Dear Editor.
Abducted activist Itai Dzamara’s brother has been blocked from flying to the UK. The vocal Patson wanted to travel to Manchester, UK on an undisclosed mission. He was meant to receive his visa last Friday but has since been denied after being found to be a crook. Patson Dzamara signs himself off under the title “Dr,” one which he stole after purchasing a fake doctorate from a dodgy Indian company fronting as a university.
His visa denial comes after he also insulted diasporans saying they are “bum cleaners” and he is more educated than them and can work in any company. More questions lie on this man’s claims that he sympathises with his brother’s disappearance because until he was challenged this year on his cosy relationship with Happyton Bonyongwe, Patson was lazying around, and even after that national sports stadium stager, he was not charged by police, and not even fined. He has had private access to Bonyongwe for over a year and has not bothered to ask him at least for help. He says he was beaten up, but were those so called wounds of the cops and not self inflicted? Are they real wounds? Give us the evidence Mr Dzamara.
This development should be a lesson for many who buy fake degrees.
– By Ndaba Nhuku
Man Caught In Sexual Act With Cow
Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo|A man from the Boroma area of Masvingo was last week caught having sex with his cow in broad daylight -in a ritual exercise after being instructed to do so by a traditional healer.
The police revealed to ZimEye.com, Simon Dhewa was herding cattle in the grazing area in village 3, Boroma area, Masvingo District when he tied the cow’s legs with a rope.
Villagers also told ZimEye.com, Dhewa was being haunted by family problems and he visited a local traditional healer who instructed him to have sex with his cow to exorcise the bad omen tormenting his family.
Dhewa was spotted by local villagers having sex with his cow while uttering strange words in the bush near the grazing area where he was herding cattle.
“The man went to a n’anga who instructed him to have sex with his cow. He is being tormented by a spate of family challenges so he wanted to exorcise the supposed evil spirits troubling his family,” said a local villager.
Dhewa has since been arrested and will soon appear in court facing bestiality charges.
Acting Masvingo Provincial Spokesperson Kudakwashe Dhewa said he was waiting to receive a report on the incident.
As a result of socio-economic challenges, desperate Zimbabweans have been forced to perform rituals in order to attain affluence.
RBZ Bond Notes – THE TRUTH
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has announced plans to introduce local “bond notes” to circulate alongside a basket of foreign currencies adopted in 2009, in a bid to ease widespread cash shortages stalking its sluggish economy. This has raised fears of the recurrance of the ill-fated ‘bearer cheques’ that accelarated inflation, which rendered the local currency worthless. The Source interrogates the key questions.
What caused the cash shortages in the first place?
The cash shortages are a combination of various factors. Zimbabwe’s trade deficit, the gap between its exports and imports, has widened from an average $400 million 10 years ago to $2,5 billion at the end of 2015. Zimbabwe imports more than it exports, which means there is more money leaving the country than money coming in. With industry collapsing, more dollars are being used to import goods at a time when the country’s primary exports — commodities — have seen a decline in prices since 2013.
Another factor in the cash shortages is the strength of the US dollar against emerging market currencies such as the Rand. Some reports say, over the past year, the US dollar has gained at the fastest rate in 40 years. This means there is huge demand for the US dollar, which is seen worldwide as a reserve currency.
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Wednesday: “For as long as we are using a currency which is appreciating when we have neighbours that have currencies which are depreciating, we become a mopping house. People come to mop up our US dollars. Any US dollars we bring, it will still vanish (as) people want USD as a store of value.”
Added to this mix is weak confidence in the banks, which has seen many businesses, particularly small to medium enterprises and the informal sector, avoiding depositing their money into banks. The central bank estimates that between $3 billion and $7 billion is circulating in the informal sector.
Illicit outflows also contribute significantly to the cash crunch, according to the central bank. As much as $1.8 billion in the form of export sale proceeds and inflated management fees as well as payments for technical and professional services was funneled out of the country in 2015, according to the RBZ.
How exactly do these bond coins and notes get their value?
Every currency gets its value from a particular source. This may be gold or currency reserves. In the case of bond coins and notes, their value comes from a bond facility from the Afreximbank. In 2014, Afreximbank put up a $50 million bond, a form of a loan, for bond coins introduced to ease the shortage of change in the economy. The planned bond notes are backed by a new $200 million bond, also from Afreximbank. The bond coins and bond notes derive their name from the fact that they are guaranteed by a bond facility.
What is to stop the RBZ from printing more than that $200 million?
Under the facility, which is monitored by Afreximbank, the RBZ cannot produce more notes or coins than what is guaranteed by the bond from Afreximbank. As at the end of December, RBZ had minted bond coins worth $14 million, and expected to produce a further $6 million at the start of 2016, according to the 2016 budget statement.
Why not just release that $200 million into the market instead of bond notes?
If RBZ does that, that money would still leave the country. The whole idea of the bond notes is to make sure that cash stays in Zimbabwe. However, the RBZ is unlikely to release notes worth the equivalent of the whole $200 million at the same time, but will more likely phase-in the notes depending on demand.
When will the notes start circulating?
RBZ governor John Mangudya told reporters the notes would be produced “after two months.” They were still at design stage, he said.
Can I use it outside the country?
No. Bond notes only work in Zimbabwe. The plan is to make sure the cash stays in Zimbabwe.
So how does RBZ plan to solve the currency crunch?
RBZ’s plan evolves around the following: limiting daily withdrawals, increasing the use of the Rand, giving priority of US dollar spending to key areas like fuel and machinery, converting export receipts into rand and other currencies, and increasing usage of electronic and plastic money.
RBZ says Rand use was down to five percent on the market, from 49 percent when the multicurrency system started in 2009. Now, for every dollar that comes into Zimbabwe from exports, 40 cents will be converted into rand and 10 cents into Euro.
So if I send my mother money from here in the UK, will she get part of it in Rand?
According to the RBZ, remittances and NGO funds will not be converted to Rand.
What are the withdrawal limits?
You can now withdraw $1,000, 1,000 Euros and R20,000 per day. In addition to this, you are now only allowed to take similar maximum amounts out of the country at a time.
Is this the return of the Zimbabwe dollar?
That is a fear shared by many, given that Zimbabwe is now effectively printing its own money. According to RBZ, however, bond coins and notes can only operate under the multi-currency regime.
RBZ governor Mangudya also told media on Wednesday he has no plans to introduce a local currency, at least not until “the fundamentals are right.” With production low and no forex reserves, the local unit would only face the fate of the Zimdollar, which collapsed and lost all value.
In 2015, the Zimdollar was “demonetised”, or taken completely out of circulation. This does not mean a local currency will not be reintroduced one day, but RBZ says it may “take years to return”. In history, no country that has adopted the US dollar as its main currency has ever reverted to its own currency.-The Source
Western Policies on Zimbabwe Based On Facts- EU Envoy
The European Union has urged President Robert to respect the constitution and stop blaming the media for the country’s failure to lure foreign investors.
Mugabe (92) accuses the private media of chasing away investors through critiquing his policies.
The aging Zimbabwean leader has over the past two decades been enacting repressive media laws which stifle media freedom and freedom of expression.
Addressing journalists Wednesday evening, at a MISA-Zimbabwe organised World Press Freedom Day commemoration event in Harare where he was giving the western blocs perception on media freedom and freedom of expression, European Union ambassador to Zimbabwe Philippe Van Damme, said bad governance and inconsistent economic policies were the sources of the low uptake of investment by western investors.
“I have to be very frank; I do not think an international investor can make decisions based on newspaper reports. The decisions are made based on facts. The legal framework, the credibility of the legal framework, rule of law in terms of the judiciary, these are things which influence investment,” he said.
The controversial indigenisation policy is one of the economic laws scaring away potential investors.
The controversial economic policy has not only driven away investment but also caused divisions within the President Mugabe’s faction ridden Zanu PF party.
Amazing Pictures: MP Mudambo Levels Potholes
Harare North MP, Tongesai Mudambo has caused shockwaves with touching pictures of his road repairs.
Mudambo has led a crusade of road fixing work over the last year with several successful patches being made in some of Harare’s most dangerous road spots. Mudambo does the job himself with his bare hands with the help a group of volunteers. Yesterday was an area close to Pomona bridge. PICTURES:
Continue reading “Amazing Pictures: MP Mudambo Levels Potholes”
Mangudya Wins Farm War
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe boss, John Mangudya has won his farm battle with the government.
Mangudya will now get back to his farm in Rusape after the High Court this week ordered the reversal of its compulsory acquisition.
Government erroneously acquired Inyamasitza Farm in Makoni District and allocated it to four new farmers under the land reform programme, in violation of the Constitution and the land reform policy that protects indigenously-owned farms from compulsory acquisition.
High Court judge Justice Samuel Kudya nullified the compulsory acquisition of the farm after it came to light that the farm belonged to Dr Mangudya. Dr Mangudya bought the farm in December 2000 from a white farmer, but Government compulsorily acquired it.
The court reversed Government’s decision after the Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement Dr Douglas Mombeshora admitted that his ministry erred in acquiring the farm.
The Attorney-General’s civil division filed a notice of opposition to Dr Mangudya’s application, but in a U-turn, Minister Mombeshora deposed an affidavit confirming Dr Mangudya as the legitimate owner of the farm.
“Consequently, such land was then acquired in error in violation of the policy aforesaid. In the circumstances of this case, the first respondent considers that the land in question is indigenously owned by the applicant,” he said.
He said he had no objection to the acquisition of the land being lifted.
“First respondent has no objection to the acquisition of the land in terms of section 16B (2) (a) of the former Constitution being lifted on the basis that at the time the farm was gazetted for acquisition, the acquisition was inconsistent with the purpose and intent of Se4ction 16A of the former Constitution, which sought to benefit indigenous people who had been previously disadvantaged under colonialism,” he said.
The minister said the other four farmers who had been issued with offer letters for the farm, will be allocated alternative land elsewhere.
In the application filed at the High Court on April 7 this year, Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement Dr Douglas Mombeshora was listed as a respondent. In his founding affidavit, Dr Mangudya said the acquisition of his farm was erroneous and that the court must order its immediate reversal.
Dr Mangudya said he was a serious farmer with a track record of productive farming for the development of the nation and that the court should rule in his favour.-state media
Mugabe’s Top Secrets Exposed In Mujuru’s book
Terrence Mawawa,Masvingo| The Joyce Mujuru led Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) will soon launch a book that will expose atrocities committed by President Robert Mugabe and his government since 1980.
Sources in the ZimPF told ZimEye.com yesterday the book titled The National Grievances, written by the party’s spokesperson for Masvingo Province, Kudzai Mbudzi, would be published in the next few weeks. It is understood Mujuru furnished Mbudzi with the information to include in the book. Although some political analysts claim Mujuru is being used by Zanu PF to destroy opposition parties in the country, Mbudzi said the powerful publication is set to expose Mugabe and Zanu PF’s top secrets.
“We cannot continue to pretend as if we are not aware of the truth. The peole of Zimbabwe have been taken for granted for too long. It is now time for them to know the truth. People need to be informed about the regime’s machinations. The people of Zimbabwe have the right to be told the whole truth. The book is comprehensive because it reveals how Mugabe ruined the economy among other top secrets. The book exposes Mugabe as the nation’s major problem,” said Mbudzi.
The book also exposes Mugabe’s secret manoeuvres in destroying opposition parties and the muzzling of the media. The book which has 25 chapters also reveals how Mugabe created a supermarket economy characterised by buying and selling.
Mugabe who has been in power since 1980 has presided over the nation’s economic demise-despite claims by his supporters he has successfully championed black empowerment .
Mugabe Has Always Been An Illegitimate President Even In Zanu-PF
OPINION
By Hon R M Simango
Mugabe has never been a legitimate leader ever since from the beginning when it was Zanu before it was Zanu-Pf. If you rewind to the early days of his tussle for his leadership of Zanu, you will see ample evidence already of the bloody internal feuding by which he seized the helm of the Zanu Party, and fought off challengers.
The guerrilla war itself, may have been a justified struggle for democracy, but as a teenaged conscript in Rhodesian Camp, I witnessed first-hand gruesome punishment of black civilians by Mugabe’s guerrillas, in order for him to win the “balance of fear”. Mugabe learned then that, the barrel of Kalashnikov underwrote success at the ballot box.
Mugabe made it clear again during the 1980 General Elections when he was in-breach of the Lancaster House Peace Agreement. He kept many of his guerrillas out in the battle field to warn the voters that, the war would continue if his Zanu Party didn’t win the 1980 General Elections although the scale of his victory was such that, he didn’t need to intimidate voters, he was not taking any chances.
Barely three years after Independence, Mugabe ordered his troops into the Southern Province of Matebeleland to launch Operation Gukurahundi, “The Rains that Clear Out the Chaff”. They killed around twenty thousand Ndebele civilians, most of them supporters of Joshua Nkomo’s Zapu Party. No one had ever been held accountable for this Political Genocide till today. It remains the single worst moral stain on Robert Matibili Mugabe’s record although at that time, international reaction was shamefully muted.
After all these massacres, Mugabe coerced a shattered Joshua Nkomo our Father Zimbabwe into a Unity Accord, which effectively created a one-party state. Without real Opposition Political Party in Zimbabwe, Mugabe’s administration grew increasingly authoritarian, inefficient and corrupt.
Mugabe appeared irked when, in 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison and soon swept to power in South Africa’s first democratic elections, eclipsing Mugabe’s role as the colossus on the African stage. Mandela joked that Mugabe had grown accustomed to being the star “and then, the sun came out”
By 2000, after thirteen years of political monopoly, Mugabe was shocked and enraged to find that, a New vibrant Opposition Political Party to his rule had emerged among the Younger Generation as Movement for Democratic Change under the Leadership of President Dr Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, and he set out to crush them, as was his default.
He also ordered his Zanu-Pf Party militia onto white-owned farms to forcibly evict the owners and their workers. It was given a name “Jambanja Reminda”, a violent overthrow. Most of the farms were doled out as bribes to Mugabe’s elite and he kept six farms for himself – corruption. None of the new owners of these corrupted farms had any agricultural know-how, and commercial agriculture, that caused the economy’s foundation, quickly collapsed, bringing the rest down with it.
As we all know the African Leadership; a Father is a figurehead as it’s about masculinity. All radical fathers want to dominate their wives and kids, so in a Political Party, that domination is carried out too. Mugabe don’t want his Zanu-Pf hooligans to answer back but to be “yes” men.
This has been a problem in our Country, ordinary suffering Zimbabweans have to listen and obey, or else, anyone who criticises Mugabe is eliminated one by one.
We all witnessed Moscow’s dramatic collapse of Soviet power, it feels like that now here in Zimbabwe, this the ancient regime is over, just its phantom limb twitching. 2018 is the defining year for Mugabe’s illegitimate leadership never mind of what type of violence he will try to impose on the ordinary suffering Zimbabweans
Fellow Democrats, let’s keep on putting more immense political and socio-economic pressure to these misguided prematurely doomed Zanu-PF hooligans until victory is certain
United we Win
Divided we Fall
ZRP Cop Caught with Weed
A cop who was suspended for demanding bribes at a roadblock has appeared in court after being allegedly caught with mbanje.
Roe Junior MacDonald’s latest troubles came after he tried to take a sweet worth three cents from a vendor. The dispute ended at a police station where, upon being searched, officers recovered a stash of illegal drugs in his pockets.
Yesterday, MacDonald, 28, pleaded guilty to possession of mbanje and possession of unregistered drugs before Bulawayo magistrate Evelyn Mashavakure.The magistrate remanded him in custody to May 9 for sentencing.
The court heard that on May 1, MacDonald, a suspended police officer, approached Knowledge Manyumbe, a vendor in front of Choppies Supermarket at the intersection of Fife Street and 4th Avenue.
Magret Takawira, prosecuting, said MacDonald took out a 10c coin to buy sweets that cost 10c for three. He allegedly took four sweets instead.
“Manyumbe told Macdonald that his money could only purchase three sweets and he insisted that he was a police officer and was thus entitled to four sweets,” she said.
The prosecutor said MacDonald failed to produce his police identity card when Manyumbe demanded to see it.
The pair got into an argument and ended up at Bulawayo Central Police Station.
The court heard that upon arrival at the police station, Manyumbe told the police officers that MacDonald had said he was a police officer.
The police officer gave his name as Bushe Samson. Takawira said MacDonald could not produce his police identity card and when the police searched him they found him in possession of 4 grammes of mbanje, 100ml of broncleer cough syrup and 4 diazepam tablets.
Broncleer is a cough mixture with a high alcohol content used mostly by juveniles to get a cheap high. Diazepam is used to treat anxiety disorders, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, or muscle spasms, but it is abused on the streets as a muscle relaxant.
MacDonald was suspended from the force after allegedly trying to destroy evidence at a roadblock in Mbembesi by trying to swallow bribe money. – State Media
By Wilbert Mukori| Morgan Tsvangirai is totally inactive in the bedroom, the man’s wife Elizabeth says. Listening to Morgan Tsvangirai is like listening to a five year old telling a joke way out of his depth of comprehension and thus lose track of the punch-line, and yet goes on to laugh totally unaware what he said does not make an sense!
