It never rains but pours for Zimbabwe’s workers who barely a week ago were told they are no longer entitled to retrenchment pay.
The Supreme Court has made another landmark labour ruling giving employers the right to withdraw employees’ allowances and benefits saying these were not a right or entitlement.
This comes barely 14 days after the same court gave the employer the right to terminate workers’ contracts and offload them at three months’ notice without having to pay retrenchment packages.
In a judgment delivered at the Supreme Court, in a matter involving the National Railways of Zimbabwe against all its employees’ associations who were demanding payment of outstanding housing and educational allowances, the court said the NRZ had no obligation to pay such allowances since issues of allowances were based on collective bargaining agreements.
“The appellant’s (NRZ) position at all times was that it preferred to negotiate on basic salaries and not allowances. In my view both the Labour Court and the Arbitrator ought to have found that the allowances, not having been negotiated by the parties and therefore not forming part of their collective bargaining agreement, were not a right or entitlement for appropriation by the respondents,” the court said.
“They (allowances) cannot be imposed by the arbitrator, or indeed any court, in the same way that a court cannot write a contract for the parties. What occurred in this case was totally improper. The Labour Officer, the Arbitrator and the labour Court all missed the point.”- Newsday

The Marange community was left in shivers after a villager went berserk and brutally murdered his brother in cold blood, sliced his body into pieces before hiding the deceased’s private parts in a beehive following a misunderstanding over meat.
Tonderai Kichini (31) of Machiwanga Village allegedly dragged Tichaona Kichini’s body from the room where he had butchered him and chopped it into several pieces using a knife and axe.
Tonderai went further to pack the deceased’s body parts into two 50kg sacks and threw them into a disused well. He also took Tichaona’s head and private parts and hid them in a beehive.
Manicaland provincial police spokesman, Assistant Inspector Luxson Chananda, confirmed the brutal murder and said on July 15, at around 10am, a neighbour saw one of the dogs eating a piece of meat.
“He became suspicious and monitored his dogs’ movements. He saw some traces of blood which led him to the now deceased’s kitchen hut,” he said.
Last Saturday, Tonderai appeared before Mutare magistrate, Mr Langton Mukwengi, facing murder charges.
He was asked to apply for bail at the High Court since he was facing a Third Schedule offence.
It was the State’s case led by Mr Shepherd Chavarika that Tichaona had asked his brother, Tonderai for keys to their kitchen hut where he wanted to collect some food.
Tichaona refused to hand over the keys and this did not go down well with the accused.
He then drew an iron bar from the fireplace and struck his brother thrice on the head, before he collapsed and died.
“When he realised that he had killed his brother, Kichini took an axe and a knife with which he used to cut his brother into pieces. He cut off the head and private parts before crushing them using mortar and a pestle.
“He later took the chunks and stuffed them in a beehive. He then took the remaining body parts and buried them in a dry disused well.”
The court also learnt that Kichini’s was once convicted of assault. His mental status is also questionable.
He will be back in the dock on July 29.-

Manicapost

ZIMBABWE’S FIRST Lady Grace Mugabe has for the first time revealed that her husband’s party Zanu PF is plotting to dislodge her.
She at the weekend blew into the open standing rumours that bigwigs hoping to succeed President Robert Mugabe are on a bloody campaign fearing that she harboured ambitions to take over the Presidency from her 91-year-old husband.
Mrs Mugabe told the State media during her lavish 50th birthday celebrations at their posh Borrowdale home on Saturday that Zanu PF had been rocked by power struggles centred on succession.
She said some of the smear campaigns were being channelled through the media.
“We hear a lot of things being said about us (First Family), allegations being made that she has presidential ambitions,” Grace said.
“When these people who actually think they are the ones to take over after Mugabe imagine that Mugabe’s wife has those ambitions, they actually start mudslinging. I know some detractors are writing about it, that Mugabe is grooming his wife to become the President after he retires, and it will never stop because there are people who think they are the ones to take over out there,” she said.
“And they think that if Mugabe is really grooming his wife, we must ensure we pull her down and this is what has been happening. It is all about those people who fear they may wake up one morning with Mugabe’s wife as the President.”
Grace, however, ruled herself out of the presidential race or any other political office besides her Women’s League post, but said some Zanu PF hawks were burning the midnight candle at both ends plotting against her to ensure Mugabe did not anoint her successor.
Observers have said Grace’s remarks were aimed at Mugabe’s two deputies, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko.
Last month, Mugabe publicly accused the two politicians of leading factional groups in the race to succeed him.
Since Grace’s entry into politics as Zanu PF Women’s League boss last year, her influence on Mugabe and Zanu PF has been growing by leaps and bounds with some observers saying she had become the de facto President of the country.
Mugabe himself has admitted Grace’s influence over him and recently, Grace made another more profound revelation that Mnangagwa and Mphoko took instructions from her on how to run government affairs.
Mnangagwa is widely believed to be leading a faction angling to take over from Mugabe, and is now squaring off with the G40, reportedly fronted by political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere and Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo with the backing of Mphoko.
In her interview, Grace said those angling to take power had been approaching her to find out if she would be running for the Presidency after Mugabe.
She added: “There are people who come to me . . . and I have told them in no uncertain terms: ‘In future, don’t come and ask me that question. Tell whoever has sent you that they must keep it to themselves.’ I don’t have the ambition to run for the Presidency.”
Grace said she was not interested in politics, but women’s issues only.
“I have never — in any way, in any place, at any time — said I would want to be the President of this country.”
The First Lady also all but confirmed her influence on her ageing husband and his ruling Zanu PF party when she said nothing could stand in her way if she wanted to be a Cabinet minister.
“If I had really wanted, if I had been as ambitious as they say, I would have said yes, I want to be a minister. There was nothing to stop me anyway, but I said no because I didn’t want to,” she said.
Grace said former Vice-President Joice Mujuru had a perfect chance of succeeding Mugabe had she maintained her cool and stopped poking at her.
Her Saturday birthday bash — attended by over 2 000 people and beamed live on national television — coincided with her first anniversary in politics.(Newsday/Additional Reporting)

The Zaoga church members in Mucheke surbub  of Masvingo were left shell shocked when their elder a married man, was found dead at one of the sex workers’ houses.
It is alleged that Gifford Mudondo  67 was found dead a few minutes after the two had been intimate.
Acting spokesperson of Masvingo police Assistant Nkululeko Nduna confirmed that the incident took place on Monday. “Gifford Mudondo (67) was found dead in Maida Chin’anga’s bedroom on her bed with his trousers on the floor,” he said. 
The police attended the scene after they were notified about the incident and when they arrived, they collected Mudondo’s body from the woman’s bedroom. This was a shock especially to his family and church members.
An elder has the same status and rank as that of a pastor.
His close relatives believed that Mudondo had gone to the woman’s house to place orders as the woman is a tailor, but could not explain how he ended up dead and naked in her bedroom.
Close sources said Mudondo who works as a driver went to Mucheke Bus Terminus after work and parked his vehicle before proceeding to Chin’anga’s house in the same suburb.
“Mudondo left his vehicle parked at the terminus apparently to avoid being seen by other congregants. The next thing we heard that he is dead and his body was found on the woman’s bed while naked with his trousers on the floor,” said one resident.
He went on to say it was a lie that Mudondo had gone to place orders since the woman is a tailor.
Instead he saidMudondo was Chin’anga’s well-known client and their secret was known and some congregants were fully aware of it.
“What we got pertaining to this incident is that Mudondo and Chin’anga were intimate. The two were seen on several occasions together despite the fact that the man is a church elder at Zaoga and the woman, a known sex worker in the location,” he said.
After the incident, Chin’anga confided in her friends within the same location about what had happened and one of them advised her to alert the police.
The police attended the scene and removed the body from the bedroom .The body was taken to Masvingo General Hospital mortuary for a post-mortem. – State Media

Robert Mugabe’s securocrats have begun approaching the MDC-T seeking for some sort of a reunion in order to fix the economy, highly placed Morgan Tsvangirai sources have claimed.

Mugabe’s security agents who include Service Chiefs are the ones who have for years assisted President Robert Mugabe to “rig” elections and clinch onto power. In March 2008 after Mugabe was beaten in the first round of the Presidential polls by  Morgan Tsvangirai, when the “junta” openly manipulated figures denying Tsvangirai his win.

They held on to the Presidential poll results for over six weeks and only to  announce that Tsvangirai had not garnered enough votes that would allow him to take over  from Mugabe.

“They (top security officers) are making concerted efforts trying to invite the party for talks,” said a senior official in Tsvangirai’s MDC party who cannot be named due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.

They continued, “they are saying we should meet as a party and assist government with ideas of how we could together shape the economy.

“But we are very careful because we do not trust these guys. Remember some of them have publicly declared their patronage to Zanu PF and have vowed to die for Mugabe .So ware treating them with due care”.

President Robert Mugabe’s Spokesman George Charamba was not available for comment at the time of writing as his phone kept ringing without being answered.

Two ZRP cops stationed at Beitbridge Border Post were caught in the act issuing fake receipts at Beitbridge border post.
The incident occurred on the 29th March.
Judgment in the case where the two police officers are charged for making a duplicate receipt book which they used to collect fines from undocumented migrants has been set for August 8.
Tendai Machanzi and Define Ndere ran out of luck when their supervisor picked the anomaly during routine checks. They had already collected fines amounting to R6 200 using the counterfeit receipt book. Illegal migrants who enter the country through the ports of entry are fined $10 or R100 for entry by evasion under the provisions of the Immigration Act.
Through their lawyer, Patrick Tererari of Tererai Legal Practice, the duo denied the allegations when they appeared before Beitbridge resident magistrate Miss Gloria Takundwa.
They were remanded out of custody on $100 bail each.
Prosecuting, Mr Jabulani Mberesi told the court that both the accused persons are deployed at the police post within the border.
He said on March 29, they commenced duty at around 11pm where Machanzi was the officer-in-charge and he received nine Z69 (J) police receipt books during hand over and takeover of office from the previous shift leader.
The accused persons were working at the police post where, among their duties, receipting of deposit fines from offenders was included.

First Lady Grace Mugabe has revealed that she used to climb trees the same way young boys do.
Speaking during her birthday celebrations as she called for gender equality,  Grace indicated she ruled the jungle.
The First Lady who was born in the diaspora in South Africa after her parents migrated in search of greener pastures, said she
“ grew up in a rural background, typical African rural environment.”
She continued, “I grew up a very disciplined girl. I could stand my ground among my peers. I could climb trees, milk cows, fetch firewood and carry a bucket of water on my head.”
Grace called for equality between boys and girls, saying it was good that the new Constitution recognised gender equality.
She said girls should be empowered through education and praised President Mugabe for education policies which encouraged people to go to school.
“I realised early in my life as I grew up the importance of education and the difference it makes to one’s life,” she said.
“Education is the only chance that the girl child has to rise above the cultural customary practices that continue to cast women as inferior to their male counterparts.”

First Lady Grace Mugabe has revealed that her body is under attack from numerous ailments years running culminating to the last one this year which was cancer at the intestines.
Speaking during her birthday celebrations in Harare, Grace indicated she has been slain by numerous attacks the latest one which was cancer.
She told delegates, “I am, therefore, most grateful to you all for accepting the invitation to come here to celebrate with me and my family the precious gift of life which God has given me over these past 50 years.
“They have been 50 years full of illnesses for me. The other day when I returned from Singapore after I had been hospitalised, I had undergone surgery there, and I was trying to narrate to people my medical history.
“I am a very strong person. I don;t think if I wasn’t that strong I would be here today. When we were coming over to this marquee here I was saying to my husband ‘thank you very much for being there for me, I have been very sick and you have been always on my side’ and I went on to say ‘if it wasn’t for you, for that support morally and financially I would be dead by now’. I went on to say to him that ‘I don’t think if I were married to somebody else I would be alive today because I have gone through a lot’.”
Mrs Mugabe said it all started in 1986 when she had her tonsils taken out and 10 years later in 1996 she was under the knife again when her gall bladder was removed because she had developed gall stones.
“And then 10 years after, in 2006, I contracted pneumonia and the doctors started treating me for malaria and then they realised that no it wasn’t malaria, it was pneumonia and the treatment came quite late,” she said.
“I almost lost my life there, but God wanted me to live for a reason, I suppose for the children that I have adopted. By the way, the children are now 90 of them. The 90th one came only two days ago from Masvingo.”
She said a few months ago she went under the knife again to have her appendix removed.
Although she said that the ailment was an appendix infection, close family sources have revealed that she was actually attacked by colon cancer.
She continued, “so, you can imagine, I was talking with people in hospital that you know the doctors, they are giving me anesthesia and then they view my body,” she said. “I have gone under body viewing many times by the doctors inside out.
“But I thank God because I am a very strong person. I do not think a person would have gone through so many operations would be as strong as I am, but I thank God for that.”

STATEMENT OF THE MONTH:

“We haven’t inherited this land from our fore fathers. We have borrowed it from our children,” Barack Obama in Nairobi, Kenya.

Nearly five months after the disappearance of democracy activist Itai Dzamara, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) spokesman Mfundo Mlilo and programmes manager Nixon Nyikadzino were on Saturday arrested by ZRP cops and harassed for having visited National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe (Navuz) chairman Sten Zvorwadza, his director Samuel Wadzanai and 14 other vendors who are in remand prison after they were denied bail on public violence charges.

Tichaona Danho, the Occupy Africa Unity Square (OAUS) member who was one of the two who accompanied Itai Dzamara when he first handed in the original petition on 17th October 2014 was called in to answer questions about an alleged threat towards a police officer. Mr Danho reported to Harare Central Police Station on Wednesday 22 July 2015 as instructed in company of Advocate Kwaramba from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR). He was kept in custody over night and released the next day.
Another OAUS member Charles Nyoni was arrested by the Zimbabwe police on Friday 14 July 2015 afternoon. Charles Nyoni, CRISIS in Zimbabwe Coalition Information Officer, Edgar Gweshe and another unnamed activist were detained by the Zimbabwe Prison Services at Harare Remand Prison. The three were part of a group of over 50 Civil Society members who had gone to Harare Remand Prison on a solidarity visit for arrested National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe (NAVUZ) leaders and vendors. Charles was released on bail the next day.
Dirk Frey, the deputy chairperson of OAUS was taken by police on Saturday 25 July 2015 for questioning and is still in custody.
OAUS condemns the continued blitz against its members and leaders of other civic societies. OAUS is urging the government of Zimbabwe to focus attention and redirect their resources to the deteriorating economy of Zimbabwe. The government should not attempt to draw away people’s attention from the houses that are being demolished on another wave of Murambatsvina 2. The government has failed to provide the 2.5 million jobs it promised us and our jobless youths are finding life meaningless as they aimlessly roam the streets of Zimbabwe. Employees are getting fired from work without adequate notice; instead the government is busy persecuting peaceful human rights defenders. We have been reduced to a nation of vendors and beggars. There are more demanding matters of the state than the systematic and brutal persecution of peaceful civil protestors.
OAUS would like to reiterate the call made by the Civil Society of Zimbabwe which demands and call upon;
1. The Government of Zimbabwe to immediately release the civil society leaders and activists.
2. The Government of Zimbabwe to desist from intimidating, harassing and interfering of legitimate operations of civil society in Zimbabwe.
3. The ZPCS and ZRP to exercise professionalism and carry out their duties in non-partisan manner with due diligence and stop harassing and intimidating human rights defenders.
4. The Government of Zimbabwe should create an enabling environment for CSOs in accordance with the Zimbabwean Constitution and the various regional and international norms which Zimbabwe has signed which protects fundamental rights of human rights defenders to exist and be protected by law, to organize associate and carry out peaceful and legitimate activities.
5. The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) to condemn this act of repression and demand, from the current Chair, guarantees for Zimbabwean CSOs to operate freely.
OAUS would like to stand shoulder to shoulder with all Civic Societies whose leaders and members are being persecuted day and night.
OAUS would like to remind the government of Zimbabwe that under The Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
· Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
· Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
· Article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
· Article 9: No one should be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
· Article 10: Everyone is entitled in full equality and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him or her.
· Article 12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
· Article 13: Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
· Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers
· Article 20: (i) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (ii) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
The above Human Rights Declaration, together with our 10 Golden Rules; which promotes non-violent protest is our flagship and we have the right to uphold them. Our leader, Itai Dzamara, as a citizen of Zimbabwe, had the right to exercise the above rights. We therefore call upon the government of Zimbabwe to pragmatically assist and facilitate the safe return of Itai Dzamara. We also call upon the government of Zimbabwe to stop the persecution, intimidation of our members and the immediate release of all detained civic society leaders.
WE ARE THE PEOPLE. WE ARE THE NUMBERS. LET’S GO!
Occupy Africa Unity Square.
Tendai Kwari.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday stood astute as he was worshiped by his critic Solomon Madzore’s father, party cadres say.
Pictures from the Buhera rally on Saturday show Elder Madzore kneeling at the ground while clasping his hands for Tsvangirai. In the act, the elderly man looked up to Tsvangirai in full view of the crowd. According to rally-commissar Job Sikhala, Elder Madzore dropped to the dusty ground to apologise for the way his sons Solomon and Paul have “sinned” against Tsvangirai.

Sikhala wrote of the pictures saying this is “Paul and Solomon Madzore’s father apologizing to Morgan Tsvangirai at a Rally in Buhera today about what his sons are doing to him,” said Sikhala.
Sikhala’s comments drew a flood of attacks from news readers.
“There is nothing to apologize since his sons have their rights to chose a group or political party of their choice. Kusarudza bato raunoda is not like kudyisa mombe dzako mumunda waTsvangirai,” wrote one contributor on the Zim Policy Dialogue forum.
“Tsvangirai must STOP IT, ” wrote Mugabe supporter Kisnot Mukwazhe.
Added ZimEye columnist Ndaba Nhuku, “does MT have to allow everything that Mugabe does to be part of his own political drama? No! He should have long stopped this nyaya yokupfugamirwa like some Lord!! Seems he loves it yet we always criticise Mugabe’s attack dogs for doing exactly that.”

By Shiellah Sibanda|MDC-T Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora is on his way to the United Kingdom to prepare for 2018 elections.
At at time when Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF is destroying itself through bitter purges, the MDC-T has firmly set its eyes on the upcoming 2018 elections beginning its first massive fund-raising shows in the United Kingdom.
A team of officials led by Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora are on their way to be in England early in July in preparation for a massive music gala fund-raiser in the posh city of Oxford, ZimEye.com can reveal.
Fund-raising has become vital after the ZANU PF government strangled the MDC parties by failing to release up to $3million of political party funds as allocated by the Constitution.

The trip has been facilitated by the MDC-T party’s most organised branch, Oxford, led by the prolific chairman Chrispen Chamburuka who has outshined many both within and outside Zimbabwe. Oxford has for years financed the MDC party from its cashbook including ensuring that the party retains Thabitha Khumalo’s Bulawayo East constituency.
Accompanying Mwonzora is Treasurer General Theresa Makone, Abednico Bhebhe, and Deputy Spokesperson, Thabitha Khumalo.
The function will be held on the 1st August, at the large Exeter Hall, Oxford, OX5 1AB(picture below)

A Harare man tortured his daughter with hot burning paraffin which he poured onto his daughter’s sensitive lower abdomen.
The man faces jail following charges that he poured paraffin onto his seven-year-old daughter’s private parts.
It is alleged that this was a way to punish the girl for testifying against him in court for a case in which the daughter testified against him.
The police have said the mother of the child recently approached the Civil Court to seek a protection order against the husband, who she accused of both physically and verbally abusing her in the presence of their two daughters .
The woman was granted the order after the daughter testified.
Harare police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Simon Chazovachiyi said after the court process, the father after a drinking session went home and interrogated the daughter on revealing what was happening in the family.
Police say the daughter did not respond and this led the man to pour paraffin on her private parts resulting in the girl developing blisters.
The mother reported the matter to the nearest ZRP office leading to the man’s arrest. He is being held at Mabvuku Police Station and will appear in court this week.

• I even refused to be a Minister – Grace

Grace Mugabe has answered the “X Question” many Zimbabweans have been asking all along, about her future political role.
The First Lady said she has no presidential ambitions at all. “I have never said in any way, in any place at any time I would want to be President of this country,” she said.
Grace said this because she had been asked several times and now has made it clear that she did not want to lead Zimbabwe,a country that her husband has ruled for more than three decades.
Grace went on to say that she has enough on her plate for now especially her charity work, and has even rejected a ministerial post. She said if she was power hungry as some people think she would be a minister right now. The post was available for her but she declined it. “There was nothing to stop me,” said Grace.
During the same time she also verbally attacked Joice Mujuru blaming her for plotting to overthrow her husband from power. ” I loved Joice Mujuru,but what she did was wrong or maybe she was surrounded by wrong people who were advising her that way.” she said.

Friends of abducted activist Itai Dzamara have been arrested.
Mfundo Mlilo, Nixon Nyikadzino and Dirk Friey were pounced on by cops on unclear charges.
The Zimbabwe Informal Sector Organisation, ZISO announced that it  “condemns the arrest of civil society leaders today in Harare. Mfundo Mlilo, Nixon Nyikadzino and Dirk Friey.
“The arrests reflect the escalation of paranoia and repression of the regime,” the NGO said in a statement.
It continued, “this is happening amid acute economic decline and a sharp rise in poverty levels lending unsustainable strain on the informal sector.
“The government is urged to urgently address the root causes of the rising crisis. The state’s heavy handedness continues to dent prospects for meaningful public-private-perrnership to stimulate economic recovery.”
More to follow…

Following a recent court ruling on the dismissal of employees by companies, the Bulawayo’s Old People have suffered a blow as their vegetables were stolen this week by suspected unemployed youths who have been suddenly laid off work.

According to the Luveve Old people’s Community Nutritional Garden secretary, Mrs Betty Sibanda, their rich assortment of vegetables has been wholly uprooted by thieves during the night, leaving them with only about 7 % of their total plot produce.This happened soon after court ruling.
Most of the youths were fired by their employers in the nearby Kelvin and Belmont industrial factories. These youths have since resorted to theft and robbery and have left residents stuck in fear of the attackers now described as “deadly” .
“We have been left with nothing by thieves, who invaded our garden project and stole almost all our intended market produce. We have been forced to replant after this disaster. This all happened after the court ruling on employment, and several people have been retrenched.” she said shaking her head in anger.
Michael Ndlovu, whose section was also left with only three onion plants, blamed the government for allowing such a law to pass, causing the rise of theft and robberies in the once quiet environment of Luveve,” he said.
Pictures taken by ZimEye.com, in the community garden said it all, as the old farmers have been left to restart their season in a sad re-return.
The nutritional gardens have been a successful courtesy of a local trust and Australian partners in their efforts to reduce poverty among the poor urban dwellers.
The labour ruling that was exposed by Movement for Democratic Change legislator, Nelson Chamisa, has been a talk of Zimbabwe, as it has caused chaos in the worker-circles.
Many Zimbabwean companies have resorted to abusing their workers, and threaten them with dismissal if they refuse to receive paltry salaries.

Yesterday in Bulawayo police raided and arrested 16 pupils from four schools for holding a sec party commonly known as “vuzu party” at a house in Cowdray Park where they allegedly abused alcohol while engaging in sexual activities.
Police spokesperson for Bulawayo metropolitan province, Inspector Precious Simango, said the ‘vuzu parties’ were held at a house belonging to two of the pupils whose parents are in the diaspora.
“We’re holding 16 pupils after we caught them hosting a wild party at a house in Cowdray Park. Most of the children were from Northlea High School. Their ages range between 16 and 17. The house at which the party was being held is occupied by two boys whose parents are based in South Africa,” she said.
Insp Simango said police found various alcoholic beverages that included vodkas and wines at the house.

She said umvusankuzi, a concoction that is normally used by elderly men to enhance sexual prowess, was part of the items found at the house. “When police raided the house, they found three bottles of vodka, two wine bottles, condoms, and two crates of soft drinks,” said Insp Simango.

When a Chronicle news crew visited the house yesterday, it was deserted. Insp Simango said the juveniles were still detained at Luveve Police Station. She challenged parents and guardians to monitor their children so as to curb juvenile delinquency.

Insp Simango said parents should reprimand their children and educate them on the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. “They should conscientise their children on the dangers of getting drunk. The police alone can’t do much if parents don’t monitor their children,” she said.

Insp Simango said members of the public must seek police clearance before holding parties.

Residents told The Chronicle that pupils from Milton High, Northlea, St Columbus and Eveline Girls High were in the habit of holding parties at the Cowdray Park house every Friday.

“The pupils were brought by two kombis yesterday and this isn’t the first time this has happened. They were about 30 but some of them managed to escape when the police raided the house. They jumped over the precast wall,” said a woman who resides in the same area.

The woman said two teenage boys reside at the house alone as their parents are based in South Africa.

“One of them completed his ‘O’ levels last year and the other is in Form Four. We tried to talk to the boys so that they change their ways but our advice fell on deaf ears,” she said.
Another resident expressed concern that the children were not taking their school work seriously.

She said: “These children don’t understand what we go through as parents to raise their fees. They’re busy blowing their lives away. Every Friday these children will be hosting parties. We wonder when they do their school work,” she said.

Last month police arrested 16 pupils from Milton High School, Townsend Girls High and Pace College after they were caught drinking beer and abusing dangerous drugs at Centenary Park.

They were all in school uniforms and were taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station for questioning.

The pupils who were also arrested on a Friday, are suspected to have engaged in sexual intercourse after used condoms were discovered at the scene. Police also recovered bottles of whisky, dagga and a widely abused cough syrup with high alcohol content, Broncleer, popularly known as Bronco following the raid.

In recent weeks police have been carrying out ‘anti-vuzu’ parties campaigns in schools.
It has since emerged that during these parties pupils indulge in group sex while drinking and smoking dagga. -State Media

Cyber war has intensified among the MDC-T senior party officials and has threatened to turn nasty following the recent leaking of WhatsApp chat group messages of senior members trading insults.
Fresh details indicate that party deputy spokesperson Thabitha Khumalo and deputy treasurer Charlton Hwende are accused of leaking the chats to the media.
Hwende was not reachable for comment yesterday while Khumalo said, “I can’t say anything because nothing has been communicated to me.”

The two, according to party insiders, have been targeted by the Thokozani Khupe faction that wants them removed from the party’s Standing Committee.
The faction is reportedly also planning to pass a vote of no confidence on the two when the party’s national executive meets next Thursday.

According to the party’s constitution, only secretaries of organs should sit in the Standing Committee but amendments were made by the national council, the MDC-T’s highest decision making body between congresses, to include deputy secretaries.

The chat groups which include almost all the party’s senior leadership except leader Morgan Tsvangirai fly in the face of the troubled leader who early this year directed that the chat groups be shut down and no one discusses party business in social media networks.

Party insiders told The Chronicle that the Khupe faction want to push for the removal of the two from the Standing Committee for allegedly leaking harsh words exchanged between Hwende and party secretary general Douglas Mwonzora in the party’s group chat named “MDC-T Next Government.”

“There were chats leaked revealing an exchange between Mwonzora and Hwende in a WhatsApp group where Khupe is also a member. After the leaking of the chats, the Khupe faction of which Mwonzora is a member, wants to move a motion that all deputies be removed from the Standing Committee,” said an insider.

“The move, targeted at Khumalo and Hwende, is likely to also affect Mwonzora’s deputy, Paurina Mpariwa who belongs to the Khupe faction. They want to defy a resolution of the party’s national council, typical of their disregard of the constitution and law.”
Efforts to get a comment from Mwonzora were fruitless but party spokesperson Obert Gutu insisted that the party was united.

“Like any family, you’ve arguments but it doesn’t mean that mother and father want to divorce. In any debate, tempers are bound to flare. We believe in robust discussions but it doesn’t mean that the party isn’t united,” he said.

“Whoever leaked those chats has a sinister agenda and I would like to believe isn’t part of us but a Zanu-PF agent. It’s normal that when people discuss, some lose their tempers but that doesn’t make them enemies.”

In the leaked chats, trouble started when Hwende questioned why the party appointed Costa Machingauta as acting organising secretary yet he is not part of the standing committee.

“Is it true that Machingauta was introduced in the Midlands province today as the acting national organiser? Queried Hwende in the group chat on Saturday.
“What happened to the organiser elected by congress? This rumour is getting currency.”
Khupe explained that the organising secretary Abednicho Bhebhe was away on study leave at the Lupane State University and his deputy Thamsanqa Mahlangu was on sick leave.
Hwende argued that it wasn’t constitutional to appoint a person who is not in the standing committee to which Khupe responded, “I’m not sure about that.”

At that point Mwonzora fired at Hwende asking, “Mr Hwende. Why are you in the Standing Committee when Congress said you should not be? The people who had the least votes always say too much.”

Hwende shot back at Mwonzora saying a resolution was made by the party’s national council and reaffirmed by the executive adding, “For a Secretary-General to say that deputies are sitting in the SC illegally that’s very low even for your standard.”

Things turned nasty when Hwende said Mwonzora was an embarrassment and the first party’s secretary-general who failed to pay workers while collecting $4,000 in monthly allowances for himself.

“Those who say $4,000 was taken please post the proof thereof for this group to see. Those who go to the Press to bad mouth their leaders and pretend not to see please stand,” responded Mwonzora.

Hwende insisted that, “senior people must respect the decisions of superior bodies. The National Council made a decision which must be respected. This is a closed chapter we can’t be pushed out. We were elected by congress we don’t have to justify our presence in the SC (Standing Committee) to the SG (secretary general.)”

A day later Mpariwa left the group “with egg on her face” after she allegedly mistakenly posted some members’ names in the group.

“Mpariwa mistakenly sent some names in the group and when pressed who was the intended recipient of the names, she left the group,” said a party insider.
The chat read, “Ndadeleta by mistake but vamwe ndi Robert Dube, Ndawana na Gore.” (I deleted by mistake but the others are Robert Dube, Ndawana and Gore)

After a barrage of questions, Mpariwa left the group and Dube later posted, “Morning leaders. Let it be known to her that we’re not kids and we’re expensive, we can’t be sold. – State Media

THE First Lady, Grace Mugabe, had been scheduled to be in Binga yesterday. But preparations for her lavish birthday bash were a bigger pull. She sent a delegation instead led by Stein Berejena who is a director in her office and Matabeleland North Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Cain Mathema to meet traditional leaders from Binga district and inform them that she was taking over resuscitation of Bulawayo Kraal Irrigation Scheme in Binga.
She assured the people of Binga of her commitment to spearhead the operationalisation of the scheme as a matter of urgency. Most of the equipment, that include tractors and three disc ploughs is already on site.
Briefing hundreds of people who included traditional leaders and heads of government departments at the Binga Rural District Council offices in the morning, Mathema said Mugabe had assured them that the first crops will be planted next month.
“We’re here with Berejena on behalf of the First Lady who sent us to brief chiefs that we’re now starting work on the 250-hectare scheme and by end of August we want to see the first crop planted.
“She will now be spearheading the project and she will come here on a date to be decided. The First lady has said she is concerned by delays in implementing this project and she wants results,” said Mathema.
The multimillion-dollar irrigation project has since 2004 been failing to take off due to funding challenges. The government has identified the scheme as key to the fulfilment of some of the objectives of its economic blueprint, Zim-Asset.
Bulawayo Kraal Irrigation Scheme is expected to boost food production in Binga.
Mugabe decided to spearhead the project which should cover 15,000 hectares of land, with 250 hectares earmarked for the first phase.
From Binga town, Mathema and Berejena led the team to the site of the irrigation scheme to view implements that have been delivered.
The implements, which include five tractors, three disc ploughs, two rom discs, three planters, three fertiliser spreaders, 75 knapsack sprayer, eight pumps and four pivots, were sourced through the Brazilian input scheme which was launched by President Mugabe a few months ago.
Mathema said three other irrigation schemes in Binga namely Mlibizi, Lungwalala and Nabusenga will receive similar implements under the same facility.
In an interview, Berejena said Mugabe was concerned that Bulawayo Kraal, which requires about $1,8 million for the first phase of irrigating 250 hectares, has faced numerous challenges in the past.
“The First Lady’s target is to have 250 hectares planted

FINANCIALLY-troubled state-owned enterprises and parastatals are being forced to part with between US$35 000 and US$120 000 in contributions to First Lady Grace Mugabe’s 50th birthday fundraising dinner, the Zimbabwe Independent has established.
The soliciting of funds from state entities, most of which are either broke, a perennial drain on the fiscus or technically insolvent, will further worsen their precarious financial position.
Grace will have a fundraising dinner dance at the First Family’s Borrowdale Brooke residence on Saturday.
In an advert, the “Amai Grace Mugabe @50” organising committee invited individuals and organisations to deposit cash donations into a CBZ account under the name “Amai Grace Mugabe Jubilee”.
According to the advert, the sponsors’ package includes advertising space at the event, a five-minute slot on the programme for the major sponsors to profile their organisation, platinum branding for Grace’s table, a seat at Grace’s table and acknowledgement in the programme booklet, among other benefits.
State enterprises and parastatals have not been spared when it comes to contributing to this event, as some were given formal directives to make contributions to the programme. The entities continue to be feeding troughs for corrupt ministers and other senior government officials.
A senior government official who requested anonymity said it was worrying how government expected parastatals to perform when they were forced to fund First Family events like President Robert Mugabe’s birthday celebrations and Zanu PF functions.
“You have parastatals being asked to pay between US$35 000 and US$120 000 depending on how they are rated. In a year, there are many of these requests to the same state entities,” said the official.
According to the source, the funds are drawn from mainly cash-generating parastatals such as Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara), Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa), NetOne and TelOne.
“Parliament should be criticised for turning a blind eye to this. It must be a matter of policy that parastatals are not allowed to fund such private, political party events,” the official said.
During the First Lady’s campaigns and rallies that led to the ouster of former vice-president Joice Mujuru last year, it emerged that Zesa contributed US$40 000 to the Manicaland Zanu PF Women’s League ahead of its congress last year.
It seems corporates in Zimbabwe — including some companies that would want to be seen as brands not hobnobbing with or subsidising dictatorship when they are actually doing just that — have to be in good books with Mugabe’s party, more specifically serve the interests of whichever Zanu PF faction has an upper hand at any particular moment in order to survive and safeguard their main objective — profit.
The situation is not peculiar to Zimbabwe as other countries have their own networks in terms of how business relates to the powerful elite.
Political analyst Stanley Tinarwo said arm-twisting state enterprises to fund Grace’s dinner is indicative of the thin line between party politics and the state.
Tinarwo said: “A birthday is essentially private so there is no need to use state resources to gratify the wife of a serving president. That state-owned enterprises are being ordered to contribute points to the heart of their failure to deliver important public services due to political patronage and contributions to the cult of personalities that bedevils Zimbabwean politics.”
Senior researcher for Zimbabwe and Southern Africa at Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division Dewa Mavhinga said the constitution and all other laws do not provide for state funding of the First Lady’s birthday jamboree.
“There is no basis at law for parastatals to be coerced to fund it (birthday). If state parastatals are being forced to contribute towards Grace Mugabe’s birthday then its criminal and the matter should be reported to the nearest police station for appropriate action,” said Mavhinga. “What is happening is a vain attempt to entrench family cultism through elevating private birthdays to national, state-funded events.”
In February, Zanu PF deputy secretary for Youth Affairs Kudzai Chipanga urged Grace to crack the whip on companies that refused to donate to Mugabe’s lavish birthday bash held in Victoria Falls in February. He singled out Schweppes Zimbabwe Limited, which he alleged refused to donate cash and bottled water as requested by the youths.
Zimbabwe’s largest telecommunications company, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in July 2014 gave the cash-strapped government a US$30 million facility last year to pay civil servants salaries and other critical bills. Econet is just of the companies that have bailed out government openly over the years. Some do it secretly.
Transparency International Zimbabwe, in its 2014 Annual State of Corruption Report, called for a total overhaul of the regulatory framework in which state enterprises and parastatals operate so as to limit inappropriate political interference and protect them from cronyism, conflict of interest, corruption and nepotism.
A report by the Comptroller and Auditor-General Mildred Chiri has shown that 23 major parastatals posted losses of US$470 million between 2012 and 2014. independent

Former Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa accused of looting development funds and assets of two schools in Nyanga and converted the money to personal use, has hired a new lawyer to represent him after his lawyers for many years abandoned him. GN Mlotshwa and Company-led by Mr Gerald Mlotshwa, reportedly abandoned Mutasa, a shareholder in Nyafaru Development Company (NDC), who is being sued by the company at the High Court.
GN Mlotshwa did not even renounce agency in the matter, leaving Mutasa with an option to look for another lawyer. He settled for Antonio and Dzvetero law firm to argue the case for him.
The hearing was supposed to commence on Tuesday before Justice Happias Zhou, but was deferred to a later date to allow a number of procedural issues to be addressed including renunciation and assumption of agency, and filing of heads of argument.
Mr Tapson Dzvetero told Justice Zhou that his firm was now handling the matter and requested for postponement to study the case and do the necessary procedures. NDC lawyer Mr Douglas Mwonzora, did not oppose the postponement.
Nyafaru primary and secondary schools were constructed after independence on land President Mugabe gave the Tangwena people in appreciation for their help when he crossed into Mozambique in 1975 to prosecute the liberation struggle.
Mutasa is the director NDC, which oversees the running of the schools.
He and NDC chair Pearson Kasu are accused of grabbing four vehicles, including an ambulance, donated to the community.
It is further alleged that Mutasa took at least 400 head of cattle from the Tangwena people and has over the years tried to take over their land.
According to the papers submitted at the High Court, the school development committee wants Mutasa and his company barred from interfering further.
NDC, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and Mutasa are listed as respondents in the matter.
The Tangwena community claimed in their papers that NDC through its officials have done everything in their power to derail development of the school including vandalising the school property through the thugs that they have been sponsoring.
“Establishing a bar selling alcohol within the premises of the school. In one instance, 72 window panes were broken by one of the agents of the officials of the first respondent (NDC).
“Despite the resolution of September 16, 2004, the first and third (Mutasa) respondents have been trying to disturb the smooth operations of the two schools in various ways.”
Mutasa and Kasu are also alleged to have taken 20 percent of school funds intermittently.
Mr Dzvetero yesterday said the matter was a simple case of land wrangle between a person claiming to have donated the property against a company which is the registered owner of the property and has title deeds to it.
“There is nothing political about it and some names are being dragged to court for political mileage,” he said. He said the community was arguing that the company donated the land to it but was now reneging on the donation. herald

MDC Leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s privacy was laid open on Friday when ZRP cops accompanied by the Deputy Sherrif raided his bedroom impounding various furniture items of Mr. Tsvangirai’s nakedness.

This happened at a time when Tsvangirai’s office was claiming nothing of the sort took place, with party Spokesperson Obert Gutu saying it was just “an attempt”. The statement read:
“The Deputy Sheriff today attempted, yet again, to remove President Morgan Tsvangirai’s personal property at his Highlands home and the party property at Harvest House despite the existence of an urgent chamber application for stay of execution that is still pending at the High Court.
There is also an interpleader application that was filed at the High Court clearly submitting that the 14 former employees were employed by the MDC and not by President Morgan Tsvangirai in his personal capacity. As such, there is absolutely no factual and/or legal basis upon which the Deputy Sheriff could proceed to attach and remove President Tsvangirai’s personal household property.
President Morgan Tsvangirai is not a party to the legal proceedings that are presently pending at the Labour Court in Harare.
Officials from the Deputy Sheriff’s office, again with the State media and armed riot police in tow, forced their way into President Tsvangirai’s Highlands home and started taking office furniture and other private property.
At Harvest House, they almost took away all motor vehicles that were parked outside Harvest House as part of the settlement of money that is allegedly owed to former party workers. The attachment and removal of the party’s assets was however stopped because of the pending legal processes.
On 3 June 2015, the MDC successfully won a stay of execution at the Labour Court. Earlier on this week, President Tsvangirai filed an inter-pleader application that clearly established that his personal property should not be attached and removed in execution of a debt allegedly owed by the MDC.
Indeed, at law, President Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC are two separate and distinct legal persona.The High Court Registrar will soon be setting down for hearing the application for stay of execution against the party’s property. In the interim, the order for stay of execution that was granted by the Labour Court on June 3, 2015 remains valid and fully operational. The application for review that was filed at the Labour Court is also yet to be set down for hearing.
It is in respect of these legal processes that this second attempt to attach and remove property was stopped.
The MDC believes in the rule of law and respects the judiciary as an important, independent arm of the State. We also laud the Deputy Sherriff’s decision not to proceed with the attachment and removal of property that had become unnecessary in light of the pending legal processes.
Yet again, the MDC strongly condemns the nefarious and malicious attempt to needlessly dramatize the labour dispute, particularly the involvement of armed riot police and the attempt to attach the President’s private property when papers before the court clearly spelt out that he was not party to the dispute between the MDC as an employer and its former employees.

Barely a year after crowning her with a mysterious PhD certificate Zimbabwe’s top university has poured scorn on the First Lady Grace Mugabe.
 
The institution issued what is seen as the most sarcastic birthday messages ever to a human being, just as other academic institutions compete to outdo each other in praising her.
Last year her husband revealed that her doctorate was nothing but an achievement of ignorance “This is really an achievement of ignorance,” Mugabe said.
 
UZ last year conferred Grace with a PHD that raised more questions than congratulations. This time writing in direct reverse language,  the university  poured insults  on Grace Mugabe on commemorating her birthday. The message read:
“Your Excellency, the university admires your tremendous skills of intellectual intelligence, spiritual intelligence and emotional intelligency, including empathy, compassion, love and grace,” the country’s top institution of higher learning gushed out saying.
 
 
 

MDC-T legislators walked out of the National Assembly yesterday in protest over a request by Buhera South lawmaker Joseph Chinotimba (Zanu PF) to play a video recording of former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai allegedly calling for the imposition of sanctions against the country.

Acting Speaker Melody Dziva ruled that Tsvangirai was allowed under the Constitution to come to Parliament to reply, contrary to protestations by MDC-T MPs.

This was after Kuwadzana East MP Nelson Chamisa had raised a point of order to the effect that Tsvangirai was not a member or present in the House to respond to the video.

“If there is any need for clarification, I will allow for the president of the opposition to come and respond. Opposition leaders are allowed under the country’s Constitution to come to Parliament and respond,” Dziva said to applause from Zanu PF members.

However, Chamisa argued that Parliament had an obligation to first advise Tsvangirai on the matter.

The MDC-T MPs broke into song before walking out after Dziva rejected Chamisa’s point of order.

Zanu PF MPs took advantage of the walkout to view the 2001 video of Tsvangirai on BBC’s Panorama programme. 

In the video, Tsvangirai is heard saying that given the “threats to the elections from the military and (President Robert) Mugabe”, South Africa could impose sanctions on Zimbabwe by cutting fuel or electricity.

Chinotimba said the economic collapse that Zimbabwe had witnessed in the past 15 years was a result of the “sanctions that Tsvangirai called for”.

“It is painful when President Mugabe and Zanu PF are accused by the MDC of destroying the economy when it was Tsvangirai who called for cutting of transport ties as well as electricity,” he said. 

“The British and the Americans did not have it in them to put sanctions, but they realised they had Tsvangirai’s support and here we are. The vendors who have invaded our streets are of Tsvangirai’s making and I am pained by this.” 

Chinotimba accused the MDC-T of “speaking with a forked tongue”.

“Now they are crying foul over the recent (Supreme Court) judgment (that employers can unilaterally terminate workers’ contracts), but they have neglected their own workers to the extent of going to court to block their bid to get their money,” he said.

Mugabe blames the sanctions for the collapse of the economy, but critics point to his mismanagement.  -State Media

3000 workers fired in one week.
AT least 1 000 workers from different companies were fired in one day yesterday with Zimasco reportedly showing 648 of its employees the exit door.
The mass job cuts are part of a scramble by companies to fire workers without benefits as they capitalise on last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling.
The Supreme Court, in a case involving Zuva Petroleum and two former managers, ruled that companies can give three months’ notice to terminate workers’ contracts even without benefits.
The ruling opened floodgates as several companies including Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publishers of The Daily News, and Sakunda Logistics sent workers home.
According to reports, an estimated 3 000 workers have been laid off in one week.
In a statement after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Prisca Mupfumira said the government had resolved to urgently amend the Labour Act to avoid further job losses.
“Government has resolved to amend the relevant provisions of the Labour Act in the shortest possible time in order to restore equilibrium in the market. Meanwhile, government appeals to employers to exercise maximum restraint in terminating contracts of employment on notice, pursuant to the Supreme Court ruling,” she said.
Sino-Zimbabwe Cotton on Tuesday reportedly fired over 400 workers and used the ruling to justify the drastic action.
Zimasco workers, who spoke to NewsDay, said the chrome mining and smelting company yesterday gave them an option to take the company’s preferred compulsory retrenchment plan or risk getting nothing.
Although a company official, Clara Sadomba, professed ignorance over the development, the affected employees maintained that they had been sacked.
“We were given an option to take their preferred retrenchment package, that of two weeks’ pay multiplied by the number of years that one has served,” one of the employees who requested anonymity said.
“Around the end of 2013, the employer began to cite unviability of business and offered voluntary retrenchment where people were going to be given two weeks’ salary multiplied by the number of years served and less than 100 people took that.”
The Zimasco employees claimed in May and December 2014, the company put up measures to avoid retrenchment whereby employees were supposed to serve for the next 12 months while negotiations for compulsory retrenchments were underway.
“Others before us have been given one month’s salary multiplied by the number of years served and that was what we were pushing for when this Supreme Court ruling was made,” the employee said.
Zimoco has also given a number of its workers notice which will run until October 31.
Mobile phone operator Econet Wireless Private Limited also joined the bandwagon.
Sakunda Logistics employees said they refused to sign the termination of employment contracts because they were reportedly owed about five months’ salary arrears.
President Robert Mugabe has been urged by labour bodies and human rights organisations to act to stop the job losses.

International Socialist Organization leader Munyaradzi Gwisai has charged that Kuwadzana legislator Nelson Chamisa risks losing his political career for standing against workers.
Chamisa was one of the Zuva Petroleum lawyers who last Friday won a court case against workers.
In the case which Chamisa was defending the Supreme Court judge Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ruled in his (Chamisa client) favour and allowed employers to terminate their workers’ contracts without giving them retrenchment packages.
Gwisai said Chamisa has committed the dreadful mistake of effectively stating that workers are useless. “He is also forgetting that his party which groomed him since 2000 to become what he is today…” he told workers deliberating on action to take against the Judgment on Thursday in Harare.
“He is forgetting that it is the very workers who raised him to become a member of parliament and a minister at a tender age.
“Now he is wearing suits and pushing briefcases and now is in the front of telling the courts that workers are useless”.
Meanwhile Professor Lovemore Madhuku and Caleb Mucheche of Mucheche and Matsikidze legal practitioners on Thursday filed an urgent application with the Constitutional Court seeking for the suspension of the Chidyausiku judgment.

A Morgan Tsvangirai picture sensation on the MDC leader’s so called “loss of weight” ripped through the wires on Thursday as Zimbabweans speculated that Tsvangirai is unwell either mentally or physically.
Footage from the Mutare meeting Tsvangirai had with provincial leaders at the Queens Hall in the eastern town, suggest that the man has lost an incredible amount of weight. In one of the pictures, a shocked Tsvangirai is seen staring at a low turn out.
Some Zimbabweans caricatured the MDC leader as they suggested that he has lost weight. The frenzy however appeared to have all been created from the below photograph.

Exiled Zimbabweans and friends will be holding a party at the Zimbabwe Embassy in London on Saturday 25th July to mark the 50th birthday of Dr Amai Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe Vigil hopes the party will be attended by the spouse of the Zimbabwe Ambassador and the spice of Ambassadors of friendly nations such as China, Russia, Belarus, Syria, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, as well as African countries.
The party will take place between 2 pm and 6 pm to coincide with a grand celebration at Dr Grace’s Harare home in Borrowdale Brook, the Blue Roof Residence, where guests will enjoy a lavishdinner dance.
The organisers say all food and drink will be on the house ‘including expensive whiskeys and wines’. The Vigil trusts that, given Dr Grace’s tireless charity work, Zimbabwe’s starving people will not be turned away.
We urge the hungry to turn up in force for the free food. Vendors and the unemployed especially welcome.
Details
Venue: Outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London WC2R 0JR
Time: 2 – 6 pm
Contact: Fungayi Mabhunu 07907 089 899, Rose Benton 07970 996 003.

A thriller of epic proportions — if the political climate does not turn typically violent and even murderous — is on the cards in the eagerly-anticipated 2018 national elections, after the Zanu PF formation that uses the slogan People First confirmed on Wednesday that former Vice President Joice Mujuru will lead the party.
President Robert Mugabe’s warring party split into two bitterly-opposed formations at the end of last year — at the height of the former liberation movement’s internal ructions and subsequent ruthless purges of its senior officials — with many of its liberation struggle stalwarts moving to reconstitute the “original” Zanu PF that is now taking on the nonagenarian’s faction-ridden post-congress Zanu PF.
Spokesperson for the “original” Zanu PF that uses the slogan People First Rugare Gumbo told the Daily News that after months of dithering and not showing her hand publicly, Mujuru was now ready to come out in the open and lead the party — whose official launch insiders say is imminent.
Were this to happen, it would mean that the popular former VP would be among a stellar cast of candidates, that include indefatigable opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who will take Mugabe head-on in the 2018 presidential elections — if the nonagenarian will still be the post-congress Zanu PF’s candidate for those polls.
Gumbo said that the group of liberation struggle pioneers, war veterans, security sector bigwigs and “millions of other Zimbabweans” who were involved with the People First movement were all acutely aware that time was not on their side to launch the party to contest the 2018 elections.
“Mai Mujuru is absolutely part of the project. She is actively involved. She is there and determined to see to it that the aspirations of those that liberated this country are realised,” Gumbo said.
Pressed to say why Mujuru had thus far not publicly pronounced on her association with the rival Zanu PF formation, he said the widow of the late and revered liberation struggle icon, General Solomon Mujuru, had “wanted the dust to settle”, in the wake of the chaos that followed her expulsion and that of her perceived allies from the post-congress Zanu PF.
“We also believed that it was not necessary for her to pronounce herself on the issue because the situation was still cloudy. So, we respected the position that she took. She needs to now come out in the open and show direction, and we are sure in a few weeks’ time she will do just that.
“We have a movement that has been looking into the logistics of coming up with the party consulting on how best we can go about it. We think we are moving in the right direction and we have no alternative than to look into that direction of coming up with a party.
“We had to do something because there are a lot of things we are not happy about. For example, we are concerned about the government’s use of force to remove vendors from the streets. While we believe that there is need for order in the way vendors do their business, we are against the idea of chasing them out without providing an alternative.
“Government must understand that the vendors are there out of desperation. They are looking for markets for their wares and it is incumbent upon government to engage them to find an amicable solution, but you cannot push them to the outskirts where there are no markets,” Gumbo said.
Probed further on the launch of the People First movement, he said it had already started building structures at grassroots level, as there were many disgruntled members dotted across the country, who were “itching to start working for the party”.
Analysts and insiders who have spoken to the Daily News have said that the recent splitting of the party into Zanu PF Mugabe and the “original” Zanu PF, amid much acrimony and bloodletting, meant that the prospects of reconciling the two factions any time soon were “slim to non-existent”.
“The die is cast my brother and it’s too late to stop the Rumble in the Jungle that will be the election in 2018 between President Mugabe or his proxy Ngwena (Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa) and Mai Mujuru,” said a top Zanu PF official who requested anonymity.
“The third leg of this titanic battle will, of course, be Tsvangirai who as everyone knows beat Gushungo (Mugabe) cleanly in the 2008 elections and will once again be running,” the official added.
Commenting on Mujuru’s prospects in politics, senior researcher for Southern Africa for Human Rights Watch, Dewa Mavhinga, said recently that the fact that she had been a minister for 24 years and a vice president for 10 years, meant that she had a significant following within Zanu PF and across Zimbabwe generally.
“Most of those fighting and opposing her in Zanu PF are mafikizolos (Johnny-come-latelies) who have no support base in Zanu PF and who rely on smear campaigns, violence and the use of sections of the security forces to bulldoze and impose their will upon Zanu PF structures.
“If Amai Joice Mujuru is given a fair chance in the absence of persecution and harassment, then it can be said with fair certainty that she is a front runner in an open, democratic process.
“But opposition forces are better off coming together to form a grand coalition to push for democratic reforms ahead of 2018,” Mavhinga said.
Joy Mabenge, regional co-ordinator for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said there was an assumption that Mugabe would be available in 2018 and that he would still be within “the requisite capacities to contest and head the country at 94”.
“That assumption may be a fallacy given the fact that all forces of nature relating to him are now clearly pulling in the opposite direction. There is a real possibility that Mujuru may actually bounce back into Zanu Patriotic Front as its leader before 2018.
“However, if we go by the assumption that Mugabe will still be there and fit for purpose in 2018, then a Mujuru presidential candidacy as a head of a faction of Zanu will most likely be more of a gift to the MDC than it would be to Mugabe, assuming that die-hard MDC supporters and die-hard Zanu PF supporters remain (by numbers) constant and do not swing.
“History has taught us that splinter factions cannot and will not be able to easily create their own social base, but will instead want to tap, first and foremost, from the pond they are splitting from, before they try, with difficulty, to tap from other ponds.
“The reality is that the pool of voters is neither elastic nor expansive and therefore a split of votes is more likely,” Mabenge said.
Gladys Hlatywayo, a civil rights activist and political analyst, said it was difficult to give a prognosis because electoral outcomes in Zimbabwe had less to do with real support on the ground.
“Allegations of rigging and absence of a level playing field make it difficult to point with precision to the outcome of these processes.
“What is clear though is that Zanu PF is now in a serious quandary. The once homogeneous liberation movement is now reduced to a shadow of itself with news of expulsions and suspensions making headlines each day.
“This, coupled with an ageing leader, will be the Achilles heel of Zanu PF. The former vice president is a contender in the race although there is still no empirical evidence to prove her chances.
“Based on lived experiences of previous elections, it might be strategic for all voices against Zanu PF to coalesce and collaborate towards 2018.
“There is a real opportunity for change in 2018 but it depends on what opposition political parties choose to do between now and 2018 and I would argue that working together will be the game changer,” she said. Daily News

Zimbabwe Informal Sector’s Organization expresses concern over the corrupt manner in which the city council is issuing vending cards.
The vending cards have mainly been issued to non-vendors who have strong links with council officials.This has resulted in real vendors who need the vending cards the most being deprived and displaced from their sites.
This might lead to the proliferation of new forms of space barons who will sublet vending sites to vendors at exorbitant costs.
Further ZISO is worried by the mandatory 1.25 a day payment to
council and government. For all intents and purposes this is a
presumptive tax that does not take into account what profit a vendor made and whether or not the vendor utilized the site or not on a stated day.
This is exploitative as vendors may not turn up or utilize the sites on certain days for various reasons.What is further worrying is that council resolved to attach properties of vendors who fail to pay the mandatory fee after a given period of time.
It is noteworthy that council is already using vendors details to trace them. There is therefore no guarantee that vendors details will not be used to intimidate and patronise them in the long run.
ZISO urges the city councilors to ensure that the process of registering and issuing cards to vendors is as transparent and open as possible and that people will not be turned into subjects of a patronage system in order to safeguard their vending cards.
There is need to reform the approach from a presumptive tax. In order to do this effectively vendors need to be given basic training on bookkeeping so that they are able to demonstrate what they sold, the profit or losses they would have made. This will go a long way in informing the taxation mechanism and protecting vendors against paying taxes for profits they did not accrue.

THREE armed robbers wearing police and army uniforms stormed a commercial farm in Mwenezi, handcuffed and flogged the farmer, his wife and workers before stealing $5 000.
Police said the suspects also took a variety of items whose value was yet to be ascertained.
Stolen was a Webbley revolver, 20 rounds of ammunition, 10x9mm rounds, a 12 volt Exide battery, 20 litres petrol, 10kg beef, two Samsung cellphones, one Nokia cellphone, a pair of Nikon binoculars, a sharpening kit, Robertson wine, 14 Pilsener pints, six soft drinks and cash amounting to $4 030 and R10 000.

Assistant Inspector Nkululeko Nduna of Masvingo Police said the suspects disappeared from the scene after committing the crime on Monday at around 6.30pm.
“A manhunt has since been launched and the long arm of the law will catch up with them,” said Asst Insp Nduna.

A witness, Nesbert Chauke, said three men clad in police and military uniforms and travelling in a grey station wagon vehicle arrived at Westenzelhof Farm owned by Jan Kotze (53), under Chief Chikanga’s area.

“The three intercepted Kotze at the farm gate. Two of the suspects were clad in police uniforms while the third one was putting on a Zimbabwe National Army uniform. They all claimed to be on duty. The two in police uniform asked Kotze to produce his fire-arm certificate to which he responded by demanding their identification cards. The suspects failed to produce any identification,” said Nesbert.

He said one of the suspects produced a revolver and pointed it at Kotze threatening to shoot him while the other one handcuffed him from behind.

Nesbert said one of Kotze’s farm workers, Fanuel Musengi (45) went to the gate to investigate and was also handcuffed together with his boss.

Other farm workers, Mapuvire Chigoyi (32) of Musala Ranch and Claudius Chauke (25) of Mahelemu Village, were also ordered to lie on the ground while the robbers were still holding Kotze and Musengi hostage.

“Chigoyi and Chauke had their hands tied with seal straps. The suspects further forced the workers and their employer back to the house where they met Kotze’s wife, Miranda (50). Miranda was outside the house. They handcuffed her to her husband before one of the robbers fired one shot into the air apparently to scare away barking dogs,” said Nesbert.

He said the workers were ordered to lie on the ground while Kotze and his wife were taken into the house by one of the robbers in police uniform and the one in camouflage while the other robber in police uniform remained outside guarding the employees,” he said.
Nesbert said while inside the house, two of the suspects demanded money and FN rifles. They threatened to shoot the couple if they failed to co-operate.

“The two robbers ransacked the couple’s bedroom and took away cash amounting to $4 030 and R10 000. They also took a revolver calibre 4 SS/N 201251 with six live rounds, 20 revolver rounds and 10×9 mm rounds,” he said.

Nesbert said after accomplishing their mission, the suspects escorted the employees who had remained outside into the house.
He said the suspects ordered everyone to lie down before they beat them up.

Dr Dumiso Dabengwa ,ZAPU leader headed to the Supreme Court challenging the Electoral Court’s recent judgment refusing to compel the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to take charge of voter registration, maintaining voters’ rolls and register in line with the new constitutional dispensation.
 

The Electoral Court ruled two weeks ago that Zec has unfettered discretion to use or not to use the voters’ rolls compiled by the Registrar-General because there is no law compelling the commission to craft a new register.

Dr Dabengwa yesterday filed his notice of appeal at the superior court in a bid to overturn the Electoral Court decision.

Among the grounds of appeal, Dr Dabengwa argued that the lower court erred in finding that the performance of the electoral body’s constitutional and statutory duties was subject to its own unilateral view.

“Appellants pray that the appeal be allowed with costs including the costs in the court a quo (lower court) and that judgment of the Electoral Court set aside,” said Dr Dabengwa in his papers.
In the lower court, Dr Dabengwa wanted various provisions of the Constitution such as those providing for Zec to register voters and to compile the voters roll, to be given effect forthwith.
These included Zec’s immediate take over from the Registrar-General’s Office duties such as registering voters, compiling its own voters’ rolls, keeping and maintaining voters’ rolls and ensuring that the public has access to inspecting the voters’ rolls as provided for in the Constitution.

Dr Dabengwa argued that in the run up to the harmonised elections in 2013, he went through agony trying to obtain a copy of the voters roll from ZEC.

It was also his contention that in the 2013 election, Section 6(2) of Part 3 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution gave the Registrar of Voters authority to perform some of the election duties under the supervision of Zec, but the future elections should now be conducted in terms of Section 239(c) of the new Constitution.

Since August 10 2013 when Section 239(c) became operative, Dr Dabengwa argued, Zec had not yet complied with the law. -State Media

Fresh from raiding Morgan Tsvangirai’s house and offices in Harare, ZRP cops today slammed into the MDC leader’s meeting in Mutare where a strong group of eight reportedly said they were “on orders” to spy on him.
Announced Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka:
“Police disputed an MDC meeting at Queens Hall in Mutare today when they insisted on sitting through the private deliberations of an internal party meeting, contrary to the provisions of the law.
“The party had notified the police of the private meeting by President Tsvangirai  and the party leadership, just as similar private meetings have been held with other provincial leaders in other provinces throughout the country.
“Eight officers came and insisted on sitting through the meeting after one of the officers who had initially sneaked into the meeting was chucked out by alert members of the provincial leadership.
“Even after President Tsvangirai had finished his presentation, the police insisted on coming back to sit through the remainder of the sensitive and private deliberations on election strategy.
“The provincial leadership alerted the police of the provisions of POSA which did not entitle them to attend private meetings that are not rallies but they said their superiors had told them to come and hear what Tsvangirai was planning for the party.
“This left the provincial leadership with no option but to cancel the rest of the deliberations as the police kept insisting on sitting through the private deliberations, contrary to the provisions of the law.
“The police action confirms what has become wrong with our politics.
“The police, who have often acted as appendages of Zanu PF, cannot insist on sitting through private, internal deliberations of a political party in contravention of the very rule of law they are supposed to uphold. Allowing them to sit through the private deliberations would have been the same as inviting the police into the national executive meeting of the MDC.
“Meanwhile, President Tsvangirai will address a rally at Hauna growth point  in Mutasa North  tomorrow before proceeding to address another at Chimbudzi business centre in Buhera Central on Saturday.
“On Sunday, the President will wind up his Manicaland tour with another rally at Matsika business centre in Makoni West.”

Zimbabwe’s legislator for the Welshman Ncube MDC, Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga caused a scene in parliament yesterday when she waved a pair of “dirty” used underwear to demonstrate how much poverty has hit local women.
 
Mushonga said Zimbabwe’s is still importing used underwear for sale and allowing them through the borders and airports despite a nationawide social protest against this practice made five years  ago.
 
Mushonga bravely stood up during a televised debate session to parade the under garments in front of embarrassed men and women of the August House. Her protest was filmed on live television via the ZANU PF controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation air-screens.
 
People watching from their homes gazed in amazement as Mushonga was seen waving the human inner cloth-wear.  She began, “I would like to ask the Minister of Finance (Patrick Chinamasa) what is the government policy on the importation of second-hand underwear which have health recantations, but are cheap?
“If you look at the two panties that I have here, this one is a brand new and costs $2 and above, but this one which is a secondhand, costs $1 for two.”
But, Chinamasa said Misiharabwi-Mushonga could have made her point without parading the underwear.
“Before I answer this important question, I believe the honourable member should have not gone that far to make her point,” he said. “Anyway, I will see if I cannot make an intervention during my Mid-term Policy Statement next week.”
Misihairabwi-Mushonga first raised the issue in Parliament last week.
During the heated debate, the MP was ejected from the National Assembly after threatening to beat Gokwe-Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena (Zanu PF) for allegedly using “sexist” words against her.
The fracas began after Chinamasa had answered Misihairabwi-Mushonga’s question. As soon as Chinamasa took to his seat, the outspoken Matabeleland South MP charged towards Wadyajena accusing him of hurling sexually abusive words at her.
She threatened to beat up the Zanu PF MP, but was restrained by her collegues before Parliament security officers intervened and forced her out of the House. However, this invited the ire of opposition MPs who rose in protest accusing Acting Speaker of Parliament, Melody Dziva (Zanu PF) of bias.
Dziva insisted that Misihairabwi-Mushonga had been kicked out because she had crossed the floor and not because of the altercation she had with Wadyajena. She went on to block MDC-T deputy chief whip Dorcas Sibanda from raising a point of order regarding the MP’s treatment. Dziva also stopped further debate on the matter. (Newsday/Additional Reporting)

“The ghost of Cecil John Rhodes has risen from the dead,” – The Zimbabwe Labour centre board member Munyaradzi Gwisai has called for workers to fight in protest in order to be heard. Gwisai said the Chidyausiku Labour Judgement that allows employers to fire workers at any time without severance pay is more colonial than old Rhodesian labour laws.
He has called for mass protests countrywide so that the courts and President Robert Mugabe will listen.

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been shot down on his chances to succeed President Robert Mugabe after new Grace Mugabe fan-T-shirts emerged yesterday.
First Lady Grace Mugabe’s alleged ambitions to succeed President Robert Mugabe are haunting Zanu PF again after a faction linked to her began distributing campaign T-shirts that have become a new source of friction.
The T-Shirts inscribed Vanhu vose kuna Amai (Let’s all rally behind the First Lady) were first distributed early this month at the launch of a Zanu PF housing project in Kadoma where Grace was the guest speaker.
Zanu PF officials against the 50-year-old former secretary’s alleged bid for the top post claimed the message on the T-shirts confirmed that she had joined the race to succeed her 91-year-old husband.
Grace has to contend with Vice-Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mpoko if she wants to lead Zanu PF in the post-Mugabe era.
Mugabe early this year strenuously denied allegations his wife has presidential ambitions. Zanu PF sources said Grace’s presidential ambitions were confirmed by the call for the country to organise her 50th birthday bash this weekend. She turns 50 today. Mugabe has complained that Zanu PF was now coalescing around Mnangagwa or Mphoko in the battle to succeed him.
The subtle T-shirt campaign that has been blamed for the worsening factionalism across the country in particular Manicaland province has added a new dimension in the fluid race to succeed Zimbabwe’s only ruler since independence.
Zanu PF sources told NewsDay, a faction aligned to Mnangagwa had been unsettled by the campaign.
“If all people go to the First Lady, who will go to President Mugabe,” a party official who declined to be named said.
“Those who support Mnangagwa to take over are not comfortable with the T-shirts and have started mobilising to annihilate the Grace Mugabe faction.
“We will see fresh votes of no-confidence being passed in the next few days against people perceived to be very loyal to the First Lady. Manicaland has already taken the lead.”
Some members of the Zanu PF Manicaland provincial executive on Tuesday passed a vote of no confidence on acting provincial chairman Samuel Undenge.
The Energy minister was accused of fanning factionalism. The sources said the axe was also hanging over Undenge’s wife Letina and central committee member Mandi Chimene. Undenge yesterday rubbished the move describing it as a non-event.
The sources said politburo member and transport secretary Oppah Muchinguri was leading the anti-Grace campaign after she was allegedly angered by the First Lady’s failure to ensure she landed a more influential position in return for her leading role in the onslaught against former Vice-President Joice Mujuru last year.
A Zanu PF source said Muchinguri had since joined Mnangagwa’s camp, home to part of the ruling party’s group of Young Turks commonly known as the G40.
“Letina is being punished for leading the province to attend Grace Mugabe’s Kadoma rally. She is seen as a Grace ally and they want to push her out, including the provincial youths,” the source added.
Muchinguri could not be reached for comment on her mobile phone yesterday. Letina and Gweru businesswoman Smelly Dube, Hurungwe East MP Sarah Mahoka and many others are believed to have played a critical role in organising the Kadoma rally.
The same group was reportedly taking a leading role in organising Grace’s 50th birthday bash.
“Grace openly praised Letina and Dube at a briefing before the Kadoma rally in the presence of (Deputy Information minister) Monica Mutsvangwa. This did not go well with members of the Mnangagwa camp,” the source said.
The same T-shirts are reportedly causing commotion in Masvingo where Provincial Affairs minister Shuvai Mahofa was believed to have reservations on the message Dzimba Kuvanhu (Houses to the people) written at the back of them.
Mahofa yesterday said she was not aware of the existence of the T-shirts.
Last week, Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxillia, was said to have led a delegation to Grace’s orphanage in Mazowe, which spoke disparagingly about Dube.
However, they were reportedly ordered to stop backbiting fellow party members. Grace, who became more influential soon after her entry into politics last year, recently disclosed that Mnangagwa and Mphoko regulary took orders from her.
Zanu PF national spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo yesterday referred all questions to national political commissar (PC) Saviour Kasukuwere.
“I do not know anything about the T-shirts. I have not seen them. Ask the PC about them,” Khaya Moyo said.
Kasukuwere was yesterday unreachable on his mobile phone. Newsday

Zimbabwe’s Council of Chiefs President, Fortune Charumbira, has threatened president Robert Mugabe’s estate as he called for a new wave of farm invasions on privately owned farms, describing it as way of sharing wealth.
 
President Mugabe who started the farm invasions in the year 2000, has a large pool of hidden wealth resource in the country after discriminately targeting white farmers with small properties while corruptly leaving for instance one white farmer who owns a property larger than the entire country land mass of Belgium within Zimbabwe here. That farmer is a direct descendant of the colonial farm settler Oppenheimer family.
 
In his address during the Zimbabwe International Mine-Entra exhibition yesterday, the chiefs’ boss told the delegates that taking over farms and mines from multiple owners was normal, and that it was long overdue.
 
 
“We asked one white farmer, Erasmus, who owned 21 farms, to give us only six and he ignored us. We again requested him to give answers as to why he could not hand over six of his 21, and again he failed to come up with a response, leading us with no option, but to take 20 and left him with one,” he said while carefully omitting Mugabe’s name and amid a roaring laughter from delegates.
He was referring to a white farmer, one only called Erasmus, from Masvingo province, whose farms were forcibly taken away from them, causing the family to squat in a small area, after losing their hard earned properties.
 
 
Farm invasion has become a hindrance to Zimbabwe’s investment environs, as many possible rescuers to the ailing industry are afraid of the lack of rule of law. Currently, Anglican Missions’ properties have been invaded by war veterans, causing fear amongst the Christian community whose children are being assisted with education.
Charumbira also took a swipe at Bikita Minerals and Renco mine proprietors for failing to implement the community social scheme, as agreed in the contract. He also warned the two Mining companies to honour their promises or faces the wrath of the Chiefs and the community.

In a court case where by Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe interim president Mr Elton Steers Mangoma was accusing Renewal team activist Believe Tevera of assaulting him over allegations that he snatched his youthful wife ,the case took another turn yesterday after a key witness in the matter refused to testify.
Prosecutor Ms Dora Moyo intended to remand the matter further after Renewal team member Solomon Madzore refused to testify against Tevera.

Ms Dora had only managed to lead evidence from Mangoma, Last Maingehama and a police officer Todd Chirume.

However, Tevera’s lawyer Mr Tawanda Takaindisa made an application of refusal of further remand citing that witnesses were not willing to testify against his client because he has no case to answer.

Harare magistrate Mrs Tildah Mutambanashe granted the application and the case will proceed by way of summons.

Tevera, who is MDC Renewal Team provincial youth leader, was facing assault charges.
The complainant in the matter was Mangoma.

Mangoma is accused of snatching Tevera’s wife, Yemurai Maravanyika (20).
Ms Moyo alleged that on May 26 around 11am Tevera went to number 21 Midlothian Drive, Eastlea in Harare where Mangoma was holding a meeting.
Mangoma was in the company of Solomon Madzore, Shakespeare Maya, Lucia Matevenga and Last Maingehama.

It is alleged that Tevera budged into the meeting and charged towards Mangoma accusing him of having a love affair with his wife, Maravanyika.
Tevera allegedly slapped Mangoma twice and he fell down, hitting his head against the window.

While Mangoma was down Tevera allegedly picked a chair with an intention of striking him but was restrained by Maya. Mangoma sustained head injuries and bled profusely.
He was rushed to hospital and received six stitches on the head. – State Media

Thousands of people in the capital will soon be homeless as Harare City Council has embarked on a massive demolition of illegal structures in 19 undesignated settlements that have been identified.

Harare has been under MDC-T councillors since 2000, and the opposition-dominated council stands accused of fomenting the prevailing chaos manifest in flagrant disregard of city by-laws that has led to the mushrooming of illegal settlements on undesignated land, the kombi and vendor menace in the CBD, among other ills.
Council officials claim the demolitions are meant to bring sanity as some structures were being erected without approval from the responsible city departments.
Owners of the demolished structures will foot labour and other costs incurred in pulling down their illegal houses.
The city’s principal communications officer Mr Michael Chideme yesterday confirmed the development, saying at least 19 illegal settlements dotted around Harare would be razed down.
“We have identified all the areas with illegal structures in Harare and we have informed all the people who are on these areas that they should pull down their structures, failure of which council will do it for them,” he said.
“Council is also going to ensure that people whose houses they demolish meet the necessary labour costs involved given that they have been defying a lawful order.”
The city demolished 25 illegal houses in Warren Park and Westlea yesterday, leaving several families homeless.
The houses were built on land belonging to the City of Harare, which had been invaded by Final Hope Co-operative, Josiah Housing Co-operative and Makomborero Housing Co-operative.
Mr Chideme said the occupants proceeded to build houses even after being warned against doing so.
He said council recently gave the illegal settlers 48 hours to pull down their structures and when they realised their orders had been defied, council officers visited them onsite and verbally informed them to demolish their houses.
He said the occupiers still defied the order, hence the council decision “to assist them to pull down the structures today (yesterday)”.
Of the demolished houses, one had reached roof level and had been tiled, two other houses were at roof level and the rest of the houses were at different stages of construction.
Last week council flattened 11 houses built on undesignated land in Glen Norah, belonging to a bogus housing co-operative.
The houses were at various stages of construction and had been built along Makonye and Kunzekweguta Roads.
Mr Chideme said notices had been sent out to the illegal settlers beforehand ordering them to demolish their homes but they ignored the order prompting council to take action.
He urged home seekers to desist from buying land from individuals or co-operatives without consulting the council for vetting and approval.
Mr Chideme said the demolition was ongoing.
“We are saying that if we allow this to continue, we are breeding a disorderly city so we want order in Harare and we will make sure we have an orderly settlement that adheres to our world class city status by year 2025,” he said. herald

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s house is to be attached by the High Court anytime soon if the goods taken by the Deputy Sheriff are deemed insufficient to cover the debt at stake.
The Deputy Sheriff will proceed within 48 hours (with effect from Tuesday morning) to take all property cited in a writ of execution to offset an award given to 13 former MDC-T workers unfairly dismissed by the opposition party in 2010, a lawyer representing the workers said yesterday.
In an interview, Mr Obert Mawadze of Manase and Manase Legal Practitioners, said contrary to MDC-T’s assertions that the party had obtained a stay of execution from the Labour Court, that position had since been overtaken by events.
“The assertion by the MDC-T that they obtained a stay of execution from the Labour Court is laughable because that move was overtaken by events. First, it must be noted that the registration of the arbitral award was done by the High Court, which is a superior court to the Labour Court. The High Court has its own jurisdiction and rules which govern its own processes,” said Mr Mawadze.
He said it was futile for the MDC-T to base their defence on a stay of execution that the party obtained from the Labour Court way after the award had been given by the High Court.
Mr Mawadze said the party needed to make a fresh application at the High Court. He said it was a criminal offence for party officials to remove any property cited in the writ of execution from premises where it was attached.
Property belonging to MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai was on Tuesday identified by the Messenger of Court for attachment after former employees obtained a writ of execution for unlawful dismissal.
The Messenger of Court descended on Mr Tsvangirai’s house in the company of anti-riot police and identified several vehicles for attachment and execution.
According to the writ of execution, the Deputy Sheriff was required and directed to attach and take into execution movable goods belonging to Mr Tsvangirai at his Highlands house in Kew Drive.
The writ directed that: “If after due inquiry and diligent search you find that the movable goods belonging to the said respondent (Mr Tsvangirai) are insufficient to satisfy the amount due under this writ that you attach, take into possession a certain piece of land situated in the district of Salisbury called Stand 2 Strathaven Township of Strathaven measuring 4 689 square metres held under deed of transfer No. 992/7/200 dated 2 November 2000 and also attach and take into possession certain piece of land situated in the district of Goromonzi measuring 150 square metres called stand 16099 Seki Township held under Deed of transfer No. 10704/2002.”
MDC-T is experiencing serious financial difficulties after it was deserted by its funders in the wake the party’s dismal performance in the July 31, 2013 harmonised elections won by ZANU-PF.
At one stage party officials appealed to members and supporters to donate a dollar each via Ecocash but the funds were reportedly abused. The rival factions have also bickered over party properties. Herald

Patricia Nabanyama, the widow of Patrick Nabanyama, who disappeared more than 15 years ago after being allegedly kidnapped by suspected war veterans, says she is worried about the disappearance of activist, Itayi Dzamara.
Dzamara has been missing for more than four months.
Nabanyama said the alleged abduction of Dzamara brought back sad memories and reminded her and her family that people’s safety is not guaranteed in Zimbabwe.
She said since the abduction of her husband, who was an election agent for former Education Minister David Coltart when the Movement for Democratic Change was still united, her family has been living in abject poverty.
Nabanyama was allegedly abducted at his home in Bulawayo’s Nketa suburb in 2000, in similar circumstances like political activist Dzamara of Occupy Africa Unity Square, who was allegedly snatched from a barber shop in Harare’s Glenview suburb.- VOA

The Constitutional Court on Wednesday postponed judgment on the case in which MISA-Zimbabwe (Media Institute of Southern Africa) is seeking an order for criminal defamation to be declared unconstitutional.
Postponing the judgment indefinitely Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said the ConCourt needed time to look at the arguments which were raised by both MISA and the State before pronouncing judgment.
Advocate Eric Morris who was being instructed by Chris Mhike of Atherstone and Cook representing MISA –Zimbabwe, argued that the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) is unconstitutional as it does not comply with the new constitution therefore it “should be struck off”.
MISA argues that the continued existence of criminal defamation contradicts with sections of the new constitution which protect the right to freedom of expression, freedom of the media and access to information.
“The postponement has been caused by some preliminary issues which the court raised which counsel could not address. Once these issues have been ventilated, the case will be set down again for hearing,” Mhike told ZimEye.com
In the matter, MISA-Zimbabwe is the first applicant while journalists Nqaba Matshazi, Sydney Saize and Godwin Mangudya, are the second, third and fourth.
The fifth applicant is Roger Deane Stringer, an independent publishing consultant.
The Attorney-General Prince Machaya and the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who are the respondents in the matter, are arguing for the retention thereof.

When Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa smuggled twenty four (24) baby elephants away from their mothers to China this month, he should have known of the horror he is creating – the baby abducting, chasing, throwing of stones, rolling of tyres, and setting dogs on elephants, turned sour in Kariba when a man was gored by a furious elie.
The man whose name was not immediately available, is currently recovering serious body injuries following the attack which occurred on Friday last week.
The development comes after Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa smuggled twenty four (24) baby elephants to China where he went to appease investors two weeks ago, an event animal conservationists warn now endangers human beings since the elephant mothers do not forget.
The Kariba Animal Welfare Trust, KAWFT has warned residents and visitors to the western resort to beware of going into the path of elephants.
They visited the man at Kariba General Hospital and said he is now recovering.
“Thankfully he is alive and well and KAWFT visited him in hospital on the Friday night of the incident and again on the Saturday,” they said.

A Chief in Matebeleland North wants to see every child rapist in Zimbabwe beaten up.
Chief Sikobokobo of Nkayi who was born Michael Nxumalo, told ZimEye.com that the government must give them back their powers to deliver instant justice to community offenders, especially rapists, as this was yesteryear’s solution to curb sexual notoriety.
Listen to the Traditional Leader talking about waiting for response from the central government to revert to the old system of lashing canes on offenders.

FACTIONAL fights that characterised Morgan Tsvangirai’s opposition MDC-T ahead of last October’s elective congress have resurfaced with senior party members exchanging harsh words on social media platforms.
A conversation on a WhatsApp group composed of MDC-T standing committee members leaked to NewsDay shows the party has been embroiled in serious power struggles.
The nasty exchanges were triggered by the appointment of Costa Machingauta as acting national organiser in Gweru last week reportedly by party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora without the consent of other standing committee members.
He was appointed because national organiser Abednico Bhebhe is on study leave, while his deputy, Thamsanqa Mahlangu, was said to be on sick leave.
The chats started with deputy treasurer-general Charlton Hwende asking why Machingauta’s appointment was done clandestinely.
Hwende queried the constitutionality of appointing Machingauta, who was not in the party’s standing committee. Other members like Sesel Zvidzai joined in the debate, saying Machingauta’s appointment posed a constitutional crisis in the party.
MDC-T vice-president Thokozani Khupe explained that Bhebhe and Mahlangu were on leave.
But all hell broke loose when Mwonzora mocked Hwende’s low votes at last year’s congress saying: “The people who had the least votes always say too much.”
Mwonzora escalated the fight when he said Hwende, as a deputy, was not supposed to be in the standing committee.
Hwende immediately hit back saying: “For a secretary-general to say that deputies are sitting in the SC (standing committee) illegally that’s very low even for your standards. You are an embarrassment, Even if I got one vote . . . and this coming from a lawyer? I am ashamed.”
Another party member interjected: “What has more votes yielded for the people of Zimbabwe who are suffering? You have failed to protect the workers of our party and call yourself numbers.”
Hwende accused Mwonzora of pocketing $4 000 while party workers had gone for months without pay. They also accused Mwonzora of claiming to be powerful when Tsvangirai was the only centre of power.
They said his duty was to implement Tsvangirai’s orders like what he did with the recall of MDC Renewal Team MPs.
Mwonzora fired back saying: “But I certainly don’t bad mouth my own superior. Others do. I win my way into leadership. Other people sponsor rag-tag youths to pass a vote of no confidence in their own superiors.”
He added: “Those who say $4 000 was taken, please post the proof thereof for this group to see. Those who go to the Press to bad mouth their leaders and pretend not to see, please stand!”
The party’s youth leader Happymore Chidziva said the party was in trouble if national leaders were involved in mudslinging and failing to restore order in the party and take power from Zanu PF.
“At our level, we must be busy not even here on WhatsApp. We have a lot of work to do, we need to be serious,” Chidziva said.
Mwonzora yesterday refused to comment over the cyber fights.
“I have nothing personal with anyone. The discussion was not for public consumption and I don’t know who leaked them,” he said.
Hwende said: “I am not allowed to speak to the Press on party business without the permission of the secretary-general. You can contact the party’s official spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu.”
Gutu said the communication was internal and not for public consumption.
He said Tsvangirai used his powers to appoint Machingauta, who was a senior member of the party.
“Thus, there is absolutely nothing amiss and/or untoward about Hon Machingauta’s recent appointment as acting national organising secretary until Bhebhe returns from study leave,” Gutu said.
But insiders said the chats had exposed serious internal fights, which could boomerang if left unchecked.
They alleged that Mwonzora was afraid of losing control to a faction linked to former organising secretary Nelson Chamisa, whom he defeated for the secretary-general’s post last year.
Khupe, Mwonzora and Gutu, the sources said, were fighting in the same corner, while Hwende, Chamisa, Theresa Makone, the party’s treasurer general, were fighting in the other corner.
Machingauta lost to Mahlangu and is believed to be in Mwonzora’s camp.
“In terms of seniority among deputies, Paurina Mpariwa, who is Mwonzora’s deputy is supposed to act. It is a battle to control the structures when Bhebhe is away,” the source added.-Newsday

Following the leaking of an audio recording of notorious strong-woman Oppah Muchinguri gossiping and plotting to destroy party members, Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF has taken the extra-ordinary step of shutting down its Mutare office.

ZANU PF Manicaland provincial offices in Mutare have been shut down as staff members fear violent clashes between rival camps supporting senior ruling party officials hailing from the province.
One employee said workers were now working from outside their offices as rival camps were baying for each other’s blood.
“We are temporarily closed. There are issues happening there and we will re-open as soon as those things are settled,” she said.
Some provincial youth executive members told NewsDay that since the aborted provincial coordinating committee meeting on Saturday, the situation had been tense in Manicaland.
The youths were allegedly divided along factional lines with some allegedly loyal to politburo member and Environment minister Oppah Muchinguri while others supported Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandi Chimene and acting chairman Samuel Undenge.
The youths accused each other of trying to destabilise the ruling party by pursuing personal agendas.
“There are youth members who are revolting and destabilise the party. These are the same youths milling around the offices threatening party employees,” said a provincial executive member.
“They were against the decision by Undenge to cancel Saturday’s meeting yet it was apparent to all right minded comrades that unruly elements were going to cause chaos during the meeting and hijack it to fire Undenge and all who are said to be loyal to him.”
The situation in Manicaland deteriorated following the leaking of an audio disc in which Muchinguri was heard discussing with suspended provincial youth chair Kelvin Manyengavana, executive member Getrude Mutandi and others on how to allegedly plot the downfall of others.
However, Manicaland provincial secretary for administration Kenneth Saruchera tried to downplay the temporary closure yesterday saying they deployed their staff outside of Mutare. “I will not say we have closed but it’s just that our employees are working from outside. We deployed them to other assignments in districts outside Mutare,” he said.
When quizzed to explain allegations that hostile party youths forced the closure, Saruchera said, “Problems and challenges will always be there but we cannot close office because of those challenges.”
National youth league leaders headed by secretary for youths Pupurai Togarepi, his deputy Kudzi Chipanga and others descended on Mutare yesterday to try and douse factional flames which have seen several suspensions and counter-suspensions.-Newsday

“The ConCourt said I should form my own party to challenge Mugabe.
“I cannot contest as an independent candidate; I am going to do as they told me to do.
“I am now working towards forming the party so that we can remove Mugabe in the next elections.”
FORMER Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Kudakwashe Bhasikiti says he decided against contesting the Mwenezi East by-election to avoid exposing villagers to Zanu PF violence.
Ward 13 councillor and Zanu PF candidate Joshua Moyo was declared the new MP for Mwenezi East constituency after he went unchallenged at the close of the nomination court on Monday.
He replaces Bhasikiti who was recalled from Parliament in a ruthless purge targeting party members perceived to belong to former Vice President Joice Mujuru’s faction over allegations of plotting against President Robert Mugabe.
Bhasikiti was expected to contest as an independent candidate after his legal bid to stop Mugabe from firing him from Zanu PF and recalling him from the National Assembly was dismissed by a full Constitutional Court (ConCourt) bench last Friday.
The former minister said he had decided against standing as an independent candidate because he was afraid people would be exposed to violence by Zanu PF.
“I put people first,” Bhasikiti said.
“I just thought if I could contest, my people would be exposed to widespread violence from Zanu PF and I decided, I should now concentrate on national issues than fight for the seat.”
Zanu PF allegedly turned Hurungwe West into a battle zone ahead of the June 10 by-elections contested by former MP, Temba Mliswa who lost the battle to Keith Guzah of the ruling party.
Mliswa had been recalled from Parliament as part of the purge that has so far claimed the scalps of over 140 party stalwarts including Mujuru and former Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa.
“Government should now use the money it was supposed to spend in the September 9 by-election to compensate the people of Chingwizi who were displaced from Tokwe-Mukosi (by floods). Most of them were not compensated,” Bhasikiti said.
“The ConCourt said I should form my own party to challenge Mugabe.
“I cannot contest as an independent candidate; I am going to do as they told me to do.
“I am now working towards forming the party so that we can remove Mugabe in the next elections.”
Bhasikiti is linked to People First, a party made up of disgruntled party members who were purged from the party over their alleged links Mujuru.
The party was reportedly fronted by Mujuru and is expected to challenge Mugabe in the 2018 general elections.

A Harare magistrate on Tuesday denied bail to leaders of the National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe, Samuel Wadzai and Stendrick Zvorwadza, who are facing public violence charges.
Magistrate Tendai Mahwe ruled that Wadzai, Zvorwadza and 14 other vendors who were arrested by council police during a crackdown on illegal street traders were likely to disturb peace if they were released on bail arguing that the crackdown on vendors was still going on.
Zvorwadza, Wadzai and others are denying the charges saying they were arrested by council police when they were demanding that authorities release wares of the vendors that had been confiscated by Harare municipal police last week.
The case is expected to continue on August 4th.-VOA

Women and mothers in Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe (RDZ) would like to express their heartfelt condolences to the families of the cross border Zimbabwean traders who perished in Kafue , Zambia at the weekend while on duty.
As mothers in the RDZ we are worried about the alarming rate of Zimbabwean women who lose their lives through road traffic accidents while fending for their families within and beyond our borders. Some are either kidnapped or sexually abused in foreign nations for the sake of their struggling families.
It is for these and other reasons that we unreservedly blame the government of the day which has completely failed to live up to its widely published 2.2 million jobs promise of 2013. We demand that for every single loss of life on our colleagues the state must be responsible in incurring the blame and compensation. It is common cause that the state must create employment for its own citizens .
We also blame the government for not taking necessary measures to ensure that public transporters adhere to safe standards and life saving rules.
As RDZ mothers we demand that the government provides employment for its women and stop harassing our colleagues who are toiling for a living in the urban streets. It is sad to note that the state has of late invested a lot of resources in subjecting our urban female traders to severe beatings and confiscation of their wares instead of creating safe, suitable and sustainable livelihoods for them. The recent deliberate non funding of the female soccer team to fly to West Africa for a crucial tournament is a glaring sign that the ruling government does not care about the welfare and interests of women. We also demand that the government put a legislation that makes employment a human right.
Hilda Sibanda
RDZ Women Assembly Chairperson

First Lady Grace Mugabe’s fav-Minister and Mashonaland Central provincial designate, Martin Dinha, yesterday had an AK47 bullet dropped on him in a parcel.
The parcel is believed to have brought about fear which led him to go into hiding.
Dinha is said to have been shaken by the message that could mean some people in the party are threatening him with death.
The minister, who was once linked to the ousted Mujuru camp, has been close to Grace Mugabe and protected her expanding land properties in the province.
Dinha is believed to be a target of some Zanu (PF) hawks who could not be immediately identified.
Media reports quoted an unnamed source confirming the ominous parcel.
“Someone went to the minister’s office and left an envelope with the security guards. As is the norm, when Dinha’s secretary arrived in the morning, the envelope was handed to her and she duly opened it and discovered the disturbing contents.
“She immediately phoned her boss, who was shaken by this development. As we speak, he has gone into hiding. The minister is taking the threats seriously,” the source said.
The message accompanying the bullet reportedly read: “Game over Dinha, resign now or else we get you. Dinha your time is up and you messed with the wrong guys”.
Police, however, said they were not aware of the threat.-thezimbabwean

As Zanu PF’s deadly factional and succession wars get nastier and more confused, First Lady Grace Mugabe and Water Minister (Pastor)Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri are apparently now locked in a bitter battle that is dividing Manicaland province and the ruling party’s women’s league down the middle.
Sources within the party also claimed yesterday that the war between the two ladies had recently witnessed many spouses of senior Zanu PF officials allegedly trooping to the multi-million dollar business hub of President Robert Mugabe’s wife in Mazowe, “in a bid to try and knock some sense into her”.
Apparently, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxilia, had led a Midlands women’s league delegation to Mazowe last week, where it appeared that the intention was to de-campaign Gweru businesswoman Smelly Dube, who is allegedly linked to the first lady and the ambitious party Young Turks who are known as the Generation 40 (G40) group.
“The delegations talked bad about Dube and claimed that she was the one fuelling factionalism in Midlands. They also accused Dube of using her financial muscle to cause division amongst Women’s League members.
“However, Amai (Grace) refused to entertain those allegations and instructed the women to work together. Amai also questioned why they were talking about Dube in her absence, saying allegations should always be dealt with when all parties are available.
“It’s unfortunate for Mai Mnangagwa and her team because they did not get what they wanted,” one of the sources said.
Mnangagwa’s wife declined to comment about the matter yesterday saying, “Zanu PF has structures. Please may you look for the provincial chair or spokesperson for women. I do not know about that issue”.
Dube was unavailable for comment.
In the meantime, and amid this confusion, it also emerged yesterday that the party’s Youth League was seeking a meeting with Grace to complain about Muchinguri-Kashiri’s “nefarious activities” in Manicaland — where the Water minister is in a bruising fight with regional leaders over who is in control of the province.
This is despite the fact that Grace, Muchinguri-Kashiri and the G40 worked tirelessly together last year to decapitate former Vice President Joice Mujuru and her allies.
But no sooner had Mujuru been vanquished than cracks emerged, with Muchinguri-Kashiri and the Young Turks eventually falling out.
The Water minister is now said to have cut her ties with the G40’s brains trust, the so-called Gang of Four, choosing instead to throw in her lot with Mnangagwa’s camp, while Grace and the G40 are allegedly on the other side.
Last week, the Daily News reported that Grace and Mnangagwa’s relationship was unravelling, and that she was now working hand in glove with the G40.
Zanu PF insiders said that a number of developments over the past few weeks suggested that the pact between Grace and Mnangagwa, which had been witnessed when they worked together to annihilate Mujuru and her allies, “is now on shaky grounds”.
One of the well-placed sources said it was clear that all was not well between the two, particularly as it became more evident that “Dr Amai (Grace) could be priming herself for the ultimate post, rather than assist Ngwena (Mnangagwa) to get there”.’DailyNews

The Deputy Sheriff and ZRP cops stormed MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s Highlands mansion Tuesday morning.
The Court Official descended onto Tsvangirai’s house today accompanied by two trucks of armed riot police officers, acting on an old court order to recover debts accrued by Tsvangirai’s party.
Tsvangirai fell into debt soon after the just ended July 2013 elections as his party was also burdened with an employee liability due to labour court action.
It later emerged at mid day however that the debts at stake are not Tsvangirai’s but are those of the party.
While telephone calls to the MDC leader were not going through at the time of writing, his spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka later told ZimEye.com the police stormed Tsvangirai house “intending to embarrass him.”
“They then proceeded from his house to Harvest House but they left the office building with their tails firmly tucked between their legs.”
Tamborinyoka explained to ZimEye.com there is a court order issued on the 3rd of June barring the Deputy Sheriff from attaching anything.
“We just showed them the court order, and the whole plot to tarnish the image of Tsvangirai collapsed like a deck of cards,” he said.

More to follow…

FORMER war veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda has accused President Robert Mugabe of treating him harshly compared to other alleged supporters of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru and suggested his persecution was tribally motivated.
Sibanda was arrested last year for allegedly saying Mugabe and First Lady Grace Mugabe planned a bedroom coup. His case for allegedly undermining the authority of the President is pending in the courts.
However, Sibanda told NewsDay in an interview that those accused of playing a leading role in the alleged plot to kill Mugabe had not been arrested.
“I do not know whether he is in charge of his faculties even. I do not want to believe that Mugabe is a tribalist; because Nicholas Goche who is accused of having sought to hire snipers to kill Mugabe is sitting at his house, but Sibanda who is accused of insulting the President is locked up with no bail.
“Is it selective justice that a Ndebele who allegedly insulted him is jailed?” He said it was difficult to get justice at the courts and in Zanu PF.
“The same guys in charge of the party disciplinary committee are not affording people the right to be heard,”he said.
“They are running the courts at State level and are in charge of the justice delivery system as well. Should I then have confidence in them if they are already trampling on my rights at party level?”
Sibanda was removed from his post of Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association chairperson after Mugabe threatened to set ‘his army’ against him.
The outspoken Sibanda said he was a victim of Mugabe’s rule after nine members of his party were killed during Gukurahundi.
The Gukurahundi massacres reportedly claimed the lives of more than 20 000 villagers in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.
“Nine members of my family were killed by the Fifth Brigade,” he said.
“I went through torture that would have brought down the Kariba electricity grid, but I stomached that and continued to work for the revolution.
“Surely somebody must recognise that. I worked for Zanu PF for the sake of peace alone.”
He said he was convinced, Mugabe knew “in his heart” that whatever accusations were being levelled against the Mujuru camp were lies.
“The thing is this is a façade, Mugabe knows it is a lie that Mujuru did not do anything, knows Goche never sought to kill him and also knows that Jabulani did not insult him,” he said. Newsday

A Senior Politburo (ZANU PF’s highest decision making body) former member has become the first ZANU PF icon to open his fire on named Central Intelligence Organisation agents for the abduction of democracy activist Itai Dzamara.
Until the weekend, no Zimbabwean had to date taken any bravery to name and shame specific people for Dzamara’s disappearance with the Police for over four months refusing to search for him. At one point Spokesperson Charity Charamba told ZimEye.com they would only investigate as they doubted that Dzamara was abducted by the CIO.
But as he physically apprehended a female CIO agent trailing him, Mr Kudakwashe Bhasikiti who is well connected to the CIO, fingered three intelligence officers detailing that they are the ones who took Dzamara on the 9th March. While it was not clear how Bhasikiti had performed his verification methods, he announced, “I now have no doubt in my mind that these people are the same people who abducted Dzamara,” he said without revealing their names and is now set to publish their full profiles this week.
He explained his ordeal to the local Daily News, “I was being followed by three vehicles, which included a Toyota Fortuner, to and from my house. Whenever I got home they would leave a young woman who appeared harmless sitting near my exit point or just close by.
“This has been going on for the whole week. This morning (yesterday) they followed my driver as he went to buy bread. We were alerted to this by concerned neighbours and we phoned the driver and he duly saw them.
“On his way back they again followed him and dropped the girl at the same point. It was at that point that I asked my guys to apprehend the young woman and we took her to Borrowdale Police Station,” Bhasikiti said.
Asked if the lady had offered any resistance when his aides had charged at her, the former Mwenezi East legislator said there had been “a struggle” as they moved to apprehend her.
“I could see a person close to my home daily when I left home and even when I returned. However, it did not occur to me that anything was amiss until some gardeners and airtime vendors told me that I was being trailed.
“When we moved to apprehend her, the young woman resisted and tried to phone some people, but we took her to the police who questioned her.
“When we asked the police officer who was doing the questioning who the girl was, he just said she was from the system.
“As we were leaving the police station, we noticed the vehicle that had dropped her near my house, since my driver had the number plates. The police went to the car and when they arrived, the two men inside closed the windows and sped off.
“After that group had sped off, another group came in and another young lady who initially said she stayed in Sunningdale but later claimed to stay in Glen View claimed that the young woman we had apprehended was her relative.
Bhasikiti, was recently expelled from President Robert Mugabe’s warring party on untested allegations of plotting to oust and kill the frail and long-ruling nonagenarian.

Former Education minister David Coltart yesterday courted the ire of Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo after he seemed to question why the Tsholotsho North MP remained a Zanu PF member during Gukurahundi.
The heated exchange between Coltart and Moyo on Twitter started when one of their followers asked if the two agreed on anything.
Coltart had responded by saying they agreed on a lot of things before Moyo ‘joined Zanu PF in 1999.’
Another follower entered the fray saying Moyo joined Zanu PF in 1979 as the party’s representative in Carlifonia, United States.
Coltart then questioned if the former Information minister shared responsibility for Gukurahundi, but Moyo responded with a tirade against the MDC senior official.
“Moyo went ballistic, angered by what he felt was my suggestion that he was complicit in Gukurahundi,” Coltart said in a follow up post on Facebook.
“I pointed out that I had not made that allegation but that if he was a loyal, card carrying member of Zanu PF during that time, and did not resign or speak out, then he would be complicit. It does raise the issue of our silence in the face of evil.
“The Bible in Romans 12:9 says ‘Hate what is evil’. Hate is a strong word and allows of no middle ground.
“If we hate something we will not want to have any part of it, not be associated with it in any form. One cannot ‘hate’ something and have any desire to be part of that thing.”
Moyo called Coltart a Rhodie and Selous Scout in a rant that he promised to take further later in the day as he was attending a workshop.
“Only a Rhodie idiot would say it’s not vitriolic to say I’m responsible for Gukurahundi because I was Zanu PF,” Moyo said in a series of tweets.
“How dare David Coltart say I am responsible for Gukurahundi because I was then a member of Zanu PF?
“So to Rhodie idiots everyone who was a member of Zanu PF during that dark period is responsible for Gukurahundi?”
His parting short was “@DavidColtart has said totally unacceptable & idiotic things I will fully respond to tonight. I’m off to an all-day ministry workshop.”
Moyo and Coltart often have heated exchanges on Tweeter on different subjects. Coltart yesterday said it was a pity that Moyo would resort to calling him names.
“It really is a pity that that remains your only rejoinder,” he said after Moyo called him a Rhodie and Selous Scout.
After he was barred from contesting on a Zanu PF ticket in 2005, Moyo wrote on his CV that his father was killed by Gukurahundi.
Thousands of people reportedly died in massacres in Matabeleland and Midlands after the government deployed the 5 Brigade in an operation code named Gukurahundi to hunt down dissidents.
Moyo once advocated for a Bill that would have made compensation for Gukurahundi victims possible.
However, in an interview with BBC in May he said the Gukurahundi issue had been dealt with through the 1987 Unity Accord.
He advised that “in politics it is not wise to carry grudges with you”. Southern Eye

The corruption case against former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono brought to court by his former advisor Dr Munyaradzi Kereke is set to proceed to hearing after the Constitutional Court last Friday ruled on a preliminary point.
The court granted an application by Dr Kereke for Prosecutor-General Mr Johannes Tomana and police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri to be cited as fellow respondents in the corruption case facing Dr Gono and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.
Dr Kereke approached the court in 2013 making several allegations against Dr Gono, including that he allegedly sold gold from Fidelity Printers and Refiners at a discount of 34 percent to foreigners at a time Zimbabwe had foreign currency shortages.
The full Constitutional Court bench led by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ordered that Mr Tomana and Comm-Gen Chihuri be the third and fourth respondents, respectively in the corruption case.
“The 3rd and 4th respondents be and are hereby given leave to file any such papers as they may deem necessary within a period of 10 days of the date of this order,” ordered the court.
The court did not issue an order on costs.
The Constitutional Court had reserved ruling in November 2014 on whether or not Mr Tomana and Comm-Gen Chihuri should be cited as respondents in the case.
In the main case filed in December 2013, Dr Kereke wants a declaration that the refusal by ZACC to investigate the allegations was a breach of its constitutional mandate.
He is seeking to compel ZACC to investigate and arrest Dr Gono on allegations of theft, corruption and fraud committed at the time he was at the helm of the RBZ.
Dr Kereke argued that ZACC was acting unconstitutionally by failing to probe allegations of abuse of public office, corruption and theft against Dr Gono.
He said he wrote to ZACC in 2013 outlining Dr Gono’s alleged corruption between 2006 and 2009 when he was the central bank governor.
Dr Kereke alleged that Dr Gono took more than $37,5 million, R1,4 million and £21 500 from State coffers and converted it to his personal use. He accused Dr Gono of circulating Cabinet minutes and military files to hostile foreign governments in breach of the Official Secrets Act.
He said he had proof to back the allegations and was ready to present it. Dr Gono, it is alleged, abused his authority by borrowing more than $40 million through his companies.
Dr Kereke said he wondered how Dr Gono would perform his supervisory role after borrowing such huge sums from local banks.
Another allegation was that Dr Gono sold gold bullion to a private jewellery company in Saudi Arabia at a 34 percent discount. Dr Kereke accused Dr Gono of misrepresenting to Government the true status of the International Monetary Fund debt by claiming the country had cleared it.
He further alleged that in 2009, Dr Gono casually wrote an instruction on a scrap paper for a junior officer to transfer $1,5 million into former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s bank account and the money has allegedly not been recovered.
Dr Kereke also alleged that Dr Gono took $200 000 from the Reserve Bank coffers and gave it to the Financial Gazette newspaper, in which he is the majority shareholder.
He claimed that ZACC commissioners were given money by Dr Gono for holidays when the country was facing economic challenges.
Dr Gono responded by dismissing the allegations as patently false. He said the allegations were “malicious”, “vindictive”, “vitriolic” and calculated at frustrating his nomination as a Zanu-PF Senator.
Dr Gono said the RBZ was audited regularly by reputable auditors like KPMG, Deloitte and Touché and BDO Kudenga, and no such fraud was discovered. In another case, Fidelity Printers and Refiners executives are in court facing fraud charges involving $2,6 million from the company wholly owned by the RBZ.

More than 20 people were murdered in the last six months in cases involving crimes of passion.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) said most of the victims were women who were killed at the hands of their abusive husbands.
“We are very worried by the increase in murder cases involving couples and as police, we encourage people to seek relevant counselling when facing marital problems,” said ZRP Spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba.
With life and death at stake, debate rages, whether abused spouses should soldier on to protect their marriages.
Some believe marriage is not worth risking one’s life for while others believe matters of the heart are too complex to prescribe solutions.
On the 13th of June this year, a Buhera man, Never Mutebuka axed to death his wife Mollen Zivengwa, accusing her of causing bad luck in the family.
Recently, a Shurugwi man murdered his three children before committing suicide in a dispute over the custody of children.

Judgment No. SC 43/15 8 -, Civil Appeal No. SC 281/14

Click here to download the raw PDF file

REPORTABLE (39)
(1) DON NYAMANDE (2) KINGSTONE DONG A
ZUVA PETROLEUM (PRIVATE) LIMITED
SUPREME COURT OF ZIMBABWE
CHIDYAUSIKU CJ, GWAUNZA JA, GARWE JA, HLATSHWAYO JA & GUVAVA JA
HARARE, FEBRUARY 3 & JULY 17, 2015
L Madhuku, with him C Mucheche, for the appellants
T Mpofu, for the respondent
CHIDYAUSIKU CJ: This is an appeal from a judgment of the Labour Court delivered on 28 March 2014 allowing termination of the appellants’ employment contracts on notice.
The facts of this case are common cause. They are as follows. The appellants were employed by BP Shell as supply and logistics manager and finance manager. BP Shell sold its services as a going concern to Zuva Petroleum, the respondent. A transfer of undertaking was done in terms of s 16 of the Labour Act [Chapter 28:01] (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) and an agreement of sale concluded. The appellants were transferred to the new undertaking without derogation from the terms and conditions of employment that they enjoyed when they were under BP Shell.
On 21 November 2011 the respondent offered its employees, who included the appellants, a voluntary retrenchment package which was declined. On 15 December 2011 the respondent served each of its employees, including the appellants, with a compulsory notice of intention to retrench.
 
The appellants and the respondent could not agree on the retrenchment terms. Having failed to agree on the terms of retrenchment, the parties referred the dispute to the Retrenchment Board. On 16 May 2012 the Ministry of Labour and Social Services directed the parties to carry out further retrenchment negotiations for another twenty-one days. On 18 May 2012, and before the expiry of the twenty-one days, the respondent wrote letters to the appellants, terminating their contracts of employment on notice, as was provided for in the contracts of employment signed by both parties, with effect from 1 June 2012.
 
The respondent paid the appellants cash in lieu of notice and thus terminated the employment relationship. The appellants approached a labour officer, contending that their employment contracts had been unlawfully terminated. The labour officer failed to resolve the matter and referred it to compulsory arbitration. The arbitrator concluded that the termination of the contracts of employment was unlawful because the appellants had not been dismissed in terms of a code of conduct.
The respondent appealed to the Labour Court. The Labour Court allowed the appeal. In its judgment the Labour Court had this to say:
“In my view, therefore, the submission that section 12B came to do away with the possibility of terminating a contract of employment on notice is a misunderstanding of the law as it stands. In any event, the provisions of section 12(4) of the Act are clear and allow no ambiguity as also the provisions of section 128. None of the sections have the effect of doing away with the termination of a contract of employment on notice.”
In essence, the Labour Court came to the conclusion that neither s 12B nor s 12(4) of the Act abolished the employer’s right to terminate employment on notice. I respectfully agree with this conclusion.
The appellants were aggrieved by the judgment of the Labour Court and now appeal to this court on the following grounds:
“The Labour Court erred and seriously misdirected itself on a question of law by upholding the termination of the appellants’ contracts of employment on notice and failing to find such termination to be unfair dismissal.
The Labour Court erred and seriously misdirected itself on a question of law in failing to realise as it should have done that section 12(4) of the Labour Act [Chapter 28:01] does not provide for the termination of a contract of employment on notice and that any such purported termination is contrary to section 1213 of the Labour Act [Chapter 28:01].
The Labour Court erred at law in allowing termination on notice as that amounts to allowing an employer to terminate employment for no justifiable and valid cause.”
The appellants seek the setting aside of the Labour Court judgment and its substitution with that of the arbitrator.
It would appear on the papers that the bone of contention between the parties is the legal status of the employer’s common law right to terminate an employment relationship on notice. Counsel are agreed that once upon a time both the employer and the employee had a common law right to terminate an employment relationship on notice. The point of departure appears to be that the appellants, while acknowledging that the employer’s right once existed, argue that it has since been abolished. The respondent contends that the employer’s right has not been abolished and still subsists.
It was contended for the appellants that s 12B of the Act abolished the employer’s common law right to dismiss an employee on notice.
 
In essence, the Labour Court came to the conclusion that neither s 12B nor s 12(4) of the Act abolished the employer’s right to terminate employment on notice. I respectfully agree with this conclusion.
The appellants were aggrieved by the judgment of the Labour Court and now appeal to this court on the following grounds:
“The Labour Court erred and seriously misdirected itself on a question of law by upholding the termination of the appellants’ contracts of employment on notice and failing to find such termination to be unfair dismissal.
The Labour Court erred and seriously misdirected itself on a question of law in failing to realise as it should have done that section 12(4) of the Labour Act [Chapter 28:01] does not provide for the termination of a contract of employment on notice and that any such purported termination is contrary to section 12B of the Labour Act [Chapter 28:01].
The Labour Court erred at law in allowing termination on notice as that amounts to allowing an employer to terminate employment for no justifiable and valid cause.”
The appellants seek the setting aside of the Labour Court judgment and its substitution with that of the arbitrator.
It would appear on the papers that the bone of contention between the parties is the legal status of the employer’s common law right to terminate an employment relationship on notice. Counsel are agreed that once upon a time both the employer and the employee had a common law right to terminate an employment relationship on notice. The point of departure appears to be that the appellants, while acknowledging that the employer’s right once existed, argue that it has since been abolished. The respondent contends that the employer’s right has not been abolished and still subsists.
It was contended for the appellants that s 12B of the Act abolished the employer’s common law right to dismiss an employee on notice.
(1) had a legitimate expectation of being re-engaged; and
(ii) another person was engaged instead of the employee.
(4) In any proceedings before a labour officer, designated agent or the Labour Court where the fairness of the dismissal of an employee is in issue, the adjudicating authority shall, in addition to considering the nature or gravity of any misconduct on the part of the dismissed employee, consider whether any mitigation of the misconduct avails to an extent that would have justified action other than dismissal, including the length of the employee’s service, the employee’s previous disciplinary record, the nature of the employment and any special personal circumstances of the employee.”
As I have already stated, it is common cause that once upon a time both the employer and the employee had a common law right to terminate an employment relationship on notice. That common law right in respect of both the employer and the employee can only be limited, abolished or regulated by an Act of Parliament or a statutory instrument that is clearly intra vires an Act of Parliament.
I am satisfied that s 12B of the Act does not abolish the employer’s common law right to terminate employment on notice in terms of an employment contract for a number of reasons.
The time-honoured and golden rule of statutory interpretation is that you give the words of a statute their primary meaning. See National Railways of Zimbabwe Contributory Pension Fund v Edy 5-141-88; Madoda v Tanganda Tea Company Ltd 1999 (1) ZLR 374 (S); S v Masivira 1990 (1) ZLR 373 (HC); Maxwell on The Interpretation of Statutes 12 ed at p 28; Nyemba and Watunga v R 1961 R & N 688 (SR) at 691C-D; Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd v Minister of Lands and Anor 2008 (1) ZLR 17 (S) at 33-35; and Mawarire v Mugabe NO and Ors CCZ-01-2013.
Applying this golden rule of statutory interpretation, I see no words in s 12B of the Act that either expressly or by necessary implication abolish the employer’s common law right to terminate an employment relationship by way of notice.
It is also a well-established principle of statutory interpretation that a statute cannot effect an alteration of the common law without saying so explicitly.
This principle finds authority in the case of Phiri and Ors v Industrial Steel Pipe (Pvt) Ltd 1996 (12) ZLR 45 (5) at 49, wherein the following was stated:
“There is a presumption, in the interpretation of statutes, that Parliament does not intend a change in the common law, unless it expresses its intention with irresistible clearness or it follows by necessary implication from the language of the statute in question that it intended to effect such alteration in the common law; for construing the statute by adding to it words which are neither found therein nor for which authority could be found in the language of the statute itself, is to sin against one of the most familiar rules of construction …’: per LORD HALSBURY LC in Bank of England v Vagliano [18911 C AC 107 at 120.”
See also PTC v Mahachi 1997 (2) ZLR 71 (H); Mushaishi v Lifeline Syndicate and Anor 1990 (1) ZLR 284 (H) at 2871); and Johannesburg Municipality v Cohen’s Trustees 1909 TS 811.
Section 12B of the Act, as the main heading of that section reveals, deals with dismissal and the procedures to be followed in those instances where an employment relationship is to be terminated by way of dismissal following misconduct proceedings. The section also sets out in some detail what constitutes unfair labour practice which it outlaws. Termination of employment on notice is not among the conduct that s 12B of the Act outlaws as unfair labour practice.
Mk.’
 
The section that deals with termination of a contract of employment on notice is s 12(4) of the Act. I shall revert to this section later in this judgment.
It is also instructive to note that s 8 of the Act sets out in some detail conduct that is outlawed as unfair labour practice.
Section 8 of the Act provides as follows:
“8 Unfair labour practices by employer
An employer or, for the purpose of paragraphs (g) and (h), an employer or any other person, commits an unfair labour practice if, by act or omission, he –
prevents, hinders or obstructs any employee in the exercise of any right conferred upon him in terms of Part II; or contravenes any provision of Part II or of section eighteen; or refuses to negotiate in good faith with a workers committee or a trade union which has been duly formed and which is authorized in terms of this Act to represent any of his employees in relation to such negotiation; or refuses to co-operate in good faith with an employment council on which the interests of any of his employees are represented; or
(a) fails to comply with or to implement –
a collective bargaining agreement; or
a decision or finding of an employment council on which any of his employees are represented; or a decision or finding made under Part XII; or
any determination or direction which is binding upon him in terms of this Act; or
bargains collectively or otherwise deals with another trade union, where a registered trade union representing his employees exists; or
demands from any employee or prospective employee any sexual favour as a condition of — the recruitment for employment; or
the creation, classification or abolition of jobs or posts; or
the improvement of the remuneration or other conditions of employment of the employee; or the choice of persons for jobs or posts, training, advancement, apprenticeships, transfer, promotion or retrenchment; or
the provision of facilities related to or connected with employment: or
any other matter related to employment; or
(h) engages in unwelcome sexually-determined behaviour towards any employee, whether verbal or otherwise, such as making physical contact or advances, sexually coloured remarks, or displaying pornographic materials in the workplace.”
It is apparent from the above section that termination of employment on notice is not among the conduct outlawed by s 8 of the Act.
It is also very clear that, on a proper reading of s 12B of the Act, it deals with the method of termination of employment known as “dismissal”. While dismissal is one method of termination of employment, it is not the only method of terminating an employment relationship. It is only one of several methods of terminating employment.
In this regard, s 12C of the Act provides for the method of termination of employment known as “retrenchment”. Termination of employment by way of retrenchment is not a dismissal.
This court has held that termination of employment can be effected in other ways than dismissal. In the case of Commercial Careers College (1980) (Pvt) Ltd v Jarvis 1989 (1) ZLR 344 (5) at 349E-G, this court made the following observation:
“It is easy to conceive of a situation in which, albeit no blame whatsoever attaches to the employee, the inescapable inference is that the personal relationship between him and the employer has broken down to the extent that trust in one another has been lost, For a court to order reinstatement against such a backdrop of animosity and ill-will, solely because an employee unreasonably and out of wounded pride seeks it, would be to permit the continuation of an intolerable personal relationship – one which would make it impossible for the employee to perform his duties either to his own satisfaction or to that of his employer.”
In the Commercial Careers College case supra it was common cause that the personal relationship between the applicants and the respondent was totally destroyed. The applicants’ stance was simply that the respondent, the employer, cannot terminate their employment contracts on notice at law, but they can resign from employment Willy nilly. That proposition was rejected.
The same proposition that where the relationship between the employer and the employee has deteriorated to untenable levels through no fault of either party the relationship can be terminated was accepted in Winterton, Holmes & Hill v Paterson 1995 (2) ZLR 68 (S)•
Quite clearly, the appellants’ case is predicated on the proposition that dismissal means all forms of termination of employment. Put differently, all terminations of employment are dismissals. This proposition is not tenable on the authority of the above cases. That proposition is clearly erroneous.
The proposition that there are other methods or forms of terminating employment apart from dismissal was clearly articulated in the case of Samuriwo v Zimbabwe United Passenger Company 1999 (1) ZLR 385 (H), wherein GARWE J (as he then was) had this to say at 388E:
“The code, in compliance with s 101 of the Act, steers clear of other matters that have nothing to do with misconduct, such as termination for other reasons. Whilst it must be accepted that the code makes no provision for the managing director himself to be the subject of disciplinary proceedings, it seems to me that this is irrelevant as the termination in the present case is not sought on the basis of the code but in terms of the contract of employment.” (the emphasis is mine)
Samuriwo ‘s case supra places beyond dispute the fact that there are other ways of termination of employment different from dismissal in terms of codes of conduct following disciplinary proceedings as provided for in the codes of conduct.
The proposition that an employer has a right to terminate an employment relationship on notice in circumstances other than dismissal for misconduct finds further support in the case of Gertrude Kwaramba v Bain Industries (Pvt) Ltd SC 39/01, where this court accepted the employer’s right to terminate the employment contract on notice in no fault situations.
This case was followed in Chirasasa and Ors v Nhamo NO and Anor 2003 (2) ZLR 206 (S) where this court held that:
“In this case, the appellants agreed that there was no act of misconduct alleged against them. The parties had failed to agree on the new terms and conditions of employment proposed by the second respondent to meet the operational requirements of its business. The second respondent had a right to terminate the contracts of employment with the appellants by giving them one calendar month’s notice and could exercise it without obtaining prior written approval of the Minister. The decision in Kwaramba js case supra is, in my view, correct, whilst that in Masundire ‘s case supra is wrong.”
I am satisfied s 12B of the Act does not deal with the general concept of termination of employment. It concerns itself with termination of employment by way of dismissal in terms of a code of conduct. It sets out that which must be followed or dolt in terms of either an employment code of conduct or a national code of conduct. It does not concern itself with termination of employment by ways other than dismissal.
Section 12(4) of the Act is the section that deals with the concept of termination of employment on notice in terms of a contract of employment. It regulates the period of notice. It provides as follows:
“12 Duration, particulars and termination of employment contract
(4) Except where a longer period of notice has been provided for under a contract of employment or in any relevant enactment, and subject to subsections (5), (6) and (7), notice of termination of the contract of employment to be given by either party shall be — three months in the case of a contract without limit of time or a contract for a period of two years or more; two months in the case of a contract for a period of one year or more but less than two years; one month in the case of a contract for a period of six months or more but less than one year;
(a) two weeks in the case of a contract for a period of three months or more but less than six months;
(e) one day in the case of a contract for a period of less than three months or in the case of casual work or seasonal work.”
The wording of s 12(4) of the Act is so clear that it leaves very little room, if any, for misinterpretation. It governs the time periods that apply when employment is being terminated on notice. It stands to reason that the notice periods do not apply when an employee is dismissed. In instances of dismissal no notice is required. The periods of notice referred to in a 12(4) of the Act can only apply where there is termination of employment in terms of a process involving the giving of notice provided for in a contract of employment.
I accept the appellants’ contention that s 12(4) of the Act does not create a right to terminate employment on notice. Indeed, this contention appears to be accepted by the respondent.
The respondent’s case is that the right to terminate employment on notice is created by common law and not by statute or s 12(4) of the Act. It contends that a 12(4) of the Act simply regulates the exercise of that right conferred on the employer by common law.
There is no possible explanation, and none has been advanced, why, despite the explicit Section 12(4) of the Act explicitly applies to both the employer and the employee. language of the section, it should apply to the employee only and not to the employer; or why the section should exist to regulate a non-existent right. As Mr Mpofii aptly submitted, providing “for a time period for a right that does not exist is a puerile exercise, one which could never have been engaged in by a sane legislator”. The presumption is that Parliament must be taken to have intended its enactments to have meaning.
Section 12(4) of the Act can only have meaning if there is a substantive right, in this case the common law right to terminate employment on notice, to which it pertains. This is especially so when one considers that all that s 12(4) of the Act does is to facilitate the exercise of an existant common law right.
It is for these reasons that I agree with the conclusion of the Labour Court that the respondent was entitled at law to give notice terminating the employment of the appellants in terms of the contracts of employment between the parties.
Accordingly, the appeal fails and is hereby dismissed with costs.

GWAUNZA JA: I agree

GARWE JA: I agree

HLATSHWAY0 JA: I agree
GUVAVA JA: I agree

Matsikidze & Mucheche, appellants’ legal practitioners Atherstone & Cook, respondent’s legal practitioners

A BULAWAYO motorist yesterday told of how he was abducted, robbed and stabbed six times while his hands and feet were tied by a gang targeting motorists in Cowdray Park at a robbery hotspot that has seen five other drivers being attacked. Mqondisi Sibanda, 45, fell for a trick that the criminals employ; throwing a tyre in the middle of the road and pouncing on motorists who stop at the spot. He was attacked on Sunday last week and since then, five more motorists have fallen victim to the same ruse at the same place.
Sibanda, who is still nursing injuries from the brutal attack said he thought he was going to die as he was bound both hands and feet and thrown in the back of his Toyota Granvia vehicle.

The gang then detained him for almost three hours, while assaulting him.
“They held me from 10:30PM on Sunday last week to 1:30AM after I had slowed down my car thinking that my spare wheel had fallen off. I didn’t even get out of the vehicle as I realised that the spare wheel wasn’t mine. It was size 13 while mine is size 15,” said Sibanda, a member of the Harmony Singers for the past 20 years.
He said as he tried to drive away, three men pounced on his vehicle.
“They smashed the car windows and one of them jumped into the vehicle while the other started hitting me on the hands. I then stopped driving and they started assaulting me demanding money,” he said.
He said his attackers took away almost $600 and kept assaulting him as they demanded more money.
“They took away $500, in my jacket pocket, $60 in my trousers and $20 on the dashboard of the car. They started demanding gold saying because I had a helmet and a work-suit I owned a mine. I tried to explain that I worked for a construction company, but they continued assaulting me,” he said.
Sibanda said he was tied and thrown to the back of his car.
“I was stabbed about six times in the head, tied both hands and feet. All the blood you’re seeing in my car is a result of the stabbing.

“I never thought I was going to live. They told me they were going to kill me but didn’t want to get their hands dirty. They wanted to throw me into Denvor Dam but the car got stuck in the sand and they drove back to Cowdray Park,” he said.
Sibanda said it was because of God’s grace that he is still alive.
“I’d done all calculations and concluded that I was going to die that night. But I believe God still has a purpose for my life. All the odds were against me, but as the devil was working, God was also working and I triumphed,” he said.
Sibanda said he suspects the men were operating as a syndicate as they were picked by another car.
“They were picked by a maroon Nissan pickup which was being driven by someone whom they were constantly talking to on the phone. They looted everything that was in my car. I’d bought groceries that I wanted to send to my father at our rural home,” said Sibanda.
He said after the criminals released him, he struggled as four motorists he tried to get assistance from drove away.
“I’d to drive to Cowdray Park police sub-station but officers there were not of any help either. They said they were afraid and didn’t have a car to go and track the thieves that night. I then called my wife from the station and she took me to the United Bulawayo Hospitals where I received treatment before I was allowed to go home,” he said.
“This happened on Sunday last week and five more people have been robbed since. It leaves us to wonder what the police are doing. What’s their business if they’re failing to protect our lives? They’re only effective in traffic cases. They didn’t even come to do the investigations on time.”
He said police took three days to come to get a statement from him.
“They came to my house on Wednesday at 11:30PM. What took them all that long to start the investigation? They haven’t conducted investigations on my car. Those boys finger prints are all over,” he said.
Acting police spokesperson for Bulawayo province Assistant Inspector Abednico Ncube said police were hunting for the criminals whom he said had committed similar acts in the suburb.
“We’ve received such a report and we urge members of the public to avoid driving through those places or parking their vehicles in odd places. These criminals drop an old car tyre and as the driver gets distracted they get attacked,” said Asst Insp Ncube.
He called on members of the public to assist the police with any information that may lead to the arrest of the criminals.
He dismissed allegations that police were not acting on the matter.chronicle

Barely two days after the Supreme Court ruled that workers can be fired at anytime without any retrenchment cash, an expulsion bomb hit Zimbabwe’s workers countrywide at the weekend with hundreds being told to go home soon after the passing  of the verdict on Friday.
 
The Supreme Court passed the judgment three days ago which now allows employers to terminate workers’ contracts any time without offering them packages by merely giving them three months’ notice.
While the exact number of people  relieved  of their jobs at the weekend was not revealed, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira spoke out raising the alarm as she added that there is need to settle on corrective legal options to safeguard workers from being sacked willy-nilly and empty-handed by their employers.
 
Mupfumira quoted by the State Media said “the ministry is already receiving numerous complaints from workers whose contracts of employment have been terminated on notice since the court ruling.”
She said its is clear that the judgment has already opened a floodgate of termination of employment on notice, resulting in numerous workers unfairly losing their jobs.
The discussion was held on the Zimbabwe Policy Dialogue Institute where some analysts said termination on notice improves productivity.
But others led by Human Rights Lawyer Jeremiah Bamu contended saying “termination of employment must have a cause and not done willy nilly because that creates job insecurity and in the long run becomes a national burden because more and more people lose employment and become dependants when they are yet able-bodied.
 
“Termination on notice does not require cause to exist. Mere notice is sufficient. On the other hand, employees owing allegiance to their employers and the need to increase productivity is a separate issue altogether,” said Bamu.
 
But another lawyer argued the opposite saying, “employers do not employ in order to fire willy-nilly.
“They employ in order to attain their objectives.When a reason to terminate employment arises, employers should have the right to terminate.This should have nothing to do with the length of service.
 
“While from an employee ‘s perspective long service should come with “benefits”, conversely, the employer can as well say long service means the employee should be grateful for having been paid for many years.
“Kingstons collapsed because one (1)  employee obtained an outrageous arbitral-award and attached all the assets of the company.The rest of the employees suffered as result.Our labour practices were just archaic and retrogressive.”