Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo| The Province’s leading referral centre, Masvingo Provincial Hospital is facing a severe shortage of essential drugs, triggering a high mortality rate at the government run health centre.
The worst affected departments include casualty, chronic illness and children’s wards respectively. Asthmatic patients have not been receiving treatment for the past few months because the nebuliser machine developed a fault and had since not been maintained . Sources at the hospital told ZimEye.com yesterday there was a sharp increase in the mortality rate among infants and patients referred to the casualty section due to the critical shortage of essential medicine.
“The situation here is terrible because we are recording an uncharacteristically high mortality rate especially in the paeds(children’s) wards as a result of drug shortages. The casualty section is also hard hit by the dearth of medicine. We are also struggling to supply drugs for asthmatic patients. Workers here are frustrated by the fact that they are watching helplessly as patients succumb to treatable ailments,”said a senior staff member at the government hospital.
Provincial Medical Director for Masvingo Dr Amadeus Shamu confirmed there was a shortage of drugs at the province’s largest referral centre. “There is a critical shortage of drugs at Masvingo hospital and all our hospitals across the province. I will make further enquiries at the hospital,”said Dr Shamu. The state of government hospitals in the country has endangered the lives of patients.
Many people now opt to take their relatives to private hospitals despite the high admission costs.

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is considering a cabinet reshuffle which government and party insiders say is informed by the need to calm stormy relations within the party as well as read the riot act to warring factions that have taken their factional fights to the public sphere in an unprecedented fashion.
Mugabe, who is said to be under pressure from Zanu PF’s two major factions has to walk a fine line between balancing the interests of the opposing fronts and sending out a clear warning that their public spats which have been played out on social and mainstream media will no longer be tolerated.
The succession fight pits Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his loyalists against a group of young Turks known as Generation 40 (G40). The group, whose most vocal members are Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo, Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere and Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao, reportedly has the support of First Lady Grace Mugabe and Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko.
“His Excellency has to walk the tight rope to achieve and maintain a balance between the competing interests of the two factions with each seeking to have its opponents kicked out,” one government source said, adding that: “The Mnangagwa group wants a number of ministers kicked out but their major target is Jonathan Moyo. The G40 group, on the other hand, wants (War Veterans minister Christopher) Mutsvangwa to get the boot. There is already a G40-induced vote of no confidence on Mutsvangwa by the Mashonaland West executive, so the push is real.”
If Mugabe buckles to pressure, and reshuffles his cabinet or drops some ministers, it will be the third time since he controversially won elections in 2013. In 2014, he reshuffled his cabinet after axing former vice-president Joice Mujuru and her allies over untested allegations of plotting his ouster and assassination.
In his last reshuffle in September last year, Mugabe, under pressure from the Mnangagwa faction moved Moyo from the information ministry to the Higher Education ministry. The Mnangagwa camp felt Moyo was abusing the media to attack and denigrate the vice-president.
“There is also a push from the G40 side that Mugabe drops his spokesperson George Charamba, whom they feel is firmly in support Mnangagwa. That is the reason why Sarah Mahoka (Women’s League secretary for finance) openly asked the president to confirm whether Charamba was speaking on his behalf when he attacked senior government officials for allegedly fighting Mnangagwa,” said the official.
Charamba however denied Mugabe is contemplating a reshuffle, saying “there will be no cabinet reshuffle”. independent

A judge dismissed a bid by two contractors on Monday to stop their trial for criminal negligence over a building collapse at a Nigerian megachurch that killed 116 worshippers, most of them South Africans.

Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbola Fatiregun challenged their prosecution over the tragedy at pastor TB Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos in September 2014.
Judge Lateef Lawal-Akapo, dismissed the defendants’ appeal for the case to be dismissed, saying in the Lagos High Court it had “no merit”.
Both are due to appear with Joshua on February 18 to be charged, despite another legal challenge from the popular televangelist and preacher.
Joshua repeatedly refused to give evidence at an earlier coroner’s inquest, despite multiple court summonses.
He suggested the collapse was caused by a mysterious “hovering” aircraft seen over the building before the tragedy.
The coroner attributed the collapse to the unauthorised addition of extra floors to the guesthouse on the sprawling church compound. – AFP

Zanu PF’s Young Turks, who are known as the Generation 40 (G40) group, backed by Grace Mugabe, demonstrated beyond doubt yesterday that they currently have the upper hand in their brutal ruling party slugfest with the faction linked to embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
And very ominously for the Midlands godfather and his Zanu PF allies, Mugabe also all but endorsed demands by the party’s women’s league for a return of the quota system, that is set to see the nonagenarian appointing a woman as one of his two deputies this year.
Addressing Zanu PF supporters in Harare yesterday — the majority of whom were G40 and women’s league members — ahead of the brawling ruling party’s keenly-watched politburo meeting, Mugabe emphasised the importance of the women’s league to the former liberation movement, and how it had a deserved history of always getting what it wanted.
This followed concerns by the forthright women’s league secretary for finance, Sarah Mahoka, who bemoaned the fact that there were elements in the party who were accusing the league of plotting against Mnangagwa because they were demanding that one of their own be elevated to the presidium.
She also claimed that Mnangagwa’s allies in the Midlands province had allegedly harassed the league’s members and blocked buses that had been hired to ferry the women to yesterday’s gathering in the capital, to thank Mugabe for his “achievements” during his tenure as African Union chairperson.
“Zvisinei nezvipingaidzo zvamunosangana nazvo apo neapo, maitiro amaita musangano uno maratidza varume kuti mada kuita chiro munobuda shudhu (With the way you have organised this meeting, you have demonstrated to men that when you want something you go for it as a united, determined force).
“We are sorry that some women who were coming for this meeting were beaten up and that is wrong. We do not tolerate that in the party.
“Even at the provincial level there are rules … and it is those people who must be sanctioned for their behaviour. So, commissar will have to know kuti ndekupi nekupi kwaitwa izvozvo (who has been responsible for the anarchy),” Mugabe said.
The nonagenarian spoke in the wake of the women’s league resolution at the party’s annual conference last December that one of Mugabe’s two deputies should be a woman, and that this must happen in 2016.
Speaking ahead of Mugabe, Mahoka — who was the runaway star of the pre-politburo show — lashed The Herald newspaper for “lying”, savaged Information permanent secretary George Charamba for his factional politics, and panned senior party officials who she said were disrespectful of the First Lady Grace Mugabe.
She also reiterated the league’s challenge to Mnangagwa earlier this week to publicly declare his interest in succeeding Mugabe, in the light of the campaign for him by his allies.
Mahoka added that Mnangagwa’s seeming reluctance to distance himself from the claims that he wanted Mugabe to step down ahead of the 2018 national elections gave the impression that those campaigning for him had his blessings.
“The VP is my brother and today we are asking you to reprimand people abusing your name. Do not behave like a duck that looks down while its children are being eaten. Stand up and say something like what VP Mphoko has done.
“I will say it publicly because I am not afraid to say so, although I know that I am now a target … tinoona vana vakapfeka ma T-shirts akanzi Team Lacoste (we see youths wearing T-shirts with the Team Lacoste label) and so if you want to be president tell us.
“We also want to know president if you are the one who sent George Charamba to attack Cabinet ministers that you appointed, because he said he was speaking on your behalf,” Mahoka said, as Mnangagwa watched stone-faced.
Responding to this, Mugabe said he expected the party’s leadership to act responsibly and respect women, whom he described as the cornerstone of the ruling party.
“Tisina women’s league chokwadi hatikunde kana election kana kuhwina, saka hamusi vanhu vekutsvinyirwa kwete (Without women we would not win a single election, so we must treat you with respect).
“Mai Mahoka vangobata bata apo neapo asi tazvinzwa zvavanga vachitaura. (Mahoka has just touched on many things and we all got the gist of what she was saying).
“We need to look at the reasons why the people are complaining against us. We must talk about it so we can see. If the foundation is not well laid imba inodhirika (the house will fall). It will be affected by ants.

Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo yesterday slammed belligerent Information permanent secretary George Charamba on ZiFM Stereo, after the commercial radio station that is owned by ICT minister Supa Mandiwanzira granted him a right of reply to Charamba’s invective of last week.
In the explosive interview, Moyo panned Charamba roundly, suggesting that his former aide was overstepping his mandate as President Robert Mugabe’s press secretary.
Yesterday’s interview came after ZiFM Stereo pulled out of an earlier interview that it had granted Moyo to discuss a government scholarship programme in which the State plans to pay full school and boarding fees for all students in public schools who register for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) subjects this year.
Stem is being promoted as a key part of Zimbabwe’s long-term human capital development project.
The irate Moyo suggested then that political machinations had been behind the station’s last-minute decision to decline to host him after it aired Charamba’s controversial interview last week, in which the presidential spokesperson denigrated Moyo and other perceived opponents of embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
ZiFM Stereo strongly denied that it had “blacked out” Moyo, leading to the station interviewing him yesterday.
Moyo refuted Charamba’s claims that he had used his interview with the station last week to communicate Mugabe’s deep-seated concerns about Zanu PF factionalism.
“There is a certain decorum associated with the office of the president. He (Charamba) was angry, as if someone had snatched his girlfriend or owed him money,” the sharp-tongued Moyo said, criticising Charamba’s tone in his interview.
The clash between Moyo and Charamba comes as the ruling Zanu PF’s factional and succession wars are getting nastier and more confused by the day, amid growing frustration by the party’s Young Turks known as the Generation 40 group — who are opposed to Mnangagwa — that they are being blacked out by State media and other mass media outlets linked to senior party officials.-DailyNews

Following the idea that Zanu PF has been asking for donations in a bid to raise cash for the President’s birthday party, the MDC-T has a different idea. Organising secretary, Abednico Bhebhe, has urged President Robert Mugabe to turn his 92nd birthday celebrations into a charity event, visit hospitals and the needy, as his leadership has left the majority of the population impoverished.
Bhebhe made the remarks yesterday as preparations for Mugabe’s birthday bash, slated for Masvingo province this month, gather momentum, with ruling party youths targeting to raise $800 000 for the party.
“The $800 000 should be spent on worthy causes like replacing dilapidated equipment for hospitals or just buy food for starving people,” said the Nkayi South legislator.
“There is no reason to spend all this money celebrating a birthday for someone who, with all due respect, should no longer be President because he is too old for the job.
“Instead of blowing money, which is needed elsewhere, Mugabe should spend the day visiting hospitals and other needy areas of our country. Thereafter, he should use the day to announce his resignation.”
Bhebhe queried what Mugabe was celebrating, as the country’s fortunes had deteriorated with him at the helm.
“What exactly is Mugabe celebrating when the roads in cities are now littered with potholes, when millions of people go for days without proper meals, when the economy is on a free fall, when thousands are losing jobs?
“Even the most powerful man in the world, United States President Barack Obama, celebrates his birthday, but surely it will not be turned into a national event, as is the case in Zimbabwe, a poor nation,” he said.
This came as Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president, Takavafira Zhou, claimed that an estimated 15 000 teachers in Masvingo had been ordered to make financial contributions towards the celebrations.
“We have been inundated with calls and reports from teachers from all over the province saying they are being intimidated and forced to pay $5 to $7 depending with the districts. Those who refuse are facing threats of violence come election time,” Zhou said.
But, Zanu PF provincial chairperson Ezra Chadzamira denied the allegations.
“No, no, no, that is not true. We do not seek donations from poor people,” he said.
However, one teacher from Bikita claimed they had been approached and succumbed to the request out of fear.
“We had no option but to pay. They threatened to mobilise demonstrations to evict us from the school,” the teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said.
Zhou said it was extortion to force the teachers, who were yet to get last year’s bonus, to fund a private party function. “It should not be mandatory to donate towards the President’s party,” he said.
Zhou said his union will soon petition Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora over the issue. – state media

In a bid to stop the online squabbles, insults and accusations among it’s members, Zanu-PF has given its members a warning that they should desist from using social media to communicate party issues saying anyone who defies this directive will be dealt with in line with the party’s rules.
The members have also been ordered to only use conventional media on party business with authorisation.
This comes in the wake of hyper-tweeting by Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo, attacking fellow Cabinet ministers and Politburo members as well as issuing veiled threats on journalists on social media.
This came out of the party’s first Politburo meeting for 2016 held in Harare yesterday.
Speaking to journalists after over 10 hours of intense and frank discussions at the party headquarters, Zanu-PF secretary for Information and Publicity Mr Simon Khaya Moyo said the party also reiterated that it had one centre of power in President Mugabe who is the only elected leader at congress.
“Expressing oneself through the Press, including the use of social media must stop with immediate effect,” said Moyo.
“Leadership calls for responsibility and not for rumour-mongering and insults. The party has structures and procedures to be religiously adhered to. The party is not run through the Press, so we are not allowing any member of the party at whatever level to run the party through the Press. We must maintain and safeguard our party principles and we must never lose focus so said the President.
“We must always exercise introspection and check within yourself whether what you are saying is based on any facts. In life, there is always room for compromise should you have any differences.

Grace Mugabe has urged Zanu PF leaders to spend their energy on meeting the promises the party made in the July 2013 elections and less on pointless quarrels.
The First Lady, speaking to over 10,000 supporters who met outside the Zanu-PF headquarters to congratulate President Mugabe on his successful stewardship of the African Union during 2015, said the Politburo – which was meeting last night – should be focusing on issues of improving livelihoods instead of being pre-occupied with disciplinary issues.
“I always say as Zanu-PF, we got an upper hand now and the people know that it’s the party representing them and working to fulfil their needs,” she said.
“So what’s all this fighting for? Why are you doing that? You stop it, all of you! We don’t want that. Don’t appear as if you want to create friction between the President and those he chose to work with. If you see us quiet, don’t think we’re foolish, we’re watching you.
“It appears some of you went to school to learn about obscenities only. Just abusing others, to show that you’ve a better vocabulary than the next person. You think as women we’re not able to shout at each other? We’re capable, but we know it doesn’t bring food to the table. If you’re educated, your talk and behaviour should reflect that. Respect those who respect you.”
Higher Education Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo and War Veterans Minister Chris Mutsvangwa have been trading harsh words in the media, the dispute centred on what the former says is an attempt by the latter to rush President Mugabe out of power and ease in Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mutsvangwa, meanwhile, accuses the former university lecturer of being a divisive and destructive force in Zanu-PF.
“Right now, the rains have not been coming and that’s what we should focus on. If there’s peace, the leadership will be able to work without any hindrance and you think with all these petty fights it is possible?” sked Mrs Mugabe.

“Vice Presidents Mnangagwa and Mphoko are forced to take their attentions from looking for grain to feed the people to deal with petty fights. You want the Politburo to always sit and talk about petty issues?
“We need progressive things, not to have disciplinary issues year in and year out. We want to talk about serious issues and I think those doing that should be told to shut their mouths because they’re distracting Zimbabwe. We’ve work before us, as we made promises to the people during the 2013 harmonised elections and that’s what we should deliver.”
She said most infighting was being done by male figures in the party and as the mother of the party, she would not hesitate to reprimand them.
The Women’s League said the show of support yesterday was also designed to send a solidarity message to the First Family after four men tried to bomb their private business, Gushungo Dairy, in Mazowe. One of the men has been jailed for nine years after police foiled the January 29 plot.
The First Lady said the individuals behind the plot had demonstrated that they were also prepared to bring harm to the First Family, beyond bombing their private business.
“It means you even want to kill my children. We can’t have a Zimbabwe like that,” she said.
She said in the face of the illegal sanctions imposed by the West, Zimbabweans should have a unity of purpose and work for the development of the country.
She also urged journalists to report responsibly, saying negative reports would never take Zimbabwe anywhere.
“This is our country and all these negative stories are heard all over and if instability is to come, it doesn’t affect me alone but you’ll be also included. You might write your paper but it will not be bought because the purchasing power would have diminished.
“Let’s be patriotic despite our political affiliations. Let’s write stories which don’t drive away investor.” – state media

A woman from Mvuma has appeared before a magistrate and given 280 hours of community service after being convicted of having sexual intercourse with a minor.
But the sentence has raised mixed feelings in the community with some saying she should have been given a stronger punishment.
19 year- old Beauty Madzinga is also HIV positive.
Beauty was also jointly charged with her colleague Patience Majoni, also 19,  for allegedly performing an indecent act with a young person.
The two women from Mashayavhudzi suburb in Mvuma called two boys who were passing by their home and told them they were looking for someone to have sex with.
They allegedly ordered the two boys to unzip their trousers and display their manhood before selecting one boy and took him into a room. Once inside it is alleged Beauty Madzinga had sex with the boy.
The other boy witnessed the act as he was peeping through the window and reported it to his grandmother who in turn alerted the complainant’s grandmother.
Meanwhile, the sentence imposed by Mvuma magistrate Ms Vimbai Makora has sparked anger among the community who feel the two offenders should have been given a jail term.
Experts, however, say the lenient verdict is not unreasonable given the circumstances in which the crime was committed.
Beauty had sexual intercourse with a young person with his consent although the law says someone aged 15 is incapable of consenting.

A MARRIED man from Bulawayo has appeared in court for allegedly raping a prostitute he had hired for a one night stand in Magwegwe suburb.
Mthokozisi Nkomo, 28, of Old Pumula, told Provincial Magistrate Abednico Ndebele that he never raped the alleged prostitute (name withheld) of Magwegwe North suburb.
He was not asked to plead and remanded in custody to yesterday for bail hearing.
Nkomo said the woman was only trying to fix him for failing to pay for the rendered sex services after they slept together on Saturday.
“I never raped her. She is trying to fix me for failing to pay $5 for the night I spent having sex with her. I met her at a bar where I had been drinking. She suggested we go to her place after I told her that we could not go to mine because my wife was around,” said Nkomo.
“When I woke up in the morning, I went through my wallet and realised that it was empty. I don’t know what happened to the money which was inside the wallet since I cannot remember what transpired due to my drunken state. “And because of that I failed to pay her.”
Prosecuting, Mufaro Mageza told the court that on February 6 at around 10PM, the woman met Nkomo in Old Pumula near a clinic while she was on her way home in Magwegwe North.
“The accused person asked the complainant were she was going and she told him. He also said he was heading in the same direction and the two proceeded to walk together.
“After walking for a short distance, the accused pulled the complainant’s hair and ordered her to remove her underwear and to bend holding the clinic fence,” said Mageza.
“The accused person dropped his pants to knee level and had sexual intercourse with the complainant once without using protection and without her consent.”
The prosecutor said the woman pursued Nkomo after he left following the alleged rape.
“The complainant secretly followed the accused person and was able to get his place of residence. She then proceeded to make a police report at a Pumula police station leading to the arrest of the accused,” said Mageza.
The prosecutor said Moyo was referred to the United Bulawayo Hospitals and a medical report can be produced in court as an exhibit.

Vice President Phelekezela Mpoko has snubbed a National Healing meeting which was organised by the civil society, because of the ongoing Politburo meeting.
Mphoko was supposed to address the meeting at 7pm at Monomotapa hotel but failed to pitch up.
The politburo meeting was said to be on by 8pm when ZimEye.com sought to confirm why Mpoko failed to attend.
Attendants at the civil society meeting struggled into the meeting as a result.

The future of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, War Veterans minister Chris Mutsvangwa and Presidential spokesperson George Charamba is hanging in the balance following the endorsement by President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday of the G-40 project, ZimEye.com reveals.
Mutsvangwa and Charamba who belong to Team Lacoste are campaigning for Vice President Mnangagwa to succeed President Robert Mugabe and had planned to block Higher and Tertiary Education minister Professor Jonathan Moyo who leads G-40 from attending the party’s heated Politburo meeting.
G-40 which comprises Moyo, Indigenisation minister Patrick Zhuwao and Local government minister Saviour Kasukuwere wants Grace Mugabe to be the next President.
But the G-40 on Wednesday successfully mobilised party youths and women from different provinces who humiliated Team Lacoste and managed to convince Mugabe.
The pro-Grace  faction got an endorsement from Mugabe when he was addressing the hired crowd.
Team Lacoste was first roasted by Hurungwe East legislator Sarah Mahoka ( G-40)  before President Mugabe endorsed the faction.
Mahoka in her speech lambasted Vice President Mnangagwa and Charamba who she accused of plotting to topple Mugabe.
“We must toe the party line .The party line is to be strong and united. We heard what Mahoka said. She talked about a lot of things mixing things but we heard her,” Mugabe nailed Mnangagwa.
The aging leader said team Lacoste was going to be investigated.
“Provincial Committees will deal with those that have stopped others from coming,” Mugabe said amid reports that Team Lacoste had blocked people from some provinces who were invited by the G-40 to come “congratulate” him for successfully completing his term as the AU chair.

Highfield East MP Erick Murai (MDC-T) and 11 of the 13 suspects arrested last November on charges of public violence, yesterday walked out of the Mbare Magistrates’ Court free after they were acquitted at the end of the State case.
But, presiding magistrate Shelly Zvenyika, however, ordered two of the suspects to be put to their defence on the basis that they were fingered by the first State witness in the commission of the offence.
Zvenyika said in light of the acquitted suspects, the State had failed to prove a case against them beyond reasonable doubt.
The court remanded the pair to Friday next week when they are expected to be put to their defence.
In her judgment, Zvenyika also said the State should have proved that each and every suspect had participated in the commission of the crime.
She further noted that the State did not bring anyone to give evidence that the activists had damaged their house on the day in question. Allegations against the 14 activists were that on November 8 last year, they attended an unsanctioned rally and pelted police officers with stones.
The court heard on November 2 last year, one Trouble Hasha, applied for permission at Mbare Police Station to hold a rally at Kazembe Rising Stars Primary School in Hopley, but the regulating authority did not approve of it. But, on the day in question, the activists proceeded to gather at the school with other MDC-T supporters, Murai included, dressed in their party regalia and upon being dispersed by the police, they turned violent, leading to their arrest.- state media

The Ordinary Level results for November 2015 are out and have since been dispatched to regional offices ready for collection.
Candidates who sat for this examination will be able to collect results from their respective schools or centres starting from tomorrow.
In a statement today, ZIMSEC Director Mr Esau Nhandara said there had been an increase in the pass rate for November 2015 compared to the previous year.

“The total number of candidates who sat for the November 2015 O Level examination was 310 917. School candidates wrote five or more subjects were 156 418 and 43 581 obtained Grade C or better in five or more subjects, producing a 27. 76 percent pass rate.
“There is an increase in the pass rate from 2014 to 2015 of 5. 48 percent.
“Private candidates who wrote five or more subjects were 23 235 and 2 791 obtained Grade C or better in five or more subjects, which also translates into a percentage pass rate of 12. 01,” he said.- State Media

Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo| Villagers in Bikita were shocked to the core when a local woman was caught stark naked performing rituals at a neighbour’s doorstep last week.
In a suspected case of witchcraft in Matonhodze village, Spiwe Chaitwa was caught naked at Cornelius Chikunda’s hut moving around while stark naked. The nude Chaitwa was spotted around 3am by one Godfrey Tabvaneyi a local villager who had woken up to go for prayers. Chaitwa was spotted attempting to place some concoctions at the doorstep of Chikunda’s hut. Chikunda’s wife said she was alerted by Tabvaneyi that there was a nude woman loitering in her yard and she woke up and informed other villagers. “The incident is very strange and we suspect the woman was performing rituals at our doorstep. We are still in a state of shock.
The woman spent more than two hours in our yard and we had to inform the police from Bikita who whisked her away,” said a shocked Chengeto. Masvingo Provincial Police spokesperson Inspector Charity Mazula said they were informed the woman was mentally challenged. However villagers in the area claimed Chaitwa got divorced because of witchcraft .
In Zimbabwe it is prohibited to accuse someone of being involved in witchcraft and Chaitwa’s case has left the local community bemused.

Well known Mnangagwa-rite and ZANU PF Secretary for Administration Ignatius Chombo has insisted that Wednesday’s politburo meeting is going to discuss Professor Jonathan Moyo’s use of social media website Twitter.
Chombo who last week first revealed his intention to raise the thorny matter, told the State Media the meeting will run according to schedule contrary to media speculations. He said that the abuse of social media by some party members was cause for concern and will be up for discussion at the Politburo meeting on Wednesday.
Chombo told the State Media “no amount of agenda setting” from the media will change how the Politburo operates.

A prominent Gwanda businessman died in a horrific road accident about 10km outside the town at about mid morning today.
The businessman whose name is being withheld until his next of kin have been notified, died following a head on collision with a vehicle believed to be owned by another Gwanda business-woman around Sindhi Ranch on the Bulawayo – Gwanda highway.
Details on the accident were still sketchy at the time of writing…
More to follow…

The family of the abducted Itai Dzamara says they are going to mobilize masses and stage  some street protests which would force  government to search and bring back Itai.
Addressing Journalists during a prayer meeting which they held to mark 11 months of Itai Dzamara’s disappearance in Harare  on Tuesday Patson Dzamara ,brother to Itai said they will continue fighting until government brings back their missing family member.
“These people who are busy defecating on our future have already expended their lives and it is now our future that they are messing up with. So it is our responsibility as young people and we encourage you to   join us especially on the 9^th of March,” he said.
“We want numbers as we march throughout the city and congregate for the launch the documentary which celebrates the life of Itai who above all we consider a hero,” he said.
Patson said: “We do not mind whatever happened and whether we are going to see him or not, he is an idea or he represents an idea whose time has come, so as a people we are going to augment that through our celebration of his life”.
He said they are still optimistic that one day they will reunite with their brother.
“As a family we consult and nothing has registered to that effect although on the surface everything points towards the fact that he is no more but we do believe that our God will do something and one day we are going to be reunited with Itai, and we still have hope”.
 

A Binga rapist will be forever thankful to a dentist after the latter saved him from an imminent long jail term.
Artwell Munsaka of Sinampani Village in Binga was dragged before Binga magistrate court facing one count of statutory rape after having had sexual intercourse with a 15 year old girl.
Munsaka admitted to having intercourse with the under-age girl but the court could not immediately establish his age for sentencing.
Munsaka who did not have an identity document nor a birth certificate had to be sent to a specialist dentist to determine his age. The man’s body-build is one of a man in the mid twenties.
The dentist reported that tests revealed that at the time of the offence in September last year Munsaka could have been between the age of 15 and 17 of which the court took the lesser and considered him a juvenile.
The area magistrate resultantly opposed the state’s move for a mandatory minimum nine years imprisonment for statutory rape by an adult. Munsaka was consequently sentenced to a wholly suspended two year jail term and ordered to be given six canes with a medium whip.
The canning was to be administered by the Prisons and Correctional Services at Binga Prison within 24 hours of sentencing.

IN a bizarre case, an 18-year-old Murehwa man is alleged to have raped his brother’s wife throughout the night after sneaking into the woman’s blankets while masquerading as her husband.
The incident, which left the villagers shocked, is alleged to have occurred on July 4, 2013, when the suspect was staying at the same homestead with his brother’s wife while the woman’s husband was away in Harare.
On the day in question, it is alleged the teenager told his brother’s wife that he intended to attend an all-night prayer elsewhere, but had received a call from his brother who said he was arriving late that night from Harare.
The teenager further told his brother’s wife he had been instructed to tell her to leave the door open in case he arrived late.
“At around 9pm to 10pm, the accused person went to the window of the bedroom where the complainant was sleeping and knocked as if he was the complainant’s husband and the woman unlocked the door presuming it was her husband,” the State papers read.
The State alleges when the teenager entered the bedroom, the woman got out to relieve herself and when she returned she found the suspect already in the blankets and the two started chatting in the dark and the teenager was speaking in a low voice.
“When they were discussing, the accused person, who knew about the sour relationship that existed between the woman and her husband, apologised for neglecting her when she eloped to him. After a while, the complainant got into the same blankets and had sexual intercourse with the woman throughout the night,” the State alleges.
The following morning, the woman was allegedly shocked when she noticed the teenager’s clothes on the chair and when she uncovered the person who was in the blankets, she realised she had been duped and had spent the night with the suspect.
The woman rushed to the village head and reported her ordeal, but when the suspect was questioned, he denied the allegations, saying he had spent the night at an all-night prayer.
The matter was reported to the police, leading to his arrest.
The suspect last week appeared at the High Court seeking bail, but his application was deferred to next week. newsday

The government has warned the schools that it is against the law to reject the South African Rand and Botswana Pula as legal tender for the payment of school fees.
Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Lazarus Dokora told Senators last week that the South African rand was one of the currencies in the basket of currencies adopted by the government as legal tender in 2009.
He was responding to a question from Beitbridge Senator Tambudzani Mohadi (Zanu-PF) who wanted to know what the government was doing about school heads who turned away pupils who wanted to pay school fees in South African rand and Botswana pula.
Sen Mohadi said many pupils in her area were not going to school after authorities rejected the South African rand.
“It’s true that she asked this question before and I did respond to it to say that if there are instances where this practice of turning down what’s a legal tender in this country in the multi-currency regime, if any of our institutions are turning down acceptance of this legal tender, those schools should be reported through our system. I’m quite happy to receive the list from the Honourable Member and we’ll take action,” said Minister Dokora.

Many trading institutions have over the past months been rejecting the South African rand which has been depreciating rapidly in value against the United States dollar.
Most shops and individuals have since stopped using the rand to settle debts preferring the green back.
Most Zimbabweans in the southern part of the country like Matabeleland deal mainly in the rand owing to their proximity to Pretoria.
Responding to another question, Minister Dokora said his ministry had an elaborate plan in its new curriculum to promote the learning of Science and Mathematics.
He was responding to a question from Disabled Representative Senator Nyamayabo Mashavakure who wanted to know if the government would take the promotion of Science and Mathematics from Advanced Level to Ordinary Level as well.
Sen Mashavakure asked what the government was doing to deter a temptation by teachers to discourage the learning of sciences so as to secure high pass rates.
“Our plan to promote Science, Mathematics and technical vocational subjects is in the new curriculum. It begins at level one — from the infants right up to A-Level.
“What we know is that of our children since 2013 to 2015, we can give you a number of children who’ve gone through the curriculum that we currently have,” he said.
Minister Dokora said most pupils were registering good passes at Advanced Level. – State Media

Terrence Mawawa | Masvingo Tourism minister and Masvingo South MP Walter Mzembi has dumped his farm near Stop Over bar,5km out of the city of Masvingo and workers at the farm claim the Zanu PF heavyweight has dismally failed to maintain the property .
The farm which has big fowl runs in it and wide space for growing vegetables now lies desolate since Mzembi has virtually neglected the property. The state of Mzembi’s farm is contrary to claims by the government that the land grab exercise proved to be a resounding success. Ironically Mzembi nearly invaded a poultry producing farm last year but he was thwarted by Masvingo State Minister Shuvai Ben Mahofa albeit along factional lines.
Workers at the vast property now spend most of their time drinking opaque beer and playing draught . “We spend much of the time drinking opaque beer and playing draught because we have nothing to do here .There is no activity at the farm and the minister hardly comes here .We are worried about our future at the farm,”said a worker who chose not to be named.
Mzembi angrily said he bought the farm as a gift for his son and the property had nothing to do with the public. Workers at the farm however said Mzembi ,who owns several other farms,grabbed the property during the controversial land reform programme many believe brought the country’s ecomony into the current abyss. The controversial minister has openly attributed his political survival to his udoubted loyalty to Mugabe although he is strongly linked to the G40 camp.

A Pumula South man has been sentenced to perform community service after he was found guilty of bedding his 13-year-old cousin.
The man who is 19 years old, was initially facing rape charges, but was convicted of sleeping with a minor after the court established that the girl consented.
Regional magistrate Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze said: “You are therefore sentenced to 24 months in prison of which six months are suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour. The remainder will be suspended on condition that you performs 526 hours of community service.”
Prosecuting, Concilia Ncube, told the court that the man pounced on his Grade Seven cousin on January 23.
“The girl left the house and went to play with her young sister and brother just outside their gate. As they were about to start playing, her cousin followed them out of the house and grabbed the girl and closed her mouth, pushing her back into the house,” said Ncube.
“He took her to the sitting room and laid her on the sofa, undressed her and raped the girl once. After the act, the man threatened to assault his cousin if she told their domestic worker of the incident and went away.”
The court heard that after a few days, the girl confided in the domestic worker who made a police report and took the girl to hospital for medical attention.
A medical report was produced which was used in court and the man was arrested.State Media

Health Minister David Parirenyatwa says Zimbabwe will continue to train nurses for export.
Dr Parirenyatwa was speaking to the State Media soon after holding a meeting with the visiting South Sudan Minister of Higher Education and Technology, Dr John Gai Yoah at his offices at Kaguvi Building in Harare this Monday morning.
Zimbabwe and South Sudan share cordial relations that have seen the South Sudanese government requesting help from Zimbabwe in different fields to rebuild the former war ravaged country which attained its independence in July 2011 after a referendum in which 99 percent of the people voted for secession from Sudan.
“Zimbabwe is ready to assist Africa’s newest country with personnel for the health sector in terms of training and provision of doctors, nurses and other experts to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the countries,” Minister Parirenyatwa said
The South Sudanese minister is in Zimbabwe to sign a memorandum of understanding with his Zimbabwean counterpart, Professor Jonathan Moyo for the implementation of a similar arrangement in the education sector.
Meanwhile, Dr Parirenyatwa has warned Zimbabweans planning to travel to South America to guard against mosquito bites and ensure safe sex as precautionary measures against the Zika virus.
Zika virus outbreak has been declared a public health concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Minister Parirenyatwa concurred with WHO country representative to Zimbabwe, Dr David Okello that there is no need to impose travel bans on people going to Brazil but warned those travelling to any part of South America to must protect themselves against mosquito bites.
Zika virus is caused by the Aedes mosquito which was first discovered in the Zika forest in Uganda.

Ousted Welshman Ncube led MDC Secretary General Moses Mzila Ndlovu has accused Ncube of single handedly destroying the once promising opposition political party.
Talking to ZimEye.com after the party standing committee ruled to remove him from the position of Secretary General, Mzila Ndlovu said that he was not at all worried about his removal from the Secretary General position and was even quitting the party as long as it remained under the leadership of Professor Ncube.
The former freedom fighter accused Ncube of lacking strategy to fight against ZANU PF and also surrounding himself with political failures who never challenged him. Mzila also echoed sentiments of dictatorship tendencies by Ncube as raised by several other MDC leaders who have quit the party since Ncube took over from Arthur Mutambara.
The veteran opposition politician would not disclose to the. media where he is heading after quitting the MDC, only saying he is leaving options open to people who are serious about taking over state power from ZANU PF not those who have tried several times and failed due to ideological bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, sources within the MDC claim that several more members particularly from Bulawayo and Matabeleland South will this week be receiving letters advising them of their dismissal from the party. Most of those to be dismissed are accused of having links with Joice Mujuru’s new political party. Some will be dismissed for raising a purge against Welshman Ncube who the provinces recently sent a petition demanding that he steps down.

The Insurance and Pensions Commission (Ipec) has suspended four insurers and an insurance broker from issuing or renewing insurance policies due to unsound finances and unethical business conduct.
“Excellence Insurance Company (Private) Limited is under suspension as its financial position was unsound, as was Global Insurance Company (Private) Limited,” Ipec said adding that the suspensions were issued in terms of section 5 (a) of the Insurance Act (Chapter 24:07).
The other insurers barred from issuing or renewing policies include KMFS Insurance Company (Private) Limited and New Reinsurance Company (Private) Limited on the basis of unsound finances.
According to the commission, short-term insurance companies are required to have a minimum capital requirement of $1,5 million but Excellence had $250 000 by end of June last year while others had varying amounts less than $1 million in the six months to June 2015.
Navistar Insurance Brokers (Private) Limited was placed under suspension for unethical business conduct.
According to Ipec, all clients who had already purchased or renewed policies with the five firms are free to launch claims with the insurers.
“In the event that some members of the public have already purchased or renewed policies with the above mentioned companies, please note that these companies remain liable to honour claims arising from the same policies… any refusal to pay should be reported to the Ipec,” the watchdog said.
In his 2015 National Budget, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa expressed the need for an upward review of the minimum capital requirements for the insurance sector to improve underwriting capacity and contain insurance business within the country.
To match this, the Treasury chief increased the minimum capital requirements for both life and non-life reinsurers in his 2015 Mid-term Fiscal Policy Review Statement.
The proposed hike is to be effected by December 31, 2016.
Chinamasa hiked the minimum threshold for short term insurers from $1,5 million to $2,5 million, from $2 million to $5 million for life assurers and pegged the minimum capital requirement for funeral assurers at $2,5 million from $1,5 million.
Chinamasa also proposed to introduce a raft of measures that included the review of qualifying assets for calculation of prescribed assets as well as deterrent penalties which include cancellation of operating licences
The Treasury chief ordered Ipec to, in the first quarter of 2016; review the qualifying assets for minimum capital requirements to improve asset quality.
The performance of the insurance and pension sector has largely remained depressed owing to low economic activity, legacy issues emanating from the conversion of insurance and pension policies from Zimbabwe dollar to US dollar values and liquidity challenges, among others.
Presently, the draft Bills for the insurance and pension industry are being finalised, taking into account stakeholders’ inputs.
The Bills include the Insurance and Pension Commission Bill, Pensions and Provident Funds Bill, and the Insurance Bill and are expected to be presented in the August House in the first quarter of 2016. daily news

The Media Institute of Southern Africa Zimbabwe is demanding for the arrest of some state actors and Zanu PF officials accused of violating media freedoms.
The media freedom lobby made the demands in its 2015 state of the media report it produced last week.
Among the state actors accused of violating media freedom in the 25 violations MISA-Zimbabwe recorded in 2015 is President Robert Mugabe, his wife Grace and their spokesperson George Charamba.
The violations were mainly in the form of threats and unlawful arrests, and emanated from Zanu PF factional fights.
“The country’s leadership should exercise restraint as threats to deal with the media have potential to trigger extra-legal violation of media freedom by political activists,” said part of the report.
“Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and the responsible authorities should investigate and bring to account the culprits involved in the assaults of journalists more so where complaints and reports are filed against members of his force”.
MISA-Zimbabwe said although state media Journalists were also victims of media freedom violations the private media was the worst affected.
“This speaks volumes on the lack of willingness to embrace and practice constitutionalism on the part of senior government and Zanu PF officials and other non-state actors.
In one of the case President Mugabe and the Charamba threatened to clamp down on the private media for stories on leakages of the party’s meetings including Cabinet deliberations.
Other cases involved the “unlawful” arrests or assaults by the police of journalists conducting their lawful professional duties.

Scores of women married to employees of Duration Gold’s Vumbachikwe Mine in Gwanda on Saturday stripped naked demonstrating against the new management imposed by the new owners.
The angry and uncontrollable women complained that their husbands have not been paid their salaries for a whole year to date – since January 2015 and the working conditions at the mine have deteriorated since the venture was taken over by Duration Gold, a foreign owned mining conglomerate.
The women cited that their main cause to demonstrate against the company was that their husbands always come home stressed and fail to fulfil their conjugal duties due to the difficult working conditions at the mine.
One woman who only identified herself as MaPhiri told ZimEye.com that her husband has not been able to do his bedroom duties for the last six months because he is always stressed and hungry as the little salary advances the company gives to the workers is not enough to cover their domestic needs. “How would I honestly expect a hungry, stressed and tired man to do anything in the bedroom?” she fumed.
“The bosses come here driving in big vehicles with big tummies and take all the money from the company and go and eat and enjoy with their wives while we remain starved here,” she added.
The women who staged their act at the main entrance to the company’s administration offices, raised their dresses exposing torn underwear claiming that their husband could not even afford to buy them the underwear because of non payment. They sang very derogative songs inviting mine managers to come and quench their sexual desires as their husbands are failing due to stress.
ZimEye.com last week exclusively reported that the workers at the mine were not happy with Duration Gold who they accused of racism and gross and unfair labour practices. The workers claimed that since the company took over the mine from previous owners Forbes and Thompson the new owners had changed the entire mine management and employed new staff which was failing to run the venture.
The workers further claimed that every time they raised complaints against the company, the owners openly told them that nothing will ever be done to them as they are “very big friends” with Kasukuwere from his days as Indigenisation Minister and so are “protected”. The company’s indigenisation status has remained unclear for a long time.
Senior staff at the mine refused to talk to the media or attend to the demonstrating women who had to be dispersed by heavily armed anti riot police from the support unit in Bulawayo five hours into the demonstration.
The women went back to their homes threatening that they will lock their husbands in doors and make sure they don’t terrier for duty until they have been paid their outstanding salaries.
Vumbachikwe mine is one of the biggest gold producing mines in the country and has been posting good profits over the years.

The Piermont Town Council in New Hampshire in the United States of America, through Dr Rev Edward Matuvhunye, former President of the United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe, donated fire fighters’ uniforms, gumboots, tools and chemicals to Chipinge Town Council last week Friday the 29th January 2016. The handover coincided with the celebrations of the belated Chipinge Town Council Cheer Fund.
 
Addressing hundreds of people who had thronged Chipinge Gaza Hall, Rev Matuvhunye, who

was the guest of honour for the belated Chipinge Cheer Fund, held to mobilise resources to help orphans, said he was gripped by the needs and problems of Chipinge District Town Council, and so thought of mobilising resources to help the council meet its mandated targets.
“As bona fide leader in Chipinge and Church leader, I am working and negotiating with the leadership of Piermont Town for fire fighter vehicles, ambulances and (also) the possibilities for a twinning program,” said Matuvhunye.
He challenged well wishers to pull resources together for the benefit of the needy. “I encouraged all bona-fide and friends of Chipinge to mobilize resources from wherever they are in order to improve their home town and district. I am also exploring possibilities of raising funds to address drought relief, climate change mitigation and adaptation.”
 
Commenting on Dr Matuvhunye’s resourcefulness and act of benevolence, Mrs Malati , the Chipinge Town Secretary, said she was “humbled by the support of Dr Rev Matuvhunye and partners from New Hampshire for stretching the hand of friendship and love to help the Chipinge Town Council.”
 
Mrs Malati thanked Rev Matuvhunye, who is pursuing PhD studies in the US, as well as partners from that country for the support rendered.
 
Councillor Mathias Gurai praised and commended efforts of development agents who envision to improve Chipinge district.
 
The handover was attended by Chipinge town councillors, representatives of parliament,’ MP Machingura, the local DA, business community bosses, traditional leaders, government departments, churches, and a large crowd from the local community.

87 farmers who were allocated land under the fast track agrarian reform programme at Greenland farm in Beatrice are facing eviction14 years after being given land.
The farmers, who have thriving maize and tobacco crops, are appealing to the government to intervene after they were served with eviction letters by the Permanent Secretary for Lands and Rural Resettlement.
The farmers are genuine holders of A1 offer letters and have built houses since they were resettled in 2002.
To them, the eviction might be an illegal act and all they pray for is for the government to intervene.
Others feel that allowing such evictions to take place almost a decade and half after the land reform will leave all resettled farmers in the country exposed to eviction at any given time.
A landmark ruling made by High Court judge, Justice Francis Bere in 2013 in a similar case outlawed the unilateral withdrawal of offer letters by the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement.
Justice Bere cited that if offer letters would be withdrawn unilaterally by the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement, it would make almost every citizen of Zimbabwe who benefited under the land reform vulnerable. – State Media

Zanu PF politburo member and Higher Education Minister, Jonathan Moyo has blown open snippets of the background to his public row with President Robert Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba, and his relationship with vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa. He in the below interview reveals Charamba’s secret past saying it is likely what has caused the man to attack him. He told the weekly Standard while addressing allegations that he is working to destroy the ruling party from within.
Question: In your opinion, what could have motivated George Charamba’s attacks against you and those perceived to be opposed to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa?
Answer: I don’t have an opinion about this. I have information. Loads of it. While Charamba’s scurrilous political attack on me and other Cabinet ministers perceived to be opposed to what they allege is Vice-President Mnangagwa’s succession path went viral after his long interview on ZiFM radio and after The Herald reproduced a verbatim script of that interview two weeks ago, in fact Charamba had been on my case over VP Mnangagwa’s succession for a very long time.
To make a very long story short, things started turning ugly between Charamba and me and his fellow successionists out there in May 2015 when BBC HardTalk broadcast an interview with me in which I poured cold water on the ambitions of successionists by saying President Robert Mugabe had not appointed his vice-presidents so they could succeed him, but so they could assist him to implement the policy programmes he pledged to the nation in the 2013 elections, which he won resoundingly.
I also said in that interview that questions whether the First Lady, Dr Amai Grace Mugabe, was a future leader were ridiculous because she’s already a leader today not least as secretary for the women’s league, which is a senior national leadership position in the ruling party. I later learnt, something which is now common cause that the BBC HardTalk interview did not go down well with successionists.
The most disappointing reaction came from Charamba. Remember, I was then Minister of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services where he was as he still is permanent secretary. Soon after my BBC HardTalk interview, Charamba started throwing administrative spanners into my ministerial work either by instructing officers not to do this or that for the minister or by holding up paperwork or by running a whisper campaign with State media journalists and officials who administer parastatals under the ministry to say to them, “the minister has fallen out of favour with the system”, and things like that.
He tried anything and everything to derail my campaign programme in Tsholotsho for the June 2015 by-election which had been running well until the BBC HardTalk interview. There are witnesses to this, many, who are waiting for their day in the sun to tell their story. In the week of the June 2015 by-election Charamba travelled with President Mugabe’s delegation to two working visits that were close to each other, one overseas and the other to South Africa.
Charamba used those programmes to deep-throat the State journalists assigned with the delegations with a rumour that I was going to be dropped from Cabinet, allegedly because I had contested in the by-elections without the president’s permission and that by winning the by-election I had expelled myself from my position as a Cabinet minister. Again, there are witnesses to this, especially but not only in the media.
A week after I was sworn in as MP for Tsholotsho North following the June 2015 by-election, and a few days after Charamba’s return from his assignment with the President in South Africa, I noticed that he had taken into avoiding me altogether and yet it is a fiduciary requirement for the permanent secretary and minister to work together as public officials entrusted by the president and enjoined by the law to serve the public.
And so I took it upon myself to go to his office to greet him and to find out what was going on as I was hearing a lot of disturbing things.
When I got into his office, he appeared to have been taken by surprise, perhaps for the reason that he had taken the view that we no longer had anything to do with one another since he had already told State journalists that I had fallen out of favour with the “system”. My effort to engage him in the pleasantries of greeting each other failed. There were no smiles. No usual courtesies.
Charamba gave me an arrogantly officious and dismissive look and said, “Minister, what is going on?” About what? I asked him. “With you, minister”, he thundered.
Remember I was seeing him for the first time since recording a historic win for the party in the Tsholotsho by-election. He did not use the opportunity to first congratulate me on that victory, or to say anything about the fact that the party had won all 16 or so by-elections nationwide on the day. He just wanted to huff and puff about what he was convinced was going wrong with me.
So I reminded him I was not aware of anything wrong because I had put all my time and effort in my by-election campaign in Tsholotsho and I was not aware of what had been happening elsewhere, especially in Harare. “Minister, minister”, shouted Charamba. “I am very, very worried.
“The commanders have been asking me what’s going on with you and the whole system is concerned about you minister”.
He said. “I’m being asked a lot of hard questions about the BBC interview. Who organised it? How did they come here? Things would have been okay if the interview had ended there, but then it was transcribed and the script was published in The Herald.
“They want to know who did that because it is only done for the president and nobody else”. By the way, remember this was coming from the same Charamba who only two weeks ago had more than an hour of his venomous ZiFM radio interview against at least three Cabinet ministers, including myself, transcribed and published by The Herald verbatim. But that’s a digression.
Then Charamba said, “Minister, the system does not trust you at all. Now the commanders are angry with me. they are saying why am I not stopping you. It’s like, it’s my job to stop you”. “Stop me from what?” I asked Charamba agitatedly.
“Stop you from doing what you are doing minister and you know what you are doing”.
When Charamba realised that I was getting very frustrated and even annoyed with his narrative, he then said, “Minister, the system is asking if Moyo is not supporting VP Mnangagwa to succeed, so who then is he supporting? Why is he trying to prevent VP Mnangagwa? That makes him dangerous and he must be stopped.”
At that point I lost my cool and told Charamba that whoever wants me to support VP Mnangagwa to succeed President Mugabe should go to hell and I don’t care what anyone is going to do to me because of that.
I reminded Charamba of 2004 and told him I was not going to be part of Tsholotsho 2 in Harare and that Joice Mujuru was not removed for her successionist plots in order to replace her with VP Mnangagwa to pursue his own successionist programme against President Mugabe.
Noticing that I was getting agitated and angry, Charamba then tried to cool things down by saying, “I hear you minister but nobody is going to believe what you are saying. Nobody in the system believes you”.
That was my last conversation with Charamba in the Information ministry. I’ve kept a record of it because I realised as soon as we started talking that he was up to something big and no good. A week or so after that conversation I related my encounter with Charamba to his deputy, Regis Chikowore and made it clear to Chikowore that I was not going to allow successionists to intimidate me into supporting their scheme to succeed the president.
The conversation with Chiko-wore happened a week after I had been advised that the Attorney-General, Prince Machaya had advised that the legal effect of my winning the June 2015 Tsholotsho by-election and my taking oath as a Member of Parliament was that I had technically resigned from my Cabinet post by operation of the law and that I could no longer attend Cabinet.
What followed thereafter is in the public domain, save for the fact that Charamba and other successionists used that period to trade all sorts of self-indulgent stories about my fate.
First, they said I was out of Cabinet for good. Then when the president appointed me to my current post, they said I had been demoted.
I chuckled over the demotion jibe because I moved from a ministry whose annual budget (check the blue book) is about $3 million to one with a budget of over $600 million in de facto terms, let alone the fact that the ministry I’m currently serving is the one that plans and develops the human capital skills for the entire economy.
The untold story is that my situation in the Information ministry became impossible after my BBC HardTalk interview. I was very grateful when the president reshuffled me from there.
But Charamba has remained on my case on behalf of successionists. Only last Thursday he telephoned the acting CEO at ZBC just before News Hour at night and directed him to pull off STEM ads on ZBC television and ZBC radio stations. I understand he said he was doing this because the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education had complained about the ads and he wanted to show “who controls the media in Zimbabwe”.
Can you imagine that? A Permanent Secretary in Information ministry unilaterally sabotaging a government programme, by another ministry, that’s been well-received nationally beyond description. And doing so without reference to any administrative process.
No reference to his counterpart in our ministry. No reference to the Cabinet office. No reference to the ZBC board of governors. I don’t know if there was any reference to his own minister.
And this all because Charamba sees himself as an untouchable super successionist who allegedly has the blessing of VP Mnangagwa and is thus part of the “system” if not as the “system itself” and he believes he has the power to do anything by himself without reference to anyone or to any process in accordance with the operational framework of making and implementing government decisions. As a typical successionist, Charamba supports the president during the day and works against him at night.
Clearly, Charamba is no longer a fit and proper person to be Permanent Secretary in the Information ministry.
Question: What is your relationship with Mnangagwa, are you on speaking terms?
Answer: I recognise and respect him as one of two different but equal vice-presidents and second secretaries of our party and vice-presidents of our country appointed by the president to assist him to discharge his national mandate and constitutional responsibilities. I don’t know what talking terms are, but I definitely report to him in the discharge of part of my work as I also report to Vice-President Mphoko in similar light.
Question: In your response to accusations that you are part of a faction that is allegedly abusing the First Family’s name, you have said you learnt your lesson in 2004, what was that lesson?
Answer: I learnt that at all times, I must remain loyal to my appointing authority and forget the rest. Successionists then would say Pamberi naPresident Mugabe during the day and spend the cover of night plotting his ouster. That’s what they are doing now. Lots of daylight slogans in support of the president followed by a nightfall of unprecedented succession scheming. Loyalty is a 24-hour proposition, 24/7. It’s not a part-time job of the politics of appearances.
Question: In 2004 you were accused of working with a Zanu PF faction that was pushing for Mnangagwa’s elevation to the presidium but now you are said to be fighting him. What has changed?
Answer: I just told you that I learnt my lessons. It’s called political maturity and experience. I’m not fighting anyone. I’m just making sure that I do not again put myself in a political situation that is in conflict with my president as my appointing authority. I shared this position publicly in a Sunday Mail interview soon after my re-admission to the party and election into the central committee at the 5th Congress in December 2009. We have the position of one centre of power in our party’s constitution. I drafted that position as I drafted all the key amendments to our party’s constitution for the 6th Congress in December 2014 and I did that under VP Mnangagwa.
Question: War Veterans minister Chris Mutsvangwa has accused you of, trying to divide Zanu PF…. What is your response?
Let the situation on the ground speak for itself about that.
Question: What is your response to Mutsvangwa’s claims that you are related to the late Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and that you could be fighting his wars?
My late friend Professor Masipula Sithole must be laughing in heaven about that comical allegation. If there was the slightest truth to it, he would not have gone to heaven without saying it. Not Masipula. But of course I believe I am related to every Zimbabwean. That’s where I get my Zimbabweanness.
Question: Your critics often accuse you of working to destroy Zanu PF from within, what is your reaction to such claims?
Answer: The overwhelming majority of Zanu PF members know better. I’m in the politburo and Cabinet not because I smuggled myself there but because the president appointed me to serve in both organs as he knows better than the critics you are talking about.
Question: Do you believe there is a media campaign to discredit you and if so what steps are you taking to stop that?
Answer: What I believe is not an issue. The situation on the ground speaks for itself.
Question: Zanu PF has previously accused the private media of concocting stories about factionalism in the ruling party? Do you now believe that there are camps in Zanu PF pulling in different directions?
Answer: Zanu PF was said to have two factions: Mujuru and Mnangagwa factions. The Mujuru faction met its fate in 2014 leaving the party with one faction. It would be wrong for the remaining faction to see itself as the chosen one when the right thing to do is for it to dissolve itself and support President Mugabe both during the day and at night.
Question: Do you have ambitions to lead Zanu PF as alleged by your detractors and are you a member of the so-called G40 faction?
Answer: I have never had an ambition or done anything based on or driven by the allegations of my detractors.
Question: Your constituency Tsholotsho North is one of the most affected by the current drought, do you have an idea of its impact and what has government done to cushion villagers?
Answer: You are right that Tsholotsho North is one of the constituencies most affected by the current drought and the impact on livelihoods and livestock is indescribable. But the status of “most affected” is becoming widespread in our nation. We are working on a range of options to keep hope alive. Cde Prisca Mupfumira, the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, has done everything possible to ensure that vulnerable families in the constituency are cushioned. And Dr Joseph Made is assisting us to find a water solution since access to water is the vital need in a drought situation.

“President Robert Mugabe is now too ill for the Presidency”, the High Court is to pass its verdict on the matter.
The lawsuit was submitted by a Zimbabwean lawyer who is demanding that the country’s highest court must now order an investigation to determine Mugabe’s fitness to hold office.
This comes after a series of evidential bad health signs that prompted speculation about his health.
The papers filed by the lawyer, Tinomuda Chinoka say the Speaker of Parliament and the president of the senate must conduct the investigation.
“Having a president that may lack capacity to carry out the job threatens democracy, undermines the constitution and puts in jeopardy the very foundation, security and future of the nation,” read the papers filed with the Constitutional Court.
Chinoka listed a number of incidents casting doubt on Mugabe’s ability to rule, including his tumble on a red carpet at Harare International Airport in February 2015.
They also referred to a gaffe last year when he read the wrong speech at the opening of parliament.
“Any person with their mental alertness intact would have recognised a speech that they have read only three weeks previously,” said the papers.
Mugabe, who turns 92 later this month, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980. His health has been the subject of speculation in recent years.
In January he returned from his annual month-long holiday during which rumours flared that he had collapsed and died in Asia. News24/Additional Reporting

Management at the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) has been accused of flouting tender procedures, mismanagement, nepotism and corruption.
Details obtained by the State Media indicate the parastatal’s woes could be due to gross mismanagement as the company fails to pay duty for 33 buses imported from China in May 2015 despite one of Zupco’s bank accounts holding US$680 282 as at January 26, 2016.
Documents at hand show that things came to a head on January 26, 2016 when Zupco failed to dispatch a single one of its 150 buses in Harare because “there was no fuel”. This led to the suspension without pay of divisional operations manager Mr Jonathan Chandaengerwa.
Mr Chandaengerwa declined to comment saying “the matter was before a Zupco disciplinary hearing committee”.
One the documents in our possession reads, “On (January 26, 2016) it was said there was no money to buy fuel for northern division buses yet US$520 282 was sitting in a recapitalisation account. The buses needed only a minimum of US$10 000 to get on the road.” Zupco’s policy is that 30 percent of gross revenue goes to the recapitalisation account daily.
Despite sitting on huge cash reserves, Zupco has failed to dispatch buses citing lack of fuel, and has 33 units grounded at its Belvedere, Harare yard after failing to pay import duty since May 2015.
Workers’ salaries have been delayed since July 2015, added a source.
Zupco’s top management is also accused of refurbishing at unjustifiable costs.
For instance, bus number FF41 was refurbished for US$38 000 when a new FAW engine costs around US$15 000.
And bus FF41 broke down after travelling just 12km. Zupco CEO Mr Clifford Muwoni said there was nothing amiss with the bus breaking down soon after refurbishment.
“Even a brand new bus can break down after five kilometres. It’s normal,” he said. “The buses were not grounded on January 26, 2016; we just reduced the number of buses because of low commuter numbers.”
However, Mr Muwoni wrote a letter to Mr Chandaengerwa on January 27, 2016 saying the company lost about US$10 000 in daily revenue while “passengers were left stranded because there were no buses”.
Mr Muwoni also dismissed as “nonsensical” allegations that Zupco was flouting tender procedures when buying buses, trucks and trailers.
The CEO has also been accused of nepotism after his son, Mr Kevin Muwoni, was appointed a divisional risk officer, raising questions among workers if Kevin would investigate allegations of wrongdoing against his father.
Mr Muwoni defended his son’s appointment saying: “Kevin has been with Zupco since 2007 so there is no nepotism. Nepotism is when someone is not qualified for the job.”- State Media

A disabled Bulawayo based Zimbabwean family needs help after being let down by the Jairos Jiri association.
 
Mr John Jemwa and family, affected by a hereditary and rare condition affecting eyesight, are failing to get a meal each day after their Econet kiosk (pictured) was shut down due to a deficit not exceeding $2,500.00 in total.

A COUPLE allegedly fleeing unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been arrested with its eight minor children, one of them aged one year.
The eldest child is aged 14 years old. Kasambule Ebondo, 40, and wife Mumba Kayeye, 32, of Lubumbashi, told Victoria Falls magistrate
Rangarai Gakanje that they escaped from their country last week and chose to come to Zimbabwe to seek refuge. Prosecutors charged the couple with illegally entering the country.
The minors could be seen playing outside the courtroom while their parents were being tried. Ebondo and Kayeye pleaded guilty to the charge and were sentenced to four months in prison which was wholly suspended for five years on condition they don’t commit a similar offence within that period.
The magistrate also ordered that they be deported. “You should have sought to have travel documents before thinking of travelling instead of entering the country illegally,” said Gakanje.
Ebondo burst into tears as he explained to the court why he and his family fled the DRC.
“There is unrest in our country where people are being killed on a daily basis. We fear for our lives and that of our children because some of our relatives were axed to death recently. We will be having elections soon and that is what is sparking political disputes. We didn’t get a chance to obtain any travelling documents because of the unrest,” he said.
Prosecuting, Listen Nare told the court that the couple illegally crossed into the country from Zambia on Tuesday.
“The accused proceeded to Chinotimba suburb to seek refuge. Police detectives received information that there were illegal immigrants in the country. At around 4AM police found the eight children sleeping outside a shop,” the prosecutor said.
The court heard that when they were questioned, it was discovered that they were Congolese citizens who illegally entered the country. Ebondo and Kayeye failed to produce their travelling documents leading to their immediate arrest

By Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo|Those who live by the sword will die by the sword is an english adage which sums up the controversy surrounding the invasion of Crest Ibeka.
The farm was invaded by Zanu PF provincial chairman Ezra Chadzamira with the help of police details and soldiers. Chadzamira took it over from Yvonne Goddard a well known Zanu PF financier.
In a dramatic twist of events senior army officials and provincial CIO bosses are eyeing the farm and are determined to kick Chadzamira out. However Chadzamira is said to be seeking Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s protection since the securocrats are piling relentless pressure on him to vacate the farm. ZimEye.com has been informed the securocrats are also determined to take over the farm from Chadzamira in an arrangement they intend to partition it among themselves.
“There are CIO bosses and top military personnel who are eyeing the same property so they want to kick out Chadzamira so that they can partition the farm among themselves. Chadzamira is now seeking protection from Mnangagwa for the obvious reason that he belongs to the VP’s faction. So we are likely to witness twists and turns in the Cresta Ibeka saga,” said a senior provincial official.
Chadzamira who claimed the farm was underutilized is now under pressure from securocrats who are expected to convince President Robert Mugabe to fire him from the provincial chairmanship post. The controversial land grab exercise is widely blamed for crumbling of the nation’s economy with many analysts saying Zimbabwe, formerly the bread basket of Africa is now a basket case.

By Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo|A local headmaster was last week thoroughly beaten up by a female workmate he consistently pestered for sexual intercourse.
Sources at the school told ZimEye.com, Thomas Mureriwa the headmaster of Temeraire High School, was assaulted by Ophilia Bafana, the Head of Department for the English department in full view of school pupils. Bafana accused Mureriwa of pestering her for sexual intercourse.
Although Mureriwa denies the allegations, ZimEye can reveal the case was reported at Mashava Police camp under RRB 2514742.
It is understood Mureriwa had the habit of calling Bafana to his office where he expressed interest in having sex with the lady teacher. Incensed by Mureriwa’s sexual advances, Bafana took a bamboo stick and assaulted the school head in full view of pupils.
Bafana proceeded to grab the headmaster by the neck and continued to assault him with clenched fists until the deputy headmaster and other female teachers came to the dazzled Mureriwa’s rescue.
Masvingo District Education Officer(DEO), Zakaria Makopa said there was an altercation between the two but quickly said investigations were underway.
“We have heard about the incident but we are still carrying out further investigations so that we can then decide on the matter. The matter is being treated with confidentiality until we arrive at the crux of the whole issue,” said an evasive Makopa.
Mureriwa also vehemently dismissed the story despite clear evidence pointing to the incident. Social analysts here slammed officials who take advantage of their positions of influence to abuse female subordinates.

War has broken forth in ZANU PF with the national political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere rubbishing declarations by pro-Emmerson-Mnangagwa strongman Ignatius Chombo that the politburo is going to discuss Professor Jonathan Moyo’s use of social blogging website Twitter.
In what analysts signalled as the sure signs of imminent bloodbath, Kasukuwere told journos Zanu-PF had no time discussing social media issues in its Politburo meetings.
He accused the Mnangagwa controlled media of trying to craft the agenda for the ruling party.
He told journos after meeting the party’s provincial chairpersons and some members of its affiliate organisations in Harare yesterday that Zanu-PF had serious issues to discuss.
His remarks differ from party spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo and Secretary for Administration Ignatius Chombo’s assertions that the abuse of social media by some party members was cause for concern and might be up for discussion at the Politburo meeting set for next Wednesday.
“This is the beginning of greater wars,” said analyst Gerald Ncube.
Organs of the party such as the Youth League have through the State Media voiced what they termed “grave concern” over the abuse of social media, while the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, which is an affiliate organisation, also registered displeasure on the same issue with the police weighing saying social .
The concerns came in the wake of frenzied tweeting by Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo, who has been attacking fellow Zanu-PF members on social media.
Said Kasukuwere: “I am actually surprised that you make social media an issue. It’s not an issue and we hear you telling us about the Zanu-PF Politburo agenda. You think we meet here to talk about WhatsApp?
“We meet here to discuss serious business, so stop dragging us into your small issues of the social media. We have much more serious work to do. We have much more serious things to worry about. That kind of directionlessness will not be part of what Zanu-PF stands for.
“We are surprised that you have already crafted an agenda for the Politburo when it meets. That agenda is approved by His Excellency and the secretary for administration. They are the ones who work on what the party will discuss and I want to say please no to agenda setting.
“We don’t discuss what you want us to discuss. We discuss issues that affect the generality of our party membership and how to assist the people of Zimbabwe.”
Kasukuwere said social media was not an issue to the party.
“I want to say to the Press please, please don’t misquote us and don’t turn around and make social media an issue,” he said. “It’s not an issue for us here. If it is an issue to you, let it be to you, but for Zanu-PF we are clear on what we stand for.”
When asked that President Mugabe in his official capacity as the First Secretary of Zanu-PF once implored party members from abusing social media, Kasukuwere interjected and said: “Don’t create problems to say Kasukuwere has gone against ah, ah no, no, please I have said don’t agenda set for the party.
“Please let the party do its work. If we are to discuss anything of that nature, can’t you allow us to discuss it quietly in our confines as a party?
“Why does it have to be the President said this, the President said this. Aah, aah, please when the President speaks we all listen to him, but don’t then go overboard and try and blow things out of proportion. The party is intact.”
Without elaborating, Kasukuwere said in a few days there would be some action to show support and loyalty to President Mugabe.
Kasukuwere said the party was ready for the 2018 elections and next week the commissariat department would be meeting provincial structures, starting with Matabeleland South.
He said he was not happy with the kind of reportage coming from the public media.
“We want to call upon our State-owned newspapers to help build the party,” he said. ‘’Like I said, let us not allow individual desires to become national desires. We have a country, we have a party, we have a leadership.
“I am appealing to the Press, please tone down the volume. We are not excited at all with the amount of noise that continues to occupy the front pages of this country. We deserve better news. We deserve better stories that unite, develop and move our nation forward. We are making a genuine appeal to all the leadership in the media that let us build our nation.”
Kasukuwere said the party leadership should disseminate developmental information on Zim-Asset and how the party and Government were dealing with challenges confronting the country.

MDC Spokesman Kurauone Chihwayi had a gun pointed at him and was beaten up by a ZRP officer.
The incident happened on Wednesday.

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has blocked the move to utilise biometric technology for national elections, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai says.
Below was his full statement released today Friday afternoon:
We meet amid a serious natio
nal crisis, now worse than what it was a month ago when I issued my end of year statement. Since then, things have gotten worse as exemplified by the promised bonus for civil servants still to be paid out, with the chances of it ever being paid out getting slimmer and slimmer by the day. In the countryside, poverty levels have worsened and people have no money in their pockets, a situation exacerbated by the food shortages that are set to worsen following yet another bleak farming season.
As a region and as a country, we are bearing the brunt of climate change, a serious issue that needs attention at policy level especially now as the entire SADC region faces a burgeoning food crisis. Millions of our citizens are staring starvation in the face unless we get urgent assistance to import about 1, 8 million tonnes of grain for both people and livestock. At the moment, we are told the country only has a paltry 250 000 tonnes of maize but surprisingly, but it took this government six months until only yesterday to declare this catastrophe a national emergency!
A debilitating crisis
In Matabeleland South, Masvingo and other parts of the country, Zimbabweans face imminent hunger. But amid all this looming starvation coupled with an economy on the ropes, no one is paying attention to this national crisis. There is no government response as Zanu PF is busy with what has become the grand preoccupation of everyone in this government—-the fight to succeed Mugabe.
We in the MDC have no intention to join their debate as the man declared at the recent AU summit that he will die in office. Our only concern is that whoever is in charge of the country at any given time must commit themselves to ensuring a stable, democratic country characterized by tolerance and prosperity. But while Rome is burning, the President and his two deputies could not afford to miss the luxury of their annual vacations outside the country, at the taxpayer’s expense, of course. In the case of one of the Vice Presidents, he came back from his annual vacation to continue with his occupancy of a five star-hotel in Harare, with his whole family including his grandchildren, again courtesy of the taxpayer!
Indeed, the current state of the nation resembles a national funeral; we are currently battling to meet our pledge to multilateral financiers to service billions of our external debt by April, there is 95 percent unemployment in the country, internal power generation capacity has drastically gone down; civil servants are on the edge because of unpredictable pay dates and their outstanding bonus while our public hospitals have run out of basic essential drugs. I have been meeting Zimbabweans across the country in the past few weeks and they have been telling me that the current crisis and the collapse of basic services are in sharp contrast to the good old days of the MDC in government! They were forthright and honest with me as to their trust and faith in the capacity of this party and this leadership.
It is now a matter of public record that the country’s economy is in turmoil. There is a serious liquidity crunch while revenue collections have drastically dwindled, typified by government’s failure to meet its wage bill. At a time when our economy needs a massive capital injection, no one is prepared to invest in the country and FDI has dried up. There is minimum trust and confidence in this government. As ordinary people, all we hear of are mega deals with China, amid this mega poverty in the country. These mega deals have not had any meaning and significance outside the government pronouncements in the State media. These billion dollar deals remain mere newspaper content that has not changed the lives of the people. From where the people stand, all they see around them is only poverty, suffering and looming starvation!
Just over a year ago, I published a treatise on my personal reflections, in which I described the country as having been turned into a huge mall of vendors; indeed a highly informal economy in which everyone is trying to sell something to someone. The situation is now even worse and the high unemployment level in the country and the economic collapse have become the most portent threat to national stability.
It is pertinent to note that the national crisis largely stems from the crisis of legitimacy, spawned by yet another stolen election in 2013. Since that monumental fraud, there has been a serious deficit of confidence in the regime in Harare. Unless and until we return to legitimacy through a truly free, fair and credible election, the national crisis will not relent. The collapse of the economy and its attendant problems are a mere window through which the political crisis of legitimacy is manifesting itself. The region, Africa and the rest of the world have to assist Zimbabweans in their call for far-reaching electoral reforms that will ensure a return to legitimacy.
We as political parties have joined hands in this national demand. In an unprecedented move, more than 10 political parties have signed up to the National Election Reform Agenda (NERA). Indeed, a truly credible election is now a precondition for the return to legitimacy, which must become an issue of national priority.

The demand for a credible election
As a party our decision not to participate in elections until the implementation of far-reaching reforms has resulted in a fruitful debate in the country and important steps being taken in the correct direction. That ZEC itself has acceded to a biometric voters roll and the debate around the involvement of the United Nations in running our elections are all issues on the front seat of the national debate because of the decision we in the MDC have taken against participation in mere rituals disguised elections.
We note the disturbing statements from Emmerson Mnangagwa that the UN and other countries except only those in Africa will be invited to observe our elections. He also disputed the ZEC position that it was seriously considering using a biometric voter’s roll, raising suspicion as to whether the electoral management body is really independent at all. The law is very clear that it is ZEC, an independent body, which must run elections and invite observers. For the executive to interfere and usurp this role by making premature statements on the biometric roll and observer missions; issues that fall under the purview of the election management body, vindicates what we in the MDC have always said that Zanu PF rigs elections and meddles with the work of independent conditions. Mnangagwa’s statements confirm that he is the hardliner that he has always been and not the reformist that some in the diplomatic community had begun to think he was.
We in the MDC welcome new, positive developments around elections and urge ZEC to reassert its independence. The electoral management body must adhere to SADC and AU standards governing the conduct of elections. They must proceed with the biometric voters roll in line with regional standards and, with the involvement of all stakeholders, come up with a comprehensive and cogent framework to facilitate voter education, a fresh voter registration exercise and other election logistics. The UN must not observe the elections, they must run them. Given our unique situation, the UN remains the only credible international body that should be involved in the actual management of the election to the satisfaction of all the parties.
Implementing the Constitution
Our government is not only struggling to meet its basic obligations but has abandoned all pretence at democratic governance. Chief among its many crimes is the failure to align the country’s laws to the new Constitution, crafted and overwhelmingly endorsed by the people of Zimbabwe in May 2013.
In that Constitution, among many other progressive provisions, Zimbabweans said they wanted devolution but more than two years after the election, that revolutionary provision has not in any way been implemented as the governance system remains highly centralized. What the Zanu PF government has done instead is to appoint Ministers of Provincial Affairs even in the two metropolitan provinces of Harare and Bulawayo where they lost dismally.
That new Constitution is one of our major success stories as the democratic movement in Zimbabwe but the government is developing frozen feet in living true to the wishes and aspirations of the citizens as expressed in that charter. Ours is a government that remains contemptuous of any agreement with anyone, including with its own people.
I also wish to advise that the current demolitions of people’s homes in Harare are diabolical and a gross violation of human rights. The people must know that it is government that is demolishing people’s houses. We have directed our councils not to destroy people’s homes but to ensure that those with destroyed homes are relocated to properly planned settlements under the direct authority of an elected local government. Most of these settlements now being demolished were unplanned dwellings encouraged by Zanu PF itself which the same government is now demolishing. On our part, we have instructed our local authorities to make sure that they do the humane thing, which is to relocate these stranded and homeless people to properly sanctioned areas.
The challenge for the region and the international community
For the region, Africa and the broader international community, the immediate challenge is the pending humanitarian crisis that needs to be addressed. This country alone will not be able to sufficiently mobilize adequate food stocks required, itself a sad indictment on the much-vaunted land reform programme that has not been underpinned by productivity. The country needs international assistance to mobilize humanitarian assistance to avert the imminent starvation and to ensure food security.
Related to this is the partisan distribution of food. We in the MDC have had our supporters being denied food handouts in most parts of the country because of their political affiliation. In parts of Manicaland, our people have stormed GMB depots and bravely demanded that food handouts be given in a non-partisan manner. There is indeed going to be a huge national demand for transparency and non-partisan distribution of food by our supporters in all parts of the country. Zanu PF should stand warned that we have told our supporters throughout the country to be vigilant and to boldly demand their share of what they should legitimately get from government.
Beyond the deceptive veneer of a stable country is a monumental crisis of multiple proportions that could implode any moment. Due to this government’s culture of repression and its unique capacity to successfully prevent people from expressing themselves, it would be folly for Africa and the world at large to mistake the people’s induced silence as a sign of stability in the country. What the world needs to appreciate is that when Zimbabweans eventually express themselves—as they certainly will in the not-so-distant future—the implosion will engulf the entire SADC region.
The current false peace is just calm before the storm. Given the worsening situation, it is only a matter of time before things come to a head; and the international community should take heed.
Until very recently, President Mugabe was the chairperson of the African Union and SADC. It appears some in Africa and the broader international community had allowed his occupation of those rotational positions to cloud them from making an objective and rational judgment regarding the situation in Zimbabwe. Only last week, he was breathing fire and brimstone on the need to reform the United Nations Security Council.
Yes Mr President. We agree that the UN must be democratised. But charity begins at home. There must also be reform in Zimbabwe in every aspect of our lives. This country must also be democratised so that no one lives in fear of being another Itai Dzamara.
I am aware that the EU has decided to re-engage Zimbabwe and I know that the people of Zimbabwe stand to benefit from any form of re-engagement. But I wish to restate our position that the international community must not just re-engage without a framework. They must insist on implementation of agreed electoral conditions and the embracing of universally acceptable standards by the authorities in Harare. The world must insist on the need to respect the rule of law and the conditions sanctioned by SADC to ensure that the next election is vaccinated from the periodic mischief that has blighted the credibility of all our elections.
Any re-engagement must be accompanied by a stubborn insistence on universally accepted standards that ensure the guarantee of full freedoms and the enfranchising of the ordinary citizen. Any re-engagement must be alive to the past and present acts of omission and commission and the crimes committed against the innocent citizens of the people of Zimbabwe.
The challenge to the democratic movement
However, I do not wish to only pose challenges to the world without giving the same challenges to us as opposition parties and the broad democratic movement. Petty squabbles and hatred of fellow opposition personalities must not cloud us from the patriotic responsibility to confront Zanu PF and to chart a new Zimbabwe together. Collectively, e must outgrow the selfish mindset of thinking that we can go it alone. We all need each other as a broad family of united, patriotic Zimbabweans if we are to bring a new democratic dispensation whose hour has come!
We definitely need each other and that is why the party I lead took a resolution at the last Congress that we will work with other like-minded institutions to confront the beast. In the same vein, I wish to commend other political parties with whom we crafted the National Electoral Reform Agenda. NERA is clear evidence that it is possible for us to come together and I appeal for the same spirit of patriotism to continue bringing us together on many other issues on which our togetherness will yield positive results for the sake of our beloved country.
I want to warn Zanu PF under the ambit of NERA, we will collectively do everything—-and I mean everything…..to ensure that we have credible election in 2018.
As the broad democratic movement, we have many points of convergence and it behoves upon us to harp on those areas we agree on so that we work together for the sake of our country. It is clear the only game changer ahead of the next election is for us in the democratic movement to work together and re-ignite the floundering confidence of the people of Zimbabwe that the change we seek will indeed be achieved in the very near future.. We owe it to history to seize this moment and work for our country. I remain encouraged by the spirit of togetherness that is gathering momentum amongst us. I want to boldly declare to the people of Zimbabwe that beneath the current facade, we are surely and definitely finding each other, the only condition being that any discussion must be a discussion of institutions and not individuals.
Conclusion
It is clear that that the country needs to open a new leaf. We cannot continue like this and it is inevitable that something has got to give! We in the democratic movement have no option but to come together and, as I have said, I am encouraged by the fact that we seem to be finding each other.
To our colleagues in Zanu PF, I reiterate the proposal I have always given them. It would be in their best interest if they agreed to a dialogue of a broad cross-section of stakeholders beyond just political parties. Our experience is that we need more than an elite conversation of political parties. We need a conversation of Zimbabweans; a conversation that must include business, labour, the informal sector and all the other stakeholders and interest groups keen on finding a lasting solution to the country’s crisis.
Indeed, once bitten, twice shy. This national conversation should not be premised on the intention of forming another inclusive government but on hammering a way out of the crisis of legitimacy. We need to agree on a framework for a truly free, fair and credible election. Only then can we begin to resolve the country’s crisis. Zanu PF may spurn this call for a national conversation but history will judge them harshly for having buried their heads in the sand in this crucial hour. If Zanu PF chooses not to talk with the broad section of stakeholders, then Zimbabweans in their broad sense will definitely speak to each other to the exclusion of Zanu PF.
In the past few weeks, I have been meeting with ordinary people in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo. I feel emboldened and encouraged by the unstinting faith that the ordinary person has with this people’s project called the MDC. They still remember with nostalgia the days of the MDC in government when we opened schools, hospitals and other basic services that had been shut down by Zanu PF incompetence.
They miss our competent hand on the wheel of government. The glorious past of national stability, national peace and national prosperity with the MDC in government has become a distant past……..indeed a distant past that Zimbabweans can only remember with nostalgia. It was heartening during my interactions with the people in the past one month to note that apart from their poverty and suffering, they still retain unstinting faith in us; indeed they are certain that a new Zimbabwe beckons and is definitely on the horizon.
I thank you

Zimbabwe on Thursday tightened controls on offshore investments to plug foreign currency leakages after the country lost $1,8 billion in illicit financial flows last year — over a third by individuals.
Zimbabwe is in the throes of a cash squeeze after abandoning its hyperinflation-ravaged local currency in 2009 and adopted mainly the US dollar whose supply is limited. Presenting the Monetary Policy governor John Mangudya said foreign currency outflows were worsening the already critical liquidity in the economy.
RBZ records show that $684 million was externalized by individuals in 2015 for various for various purposes that include donations, investments and account transfers.
Firms externalized $1, 2 billion in the form of export sales proceeds and highly inflated management fees, technical and professional fees.
“In order to guard against externalisation by related companies through service payments, management fees, technical fees, service fees or by whatever name they come under, shall not exceed an aggregate of 3 percent of revenue and shall require Bank approval,” said Mangudya.
“Individual and corporate investments offshore of more than $10,000 should be declared to authorities with any such investments in the future requiring Bank approval.”
Mangudya said despite the leakages the banking sector was in a sound state in 2015 with deposits going up 11, 2 percent to $5,6 billion as at 31 December.
Non-performing loans went down from 14, 5 percent as at June to 10,9 percent in December.
“This is largely attributable to the disposal of qualifying loans to ZAMCO and the effective credit risk management strategies employed by banks.
In order to increase liquidity and minimize payment gridlocks the central bank increased financial institutions’ nostro limits from five to 10 percent of the bank’s total deposits.
Mangudya also said Zimbabwe will now allow foreign investors to buy stakes of up to 49 percent in companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange from 40 percent previously to boost investment.
The southern Africa country’s economy is suffering from low growth and a devastating drought pressured by low commodity prices and a strong US dollar.
“We have also increased the threshold of foreign investors on the stock exchange from 40 percent to 49 percent in line with the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy,” said Mandudya.-Source

Twenty school heads in the Midlands Province have been suspended for allegedly embezzling school development association (SDA) funds and fraud.
Among the suspended are the Guinea Fowl High School head Manson Mudzingwa and Kwekwe High School headmaster only identified as Shumba, who were served with suspension letters last week.
Mudzingwa is allegedly facing 19 counts to do with of abuse of office, SDA funds and school property. Shumba is allegedly facing one count of improper association for yet unknown charges.
The suspension of the school heads is a follow-up on the purge of unscrupulous Government school heads by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
Ministry officials said at least 10 school heads were suspended after a recent audit conducted by the ministry exposed misappropriation of funds in the schools.
Midlands Provincial Education Director Agnes Gudo confirmed the suspension of the school heads.
She, however, said the number of suspended school heads was not more than 20.
Gudo also did not divulge the amounts involved but parents said the amount ran into millions of dollars.
“Yes, there are school heads that have been suspended but I have no actual numbers but they could be around 10 school heads,” she said.
Patrick Zumbo, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, promised to respond to questions from Chronicle on the exact number of suspended school heads by the close of business yesterday but had not done so.
Last year in November, the heads of Chikumbiro Primary, Mkoba 3 and Nkululeko High Schools were suspended after being implicated in the financial rot following audits.
Mkoba 3 High School headmaster Ronnie Munhenzwa and his Nkululeko High counterpart Jealous Sungwa were served with suspension letters on November 2.
Tariro Matongo, the head of Chikumbiro Primary School, received her letter a week earlier.
Also last year, in Bulawayo Milton High School head William Ncube and his deputy Nosizi Muleya were suspended for alleged abuse of funds.
Townsend High School headmistress Millicent Moyo was censured for contravening the Public Finance Management Act and the Treasury Instructions Act after auctioning pupils’ cellphones without permission.
Forensic audits ordered by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education have revealed that school authorities across the country could have embezzled millions of dollars from levies paid by parents.
According to the report, about 1 800 schools (18 percent) have been audited and the exercise has unearthed massive doctoring of accounts and documents to conceal the shenanigans.
Professor Paul Mavhima, the Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, confirmed that the audits unearthed massive theft of funds by school authorities.
He said schools were handling about $1 billion in levies each year.
Prof Mavhima said if misappropriation was allowed to continue, it would result in schools failing to undertake infrastructure development. – State Media

 
The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), which last year introduced forced leave on soldiers as a cost cutting measure, is struggling to feed soldiers in army barracks countrywide, it has emerged.
Elias Mambo|Standard| Military sources this week said the barracks have been running without adequate food supplies forcing soldiers to improvise and look for alternative food sources.
Efforts to get a comment from the army were fruitless as the director of army public relations Lieutenant Colonel Alphios Makotore had not responded to questions sent to him by the time of going to print.
The army had requested that questions be sent to the public relations department in writing. An email was sent to the PR secretary Peter Kamonera who confirmed having received it and promised to send the responses before deadline. Sources, however, said the food shortages were dire.
“There were no supplies in Gutu (4,2 Combat group) barracks since Friday last week,” the source said.
“Supplies only came yesterday (Tuesday) but we are not sure whether the new supplies will take us through the forthcoming week,” the source said adding: “It was only rice that was delivered.”
Sources at the Commando Regiment headquarters in Cranborne also said food supplies were in short supply since the beginning of January.
“We no longer have breakfast. Lunch is provided but very few officers do eat in the canteen because it is mainly sadza and beans or at times cabbages. If it is not beans or vegetables then it will be sadza and sour milk which comes in bulk from Gushungo Dairy,” the source said.
Military sources also said Bulawayo’s 1 Brigade and Imbizo barracks have been hard hit by food shortages resulting in soldiers and army recruits surviving on boiled cabbages and beans.
Since 2013, the ZNA has been operating on a shoestring budget resulting in military bosses ordering soldiers to look for alternative accommodation, in a desperate effort to reduce costs by limiting the number of personnel staying in barracks.
This, however, comes at a time when the Defence ministry was allocated US$358 million by Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa in his 2016 budget statement.
Last year, ZNA ordered its members to go on forced one-month paid leave after every month in an effort to reduce expenditure on food bills, utilities and other expenses at barracks.
ZNA later introduced a forced two-weeks break for soldiers every month as a cost cutting measure, but ZNA members revealed that they were expected to be off duty for a month after every month.
This means members of ZNA effectively work for six months a year although they may be recalled at no notice should there be an emergency.
The army is reportedly, in addition to shortages of food, also struggling with basics such as uniforms.
This week Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi admitted things are not well in the army and assured troops that his ministry was working tirelessly to improve their conditions of service, which have deteriorated over the years owing to poor economic conditions, which Zanu PF blames on sanctions although critics say it is because of the party’s ruinous economic policies.
“I know that for now there are challenges. These facilities are not adequate but you can be sure that the government is doing everything in its power to make sure that we have decent accommodation,” he said while addressing students of the joint command and staff on the country’s Defence Policy at the Zimbabwe Staff College.

Welshman Ncube led Movement for Democratic Change’s Spokesperson Kurauone Chihwayi on Thursday dismissed as “stinking” falsehoods reports that  senior members of their party were  teaming up to pass a vote of confidence against their leader.
There were reports Wednesday that efforts by some senior MDC party to impeach the former Industry and Commerce Minister were at an advanced stage.
Ncube was said to be impeached for personalising the political movement by making unilateral appointment to key party positions.
In an interview with ZimEye.com Thursday Chihwayi said the party was aware of “some” elements within the party who were struggling to collapse “our vibrant” movement.
“The MDC is too strong and too stable to be shaken by these stinking falsehoods cooked by desperate dissidents that we know,”said Chihwayi.
“King Welsh is in-charge and in control, and is not going anywhere”.
Chihwayi said those wishing to take leadership positions should wait for the party’s congress.
“The Green machine will unmask the idiots who are trying to build their profiles using falsehoods and Professor Welshman Ncube is the most sober and principled political leader on the market in Zimbabwe,”he said.
“Only an idiot can believe these baseless ouster claims, we are a happy and united family working on very exciting party programmes for our supporters and members.
“Professor Welshman Ncube is the legitimate President of the rejuvenated and lubricated MDC”.

By RTUZ |The Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (RTUZ) notes the announcement coming from the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Patrick Chinamasa, that civil servants bonuses which were due in November 2015 will be paid starting in February 2016 stretching to May 2016. This is welcome progress but we still wait for actual dates to be pronounced and the use of proper channels in communicating this government position.
While this position that Minister Chinamasa is announcing comes as sweet news to the long suffering government workers and is also a serious climb down by government which had earlier in the year declared that ‘bonuses were not a priority.’
After this insulting declaration from government, RTUZ gave the government up to the 15^th of February 2016 to sort out its mess and give bonus dates or else the union would mobilize its members and other civil servants to pour into the streets of Bulawayo and Harare demanding that those that have failed must just ship out.
Hence Chinamasa’s climb down and subsequent unveiling of bonus dates is a clear victory for the union. RTUZ is however not naïve and until the bonuses are in our accounts we will remain vigilant and on stand-by to ensure that the government honours its pledge.
It must also be understood that there still a number of outstanding challenges confronting teachers and government workers in general.
Firstly the issue of the unilateral 7.5% pension deduction which the government imposed via the 2016 national budget is out of order. The government workers are still earning far below the poverty datum line hence the scheme cannot be introduced now as it will leave the workers worse off given the meager salaries they are earning.
More importantly, the pension management framework needs to be agreed on by the government workers and the government itself. Thousands of workers had their pension savings eroded when the Zim-dollar was dumped amid hyperinflation.
Corruption is also rife in the management of these pensions and there is need for a transparent and real time remittance and accounting system which will guard against abuse of the funds. As it stands no one knows where the funds are being remitted if at all. This is unacceptable and RTUZ reiterates that this scheme be stopped forthwith.
The secondly the unilateral cancellation of vacation leave for teachers is a gross violation of workers’ rights as guaranteed in section 65 of the constitution and also section 68 which guarantees the right to administrative justice.
For the government to unilaterally cancel a condition of service which was part of the employees’ contract midway into the agreement is the hallmark of unfair labour practices and as a union we will be taking this case to the Constitutional Court for redress.
If these two critical matters are not addressed with the urgency they deserve the union will turn to the streets to push this government, as we have done before, to respect its workers. Meanwhile RTUZ is consulting with its members on whether or not to take to the streets on the 26^th of February 2016 if the 7.5% deductions continue.