said while he was in China last year,” a senior government official said. “This was also clear during the visit to Harare by (Chinese leader Xi) Jinping last December. So many things were discussed during Xi’s visit. That is why the President said what he said in Bindura last Friday.”
Addressing a rally in Bindura last Friday, Mugabe said some Zanu PF leaders were trying to influence the Chinese to help them in their succession bids, in remarks widely seen as targeted at Mnangagwa.
“Saka ndipo patava kusiyana navamwe ipapa vanobva vaenda mberi mberi nekumaChina kuti takuda president mutsva (That is the main cause of our differences, as some are pushing further to the extent of approaching the Chinese telling them they now want a new leader),” he said.
Mugabe said such plots and agendas were being driven by ambitious party bigwigs who were eyeing senior positions, including the presidency — adding that he was willing to step down if voted out procedurally at congress.
Mugabe made the remarks after Mashonaland Central chairman Dickson Mafios had complained the Chinese were meddling in Zanu PF succession politics in the province.
“Tichavadzvanya mukaona vakuchema chema (We are going to deal with them),” he said.
A top government official said Mugabe exchanged notes with Xi over Mnangagwa’s succession manoeuvres last December, fuelling his long-standing suspicions and hostility towards his ambitious deputy.
The official said Xi, who prefers the Chinese-speaking Grace, is sympathetic to Mugabe, although he believes in leadership renewal and the need for change in Zimbabwe, while Mnangagwa was associated with Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao. Xi succeeded Hu in 2012.
Hu’s good relationship with Mnangagwa was partly because the VP received military training in China in the 1960s and also as a result of the role played Zimbabwe’s former ambassador to China between 2002 and 2006, Christopher Mutsvangwa. Mutsvangwa is a close Mnangagwa ally.
Sources say the Chinese no longer want Mnangagwa, but whoever Mugabe prefers.
High-ranking Zimbabwean officials, from Mnangagwa to Zanu PF provincial leaders, have been to China on various exchange programmes during which they were openly advised to embrace leadership renewal and change.
In 2012, Zanu PF provincial chairpersons visited China for ideological orientation and mass mobilisation training from the CPC ahead of the 2013 general elections.
Chinese officials told them Zanu PF should embrace change or die, something Mnangagwa seems amenable to while Mugabe is hostile to it.
In an interview to mark his 92nd birthday, Mugabe angrily took a swipe at those plotting to succeed him.
“In a democratic party you don’t want leaders appointed that way to lead the party. Saka vaye vanoti pinda iwe ndogozopindawo, kuzvinyepera (those — apparently Mnangagwa and Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Constantine Chiwenga) who say rule then I will rule after you are misleading each other). It doesn’t matter who.” independent

Suspended Emmerson Mnangagwa faithfuls, Zanu-PF Midlands deputy provincial chairperson Daniel McKenzie Ncube yesterday convened a meeting in Kwekwe, defying an order by the party to halt all provincial meetings and party programmes.
On Wednesday, the party’s national Political Commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere, suspended all party meetings and programmes in the Midlands Province citing unprecedented levels of indiscipline by party members.
Kasukuwere gave a stern warning to alleged divisive elements creating parallel structures saying those found in the wrong would be dealt with accordingly.
In a letter addressed to Zanu-PF secretary for education in the Politburo, Jorum Gumbo, and copied to secretary for administration, Ignatius Chombo and the acting Midlands provincial chairperson, Tapiwanashe Mashingaidze dated March 22, Kasukuwere said meetings would only commence after order had been restored in the province.
However, Ncube called a meeting that was held at Kwekwe Sports Club and attended by party members who were said to be representing the Main Wing, Youth Wing and Women’s league.
The guest of honour at the meeting was the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans Association, Victor Matemadanda who used the platform to attack the police whom he accused of failing to protect the interests of the people.
“We’ve sell-outs that were integrated into the police force and now they’re not discharging their duty well,” he said.
Matemadanda also attacked Kasukuwere for suspending party meetings in the province and alleged that the ban was the work of people with an agenda to destroy Zanu-PF from within.
He said war veterans and the Midlands Province were fully behind President Robert Mugabe and his family. “One can’t love the President and despise his family. We’re fully behind him since he’s the centre of power. It’s unfortunate that we’ve people who have access to the First Family and lie about us and say we don’t want him and Grace Mugabe. Even in a family, one can’t love his father and despise his mother. It doesn’t work like that,” Matemadanda said.
He said President Mugabe was going to rule the country as long as he was alive.
Last week, Matemadanda was accused by a Gokwe war veteran Stephen Moyo of assaulting him.
Moyo alleged that he was attacked for allegedly rallying behind the First Lady.
Midlands provincial spokesperson Cornelius Mupereri said they were not defying any order since they only learnt about the suspension of party meetings and programmes in the press.
He said they were only doing out-reach programmes to increase the number of supporters in the province.
“We learnt about the suspension from the press. This means that we are not going to hold any more meetings as we wait for the party to give us a direction to take. We are fully behind the party and won’t go sideways,” he said.
Kasukuwere was not immediately reachable last night.-State Media

The President of The Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe(PDZ), Barbara Nyagomo, has called on embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to resign following revelations that he made controversial remarks during the Gukurahundi atrocities in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.
In a statement released earlier today Nyagomo said instead of attempting to pour cold water on the allegations raised by David Coltart, Mnangagwa should immediately vacate office since the utterances he made were reckless and unfortunate. Mnangagwa has distanced himself from the said utterances claiming Coltart’s assertions are baseless and unfounded. Mnangagwa also claimed he never made such remarks despite clear evidence that he addressed a rally in Victoria Falls.
He also threatened to take legal action against Coltart. Nyagomo said despite the Vice President’s denial, well documented evidence in the Chronicle of March 25 1985, revealed Mnangagwa was quoted openly encouraging the massacre of civilians for purportedly harbouring bandits.
“The Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe notes with concern that the honourable Vice President Mnangagwa has issued a statement refuting assertions by Mr Coltart , who accused him of uttering statements that incited and justified the actions of the state and the Fifth Brigade at a time he was the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office.
It is unfortunate that the VP chose to issue a public statement denying with impunity and disdain allegations of utterances attributed to him openly instigating and supporting the Fifth Brigade’s actions.We call on the VP to immediately resign from government. Such a man does not have the dignity and morals to lead the people of Zimbabwe,” said Nyagomo in the statement. Pressure is mounting on Mnangagwa to apologise to the nation for the reckless utterances he made at the height of the Gukurahundi atrocities in early eighties. Civic organisations say about 20 000 civilians were massacred during the Gukurahundi era.

The Zimbabwe National Army has rejected claims by a corporal accused of attempting to bomb Alpha Omega Dairies that he was on an official spying mission.
This was revealed by investigating officer Nyambo Viera during the ongoing trial of Borman Ngwenya who appeared before Harare regional magistrate Fadzai Mthombeni.
Ngwenya, 30, had claimed that he was under the instruction of Major Mashava when he was arrested.
But Viera yesterday told the court that after interviewing Mashava, he was convinced that the army had not sent Ngwenya.
“When I communicated with Mashava, he distanced himself from the accused person’s involvement in the plot and further explained that Ngwenya was actually under investigation for meddling in politics,” Viera said.
“Mashava said the army could not have sent anyone with weaponry in the proximity of such a sensitive place. . .”
Ngwenya’s lawyer Exactly Mangezi insisted his client was in communication with army bosses throughout the operation.
“The accused person had been tasked by his superiors at work . . . to monitor and entrap Owen Kuchata whom he had developed acquaintance because they hail from the same rural home in Gokwe,” Mangezi said.
“There was no intention on his part to commit acts of insurgency.
“He kept Major Mashava informed of Kuchata’s activities and on the day in question my client… actually knew that they were walking into a trap.”
Ngwenya further argued that charges being levelled against him were unsustainable because Alpha Omega was a private property that is not even owned by the First Family.
The share certificate presented in court alluded to Abdulah Ismail Kassim and Halima Baira as the only current shareholders in Alpha Omega holding one share each. daily news

The Zimbabwe Peace director Jestina Mukoko says she is still being haunted by her  2008 abductions.
In December 2008 the ZPP boss was abducted by members of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) for exposing human rights abuses the President Robert Zanu PF militia was perpetrating on MDC-T supporters.
MDC-T claims that over 200 of its supporters were maimed by Zanu PF and its militia in the run up to the controversial June 29 Presidential runoff election.
Mukoko whose organisation was documenting the atrocities  then, was abducted, tortured, denied medication and traumatized for three weeks by the yet to be known assailants.
“The psychological trauma, you carry with you for years .I am one testimony that will tell you that,” Mukoko told Journalists in Harare on Thursday.
“You cannot at times  even live with people within your family, you are so afraid when you hear sounds; if you hear a key turning it makes you go mad .It has taken me years  to be able to say now I think I am getting somewhere”.
“Now I get a lot of people who say you are looking good, I think it is because I have been able to deal with the anger and the pain that I harboured inside,” she said.
“That anger and pain was not going to the people that I thought it was going to, it was coming back to me”.
 
 
 
 
 
 

THE country is hurtling towards establishing a life presidency amid plans by ZANU-PF to amend its constitution as a precursor to the amendment of the national charter so that it conforms to the party’s aspirations, the Financial Gazette can report.
According to party insiders, ZANU-PF wants to do away with the two-term presidential limit introduced by the unity government as part of the negotiated new Constitution in 2013 to enable the incumbent to become a de-facto life president.
At its congress in December 2014, ZANU-PF delegates unanimously agreed that President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since the attainment of black majority rule in April 1980, would be the party’s presidential candidate for as long as he lives, although the national charter permits him to run for only two terms.
Having secured victory at the 2013 polls, the ZANU-PF leader who turned 92 on February 21 can only run for one other term, starting in 2018. To get around the blockade, ZANU-PF mandarins are moving to tweak with the supreme law of the land for the first time since it became operational using their overwhelming majority in Parliament.
As part of the amendments to the party’s constitution, a clause affirming the ZANU-PF Women’s League’s resolution presented at the party’s annual people’s conference last December would be inserted to accommodate a woman in the presidium.
The current Constitution states that the President can appoint two deputies without specifically stating that one should be a woman.
Currently, all positions in the party’s presidium, comprising the President and his two vice presidents are occupied by men, with the exception of the national chairmanship, which is currently vacant.
At the party’s 2014 congress, President Mugabe delegated his two deputies to discharge the functions of the national chair on a rotational basis.
The party, however, faces many legal and administrative hurdles in its quest to amend the Constitution. For any constitutional amendment to sail through the National Assembly, it must be voted for by a two thirds majority.
Already, the move has met stiff resistance from Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s allies, who are convinced that the gender parity clause could be meant to take out of the succession race the man they would want to succeed President Mugabe.
Mnangagwa’s allies, known by their code name, Team Lacoste, are currently running scared after they were outsmarted by a rival faction known by the moniker, Generation 40 (G40), through suspensions and dismissals of key members.
The purging spree recently targeted one of Mnangagwa’s critical allies, Chris Mutsvangwa, who was suspended from the Politburo and fired from government over his verbal onslaught on members of G40.
Despite the setback, Team Lacoste is still in control of both the party and government legal functions, with Mnangagwa overseeing the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.
Apparently, Mnangagwa took over as Vice President following the expulsion of Joice Mujuru, who has now formed her own political outfit, Zimbabwe People First.
When Mujuru assumed the position in 2004, the Women’s League had pushed for representation in the presidium, thwarting Mnangagwa who was within the cusp of landing the post at the party’s congress that year.
The clause was to be scrapped off at the 2014 congress to facilitate Mnangagwa’s rise.
Another potential hurdle is the uncertainty surrounding the true status of ZANU-PF’s majority in Parliament where many of its Members of Parliament are said to be aligned to Mujuru.
This particularly applies to some of the sitting lawmakers who are serving various suspension periods imposed on them for hobnobbing with Mujuru.
Another complication regards the pro-Mnangagwa legislators who could work to frustrate the process, among them Justice Mayor Wadyajena. Regardless, G40 strategists are determined to push through the amendments by any means possible, damn the consequences.
This won’t be the first time that ZANU-PF has resorted to tinkering with the national charters to push through its agenda. The negotiated Lancaster House constitution, for example, was amended more than 19 times before it was succeeded by the current charter.
ZANU-PF’s deputy secretary for legal affairs, Paul Mangwana, professed ignorance over the matter, referring questions to his boss, Patrick Chinamasa, who could not be reached for comment as his mobile phone went unanswered.
“I am not aware of those developments. You can check with my senior, Cde Chinamasa. As for me, I am yet to be informed,” he said.
Mangwana was instrumental in the crafting the national charter as co-chairperson of the Parliamentary Constitutional Select Committee (COPAC), which spearheaded the constitution-making process at a cost of over US$100 million.
While the former indigenisation minister this week said there was nothing amiss with the current Constitution, he does not see anything wrong either with amending it to suit ZANU-PF’s interests.
“What I know is that we did a good job for the nation to produce that document. It was approved by 94 percent of the country’s population, which means it was accepted. But you need to understand that it was a negotiated settlement made during the inclusive government and there was need to compromise some aspects. One party would have wanted everything to go their way and now that (ZANU-PF) have got an overwhelming Parliamentary representation, they (may) want to alter some provisions, which is permissible,” Mangwana said.
ZANU-PF spokesperson, Simon Khaya-Moyo, referred questions to Chinamasa, saying: “He would be best positioned to comment on that.”
The governing party’s plot could potentially set off a firestorm of opposition from rival political parties and civil society groups.
Former COPAC co-chair, Douglas Mwonzora, who is Movement for Democratic Change secretary general, said the party would resist any attempts to tinker with the Constitution.
Said Mwonzora: “Around the world, this Constitution is being touted as one of the best as it protects fundamental human rights and so any attempt to try and change it is tantamount to bringing back dictatorship: We will resist such moves legally and extra-legally.”
People’s Democratic party spokesman, Jacob Mafume, concurred with Mwonzora.
“Tinkering with the Constitution is a path where we have been before and we do not want to go down that road (again). Their claim that it’s expensive is their thin excuse for failing to grow the economy. It’s a cynical and diabolical move which we will challenge vigorously in all platforms,” said Mafume.
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leader, Lovemore Madhuku, whose party campaigned against the Constitution in the run up to the referendum, said although their view remained that it was a bad Constitution, they would not allow ZANU-PF to tamper with it.
“Our view as NCA is that this is not a democratic constitution which is why we campaigned for a no vote. There are many provisions of the Constitution that are very bad. However, we do not agree that it should just be ZANU-PF talking about it. Any process of amending it must be people driven,” he said.
Human Rights NGO Forum director, Lloyd Kuveya, said the current Constitution seeks to increase accountability by limiting the excesses of the Executive and government, which is a major step in the right direction.
“We are therefore worried by the proposal by the ruling party to reverse that gain. Sadly, this is the tragedy of our nation…We must resist a reversal of the outcome of a very expensive and painful constitution-making process,” said Kuveya.-Fingaz

The Zanu-PF National Political Commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere, has suspended all party meetings and programmes in the Midlands province pending investigations in the wake of heightening levels of indiscipline, characterised by the creation of parallel structures.
Kasukuwere’s disciplinary action follows reports that the Zanu-PF Midlands provincial co-ordinating committee held concurrent parallel meetings in Gweru and Mberengwa last week.
Acting provincial chairman Tapiwanashe Matangaidze called for a meeting on development at Senga Training Centre while the other executive members held an outreach meeting in Zvishavane and Mberengwa.
In a letter addressed to Zanu-PF Secretary for Education in the Politburo Dr Joram Gumbo on March 22, Kasukuwere said the party would after the Easter holiday, conduct investigations and take appropriate action against the divisive elements as well as restoring sanity in the province.
“I have learnt with concern the heightening level of indiscipline, characterised by the creation of parallel structures, currently taking place in the Midlands province.
“In an effort to restore order, I am forced to suspend all party meetings and programmes in the Midlands province until my visit and assessment of the prevailing situation to be scheduled soon after the Easter holiday.
“As the most senior, it is my hope that you will advise the Midlands province accordingly,” reads the letter which was also copied to the Secretary for Administration in the Politburo, Dr Ignatius Chombo, and Matangaidze.
The Zanu-PF provincial executive had called for an outreach meeting in Gokwe, but it was called off after police dispersed people as the meeting was unsanctioned.
The party’s Midlands spokesperson, Cornelius Mpereri, had advised The Herald that the outreach meetings would be held throughout the province as they would be conducting the party restructuring exercise as adopted by the provincial calendar.
He dismissed allegations that the meetings were meant to counter Matangaidze’s PCC meetings saying the meetings were properly constituted and were a mandate and imperative to the province.
Midlands vice chairperson Daniel McKenzie Ncube confirmed receiving the communication, but said they would finish up the outreach meetings that had been organised by the provincial executive committee.
He could neither deny nor confirm that the meeting scheduled for Gokwe was stopped by police.
“”I can confirm that I have received communication from Kasukuwere to the effect that we should suspend all the party meetings and programmes in the province with immediate effect.
“However, we asked to finish up the outreach meetings that we had organised and we are going to conduct our last meeting in Kwekwe tomorrow (today),” he said.
Matangaidze also confirmed receiving the letter, but could not shed more light on the matter.
“Yes, there is a directive that came from the national commissar Kasukuwere to that effect,” he said.-State Media

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe left the country for Japan yesterday on an official working visit the state media says will see Government solidifying its Look East Policy by boosting investment and economic cooperation deals.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe extended the invitation to President Mugabe as the Asian country also seeks to develop new markets for its firms in Zimbabwe.
Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko is Acting President.
President Mugabe, who was accompanied by First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe and Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, was seen off at Harare International Airport by Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, service chiefs and Cabinet ministers.
Apart from investment issues, Prime Minister Abe is also pursuing a robust discussion with President Mugabe on the United Nations Security Council reforms.
During his stay in Japan, the President has a packed programme in which he is expected to meet PM Abe, who will also host a dinner for him.
President Mugabe — according to the Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry — is also expected to make a State call on their Majesties the Emperor of Japan, Akihito and the Empress Michiko.
The couple will also host a court luncheon for the President and the First Lady.
PM Abe has, on several occasions, appealed for Africa’s support to back Japan’s bid for a seat in the UN Security Council.
The Asian giant belongs to the Group of Four (G4), which has Germany, India and Brazil — countries which have mutually supported one another’s bids for permanent seats in the Security Council.
The G4 members have proposed reform in the UN Security Council to include an additional six permanent seats, four going to them and two reserved for African countries.
Only five nations – China, Russia, France, Britain and the United States – have permanent seats and veto powers, which enable them to prevent the adoption of any “substantive” draft Council resolution, regardless of the level of international support for the draft.-State Media

Former Member of Parliament for Bulawayo South, David Coltart in his new book claims that in 2006, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai trained bandits in South Africa in preparation for a violent takeover of power in Zimbabwe.

In his controversial memoirs, “The Struggle Continues: 50 Years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe”, Mr Coltart – a founding secretary for legal affairs in the MDC – reveals how the split in the original party came about because of Mr Tsvangirai’s knack for violence.

According to Mr Coltart, Mr Tsvangirai not only engaged in intra-party violence where he used “agents provocateurs” such as one Tonderai Ndira, but sought to escalate violence into a nationwide confrontation with the ruling Zanu-PF.

He said at party level, Mr Tsvangirai had become paranoid as he thought that there were efforts to muscle him out of leadership, especially when the party had proposed during constitutional amendments presented to Parliament that a national president needed to have at least a university degree.
He also felt that the only way he could wrestle power from Zanu-PF was through violence, says Mr Coltart. It was on this basis that Mr Tsvangirai refused to participate in the re-introduced senatorial elections, causing the split of October 2005.
Mr Coltart says the use of violence, which was meted against officials such as Peter Guhu and Trudy Stevenson resulted in the split the party.
But, it was the training of bandits that shocked Mr Coltart, and which led him to cut ties with Mr Tsvangirai and opted to join the other faction that was then being led by Arthur Mutambara.
He said the training camp for MDC operatives in South Africa was being conducted “by ex-South African policemen under the supervision of an ex-Rhodesian soldier”. “There was confusion as to whether the training was ‘offensive’ or ‘defensive’ but weapons were clearly involved,” says Mr Coltart.
“The South African National Defence Force had been bribed to allow these trained men back across the border,” he said. Mr Coltart says he had learnt about the development from two journalists who had filmed the training operation.
He concluded that the operation “appeared to be chronically amateurish” and would also play into the hands of the ruling party.
“While I understood the desperation and helplessness that many felt in the face of Zanu-PF’s oppression, this was, in my view, a foolhardy response,” he writes.
“Even if one believed in a violent solution, the training was on such a small scale that it could never mount a serious challenge to Zanu-PF’s hegemony. What it would provide was the ideal excuse to crack down even harder on the MDC.
“The revelation was the final straw. Principle aside, I was unwilling to have any part of an organisation that was prepared to take such risks,” said the Bulawayo lawyer.
He said he wrote a circular to his constituents on May 23, telling them that MDC-T had “shown no inclination to deal with violence” and he could not join that party.
“All that was left for me to do now was to decide whether to stay in politics and, if so to get assurances from MDC-M that they would root out ‘the scourge of violence’”.
Mr Coltart said Mr Tsvangirai and his party were spoiling for “yet another war” in the country and took the risk to join the smaller MDC faction.
“I would rather lose my seat in Parliament than compromise certain principles, which are fundamental to my belief system,” he said. – state media

 
Following the emergency meeting ZAPU’s President Dabengwa had last month with war veterans in Bulawayo, a lot of introspection and consultations have culminated in the formation of the ZIPRA Veterans Association in Bulawayo on 20 March 2016.
The Association is a combined embodiment of all the different categories of freedom fighters such as ex detainees and restrictees, ex recruitees, ex combatants and technocrats who were trained by ZAPU during the liberation war time.
An executive was elected on an interim basis and its led by Cde Ben Ncube. This committee’s main mandate is to set up the association structures in provinces and districts in preparation for its inaugural congress, where substantive executive will be elected.
The patron of the association is ZAPU President Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, and the association will function and work in close association with the mother party.
The ZPRAVA yesterday resolved to take care of the welfare of the ex fighters and their families, especially children of school going ages who have often been neglected by the current regime. For months now the current government has failed to pay out school fees monies owed to children of former freedom fighters.
The association has also undertaken the task of identifying all those who lost their children and loved ones in combat during the struggle so as to work towards having them compensated in some way by the state.
Welfare issues of ex liberation fighters in their different categories will top the agenda of the ZPRAVA as ZAPU works at closing the ever widening gap between society and the ex freedom fighters in terms of social services and the economic activities at large. It was noted that such gaps exist as a deliberate ploy by the current government under Mugabe to always have the war veterans compromised so that they are easily used as pawns in filthy political power games as is currently happening in the fractious governing party.
ZPRAVA announced that its emergence is sure to put a stop in the long suffering ex ZPRA fighters have had to deal with three and a half decades into independence. They suffered problems that ranged from marginalisation, neglect and persecution through Gukurahundi under a so called black majority givernment.
Their problems, if not addressed properly and expeditiously are sure to be transfered to the next generation through their children whose welfare has been deliberately neglected in order to have that section of our society cowed to perform certain roles for Mugabe’s party.

Fearful of losing the eagerly-anticipated 2018 national elections, a panicky Zanu PF has just re-admitted three legislators linked to former Vice President Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First in Mashonaland East, who were facing expulsion from the party.
The provincial executive resolved to boot out National Assembly members Tendayi Makunde (Murehwa North), Felix Tapiwa Mhona (Chikomba Central) and Washington Musvaire (Maramba Pfungwe) in December last year — going to the extent of forwarding their recommendation to this effect to Zanu PF’s National Disciplinary Committee (NDC).
But with 2018 promising to be a tough election year, the NDC — headed by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko — has let the beleaguered trio off the hook, after it recently heard their cases, choosing instead to just reprimand them.
Provincial secretary for administration Lawrence Katsiru told the Daily News yesterday that, as a result, his executive was now going around the province encouraging party supporters to work with the legislators again.
“The information we initially had about them was to the effect that the MPs were working for People First, but we have since realised after they appeared before the disciplinary committee that it was nothing serious as it was just differences in opinion.
“They were well-received when we informed party membership in Murehwa at the weekend that we had withdrawn our recommendations for their expulsion,” Katsiru said.
However, the pardoned MPs — while welcoming the move to let them off the hook — have called upon the party to be clearer regarding their status, as they allege that they are still being required to seek permission to address meetings in their constituencies.
“I need to know my status because at the moment I have two letters with me, one that reprimands me and another one that says I am suspended. There is nothing to suggest that my suspension has been lifted.
“I still have to beg those that I beat during primary elections for permission to hold a rally in my own constituency, so my hands are tied,” Musvaire said.
Meanwhile, Katsiru has commended suspended Mashonaland East provincial chairperson Joel Biggie Matiza for “not causing confusion” in the province following his purging — as is the case in Masvingo and Midlands where Kizito Chivamba and Ezra Chadzamira are defying their suspensions.
“He has behaved very well thus far because he has not attempted to create parallel structures like what we are hearing elsewhere. We will wait to hear what the party says regarding his case and we will work with that guidance,” he said.
Matiza was recently suspended along with Chadzamira and Chivamba on allegations of disrespecting the First Family.-DailyNews

An Epworth step-father has been jailed for one year for malicious punishment of a child after authorities say he forced the toddler to strip naked and hanged her on a plank.
Twenty-one-year-old Cecil Matare, 20, was jailed on Monday by Harare magistrate Tendai Mahwe on two counts of ill-treatment of a child.
He had been remanded in custody because he co-habits with the toddler’s mother.
Prosecutor Fransisca Mukumbiri alleged that on March 16, the complainant and her mother were at home when Matare reached for a cooking stick and struck the minor on the left arm.
The court heard that the minor sustained a swollen arm after the assault.
It was further alleged that around 9pm the same day, Matare returned home and found the toddler awake.
He got furious because the minor did not greet him.
The court heard that the toddler’s mother advised her daughter to greet Matare and she complied.
Matare went on to undress the little girl and tied her legs using his belt.
He then hanged her on a plank with her face facing downwards and threatened his wife against releasing her.
Matare went to bed and left the minor hanging there until 11pm when a neighbour came to the toddler’s rescue.
The matter was reported to the police, leading to Matare’s arrest.-DailyNews

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. –