EX-COMMUNICATED Anglican Church leader Nolbert Kunonga has fired his former ally Bishop Elson Jakazi for alleged misconduct.
Jakazi became a Bishop in Kunonga’s Evangelical Anglican Church International (EACI)’s Mutare Diocese after they were both fired from the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) in 2012, following a protracted five-year legal battle over control of church properties.
Last month, he was suspended from Kunonga’s EACI for committing various acts of misconduct, before the church’s national court defrocked him.
Some of the charges include contravening the church’s constitution, general neglect of duties after admonition by a legally constituted body and exercising veto powers on resolutions of the national council.
The church’s national court, presided over by Phillip Bonde, set in Mutare last week, found Jakazi guilty of committing various acts of misconduct, which were corroborated by 11 witnesses.
In passing judgment, Bonde said: “After a careful consideration of all the evidence presented before the court, members unanimously agreed that Bishop Elson Madoda Jakazi had committed the acts of misconduct. Thus, he is found guilty as charged on all the offences.”
“Therefore, Bishop Elson Madoda Jakazi is removed from office as Bishop of the Evangelical Anglican Church International with immediate effect.”
Jakazi was barred from exercising any authority as a bishop of EACI or masquerading as one at any time.
He was also barred from addressing, preaching or interfering with the affairs and activities of any EACI assemblies with immediate effect.
“He is ordered to surrender any assets, property and documents that belong to the church and immediately vacate the office at No 29 2nd Street, Mutare, and hand over the keys to the administrator.”
Jakazi was found guilty of seeking to block and later boycotting the church’s national conference, held on October 30 and 31, 2015.
He was also convicted for interfering with decisions of various church commissions, culminating in their failure to properly carry out their responsibilities.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission says they have over 500 complaints coming from the public which they are struggling to deal with because of human and financial resource constraints.
“We have a file of more than 500 cases with a staff of in terms of officers who are actually doing investigations only 18 and of those 18 they are not all in complaints investigation,” Dr Ellen Sithole told delegates commemorating the International Human Rights day recently at an event which was organised by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights held under the theme “Is Zimbabwe following its own constitution” in Harare.
The ZHRC continues to experience an exodus of commissioners who are leaving the body for greener pastures because of poor conditions of service.
Recently the body announced that it was operating with 36 officers out of the initial and required 120 members.
Dr Sithole said they are being overwhelmed by the complaints they receiving adding that they have resorted to neglect some of their obligations.
“We will be monitoring prisons and other places of detention we have also the education and promotion mandate,” she said.
“We are also geographically limited as we are only in Harare and Bulawayo so  for someone coming from way back and beyond will have a challenge  first of all to know about us and then to come to Harare to lodge a complaint.”
Despite being understaffed and underfunded the Elasto Mugwadi led ZHRC   this year investigated a number of human rights violations and presented their findings to government.
Notable cases they brought before Parliament and the Zimbabwe Republic Police for further action include, the Chingwizi flood victims displacements, the Missing Itai Dzamara case, and the Hurungwe West house of assembly by-elections political violence.
 

A visually impaired granny, 72, from Jotsholo in Matabeleland North sold her teenage granddaughter into marriage with a man, 74, for $500.
Saliwe Ncube of Mateteni Village allegedly threatened to chase her orphaned granddaughter, 17, from home if she refused to marry William Ncube from the same village.
She allegedly demanded $1,000 and a cow but William, the court heard, paid $500 and was given the girl.
The teenager, who is Ncube’s maternal granddaughter, dropped out of school as she could not pay fees.
Ncube was charged with pledging a female person when she appeared before Lupane resident magistrate Ndumo Masuku yesterday.
Masuku convicted Ncube on her own plea of guilty and sentenced her to 12 months in jail, which she wholly suspended on condition she does not commit a similar crime within five years.
The magistrate said he considered that Ncube was an elderly person who had also lost eyesight.
Masuku said cases of guardians who are in the habit of giving away orphaned children for marriage in a bid to raise money or to avoid responsibility were now common. “The issue of viewing orphans as commodities of trade should stop. With all things being equal you were supposed to go to jail. However, you’re admitting to the charges, you’re of old age and your sight is impaired and for that I will give you a suspended sentence,” said the magistrate.
The Constitution protects adults above the age of 70 from custodial sentences.
Ncube begged the court for leniency.
“I know I was wrong and I’m sorry for that. As an elderly person, I thought I was helping my granddaughter out by getting her a husband. I didn’t know that it was illegal. I won’t do it again,” she said.
Prosecuting, Sanders Sibanda said the incident occurred sometime in August this year.
“William Ncube approached the accused and asked her to give him her granddaughter as a wife. The accused asked a neighbour to be a go-between for lobola negotiations upon which Ncube was paid $500 after charging $1,000 and a cow,” the prosecutor said.
The court was told that Ncube teamed up with another villager to threaten the girl into agreeing to marry the old man.
Out of fear the girl went to stay with the man but ran away after five days, the court heard. She went to stay with a villager who assisted her to make a report to the police, leading to her grandmother’s arrest.
Prosecutors said police in Lupane were still investigating if the old man raped the girl during their brief “marriage.”

By Tinoonga Mawere, Masvingo| A top local government official stunned all and sundry in Zaka when he sat for 8 O Level subjects in November,indicating he was occupying the post without qualification.
Abel Chivasa who is a Zanu PF activist and senior engineer employed by Zaka Rural District Council sat for 8 O Level subjects including English and Mathematics .
Chivasa wrote the examinations at Chimbwembwe, a secondary school tucked in the rural areas of Zaka in a bid to avoid detection.
Educationists here said the incident is just a reflection of a sad trend in the government where there are many highly paid yet underqualified personnel.
Such government officials are taking home close to $ 3000 in net salaries while other civil servants are spending several months without getting their salaries.
Chivasa confirmed he sat for the O Level exams,claiming he wanted to change his profession.
“I sat for O Level exams but I want to change my profession. I was admitted into the Zimbabwe Engineers Board in 1995 and I wonder why there is so much interest in this matter,” said Chivasa.
Zanu PF activists have also landed top posts in government as they get rewarded for unleashing violence against known opposition supporters.The presence of such Zanu PF activists in government has posed serious challenges for the treasury as the government battles to pay its workers.

The Zanu PF Members of Parliament are campaigning for the return of the Zimbabwean dollar which was shoved aside in 208 when the inflation reached unbearable levels.
During the post-budget seminar for MPs at a Harare hotel last week, Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda expressed his wishes for the re-introduction of the Zimbabwean dollar.
Mudenda said if gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers intensified, Zimbabwe might be able to re-introduce its now defunct currency which was removed during the inclusive government era to end the tyranny of hyper-inflation.
“The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy made a proposal at the pre-budget seminar in Victoria Falls that there is need to formalise the informal gold mine sector to curb illicit gold mining,” Mudenda said.
“They appealed for amnesty for makorokoza [artisanal miners] and that clarion call must carry on. If these people can get 24 tonnes of gold, then why not give them amnesty because the gold will come into Fidelity and we should be able to have hundreds of tonnes of gold in the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Chances will be brighter for us to go back to our national currency because that gold will be a guarantee.”
During question time at the post-budget seminar, Manicaland senator Shadreck Chipanga (Zanu PF) asked economist Godfrey Kanyenze to explain if time was ripe to go back to the Zimbabwean dollar.
“I do not know how we are going to continue as a country using other people’s currencies,” asked Chipanga.
But, Kanyenze said re-introduction of the Zimbabwean dollar will be difficult because the success of any currency was based on issues of confidence on it.
“At the moment there is no confidence in the Zimbabwean dollar because of what people went through. If it is re-introduced now, it will create confusion and people will start removing their money from banks,” Kanyenze said.
“We do not have foreign reserves to back up our money, and we cannot just bring back the Zimbabwe dollar before people have confidence in it. We need to start rebuilding that confidence.” – State Media

Conventional  Banks have been hit hard  by the advent of  mobile banking whose transactions has increased from three percent to 16 percent in the last three years.
Report by staff reporter/state media
Results released on Monday by a research called Making Accessible Possible Diagnostic revealed that the migration to mobile banking continues to be caused by the banking sector’s rigidity.
Factors such as poor customer care and long queues in the banks have also been cited as reasons for the customer migration from traditional banks to mobile banking.
The survey, says banks’ contribution to financial inclusion has declined over the years with payments and mobile money platforms dominating financial inclusion landscape.
The survey also reveals the financial services sector has been weighed down by monthly, deposit and withdrawal charges being implemented.
Most of the accounts are dormant, hence rendering the financial services sector less superior to the mobile money transactions.
Depositors have lost confidence in the financial services sector for the past 10 years which has seen a decline in deposits while lending rates have remained very high.
The survey is comprehensive market assessment of retail financial services with the major purpose being to assist government to identify key priorities and opportunities to extend access to financial services.
With the increase in mobile money transfer, there has been growth in cross-border retail money flows which is fundamental for household survival, hence the increase in informal financial services.
 

THE Minister for War Veterans and War Collaborators Welfare, Christopher Mutsvangwa, faces ouster from the Zanu-PF Mashonaland West province amid moves to recommend his expulsion for allegedly undermining President Robert Mugabe and the First Lady, Grace Mugabe.
The provincial coordinating committee comprising Politburo members, central committee members, war veterans, provincial executive, youth and women’s leagues are understood to be behind the push and are appending their signatures to a petition to have Mutsvangwa expelled. The top most grievance of the province was Mutsvangwa’s utterances in the private media insinuating that President Mugabe was conflating the institution of marriage and party business.
Last week, a private weekly quoted the War Vets Minister as saying: “We will always respect the institution of marriage and he’s confused and conflating the institution of marriage and that of the State,” apparently referring to President Mugabe.
A provincial member said the writing was on the wall for the war vets leader and the State  Media understands that the decision to recommend the expulsion of Mutsvangwa would be announced at a press conference today.
“The statement that he gave to the private media was clearly aimed at President Mugabe and we will not tolerate his undermining of our leader,” said the impeccable source.
“He ( Mutsvangwa) thinks he knows it all and is behaving like he is the only one who went to war. President Mugabe clarified that everyone played a part in the war and that we are all equal as members of the party and that gives us the right to call errant war veterans to order.”
Troubles for the belligerent Mutsvangwa have lately been mounting. In closing the 15th ZanuPF national people’s conference on Saturday, President Mugabe appeared to sting the war veterans leader, castigating “arrogant” leaders.
Instead, President Mugabe heaped praise on Buhera South legislator Joseph Chinotimba for being a humble and exemplary war veteran.
He described the legislator as “practical and down to earth”.
“He is down to earth. I’ve given you an example of a simple man who went, he had missed on his education but the people voted for him. But I know of some commanders at the top like (the late Josiah) Tungamirai who was humble yet he was commander of the Air Force. But the actions of some war veterans now cast all war veterans in bad light,’’ said President Mugabe.
Interestingly, Mutsvangwa’s woes appear to be a family affair after Manicaland province last week passed a vote of no confidence on his wife, Monica, for fanning factionalism.

Two Bulawayo boys miraculously survived a gas canister explosion – albeit with severe burns – at their Mpopoma suburban home.

 
Madodana Mhlophe, 15, reportedly sustained third degree burns during the explosion that rattled windows in the suburb last Thursday and is battling for life at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH).
His elder brother Dumo, 19, was treated for superficial burns and discharged from the same hospital last Friday. The mother of the two, Nobesuthu Mhlophe, told The State Media that swift action by her neighbours saved the day.
“I was seated in the lounge on Thursday afternoon. Suddenly I heard a loud bang which made me jump from my seat. It was as if a bomb had gone off in the house,” said Mhlophe. She said in the “deafening silence” of the aftermath, she was galvanised into action when she heard blood curdling screams from her sons.
“I feared the worst,” she said.
Mhlophe said as she stood paralysed by fear, her neighbours came rushing into the house. “I finally gathered strength to go to the kitchen and I saw my sons on fire. They were flailing their arms as they screamed for help,” she said.
She narrated how neighbours battled to control a panicky Madodana who was running around in circles, trying to beat out the flames on his clothes.When they finally subdued the lad and doused the flames, he was severely burnt.
Mhlophe said: “After waiting for the ambulance for a long time, we decided to use a neighbour’s vehicle and we rushed the boys to UBH. I thank God for saving the lives of my two sons because I know it could’ve been worse. Madodana is in pain but we trust the medical personnel will help him recover”.
She said she suspected the explosion could have been caused by a gas leak in the kitchen. The fire destroyed a few household gadgets. “We normally use fire in cases of power cuts but that day we could not as our firewood was wet due to rain,” Mhlophe said.
Another teenager from Mpopoma escaped death recently after a 20-litre petrol container that he was carrying caught fire in their house. Carlton Mhlanga, 16, was passing through the kitchen from a bedroom with a container full of petrol to refuel his father’s car outside when the gas stove, which was on, caused the container to catch fire.
Joseph Mhlanga, his father, said the incident occurred at around 7PM. Bulawayo Chief Fire Officer Richard Peterson urged residents to exercise caution while using alternative sources of energy in the face of load shedding and to desist from keeping flammable liquids in their houses.
“I’m more than pleased by the response of the people in the western suburbs. These people help each other to quickly put out fires unlike in the other areas,” he said.
Peterson said at least 99 percent of the fires in the western suburbs are controlled in a single room.
“If a container with any of the flammable liquids explodes, no-one survives in that house.” Peterson reminded residents to remember to put the 09 code before dialling the 71717-9 emergency numbers on their cellphones.
He said residents could call 993 or 994 toll free from landlines

A hit-man allegedly hired by pastor and founder of Gospel of the Kingdom Ministries in Chitungwiza narrated in court last week how the “man of the cloth” assigned him to eliminate his congregants for a prize.
Thomas Makoni (28) of Waterfalls, Harare, is alleged to have hired his friend Talent Nyakunengwa to kill members from his church, accusing them of spreading falsehoods. Nyakunengwa told the court that they were best friends with Makoni and at times they would commit robberies together.
Narrating the incidents, Nyakunengwa told the court that his friend of 13 years approached him for a favour.
“I know Makoni as my friend since 2002 and in June he came to my house with Godfrey Sithole around midnight, said Nyakunengwa. He gave me a task to kill and bomb his church members who had caused chaos in his church. He would visit me daily saying I was delaying, instructing me to kill Kudakwashe Elliot and Abraham Kabodo by assaulting them and leaving them for dead.”
Nyakunengwa alleged that Makoni told him that the pair was supposed to die a painful death and acknowledge that he (Makoni) was superior. “Makoni said he wanted them dead because they were causing chaos by telling people of his misdemeanors, he said. Makoni said Elliot was telling people who had been involved in an accident that it was due to his juju. Makoni also instructed me to kill Mrs Chinhamo (Afra Nhanhanga) for financing Kudakwashe and Abraham so that they would withdraw from their church. Mrs Chinhamo was supposed to be petrol bombed and die on the spot.”
After that, Nyakunengwa said, he was supposed to deal with a person only identified as Wiseman who had been assisted by Mrs Chinhamo to open a church next to that of Makoni. Nyakunengwa said he was supposed to receive a Mazda Demio and $100 per victim.
Asked why Makoni approached him, Nyakunengwa said: “He knew that I was a person of violent disposition and we grew up together committing robberies.” Makoni denied two counts of incitement to commit murder before Chitungwiza resident magistrate Mrs Renika Dzikiti and was remanded to January 7 next year.

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has reportedly garnished the State Procurement Board’s (SPB) bank account for the second time to recover over $800 000 in Pay As You Earn (PAYE) arrears for its former chairperson Mr Charles Kuwaza. The garnish order follows several attempts by Zimra to have the SPB settle the debt by issuing ultimatums that were not obliged with.
Sources said Zimra had lost patience with the SPB, hence the latest action. “Zimra first raised the issue of PAYE arrears for Mr Kuwaza last year and requested the board to state when it was going to settle the debt but they have not been cooperating,” said a source.
“After that, several ultimatums were issued but still they disregarded them because Mr Kuwaza was insisting that he would not pay arguing that his contract was signed by the President.
“Now that he has left the board, there are high chances that the board will pay the tax arrears on his behalf and then maybe deduct from his benefits.” Another source concurred: “We understand the SPB will deduct the money from his benefits but the question is, will his benefits exceed $800 000?
“That is where the issue is. Mind you, he was already paid way more than what was approved by the Office of the President and Cabinet through other benefits. “The other thing is that he is still coming to the office despite the fact that he is no longer employed here. He pretends as if nothing happened and that he is still in charge.”
SPB was not remitting PAYE on Mr Kuwaza’s earnings since 2009 while all the other employees of the SPB have had their earnings taxed and the PAYE sent to Zimra. The Herald last year published Mr Kuwaza’s mega perks, excluding salary, which gobbled about $210 000 in 2014 alone.
Zimra has been demanding that Mr Kuwaza settle his tax arrears, but his reluctance led to the garnishing of the SPB account with an outstanding bill of $1 million. However, there was about $230 000 in SPB’s two accounts, funds which were taken by Zimra.
Mr Kuwaza was relieved of his duties as SPB chairperson about a fortnight ago when President Mugabe appointed a new board. The new SPB chairperson, Ambassador Buzawani Mothobi declined to comment on the matter last Friday although he had requested e-mailed questions which were sent to him.
All he could say was: “I have no comment about this thing.” herald

BULAWAYO District Zimbabwe National Army commander Brigadier-General Exsebios Vusa Tshuma last Tuesday bade farewell to troops in the district after being moved to be the commander of Four Brigade in Masvingo.
Brig-Gen Tshuma has now been replaced by Colonel Rantham Moyo. Speaking during a handover-takeover ceremony at Imbizo Barracks, Brig-Gen Tshuma expressed gratitude to the support he received during his tenure at the helm of Bulawayo District since January 2012.
The ceremony was graced by Zimbabwe National Army commander Lieutenant-General Philip Valerio Sibanda. In his farewell speech, Brig-Gen Tshuma said officers from the district had remained patriotic and professional during challenging times.
“My task as commander Bulawayo District was also made easier by the excellent rapport that the formation had with the local community. That was especially made possible by our recognition of the role played by traditional leaders like Chief Sigola in upholding our rich African values. Let me take this opportunity to thank Chief Sigola for supporting us particularly by allowing us to conduct training activities in his area.
“I want to acknowledge and appreciate the role played by officers, men and women of Bulawayo District in overcoming the numerous challenges we came across in fulfillment of our tasks during my tenure as commander. Your perseverance, patriotism and professionalism in particular during challenging times, contributed tremendously to our success,” said Brig-Gen Tshuma.
He urged the district to accept Col Moyo’s leadership.
In accepting his new position, Col Moyo promised that he would remain committed in his discharge of duties and endeavour to do all his duties to the best of his ability.
“I feel spiritually and physically humbled by the confidence and trust reposed in me by the commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, Lieutenant General Philip Valerio Sibanda. This he demonstrated by appointing me to be the commander of Bulawayo District.
“I shall endeavour to discharge all my duties to the best of my ability, diligently and effectively. While I understand that the challenges of commanding a formation are greater today than they were before, I look forward to the support of all officers, men and women of Bulawayo District in my effort to overcome these challenges,” said Col Moyo.

By the Journal| A judge has described as “depressing” an attack on a Zimbabwean man during which he was punched 18 times, kicked 13 times, kneed three times to the side of his head, stamped on seven times and stabbed four times.
Two teenagers who were captured on CCTV brutally beating the man before robbing his mobile phone were given five-and-a-half year sentences at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. 18 months of the sentence was suspended for one of the attackers – the other had almost four years of the sentence suspended.
What happened?

Aaron Eccles (18) and Niall Brooks (18) were described by their victim, Charles Goromonzi (57), as “evil”.
CCTV footage of the robbery shown in court depicted Mr Goromonzi walking alone at 9.30pm before being randomly set upon by Brooks, Eccles and a third man.
Eccles, of Brookview Close, and Brooks, of The Rise, Kiltipper Gate, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty to robbery of a Nokia Lumina 625 phone at Sundale Heights, Tallaght on July 29, 2014.
The kicks to the victim were mostly to his head. He was also held on the ground by the pair with his arms outstretched.
He suffered wounds to his head, wrists and knees.

Victim impact
He described in his victim impact statement how, after coming to Ireland from war torn Zimbabwe, he feared he would be killed that night by the teenage robbers in Tallaght.
Judge Martin Nolan said anyone who viewed the CCTV footage could not fail to be depressed at the sheer violence of the robbery which had been carried out for a very small profit.
He said it was lucky for everyone that Mr Goromonzi had not sustained far more serious injuries.
Judge Nolan said the pair deserved some form of punishment but the overriding concern in sentencing young people was to try to reform them.
He noted both accused had similar difficulties in their background with the principal difference being that Brooks did not have any history of convictions.
Judge Nolan imposed five and a half year sentences on both. He suspended the final 18 months for Eccles and suspended the final three years and nine months in the case of Brooks. He ordered 18 months post-release supervision by the Probation Service for both.
Eccles has 29 previous convictions which include three for assault causing harm and one for animal cruelty which involved over-working a pony. Brooks has no previous convictions.
~‘Very sorry’

Both teenagers were interviewed by gardaí and shown the CCTV. During interview they denied stabbing Mr Goromonzi or stealing his phone.
Brooks told gardaí he was disgusted at himself and “very sorry” and Eccles wrote a letter to the court apologising for his actions.
Defence counsel for the teens, both of whom suffer from ADHD, said they were intoxicated by drugs or drink at the time of the robbery.

Former Vice-President Joice Mujuru says she is at peace as an ordinary citizen and does not miss Zanu PF or the luxury of being a vice-president in President Robert Mugabe’s government at all.
In an interview with The Standard while Zanu PF was in the middle of its annual conference in Victoria Falls on Friday, Mujuru said she had nothing to miss there.
“Looking at what is happening after the so-called congress of 2014, I have nothing to miss there. I enjoy being an ordinary citizen enduring, like everyone else, the pain and anguish of the economic crisis we find ourselves in,” Mujuru said.
The former VP, who was axed from both Zanu PF and government 12 months ago on allegations of plotting to overthrow Mugabe, said she was enjoying living the life of an ordinary Zimbabwean although it brought her sadness to watch people she fought along side during the armed struggle tear each other apart in factional fights.
“It’s unfortunate that in all this, the economy and the ordinary Zimbabweans are the ones paying the ultimate price as leaders fight for power. As for me, I am missing nothing there, there is nothing to miss both as VP in government and in the party,” Mujuru said.
With expectations high that she would soon launch her own political party, the country’s first female VP has chosen to keep her cards close to her chest.
After kicking Mujuru out in December last year and replacing her with Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, the ruling party has remained engulfed in factional fires that have seen suspensions and expulsions becoming the order of the day.
Her ouster from the party has also not stopped Mugabe and his supporters from making Mujuru their political punching bag, even when she does not respond.
Although she has not featured prominently in public, except at funerals of associates, her name has remained on the front pages of newspapers which link her to a political project dubbed People First.
The project is currently being championed by ex-Zanu PF stalwarts, Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo, along with freedom fighters and former high officials of Zanu PF and ministers who were chucked out of the party along with Mujuru.
Once in a while Mujuru has heightened expectations of launching a political party by releasing statements. But as soon as these are released, she retreats into her shell, leaving friends and foes alike guessing about her plans.
“I will not be pushed around. I will do what the people of Zimbabwe want me to do at an appropriate time — to help each other as Zimbabweans,” Mujuru has said.
In one of her statements, Mujuru requested that she be allowed to be free and be as she pleased, without “Zanu PF being obsessed with me”.
Defacto spokesperson of the so-called People First, Gumbo has said Mujuru’s silence should not be misconstrued for weakness as it was part of their strategy.
“We are not there to entertain doubtful people. We are serious and we are doing all we can underground. Currently we are mobilising and strategising; building structures silently while the post congress Zanu PF continues to tear one another apart,” said Gumbo.
Analyst Alexandra Rusero, however, said if Mujuru was serious about forming a party, she had to do it now before the public sympathy she enjoyed dissipated.
“No doubt Mujuru’s formal entry into opposition politics will shake-up the political scene, but on the flipside, her dillydallying may also be damaging,” Rusero said.
After the dramatic fall of Mujuru and her cabal, the torch bearers of the project have presented themselves as poor people with nothing to show for the 35 years they were in government. standard.

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been flattened.
The Presidential deputy’s future is dangling in the air after ZANU PF’s powerful G40 group mobilised and bussed in and youths to dislodge him.
Accreditation cards of Mnangagwa supporters were taken away and confiscated by members of the G40, including their identity cards so that they do not attend the conference.
This was in all forms reminiscent of the scenario 12 months ago when former VP Joice Mujuru was kicked out of the party.
 
There were accusations of plots, sub-plots and counter plots between factions angling to take charge of the former liberation movement.
With Mugabe openly admitting activists “have been threatening to tear each other apart at this conference”, The Standard was given a sneak-peek into the intricate details of how the two distinct factions engaged in open warfare for Mugabe’s throne were trying to arm-twist the veteran guerrilla leader to make changes to his inner circle.
“They have bussed in rogue youths who have been booked into a hotel in Livingstone [Zambia] across the Zambezi.
They want to boo VP [Emmerson] Mnangagwa. Clearly, these are G40 [Generation 40] shenanigans to try and push for his ouster, but it is not going to work.” The Standard was told early Friday as Mugabe prepared to officially open the annual jamboree.
The security services were also sucked into the wars, with some in the intelligence openly showing their support for Mnangagwa, long seen as Mugabe’s successor, but whose path has been littered with stumbling blocks to frustrate him by the G40 group.
The group is reportedly now fronted by First Lady Grace Mugabe — a new entrant onto the political scene, but now wielding so much power she is viewed as the greatest threat to Mnangagwa’s decades-long dream.
“We have colleagues whose accreditation cards have been taken away, confiscated by members of the G40 group, including their identity cards because they do not want us to attend the conference. But the intelligence has also set up a check-point at the border with Zambia to check for weapons and T-shirts bearing the picture of a tractor hoisting a crocodile,” said another youth leader on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, in the giant marquee songs where composed and the provocative dancing went on each time there was a musical interlude.
Monica Mutsvangwa, briefly sacked by Grace’s Women’s League executive before Mugabe served her blushes, gyrated in front of the First Lady. But her Manicaland political nemesis Letwin Undenge jumped in as the tacit fights went on. Mutsvangwa then looked at Undenge with a nasty snarl.
Masvingo province sang “munoreverana nhema, Bhobho haazi munhu wekubata kumeso” (you are fooling yourselves, Mugabe is not one to hoodwink), while Mashonaland West came in with “regai atonge” (let him rule).
It was, however, the host province of Matabeleland North that almost brought the house down with “Bhobho hlala la, Bhobho hlala la, Bhobho hlala la uze ukhokhobe” (Stay on Bob [Mugabe] until you get really old).
Mashonaland Central’s Dickson Mafios chanted “Pasi nevanoda zvigaro nguva isati yakwana” (Down with people who clamour for power when it’s not yet their time). Presidential Press Secretary George Charamba and Mugabe’s chief of protocol Munyaradzi Kajese joined in the hip-swinging and gyrating, while Masvingo provincial chairman Ezra Chadzamira had the tent reverberating with Mnangagwa’s trademark “Pasi nemhanduuuuu [down with enemies]”.
As the drama unfolded, Mugabe’s spokesperson Charamba and his former principal, now Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo, clearly avoided each other despite brushing shoulders. Moyo has clashed with Charamba, allegedly because they belong to different factions, with the Cabinet minister describing his ex-permanent secretary as “a mere civil servant”.
This was after Charamba had engaged in a no-holds-barred verbal altercation with Christopher Mutsvangwa, despite the two seemingly belonging to “Team Lacoste” — as the Mnangagwa faction is known.
The police now stand accused of sympathising with the G40 faction: “If you report these criminal elements who are illegally confiscating people’s accreditation cards to the police, no action is taken. The police are saying it’s a political matter that should be resolved as such. But we know where their allegiances lie”.
On the other hand, intelligence details openly showed their support for Mnangagwa.
“We have laid out everything. There is no stopping. If we find them caucusing, we will arrest them. The president has given the greenlight. We just want to make one example and someone is going to be very unfortunate,” said one official Thursday night.
Then reports were filtering through that the Mnangagwa faction had agreed to the adoption of a resolution to co-opt a woman into the presidium, but there was a catch.
“We now want the woman to come from the Zapu side. We have supplied a woman VP for over 10 years and it is time women from the Zapu side of the Unity Accord are uplifted,” said another youth leader.
If this is carried through, the resolution would have dealt a heavy blow to the G40 faction that includes in its ranks not only national commissar Saviour Kasukuwere and Moyo, but more importantly, second vice-president Phelekezela Mphoko.
It would mean that Mphoko would then be forced to make way for Eunice Sandi-Moyo, the proposed woman VP, but also it would mean the end of Grace’s ambition to take over from her husband, an ambition reportedly now being fanned by the G40 group. This would also mean a split within the faction given that Sandi-Moyo is Grace’s storm-trooper and Mphoko’s “blue-eyed girl”, according to insiders.
Buses were emptied and delegates were frisked as fears abound of possible chaos and smuggling of dangerous weapons. There were probably as many security details present, as there were delegates.
Delegates to the conference were re-accredited by members of the central intelligence organisation who colour-coded their accreditation cards to weed out “fake delegates who were bussed in to boo Mnangagwa”.
Mugabe in his opening speech admitted; “We cannot allow chaos. I have been informed that some are here clearly agitating for violence. They are saying we will tear each other apart at the conference. This conference is not for that. Divided we fall and united we stand.
“We should understand that even if we fight, we must at the end find common ground to advance the interests of Zanu PF and push its policies forward. This way, we will remain the people’s party”.
His handlers, however, have claimed “there is no factionalism in the party”, which they say exists only in “opposition newspapers”. But Mugabe went a step further.
“Factionalism has rocked our party. Yakonzera kuti kuve nekugedageda muparty. [It has caused gnashing of teeth in the party]. The military, police and intelligence are involved. Let us stop that. We do not need that. Those ambitious within our ranks should wait for congress. You want to remove people elected by congress. Pasi nemi [down with you],” fumed Mugabe.
He said Zanu PF could not afford to have people ascribed to particular individuals.
“We cannot have people being allocated to individuals. Conference must end that and we must leave here re-invigorated with fresh purpose to push the policies of the party,” the veteran Zanu PF leader said.
Then there was the usual apple-polishing and fawning, with Zanu PF apparatchiks led by Mnangagwa and Mphoko taking turns to pile platitudes on the “dear leader”. Mugabe watched in awe, apparently taken aback and wondering if indeed the person being described could really be him.
“You have become a president in the past year, that every world leader has been dying to shake his hand,” Mnangagwa said. (Standard/ Additional Reporting)
 

A Victoria Falls man has had successful surgery after he was attacked by an elephant which ripped his stomach open while he was admiring a baobab tree early last month.
Mr Obadiah Sithole has, however, been stuck at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo as he has no money to travel back to the resort town. Mr Sithole, from Chinotimba suburb, was discharged three weeks ago but is still at the hospital.

A Harare man is demanding over $500 000 from the Zimbabwe Electricity and Transmission Distribution Company (ZETDC) after he was electrocuted and heavily injured by a live cable that left him permanently disabled.
The man, Munashe Magwaza, has since approached the High Court seeking $505 000 in damages from the Zesa Holdings’ subsidiary.
In his court papers, Magwaza who is represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said that he was electrocuted after stepping on live electric cables in the Msasa industrial area on his way to work.
“The exposed live high voltage electricity cables had fallen to the ground and concealed by the grass.
“As a result of the electric shock, the plaintiff (Magwaza) sustained extensive injuries, including deep burns to the lower limbs and numerous deep burns to the chest,” Magwaza said.
The court heard that, “The plaintiff went through shock and excruciating pain as he was being electrocuted to an extent that he passed out for several hours.
“Thereafter, the plaintiff was hospitalised for nine months at Harare Central Hospital. Whilst in hospital, he was in pain and had to undergo major surgeries that include skin grafting.”
According to Magwaza, ZETDC acknowledged liability and in October 2012 paid $11 480 to him for special damages through Cell Insurance Company.
As a result of the serious injuries and disability of his limbs, Magwaza said he suffered the embarrassment of being left by his wife as he could no longer offer her conjugal rights.
“Plaintiff has suffered loss of amenities of life in that he can no longer have the blessing of any unclouded mind, healthy body, sound limbs and the ability to conduct unaided basic functions of life such as running, eating and dressing,” the court was told.
The court further heard that, “Before the shock, plaintiff was a fit person who used to work as a security guard and earning $350. He however, lost his employment whilst in hospital.”
“The defendants have ignored, neglected or simply refused to pay the general damages despite the first defendant (ZETDC)’s acceptance of liability on October 8, 2012. The distribution and transmission of electricity is the exclusive domain of the first defendant.”

The Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Association (ZCIEA) has petitioned government over the continued criminalisation of vendors by state security agents.
The petition was drafted at the coalition of vendors and informal traders’ annual conference which was held this week in the capital.
ZCIEA President Loraine Sibanda said the petition was overdue adding that it was high time government transforms informal to the informal economy.
“It is in this vein that this conference seeks to find ways and means of placing and recognising the informal economy to its rightful place where the government and local authorities recognise and respect informal traders as legitimate economic players and not criminals,”she said.
“Are we asking for too much by saying informal traders are seeking to be afforded the necessary recognition through engagement with government and other stake holders, respect and appreciation of the work they do to sustain livelihoods?”
Informal traders at the conferences said a “radical” approach was imminent should the authorities continue to harass “us”.
“This is very possible if we unite as we have done today,” they vowed.
“We are saying enough is enough, they have harassed us enough. They have confiscated our wares and failed to account for them and the next step now is to take them head on”.
According to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the informal economy has outpaced formal employment and its now at 94.5%.
The labour movement says 98% of the   country’s youths are in engaging in informal activities where 52% are partaking as informal traders.
Despite being the current pillar to economic survival informal traders continue to be harassed by local authorities and the state security.
In Harare and vendors and municipal police are ever on each other’s throat.
 
 
 

Zifa president Phillip Chiyangwa is set to lose property from his Borrowdale mansion after the now-defunct Interfin Bank obtained a writ of execution against him to recover over $4 million in debts.
In a letter addressed to the Sheriff dated December 10, 2015, Interfin Bank’s lawyers, Sawyer & Mkushi, instructed the Sheriff to proceed with attachment of Chiyangwa’s property after paying attachment fees.
Part of the letter read: “We request you to attach and remove defendant’s property at the following address: 11 Crowhill Road, Borrowdale, Harare. Enclosed is the sum of $567 as per your request. Let us have your return of service once execution has been effected.”
Attached to the letter was also a writ of execution receipt showing fees paid by the lawyers in the sum of $97.
Last month, Chiyangwa and his businesses, Pinnacle Property Holding and Native Investment Africa, lost a case at the High Court and were ordered to pay the bank $4 060 110 after failing to defend the claim.
High Court judge Justice Lavender Makoni entered a default judgment against Chiyangwa after striking off the business mogul’s appearance to defend and his plea following an application by the bank’s lawyer, Antony Chagonda.
Justice Makoni ordered: “Whereupon after reading the documents filed of record and hearing counsel, it is ordered that: (1) 2nd defendant’s (Chiyangwa) appearance to defend and plea be and are hereby struck off. (2) Judgment with costs on a legal practitioner and client scale and collection commission provided for under the Law Society of Zimbabwe by-laws (1982) be and is hereby entered against 2nd defendant for payment of: (a) $2 000 000 being capital; and (b) $2 000 000 being interest.
“(c) $60 110 being bank charges and (d) interest on the sum of $4 000 000 at the penalty rate of 10% per annum over and above the rate of interest applicable to 1st defendant’s (Pinnacle Property Holdings) overdraft from time to time from the date of judgment to date of full payment.”
The bank claimed sometime in April 2011, it extended a credit facility of $2 million to Pinnacle Property Holdings and charged total interest of $2 million and bank charges of $60 110, thereby producing a total payable amount of $4 060 110.
The bank also sought an order compelling Chiyangwa to pay legal costs after having agreed with the bank to cover such costs in the event of him defaulting. – Newsday

Staff Reporter | President Robert Mugabe has acknowledged the country’s massive unemployment rate and mourned the future of the thousands of Zimbabwean university graduates who graduate from the state universities every year.
Addressing the five thousand ZANU PF delegates attending the party’s 15th National Conference in Victoria Falls today, the President said he was worried about the unemployment rate in the country and urged people graduating from the state universities in the country not to sit back and expect employment but join the informal sector and start small businesses.
“I have been capping thousands of graduates at the universities around the country and I look at them and say where to from here,” said the president.
He urged the colleges and universities to start teaching courses that will allow the graduates to be immediate business people and not seek employment.
“We must adopt education which will make our graduates ready to be employers not employees,” he said.
“Those who have already graduated must start thinking of engaging in programmes that will give them income instead of going out to search for employment. Yes, we can absorb a few here and there but the rest must engage in other income generating projects in the small business sector.”
The President’s statement comes shortly after his party won an election in which the party manifesto promised the nation 2.2 million jobs if elected to government. Contrary to the election manifesto, the two years since the last election has seen the largest number of company closures, retrenchments and increase in the unemployment level than ever in the country.
Most of Zimbabwe’s university graduates are failing to get employment matching their qualifications and are either employed as teachers or roaming the streets as vendors some as low as airtime vendors. Neighbouring countries are also awash with highly qualified Zimbabweans doing menial jobs such as waiters and security guards for survival.

Harare West MP Jessie Majome has been selected for the prestigious Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) Community Human Rights Defender of the Year Awards.
Majome who is the first MP in history to successfully challenge ZBC licence nuisances, is leading in a pack of four that includes former MDC legislator David Coltart, Hope Sadza and Itai Dzamara.
Those wishing to vote for her via Whatsapp may do so by sending her name to this number +263784784497 or using the following link . http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=5665c016e4b092a588110afc

The polls close at 9pm tonight.
Your MP

By Henry L Ncube| WAR Veterans have moved to block Grace Mugabe from succeeding her aging husband President Robert Mugabe as both the Zanu PF and country’s President.
A faction called G-40 which comprises Mugabe’s nephews Philip Chiyangwa and Patrick Zhuwao, Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Jonathan Moyo, Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere had been calling for Grace to be the President.
They were fighting against the party’s constitution which says the first vice President automatically occupies the office of the President should Mugabe die anytime before the holding of national elections.
But liberation war fighters attending the party’s annual conference in Victoria Falls yesterday made it clear that Grace, should remain where she is up “to 2018 and beyond”, suggesting they would not back her as party leader.
Grace is the party’s Women’s League boss.
Japhet Phuti, the ZNLWVA(Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association) secretary said the party’s constitution should be amended and accommodate a female in the Presidium and urged that the female should be Ndebele, a clause that pushes Mrs Mugabe out of the picture.
“We also support the women’s league statement, that women should have a quota in the presidium and be maintained on rotational basis and now should go to Ex-ZAPU/ZIPRA members,” said Phuthi.

A man who returned home to find his wife naked on top another man, stabbed her before hanging himself in a nearby cemetery.
Farai Machokoto (37) from Silobela, acted on a tip-off and caught his wife Natasha Machokoto (28) sitting on top of her lover on Thursday last week.
He confronted them but the boyfriend Dakawira Moyo took to his heels. Natasha was then stabbed and left for dead.
Farai hatched a plan after he got wind that his wife was playing away. He phoned her, telling her that he would come after a week from in Bulawayo. But he came on the same day.
“He caught her sitting on top of him while they kissed each other. That did not go down well with Farai who then took out an Okapi knife, tried to stab Moyo who ran away. But his wife couldn’t run so he stabbed her twice on the shoulder, once on the hip and she collapsed,” said the source. He thought she was dead.
Chief Malisa confirmed the incident. “I can confirm that I received a report that one of my subjects from Leke village caught his wife kissing her lover.
After that he stabbed her and went on to hang himself at the gravesite,” he said.
Contacted for a comment Natasha denied the allegations and said the late was always hinting that he would hang himself and finally he did.
“He was so jealous and got so angry after finding me discussing with a male churchmate at our homestead. He then accused me of cheating on him after that he said he wanted to end my life and he stabbed me several times on the body and I collapsed. He left and hanged himself at the gravesite,” she said.-State Media

The recent murder of a Gweru woman allegedly by her teenage son has left relatives and residents of this otherwise peaceful city shocked. Although close relatives and neighbours were well aware that Kudakwashe Ashley Sibanda (19) always gave her mother trouble, they never thought he could be so heartless. Kudakwashe allegedly stabbed his mother Babra Sibanda seven times on the left side of the chest, killing her on the spot and locked the body inside the house.

He is accused of stealing his mother’s Nissan Bluebird and proceeded to Total garage in the city where he made attendants fill the tank and drove off without paying. Kudakwashe went for joyrides with prostitutes on a three-day drinking spree.
When news of the murder began spreading, he fled to Harare where, on his way, he ran over a pedestrian at Norton and killed him. Kudakwashe now faces three counts — murder, culpable homicide and theft.
His actions have left his friends and relatives with unanswered questions and Gweru residents dumbfounded. According to relatives interviewed by The Herald, Kudakwashe always gave his mother a torrid time. “This was bound to happen one of the days because we knew Kudakwashe as a spoilt brat,” said a relative who refused to be named.
“His mother loved him so much and would give him everything he wanted. “He was a mama’s boy and she gave him special treatment.” People close to the family said problems started when Kudakwashe was expelled from Thornhill High School for stealing a vehicle that belonged to his teacher.
He was also in the habit of stealing from fellow pupils. Kudakwashe would steal money from his mother and demanded huge sums of money from her. His sister, Audrey Nyaradzo Sibanda, would sometimes send him money so that he would not bother their mother.
Before the murder, Kudakwashe had been arrested for stealing $900 from a tenant before he stole the tenant’s car and went for a beer binge with friends. For his actions, Kudakwashe was convicted and sentenced to performing community service at Lundi Primary School.
He once stole $100 from school authorities at Thornhill and his mother had to restitute the school to save him from going to prison, as the case would have attracted a custodial sentence as a repeat offender. Kudakwashe’s friends said he was addicted to beer at a tender age and was also into drugs.
There was chaos at Mrs Sibanda’s funeral wake as Kudakwashe’s siblings, McDonald and Audrey, quarrelled with their uncle who was demanding 10 beasts as compensation for the murder.
The heated argument opened the Pandora’s box, as it emerged that Kudakwashe was a half brother to his three other siblings Munyaradzi, Mcdonald and Audrey.
It was divulged during the no holds barred verbal war that Mrs Sibanda allegedly cheated on her late husband and football legend Willie Sibanda and had Kudakwashe with her unknown lover.
“Audrey openly told their uncle who was demanding compensation from her and her brothers that Kudakwashe was not of their blood and they could not be held responsible for his actions,” said a relative. Munyaradzi, Audrey and McDonald looked distraught during the funeral wake.
McDonald barred other people from taking food to Kudakwashe in prison. When asked about his opinion on the murder he said: “I don’t think this is the right time to discuss such issues. I think we will have to find another day to discuss this”.
Audrey shared the same sentiments. “As a family, we are still failing to come to grips with the untimely death of our mother,” she said. “We might release a statement later as a family, but for now we are grieving and we might not be at liberty to give you any information.”
Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe executive moderator Bishop Johannes Ndanga attributed Kudakwashe’s behaviour to evil spirits, culture erosion and westernisation. “The bible says honour thy father and thy mother and this is the fourth commandment,” he said.
“What this young man did shows that he was being used by the devil. This might also be the effects of violent films that young people are obsessed with. Our culture and religion have been eroded. “However, God says we should always forgive and the relatives must learn to forgive the child because this will also help in his rehabilitation.” State Media

A Harare man, who claims that he was unlawfully arrested, assaulted and detained by cops has filed a $30 000 lawsuit against the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
In the papers filed at the High Court, Mercedes Nyamande, is demanding $10 000 for the alleged unlawful arrest and detention, $15 000 for assault and $5 000 damages for contumelia.
In the application Nyamande cites Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo, commissioner-general of police Augustine Chihuri, police officers identified as Godfrey Masvimbo, Charuma and Zinyama as respondents.
Nyamande, who is represented by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told the court that he was taken from his Glen Norah residence in February last year by Masvimbo, Charuma and Zinyama to assist with investigations of stolen gas bottles.
“Upon arriving at the Harare Central Police Station, the plaintiff (Nyamande) was shocked when the third defendant (Charuma) started to heavily assault him with open hands and clenched fists trying to force a confession from him to admit to having stolen the alleged gas bottles,” Nyamande said.
“In an act that is inhumane and disrespectful to his inherent dignity and an act that is inconsistent with Section 50 (1) (c) of the Constitution, the third defendant handcuffed the plaintiff’s hands and forced his left leg on top of the handcuffed hands and he continued with the assaults and intensified the attack on the defenceless plaintiff by striking him several times with a thick wooden log and electricity cables all over the body.”
Nyamande said that due to the assault, he sustained deep lacerations and he bled profusely to such an extent that he almost passed out.
He further claims that after the assault, he was medically-examined at Harare Hospital and a medica l doctor concluded that he sustained severe injuries.
“Despite the serious injuries suffered by the plaintiff, the third, fourth and fifth defendants without a lawful reason yet again detained the plaintiff in violation of his constitutional right…was also denied a phone call to call his relatives or spouse to notify them of the arrest and he was further denied medical treatment despite having made a request.
He was only released the following morning without receiving any formal charge.
Nyamande says he has already filed criminal charges against the police officers. DailyNews/Agencies

• Army Captain (retd) Albert Matapo speaks
• A very dangerous situation

Zimbabwe’s cash-strapped government has hit a dead-end on the issue of civil servants’ bonuses prompting a very dangerous situation in which the army may revolt.
Army captain (retd) Albert Matapo told ZimEye.com his view that the army after being lied to can easily revolt.
The government is currently scouting for alternative funding to the tune of nearly US$250 million to pay civil servants bonuses, as Treasury wrestles with other unbudgeted-for expenditures critical to avert a humanitarian crisis.

“This is time that the army, the CIOs and others, stop being used by ZANU PF. This is an eye opener that ZANU does not have the power to finance you…this is a very dangerous situation …” Matapo told ZimEye.com.

Meanwhile sources said government was in a desperate move, attempting to raid cash generating institutions like the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA) for bonus cash but these institutions were equally cash-strapped.

In any case, said one source, ZINARA had already been supporting government in meeting its monthly salary obligations.
Government’s mounting bonus woes come against the backdrop of a potentially unprecedented food insecurity situation in the country next year due to a poor rainfall season.
This has equally seized President Robert Mugabe’s administration, which is holding its annual indaba in Victoria Falls.
The ruling ZANU-PF party has said the annual conference is about “improving the quality of lives of our people”.
While government has been lucky to get support from international agencies, through the World Food Programme, in mobilising resources for food support to starving communities, it has been unlucky in finding partners to bail it out on its fiscal obligations.
Despite the presence of external partners in supporting its humanitarian causes, government will still be required to show its commitment to its people by availing budgetary support to humanitarian efforts.
Sources indicated that there were ominous signs government’s capacity to fund the bonuses had reached breaking point after failure to pay the bonuses to its priority servants, the armed forces, by November as earlier planned.
Other civil servants were expected to get their bonus payments this month.
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who was not answering calls to his mobile phone, was said to be scrambling “for a resolution of the crisis,” according to one source familiar with developments.
One source indicated that although payslips for soldiers had this month reflected the bonus payments, these were not funded and therefore unavailable in their bank accounts.
The current budget had already been buffeted by carryover obligations from last year, which Chinamasa failed to fund last year due to tightening fiscal pressure.
The carryover expenditures accommodating in this year’s budget related to 2014 bonus payments and other employment related obligations amounting to US$165 million.
Chinamasa said during his budget presentation last month that these “could not be fully met during the 2014 financial year, on account of cash flow constrains”.
Bonus payments for last year trickled into March 2015, with some civil servants having been paid only after threatening to embark on industrial action.
“There is a greater likelihood we are going to fund bonuses from next year’s budget,” one source said, warning, however, that next year’s budget faced “unprecedented pressures building over the past three years”.
Chinamasa has already warned that the 2016 national budget will be under intense pressure “primarily stemming from global developments related to commodity prices and demand, adverse weather conditions, fiscal challenges, as well as institutional weaknesses” (Daily News/Additional Reporting)

A 44-year old woman from Nkayi allegedly seduced her 17-year-old herdboy, bedded him twice and offered him money and a beast to conceal the matter, a court heard yesterday.
Bahle Msipa reportedly made sexual advances to the teenager after he was hired as a herdboy and was in the habit of urinating naked or undressing in his presence.
Msipa, who is facing two counts of aggravated indecent assault, pleaded not guilty when she appeared before regional magistrate Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze.
She claimed she was in love with the herdboy.
“I was in love with him and I got arrested as I was trying to recover some money that he stole from me. He proposed love and I told him I was too old for him. He persisted saying he had experience as he had bedded several older women,” said Msipa.
“I gave in and we started seeing each other. We eventually slept together one day when I was nursing him in my bedroom.” Msipa claimed the boy stole her money and ran away from her homestead in Dandadema village.
“I caught up with him at the police station where he had made a false report that I forced him to have intercourse. A policeman interviewed me and advised me to plead guilty to the charges so that I could be freed,” she said in her defence outline.
“I was ready to forgive him and move on but had to plead guilty to the charges not knowing that I was implicating myself. I then found myself in custody because of that. I was in love with the boy and that’s all I can say”.
The boy testified in camera and told the court that Msipa started seducing him when he fell sick.
“She asked me to sleep in her room so she could monitor my condition. She started touching my privates and I drew back but she continued touching me,” said the boy.
“I ended up giving in to her advances and from that day onwards, she started calling me sweetie. She would follow me during the day and relieve herself in front of me. She continued caressing my privates without my consent.”
Magistrate Msipa-Marondedze remanded Msipa in custody to today.
Prosecuting, Concilia Ncube said sometime in October at around 9PM, Msipa invited the boy to watch a soccer match in her bedroom.
“While they were watching the game Msipa, who was dressed in a petticoat, then grabbed the boy’s shoulders and started fondling his manhood. She offered him $1 to undress and show her his manhood and the boy refused,” said Ncube.
“She then forcibly undressed the boy and they had sex once without his consent.”
Ncube said the boy continued sleeping in Msipa’s room.
“On October 26, Msipa approached the boy and started touching him all over the body. She then grabbed his manhood and had intercourse once without his consent.”-State Media

A Marondera farmer died this morning at Carolina Farm after an altercation with his 28-year-old female employee over salary arrears.
It is alleged that the farmer, Julio Jairos (45), found the former employee, Ruth Pakanongwa (28), who is still staying at the farm compound, arguing with farm manager and asked what she was still doing at the farm as she is no longer an employee.
The two are said to have exchanged harsh words before they went to the ex-employee’s house where the now deceased intended to throw her belongings out.
A witness said he then heard the farmer crying that he had been hit. It is believed that the deceased was hit by a rail bar on an unknown part of the body before he collapsed.
He was taken to Borodaile hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The woman was arrested and is currently in police custody while the body has been taken to Marondera hospital mortuary for post mortem.
Mashonaland East Police Spokesperson, Inspector Nobert Muzondo confirmed the incident, saying an altercation ensued as a result of outstanding salary to the accused.
He appealed to members of the public to solve their differences amicably. – State Media

 
London – A church pastor was last week caught in the act with a congregant’s wife.
British police had to be called in to calm angers as the man was nabbed while pants down with the married woman.

Zimbabwe’s embattled national airline has said that it wasn’t raw effluent that was photographed running down the aisle of one of its planes at the weekend.

It was “clean” water from a hand basin that had overflowed, Air Zimbabwe insists.

A family from Sikabela area in Hwange District has fled its homestead after lightning struck three times reducing a hut to rubble and destroying property. Acting Chief Mvuthu confirmed receiving a report of the incident. Neighbours told The State Media they suspected evil spirits were haunting the family following weird occurrences that included another lightning strike in 2011.
The bizarre incident occurred on Wednesday last week in Lusaba Village under Chief Mvuthu. Sibusisiwe Ngwenya, 23, and her two-week-old baby narrowly escaped death as they were in the hut when the lightning struck the bed they were sleeping on.
Her mother-in-law Simangaliso Dube, 46, was rushed to hospital and treated for shock. Dube, who is diabetic and has hypertension, was admitted for three days at Victoria Falls District Hospital.
A State Media news crew visited the deserted homestead where it found the rubble of what used to be a hut. “What happened here is so sad. The baby only escaped with one napkin while the family lost everything. We suspect there could be some evil spirits because this is not the first time this has happened,” said a neighbour who asked not to be named. Whoever heard of lightning striking the same place twice, let alone thrice within minutes?” asked the neighbour.
The news crew tracked Dube, her son Honest and daughter-in-law Ngwenya to Chinotimba suburb.
Ngwenya said: “I was lying on the bed with my daughter when I heard a loud bang. As I looked up, there was a something that looked like a star on the roof. I screamed, grabbed my daughter and fled to the kitchen where my mother in-law was”.
Dube said the lightning struck around 5PM. Even the heavy rains that pounded for about two hours, she said, could not put out the inferno as the hut was destroyed. “I was cooking in the kitchen hut when my daughter in-law suddenly screamed. We realised the bedroom hut had been struck by lightning,” said Dube.
She said she tried to go out but lightning struck again twice before the room collapsed destroying all property inside. The bolt reportedly struck the roof of the hut before striking for the second time, getting through the window and setting a bed alight.
Dube and the rest of the family have since sought refuge at her brother-in-law’s house in Chinotimba suburb. She said they lost all food stocks, maize seed, household furniture, blankets, utensils, solar panels, building material, $300 and the only clothes they remained with were the ones they were wearing.
As if that was not enough, Dube said, suspected thieves broke into her brother’s house on the day she was discharged from hospital and stole close to $200 which was in a handbag. State Media

President Robert Mugabe’s nephew and Indigenisation Minister Patrick Zhuwao, has begun banishing Chinese and Indian retail businesses.
The sector according to the “ever shifting” black empowerment laws, is reserved for locals.
It is however occupied by Indian, Chinese and Nigerian nationals who are into car spares and food stuff selling.
Zhuwao said starting next year  government will be evicting foreigners who are  in the  retail sector.
“Starting next year in January we will be enforcing and following the indigenisation laws, where I will be pronouncing that there are reserved sectors which are for Zimbabweans.
“The truth at the moment is that these reserved sectors have been infiltrated by foreigners and the problem with these foreigners is that they are taking all the money and profits to their countries “, he said.
This is not the first time government has threatened to displace foreigners who are in the retail sector.
Five years ago some pro-Zanu PF youths groups which include Upfumi Kuvadiki wrecked havoc in Harare when they tried to evict Nigerians from these sectors.
The organisation staged several demonstrations against the awarding of a street parking contract to a South African company Easi-Park by the Harare city council.
Zhuwao said companies which refuse to indigenise will be forced to pay an indigenisation levy which will also be introduced early next year.
“We are saying because of that when we enforce the empowerment levy we shall put some rebates but those who would benefit from these rebates will to the extent of that company,” said Zhuwao.

A Mutoko woman allegedly shielded her two boyfriends who raped her 10-year-old daughter on three different occasions and concealed the offences while treating the wounds on the girl’s private parts with salt and water.
The woman (31) committed the offence when she was staying in Chitungwiza sometime in 2011. She would give her daughter some unknown tablets and would treat her with salty hot water each time she was sexually abused. The woman also allegedly promised to report the offences to the police, but did not.
She allegedly forced her daughter not to go to school for two weeks until she got healed and instructed her not to reveal the abuse.
The matter came to light after the minor relocated to Chegutu where she narrated her ordeal to her aunt leading to her mother’s arrest. The court heard that during their stay in Chitungwiza, the girl’s mother went away leaving her alone at home.
It is alleged that her first boyfriend came and sexually abused her. After the offence, the man went away and when the minor’s mother came, she told her of the abuse.
Allegations are that the woman would assure her daughter that she was going to report the offence, but to no avail.
Further allegations are that after sustaining injuries on her privates, the girl’s mother would soak her private parts in salty water. As a result, the minor would not to go school for two weeks since she had problems in walking.
On the second occasion, the man allegedly raped the girl when her mother had gone to the bar. During the same year, they relocated to another place in the same area and her mother started having an affair with another man.
The man came when the minor’s mother was not at home with ice cream which he gave to the girl and raped her.
As usual, the girl would inform her mother, but she would treat her and promise to report the offences. Appearing before Chitungwiza magistrate Ms Jessy Kufa, the woman denied obstructing or defeating the course of justice. She was remanded out of custody to December 15.

Five Seke brothers allegedly teamed up to murder their uncle by setting him ablaze and attacking him with a knobkerrie, as they accused him of possessing goblins, the court heard.
One of the brothers, David Mahungo (28) of Chamunorwa Village, Chief Seke has since appeared in court charged with murder.
Mahungo who has pending charges of malicious damage to property on CRB 92/11/15 was not asked to plead to the charges.
He appeared before Chitungwiza magistrate Mr Lazarus Murendo who remanded him in custody to December 21. He was advised to seek bail at the High Court.
According to the indictment papers, Mahungo allegedly convened a meeting with his four brothers on Sunday to discuss issues to do with witchcraft in their family.
The court heard that they identified their now deceased uncle Musekiwa as being the source of their troubles. They allegedly teamed up and went to Musekiwa’s house in the same area.
On arrival, they started accusing him of possessing goblins that have been wreaking havoc in their lives. The court heard that Mahungo and his brothers took turns to beat up Musekiwa claiming that he was a wizard.
Further allegations are that the brothers manhandled the now deceased and set him ablaze. They also allegedly attacked him with a knobkerrie and further assaulted him with switches and blows.
Allegations are that Musekiwa died on the spot as a result of the injuries. The matter was reported to the police leading to Mahungo’s arrest.
Mr Tatenda Mukatera prosecuted.-State Media

A woman from Mucheke A in Masvingo who allegedly had small boys leaking her private parts before having sex with some of them has been further remanded in custody to February 10, 2016.
She was arrested on October 21 2015 after it emerged that five boys from the neighborhood who are aged between three-and-half years and 15 would visit her house where she would abuse them.
Gladys Gumbiti (35) appeared before Masvingo Regional Magistrate Judith Zuyu last week.
The State says on one of the days, the accused instructed one of the minors aged 15 to come into her bedroom, removed her clothes, lied on her bed and had sexual intercourse with the minor in full view of the other minors.
The alleged victims were tested for HIV and Aids at Masvingo General hospital following an order from the court and Magistrate Zuyu told the court that the medical results show that the kids were abused.
Hordes of people swarmed Chikato Police Station to see the accused woman when the story broke. Mirror

Veteran politician Dumiso Dabengwa shrugged off competition from fellow party presidential aspirants to retain his post as president of Zapu, ahead of the party’s congress to be held in the city from December 15 to 17.
This emerged from the party’s pre-congress provincial conferences that were held over the weekend across the globe. The conferences were meant to deliberate on suggestions on party policy and possible amendments to the party constitution, as well as make provincial nominees to the National Executive Council that will take over the reins at congress.
It had been anticipated to be tough for Dabengwa after three senior members, party secretary-general Ralph Mguni, party alternate secretary-general Strike Mnkandla and little known UK-based Thulani Nkala had indicated that they were going to challenge the liberation war hero for the top post.
South Africa, Matabeleland South, Bulawayo, Midlands and Europe are among the provinces that have finished the nomination process.
By late yesterday, there was still no confirmation from the Northern provinces where incidentally, no one had expressed intent to challenge Dabengwa. In Matabeleland South province, Mnkandla reportedly got a miserable three points with Dabengwa scoring over hundred votes.
In the Europe province, Mguni reportedly failed to get any nominations while Nkala also lost to Dabengwa with an unconfirmed margin. Party spokesperson Iphithule Maphosa confirmed Dabengwa’s endorsement during the provincial conferences.
“A provincial conference is an important process for each of our provinces that precede our people’s congress,” he told the Daily News. “This is when provinces deliberate and agree on the direction of the party policy and a deeper look is given to the party constitution.
“There can be no congress without provincial conferences.” Asked about Mnkandla’s challenge to Dabengwa, Maphosa said it was only an example of how democratic Zapu was unlike in Zanu PF where no one dares challenge President Robert Mugabe.
“We are not like Zanu PF where challenging Mugabe is criminal to such an extent that you get killed. In our party, anyone is free to go for any post. “It is encouraging and a healthy development to see Mnkandla standing up and availing himself for duty.
While election results and numbers are not important to us, we are happy that an internal democratic process was allowed to take place and everyone is happy with the result,” he said.

Hundreds of families in Zaka’s Masvingo province are surviving on wild fruits at a time President Robert Mugabe is blowing millions of dollars on foreign travels.
President Mugabe as of march this year had blown $15 million on foreign travel.
The trips included his last December retreat to the Far East for the festive season.
According to the state  media hunger in Masvingo has reached alarming levels with hundreds families are resorting to wild fruits as they cannot afford even a single meal a day.
The most affected are those who live in the Gumbo and Rudanda areas.
Most families say the little grain they harvested in the 2014/2015 farming season was finished by June.
Wild fruits mostly Mashuku and seasonal fruits such as mangoes have become their means of survival during the day as they save the little grain to ensure at least one hot meal a day.
But that too is fast running out and the villagers are now desperate.
Some of the villagers rely on selling the wild fruits on the highway to raise money to buy grain.
According to some of the villagers, some children have since stopped going to school due to hunger.
While hopes had been pinned on the newly planted crop, the long dry spell is threatening to wipe out any life.
Livestock in the area is also in a poor state due to water shortages.
 

Former Dynamos  Football Club great, Freddy Mukwesha, has died.

President Robert Mugabe would have been in a grave by now having been shot while in mid air by former Vice President Joice Mujuru in March this year.
The government witness testifying in a case in which jailed church leader Robert Martin Gumbura is accused of masterminding a foiled jailbreak yesterday alleged the Vice President was plotting to shoot down Mugabe’s plane on his return from Egypt.
State witness Claudius Mutizwa narrated to the court how Gumbura was working with former Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru and her followers to dethrone the Government and assassinate Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mutizwa said Gumbura was being used by Dr Mujuru and other former Government officials who wanted to form their own political party.
Mutizwa the “informant” told the court that Gumbura was to mobilise inmates while alleged coup plotter and former army captain Albert Matapo was to mobilise manpower and weapons to start a civil war.
“The outside manpower was to advance towards Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison and assist the prisoners to escape. The signal was going to come from the burning blankets,” he said.
“If they had managed to escape, they were going to get hold of Government officials while President Mugabe was in China. They wanted to get military weapons from the army and police bases and their main target was Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa who was the acting President then. They did not even want President Mugabe to land in the country,” Mutizwa said.
He added that the coup plotters were going to be joined by Dr Mujuru and other political heavyweights who followed her. He said Gumbura would then be heavily rewarded.
“While they were planning, they said that for their plans to succeed, there should be bloodbath,” he said.
Mutizwa also said that deputy officer-in-charge of Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison Superintendent Jealous Dumbura, who was working with them, was promised “heaven on earth” after the mission.
He said that Dumbura was always complaining to Gumbura that he had not received anything from ZPCS despite serving in the force for 20 years.
“He told Gumbura that he was not being promoted to a more senior rank. Gumbura then promised him heaven on earth if he was to work with them,” the court heard.
Gumbura’s lawyer, Mr Tapson Dzvetero, read part of Mutizwa’s police statement in which he exonerated Gumbura from any wrongdoing saying that he did not participate in the foiled jailbreak. However, Mutizwa denied saying that to the police adding that it could be a typing error.
Mutizwa left the gallery in stitches when he was asked by Mr Dzvetero if he had any proof to substantiate his allegations against Gumbura.
“Yes, I have tangible proof that the accused person is sitting in dock, which means he has a case to answer and the other evidence is that I am testifying against him,” he said.
Magistrate Mr Francis Mapfumo rolled over the matter to today for continuation of trial. Mr Michael Reza prosecuted.
Gumbura is jointly charged with Blessing Chauke (25), Lucky Mhungu (38), Taurai Dodzo (47), Thomas Chacha (37), Thulani Chizema (32), Jacob Sibanda (28), Elijah Vhumbunu (38) and notorious armed robber Lucky Matambanadzo (39). The nine are accused of masterminding a foiled jailbreak.

Government has started relocating residents who had built illegal structures near the Harare International Airport to Stoneridge Park in Harare South. This followed concerns by President Mugabe during the official opening of the first phase of Harare International Airport Road last month that the illegal residential settlement tarnished the image of the country as many visitors passed through the place.
The squatters are staying at an open space reserved for the airport’s expansion at corner Harare Drive and Joshua Nkomo Express Way formerly Airport Road.
In an interview with The Herald, Harare South legislator, Shadreck Mashayamombe said the relocation of illegal residents started last week and the last batch would receive their stands today.
“We have not yet started demolishing the illegal structures. We are relocating the illegal residents and we started last week,” Mashayamombe said.
“Local Government is providing the stands and the last batch is expected to be given land tomorrow (today).”
He also said that they had agreed with the residents and all stakeholders on the period the residents had to relocate before Harare City Council demolishes their houses.
“We have held three meetings with the residents on the reason why they should move and many have already started relocating.
“We also talked to the mayor and the council will remove residents who fail to meet the date we agreed on,” said Mashayamombe.
Mashayamombe said Government issued out 2 000 stands at Retreat Farm in Harare South in 2013 for these illegal residents but they failed to vacate the place leaving them with no option but to forcefully move them.
The settlement is administered by a housing cooperative called Nyikavanhu and is largely composed of makeshift house

THREE men armed with knives stormed a house in Bulawayo’s Famona suburb where they threatened to kill the occupants before looting property worth more than $17,000 and escaping in the victims’ car. The suspects, who are still at large, are said to have left their victims tied up with USB cables. Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Garikai Chipfunde said police are hunting the suspects following the robbery on Thursday last week.
“Police are investigating an unlawful entry case where three suspects broke into a house, stole property and loaded it into their victims’ car before driving away in it,” said Asst Insp Chipfunde. Sources said the trio entered the Famona residence owned by Eugene Fransch and his wife at about 11PM after the couple had retired to bed.
“The robbers, who were armed with knives, threatened to stab the couple if they didn’t follow their orders. They demanded cash and were given $600,” said a source. The source said the robbers were enraged with what they called a pittance.
“They looted household property and loaded it into the family’s car. They used USB cables to tie up the couple before driving away,” added the source. “They stole a Nissan Tiida which they used as their getaway car. They stole property worth about $17,700. They took away $600 in cash, two cellphones, an Apple laptop, PA system among other things,” said the source.
He said police discovered the vehicle abandoned along Masiyephambili Drive the following morning. A Chronicle news crew yesterday visited the house where the robbery occurred but a gardener said there was no one at home.
Meanwhile, Asst Insp Chipfunde appealed to Bulawayo residents to increase security in their homes especially during the festive season. He urged members of the public who may have information on the whereabouts of the suspects to contact the police.
Yesterday, The Chronicle published a story detailing how a five-man gang armed with axes and knives is causing terror in Mpopoma suburb, breaking into three houses in two nights. The gang members, according to residents, paint their faces a “scary black”.

Five people died on the spot while nine others were seriously injured on Sunday morning when a Nissan Vannette truck they were travelling in burst its rear tyre and veered off the road near Green Diamond Hotel in Gokwe, Midlands province.
National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi confirmed the accident last night.
“The Zimbabwe Republic Police would like to confirm the death of five people in a fatal road traffic accident which occurred at the 130km peg along Kwekwe-Gokwe Road near Green Diamond Hotel, Gokwe, on December 6, 2015, at around 1145 hours,” Nyathi said.
Accident of kombi crushed
“Circumstances are that, Farai Maseko (21) was driving a Nissan Vannette towards Gokwe with 13 passengers on board. On approaching the 130km peg, the vehicle burst its left rear tyre. The driver lost control of the vehicle and it veered off the road to the right and overturned before landing on its wheels.”
He said the injured were taken to Gokwe District Hospital for treatment.
“The bodies of the deceased were also taken to Gokwe District Hospital for post-mortem,” Nyathi said.
He said the names of the deceased would be released in due course once their next of kin had been advised.-NEwsday

ZIFA PRESIDENCY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Dr Philip Chiyangwa

I have triumphed in a national election that was more vicious, gruelling, bitter, most personalized, in the shortest electioneering period and above all employing the full arsenal of traditional media and multi-media stratagems in ways that has never been seen before in Africa. This election had more intrigue, subterfuge,and drama than the normal national General Elections- and I won.  I won conclusively and resoundingly without fear or favour because the football family desired a break from business as usual. What won the day was the greatness of the desire to see accountability, transparency and normal business principles reign over the smallness of our petty and contrived differences. The contest of ideas truly went to the wire, but I cherish the clean mandate to put into practice my well-crafted, inclusive, sustainable and well thought-out ideas on taking our football forward.

Indeginisation minister Patrick Zhuwao says finance and war veterans’ ministers Patrick Chinamasa and Christopher Mutsvangwa risk expulsion from the party for lobbying for Foreign Direct Investment which is opposed to the party’s 2013 election campaign manifesto.
Prior to the July 2013 elections Zanu PF promised to  create 2.2 million jobs through indigenisation.
But within a period of 24 months in office , hundreds of thousands of people had lost their jobs.
Zhuwao who is President Robert Mugabe’s nephew says he was employed to full the aging leader’s election company and warned “anyone” who tries to block the sabotage the indigenisation policy of expulsion from the party.
Chinamasa is engaging the World Bank , the International Monetary Fund and the west seeking for FDI, while his collegue Mutsvangawa is advocating for strengthening the country’s look east policy for investment.
“I was given this job by President Robert Mugabe and the job is in line with his 2013 election campaign manifesto of creating jobs through indigenisation and economic empowerment”,he said.
The deadlocked minister said he was aware of ministers who were opposed to the indiginisation policy .
.
“There are some of us who are saying that we should set aside indigenisation and go for foreign direct investment”.
“To those who are saying that and moving around looking for foreign direct investment wherever you go, please leave my indigenisation field”.

 
Harare province (ZANU PF) is demanding Grace Mugabe presidency.
It appears as if it does not rain but pour for Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF camp, as well as the VP’s mooted ambitions to succeed President Robert Mugabe.
Harare became the latest province yesterday to formally agitate for a return of a women’s quota system in the warring ruling party, setting the stage for a stormy meeting when the former liberation movement meets for its annual conference this week.
Bulawayo, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central have already called for the re-incorporation of the women’s quota system in the party’s constitution — which was successfully used to hinder Mnangagwa’s rise to power in 2004.
If the proposal sails through at the party’s conference that is being held in Victoria Falls, it would most likely see Mnangagwa once again paving the way for a woman vice president as he did a decade ago — as the other VP, Phelekezela Mphoko, looks safe as he is the face of the Unity Accord signed between Zapu and Zanu PF in 1987.
The embattled Mnangagwa is said to be currently embroiled in a bitter fight with the ruling party’s ambitious Young Turks, the Generation 40 (G40), in the bitter fight to succeed Mugabe — raising growing fears among his supporters that he may go down in the same manner that former Vice President Joice Mujuru was deposed from power late last year.
To that extent, insiders say this week could prove to be one of the most important and significant periods in the long political life of Mnangagwa as the war to succeed Mugabe gets hotter and nastier by the day.
“We have resolved that as the women’s league, we would want to be well represented at all levels of the party in line with the national constitution,” a Harare provincial executive member told the Daily News yesterday.
Mphoko unexpectedly attended Harare province’s meeting yesterday and is said to have urged it to push for strict discipline in the party “to get rid of rotten apples” that were not supportive of Mugabe.
“Those who are insulting the first lady are insulting the president. When you say she is leading a faction, then you are saying the president is also leading a faction.
“Can you say because I support Mai Mugabe so I am a member of G40 even when I am 40 years? These are the things you must address in your resolutions chairman. Deal with these crimes, the treason that is being committed under the cover of darkness,” Mphoko said.
The decision by the party’s Harare province sets the stage for an explosive conference, amid revelations of plots and counterplots by the two antagonistic camps to outdo each other at the increasingly-important annual gathering.

Psychomotor minister, Josaya Hungwe has warned that Mugabe is in grave danger of being poisoned by his ambitious underlings who are impatient to succeed him as the mindless bloodletting in the warring post-congress Zanu PF gets nastier and more confused by the day.
Giving the vote of thanks at First Lady Grace Mugabe’s rally in Gutu last Friday, Hungwe suggested that the ruling party’s seemingly-unstoppable factional and succession wars were now so bad that they could even claim the life of Mugabe.
Giving his spine-chilling vote of thanks, Hungwe — said to be a close Mnangagwa ally — urged Grace to be more vigilant about taking care of her increasingly-frail nonagenarian husband saying there were some bigwigs in the ruling party who hated him so much that they could even poison him.
In that light, he added, Grace needed to make sure that she consistently and thoroughly vetted the people around Mugabe, as well as the source of the food he ate.
“There are those who do not like him (Mugabe). They are many and some will be born tonight. We do not care about them.
“Chatinongokumbira chete amai ndechekuti musarega vachingodya pese pese (All we ask from you mother is that you remain vigilant and mind the food that Mugabe eats for he could be poisoned),” Hungwe warned.
However, he also promised Grace that Mugabe would be protected by his many supporters.
“The people who are here are his supporters. If one Mugabe enemy is born today, his supporters multiply. If one is born tonight, five supporters of his will also be born the same night,” Hungwe opined.
A Zanu PF insider who spoke to the Daily News yesterday said while Hungwe was “a little guilty of overzealous bootlicking”, the ruling party’s unending wars suggested that there was “an unhealthy stampede to succeed Gushungo (Mugabe)”.
“Unfortunately, many of those who are either fighting for the party’s top position or sponsoring their favourite candidates appear as if they are becoming increasingly impatient with the president remaining in office. This can only be destructive to the party and the country.
“It is also for the same reason that some comrades feel that what happened during the official opening of Parliament in August, when the president ended up reading the same speech as the one he presented during his State-of-the-Nation Address, was not a genuine error by officials but a calculated plot by one of the warring factions to expose him (Mugabe) as no longer fit to rule,” the senior Zanu PF official said.
Commenting further on the succession puzzle, the party bigwig said the Constitution of Zimbabwe said if a vacancy arose in the presidency by death, resignation or incapacitation of the incumbent, the political party that was represented by the departing president would have the power to select a replacement within a period of 90 days.
In the interim, the person who was the last acting president would be in charge of the country.
“Recently, the ruling party, in order to comply with the national Constitution resolved that if a vacancy occurs in the office of national president requiring the party to nominate a successor, Zanu PF can hold a congress at the insistence of the secretary for administration,” he said.

ZANU PF national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere and War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa bashed each other up verbally at the weekend.
ZANU PF infighting degenerated to frightening levels yesterday, with Saviour Kasukuwere and Christopher Mutsvangwa engaging in a bare knuckle verbal fight ahead of the party’s national conference starting in Victoria Falls today.
Kasukuwere demanded Mutsvangwa to account for money that allegedly went missing from the State broadcaster Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) during his tenure as director-general.
He was quoted by the local Newsday daily. Kasukuwere had apparently been angered by Mutsvangwa’s decision to back Bulawayo war veterans’ call for the national commissar’s post to be reserved for freedom fighters.
“He [Mutsvangwa] can go to hell. Why is he harassing us? He has no title deeds for the war he always talks of. He must account for the money he stole at ZBC,” he said during his address at a meetingwhere Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko was guest of honour.
“We will respect him if he stops attacking us. We are not his children. We have worked well with other war veterans before like the late Chenjerai Hunzvi and others. Why should he continue attacking us when we know he is pushing for a succession agenda? I don’t think the war veterans will accept the nonsense he is doing. Let us work together for the good of this country.”
Contacted for comment, Mutsvangwa said the ZBC issue was dealt with by a competent court of law, challenging Kasukuwere to stop abusing the “institution of marriage” by dragging the First Family whenever he is cornered.
“We will always respect the institution of marriage and he is confused and conflating the institution of marriage and that of the State,” he shot back.
“Clarity of mind is an issue with him. For a country where everybody went to school after independence, he was late to go to school unfortunately. In that dragnet of education made possible by President [Robert] Mugabe and war veterans, he gets left out.”
Mutsvangwa said Kasukuwere had failed as a commissar, adding that since the latter assumed the commissar’s post, Zanu PF had experienced a yawning ideology gap.
“There is a crying poverty of institutional memory in the commissariat department,” he said.
Meanwhile, Harare provincial commissar Shadreck Mashayamombe said the province had resolved to rename the Harare International Airport after Mugabe.
Mashayamombe said the party also resolved to have the quota system, a move that would see a woman being included in the presidium.
“We also resolved that everyone who is heard saying down with G40 be expelled from the party because it’s fanning factionalism.
We resolved that any party member who castigates the leadership on WhatsApp or social media be disciplined. We also resolved that Harare International Airport be named after Mugabe like in South Africa where they have the OR Tambo International Airport named after the late African National Congress leader Oliver Reginald Tambo,” he said.(Newsday/Additional Reporting)

A pastor with National Apostolic Church appeared in court last week charged with fondling his 16-year-old daughter’s breasts and private parts.
The pastor was charged with indecent assault when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Takundwa Mtetwa. He will be back in court on December 10 for trial. Allegations are that from August to November this year the pastor fondled the girl’s breasts and private parts whenever they were alone at home.
He would sometimes commit the offence while the girl’s siblings were asleep in their rooms.
The matter came to light when the girl was assaulted by the pastor after she declined to be abused.
It is alleged that this angered the girl who then revealed the matter to her stepmother, brother and other relatives.
The court heard that the pastor continued assaulting his daughter for exposing him. The girl alerted an uncle and the case was reported to the police leading to the pastor’s arrest.-State Media

A 19-year-old Gweru man is said to have gone berserk last Thursday and stabbed his mother five times in the chest with a kitchen knife, killing her instantly. He also ran over and killed a pedestrian instantly in Norton as he fled to Harare.

The late socialite and patron of the Miss Zimbabwe Trust, Kiki Divaris, has been declared a liberation war heroine.
Mrs Divaris (90) died in the early hours of Saturday morning at the Trauma Centre where she had been hospitalised.
In a statement, the Zanu PF Secretary for Administration, Dr Ignatius Chombo said Mrs Divaris will get a state assisted funeral.
“His Excellency, the President and First Secretary of Zanu PF, Robert Mugabe, has conferred a state assisted funeral to the late Liberation Heroine, Kiki Divaris,” said Dr Chombo.
Speaking to the ZBC News yesterday, family spokesperson, Dimitri Divaris, said the family has suffered a great loss.
The modelling industry has been paying tribute to Kiki, as she was affectionately known, with Miss Zimbabwe Trust chairperson Mrs Marry Chiwenga describing her as a mother, mentor and conqueror who worked hard to make the dreams of young girls come true.
Former Miss Zimbabwe for 2004, Osley Muringai Matsikinyeri says Kiki was a formidable woman, a great mother, respected member of her community and a philanthropist of note.
Kiki, a former Miss Zimbabwe, was one of the most prominent figures of the Greek community in the country.
Mourners are gathered at Number 68 Churchill Avenue in Alexandra Park.
Burial arrangements will be announced in due course.

Zim Scientist and researcher Moses Murandu is in Zimbabwe for a series of seminars.
Murandu whose Medsugar has caused shockwaves across Europe, Russia and America, will be conducting free public seminar sessions at key universities including the University of Zimbabwe, Africa University and ZEGU. He will be sharing his knowledge with his countrymen at the ZEGU university, Bindura (10am, 7th December), University of Zimbabwe, Harare (1-2pm 9th Dec) and African University, Mutare (10am 11th Dec). Posters below: