The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has voiced deep concern over the continued outbreaks of xenophobia that have been occurring around South Africa.
The xenophobic attacks in KwaZulu-Natal that have so far claimed several lives and left thousands displaced, on Tuesday spread to the Durban CBD.
Several businesses in the Durban CBD which are owned by foreign nationals were this week looted.
“They took all the stock that I had recently ordered,” said Lydia Moyo, a Zimbabwean national who owns a stall at the workshop flea market.
The attacks in the Durban workshop, which started at around noon, later spread to Russel Street, Grey Street and many other areas around the CBD.
At about 13H00, almost all businesses owned by foreign nationals in the CBD had been closed.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, Major Thulane, confirmed that mobs had attacked several foreign-owned shops in the Durban CBD.
“Police are currently attending to the situation,” he said.
Vendors on Joseph Nduli and West streets packed their goods this afternoon, fearing their produce might also be taken.
This after a number of shops closed earlier today as looters started aiming for foreign-owned shops on Dr Goonam and Ingcuce roads in Durban. Police and Metro police are on the scene.
In KwaMashu, KwaZulu-Natal, shops belonging to foreign nationals were looted and some burnt down.
Police said some of the roads were completely blockaded with burning tyres and stones.
More than 30 people have been arrested in KwaMashu since the incidents of violence against foreign nationals last week.
Clementine Nkweta-Salami, UNHCR’s Regional Representative for Southern Africa, said: “UNHCR is glad to see the increased police presence and the efforts being made to try to contain the violence and looting to date and encourages them to continue with their efforts to restore peace in the affected areas.”
The attacks that started in Isipingo, south of Durban, two weeks ago, have so far claimed four lives, left several injured and displaced more than 2000 foreign nationals.
In Umlazi, south of Durban, one Ethiopian national was killed and another badly injured on Friday after mobs set their shops alight while the two were inside.This after mobs claiming to be carrying out Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini’s instructions for foreign nationals to be driven back to their countries,unleashed a wave of violence around the city, looting foreign- owned shops and evicting them from their homes.
UNHCR staff and partners have been receiving reports from refugees all around the country that they are afraid to go about their daily lives for fear of being attacked.
– By Clive Ndou, Citizen Reporter and Xinhua
Mujuru Electrocuted My Penis….Gun-Rippled Me – Cpt Albert Matapo
The so called Mnangagwa “coup plotter” who endured (7) years illegal detention in prison at the notorious Chikurubi maximum prison, Albert Matapo, says the Mujuru family presided over his abduction and horrific torture in 2007.
Hinting that the late Gen Solomon Mujuru flung a ready to shoot gun at him and his co accused while on their way to the Chikurubi maximum security, Matapo tells ZimEye.com in an exclusive interview, he was subjected to gross torture which included being electrocuted at his sacred body parts: his manhood, and testicles in an attempt to force him to admit to trumped-up charges of working with Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Matapo has revealed the State wanted to force charges of attempted coup in which he would allegedly install Mnangagwa as the nation’s President.
He was eventually illegally detained for a gruelling (7) seven years without a single conviction.
He says in 2012, his captors, who were Mujuru/Mugabe-led, tried to raise false charges that he had made an attempted escape from prison in their bid to find something to lawfully detain him, but none of the often sporadic charges they tried succeeded.
He also explains that he had nothing at all to do with Emmerson Mnangagwa and was punished for merely starting a political party, the UCAD (United Crusade For Achieving Democracy). Click below to LISTEN/ Click here to download: Please note – if the player does not load below, please use
AFM Church Hires NIKUV to Rig Pastors’ Elections! – Members
Members of the Apostolic Faith Mission, AFM has spoken out saying their church has been destroyed by a phenomenal vote rigging worse than that seen only in the bloody political play-fields.[ READ MORE – AFM Church in Dirty Election Rigging: Court Papers.]
As questions emerged on the AFM church’s current head Aspher Madziyire hold onto power, that he rigged his way in the just ended January 31 elections, church members thronged to social networks to express their shock and dismay.
Disgruntled pastors have since launched court action against Reverend Madziyire.
News readers have expressed concern as they threatened that people are likely to bunk church over the development. Below was an array of comments following the incident:
Vhusimusi Vhusani Dhliwayo Munoonei: Mari inoshanda mu AFM In Zimbabwe havakoshese kuda kwamwari only kuda high table vanoida zvikuru .mweya wakabuda muchurch rangova guru rizere nyoka .nguva yana baba Kupara kwaiva kusina tsvina idzi .zvigaro manje satani agara muzvigaro zvacho .misangano inoitwa vasingawirirane.kumasangano uku kuri kubatwa basa nemasatanist nekushaya chiono AFM wake up muhope idzo .satani ari ari kuita dambe muchurch
Phillipah Muchemwa: Thats why i left the church cz ndakaona kuti mwari havagari pakadaro cz hakasi kekutanga zvakadai zvichiitika
Lonias Kuriri: Going to court? Its a shame mabvi aramba kushanda here? Ndinoziva munamato uchipedza zvose.
Farai Matare: Inga zvakaoma. They hired Nikuv kikikikiki!
Abel Matarutse: Sad day for the church, I hope that our dear men of cloth will one day come across this chapter 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 NIV. If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers! The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified..
War Veteran Sibanda Confesses To Intimidating Povo But Admits Regime Change Is Now A Certainty!
The Zanu PF war vet thug leader, Jabulani Sibanda, who earned notoriety for intimidating, beating, raping and suspected murders of innocent Zimbabweans in the pursuit of Mugabe and Zanu PF’s singular object of ensuring there will be no regime change has finally come out to admit his thuggery.
“The conflict over internal party elections currently obtaining is a betrayal of war veterans’ aspirations. It is criminal because the revolution is now devoid of any legality. They (Zanu PF leaders) have committed a crime of unparalleled proportions,” Sibanda told the Daily News.
“What we thought was that after campaigning so hard, spending months sleeping in the bush and subsequently winning elections resoundingly in 2013, that we would use the five years of Mugabe’s reign to reorganise the party ideologically and structurally.
“We, however, discovered that the ideology had changed to that of scattering the masses, demobilising and intimidating them using politically borrowed State power,” he said.
Soon after independence Mugabe and Zanu PF made a conscientious decision to undermine the country’s democratic institutions and ride roughshod over the people basic and fundamental freedoms and rights including the right to one-man-one-vote and even the right to life to establish a de facto one-party dictatorship. By the time Sibanda stepped on the national political stage in the run up to the 2008 elections till his summarily dismissal in 2014 the Zanu PF dictatorship was well established and so too was the party’s thuggery and vote rigging.
Sibanda’s suggestion that the intimidation of the masses started after the 2013 elections is nonsense; it is to be expected of thugs like him; they are mentally slow, easily fooled and duped but worst, of all, they are known to have a very selective memory in which they are the victim and not the thug!
“Yes, we have been betrayed and we do not regret ever working under Mugabe because some of us were not working for an individual’s legacy but that of the nation. Remember when we were under the Ian Smith bondage, some thought that his system would not be dismantled but it was.
“So if it happened then it will certainly happen now. Intimidation will not work,” said Jabulani with conviction.
How can intimidating the people and denying them a vote be in the national interest! Mr Sibanda and his fellow Zanu PF thugs understood the primary objective was to ensure there was no regime change so that political power and the unfettered access to the nation’s wealth and resource will remain firmly in the hands of the Zanu PF ruling elite. Sibanda and his fellow thugs considered themselves fully paid up members of the ruling elite and thus their full share the looted wealth and political power.
Other than a select few of the thug ringleaders like Sibanda and Joseph Chinotimba most of the war vets got absolutely nothing. They would spear head the violent seizures of the white owned farms, for example, and as soon as the white farmer is driven off the njambanja thugs were in turn be driven off the farm with not so much as a thank you!
The decades of mismanagement, corruption and looting have however taken their toll on the national economic forcing the nation cake to be shared out amongst the ruling elite to shrink; in recent years poverty has started knocking at the doors of even the ruling elite. As for the 16% or 2 million ordinary Zimbabweans on whose doors poverty started as far back as the 1990s, the rogue has since taken over completely, these people live in abject poverty; it is the people who have to knock before they enter.
As long as Mugabe and Zanu PF remain in power the economic meltdown now gripping the nation is set to get worse because Mugabe, for all his arrogance and vote rigging expertise has since learnt that it cannot rig economic recovery. His $27 billion ZimAsset economic plan, design to throw lots and lots of money at the economic crisis without ever addressing the underlying problems behind the crisis, is dead in the water because no one was prepared to waste money funding such a hare-brain scheme.
Since Mugabe and Zanu PF do not have the political will or vision to address the underlying problems of mismanagement and corruption – these are tied with the party’s political patronage system that has kept Mugabe and Zanu PF in power and thus it would be political suicide for anyone in the party to dismantle that system, especially now when the party has become unelectable and is totally dependent on thuggery and rigging the vote to stay in power – fuelling the economic meltdown; the only way out is to elect a new government that does not have the same political baggage.
Even simpletons like Jabulani Sibanda can see that the present economic meltdown is not economically or politically sustainable and hence the reason why he is talking of the regime being dismantled just as Ian Smith was dismantled.
Regime change is written everywhere that even the seasoned thugs like Jabulani Sibanda who are known to be mentally slow in comprehending things now know regime change is as certain as the sun rising tomorrow.
What Mugabe and Zanu PF must understand is that their entire political machinations to resist regime change have only succeeded in delaying it but now the time is up. The choice before them is to accept regime change now when there is still a chance of any orderly transfer of power. If the regime continue to drag its feet and the change is triggered by social unrest or rioting then Zanu PF leaders must know that they will be nowhere for them to hide from the angry mob!
Encounter With A Rhodesian Master Spy
It was on 28 January 1972 when my lovely mother, younger brother, Muparadzi and I arrived at Lusaka international airport. Our departure for Zambia had been delayed by over a month. From the time of our clandestine departure from our home village in Buhera district the travel itinerary had been changed a number of times. This was because my father, his younger brother, Augustus and their two Masinire cousins were high on the BSAP wanted list for involvement in political activities. Since 1962 when my father had spent two nights under police detention and invasive monthly visits from Buhera police were routine at our homestead. The Mudzingwa family was under constant police surveillance. To evade detection my mother and the two of us had left the village secretly. It was easy. A story would be put out by my grandfather, Dakwa that my younger brother and I had accompanied our mother on a visit with her relatives.
We waited in Salisbury for the new arrangements. We were to travel on Zambian passports, by air and under pseudonyms. Because our given names Gandhi and Muparadzi were considered political I would assume the name Gallant Banda, my brother was to be Palanzi Banda. Meanwhile my mother, Catherine was to retain her first name. When my father had been detained by Buhera police the nature of the accusation was absurd and bordered on the ridiculous. But fascist regimes are always paranoid systems. Because my father had circulated a newspaper article on Ghana that showed Nkrumah as the President of independent Ghana he would be accused of possession of seditious material. To show seriousness after my father’s release from police detention an army helicopter had landed at our homestead to deliver the message that my father was now on Police surveillance (PI) because of his political activity.
Since uncle Zishiri worked as clinical assistant at Salisbury airport staying with him was the most convenient. When the new travel arrangements were in place he would see us through the airport. Uncle Zishiri’s sister who was married to uncle Job Masinire was dispatched from Lusaka with our passports and plane tickets.
Anticipating that Edgar Whitehead would hand over political power to the black majority in Rhodesia as Roy Wellensky had done in Zambia my father had in 1964 repatriated us back home. Eight years on, a storm was gathering over Rhodesia as the liberation movements upped armed confrontation with the racist regime. As usual my father was to be involved in the mobilization. In comparison with his cousin who had built his own house my father had secured rented city council accommodation. His rented accommodation was given as No 706 Matero Township. From there my father would operate his three commuter taxis before graduating into commuter minibus operations. From Matero Township I completed my primary education. My two younger siblings, Ishe and Takasuwa would were born there too. Politicized names never seemed to leave the family. After Kasamba primary school I would proceed to the famous Munali Secondary School. Incidentally Munali Secondary School is located east of Lusaka on the left side along the Great East Roadd just past the University of Zambia. That was the school that Zambia’s liberation icon Kenneth Kaunda had also been through.
At thirteen then and barely a year in town I hardly understood the intrigues of the modern life around me. Uncle, Job Maganhu Masinire and his family lived in a self-built area a further three kilometers west of where we stayed. His house bordered with the shanty compound called George. Further west of George compound was located Zapu’s Freedom Camp. I presume the shanty compound on whose outskirts lay Zapu’s Freedom Camp had sprung up on a one George’s farm. We never bothered to find out.
For his prestigious driving school business, Lusaka Modern Driving School, my uncle had secured offices in the city centre. Uncle’s house served as both residence and rudimentary workshop where he serviced and repaired his fleet of driving school vehicles and numerous commuter taxis. Overnight parking for uncle’s driving school vehicles, which consisted of Toyota corolla and two 3 tonne Bedford trucks, would be provided at my father’s residence. His two 7 ton Leyland haulage vehicles also parked there. In any case they were on routine business runs only during the agricultural harvesting season when the ferried produce from Mumbwa to the various marketing boards in Lusaka. The one was a ‘Clysdale’ while the other was a ‘Super Comet.’ Those were the brand names given by British Leyland. I bet the difference between the two vehicles was more in their engine capacities and shape. Their manufacturers will be best suited to differentiate between them anyway. As and when desired the haulage vehicles would be loaned for Zanu’s logistical needs.
North of George compound, across the main road running west from Matero Township lay Lilanda Township where Zapu and Zipra offices were based. Once as we played we had bumped into George Silundika there. On recognizing him we extended greetings in Shona. Surprised Mr Silundika responded and heartily invited us into the Zapu premises. Afraid because odd things were said to happen to Shona children there my friends and I nonetheless accepted. After a few verbal pleasantries he had introduced us to the legendary Nikita Mangena after which we left. We would never let our parents know that we had been there.
I do not quite remember his name but it was probably false anyway. He drove a jalopy. From the outside it had an immaculate polished look. A close approach to it gave off a characteristic blended fuel after combustion odor. The jalopy was just exciting to look at especially so that at the wheel was a white man. The plates were recognizable as those from Rhodesia. Those types of cars had by and large long since disappeared from Zambia’s roads. At independence Zambia was now trading with the French, Japanese and Italians. Cars plying the roads of Lusaka were mostly Peugeot, Fiat, Datsun and Toyota. Fiat had even established an assembly plant locally just thirty minute drive on the outskirts of town. Pricey but quality Germany brands were out of the reach even for the emerging middle class. American cars were just the stuff of the movies; very rare. Where you came across them then they were either remnants from the colonial era or personal imports.
For most Zambians this white man’s vehicle was some form of collector’s items. As for me, with exception of the BSAP Land Rovers that tormented our homestead back in the village I could only relate this vehicle type to the one that the local grocery store owner, Dan’s at Dorowa mine drove. Even on the odd occasion when I was allowed to go to the bi scope at the local township the movies were often those of the Wild West; on horseback and fighting the Red Indians. Few in the village knew cars by their brand names then. It was just a motor car.
The Rhodesian had approached my uncle’s workshop on the pretext that his vehicle had developed a fault for which he needed a look over. It was towards end of the working day around 4 o’clock in the afternoon. At that hour in a small ill-equipped repair workshop usually the mechanics would be dog tired and preparing to call it a day. Everything that they did, starting from lifting heavy engines, gearboxes and tyre changes was manual. The workshop equipment was more than rudimentary. Ordinarily it would have been difficult to motivate the workers at such an hour except for offering them a tip. However, because the workshop was in a home setting the mechanics first needed to seek permission from my uncle before looking the vehicle over. Uncle Job usually got home after dark and on very few occasions just before. The spymaster utilized that time to get cozy with the mechanics team.
The motor mechanics team was all Zambians. Incidentally the head mechanic, Zulu and his deputy, Chongwe had acquired their vehicle repair skills as workshop assistants, repairing tractors on Rhodesian farms. They claimed that occasionally they would be allowed to service their bosses and neighbours’ cars. They were therefore familiar with both the type of vehicle and the environment with regards how to chat up their former bosses. A considerable lot of chatting would happen in the process as they waited the arrival of my uncle. Perhaps to relax them and raise their expectations a few beers had been offered. Though naturally the mechanics team supported the liberation struggle they had no need to be on their guard.
Uncle spent his day time mostly in town with my father and friends. Routinely they would pitch up at the driving school offices in town before going off on some social or political errand. They would only return home around dusk after gallivanting. Back home in the village and here in Zambia my father and his cousin represented typical patriarchs. So the Rhodesian spymaster would have all the time he needed before uncle Job returned. When he did it was already getting dark. He was tired and therefore dismissively did not object to his mechanics looking the vehicle over. He must have presumed that the mechanics had been constrained by the home setting. The jalopy was too conspicuous just to drive in and out without being noticed. Otherwise the mechanics would have taken on the spymaster’s request as their own part time job. Unfortunately the workshop was not well lit and so it was agreed that the vehicle could be done first thing in the morning with assurances that the mechanics would have it fixed by midday. As the client only needed to get to the border before it closed ninety six miles to the border was less than two hours drive.
In the conversation that ensued when asked what had brought him into Zambia the Rhodesian spymaster had ready answer. He claimed that he was a member of the catholic clergy based in Salisbury. His visit was for the purpose of sharing a few things with fellow members of the clergy in Zambia. Except that where he was there was no through road to Kabwe he had hit the right node. Clergy were known to wander off their routes and appreciate surrounding environments time and again. That was natural. Most importantly Catholics in Rhodesia were known for their stance with regards the UDI crisis. Rhodesian authorities could not do anything to bring them to any harm for their beliefs. Naturally the Zambian authorities could not deny them entry either. On that uncle Muganhu would offer his erstwhile guest a free look over of the vehicle. Once repairs were successfully done on the morrow he could be on his way.
It was an amiable conversation to the extent that my uncle sought to extend hospitality by inviting his ‘guest’ to turn in for the night. The guest declined the hospitality saying he would take up a room in a hotel in the city centre. Sympathetic a vehicle was provided for him to be dropped in town. The same service would be made available the next morning ostensibly for him to oversee as his vehicle was being repaired. He professed that he would not be in a hurry and trusted the mechanics to do their job. If it was ok they could pick him up once substantial progress had been made on repairing it. Eleven o’clock was then agreed as his pick up time from his hotel. Members of the clergy were to be treated even better than other volunteers to the liberation effort.
In Lusaka telephones in the house were rare those days. Communication was by word of mouth. Uncle would pass by the house where we lived the first thing in the morning to inform my father about what had transpired. That is how the two worked all the time with regards the liberation effort. From early on my uncle’s driving school offices had been availed for most of the Dare Rechimurenga meetings. On that basis father and uncle would attend the meetings of Dare Rechimurenga and other Zanu leadership meetings. Much later during détente when Sithole would be released to travel to Lusaka he convened one of his meetings at the driving school offices. The two were inseparable in that regard.
Having briefed each other the two shot off in my uncle’s Peugeot 404 sedan registration No ES 1028 on their day’s routine. It sounded a bit strange though that the cleric had left all the better equipped garages in town in preference for my uncle. Perhaps as clergy he was just trying to save on his expense. Besides, there was nothing remiss about the demeanor of the man. The fellow was moderately dressed as would be expected of priests. His demeanor was equally befitting people of collar. Humble, soft spoken and appeared not in a particular hurry. He even appeared affectionate and if not gracious towards the mechanics by trusting them to look over his vehicle in his absence. A typical ‘Rhodesian’ would have acted otherwise – arrogant, boastful, talkative and abusive. He had mastered his art well.
Day two was something else. My younger brother and I had agreed to get together with our cousins at my uncle’s house. After a breakfast of corn flakes, bread, liver and tea we would be ok for food until the evening meal. My mother was exceptionally generous with us. She allowed us about forty Ngwee each time we went out playing at cousins’. That was provided if we came back with change we would be expected to give it back to her. A bun by then cost less than one Ngwee. A drink was only five Ngwee while tinned fish seldom fetched beyond twenty. The world was in our pocket! To pass time we played soccer with friends kicking around a stuffed plastic paper ball. Then in between play we would occasionally go for a coke and bun. On some days we would opt for tinned pilchards or tuna sandwiched on the bun. If the local butchery had in store ham then we could opt for pressed beef sandwiches. It was part of the growing up. On the day the story of the cleric had spread through the community of friends. Among them was Collins Simbanegavi whose father had met his fate at the front as a guerilla. As we arrived at our cousins’ place they would notice the strange jalopy parked in the constricted yard. It was black in colour and imposingly huge. At the appointed time the mechanics had picked up the supposed cleric. They found him waiting at the hotel as agreed. We caught a glimpse of him as he arrived and off we went to play.
My cousins would relate to us what transpired just before their father arrived as we went off to play. We knew that once in the company of friends such issues should never be subject of discussion. My cousins had observed the guest take something out from the boot of the car that looked like a pistol. From the distance they had observed the spymaster demonstrating to the mechanics how the rod worked. It was too inconsequential for us to care much about. We just wanted to play. In any case previously we had witnessed guns and other supplies being cached in the makeshift workshop and yard many times before when they were en-route to the guerillas. Whenever Henry Hamadziripi, William Ndangana or Ernest Kadungure had appeared, which was not often, we had been warned never to say a word to anyone. Of course some of the times the visits were just routine and social. Even though we were aware of the routines that were taking place at the driving school offices at the city centre it was never our business to differentiate between what was a social call or otherwise. Discreetness had crept into the families. That was what it took to actively support guerillas. Since the old men had appeared to welcome this particular guest then we presumed it was the same routine process.
The mechanics appeared to have isolated the problem and fixed it. It was time for a road test. The spymaster would be accompanied by the head mechanic, Mr. Zulu on the test drive. Up to five kilometres was the recommended road test for the particular problem. They were gone for over thirty minutes. On coming back the motor mechanic would give his report. The vehicle was not sufficiently robust for the journey was the report. On that point the supposed cleric had decided to leave the car behind and travel back to Rhodesia without it. Late as it was he would need another night at the hotel. In order for him to find transport to take him to Salisbury when on the other side he requested for one additional favour. They would therefore wait for my uncle to return so that they could work out something together.
As usual uncle Masinire was only back after dark. When he got home the motor mechanics were there waiting with the report. They were a bit tipsy, which was not unusual when they had worked over time. The vehicle was declared too risky to traverse the treacherous inclines of the Zambezi escarpment on the Rhodesian side of the border. The alternative had to be worked out since the ‘clergyman’ needed to get to the border first thing in the morning in order to hitch a hike to Salisbury. His favour was granted. He surrendered all the vehicle papers to the head mechanic, Mr. Zulu for keeping. The long and short of it was the supposed man of the cloth would be availed an alternative vehicle and driver to take him to the border first thing in the morning. That vehicle would be borrowed from my father, Chinembiri aka Gen Ojukwu. Somehow my father had the best serviced and reliable vehicles at that moment. The cleric offered to do the fuel bill as well as generously pay for the wear and tear to and from the border. It was as good as a hire. The tasked driver started off with his trip at around four in the morning from the hotel. By the border opening time the driver and his fare were at the border post waiting. The two bade each other farewell and the spymaster was gone. Whatever his name was.
Things began to happen some two days after the departure of the erstwhile guest. One of the assistants, Pikani was arrested for possession of a magnum pistol in George township where he lived. It emerged that the gun had been given to him by the Rhodesian spymaster. On interrogation he was not the only one that he been rewarded with the generous gift of a revolver. The head mechanic had been presented with the most coveted gift of them all; a CZ pistol too. There was third beneficiary to the generosity of our erstwhile spymaster. Then the whole puzzle unraveled. The vehicle was otherwise in mint condition. The mechanics had been compromised with the auspicious bribe of guns and money to give a false report. By the same arrangement they would also keep the vehicle.
Because it was not the first time that the spymaster had crossed the border on tasks the Zambian intelligence had closed in on the spymaster even though they were still far from catching him. Zambian authorities were reluctant anyway when it came to dealing with Rhodesian subversive activities against the liberation movements. The spymaster had been on a daring mission targeting both Zapu and Zanu in Lusaka. This time around his task was specific and simple. With regards to Zanu it was to put the fear of devil in two critical individuals who according to their intelligence reports provided meeting venues for Dare Rechimurenga. Thus my uncle Maganhu Job Masinire and my father, Leornard Chinembiri Mudzingwa were target for the audacious spymaster drama.
The message was simple too; the Rhodesians are watching you. It was like reliving the helicopter landing experience at our Dorowa village homestead back in 1963.The spymaster’s mission had been accomplished with pin point accuracy. Unfortunately the two targeted individuals had grown a thick skin to care anymore. Service and sacrifice for the freedom of their fellow countrymen had become second nature to them. In any case after the assault on Altena farm in 1972 the horse had bolted. It was too late to close the gate to the pen. Internationally greater attention was irreversibly shifting towards Zanu. With it more material support would start to pour in as compared to the trickle before the launch of the assault on Centenary district. Soon the meeting place for the Dare would become insignificant to the struggle anyway.
The Rhodesians had also failed to account for another dimension. A few days later in retaliation Zambia would close its border with Rhodesia. Better still the Caetano dictatorship in Portugal would fall and Mozambique became independent. The war coordination would shift away from Zambia into Manica Province in Mozambique. With that the liberation war effort decisively intensified beyond expectations.
Bayethe!
Gandhi Mudzingwa
Mudenda Pours Scorn On Renewal Team Court Action
Parliament Speaker Jaob Mudenda has rubbished a new lawsuit brought out by a disgruntled MPs from the Tendai Biti’s Renewal Team to the Constitutional Court terming it as being “without any legal merit.”
Mudenda could be guilty of contempt of court for speaking into the case while it is under judicial consideration.
The lawsuit was triggered over concerns that the expulsion of the legislators was illegal and Mudenda should reverse it. Mudenda said that all material times, the former MDC-T MPs “knew, or must have known, or should have known, or ought to have known” that the natural and probable consequences of them receiving the letter(s) of expulsion from a political party was to be followed by the concerned members’ recall from Parliament.
“All these important events have already taken place and what is now left for the applicants is simply to accept his/her fate, because, to use the language of a rancher, the horse has already bolted out of the pen, and to use Shakespearean language, it is a high-sounding application, but signifying nothing or, to use biblical language, this application is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell which will not produce the desired results,” Mudenda said.
The Speaker also castigated former Kambuzuma MP Willias Madzimure for wasting his time consulting the party’s secretary-general and ex-Harare East MP Tendai Biti on their expulsion rather than taking the matter to court.
“On or about the 4th day of March the first applicant (Willias Madzimure) received a letter from MDC-T expelling him from the party and instead of rushing to court to protect his or their alleged fundamental rights, he or they went to Tendai Biti,” Mudenda said.
“The first applicant/applicants did nothing to interdict the announcement, let alone the publication of the Government Gazette, perhaps being content on discussing the matter with Tendai Biti.
“On or about March 6, I received a letter from the secretary-general of the MDC-T recalling the applicants from Parliament, around or about the same time the local news media was awash with the news that I was to make an announcement on the fate of the applicants vis-à-vis their seats in the National Assembly, again instead of rushing to court to protect his alleged fundamental rights, the first applicant went to see Biti.”
Mudenda said he procedurally gave notice to President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) chairperson Justice Rita Makarau and Zec about the notification from the MDC-T and the existence of vacant parliamentary seats. (ZimEye/Newsday)
South Africa Doesn’t Want to Stop Xenophobia
There is something powerful and unusual about the term xenophobia. Every official in South Africa from Mbeki’s time doesn’t want to acknowledge that xenophobia is an issue in their Rainbow Nation. They all want to point to xenophobic outrages and tragedy as rare isolated criminal incidences that can be easily dealt with. But we all know the truth, that’s not the case. South Africa has a large section of its nationals who are xenophobic or suffer from Afro-phobia as one friend would like to describe them. Why do SA official dismiss the existence of xenophobia in SA? And what is xenophobia in simple terms.
What is xeneophobia?
In simple terms xenophobia is the ‘hatred, intolerance and hostility towards representatives of other races, religion, culture, foreigners or representatives of other regions as well as towards something unknown, unusual and strange’ Those who are xenophobic always see their group as the best and original. On the other hand, the other groups are met with hostility disrespect and mistreat. For most South Africans, their hatred is targeted at fellow black people whom they also see as bringing diseases and crime.
When did it start in South Africa
I am willing to forgive South Africans because of their apartheid history. Its no excuse for their hatred of fellow back people, but other explanation can be acceptable for their continued hatred of others and their practice of burning people. All this can be traced to their history. South Africa’s apartheid introduced xenophobia. The Apartheid regime discriminated and separated people according to their skin colour, complexion and passes. All these counted for one’s status and station in life. And now, South Africans are happy to vent their anger against foreigners, whom they accuse of spreading disease, stealing jobs plus sponging off basic government services like electricity, running water and healthcare. Some cases of xenophobia found before the shocking 2008 major incident include;
• In 1998, three foreign-nationals were killed on a train, between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
• In 2000, a Sudanese refugee was thrown from a train on a similar route. The reasons were all the same: blaming foreigners for a lack of jobs, or economic opportunity.
• In 2007, a shop in the eastern Cape was set alight by a mob.
• This escalated in 2008, leaving 62 people dead, and more than 17 000 displaced and properties worth millions of Rands looted and destroyed, with thousands of foreigners under protection in refugees camps, churches, mosques and police stations. The violence only stopped when the government resorted to military intervention. Mozambique repatriated most of its citizens. It was Afro-phobia, it only affected black, African foreign nationals because there was no evidence of violence directed at white Europeans Indians from the subcontinent.
As these incidents took place, the South African government did not want to see them as signs of festering xenophobia, instead, preferred calling them criminality.
AFROPHOBIA IS OFFICIAL SNUBBED AT?
If South Africa is not xenophobic, then it is Afro-phobic for mainly people have endured this treatment against them by their black brothers. Surprisingly, the South African leaders have not helped the situation. Their denial of the problem was as good as condoning it. The then President Thabo Mbeki, just before he left power and when xenophobia viciously raised its ugly head in 2008, said those who were using the term were “trying to explain naked criminality by cloaking it in the garb of xenophobia…When I heard some accuse my people of xenophobia, of hatred of foreigners, I wondered what the accusers knew about my people, which I did not know … and in spite of this reality, I will not hesitate to assert that my people are not diseased by the terrible affliction of xenophobia which has, in the past, led to the commission of the heinous crime of genocide’’
Subsequently, 62 people were murdered for being foreigners inside Thabo Mbeki’s Rainbow nation. The president was not alone. It became official to deny a problem before everyone.
Like Mbeki, President Zuma continued to condemn the incident not as xenophobic, but criminal activities.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura, ‘What we have seen happening, ladies and gentlemen, is not xenophobia, it’s criminality….We have gone out to the community to talk, telling our community members that nobody in our communities must try to defend criminality.”
The Minister of Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu, who set a Task Team to look at the underlying causes of the violence against foreign-owned businesses, left the nation shocked as she worsened the situation by declaring that foreign-business owners in South Africa’s townships were not expected to co-exist peacefully with local business owners unless they shared their trade secrets.
The most recent violence is alleged to have been instigated by comments attributed to the
Zulu king who forcefully told migrants to go home. Later, he said he was he was mistranslated. Even though, the Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba called on traditional leaders to stop making remarks that “could result in a
loss of life”.
More stunning revelations and comments were made by those indulging in xenophobia, or observers.
“Cops told us to loot,” the headline said. Even the police when they come to help you they first take money from you
Cynthia Khanyile, a Jabulani street vendor the blame lies elsewhere did not mince her words, “I hate foreigners. I really don’t like them. They take business away from us. We work hard, but then the foreigners come and take our business and our jobs,” she said.
Another observer nailed laid the blame squarely where it belongs, ‘Our government also knows, the State Security people, know who the perpetrators of the violence are, and they looking the other way sometimes. And mostly, it’s because of power hungry people that cause all those conflicts that only if they could, they should sit around the table and resolve their differences for the sake of peace…
‘It’s a group of people coming together and deciding to attack. Most of the time violence happens after a general public meeting, organised by the community leaders, where foreigners are discussed, and then a decision is taken to remove them from the community. In those meetings, it a matter of taking charge: “this is the situation, we can’t continue like this”, or “there is nobody else to take care of this issue,” or “It’s now us who has to deal with it”.
Thus the violence is not an impromptu action by drunk, hungry or unemployed youths. This is violence that happens as a result of local leaders meeting and deciding on it. These are powerful local resident groups who even determine local elections results. It is happening with the blessings of the police who either join in looting or simply pretend they are not there. The violence is not seen and seriously taken for what it is by the country’s leadership. This is pure hatred of black foreigners by South Africans, its Afro-phobia and must be tackled as such.
MOST PAINFUL DEATH
Brutal South Africans do not value life at all as statistics show. The most painful death in front of out TVs was that of a young Mozambican man named Mido Macia in early 2013. He was tied to a police van and dragged through a street close to Johannesburg by officers simply because he was a foreigner who parked his taxi on the wrong side of the road. If the police can do this to foreigners, what can the general population do. South Africans are well known for their most painful and heinous way of killing people by touching them. This goes back during their liberation struggle as a summary execution tactic against betrayers. This is what is now being done to foreigners. South Africans will drag their victims into the street for all to see and “necklace” them. A rubber tyre is filled with petrol and forced around a victim’s chest and arms, and set alight.
Can South Africa not stop xenophobia violence?
South Africa can stop this if its commits itself. For example, South Africa was able to drastically reduce its crime rate during the World Cup in the west of Johannesburg by 70% and by 60% in the east of Johannesburg. Armed robberies and home robberies dropped by 37% and 31% respectively in these parts during the World Cup. So we have a country leaving foreigners at the mercy of murderers yet the same country was able to give maximum protection to mainly white people who attended World Cup. It is the same country that opened its borders for black foreigners to come and work for it during the same World Cup. IS South Africa not Afro-phobic then?
Xenophobic Torture Continues Unabated
Police have been stretched as looting of foreign owned shops continue in the Umlazi and Kwamashu areas on Monday evening. Jeff Wicks for News24, reported that riot police have been stationed in Gale Street in central Durban.
He said some of the police had to be redeployed from Umlazi to attend to the volatile scene.
Earlier police fired stun grenades at a group of protesters outside the Dalton Road hostel in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal.
The latest protest follows the looting of shops in KwaMashu on Monday morning, after an outbreak of overnight violence aimed at foreign-owned businesses.
According to News24’s Giordano Stolley, a group of 300 protesters who gathered at the Dalton Road hostel were being followed by 100 police.
He said after protesters returned to the hostel, shots were fired and public order police (POP) called in.
“People were hanging out of the windows shouting abuse at police,” Stolley reported.
Police then fired tear gas on the crowd, who then marched out of the hostel and towards Gale Street.
According to POP about five or six shots were heard in the hostel after they fired stun grenades.
Thousands of foreign nationals from Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Somalia have been displaced following the xenophobic attacks.
Close to 2,000 foreigners are being housed in three temporary makeshift camps.
According to police spokesman Thulani Zwane, four people have died in the violence, but some media reports put the figure at six. A total of 17 people have been arrested in the last two weeks.
Zimbabwe’s consul-general in South Africa, Henry Mukonoweshuro, told SABC news that diplomatic ties between South Africa and Zimbabwe will not be affected by the on-going xenophobic attacks in the greater Ethekwini metropolitan municipality.
There have been reports of attacks in Umlazi, Kwamashu, Inanda and Siyanda. Durban head of provincial government communications, Thami Ngwenya, said the situation is tense but stable.
Human rights campaigner China Ngobese says the attacks on foreigners are worrying.
Last year the South African Human Rights Commission said the term xenophobia, which has been used to describe the violence against foreigners, should be called afrophobia as Africans seem to be targeted. – News24.com
Sex Statch: Madzibaba Caught, Stabbed to Death
An Apostolic church leader accused of sleeping with a church mate’s wife has been stabbed to death in Warren Park.
Stuart Tapiwa Chirara was stabbed to death by a fellow church mate, Webster Mutinje. The deceased was alleged to be having an adulterous relationship with the Mutinje’s wife.
The deceased was an Apostolic church elder who worshiped with the suspect’s wife, and practised a spiritual ritual known as ‘Kushandira Mweya.’
On Sunday mid-morning, Webster Mutinje came to Chirara’s home in Warren Park armed with a butcher’s knife and an acid bottle.
He proceeded to sprinkle acid on the occupants of the house through the dinning room window, injuring Chirara’s son.
Mutinje proceeded into the house where he found Chirara and stabbed him in his shoulder and blinded him with the remaining acid.
In a bid to save his life, Chirara ran out into the street calling for help but friends and neighbours could not assist as his attacker was armed with a butcher’s knife.
The Chirara family is still in shock and regret that such an incident that could have been solved amicably took such a tragic turn for the worse.
Harare Province Police Spokesperson, Inspector Memory Pamire confirmed the murder and called on members of the public not to take the law into their own hands.
Broke Govt Scraps Bonus for Civil Servants
The government has suspended civil servants bonus payments until 2017 as part of measures to contain the unsustainable recurrent expenditure.
The government also aims to create fiscal space to support the socio-economic transformation drive.
The bold and pragmatic decision is one but many strategies government says it is taking to address the huge expenditure bill and to create the necessary capacity to grow the economy.
Civil servants bonuses will be scrapped in 2015 and 2016 and the situation will be reviewed in 2017 in the event that government is able to build enough capacity.
“We will not hesitate to take bold decisions to take this economy forward and we need to be realistic about our situation,” the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Patrick Chinamasa said.
Government has been channelling almost 82 percent of the budget towards salaries with monthly employment costs amounting to US$260 million.
According to the fiscal authorities, heavily taxing the private sector is not sustainable, hence the need to create breathing space for the productive sector.
Chinamasa expressed government’s commitment to pay all the outstanding bonus obligations.
To date, treasury has managed to pay US$159 million in respect of civil servants bonuses out of the US$172 million 2014 bonus obligations.
The scrapping of the civil servants bonuses comes at a time pundits have highlighted the need for the country to address the high cost structure which has negatively impacted on both the competitiveness and attractiveness of the economy.
The message has been for the country to live within its means.
Malawi Repatriates Its Nationals From Afrophobic South Africa
Malawi repatriating its nationals from South Africa | Malawi Nyasa Times
Malawi government has said it has begun the “voluntary repatriation” of its citizens, in the wake of ongoing xenophobic violence in South Africa that authorities say has claimed dozens of lives, displaced thousands including Malawians.
Hundreds of people from Malawi, Burundi, Zimbabwe and Congo have reportedly fled their homes since xenophobic attacks and looting erupted two weeks ago.
The violence began shortly after Goodwill Zwelithini, the reigning King of the Zulu nation, publicly said that immigrants should pack their bags and leave the country. Similar comments were also made by South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma’s son, Edward.
Malawi government spokesman Kondwani Nankhumwa said the government has been working to repatriate those who had immigrated to the country.
He said Lilongwe is mobilising resources to repatriate atleast 400 Malawians rendered destitute and some of them injured.
“We are repatriating out citizen to come back home safely,” Nankhumwa, who is Information Minister said.
“The situation is really tense as about 360 Malawians are stranded in South Africa following xenophobic attacks there,” Information Minister said.
He said the Malawians targeted had “lost everything”, including their passports.
Nankhumwa said:”Logistically our embassy (Malawi High Commission in South Africa)is in touch with the South African government to facilitate processing of temporary travel documents for our countrymen and women who have lost their passports. Wew hope this process will be done this week”
The minister said Ministry of Foreign affairs and International Cooperation officials are on the ground to bring back some people by the end of this week
He said government will also carry a civic education Malawians who are trekking to South Africa for economic migration to stop until the situation normalises.
The violence has damaged South Africa’s reputation in Malawi as a haven for foreigners in search of employment and wealth.
Malawian law university lecturer Sunduzwayo Madise said Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and African Union leaders should “demand an emergency meeting” with South Africa President Jacob Zuma to “stop these senseless and savagely attacks on foreigners.”
“If the South Africans don’t want other Africans in their country; let’s tear up the SADC Treaty for a start; and sanction their goods, services and businesses. Let us see if an implosion will not result as the fever catches the global market,” Madise wrote on his Facebook Timeline.
Nankhumwa has since promised government will assist those who needed to be evacuated back to Malawi.
Malawians are being housed in tents on a sports field waiting to be repatriated back home in buses.
Meanwhile, some Malawians refuse to leave South Africa, as they would rather stay in hiding than face poverty and hunger in their own country.
Violence against African immigrants in South Africa is common, with impoverished locals accusing foreigners of taking their jobs and business.
The government has condemned the violence, with President Jacob Zuma sending a team of officials to assess the situation.
“We reiterate that there can be no justification for attacking foreign nationals,” Zuma said on Sunday.
Zuma said not all foreigners in South Africa were in the country illegally and many contributed to the economy with their skills.
AFM Church in Dirty Election Rigging: Court Papers
The Apostolic Faith Mission Church, AFM, presided over a rigged election in January when they elected their new President, court papers state in a development that could destroy the church’s credibility, a phenomenon previously known to the political arena where politicians are suing each other over electoral fraud.
AFM today saw (13) thirteen senior pastors approach the High Court challenging the election of Reverend Aspher Madziyire as their president on January 31 this year.
In their court application the pastors said Reverend Madzire stole the election by evading the Workers Council which is the Church’s Electoral College.
They further accuse him of conducting the election the ZANU (PF) way of taking down the serial numbers of the voters’ registration slips.
“The defendant violated the rights of the plaintiff to be in the workers council that was going to vote for a president of the Church.
“The Workers Council is due to meet on the 26th of April and there was never a call for the Workers Council on the 31st January 2015 which culminated in the election of 1st defendant as president of the church”, read part of the application which was filed at the High Court by Zivanai Macharaga of Mugiya and Macharaga Law Chambers on behalf of the disgruntled thirteen pastors.
The pastors also accuse Reverend Maziyire of intimidating and victimizing pastors in the church.
According to Macharaga the defendant has up to three weeks to respond to the application.
BREAKING NEWS: CIO Bonyongwe Faces Arrest over Dzamara Disappearance
CIO Boss Happyton Bonyongwe is facing arrest and imprisonement for 90 days over his failure to search for abduted activist Itai Dzamara. A court move has been launched naming Bonyongwe Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri, and Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi should be imprisoned for 90 days for disobeying a lawful court order issued on Friday 13 March 2015 by High Court Judge Justice David Mangota directing them to brief lawyers on progress and cooperate with them in their efforts to conduct the investigations as a team.
Mohadi, Chihuri and Bonyongwe are guilty of contempt of court after they intentionally disobeying a court order by not reporting any progress of the search for Dzamara as required of them by Justice Mangota, the full application by Dzamara’s wife, Sheffra, charges.
On Friday 13 March 2015, Justice David Mangota ordered Mohadi, Chihuri, Bonyongwe and the State Security Minister to dispatch a team of police detectives to work closely and in conjunction with lawyers appointed by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to search for the freelance journalist at all such places as may be within their jurisdiction in terms of the law and report progress of such search to the Registrar of the High Court by 1600 hours every Friday fortnightly until his whereabouts have been determined.
Human rights lawyers have disputed the contents of a letter submitted to the Registrar of the High Court by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) purportedly as a report into the abduction of pro-democracy activist Itai Dzamara, who went missing early last month.
Fearing contempt of court proceedings initiated by human rights lawyers on Thursday 02 April, 2015 for failing to comply with a High Court order obliging them to report on progress they have made in searching for the missing human rights defender, police are now claiming that they are doing all they can to locate Dzamara, who was abducted in early March.
Fortune Chimbaru, the Acting Director in the Civil Division of the Attorney General’s Office recently furnished the Registrar of the High Court with what she claimed to have been a “fortnightly update of investigations” conducted by the ZRP on the missing Dzamara.
But human rights lawyers have taken issue with what Chimbaru referred to as a fortnightly update as it is just a letter containing five-paragraphs addressed to the Director of Legal Services at the Police General Headquarters and prepared by Assistant Commissioner Crispen Makedenge, the Officer Commanding ZRP CID Law and Order Division.
Lawyers charge that the update is totally insufficient and cannot be considered as a report because it doesn’t contain crucial specifics of a police probe including details of people whom the ZRP officers interviewed during the purported investigations which they carried out.
Lawyers charge that by submitting such a “report”, the ZRP is just trying to find a way out of contempt of court proceedings instituted against them together with Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, Central Intelligence Organisation Director-General Happyton Bonyongwe and the State Security Minister by Sheffra, the wife of the missing pro-democracy activist and freelance journalist for failing to comply with a High Court order obliging them to report on progress they have made in searching for the missing human rights defender.
The contempt of court proceedings, which were filed in the High Court on Thursday 02 April, 2015 were a follow up to the habeas corpus application filed on Monday 9 March 2015 by human rights lawyers to compel whoever is holding Dzamara to bring him before the court so as to determine if he should really be in detention.
Sheffra Dzamara, through her lawyers led by Charles Kwaramba of Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners, who are members of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, wants Mohadi, Chihuri and Bonyongwe to be imprisoned for 90 days for disobeying a lawful court order issued on Friday 13 March 2015 by High Court Judge Justice David Mangota directing them to brief lawyers on progress and cooperate with them in their efforts to conduct the investigations as a team.
In the application for contempt of court Sheffra charged that Mohadi, Chihuri and Bonyongwe were guilty of contempt of court after they intentionally disobeying a court order by not reporting any progress of the search for Dzamara as required of them by Justice Mangota.
On Friday 13 March 2015, Justice David Mangota ordered Mohadi, Chihuri, Bonyongwe and the State Security Minister to dispatch a team of police detectives to work closely and in conjunction with lawyers appointed by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to search for the freelance journalist at all such places as may be within their jurisdiction in terms of the law and report progress of such search to the Registrar of the High Court by 1600 hours every Friday fortnightly until his whereabouts have been determined.
But in her application, Sheffra argued that the respondents had not complied with the provisional order and hence Dzamara’s fundamental rights including the right to life; to the protection of the law; to access to relatives, family and friends; to access to his lawyers; to freedom of movement and association, remain under threat with each day that passes without him being found.
Failure to locate Dzamara, Sheffra said, makes the need for Mohadi, Chihuri and Bonyongwe to comply with the provisional order extremely urgent.
Sheffra said the respondents must account for every minute that goes by because as the State, they have a duty to protect citizens.
The 35 year-old Dzamara, an iconic figure in Zimbabwe’s pro-democracy movement was abducted on Monday 09 March 2015 by some unidentified men who were travelling in a white twin cab vehicle with a blurred registration number plate from a barber shop, where he was having a haircut in Harare’s high density suburb of Glenview. He has remained missing since then.
‘Mugabe’s Government Can’t Help People’ – Mahofa
Zimbabwe’s government, which is run by a globe trotting President, has completely nothing to offer for its people, as revealed by one of recently appointed Masvingo’s Provincial Affairs Minister Shuvai Mahofa.
While Mugabe is busy complicating the operations of Non-Governmental Organisations, his colleagues are bleeding from inside, as the donor funding is the only gateway to Zimbabwe’s economic woes.
Addressing Gutu East community this weekend, Shuvai Mahofa said, “It’s something really wonderful, in such remote areas that you keep helping the disadvantaged people help. Please continue giving the help that you started, we can only survive through you donors.” Minister Mahofa was applauding Oxfam and its partners, who have come to the rescue of Zimbabwean community with rural sustainable energy through developmental projects. Zimbabwe’s head of state is well known for denigrating NGOs, but never substituted their services, with whatever he promised. The Zimbabwean electorate are still waiting for promised deliveries after 2013 elections, which most people said were peacefully rigged, as nothing has come out of promised ZimAsset. The Gutu East project was funded by the European Union focusing on promoting enterprise development through increased uptake for solar energy products by poor and marginalised communities.
“Members of Parliament for Masvingo told me of the situation, and I saw it for myself when I was coming here. People’s lives are in danger, because of this drought,” said Mahofa, while praising the NGOs efforts to improve lives of the neglected community who are only remembered during election time. Gutu East MP Berita Chikwama also concurred with Mahofa, as she echoed the same sentiments of NGOs looking after the community than the Government.
“There is drought in the area, and we thank all NGOs organisations for their efforts in improving the lives of people. You have rekindled the lost hope to the people. I want to thank Oxfam, EU, French deputy Ambassador and Practical Action. We appreciate what you are doing. NGOs please keep on helping Gutu people to serve them from this poverty.” Said Chikwama.[lightbox link=”http://www.zimeye.com/wp-content/live_images//2015/04/shuvai-mahofa.jpg” thumb=”http://www.zimeye.com/wp-content/live_images//2015/04/shuvai-mahofa-180×232.jpg” width=”180″ align=”none” title=”shuvai-mahofa” frame=”true” icon=”image” caption=””]
Psychology Maziwisa to Become An MP, Wins Primaries
Zanu-PF conducted primary elections on Saturday in eight constituencies in Harare, Midlands and Manicaland and has announced candidates who will represent the party in the by-elections set for June 10.
Spin doctor Psychology Maziwisa is set to become an MP after winning the Highfield West bi election. He will represent the party in Highfield West after polling 840 votes, beating Emmanuel Juta (270), Alexander Matafi (200), Norbert Chikumbo (34) and Regis Muguva (23).
In Glen View South, Pious Madzinga won with 191 votes, beating s Doubt Mhike (159), Tawanda Musengi (103), Gladys Muvuti (68) and Musafare Muchemwa (7).
Betty Kaseke will represent Kuwadzana after managing 572 votes ahead of s Lloyd Makuwe (308), Tauya Mauka (36) and Joseph Mutezo (148). In Kambuzuma, Tinashe Maduza got 891 votes beating Oliver Chidau (378), Samuel Mvurume (66) and Samuel Chinyowa (62).
The Dzivaresekwa primary election was won by Omega Hungwe who polled 679 votes to beat s Never Kowo (253), Francis Chanduru (66), William Muhipe (47) and Tichaona Kapfunde (5).
Terrence Mukupe polled (651) in Harare East, beating s Mavis Gumbo (369), Stanley Mau Mau (111), Chris Chuchu (14), Justice Zvandasara (151), Margaret Sithole (20) and Milton Chaniwa (31).
Speaking after the elections, Mau Mau said he was ready to work with Mukupe since he was “the best candidate” for the constituency.
Vongaishe Mpereri polled 2 299 votes against Knowlet Hove in Kwekwe Central, while Esau Mupfumi will represent the party in Dangamvura-Chikanga after garnering 1 110 votes followed by s Yard Binali (745), Reketai Duru (586), Kenneth Muchina (522) and Future Pariyana (67).
UK: Missing 23 Yr Old Tinashe Hombarume
Concern is growing for a missing 23 year old vulnerable Zimbabwean youth in Manchester, Tinashe Ashleigh Hombarume.
Tinashe went missing Monday 6 April in Manchester. Tinashe is a vulnerable adult who has previously used mental health facilities.
He gets agitated in the presence of uniformed police officers.
He gets agitated in the presence of uniformed police officers.
Tinashe is soft spoken and does not know the Manchester area well as he is from Yorkshire.
If Spotted readers are encouraged to call Mrs Hombarume on UK Mobile 07572546841 or Cousin Mai Thandie on +44 7414 467915
If Spotted readers are encouraged to call Mrs Hombarume on UK Mobile 07572546841 or Cousin Mai Thandie on +44 7414 467915
Mwonzora Flying to UK for Massive Fundraising 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)
BREAKING NEWS – Temba Mliswa Arrested for Disrupting Zanu PF meeting
FIRED former Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman and Hurungwe West independent candidate Temba Mliswa was arrested at Sengwe business centre yesterday and allegedly charged with disrupting the ruling party’s meeting.
Mliswa was still in police custody by the time of going to print last night.
His campaign team member Farayi Kuvheya said they were taken to Magunje Police Station and charged with interfering with an authorised meeting.
“We were just moving around the constituency organising our campaign teams at Sengwe Township 500 metres away from Nyamhunga School where Zanu PF was holding a rally,” Kuvheya said.
He claimed that some people at the business centre mobbed Mliswa, assuring him that they would vote him in the by-election scheduled for June 10.
“Mliswa’s mob attracted people who were going to the rally, prompting the police to arrest him and members of his team,” Kuvheya said.
Mashonaland West provincial police spokesperson Inspector Clemence Mabgweazara refused to comment on the issue.
Mliswa is contesting the by-election against Zanu PF candidate Keith Guzah.
The constituency has of late become a favourate hunting ground for Zanu PF heavyweights who have made various pledges to the electorate during campaigns for Guzah.
The National Constitutional Assembly which participated in recent by-elections held in Chirumanzu-Zibagwe and Mt Darwin West, did not field a candidate hoping to give Mliswa an opportunity to defend his forte.
Zanu PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo and national commissar Saviour Kasukuwere were among some top ruling party officials who have held rallies in the constituency where they have publicly denounced Mliswa and promised to upgrade public infrastructure.
“We will bring four graders to rehabilitate roads in the constituency and each ward will have new boreholes drilled,” Kasukuwere said at a recent rally in the constituency.
Chombo also told Zanu PF supporters that the farming inputs that Mliswa distributed recently were not his, but came from government.
Mliswa was expelled from both Zanu PF and Parliament a few weeks ago on charges of fanning factionalism and sympathising with former Vice-President Joice Mujuru.
Guzah is the current Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial vice-chairperson and former president of the Affirmative Action Group.
Zanu PF, according to observers, was working hard to ensure that the seat located in President Robert Mugabe’s home province backyard remained under its control.
Mliswa, who last Wednesday successfully filed his nomination papers, has premised his campaign on his track record in Parliament for the past 20 months.
He also enjoys the backing of traditional leaders, war veterans and other disgruntled Zanu PF members. – Newsday
BREAKING NEWS: Bonyongwe Clips CIO Agents’ Wings
The Central Intelligence Organization boss Happyton Bonyongwe has put new measures which have seen junior members of the organization having ‘less powers’, ZimEye.com has learnt .
Highly placed sources within the CIO said Bonyongwe has directed the police and local authorities not to tolerate them when they approach them ‘while on duty’.
“He wrote letters to the ZRP instructing them to arrest any member of the CIO who would have been caught say driving without a license. He did this saying he wanted to bring sanity in the organization”, said the source.
“He has also directed all local authorities throughout the country to clamp our cars should they find them parked in the city without some parking discs.
“This is unusual because the nature of our duty sometimes demands that we spend 10 hours parked at a certain point carrying out some investigations.”
They also said the CIO Boss had ordered financial institutions to stop giving his members loans.
“We used to easily access loans from banks and other financial institutions and this was also blocked. We have a housing scheme which used to give us some loans and housing stands and again the facility is now a preserve of the top officers,” complained the CIO members.
“There is also heavy militarization of the organization with most of the heads of departments being recruited from the Army. In fact he is saying that every member should have a military background and very soon we will see ourselves getting military training”.
The officers however believe Bonyongwe is trying to convince President Robert Mugabe that he does not belong to the ousted former Vice President Joice Mujuru camp.
Bonyongwe is in the ZANU (PF) firing queue together with Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Commissioner General Paradzai Zimondi, Zimbabwe Republic Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri and Perence Shiri the Air force of Zimbabwe Commander.
The security chiefs are accused of siding with the former Vice President Joice Mujuru who was fired from both the government and the ZANU(PF) party by President Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwean Pastor arrested During Church Service In Botswana
A pastor from Zimbabwe, who was fined P500 or four months in prison in default of payment for entering Botswana illegally, is facing deportation
Shadreck Lovedale 36 was found guity last Tuesday after admitting to have entered Botswana through an ungazetted point at Matsiloje on October 25 2013, by the principal magistrate Sijabuliso Siziba.
The sentence was suspended for one year on condition he does not commit any offence that has an element of dishonesty.
Lovedale is a pastor and founder of Gospel Impact Church in Francistown. He was arrested during a church service on Saturday evening.
He told the court that although he did not have any legal justification for having committed the offence, he was forced to overstay in the country to oversee the growth and progress of his infant church.
“I applied for residence and work permits and was at first rejected by the minister of Labour and Home Affairs,” he said.
“I then reapplied and my days were exhausted while awaiting a reply from the minister.
“I wanted to teach some of my congregants how to run the church in my absence while waiting for the reply from the minister, but unfortunately found myself in this situation.
“I sincerely apologise for my unlawful actions,” Lovedale said.
Sentencing the accused, Siziba said he took into consideration that the accused was a first offender.
However, the magistrate said the accused had committed a serious offence that carries a maximum sentence of four years in jail and a fine of P4 000 or both.
“First offenders should be treated with leniency although the court does not condone their unlawful actions,” Siziba said.
“Also, this court is inundated with cases of foreigners entering Botswana through ungazetted points of entry.
“Nonetheless, your motive in the commission of the offence shall be taken into account.”
Kutlwano Police Station commander Letsholathebe Mothibi said Lovedale had been handed to the Centre for illegal immigrants for deportation.
He said the pastor might be allowed to come back to Botswana to preach after normalising his work and residents permits. – Mmegi
Zanu PF Bulawayo Province Hand Picks Candidates For Primary Elections
Yesterday the Zanu-PF Bulawayo Provincial Coordinating Committee (PCC) announced the names of candidates who will take part in primary elections set for this week.
Out of the five constituencies in Bulawayo, there will be no elections in two constituencies where Mr Joseph Tshuma (Mpopoma-Pelandaba) and Mr Godfrey Malaba (Pumula) sailed through unopposed.
In Makokoba, Mr Tshinga Dube will battle it out in the primaries with Mr Michael Mukarwa. Anna Moyo and Ntando Mlilo will square off in Luveve while Tariro Zhou and Maidei Mpala will contest the Magwegwe constituency.
Bulawayo interim provincial chairperson Alderman Dennis Ndlovu yesterday told The Chronicle that the recommended candidates were confirmed by the party’s national elections directorate (NED) in Harare.
“We recommended the names, which were submitted to us and the party’s NED has confirmed them because everything was done above board. We’re now geared to successfully hold our primaries between Tuesday and Wednesday,” said Ndlovu.
On Saturday, Zanu-PF held primaries in nine constituencies in Harare, Manicaland and Midlands provinces ahead of the 16 by-elections set for June, 10.
In Harare primaries were held in six constituencies namely Highfield West, Glen View South, Kuwadzana, Kambuzuma, Dzivarasekwa and Harare East, while other polls were held in Manicaland’s Dangamvura-Chikanga constituency and in the Midlands province’s Mbizo constituency.
The by-elections were necessitated by the recall last month of 21 MDC-T legislators who had defected to the MDC Renewal Team. MDC-T will fill seven seats which it won on proportional representation in the July 2013 harmonised elections, but the opposition party has resolved not to contest in the by-elections.
Zanu-PF’s national secretary for the commissariat Mr Saviour Kasukuwere on Friday announced that primaries for the five vacant constituencies in Bulawayo would be held this week. Last week the party’s provincial leadership in Bulawayo disqualified some aspiring candidates for the primary elections. The Central Committee and Politburo members in the province resolved to disqualify party members who had submitted their names after the vetting process which was done on March, 29.
Thirty two party members in Bulawayo had expressed interest in contesting in the primary elections for the five constituencies.
Politburo member Sikhanyiso Ndlovu pulled out of the party’s primary elections for the Mpopoma-Pelandaba constituency, while Central Committee member, Mr Mpehlabayo Malinga, also withdrew his candidature for Makokoba saying his name was submitted while he was abroad.
President Robert Mugabe proclaimed April, 16, as the date for the sitting of the Nomination Court for the June 10 by-elections. -chronicle
Sex Flame Made Me Bash My Wife
A 47-year-old Mbare man who has received a 10 day prison sentence for bashing his wife over sex has pleaded saying he was overcome by a strange burning sensation for intimacy which made him attack his spouse, Durai.
Sibangani Bandera appeared before Mbare magistrate Ms Gladys Moyo charged with contravening the Domestic Violence Act.
It is the State’s case that on April 5 this year, Bandera woke his wife, Durai up in the late hours of the night and asked her for sex. The court heard that Durai refused to be intimate with Bandera and this did not go down well with him.
He then bashed Durai in reaction to the refusal.
“I admit I did it. I was consumed with an unusual sex flame and I am sorry,” Bandera said.
In passing sentence, Ms Moyo considered that Bandera was a first time offender who had demonstrated remorse by pleading guilty to the charges.
Ms Moyo handed Bandera a court fine of $50 or 10 days in prison after he was convicted of bashing his wife over sex.
“I have taken into account that you have lived a criminal-free life up to this age and you have shown remorse for what you did. However, you did something wrong and you have to face the consequences of your actions, ” she said.
She continued, “You have to learn to talk things over with your wife and not turn to violence when you have misunderstandings,” she added.
Mr Chamunorwa Manyere prosecuted.
Bloody Knife Attack Kills Man at Beer Garden
A-37-YEAR old Mzilikazi man died on the spot after he was stabbed in the neck and stomach for admonishing a youth he found insulting his aunt minutes after walking into a beer garden.
Simon Ncube, 23, allegedly stabbed Nkululeko Vuma with an okapi knife at around 9PM at Mzilikazi’s Manwele Beer Garden in Bulawayo on Friday following a misunderstanding after he told the murder suspect not to insult his aunt, only identified as Rita who was in the bar.
It is alleged that Ncube was angered by Vuma’s intervention as he was hurling insults at the elderly woman and started poking him on the forehead and later stabbed him.
Bulawayo Metropolitan Provincial police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo said: “We’ve received a murder report and we’ve since arrested a suspect and he’s assisting us with investigations.”
A Chronicle news crew yesterday visited Vuma’s home in Mzilikazi suburb and managed to talk to family members.
Vuma’s widow, Jennet Nyoni, 31, said her husband left home for a drink at the beer garden soon after arriving home from work at Power Sales Stores where he was employed
“Upon arrival at the beer garden, he saw Simon insulting our aunt Rita. My husband asked Simon why he was insulting a person as old as his mother. This angered Simon who went on to point his finger at my husband’s forehead. I’m told that he said, ‘uzangenzani wena ungumfazi akulalutho ozangeza lona’ (What can you do to me, you’re a woman),” said Nyoni.
“They started fighting and Simon drew an okapi, stabbed him in the neck and stomach. He died on the spot. Simon ran away to his sister’s place in Hillside but was later apprehended by the police. Vuma was a quiet person.”
His uncle George Moyo, said they were saddened by Vuma’s demise in a violent and cruel manner.
“It’s very painful to lose a son in such a manner. Nkululeko was a quiet man. We urge the judiciary to consider death sentence for Simon. He must be killed as well, he doesn’t deserve to live,” said Moyo, angrily.
Moyo said police took Ncube to Manwele beer garden for indications.
Vuma is survived by his wife Nyoni and three children, two boys, aged 10 and 12 and a girl aged 16.
The city has witnessed an upsurge in murder cases over petty issues. – Chronicle
Highlanders Defeat Triggers Violence
HIGHLANDERS’ coach Bongani Mafu continues to break records, for all the wrong reasons, after his side crashed to a surprise defeat at the hands of Chapungu who arrived at Barbourfields without a win and goal to their credit.The loss sparked a demonstration by Bosso fans as they marched from the match venue to the club house demanding Mafu’s sacking.
However, Sibhalo Mpofu, the Highlanders vice-chairman said they still have faith in their coach. “I think we need to give him some time. I still have faith in him,” said Mpofu.
After going for 360 minutes without celebrating a goal this season, John Nyikadzino’s boys took only eight minutes to celebrate after Allen Tavarwisa beat Highlanders ‘keeper Ariel Sibanda with a rising shot from inside the box off a cross from the right.
Highlanders never really came to the party and can actually count themselves lucky to have lost by just a solitary goal as the visitors were in control.
Bosso were only visible when Ariel Sibanda made a save from a Chapungu attack or when skipper Felix Chindungwe, anchorman Erick Mudzingwa and midfielder Welcome Ndiweni were in possession.
It was a surprise to everyone when coach Mafu pulled out Ndiweni in the 46th minute for a forward, Ozias Zibande. The substitution never proved to be of any benefit to the team.
Chapungu coach,John Nyikadzino, celebrated his team’s superb win.
“It’s never easy to score against Highlanders at Barbourfields, worse still, to win but we did it and I want to congratulate the boys for a job well done,” said Nyikadzino.- State Media
Outrage as Mugabe Publicly Kisses a White Man, PICTURE
Social networks were abuzz at the weekend as Zimbabweans poured their outrage at President Robert Mugabe who recently said he does not talk to white people. This came as an undated photograph of him surfaced as he kissed a white male priest’s hand (picture). Mugabe told a white journalist in South Africa last week he does not speak to white people. READ MORE -VIDEO: Mugabe Refuses to Talk To Journalists After Spotting a White Face
Doctors Create “Miracle Jaw” Out of Leg Bone-Chop for Zimbabwean boy
UT-San Diego |Zimbabwean’s life has been transformed in past two years thanks to the generosity of many.
SURE, reconstructive surgery has given Blessing Makwera a blinding smile and the ability to eat whatever he wants.
But it is his voice that makes the most difference, the 22-year-old from Zimbabwe said.
Before a team of San Diego surgeons used a bone from his left leg to replace the part of his jaw that an explosion had torn off, talking was so painfully difficult that he would just give up.
“When you’re in class and the teacher can’t understand what you’re saying, it kinda lowers you down. But if people can understand what you’re saying, you can start to enjoy talking,” Makwera said.
That sense of joy came out recently during a check-up with Dr. Thomas Vecchione, the Hillcrest (a San Diego neighbourhood) plastic surgeon who is part of the team responsible for this young man’s transformation.
Makwera said far more than “thank you” as he chatted with Vecchione and Dr. James Chao, the reconstructive and plastic surgeon who crafted his new jaw from a harvested piece of his left fibula.
He described his desire to become a mechanical engineer, his newfound love of running, his temporary home in Boise, Idaho, and his phone conversations with loved ones back on the family farm in Zimbabwe.
He said the simple joy of being able to make his thoughts and feelings understood is just so … fun.
“It’s something that I’m still trying to wrap my mind around, even today,” Makwera said, flashing a smile at the doctors.
Planning to help Africa some day
They smiled back. Vecchione offered to introduce him to his son who just landed a coveted engineering job with electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors.
“Tesla? I would love to work there some day,” Makwera said, launching into his master plan to someday help Africa develop more renewable energy.
Everything, it seems, is on the table now that people can understand what he’s saying post-injury.
Faced with the onslaught of words and smiles, Vecchione said Makwera has the one thing he needs to succeed. “Enthusiasm is the key to life, and you’ve got enthusiasm,” the plastic surgeon said.
Makwera’s still-imperfect but vastly improved voice is modulated by a mouth full of implanted teeth and meticulously rebuilt soft tissue in and around his palate, cheeks and tongue.
Those areas were damaged by an unfortunate encounter with a land mine detonator in 2008. The explosion took his teeth and most of his lower jawbone. He struggled to form words or eat even the softest foods.
Eventually, the non-profit group Operation of Hope Worldwide in the Orange County city of Lake Forest learned about Makwera’s plight.
It brought him to the United States and began looking for a health provider willing to donate reconstructive surgery. Sharp HealthCare and a team of associated surgeons answered the call to donate everything needed to rebuild what the detonator took away.
Three surgeries were required to harvest and implant bone, repair soft tissue and eventually have Dr. Joel Beger, a maxillofacial surgeon, implant permanent teeth.
Mechanical engineering dreams
Sharp and the contributing surgeons have not tabulated the value of their donated work, but it is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In between operations, the patient has been able to live with an Operation of Hope volunteer in Boise.
The arrangement has allowed Makwera to avoid traveling back and forth to Zimbabwe during his course of treatment, which includes months of recovery after each surgery.
He has tried to make the best use of his recuperation time by enrolling in a Boise community college. His mechanical engineering dreams may be helped significantly by his recent discovery that he is a great long-distance runner.
Jennifer Trubenbach, the president for Operation of Hope, explained that one day, Makwera decided to participate in a Boise marathon with the woman who has been his host there. Although he had not trained for the run, he did well.
“He eats two hot dogs the night before and he runs the marathon the next day and beats her by an hour,” Trubenbach said.
More recently, Makwera has tried out at a university in Idaho interested in having him join its track team.
This from a guy who is missing his left fibula.
Chao, the surgeon who crafted the bone into Makwera’s new jaw, assured the aspiring runner that he would be able to return to regular physical activity once his leg healed completely.
The other bone in the lower leg, the much larger tibia, can handle a full load.
“That was pretty surprising,” Makwera said. “I thought it was going to be hard for me to even use the leg, and now I can run 26 miles no problem.”
After harvesting the left fibula, Chao made mitered cuts to help it flex and take a boomerang shape before attaching it with titanium plates to what was left of Makwera’s jaw bone.
More surgery still needed
Delicate microsurgery was needed to connect a vein inside the bone that is about the width of a human hair. The surgery succeeded, enabling Makwera’s vasculature to supply the bone with enough blood to heal and remain alive.
Vecchione, the plastic surgeon, said the case was in the top ten of his career in terms of overall complexity. Chao agreed.
“We needed to get the soft tissue, the muscles, the teeth and the bone all in the same place, all functioning together,” Chao said.
The two physicians believe a fine-tuning surgery is still necessary to manipulate scar tissue preventing the left corner of Makwera’s mouth from taking a more natural shape.
There also will be a little more work to make his tongue, which was damaged in the blast as well, more mobile.
“The key is to try to release the tongue as much as we can. If you can move the tip of the tongue a little bit better, you can get better definition in your speech,” Vecchione said.
For his part, Makwera said he is amazed that these doctors are continuing to help him two years after his first surgery.
“I am surprised that someone can do all of this and make everything functional. I’m just grateful to these guys for what they have done and what they are still doing,” he said.
Tsvangirai hints Secret Meeting with Didymus Mutasa
- “We have a tremendous following” – Mutasa
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has sent out a public message to expelled ZANU PF strongman Didymus Mutasa that he is open to secret talks and those which would not accessible to the media.
Tsvangirai blew this revelation in a presser on Friday.
This came as Mutasa expressed he wishes to unite with Tsvangirai following the breakdown of his relations with his former boss Robert Mugabe.
Mutasa (who thousands of Tsvangirai’s supporters have not forgiven for the alleged killing of toddler Christpower Maisiri three years ago), said he wishes to form a united front within a matter of weeks. “It is only be a matter of time before we publicly launch such a party. We have a tremendous following. This is going to be a coalition of all political parties within Zimbabwe,” said Mutasa.
The announcement was made last week as Mutasa lost a court bid against his expulsion from ZANU PF.
The development has attracted a rise in internal calls to take Mutasa seriously. “Mutasa is coming at an important time,” said one senior Tsvangirai officer . “It comes at a time when we are trying to launch the last arsenal on Mugabe,” they said.
Responding to Mutasa’s calls, Tsvangirai spoke calmly relating to the calls as a dating proposal.
“If you are proposing love to a girl you do not do that in the media or in public. Mutasa has not approached me and if he really wanted to engage me at that level he would have come to me through the right channels,” said Tsvangirai. ALSO READ- EXCLUSIVE:Horrific Photo of 12 Year-Old Burnt In Headlands
Mnangagwa ‘Coup Plotter’ Albert Matapo Strikes in Britain
The convicted “Emmerson Mnangagwa coup plotter,” as reported by ZANU PF, Albert Matapo has hit the headlines in Europe.
ZimEye.com can exclusively reveal that Matapo’s 8 year old party has struck a note in the UK and the rest of Europe.
Matapo was accused of trying to replace Mugabe with Emmerson Mnangagwa, allegations which both he and Mnangagwa vehemently deny. This was at a time when expelled VP Joice Mujuru was in charge and Matapo was subjected to four days of torture having been blindfolded and driven away at high speed for interrogation for four days, afterwhich he was imprisoned for treason.
His alleged accomplice, Mnangagwa was never touched.
After coming out of prison last year, Matapo said that the reason why he was targetted was because he had at the time started his party, the UCAD (United Crusade For Achieving Democracy) and CIO agents were just punishing him for it.
Now in exile, Matapo’s party has reinvigorated itself. Below is their authoritative manifesto revealed by UCAD’s UK chair Lovemore Taruvinga.
UCAD is a political party which is campaigning to bring a democratic change in Zimbabwe through non-violent means. UCAD believes that to bring a real and democratic change in Zimbabwe there should be a change in the political, economic and social governmence.
The political, economic, humanitarian and social crisis in Zimbabwe has long been marked by a repressive political climate systematically managed and sustained by the dictatorial regime of Zanu PF under Robert Mugabe. The government of the callous Zanu PF has carried out too many sadistic projects since 1980 and continues to oppress the patient people of Zimbabwe to this day. A few cases in point include;
I. The Matabeleland Massacre called Gukurahundi, executed between 1982 and 1987 in which more than 20 000 innocent civilians were murdered, and over 60 000 women were raped. This was also exacerbated by victimisation, persecution and complete marginalisation of both the minority Matabeleland people and all those not identified with Zanu PF.
II. The carrying out of so many private and secret extra judicial killings over the years
III. The privatisation of the county’s judicial system which is now being absolutely controlled and directed by those who wield power in the desperate institution of Zanu PF.
IV. The chaotic farm invasions in which farmers’ assets were grabbed by Zanu PF and the accompanying persecution and killing of some white farmers as well as the replacement of over a million farm workers and the concomitant loss of their livelihoods as death from murder, poor nutrition and health.
V. The demolition of people’s houses and small businesses under Operation Murambatsvina (Operation remove trash), particularly in those urban centres believed to be opposition strongholds.
VI. The privatisation of our resource- rich country and the eventual handover to a new colonialist called China.
VII. The unlawful abductions, detentions, torture, killing and imprisonment of those opposed to Zanu PF.
VIII. The massive grabbing of both public and private resources from those known and suspected to oppose Zanu PF
IX. The massive and pervasive election rigging
X. The militarisation of state institutions
XI. The total disregard of the rule of law. Indeed, the regime has totally mismanaged the economy and is guilty of dereliction of duty through failure to respect international laws, government, profligacy and spectacular failure to deliver on its judicial function to Zimbabweans. Zanu PF has excelled in maliciously preaching lies, thwarting opposition politics, misinterpreting national laws to suit their institutional needs, institutionalising corruption and murder, and promoting tribalism, racism and gross immorality. The activities and policies of the regime coupled by its sheer economy management incompetency have caused immense suffering to the people, significant increase in loss of lives, haemorrhaged the economy and driven over 6 million Zimbabweans into forced exile in not only neighbouring countries like South Africa and Botswana, but also in some overseas countries including the UK, USA, Germany, Austria, Canada, Australia and Newzealand. There was a Government of National Unity(GNU) in which Zanu PF joined hands with both the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai and that led by Welshman Ncube and Professor Arthur Mutambara that ran the country from February 2009 to July 2013. The GNU spectacularly failed to deliver Zimbabweans from Zanu PF as the regime took advantage of every positive development that was a product of the GNU. The international community supported the GNU and resultantly, Zanu PF became increasingly stronger. Zanu PF even managed to get closer to the opposition top leadership, once viewed as genuine, like Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti among others. In the process MDC’s leadership was severely permeated and characteristically reconfigured by the impermeable Zanu PF. However, as these formerly truthful torch bearers of Zimbabwe’s democracy have not openly joined Zanu PF, it is difficult for ordinary people to find it easy to believe simply because they have ordinary understanding of politics.
More to follow….
7 Diamond Bosses to Lose Jobs
THE Chiadzwa diamond fields will be temporarily closed and seven chief executive officers and 60 board members of mining companies will lose their jobs within the next three weeks as Government collapses the entities into one firm.
Government is already in the process of merging Mbada Diamonds, Anjin, Marange Resources, Gye Nyame, Kusena, Jinan and Diamond Mining Company into the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC).
Mines and Mining Development Permanent Secretary Professor Francis Gudyanga told The Sunday Mail that Government would control the 150 000ha Chiadzwa diamond fields.
This, he explained, would improve accountability and transparency in diamond mining amid continued suspicion that the sector is haemorrhaging the economy instead of being a driver of growth.
Prof Gudyanga said: “The initial plan to consolidate Marange Resources with Kusena and Gye Nyame was subsumed in the broader consolidation of all the seven mining companies in Marange diamond fields together with Murowa diamonds and DTZ-OZGEO. So there was never a plan to have other groupings for consolidation.
“The emerging company after consolidation, ZCDC, will assume all the assets and liabilities of all the companies that are being merged. The shareholding of these small companies will be determined by their equipment assets plus what they financially inject into ZCDC for its capitalisation and exploration.
“The process is expected to be completed by end of April or early May 2015 bar the unforeseen. There is a committee working on the arrangements that will be made after consolidation including business plan of the ZCDC.
“The chief executive officers and boards of the current companies will be dissolved but the workforce will essentially be retained subject to conditions that may be set.”
Government resolved to take charge of Chiadzwa after companies failed to satisfactorily declare royalties and taxes. Some of the entities misrepresented to Government that they were dysfunctional despite operating for over four years.
In January 2014, Gye Nyame Resources said it was moribund and was looking for investors to help it resume operations. This was after a Ghanaian investor was accused of being involved in underhand dealings. Gye Nyame was also accused of wantonly violating environmental laws.
On the other hand, Marange Resources — owned by Government through its mining arm, the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation — was implicated in a fraud scam by a 2014 forensic audit.
The audit revealed that management siphoned money from the firm by inflating the value of equipment purchases.
Kusena Diamonds failed to declare royalties despite digging up precious stones.
DTZ-OZGEO is a 60/40 percent joint venture between Econendra of Russia and the Development Trust of Zimbabwe.
While the other operations are 50-50 joint ventures between ZMDC and foreign investors. Prof Gudyanga said earlier plans to cancel licences of under-performing companies were shelved.
“The question of cancelling licences for under-performing companies is now not going to arise. All the current entities will no longer exist or transact as they do now. There will be one CEO, one board, and the Government will have 50 percent shareholding.
“Government had no participation in Murowa diamonds and DTZ-OZGEO. However, like other companies in the country, they were being approached so that they comply with indigenisation laws of the country.
“The consolidation process is now causing these companies to be compliant with the indigenisation,” he said.
Rio Tinto Plc has a 78 percent stake in Murowa Diamonds with the remaining 22 percent owned by RioZim Limited — a Zimbabwean-listed entity.
Murowa Diamonds communications and external relations manager Mr Lovemore Chimuka said the company had already submitted its indigenisation plan.
“While the ownership and control of Murowa Diamonds remains unchanged, Rio Tinto’s intention is to engage fully with the Government to understand its position on the future of diamond mining in Zimbabwe.
“In 2014, Rio Tinto paid the Zimbabwean Government a total of US $14 million in taxes and royalties.
“We intend to continue to work in this spirit even though we are concerned about a number of steps recently taken by the Government with regards to the tax and regulatory environment. We will continue to discuss these issues with the Government in a constructive manner as they are threatening the viability of Murowa diamonds as a going concern.
“Murowa diamonds has duly submitted its indigenisation plan and is awaiting a formal response from the Government,” he said. sunday mail
Mnangagwa Preaches Bible
Wishes transformed into horses in Bikita at easter when the nation’s most detested politician next only to the century-bleaked Robert Mugabe, Vice-President Emmerson Munangagwa, rode on his own holy-phantom beast.
Mnangagwa wore a preacher’s hat when he attempted to preach the word of God at Zion Christian Church in Bikita on Easter Sunday.
The Jonathan Moyo controlled media reports stating in full that:
Hundreds of people from across the country and beyond gathered under the leadership of Bishop Dr Nehemiah Mutendi at Mbungo Estates to celebrate the Easter season.Deducing his message from John 8v12, VP Mnangagwa said one’s salvation had nothing to do with one’s close relations to men of the cloth.“Imi munofunga kuti chiyedza chenyika izuva, kwete. Chiyedza chenyika ndiye Jesu Kristu, ndiye Mwanakomana waMwari, wakaburutswa kuti tiwane kuponeswa. Ndiye chiedza. Nokuti pane angafunga kuti zuva ndiro chiedza chenyika, ayihwa. Hongu Jehova vakati ngakuva nechiedza 12 hours tombova nerima 12 hours.
“The light of life inongobva kuna Jesu Kristu, ndiye woga. Hazvina witness, hazvina chii! Isu kana tiri muCabinet tinodebater nyaya vamwe vachiinda nekuku vamwe vachiinda nekuku. VaMugabe vakateerera vozopendera nyaya inenge iripo. Makambohwa here kuti Mwari anodebater nengirozi ozopendera?
“Bodo! Anopa instruction. Ngakuve nechichi, chovako. Haaite mainstruction gumbo rako richirwadza oti ndoporesa zvandambotaura? Bodo! Ndiye Mwari watinonamata, ndiye Mwari mupenyu,” said VP Mnangagwa.
He added that God’s ways are above men’s who change goal posts now and then.
“Asi isu kana tapinda muCabinet tinombopasser zvimwe kana tafunga tozozvibvisa toisa zvimwe tichingodaro. Zvasiyana munhu nezva Ishe ari kumusoro kudenga. Zvedu zvinoda a witness but the spirit of the Lord, the light of the Lord hazvina witness zvinoda commitment yako, kuzvipira kwako,” affirmed VP Mnangagwa.
He further preached from Acts 2v14-24, emphasising that now is the time God is pouring his spirit in all kinds of people
“Imi mhuri yeJudea, imi maZion makaungana pano tererai shoko iri randinokutaurirai Peter. Kana mazuva angu okupedzisa asvika ndiwo mazuva angu iko zvino ndichaburutsa mweya wangu ugofamba pamusoro penyu ndiJesu Kristu. Nhanhasi uno mweya unobva kudenga uchiuya pamusoro pevapenyu.
“Vanakomana, vanasikana vachaporofita ndonhaka yatakapiwa naJesus. Munoona musingaonesese. Matana, vakweguri venyu vacharota hope. Hamungazvioni here pakati penyu. Ndozviriko nhasi asi zvakataurwa kare Jesu achitaura paverse rake. Munohwa musingahwisisi.
“Nguva yekugumisira isati yasvika muchaona zvishamiso zvakawanda kudenga napasi,” preached the Vice- President.
He also implored Christians to seek the Lord with true and committed hearts. – SundayMail
VIDEO: The Youngest Christian Can Instantly Cast Out Devils and “Evil Spirits”
“…whether you feel like you’ve got it or not!”
The newest, youngest child of God has authority over Satan and his demons to put them on the run, contrary to what some teach and pastors preach.
In fact in the prophetic sccriptures,“the very first sign mentioned as following any believer—not any pastor or any evangelist—is that they shall cast out devils. That means that in my Name they shall exercise authority over the devil, because I have delegated my authority over the devil to the Church,” claims Kenneth Hagin.
He continues: “That authority is yours whether you feel like you’ve got it or not. Authority has nothing to do with feelings. But you must exercise it.”
MARK 16:15-18
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Exercising Authority Over Others
Believers have authority over the devil. They can break the power of the devil if he raises his head anywhere in their own life or the lives of their immediate family or loved ones. They have authority there. They’ll be free from the enemy because they’ve got the right to exercise their authority over him.
That doesn’t mean, however, that they’ll go down the street casting the devil out of everyone they meet. It primarily means they will exercise authority over the devil in their own lives.
You’ve got to realize that you’ve got authority over your own household that you don’t have in my household. Spiritual authority is much like natural authority. For example, you don’t have authority over my money. You can’t tell me what to do with my money unless I give you permission to. You don’t have authority over my children.
You can make the devil desist in some of his maneuvers in somebody else’s life, but you can’t always cast him out, because you don’t have authority in that “household.” That’s one place we’ve missed it.
The next reference Jesus gave me was James 4:7: “.. .Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (the understood subject of this sentence is “you”).
The believer has to have authority over the devil, or the Bible wouldn’t tell him to do something about the devil. This Scripture doesn’t say that the devil will flee from Jesus; it says he’ll flee from you!
Similarly, you don’t pray that Jesus will lay hands on the sick; you do it. Notice, too, that the hands are not in the Head; the hands are in the Body: “They … shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” When you lay hands on the sick, you are exercising authority over the devil.
That authority is yours whether you feel like you’ve got it or not. Authority has nothing to do with feelings. But you must exercise it.
Excerpted from Kenneth Hagin’s The Believer’s Authority, Faith Library Publications.
VIDEO:
I Own 10 Hyenas, Witch Confesses
A SELF-CONFESSED teenage witch (16) from Chief Zimunya’s area claimed she was a proud owner of 10 hyenas and 10 snakes which she uses in her nocturnal activities.
The teenager (name withheld) shocked people gathered at Acting Chief Zimunya’s court recently when she vividly narrated their spine-chilling underworld trade which has resulted in the deaths of some villagers in the peri-urban area which has over the years sent tongues wagging because of acts of sorcery.
The witch claims that she is now being haunted by the avenging spirit of one of her group’s victims who is baying for her blood.
In a macabre real-life drama, the girl stunned the court when she disrupted proceedings for a few minutes, crying, claiming she was seeing the ghost of Tracy Mutendi, whom she allegedly caused her death through witchcraft.
The girl’s mother, Francesca Chitambo-Bhasera, said she was not sure whether the incision marks on the teenager’s body were from the girl’s paternal side or from the wife of her husband’s elder brother, Alick. Francesca said she came to the chief’s court to seek his counsel on how to handle the case which has now divided the family. The girl confessed to being a witch claiming that she was initiated by her paternal grandmother.
She said her tools of the trade include 10 hyenas and the same number of snakes.
What, however, surprised the court was that in her confession when she was asked her name, the girl claimed to be Portia Bhasera, the wife of her stepfather’s elder brother.
“I have incision marks inserted on me by my grandmother. I have eaten over 25 corpses and human meat tastes good. We ate the body of Tracy Mutendi who is now haunting me. She is now summoning others baying for my blood and I am having sleepless nights . . .
“My name is Portia. My husband (Portia’s husband Alick) is my horse. I have 10 hyenas and 10 snakes. My other snakes are in Gombakomba where they feed on milk from Portia’s grandmother, but she does not know this,” she ranted unperturbed in her manifestation.
She claimed that the black mambas that were currently being seen in Madziva Village chasing people were hers.
One of the snakes allegedly chased her stepfather Edmore Bhasera when he was coming from the fields recently and the other snake chased their neighbour’s little boy who escaped death by a whisker by seeking refuge at the Bhasera residence.
“You (referring to Edmore) were supposed to die because you talk too much. That day that snake was supposed to kill you. As for that boy, he was lucky because he ran towards the Bhasera residence. He was meant to die,” boldly declared the girl.
She, however, said she was tired of the trade and wanted to lead a normal life again.
Francesca said the problem started in 2013 when Portia used to fall into a trance. She said she sought the assistance of a local prophet, Mai Zingwe, who managed to make the spirits possessing her daughter speak.
Mai Zingwe told the court that the girl was being used by her late uncle and aunt to boost their businesses, but she cured her.
“I managed to remove a scorpion and a snake from the girl. She was well for a while in December and the problem started again recently. But now the spirit is manifesting again claiming to be Portia.
“I told the stepfather, Edmore, and asked him if I should perform the same ritual we had performed to cast out the spirits haunting her, but he told me to wait until he talked to his brother,” said Mai Zingwe.
Spine-chilling testimonies were revealed about people who the girl and other witches ate in surrounding villages.
Acting Chief Zimunya said they should come back on April 30 and go to a traditional healer for consultation. He instructed both Edmore and Alick Bhasera to each look for $150 for the traditional healer’s consultation fee and another $30 each for the chief’s aide who will escort them.
Acting Chief Zimunya said he would pass his verdict based on the outcome from the traditional healer’s consultations.
“This matter involves human lives, so appeasement is needed. We must unearth the truth first,” said Acting Chief Zimunya.
In October last year, another 15-year-old girl from Zimunya appeared at Chief Zimunya’s court confessing to witchcraft after being involuntarily inducted at the age of 10 by her grandmother. – Manica Post
Econet Shugs $40 Million Shoulder-Cash to Nyambirai
Econet Wireless has paid out an undocumented cash lump-sum of $39.9Million to TN Holdings (now Lifestyle Holdings) boss and CEO Tawanda Nyambirai for securing its licence renewal and facilitating debt recovery from TelOne, a local weekly reports declaring.
The deal, the report reveals how the company evaded accounting and auditing procedures by shoving out the undeclared cash to the businessman.
The report comes short in the heels of Econet being involved in a dirty cover up stunt in which it raided the Reuters-affiliated news agency, The Source. When contacted for comment on the $39.9Million scandal by The Independent, Econet claimed the explosive investigation was sub-judice as they attempted albeit unsuccessfully to hide behind their damned raid on journalists in which they arm twisted High Court Judge Joseph Musakwa.
Below is the full report by the Independent:
TN Holdings (now Lifestyle Holdings) founder and CEO Tawanda Nyambirai was reportedly paid a staggering US$39,9 million by the country’s leading telecoms giant Econet Wireless in September last year for securing its licence renewal and facilitating debt recovery from TelOne, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt.
According to informed sources, the payment to Nyambirai by the diversified telecoms group raised eyebrows as there were reportedly a number of discrepancies in the transaction procedure, which include Econet’s alleged failure to capitalise the consultancy fee onto the licence fee as required by accounting rules.
Sources said the other irregularity was that Nyambirai used the money he received from Econet to pay its subsidiary, Steward Bank (formerly TN Bank) US$26 million to reduce his debt with the financial institution in a case which has been likened to “Peter paying Paul so that Paul can repay Peter — literally”.
There was also concern as to why the funds from licence renewal and debt recovery consultancy were paid through TN Harlequin which specialised in furniture manufacture and retail, not consultancy.
Sources also questioned why the funds were used to clear debts for other third parties as well. They also said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was supposed to have been suspicious of the transaction as it had a material impact on Stewart Bank’s financial position.
The sources further said it was curious why the funds did not appear in TN Harlequin accounts where they were paid and consolidated into Lifestyle Holdings books, something which raises tax issues.
The Zimbabwe Independent recently reported on Nyambirai’s facilitation of a US$30 million loan facility to government last year. Econet confirmed the involvement of its former chairman as a consultant, saying it was an arrangement whereby government took over and settled interconnection debt owed by NetOne and TelOne.
Asked on Wednesday to respond on Nyambirai’s US$39,9 million payment, Econet ducked the issue claiming it was sub judice and that the story was based on “stolen, private and confidential information” in a bid to entangle the Independent in its current dispute with Reuters-affiliated news agency, The Source, even if the paper has nothing to do with it.
The business news agency was raided last month by the Deputy Sheriff’s department following a High Court order granted to Econet and Steward Bank to have the online publication delete or expunge the stories it had published on its site.
The raid – widely condemned by the media and other stakeholders – related to two published stories in which Econet reportedly extended a US$30 million loan to the government and the other concerning flamboyant local tycoon Philip Chiyangwa’s Pinnacle Property Holdings paying a US$2,1 million debt — under-secured by US$720 000 collateral — he owed to Steward Bank using land.
Econet went to court seeking an order to seize computers and search for the documents they claimed The Source stole. The order was granted. The case is still running in the courts.
However, the information obtained by the Independent – just like on the earlier published story about the loan to which Econet responded to professionally – was gleaned from informed sources in the market, not the said stolen documents.
The enquiries sent to Econet corporate communications manager, Rangarirai Mberi, on Wednesday were as follows:
=As per our telephone conversation, could you please help me with my enquiries;
=We understand, according to our sources, that Mr Tawanda Nyambirai received US$39,9 million payment for his services in securing the Econet licence renewal and facilitating the recovery of debt due to Econet from Telone;
=We are also informed that Mr Nyambirai used US$26 million of these funds to reduce his debt at Steward Bank. Is this true and if not what is the correct position, and
=My deadline is 15 00 hrs tomorrow (April 9 2015). Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.
Econet’s response was as follows:
“As you are aware, Econet Wireless and Steward Bank approached the courts and were granted an order against The Source for the deletion and expunging from their online publication private and confidential material relating to both entities, their directors, consultants, customers or counter parties. The order also interdicted the publishing or republishing “personally or through the agency of other persons” the names of both entities’ customers and the details of their loan or credit agreements with both entities.
“In addition, the court also interdicted the publishing of “contents of email and internal memoranda or correspondence of a private nature relating to the applicants’ business or that of its customers, consultants or other counter parties.
“The basis of the provisional order was that the private correspondence had been stolen and that its publication infringed upon Econet and Steward Bank’s and their clients’, customers’ and other related parties’ rights to privacy, particularly as the banker/client relationship is based on confidentiality.
“On this basis, the court granted an order authorising the recovery of the stolen information and documents, which has since been done. An application brought by Source-Net (Pvt) Ltd in an endeavour to stay execution of the provisional order and to have it thereafter set aside was dismissed by the High Court with an order that Source-Net pay Econet and Steward Bank’s costs on a legal practitioner and client scale.
“During the recovery of the stolen, private and confidential information, it was confirmed that the stolen private and confidential information had been conveyed through the agency of two former Steward Bank executives who accessed such information in the course of their duties and who were not authorised to divulge it to unauthorised third parties, and your enquiry relates to the exact same stolen private and confidential information whose publication the court has interdicted.
“There can be no doubt that Econet and Steward Bank’s financial services advisors fall under the category of ‘consultants’ who are specifically covered by the order. “On the advice of our legal advisors, we cannot therefore provide you with answers to your questions on the basis that the matter is sub-judice in so far as the provisional order is yet to be dealt with on the return day, that your questions relate to the very same private, confidential and stolen information in respect of which there is already an interdict and both Econet and Steward Bank are unable to disregard the very privacy it sought to protect in the first instance.
“Your use of stolen, private and confidential information would also be illegal and in breach of the provisional order already referred to which interdicted the publication of the information ‘through the agency of other persons’, which includes your publication. We trust that this fully explains Econet and Steward Bank’s position”.
Zanu Expels 16, Suspends 25 Mujuru Loyalists
Calls for Midzi, Chikukwa expulsion
The Zanu PF Harare province has recommended the expulsion of former chairman Amos Midzi and several other officials fingered in acts contrary to the party’s code of conduct.
The province has also recommended that Miriam Chikukwa and others be suspended for five years.
The Acting Zanu PF Harare Chairperson Godwills Masimirembwa says the provincial co-ordinating committee has recommended that 16 members who were actively involved in the plot to unseat President Robert Mugabe from power should be expelled from the party as they are a security threat.
“That the offences committed by Noah Mangondo, Tendai Savanhu, Bonifce Karoro, Right Banda, Amos Bernard Midzi, Christopher Chigumba, Angeline Matambanadzo, Prince Shinya, Torongo Torongo, Tongai Nheta, Brian Hwenjere, Andrew Tiriboyi, Munyaradzi Mugomeza, Olivia Mususa and Tendai Diwa constitute acts of disloyalty and treachery and they should be expelled from the party in line with Article 267(c) of the party’s constitution,” said Cde Masimirembwa.
Masimirembwa also told the media that the province has agreed that 25 members who had votes of no confidence passed against them at the end of last year be suspended from the party for a period of five years.
“The party ruled that offences committed by Edith Kagoro, Tsitsi Jadagu, Idah Mashonganyika, Albertina Bwititi, Varaidzo Mupunga, Miriam Chikukwa, Eva Chaneta, Susan Chuma and Clyde Mutero constituted acts of gross misconduct, hence it was recommended that they be suspended from the party for five years,” Masimirembwa added.
The province says the move is meant to strengthen the party.
Former Vice President Joice Mujuru had led a faction that intended to unseat President Mugabe from power.
State media
Prophet Rapes Minor With Maid’s Help
A maid from Bulawayo facilitated the rape of a 15 year old girl by a prophet claiming she was possessed by evil spirits.
Silibaziso Khupe of Cowdray Park was looking after the girl while her parents lived in South Africa.
Khupe (21) yesterday appeared before the Western Commonage provincial magistrate Willard Mafios Moyo facing rape charges for allegedly assisting Herbert Khumalo to sexually abuse the girl.
Khumalo is still at large and Khupe was remanded in custody to April 15.
Prosecutors said the prophet turned the girl into her sex slave after Khupe convinced her that she needed to be cleansed of evil spirits.
Testifying in court, the girl said she was told that she had been bewitched by her grandmother and needed to be cleansed of the evil spirits.
Prosecutor Mufaro Mageza said at a date unknown to the State, Khupe connived with Khumalo to sexually abuse the girl.
The abuse started immediately after the girl’s parents had left for South Africa.
The victim said when the abuse started, she woke up preparing to go to school and heard Khupe talking on the phone inviting someone to their house.
After taking a bath she was forced to drink an unknown liquid which she was told would prevent her from becoming pregnant.
Khumalo later arrived at the house and Khupe told the girl to go into one of the bedrooms so the prophet could pray for her.
“When I entered, he locked the door and shoved a piece of cloth into my mouth to prevent me from screaming,” she said.
Khumalo told the girl that she was being bewitched by her grandmother before he raped her. He abused the girl every weekend for six weeks until her parents returned from South Africa.
The girl’s mother noticed that her behaviour had changed and quizzed her. She opened up on the abuse, leading to Khupe’s arrest.-southern eye
Two More People Murdered In South African Xenophobic Attacks
AS TENSIONS FLARED in South Africa, two more people said to be foreign nationals havebeen killed in the first wave of xenophobic violence in the South Africa since the 2008 killings.
Several incidents have been reported in and around the city of Durban, with police stating they have arrested 17 people and opened murder cases.
One Somali shopkeeper is currently fighting for his life since Thursday after he was attacked by residents who raided shops owned by foreigners. More than 300 people from DR-Congo, Malawi, Burundi, and Zimbabwe have fled their homes in the last 7 days.
The rioting followed comments by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, form KwaZulu-Natal who criticised the presence of immigrants in South Africa, statements which he has denied.
The Home Affairs Ministry is holding discussions with residents of not only Durban, but also Isipingo, KwaZulu-Natal following the forced evictions of foreigners in the areas.
Police spokesperson Maj Thulani Zwane said police do not know exactly how many people have been killed, but that some were South African nationals and some were foreigners.
Minister Malusi Gigaba has apologised to foreign nationals who’ve been left destitute following the xenophobic attacks.
Last week, more than 200 people were forced to take refuge in a safety camp after they were violently evicted by locals.
Community members are reportedly accusing them of threatening their job security.
Violence erupted in the area when locals began looting foreign-owned shops and demanding that they leave.
Officials have hidden the location of the safety camp where over 200 foreigners are receiving shelter to avoid further violence.
The department says it will begin working to ensure the reintegration of foreign in the town.
In January, there was widespread looting of foreign owned shops in Soweto.
The unrest was caused by the death of 14-year-old Siphiwe Mahori, allegedly by a foreign shop owner in Doornkop, who had accused him of attempted robbery.
The looting and violence spread beyond parts of Soweto and claimed at least six lives, including that of a baby. (EWN/Additional Reporting)
Tsvangirai party Reverses By-Election Motion
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has announced a reversal of his party’s emergency motion to contest in the bi-election.
The MDC-T met on Friday afternoon in a make or break National Council as Mr Tsvangirai and top lieutenants pondered reversing a congress resolution not to contest in bi elections until reforms have been implemented.
Tsvangirai was going to field for the by-elections Theresa Makone, Thokozani Khupe, Douglas Mwonzora, Obert Gutu, and his own uncle, Hebson Makuvise who were all “vying for the big job” which has several benefits besides a salary, sources said.
But Tsvangirai’s deputy Thokosani Khupe stormed out of the meeting in protest when the decision was made, a source said, just as Tsvangirai made his announcement,
The meeting confirmed by spokesperson Obert Gutu that it would be a heated one, confirming an earlier exclusive ZimEye.com expose on the development (READ MORE- ), came as pressure mounted from perceived potential international donors that Mr Tsvangirai crucified himself for Robert Mugabe’s gain when he recalled Tendai Biti and his group of MPs the MDC-T say are “rebels.” The “rebels” include popular activist Solomon Madzore millions of Zimbabweans label Zimbabwe’s Nelson Mandela and pulled away untold thousands from Tsvangirai’s support base.
But following media pressure, Tsvangirai announced the council decision at the end of day,
“We have considered the congress resolution regarding the recall of 21 MPs from parliament and council was very emphatic that the position taken in October that reforms must preceded any election in Zimbabwe has been vindicated by the stories coming from across the country regarding the few by-elections that have been held because they are also shambolic,” he said.
The move analysts say, reflects that Tsvangirai committed political suicide when he chose to expel Tendai Biti and his Renewal Team legislators, since ZANU PF which controls the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, will now effortlessly swallow all the parly seats.
UK: Zimbabwean Cop Race Discrimination Case
Daily Mail| A Zimbabwean police constable has won a race discrimination case against the UK force after they did not promote him due to the colour of his skin.
Ronnie Lungu was singled out as ‘a marked man’ by Wiltshire Police solely due to his race, the employment tribunal ruled.
It found the 40-year-old was passed over for promotion in favour of white colleagues after his internal assessments were secretly downgraded to make him appear unworthy.
It also heard evidence that derogatory comments were made about Mr Lungu based on his colour violating his dignity.
When the PC raised concerns with his superiors they were not taken seriously and his complaints were brushed off as trivial.
The force – which has only 16 ethnic minority officers out of a total of just over 1,000 – had denied the claims.
But the tribunal ruled that the Zimbabwe-born officer was unlawfully discriminated against on grounds of race.
Mr Lungu said: ‘When I realised I was being singled out and treated badly because of the colour of my skin I felt so angry and upset.
‘I had worked all my career to serve the community and be the best police officer I could but I was being penalised because I was black.
‘It was totally unacceptable. But what made matters worse was that when I did raise the issue internally it wasn’t taken seriously.’
The tribunal in Bristol was told that the father-of-three joined the force as a police constable in 2003 after moving to England and 10 years later was temporarily promoted to the role of sergeant.
After passing his sergeant’s exam he applied for the role permanently, but he was turned down.
Employment judges were told he was the only black candidate out of 20 officers to go for the position.
The panel found that his internal assessments were specifically downgraded in order to make him appear unworthy of promotion.
It also was told that a senior member of staff was invited to make negative comments about PC Lungu during an appraisal.
The judgment read: ‘The reduction in the scoring has the very significant effect in terms of making it appear reasonable that the one black applicant for promotion was scoring lower than the 19 white applicants and should therefore not be promoted.’
It went on: ‘This behaviour is so extreme that the Tribunal cannot think of any apparent motive other than one that is directly related to [the] Claimant’s race.’
Despite his treatment, Mr. Lungu is still serving as a PC with the force.
‘I joined the force to uphold the law and I still would like to remain with the force,’ he said.
‘I need reassurance from Wiltshire Police that they will take issues of discrimination seriously in future and I want to see new procedures put in place to tackle discrimination and better education among senior members of staff in how to deal with complaints.’
His lawyer, Juliette Franklin, of Slater and Gordon, said: ‘It’s extremely disappointing that people are facing this sort of prejudice and discrimination.
‘Wiltshire Police needs to take this tribunal ruling very seriously and take swift steps to address any failings which have been identified.
‘The force needs to ensure that officers feel confident that if they experience racism or discrimination that any complaint will be taken seriously.’
Wiltshire Chief Constable Patrick Geenty said the force was ‘concerned’ by the findings and would ‘learn lessons’ from the case.
He said: ‘Wiltshire Police take this matter very seriously and I am concerned by the Tribunal’s findings. Clearly, the issues this raises do need to be carefully considered.
‘We continue to work hard to embed our values and behaviours and the Code of Ethics within the organisation.
‘Wiltshire Police will learn lessons from this process and continue to move forward.’
He added: ‘As an organisation we have a very small number of Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) staff (16 officers, 15 police staff and 3 Police Special Constables) and this judgment raises some serious concerns about how an officer felt he was treated.
‘I have no doubt that this judgment will affect members of the Black and Ethnic Minority community who might be considering joining Wiltshire Police.
‘I want to reassure the public that Wiltshire Police are committed to increasing diversity in the Force so that we can reflect the communities we serve.
‘This case was complex and there were a number of points covered. With our legal advisors, we are undertaking an assessment of the Tribunal’s findings in order to decide whether to appeal any aspects of the judgment.
‘Following this assessment, decisions will be made on what action we may need to take and how we can ensure that lessons are learnt from this case.
‘We will continue to engage with the officer and his representatives to ensure that he can continue to be a valued member of Wiltshire Police.
‘All necessary training and support will continue to be provided to him.’ – DailyMail
Dzamara:CIO $200,000 Plot REVEALED
As this week marked one month since pro-democracy activist Itai Dzamara was abducted by suspected state security agents, new details have emerged pointing to the government’s Central Intelligence Organisation.
Email evidence in possession of this journo shows an intelligence agent writing to a colleague on the day Dzamara was taken from his Glen View surbub, saying that “he has become a security threat.”
In the same email the agent, (Name Supplied), then complains that Dzamara had been allegedly handed $200,000 by western donors.
“How can one person receive $200,000 against $180,000 for the whole country’s agriculture what is that?,” the agent, a man, states.
He then follows at the footer saying that Dzamara would be released after interrogation.
The western donor’s name is not declared in the email.
The evidence once accepted by the courts, is now set to buttress the legal challenge against the government.
Dzamara’s lawyers have voiced that they are concerned by the silence of the government, while his colleagues say they fear for their lives and threatened to sue the CIO for contempt of court.
ZRP cops say Dzamara’s wife last saw her husband when five men forced him into a car before driving off.
Lizwe Jamela is with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, an organization which sought an order to compel state agents to locate the anti-Mugabe activist. He explains how it has been since Dzamara disappeared.
“From lawyer’s perspective, it is so sad to work on a case where you do not actually talk to your client. Where he vanishes in the air. Nothing is really leading to where they [Dzamara] are. In as much as there are statements by the authorities that they are investigating, so far we have not had any updates,” said Jamela.
The statements the lawyer mentioned is a reference to a denial by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa that Harare had an issue with the missing activist.
“We are a democratic society and anybody in this country who commits a crime must account for the crime that is committed. That is why we have institutions like the Zimbabwe Republic Police to deal with this. I can assure the House that it [Dzamara’s abduction] is a barbaric act and we want those responsible to come to book,” said Mnangagwa.
The accusations stemmed from the fact that Dzamara had been calling for President Robert Mugabe’s resignation. Dzamara along with other activists accused Mugabe of ruining once-prosperous Zimbabwe and of disregarding human rights. (ZimEye/ Additional Reporting VOA)
Mujuru’s $21Million Debts
The late General Solomon Mujuru’s estate may be exposed to liabilities in excess of $21 million being creditors of the now under liquidation Limpopo Mining Resources Limited, preliminary investigations have established.
Creditors for LMR, formerly River Ranch Diamond Mine, include Rani Investments which is owed $21 million while seven other companies are owed thousands of United States dollars.
Preliminary investigations conducted by the executor of the estate, Mr Stern Mufara of Nyika, Kanengoni and partners also revealed that Gen Mujuru has four properties registered in his name.
These are Stand Number 810 Land Park, Marondera measuring 2 240 square metres, held under deed of transfer 6763/91. Another two pieces of land Number 95 and 96 Hogertyhill township measuring two hectares and stand number 449 Bindura Township measuring 1,5 ha.
“We are in the process of investigating other properties which may be registered through various city councils, which properties may not reflect in the office of the Registrar of Deeds,” said Mr Mufara.
“We are also searching for companies that own some of the properties that are listed on the inventory as the deceased’s property.” Mr Mufara said during his life time, Gen Mujuru managed his businesses through a company called Kalmic Investments. He said all rentals collected from Gen Mujuru’s properties were paid to the company.
“It has come to our attention that Kalmic is no longer managing the assets,” said Mr Mufara. The company called Ruzirani Investments (Pvt) Ltd is now collecting rentals. It started managing the property after the death of Gen Mujuru.”
Mr Mufara said he was now in the process of establishing who controls Ruzirani, but it is believed one of Dr Mujuru’s daughters Kumbirai is one of the directors.
As the administration of the late national hero’s estate gathers momentum, Mr Mufara has scheduled a meeting next week with lawyer Mr Thekor Kewada who used to act for Gen Mujuru. Mr Kewada is expected to furnish the executor with documents relevant to the administration of the estate.
But former Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru’s lawyer Mr Addington Chinake denied that he was in possession of documents necessary for the winding up of the estate in a letter to the executor last week.
“We refute the suggestion that Kantor and Immerman may have in its possession any of the documents you have requested,” said Mr Chinake. “We suggest that in future you separate client matters from the firm.”
He said he had since forwarded the executor’s letter to Dr Mujuru for consideration.
Gen Mujuru, who died in an inferno at his Ruzambo Farm, Beatrice in August 2011, is reported to have left multi-national investments in mining, real estate, agriculture and tourism.
His interests covered River Ranch Diamond Mine, Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting Company, Marange Diamonds, Trojan Nickel Mine, Kalmic Investments and Ruzirani Properties. He also held stakes in hotels and lodges in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique among many other investments.
The executor is still to meet with beneficiaries of the estate who are listed in the Deed of Trust which Mr Kewada filed with the Master of High Court office.
The Deed listed only 12 children and former Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru as the beneficiaries.
However, the Deed is dated June 22, 2003.
There is a possibility that there may be more children and beneficiaries in view of reports that the national hero could have sired 90 children with different women. – Herald
AirZim $10 Million Fraud, Duo Gets 20 Years
Grace Pfumbidzayi
Two former Air Zimbabwe executives who brought the company down to its knees in one of country’s biggest corporate fraud scandals have been each jailed for 10 years.
Air Zimbabwe lost nearly $10 million between 2009 and 2013 in a “well planned and well executed” aviation insurance fraud, which a magistrate said was “pre-planned” by its top executives who circumvented laid down procurement procedures.
Relatives of the former CEO, Peter Chikumba, 60, and the airline’s suspended company secretary Grace Pfumbidzayi, 50, wailed uncontrollably as a Harare magistrate handed down the sentences following their conviction for criminal abuse of office at the end of their high-profile trial on Thursday.
Police had hard times clearing the courtroom of the wailing relatives. Magistrates in adjacent courtrooms had to send their court orderlies to disperse the relatives who were disturbing proceedings.
Pfumbidzayi’s sobbing sister cried out: “Maihweee kani Mwari imi madarireiko, ko vana vake ndonovaudza kutiiko? Ndovaudza kuti mai vavo vayendepiko? Kudakwashe ndomutiiko, ndarwadziwa kani [Oh, dear God why did you let this happen? What will I tell her children? Where do I say their mum went? What will I do with Kudakwashe? I’m hurt].”
Regional magistrate Fadzai Mthombeni sentenced Chikumba and Pfumbidzayi to 10 years each before conditionally suspending three years. They will each serve an effective seven years.
In jailing the duo yesterday, Mthombeni appeared to invite prosecutors to pursue fraud charges against the pair.
“What the two accused persons did cannot be tolerated and they must be punished accordingly,” she said. “There was a lot of prejudice caused to Air Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd by the actions of the two, although the State did not go deeper and dig out the fraud charge.”
She added: “Lots of companies are collapsing because of crimes committed by people holding high positions in the companies and abusing those positions.
“The courts must put a stop to that and punish the offenders to send a clear message to the society. These two convicted persons brought the airline to its knees.”
The two shamed executives’ lawyers, Admire Rubaya and Advocate Webster Chinamhora – instructed by Andrew Muvirimi – notified the court of their intention to approach the High Court for bail pending appeal against both conviction and sentence.
“Good luck,” was Mthomben’s reply.
Pfumbidzayi and Chikumba bled the national flag carrier of millions of dollars in a fraudulent aviation insurance deal after they appointed Navistar Insurance Brokers in opaque circumstances as the airline’s local broker.
The airline, which previously paid Marsh Insurance Brokers 125,000 euros (about $171,000) per annum in brokerage fees, suddenly found itself paying Navistar 300,000 euros (about $410,000) per quarter, translating to 1,2 million euros (about $1,6 million) annually — nearly 10 times what Marsh was charging.
The upward spike in premiums was not matched by any commensurate increase in Air Zimbabwe’s fleet size or expansion of its route network. In fact, some aircraft were grounded at the time.
An audit report by BCA Forensic Audit Services, which triggered the arrests, also implicated Pfumbidzayi’s uncle, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development Munesu Munodawafa, for “conflicted” interference in trying to expedite payments to Navistar.
Working with other senior managers, Pfumbidzayi actively pushed through “fraudulent” payments to Navistar. Once, when there was a delay of a $305,000 payment, Munodawafa wrote to Air Zimbabwe asking them to expedite the payment. The auditors concluded Munodawafa – a former principal director in the former Vice President Joice Mujuru’s office – was “conflicted”.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, magistrate Mthombeni said the crime was well planned and well executed.
After hearing the guilty verdict, Pfumbidzayi wept in court and told the magistrate: “Whatever I did, and no matter how misguided it was, I did it in good faith. The court found out that it amounted to a criminal conduct and for that I apologise for my actions.”
Joined by Chikumba, they pleaded for a non-custodial sentence, stating that they were even ready to perform community service.
In aggravation, prosecutor Daniel Muchimbiri urged the court to impose a custodial sentence, arguing that the pair had been convicted of a serious crime which attracted a prison term of up to 15 years.
The convictions have been welcomed by anti-corruption fighters who, however, remain sore that Navistar bosses beat fraud charges on a technicality after being tried before a different magistrate.
Harare magistrate Noel Mupeiwa acquitted Givemore Nderere, 46, Vukile Hlupo, 46, and Orten Mawire, 61, of fraud, stating: “The State missed it when it decided to separate accused one, which is Navistar, from the three accused persons. Navistar was put on judicial management, consequently all judicial proceedings against it were suspended. The State then decided to proceed with the trial of the trio.”
Prosecutors are studying the judgment with a view to launching an appeal. -chronicle
VIDEO: Mugabe Refuses to Talk To Journalists After Spotting a White Face
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told a crowd of media and spectators on Thursday while visiting Hector Pietersen Memorial in Soweto, “I don’t want to see a white face”. Watch.
An SABC reporter described the incident as Mugabe exited the museum, he walked past a television journalist who asked whether the tour had evoked any emotion.
When Mugabe saw a white journalist behind her, he pushed the microphone away and reportedly said: “I don’t want to see a white face.”
Mugabe’s comment can be heard in the above video.
BREAKING NEWS: Chaos as ZANU PF HQ ‘Goes On Fire’
– Expelling Gamatox ‘Agents’ –
Update: 1515Hrs |Roudy ZANU PF youths are currently gathered at ZANU PF Harare province headquarters where there is fiery commotion just as the party sinks deeper. Friday afternoon saw a new bill of names singled out to be so called ‘Gamatox’ members and now set to be humiliated and expelled. One of the people on the list is Harare province supremo Shadreck Mashayamombe.
Barely weeks after the liberation party expelled Joice Mujuru, Didymus Mutasa, and Temba Mliswa, Robert Mugabe’s private institution has continued on the decline with accusation upon accusation, conflicts which have at other times turned bloody. PICTURES:
As the noise and confusion continued, the Acting Zanu PF Harare Chairperson Godwills Masimirembwa soon stood up voicing out the expulsion of former chairman Amos Midzi and several other officials fingered in acts contrary to the party’s code of conduct.
He also recommended that Miriam Chikukwa and others be suspended for five years.
Masimirembwa said the provincial co-ordinating committee has recommended that 16 members who were actively involved in the plot to unseat President Robert Mugabe from power should be expelled from the party as they are a security threat.
“That the offences committed by Noah Mangondo, Tendai Savanhu, Bonifce Karoro, Right Banda, Amos Bernard Midzi, Christopher Chigumba, Angeline Matambanadzo, Prince Shinya, Torongo Torongo, Tongai Nheta, Brian Hwenjere, Andrew Tiriboyi, Munyaradzi Mugomeza, Olivia Mususa and Tendai Diwa constitute acts of disloyalty and treachery and they should be expelled from the party in line with Article 267(c) of the party’s constitution,” said Masimirembwa.
Masimirembwa also told the media that the province has agreed that 25 members who had votes of no confidence passed against them at the end of last year be suspended from the party for a period of five years.
“The party ruled that offences committed by Edith Kagoro, Tsitsi Jadagu, Idah Mashonganyika, Albertina Bwititi, Varaidzo Mupunga, Miriam Chikukwa, Eva Chaneta, Susan Chuma and Clyde Mutero constituted acts of gross misconduct, hence it was recommended that they be suspended from the party for five years,” Masimirembwa added.
More to follow…
‘Castrate All Rapist Teachers’… Parents
Masvingo – Parents in Masvingo province are breathing fire over what they have branded a rapist habit, by teachers who are supposed to be guardians during their absence. Parents who have organised themselves, to demonstrate at all victim schools, that have recorded rape cases by teachers, are appealing to relevant authorities for the castration of all criminal teachers.
“We are now shattered of habitual rapist teachers who are sexually abusing our unsuspecting and innocent children. We want them castrated and also locked for a long time in custody, to implant distress in their colleagues, who might want to do the same,” said Mr Enock Chiumburu, a parent and village head.
Another villager and relative to one of the abused girl child, told ZimEye that she will fight to the bitter end, to make sure that all rapist teachers are castrated and sentenced to death. “We have organised ourselves as parents from three districts of Masvingo, Zaka, Gutu and Bikita, to lobby for the castration of all perpetrators of rape at all our schools,” said Mrs Rudo Chatira.
Recently, a teacher at Makwau Secondary School in Zaka allegedly raped one of his Form 2 pupils after he proposed love to her and she eventually accepted.
It is alleged that the teacher, Tawanda Zinyemba started proposing love to the pupil (name withheld because of age) in 2014 when she was 14-years-old.
Zinyemba would ask the victim to take some pupils’ exercise books to his house for marking and tell her to wait for him in the house. He proposed love to her but she initially refused.
As a way to persuade the pupil, Zinyemba started to give her money so that she would comply. The teacher allegedly continued giving her money until she consented to having sexual intercourse with him.
The matter came to light when some villagers from Mawoneke under Chief Nyakunhuwa became suspicious on the way the pupil was behaving. They probed the girl and she disclosed everything, including their sexual expedites in class rooms.
The matter was reported under case number 3703/2015 at Zaka Police, and the teacher appeared before Zaka Magistrates Courts.
Meanwhile, another Gutu teacher, Simon Gwatiringa, appeared in court for raping a 15 year old form three student, after buying her food and school uniform, a situation that seduced the girl into submitting to the rapist teacher’s intention. The matter is still in the courts at Gutu.
Last month in Bulawayo, a Form two teacher was sentenced to 21 years in prison, after he was convicted of sodomising six teenager boys on several occasions, during break and lunch time.
Air Zim Bosses Get 10 years in Jail
10 years for Air Zim
BREAKING NEWS: 10 years for Air Zim bosses
Two former Air Zimbabwe bosses, Peter Chikumba and Grace Pfumbidzayi, have each been sentenced to 10 years in prison for criminal abuse of office.
Three years were suspended on condition of good behaviour meaning the duo will serve an effective seven years behind bars.
Details to follow…..
Why Zimbabwe’s Land Grabbers Can Never Get their Way
Ian Scoones | RESHUFFLING OF POLITICAL power at the top always has implications at the bottom in Zimbabwe.
And so from December last year, with the purging of the Mujuru faction at the Zanu PF congress, there were multiple rumblings elsewhere. As ever in Zimbabwe, issues of land were important. With a new configuration of power and leadership, some thought that this was the time to use their weight to get land.
Since the land reform – and indeed before – a spate of land grabbing has been seen around the time of elections. Either just before, for those fearing losing power, or just after as those with new power exert it. This was especially the case in 2008, when the ruling elite feared time was up.
As it turned out the chaos of election violence meant they hung on, and were able to consolidate positions, resulting in another round of land grabs. These are widely resented, including by the majority of land reform beneficiaries who, after all, were normal people coming from nearby communal areas and towns, with few connected to the ruling Zanu PF party.
The fall out of the Zanu PF congress upheaval has seen some pushing their luck, confident that they are in the right camp, while others have used attempts to grab land as a way of distancing themselves from the toxic consequences of being associated with the ‘Gamatox’ camp (the term associated with the Mujuru faction – a banned pesticide against weevils).
But land grabbers don’t always win. And indeed in this latest round, many, despite their credentials, have lost. Resistance and protest from villagers, authorities condemning the attempts at usurping ‘strategic’ farms, contests in the courts, and local press and international condemnation have put paid to a number of attempted grabs.
The most high profile recent land grab attempt was at Maleme farm in Matabeleland South. Here a senior CIO officer tried to force his way onto the farm. There was local uproar. This was a farm that was being used by a number of groups for local outreach. The white farmer was hugely popular in the area, and the projects widely appreciated.
The local chiefs got together and petitioned the government and, in local meetings villagers living nearby, vowed to destroy the fences and the farm if it was taken over. The chiefs backed them, saying that they would not support the takeover and would sanction the protests. Meanwhile, the case hit the press, and international petitions were launched.
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This particular grab of course touched a raw nerve. This was Matabeleland, a place where massacres at the hands of a Zanu PF-led military force took place in the 1980s. And here was a Shona CIO officer from the same group attempting to take land. The arrogance and insensitivity was apparent to anyone from the area.
The Gukurahundi period is deeply etched in people’s memories, and the seeming peace in Matabeleland is shallow. While the chiefs are notionally servants of the state, and usually closely linked to the party, their allegiances are, at root, local, as are their memories.
After much obfuscation, in the end the Vice President – Phelekezela Mphoko, the lesser known of the two beneficiaries of the December putsch – came to the area, and talked with the chiefs. He announced that the offer letter – pushed through by the local land committee that included the CIO officer as a member – was to be rescinded, and the farm would be returned ‘to the people’ (or at least the former owner and the various groups that use it as a base).
This was a major victory widely celebrated in Matobo. We have a new study site in this area, and were working on its establishment with colleagues from NUST at the time. It was certainly clear who people – including those in positions of authority in the state – backed in this confrontation. This land grab was a step too far.
But this is not a single, isolated case, peculiar because of its prominence and international exposure. There have been a few others recently where senior, apparently very powerful, individuals have tried to take farms, and have been (at least for now) pushed back.
One case in Masvingo, in another of our study areas, was Barquest farm, near Lake Mutirikwi. Here a minister tried to claim land on the farm, notionally as part of a ‘joint venture’ with the farmer who supplies day-old chicks across the province and beyond. The Masvingo authorities have since 2000 designated this as a strategically important farm, protected from take-over. Again the farmer is highly popular and well known in the area.
When the attempted grab was highlighted everyone I talked to was outraged. This was a person who allegedly had other farms, including access to conservancy land. Some put it down to an attempt to present himself as a solid backer of the winning faction in December, casting off aspersions of links to the Gamatox faction. Others saw it simply as greed.
In any case, no doubt influenced by the complex political contours that shroud every move particularly post-December, the new provincial minister, Shuvai Mahofa, asserted her new-found authority, and withdrew the offer letter, and referred the wider allegations of multiple land ownership to an investigation.
For now the crucial day-old chick operation is safe, and the many involved in small scale poultry production in the region breathed a sigh of relief. Had this happened in 2008, or almost any time in the previous 15 years, the outcome would have been different. Perhaps, some surmised, things have changed.
Across the country there are a number of examples where ‘protected’ farms have been under siege. These are usually commercially successful but strategically important operations such as at Barquest, where small-scale operations in the new resettlements depend on them, and cannot replicate them given the level of expertise and capital investments required.
Dairy farms were the most common, where early in the land reform, agreements were made among government officials in the provincial technical implementing ministries that they would not be offered as part of the A2 scheme.
Such local agreements among the technocrats however were often not heeded by those in the political-military-security elite, who went on a rampage at key moments, often grabbing, then destroying, these strategic farm businesses. However some have remained, protected in various ways, such as the case of Barquest, and remain important for agriculture in their areas.
Another case has been Centenary farm near Figtree, again in Matabeleland, where a long court case, with many twists and turns, continues to be fought over the farm, where a senior official from the President’s office tried to take it over. This is an important dairy farm in the region, run by a widely respected Matabeleland farmer, with enormous experience in the dairy sector.
Unexpectedly, the court upheld David Conolly’s claim to hold onto the farm, and has requested the land grabber to abandon the farm. This dispute hangs in the balance, but just maybe here again common sense – and Zimbabwe’s collective long-term interest in supporting and rehabilitating the agricultural sector – will win out against individual political opportunism.
Land grabbers in Zimbabwe therefore do not always get their way. This is perhaps especially so in places like Matabeleland and Masvingo where local economic imperatives, as well as local politics and allegiances, hold sway. This is reinforced, especially in Matabeleland, by deeper memories of external interference by a violent state.
Local voices against predatory land grabbing it seems are gaining the upper hand, and are fuelling alliances of resistance among local people, chiefs, technocrats and local politicians. As a new politics of the countryside emerges, this dynamic may well be important for the longer term. – Zimbabweland.
LATEST on Walter Masocha as Bishop Appears in Court for Multiple Sex Charges
Scotland based Zimbabwean preacher who has been served several sex assault charges including making a minor massage his body with oil, appeared in court on Wednesday.
This is the second time the preacher has appeared before the court in a week.
The case which is on a rail till Monday, commenced with first court diet session at Falkirk.
He is being tried before a jury.
During the session the charges were debated upon in session and finalised for the final trial. Masocha defence attorney speaking on the issue of the use of oil, said the case is “complex.”
The final trial is now set for on Monday 13th, next week.
However it may be another 14 days before a verdict is made.
The case number is SCS/2014-157867. FULL REPORT – READER MORE –
Boss Dies while Having Sex with Subordinate
A SENIOR SECURITY guard and supervisor in Gwanda died allegedly while being intimate with a junior workmate. Married Maxwell Gwatipedza, 54, a Role Security company inspector, was found half naked with his underwear at knee level at about 2PM on Wednesday.
Matabeleland South acting provincial police spokesperson Sergeant Thabani Mkwananzi confirmed the incident.
“I can confirm that we’re investigating the sudden death of a 54-year-old man who died in Gwanda Town. The causes of his death will be revealed by post-mortem results,” he said.
Sgt Mkwananzi said Gwatipedza had left his work place after some routine checks at the Government Complex premises which they were guarding.
“However, at about 2PM, he was found dead on a bed at his residence by a workmate who had visited him. A report was made to the police and the body was taken to Gwanda Provincial Hospital where he was certified dead. The body is at the hospital mortuary awaiting post-mortem,” said Sgt Mkwananzi.
Sources said used condoms and female underwear were found at the scene. Gwatipedza, who is reported to have had a chest problem, was alleged to be in a relationship with Linnet Hlatshwayo, one of his subordinates.
Hlatshwayo, who informed their colleagues of Gwatipedza’s death, had visited the deceased at his house when the incident happened. She told The Chronicle she was not in a relationship with Gwatipedza.
“I’d gone there to collect some money which he had promised to lend me so that I could pay my rentals. When I got there, I discovered that he couldn’t wake up so I rushed to inform others. It’s a lie that we had an affair. I’ve my boyfriend whom I live with and I don’t know anything about his death,” she said.
Gwatipedza’s subordinates, however, were adamant that she was in a relationship with him.
“Everyone knows that she was having an affair with him, so it’s very suspicious for her to say that she found him already dead and with his pants down,” said one security guard.
Upon seeing that Gwatipedza had died, Hlatshwayo, in the company of another female security officer, informed their colleague, Dexter Tshababa, about the incident. Asked about the issue yesterday, Tshababa admitted to being approached by a visibly shaken Hlatshwayo about the death of Gwatipedza.
He said when they went to Gwatipedza’s place, they found him half naked with his manhood exposed.
“At first I thought it was just a joke, but I was shocked when we went to his house and discovered that he was indeed dead. He was not wearing his trousers and his underwear was a bit lowered. I had to dress him properly,” said Tshababa. – State Media
Prostitute Beats Up Rival
A SUSPECTED prostitute was arrested after assaulting her rival with an empty bottle in the stomach and several times on the head for stepping on her client’s foot at a Bulawayo night club.
Sifikile Baloyi, 30, of Pumula East appeared before Bulawayo magistrate, Marylin Mtshina charged with assault.
She was not asked to plead and remanded out of custody to April 16 on $100 bail.
It is alleged Cleopatra Ncube, who was severely assaulted by Baloyi, almost lost her front row teeth as they were left loose.
The state’s case as presented by Taurayi Hondoyemoto is that on April 6, this year at around 12AM, Baloyi was at Waverley night club located at corner Lobengula Street and 13th Avenue in the city centre.
Hondoyemoto told the court that Baloyi was sitting with an unidentified man.
“When Ncube was passing by, she accidentally stepped on the man’s foot,” he said.
The court heard that Baloyi started insulting Ncube before assaulting her once on the stomach with an empty bottle.
Hondoyemoto said Baloyi assaulted Ncube several times on the head with fists.
He told the court that Ncube managed to run away but Baloyi followed her outside the club.
“While outside she continued assaulting the complainant until she sustained injuries on the left breast,” said Hondoyemoto.
The court heard that Ncube also sustained bruises on her upper lip and neck.
“Due to the assault, Ncube’s two front teeth are loose,” said Hondoyemoto.
Rapist Obert Mpofu Jailed
AN Inyathi man was yesterday sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping and impregnating his step granddaughter. Obert Mpofu, 56, who was initially charged with raping two of his granddaughters aged 12 and 13, was lucky when one of the victims’ mother chose to support him in court resulting in the State dropping the second charge.
The court heard that he had turned his granddaughter into a sex slave for a year during which he paid her off with packs of Jiggies and sweets. The granddaughter aged 13, a Grade Five pupil, fell pregnant when she was 12 and was taken in by Musasa Project where she divulged that she together with her cousin were being sexually abused at home.
Regional Magistrate Chrispen Mberewere rebuked Mpofu for turning the girls into his sex objects saying criminals like him were better off in prison.
“It’s common cause that the girl was abused and you were lucky as one of the mothers chose to defend you instead of supporting her own child. We are aware that a family meeting was held to discuss the abuse of these children and its clear to this court that you did it,” said magistrate Mberewere.
He said a medical report submitted as evidence before the court showed that the girl was sexually active and this was proof enough that the girl was raped numerous times.
“You are therefore sentenced to 20 years in prison of which three years are suspended on condition of good behaviour. The court condemns sexual abuse of children and it is our duty to curb the crime.”
When the girl gave her testimony in camera, she said Mpofu used to call her to his bedroom where he would rape her together with her cousin.
“He used to call me or my cousin and rape us one after another before giving us sweets and Jiggies. Sometimes he would rape me in my cousin’s presence. He made us promise to keep the abuses a secret after buying our silence with food,” she said.
The girl also said at one point, she was raped while her mother had gone to the district hospital to deliver. Prosecuting Trust Muduma told the court that sometime in 2012, Mpofu used to go to a local beer hall and come back drunk. He said Mpofu would then call the girls to his bedroom to dance for him.
On an unknown date but from the period extending from January 2012 to July 2014, Mpofu had sexual intercourse with the girls, one after the other. The matter came to light when one of the girls told her stepfather who was helping her do homework that Mpofu was having sex with them.
A family meeting was called and the girls revealed that Mpofu had been raping them. The matter was not reported to the police as it was settled at family level
Mpofu ran out luck when police got an anonymous tip off and instituted investigations.
One of the girls was already pregnant and she told Musasa Project counsellors that her step grandfather had been raping them for some time. – Chronicle
Zuma, Mugabe Have Failed to Deal with “Shit” of Xenophobia – Elinor Sisulu
Johannesburg – As President Jacob Zuma and his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, met for a second day of bilateral talks in Pretoria, the wife of former National Assembly speaker Max Sisulu, Elinor, said the two had failed to deal with the “shit of xenophobia” in front of them.
She said it was very probable that the issue of xenophobia was not on their agenda.
“They sit on a table and there’s lumps of shit on the table.The shit is xenophobia and its stinking there, but they will look elsewhere to put the blame yet and say kukhona okunukayo [something stinks], open the windows. They don’t deal with the shit. They talk about things which have no relevance to the people,” she said to applause.
She was speaking at a press conference on xenophobia in South Africa hosted by the African Diaspora Forum in Johannesburg.
Sisulu said xenophobia was not just a South African problem, but an issue all over the continent.
Listing a number of solutions, she called for better education on Africa in schools and society.
“People are operating on ignorance,” she said.
She also called on leaders to be careful and responsible on how they spoke about migrants in the country.
“When people beat each other up because of what you said, you say ‘oh no, I was quoted out of context’,” she said.
The conference was attended by SA Human Rights Commission, the King of the Batlokoa tribe, the Protection of Foreign Business and Citizens, the Nigerian Traders Union, human rights activists as well as foreign nationals. – News24
BREAKING NEWS: Mujuru Opens Fire on Mugabe, Demands Dzamara Justice
Expelled Vice President Joice Mujuru has opened fire on her “hateful” boss Robert Mugabe demanding answers on the mysterious death of her husband, General Solomon Mujuru, and also on the disappearance of activist Itai Dzamara.
Mujuru last night bluntly told her Zanu PF foes that she could never be expelled from the “genuine” ruling party, while also openly querying for the first time the mysterious death of her husband, General Solomon Mujuru, whose remains were found after an inferno at their Beatrice farm in 2011.
In a statement released by her aides, Mujuru also savaged Zanu PF bigwigs for showing no care for the life of abducted journalist turned pro-democracy activist Itai Dzamara, as well as the welfare of his young family.
“On the eve of the holiest day on the Christian calendar, the politburo chose to dwell on its relentless, unsubstantiated, malicious and hateful campaign against the person of Amai Mujuru.
“As if this was not inhuman enough, the much-decorated national hero, the late General Mujuru, who passed on in yet unclear circumstances, was not spared as well. It is un-Zimbabwean to desecrate our dearly departed. Hunhui ihwohwo / Ubuntu bani lowu?
“One wonders if the politburo ever spared any moment to enquire on the disappearance or lack of news on the whereabouts of young Itai Dzamara and what his young family is going through. My prayers go to ALL those who are hurting in silence.
“Given the prevailing economic hardships, the looming food crisis (tutsawona) and the declining inflows to the fiscus, the politburo’s silence on these matters is deafening.
“Ini handidzingike mu-original (I cannot be expelled from the original) and genuine Zanu PF!!!,” the hard-hitting statement said.
The statement came after President Robert Mugabe’s warring Zanu PF said they had summarily expelled her from the party last week, and at a time that the ruling party is on fire over contentious claims that her husband, whose war-time name was Rex Nhongo, plotted with her to oust and assassinate the nonagenarian before the revered late liberation war icon’s charred remains were found after the mysterious 2011 inferno.
It also came as Zanu PF has now officially split into two distinct and bitterly-opposed formations, with disaffected party stalwarts — including liberation struggle pioneers, war veterans and security sector bigwigs — coalescing under the banner and principles of the “original Zanu PF” and using the slogan “People First”.
The divisive allegations against Gen Mujuru, whose funeral at the Heroes Acre in Harare drew the largest crowd ever seen at the burial site, were contained in a report prepared by Zanu PF’s disciplinary committee and that was adopted by the party’s politburo last week.
The shocking claims have since prompted the Mujuru family to plan an urgent meeting to discuss the “disturbing and extremely serious” allegations, what the allegations mean and whether this had “played a part” in the death of the liberation pioneer.
Ironically, the late general is widely credited with catapulting Mugabe to the leadership of Zanu PF in the mid 1970s. However, he was also seen as the only senior party official who could challenge the nonagenarian.
His wife, who was once seen as Mugabe’s de facto successor, was booted out as Vice President of both the ruling party and the government last December following a vicious political assault on her by controversial First Lady Grace Mugabe.
The former VP was then subsequently expelled from the party altogether last week, the day that Grace resurfaced in the public domain after weeks of speculation regarding her health.
Investigations earlier this week have showed that the disaffected Zanu PF stalwarts who are involved with Zanu PF “People First” have been meeting regularly with many prominent Zimbabweans for some time now, to plan “the operationalisation” of the party in a bid “to reclaim the original Zanu PF”, which they allege has been hijacked by power-hungry mafikizolos.
Sources said many expelled and serving Zanu PF ministers, Members of Parliament, Youth and Women’s league officials who had been victims of the party’s harassment and brutal purges of the past few months, which had been fronted by Grace, supported the idea of Zanu People First and were pushing Mujuru to lead the party.
Former Presidential Affairs minister, Didymus Mutasa, who is a former top aide of Mugabe, has said that the group is pinning its hopes on the popular widow to lead the party.
“There is no doubt that the person that will take Zimbabwe from the current political and economic mess is Amai Mujuru. The government has failed and the Look East policy only makes a few people rich.
“Only until there is a real change of government, we are all going to suffer. The only person capable of changing this is Amai Mujuru.
“We are members of the original and genuine Zanu PF which was formed on August 8, 1963. We constitute the nucleus that bore the brunt of the national struggle. Unlike the mafikizolos who constitute the new-look and illegal central committee and politburo of the 2014 Zanu PF.
“Our membership is composed of the original and seasoned politicians, commanders of the Zimbabwe African National Army (Zanla), Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra) and Zimbabwe People’s Army (Zipa) forces who are now being marginalised,” Mutasa said. – DailyNews
Rising Gospel Musician Kuda Mutsvene releases new video
Rising gospel musician; Kuda Mutsvene has released another video for the single “Mhururu” from his album “Chirangano”
Displaying his high levels of choreography and creativity skills; the video which is shot with a retro and urban feel; defines the future for this young man which is definitely looking bright. He featured his sister, Mercy Mutsvene another gospel ace who rocked during her days on this video and they displayed their unmatched talent as they melodiously sang this chorus.
Shot in the rural district of Seke and in the city of Harare; the video is well choreographed with dances that are mind blowing and will most certainly get people in the praise and dance mood be it at weddings or in the church. The song has also received rare reviews and is currently topping the gospel charts on local radio stations.
The album is marketed and distributed by Gospel Nation and is available for download on iTunes; Amazon and Google Play
Click on the links below and watch the video
Google Play: http://goo.gl/i59HsS
iTunes: http://goo.gl/wsX36T
Amazon: http://goo.gl/PA4CaC
Goodrich Chimbaira Ditches Ncube, Defects to Tsvangirai
Welshman Ncube strongman Goodrich Chimbaira has ditched his boss and has now joined Morgan Tsvangirai.
Below was Morgan Tsvangirai’s remarks on the occasion of the return to the party of Goodrich Chimbaira:
Welcome home!
Today is a happy day for the democratic movement as we once again welcome more people into the MDC big tent.
We are glad that Mr Goodrich Chimbaira, the former chairperson of the political formation led by professor Welshman Ncube, is rejoining us today. Together we are better and stronger. We are happy that more and more members continue to come back to the party they helped found some 16 years ago.
In politics and especially in a democratic movement, adventurism is permissible but it only takes the courage of great men and women to realize that together we are stronger, thereby making them take the bold decision to come back and work with others.
We in the MDC appreciate the importance of working together and we welcome this son of the struggle back home.
In our MDC family, there are people who have come from various political homes, be it Zanu PF, Mavambo, MDC-N, MDC T and others. But they are all welcome in this big family of democrats. Disagreements are permissible because we are a huge movement of diverse characters and sometimes we part ways, but today’s lesson is that we can always meet again especially if we all realize that this struggle needs all of us.
Today, we are celebrating a small victory of the people’s struggle Today, we are a happy lot because the MDC tent continues to swell. And I can assure you that many shall continue to come back into this big tent.
Those who have rejoined us are colleagues and we will always welcome them because this struggle is too big and needs all of us. As we configure and execute the end-game of our struggle, there is indeed work for every one of us.
I am happy that these colleagues are coming back to renew their faith in this party and this leadership, which has always shown a wild tenacity to defy all odds to rise like a phoenix even when skeptics choose to underestimate us and to prematurely write us off.
I simply want to say to our colleagues: Welcome home. And to those who are too proud to make the step back home, I want to tell you that there is no place like home. We will always welcome colleagues who know that this is no time for petty divisions and runaway ambitions.
This is the time when this country requires all its patriotic sons and daughters to set aside petty squabbles and work towards transforming the lives of the people.
At our last Congress on 1 November 2015, we made a resolution that we will maintain our big tent for everyone who wishes to come and join us in executing the democratic struggle.
Our resolution on the big tent reads: “ Congress noted the need to expand its social and political base. Congress therefore resolved to welcome all members of other political parties and even former rebels to come and join the party in order to strengthen the base to fight for a new, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe.”
I want to say to everyone, even to our colleagues in Zanu PF, that there is space for everyone in this big tent and the yare equally welcome to join us in the democratic struggle to rescue our country from the jaws of illegitimacy and unmitigated repression of citizens by a party and a leadership that has simply gone bonkers.
Once again, I wish to say welcome home to our colleagues.
Together, let us execute the end-game because together, we are stronger and better.
I thank you.
Update US On Progress on Dzamara Search-EU asks Government
The European Union on Thursday demanded an explanation from government on progress it has made to locate the missing rights activist Itai Dzamara who was abducted by suspected members of the Central Intelligence Organization in Harare last month.[lightbox link=”http://www.zimeye.com/wp-content/live_images//2014/10/eu-flag2.jpg” thumb=”http://www.zimeye.com/wp-content/live_images//2014/10/eu-flag2-386×232.jpg” width=”386″ align=”none” title=”eu-flag2″ frame=”true” icon=”image” caption=””]
“We look forward to a report on the Zimbabwean authorities search for Mr Dzamara, as ordered by the High Court in March,” said the western bloc in a statement to the media.
“The EU Delegation remains deeply concerned for his welfare. The EU reiterates its call on the Government of Zimbabwe to take all necessary measures to ascertain Mr Dzamara’s whereabouts, safeguard his wellbeing and accord him the full protection of the law, within its overall responsibilities of ensuring the safety of all its citizens.
Civil society organizations have tried to offer rewards as a way of motivating people with any information leading to the location of Dzamara.
Last week human rights lawyers sued government for refusing to comply with the March 13 High court order compelling the authorities to search for the missing rights activist.
Prior to his abduction Dzamara was demanding for the stepping down of President Robert Mugabe for his failure to turn around the country’s economic fortunes.
Itai Dzamara: US Govt Blasts Horn
As prominent activist Itai Dzamara’s disappearance reached a full month of cold suspense, the United States govt on Thursday raised the horn for justice and freedom.
The US said, “today marks one month since the initial reports of the forced disappearance of Zimbabwean civil society activist Itai Dzamara. The United States remains concerned about Mr. Dzamara’s whereabouts and wellbeing.
“On this date, we reiterate our call to the Zimbabwean authorities to mobilize their full resources to investigate the circumstances surrounding Mr. Dzamara’s abduction and to ensure the protection of his fundamental human rights and freedoms.
“The United States stands together with Mr. Dzamara and the people of Zimbabwe in supporting their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. We call for Mr. Dzamara’s immediate and safe return to his family and friends.”
Dzamara was abducted on the 9th March at a barbershop in Glen View by men who presented themselves as police officers and told him they were apprehending him for cattle theft.
Broke-Zimbabwean Govt fails to Fight Foot and Mouth … As the Elite Seek Medicals in Asia
While most of the elite travel to overseas for medical attention, Zimbabwe’s povo and their livestock are bearing the government’s failure to capacitate health institutions and veterinary services.
Midlands’s provincial veterinary officer, Dr Thomas Sibanda said it was difficult to contain the outbreak because the Government does not have the necessary resources.
While farm invasions are still taking place, and little being done to contain foot and mouth, Zimbabwe is going to face another serious epidemic. “Foot and mouth outbreak in Zvishavane and some parts of Matabeleland, started sometime last year but the Government is failing to contain the outbreak because of lack of resources in the department to treat the disease,” said Sibanda.
Farmers who spoke to the media expressed anxiety over the situation and urged the Government to assist farmers in mobilizing resources to fight the outbreak.
“The virus does not kill the cattle immediately but this is a worrisome disease. We appeal to Government to visit our different dip tanks and organise farmers to contribute money towards the procurement of the necessary drugs,” said one villager at Mapazuli deep tank in Mapanzure.
Reports have become far and wide on the failure of local health institutions , to cater for its own people. The Ministry of Health has also been failing to answer questions from the povo, as to why the First Family travels to Asia for their medicals, while they claim that Zimbabwe’s health facilities are in good shape.
The answer to all this is for the povo to digest. The lumpy skin, foot and mouth diseases which broke out in Zvishavane and Matabeleland last November has not been contained because Government lacks the resources to fight the outbreak, as confirmed by a senior veterinary officers.
Foot and mouth virus only affects animals with horns. It affects the tongue and stops cattle from grazing resulting in them starving to death.
Human beings are affected by foot and mouth if they eat contaminated meat and there are fears that the outbreak could be fuelled by some butcheries, who are selling un-inspected meat.
Mzembi Humiliates Grace Mugabe’s Friend, Mahofa
Tourisn Minister Walter Mzembi has opened fire on First Lady Grace Mugabe’s close friend and Resident Minister for Masvingo, Shuvai Mahofa saying that the Minister is ideologically bankrupt.
Mzembi who was for months rumoured to be a Joice Mujuru ally, took a direct swipe at Mahofa following the contentious issue of a large farm Mzembi wants to seize for himself, and which Mrs Mahofa has blocked from being taken over.
According to Mahofa Mzembi does not need any extra farm as he has too many properties already .
“We have already written a letter to the Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement (Dr Mombeshora) informing him of our decision to have Minister Mzembi’s offer letter at Barquest Farm withdrawn and nothing is going to change on that,’’ Mahofa said.
She continued, “Our decision as the provincial land committee cannot be challenged because it is us the people of Masvingo who decide what should happen with our land. The Minister of Lands cannot turn down what we would have recommended because he does not live here. The issue of Barquest Farm is a closed chapter and we have already assured the owner of the farm, Mrs Mitchell, that she is safe because the hatchery project there is very important to us,’’ added Senator Mahofa.
However, responding to the attack Mzembi opened fire on Mahofa saying: ”
“It is, in the circumstances, inconceivable and ideologically bankrupt for a senior Government official, who should know better, to defend both iniquities, let alone when such iniquities are by old colonial settler farmers.”
“The ongoing narrative about some farms being too strategic to take over is a misplacement of priorities. All land is strategic and should never be used as a tool for political revenge, vengeance or retribution by blacks against their own kind, as seems to be the case here,” he continued.
The Masvingo provincial land committee recently blocked Mzembi from moving onto Barquest Farm arguing that the hatchery project was of strategic importance as it supplied day-old chicks to Masvingo, Manicaland and Midlands provinces.
The Minsiter of Lands Sydney Mombeshora spoke saying he was still investigating.
“We will resolve the matter away from the media. We do not handle it in the media,” said Minister Mombeshora.
Mombeshora said his ministry was seized with the case.
Tsvangirai Surprise U-Turn On Bi-Election
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has performed a surprise u-turn on participating in the upcoming June bi-elections and will now meet Friday to debate on overturning a congress resolution which bars participation in elections until electoral reforms are implemented.
The move confirmed by spokesperson Obert Gutu, will have the party’s national council meet to make the decision that could decide the direction the party will take.
“The issue of by-elections will come under discussion by our national council on Friday because it is the highest decision-making body outside congress and has power to set-aside its resolutions,” said Gutu.
Gutu indicated the meeting will be a heated one, confirming an earlier exclusive ZimEye.com expose on the development (READ MORE- )
This came as pressure mounted from perceived potential international donors that Mr Tsvangirai crucified himself for Robert Mugabe gain when he recalled Tendai Biti and his group of MPs the MDC-T say are “rebels.”
The “rebels” include popular activist Solomon Madzore millions of Zimbabweans label Zimbabwe’s Nelson Mandela and pulled away untold thousands from Tsvangirai’s support base.
Impeccable senior sources in Tsvangirai’s office told ZimEye.com, Spokesman Obert Gutu’s announcing that the party is not going to participate but will hold an emergency National Council is the first sure step to reversing the boycott.
“That very same National Council unless Tsvangirai himself twists the decision, is the meeting that will reverse the 2014 Congress Resolutions that stops us from participating,” they said.
They also added that Tsvangirai is currently consumed in regret. “This has given the president a headache to ponder the loss of such a huge number of MPs whose presence diluted ZANU PF’s legislative stranglehold.”
“It is a great lesson learnt and the party has taken this issue seriously to avoid such developments in future,” they added.
It was not clear at the time of writing the full list of names of people Tsvangirai intends to field for the by elections but party heavyweights suggested that Theresa Makone, Douglas Mwonzora, Obert Gutu, and Tsvangirai’s uncle, Hebson Makuvise are all vying for the big job which has several benefits besides a salary.
The development if it goes according to plan, will also leave an embarrassing challenge to another prominent member of the party, Job Sikhala who has vowed to resign from politics altogether if his party participates in the said by-elections. One analyst last night loudly paused the following question, “What will Sikhala do?”
Explosive Zimbabwean Legend….Ba Shupi
BA SHUPI the artist was born Peace Ndlovu. At 13, BA SHUPI joined The Amakhosi Theatre Production in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Drama, music, dance became his life. This saw BA SHUPI making local and international tours that went on to touch countries like Sweden, Russia, Netherlands, Germany and Uruguay. At the age of 18 BA SHUPI opened his own Theatre Company in Masvingo Province Zimbabwe, and he named it Karanga Arts Promotions. He also worked with Masvingo Drama Circle for more than 9 years winning some awards that included, The best supporting actor, Best play and Best Director.
During the Karanga Arts Promotions days BA SHUPI had ……….
the privilege to work with school students across the province as he tagged with organizations like the National Aids Council, Humana People to People, Forum Syde and Africad. In 2008 BA SHUPI temporarily shelved his arts ambitions and relocated to Malawi where he worked as an Accounting Clerk. Upon his return to Zimbabwe in 2011, his true destiny as a visual arts performer awaited him. He dusted his skills and went on to record his first album titled TWUNONAKA. In 2012 he released yet another album titled ZVINONAKA. In the same 2012, he did collaborations with various artists like Stunner as he featured in the song Godo that went on to become number one track for 8 consecutive months on Power FM radio Zimbabwe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB3OjgdTqkU. The same song would also garner several awards that included The National Arts Merit Awards, NAMA Awards 2012, Best song of the year, Best collaboration, Best video of the year Best male artist
Other collaborations include: DIZZY DON, Track – I know better & Tapera, Munhumutema, Track – Chandagwinyira, PM Lord Stunner, Track – Nyama yekugocha, JEEZY, Track – Hurekure XQ, Track – Tezvara Varamba, Pk track Ma1 and Mapena, SoulJah Luv track Muridzo
Ba Shupi has done various festivals and live performances, sharing the stage with so many famous artists like Sulumani Chimbetu, Chiwoniso Maraire, Andy Brown, Elephant Man (Jamaica) Michael Crenshaw (USA), Zahara (South Africa), Oliver Mtukudzi and P-Square – (Nigeria) BA SHUPI gives back to the community by working with underprivileged folks in the community. . He is also involved with AFRICAD ZIMBABWE, an organization that tackles HIV and AIDS stigmatization issues. Besides the regular showbiz stage, BA SHUPI also performs at weddings and co-operate events. In September 2013, he performed alongside MAFIKIZOLO Loyiso.
2014 saw Ba Shupi earning a purple patch as he was made Zvandiri Ambassador which saw him hold several events throughout the year raising awareness on getting children tested for HIV and giving counselling talks on abstinence.
That same 2014 saw the release of his Solo Album “Dura” which you may sample for free www.cd.baby.com/bashupi . His twitter handle is @bashupizim and Facebook accout is under: Ba Shupi
Ba Shupi UK Tour
BIRMINGHAM, COVENTRY, GLASGOW, LEEDS, LONDON
Ba Shupi UK tour was a big success as fans flooded all the events in major cities. While many UK fans had never heard about Ba Shupi, his debut was shocker and he stole the show from fellow musicians who shared the stage with him. Once he opened his mouth at every event in the UK, distracted fans who were busy buying drinks quickly dropped whatever they were up to and approached the stage fast to hear it for themselves. They later claimed they were quite amazed with his energy and enthusiasm that forced them to dance and sing along as Ba Shupi delivered.
Currently, many critics have stated that Ba Shupi could be the best, original, young artist to come out of Zimbabwe at the moment. It wouldn’t also be a surprise if he took the Zimbabwe music to the global stage. In Scotland, diverse fans were awestruck with his unique performances and many couldn’t resist wearing his wristbands, other regalia and the Zim flag colors in his honor.
Those who have met him can confirm that Ba Shupi is a down to earth artist who has fans at his heart. In most of his shows, many don’t seem to get enough of him. His latest single Ma One was embraced by diverse nationalities including Nigerians, Scottish, Kenyans and Ethiopians who graced his shows. To prove his global stardom, his music video features various global musicians in support of the cliché that music is truly a universal language.
The Future of Ba Shupi
According to his manager, Heather Mudhari of Rainbow Entertainment, the future of Ba Shupi looks colorful. He is definitely bound to become a world class artist. He gets along with many artists and has impressive public relations. Besides that, he is quite open minded and flexible to adapt to social dynamics to improve his music and career. As part of a global campaign to showcase his name, his music has been taken to represent Afro-Sounds before big stations, events and places like the BET Awards, MOBO Awards, MTV Awards. His new music video, Simudza demonstrates his undying patriotism for Zimbabwe across the Globe. His music, especially through his new single, Tribute to mandela, has attracted considerable following online making him a top ten artist on Reverbnation.
Ba Shupi will soon be selling his music on Amazon and this 2015 he has a new CD coming up. Upcoming gigs for 2015 will include The Glasgow 2015 Common Wealth Games Concert and many other world class gigs lined up.
Ba Shupi says that he is humbled by the overwhelming support from fans and he states that without the fans, he could be a nameless nonentity. Everyone is appreciated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB3OjgdTqkU
WARNING-DISTURBING VIDEOS of “Zimbabweans” Being Burnt Alive as Mugabe Dines
Disturbing video and picture footage allegedly of “young Zimbabweans” being burnt alive by barbaric South Africans in Durban have emerged just as President Mugabe was conducting his state visit to that country. While the exact location and dating of the footage could not be ascertained, several confirmed reports of attacks on foreigners were reported as they happened on Wednesday:
Chatsworth attack [News24.com Update]
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Major Thulani Zwane confirmed earlier that Chatsworth residents attacked foreign nationals staying in an informal settlement on Tuesday night, forcing them to evacuate.
“The community members also burnt a shack belonging to a foreigner. Chatsworth SAPS members assisted the victims and tried to move them to a place of safety but they refused stating that they are afraid to be deported,” Zwane said.
A 42-year-old man was injured during the attack.
In Sydenham, about 100 residents also attacked foreign nationals at an informal settlement.
“[Police] tried to assist the foreigners who were under attack and the community members began throwing stones at the police,” Zwane said.
“SAPS fired rubber bullets to disperse the unruly crowd. One unidentified foreign national was injured and taken to hospital for medical treatment. The community members were demanding all foreigners to evacuate the informal settlement. The police managed to contain the situation.”
-Report by Ezra Sibanda-
Disturbing images of Zimbabweans being burnt alive by barbaric South Africans in Durban have emerged in the midst of President Mugabe state visit to that country. These images are horrific indeed,
it’s actually videos of young Zimbabweans being brutalised by a gang of lazy and uneducated South Africans. In one mobile fone footage, a woman is stoned to death in the middle of the road. Her crime is being a foreigner. In another video some people including children less than 10 are being necklaced, poured with petrol and then set ablaze. The black on black cruelty of this magnitude violates the essence of humanity. It shows how primitive and backward black people are as a race.
The brutality in the videos is evil, and moreso a grave breach of the international law. It shows the entrenched and institutionalised black on black brutality in out Motherland. Yet, these are the same people who during apartheid years were given sanctuary in Zimbabwe. I remember as a young boy seeing South African refuges in Bulawayo living at Palace Hotel paid for by Zimbabwean tax payers. Thabo Mbeki’s father sought sanctuary in Zimbabwe. We all received them, sheltered them and risked the bombs of the mighty apartheid Airforce who were in hot pursuit of them. We recognised their struggle, we fed them, we treated them with dignity and civil. But this week, precisely today, black South Africans are turning against their saviours, us Zimbabweans. They are even killing Zimbabwean children.
This is a very sad African story. The level of brutality smacks of a crime prosecutable at the International Court in The Hague because the torture of innocent Zimbabweans by their South Africans counterparts snacks of a Crime Against Humanity. This crime implicates even the South African government if the day for moral indifference. It’s sad that up to now President Zuma has not spoken out, yet it was King Zwelithini who instigated this crime against foreigners.
Dead End as Mutasa Is Disqualified from Bi-Election
Didymus Mutasa has been eliminated from the by-election race under the Zanu PF ticket after his papers were rejected by the Nomination Court.
Mutasa was disqualified after a ZANU PF official approached the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission alleging Mutasa is prejudicially abusing the ZANU PF name in his favour.
His nephew Mliswa was accepted when he approached the Nomination Court for the Hurungwe West by-election, as an independent not as ZANU PF.
The development means three candidates will now contest in the June 10 by-election.Mutasa attempted to present his papers under Zanu PF when the Nomination Court sat today but his papers were rejected after the Zanu PF Manicaland provincial leadership objected to the submission of nomination papers under the name and symbol of the party.
The development left only three candidates battling for honours in the June 10 Headlands by-election.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Provincial Elections Officer, Mr Moffat Masabeya announced at the close of the Nomination Court at the Mutare Magistrate Court the three successful candidates that were duly nominated and those whose papers were rejected.
Zanu PF is being represented by Christopher Chingosho, while NCA will be represented by Mukunda David, with Mr Mukaratirwa Albert standing in as an independent candidate.
All the three party representatives expressed confidence of winning the Headlands legislative seat.
Zanu PF Acting Manicaland Provincial Chairman, Dr Samuel Undenge said the party will retain the Headlands constituency and demonstrate that Zanu PF is a people-centre party with the interests of the people at heart.
The Headlands Constituency fell vacant after the expulsion of former Zanu PF National Secretary for Administration, Didymus Mutasa and his subsequent recalling.
All the three candidates will battle it out to win the sole Headlands legislative seat.-State Media
Zimbabwe To Monitor Goods shipped Into The Country
Zimbabwe has been battling a tide of cheap and predominantly substandard products from China and neighbouring countries. The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) reports that as of January goods worth $538, 2 million were imported while exports stood at $267 million.
In 2015 the country’s export bill is expected to top $5 billion.
Industry and commerce deputy minister Chiratidzo Mabuwa on Wednesday told a stakeholders conference that shipments coming into the country from the 16th of May would now require a Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) certificate issued by Bureau Veritas.
“The arrangement comes into effect as from May 16 and we will have a four month transitional period during which we will not issue a non-compliance report or turn away any consignments but allow the traders to learn from the process and regularize their operations,” she said.
Mabuwa said the company was contracted for a four year period pending enactment of the Standards Bill which if passed into law, will see the establishment of a Quality Standards Regulatory Authority.
Bureau Veritas operates in 140 countries worldwide, providing pre-shipment services to countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda in Africa. -The Source
In 2015 the country’s export bill is expected to top $5 billion.
Industry and commerce deputy minister Chiratidzo Mabuwa on Wednesday told a stakeholders conference that shipments coming into the country from the 16th of May would now require a Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) certificate issued by Bureau Veritas.
“The arrangement comes into effect as from May 16 and we will have a four month transitional period during which we will not issue a non-compliance report or turn away any consignments but allow the traders to learn from the process and regularize their operations,” she said.
Mabuwa said the company was contracted for a four year period pending enactment of the Standards Bill which if passed into law, will see the establishment of a Quality Standards Regulatory Authority.
Bureau Veritas operates in 140 countries worldwide, providing pre-shipment services to countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda in Africa. -The Source
Mugabe Thanks South Africa For Hiding Zimbabweans Away From His Green Bombers
Pretoria – Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe thanked South Africa for “taking care” of Zimbabweans who live and work in the country and called for support for President Jacob Zuma.
“You know that we owe you not just a gesture of thankfulness, which we must express, but we owe you that thankfulness for the tolerance there has been on the part of the government here, as our people have really offended your system by jumping the border and disturbing even the social system here,” he said at a media briefing with Zuma, while on a state visit.
“Where they have come as workers, well and good – we say thank you for providing them with that work.”
Relations between the two countries must be strengthened, he said.
He astounded and amused the media, who he called comrades, with long chats about various topics, and thanked them for the “publicity'” about him.
“You focused on me as a real dictator. Yes. A dictator would have cut the throat of Ian Smith,” he said referring to one of that country’s last white heads of state.
“I said, ‘let us turn our swords and ploughshares and work together’.”
He said Zimbabweans had vowed that those who were guilty of apartheid, would not get away with it, but that was “anger that comes with struggle”.
“Those who were enemies yesterday, they are friends.”
He continued with:”The Afrikaners say they came the moment (Jan) van Riebeeck set foot in the Cape and they forgot they had a home in Holland.
“But did they have apartheid? No. But then they want peace and peace does not mean you must have the lion’s share and the others have the baboon’s share.
“No, you are all together, let’s be equal. We did not send away whites. We took away land in accordance with what the British government and ourselves agreed upon.”
He said former UK prime minister Tony Blair reneged on that agreement and did want to pay the compensation.
“Blair. Who is he? He (was) the prime minister of Britain. I am president of Zimbabwe. It is our land, we will take it.”
He urged people to be supportive of Zuma.
“He has been in your press a lot. For what for?” he asked in a coaxing voice.
“We are South Africans, we can’t demolish our president.”
He offered Zimbabwe’s support to South Africa, saying: “We will support you. You will become a Bafana Bafana politically.”
Bafana Bafana is South Africa’s national soccer team.
“Thank you for listening to me – I can go on and on.”
News24
Video: Racist US Police Shoot Dead One More Black Person
The unending killing of blacks by police in the United States has reached alarming levels as the latest incident shows a police officer pumping 8 bullets into an unarmed man running away. After shooting the man the police officer handcuffed him as he lay on the ground dying. The South Carolina police officer has been charged with murder after the video emerged of him shooting the unarmed man. Many white police officers have managed get away with execution of blacks in the streets of racist America.
Stripped Naked Thabitha Khumalo Violently Abused by ZANU PF
Male gaze: Image of a Zimbabwe female parliamentarian
Bulawayo East Legislator, Thabitha Khumalo was last month involved in a fracas with Zanu-PF youths who tore her shirt leaving her with a bra.
The incident especially her image became a media spectacle as online platforms and traditional mainstream newspapers developed divergent narrations on the incident.
The unpleasant occurrence divided opinions with her critics saying it was a public stunt while some say her victimisation marks a return to political violence in Zimbabwe.
What was the motive of the police when they charged Khumalo with indecent exposure when evidence was there that she was involved in a skirmish with Zanu-PF youths?
If it was indeed indecent exposure, why is it applicable to women only because local male Zimdancehall artists are removing their shirts at shows but none was arrested and charged under it?
All these questions lead us to the concept of the male gaze. Women and Khumalo’s representation in the media was done to satisfy men’s sexual fantasies rather than to condemn the barbarism exhibited by those who assaulted her.
If the picture was indeed in bad taste, why the media used it rather than other pictures of honourable Khumalo which were already in the public domain?
This brings us to a point where one wonders if the media in Zimbabwe is still patriarchal because it is evident there are structures and practices which determined the choice of pictures the media publish especially the picture in question.
Even audience comments became non-consequential as the media had played its role and the responses from people did nothing, but substantiated what the media intended to communicate about Khumalo.
The story was first published by Zimeye.com and was instantly picked up by several online platforms and since then it continues to trend on several platforms. On Zimeye.com and Bulawayo24.com combined, the story has over 100 000 views.
Given the staggering number of viewers, one could expect those viewers to have condemned the acts of violence meted on Khumalo, but alas the viewers were lured by her “attractiveness.” Her face was heavy with anger, but viewers were concerned with her breast and tummy.
“You look sexy honourable,” reads one of the comments. Another viewer asked, “How do you keep such a hot and portable body?”
Surely, one could expect progressive comments on the upsurge of political violence because it is a vice which should be condemned, if Zimbabwe is to get a place among democratic nations were women and human rights are respected.
This trivialisation of women did not end on the social media, but progressive Zimbabweans were stunned when police charged Khumalo with indecent exposure instead of hunting down those who assaulted her.
The local media instead of providing a communicative space for deliberation on women’s rights and violence launched a whirlwind campaign denigrating Khumalo’s person and her previous lifestyle.
The Chronicle and Herald reminded us that Khumalo is leading a campaign to legalise prostitution while online platforms such as Bulawayo24.com did follow-up stories on how Khumalo maintains a small tummy and keeps herself attractive.
Where is Zimbabwe leading when the country continues to look down upon its women? Women are not objects for men’s sexual fantasies but they are rather equal beings.
Surely, time has moved on. Zimbabwe is now a signatory to several international instruments on gender; we are longer an isolated and primitive society.
Musavengana Hove is a freelance journalist in Zimbabwe. Email [email protected] for feedback.
Tanzania’s President: I Can’t Wait to Step Down
Reuters|TANZANIA’S outgoing president Jakaya Kikwete has told how he is looking forward to stepping down in October this year, describing the job of leading his country as “stressful and thankless”.
Two terms in high office were more than enough for him, Kikwete added during a speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington DC.
“After 10 years, you need to move on. It’s been 10 years since I came to this high profile office,” he said.
“I was very young, just 55. But what I can tell you about this job is that it is stressful and thankless.”
His comments might furrow some brows among his neighbours, who have been accused of overstaying their welcome in office.
To the north, Yoweri Museveni has been in office in Uganda since 1986 when he helped to topple dictators Idi Amin and Milton Obote, and is now serving his fourth term amid accusations of electoral fraud and opposition intimidation.
To the west, there were deadly clashes in January after it was suggested that Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, might try to change the constitution to enable him to run for a third term.
Both Malawi and Zambia are beacons in the region for power having changed hands peacefully several times in recent years, but further south in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has clung on to high office, allegedly using voter intimidation, violence and poll manipulation, since 1980.
Further west, Angola’s Eduardo dos Santos has been in power since 1979.
None the less, Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan set a strong example for the region last week when he conceded defeat to his presidential rival Muhammadu Buhari in crunch elections.
Asked at the Washington event why he believed African leaders had a tendency to cling to power, Kikwete took a diplomatic approach.
“I should not speak on their behalf,” he said. “You need to invite them and get their opinions.”
Charamba Denies Mugabe is on Begging Trip to South Africa
President not in SA to beg: Charamba
Presidential spokesperson, Cde George Charamba, who is also Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary, has dismissed claims by some sections of the media that President Mugabe is in South Africa to extend a begging bowl.
Charamba said the President in fact on a mission to upgrade bilateral ties with his southern neighbour, adding that Zimbabwe is seeking a special relations with South Africa based on mutual benefits and equality and not weakness.
Briefing the media in Pretoria, Charamba said Zimbabwe is also looking for fair and reciprocal trade with South Africa and the lifting of trade barriers given the fact that SA is the economic powerhouse on the African continent.
“Zimbabwe would want to attain a position where there is free flow of trade in both directions to ensure prosperity for both countries,” said Charamba.
He said as mining countries, there is need to recognise the fact that whatever happens in the sector in Zimbabwe also affects the sector in SA, hence the need for cooperation in that area.
“Zimbabwe is seeking for assistance to value-add its minerals, contrary to the notion of hand outs as purported by some sections of the media. With thousands of Zimbabwean experts and artisans employed as experts in SA it is also Zimbabwe’s belief that their contribution to the SA economy be recognised,” added Charamba.
Sources close to the meeting held soon after Mugabe’s arrival said ”South Africa wants us to have open mouths in which they pour their cereals ” and emphasized the need for Zimbabwe to promote and grow her own industries to ensure it has something to trade in as opposed to consuming only without producing.
Meanwhile, President Mugabe who is on a historical 3-day state visit to South Africa is currently holding talks with his counterpart President Jacob Zuma at the Union Building in Pretoria.
Mugabe arrived at Union Building at 10 am and was welcomed with a gun salute and the singing of the national anthems of the two countries in a welcome ceremony in the Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre.
After the welcome ceremony the two leaders proceeded into a closed door meeting.
Official talks and a signing ceremony will follow the session at around mid day.
A total of 8 agreements are expected to be signed after the deliberations between the two leaders.
The agreements include the one on the establishment of a bi-national commission, MoU on diplomatic consultations, an agreement on mutual assistance between customs administrations, and an agreement on cooperation in water resource management and establishment and functioning of the joint water commission.
Zanu-PF, China and Rhodesian’s, Who Really Is Pimping Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry? Part 1
As different media publications try to figure out who to blame for this years poor tobacco season in Zimbabwe, the usual suspects have already been lined up, fingered and readied for the firing squad; packaged into the usual mantra of the “Mugabe must go” narrative.
Whether this narrative is true or false, is entirely up to you the reader to decide and above the pay grade of this article’s author. However understanding how the tobacco industry actually operates has still remained a mystery to the average Zimbabwean, basically who really benefits from Zimbabwean tobacco?
Dummies Crash Course to Zimbabwe Tobacco, Why the big deal?
For those uninitiated to Zimbabwe agriculture, our soils are considered very fertile and can grow almost anything you can think off, picture or visualize a high value agricultural commodity and we can probably grow it. Rhodesians have always understood this fact, and were therefore content living outside urban areas just for this reason alone.
The knowledge of how a commodities market “realistically” worked in relation to benefiting a Rhodesian farmer, coupled to the fact that they had access to arable land developed over decades of development and subjugation, meant that Rhodesians knew how to work the global system to their advantage.
Which brings me to the first myth circulating within the media which unfortunately many of us end up swallowing up as gospel, attributing our tobacco prices falling this year, due to an influx of new farmers producing “poor” yields due to inexperience and bad management. This again is only true up to a certain threshold; however not enough to have an effect on the overall tobacco prices falling in Zimbabwe as a whole.
How Do We Explain The Poor Quality In Tobacco This Year?
Firstly do not believe the hype about quality, according to a journal published by George C Davis and William C Hewitt , based on measuring the quality of imported tobacco, they found that the quality of tobacco had been steadily decreasing in quality internationally ever since 1977 due to advances in technology, with cigarette producers finding more effective ways to use lower grade tobacco for blending and mixing their tobacco brands therefore driving prices down.
For the authors “Once the term “quality” is explicitly defined and discussed, the conclusion to be drawn is that quality refers to an ordinal index with no inherent cardinality; and is therefore a subjective norm”, which when translated into basic English simply meant that whoever was buying the tobacco at the auction floors determined what the quality was.
Buying tobacco at the floors is entirely subjective because we all know about geographic climates and where the best tobacco is grown although, that may not translate in those areas necessarily controlling the price structure.
So Why Do We Blame The Farmers?
The real elephant in the room is the issue of how very little, farmers can actually do; to control the way in which they set tobacco prices even though they are the backbone of this global hegemony. Regardless of the influx in incompetent farming, just because of our soil types alone, Zimbabwe farmers could be as reckless as possible and still manage to produce a somewhat above average yield globally.
Tobacco has mainly six steps before you buy it at your local store primarily these being, tobacco harvesting, tobacco curing, grading and buying, primary processing, cigarette manufacturing and the packaging.
The moneymaking part of this value chain begins at the primary processing stage where the tobacco is cased, cut, dried, conditioned, aged and blended for a minimum of a year before moving into the next stage. Zimbabweans rarely ever get to this stage and most remain at the auction floors where they wait for buyers to grade and buy their years harvest.
How Does This Tie In With Blaming Farmers?
At this point; it is important to note that the group that has been consistently screwed within this value-chain structure, has always been the farmer. Paying attention to the media complaining about the influx of new tobacco farmers will distract you from seeing the other myth being disseminated, which says that the rise of farmers from 20 000 in 2009 to 89 000 this year has been the main reason to “poor” tobacco yields, this again is very misleading and borderline false. If compared to the deliberate brain-drain or withholding of social capital that has happened within the tobacco industry ever since the land invasions it is amazing how more coverage is not been done on this issue alone.
Rhodesians whether or not people would care to admit it; have always had the collective “know how” of how to work the global tobacco industry. The “Old boys” clubs and decades of business and farming relationships they built internationally over the years, disappeared immediately after they left their farms.
No matter how much money and resource allocation a government administration would have thrown at an industry it could never have been able to compensate for these symbiotic farming relationships and huge social capital flight that occurred with the Rhodesians fleeing.
Are We Blaming Rhodesians?
Rhodesian farmers having realized that they were the bottom-feeders of the global tobacco production chain, over the decades developed a collaborative, data information, finance sourcing and resource sharing network that helped them leverage their yields in policy making and market price fixing, at times having the power to threaten withholding harvests for certain years in order to negotiate better term.
Organically they developed an “open source community” whereby only amongst themselves did they share information and kept track of losses or dead-weight farmers, whilst figuring out ways to reduce cost for their industry as a whole.
According to Professor Ricardo Hausman, during a lecture for the Practice of Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School he noted that, “the world has become more educated but not richer”, mainly because the actual skillsets required to be successful in an economically productive industry are usually only acquired from actually being practically involved within the industry and learning from within it, rather than from an education alone.
Looking at the amount of social capital depleted from our tobacco industry which many conspiracy theorists think was intentional, it should come as no surprise why we struggle to maintain a consistent foothold within a field we know we should be excelling.
Is this all Zanu PF’s fault?
This leads us to the obvious conclusion of blaming everything on Zanu-PF and its policies which again may not be actually true. Whether or not you may agree with the current government policies,ineptness or corruption, this alone cannot simply explain the systemic malignancies within the tobacco industry.
In 2013 cigarette sells amounted to US$722 billion globally, with analysts expecting an increase in volume production by 4% with tobacco price value rising by 29% within the next five years. More facts that should have been good news for countries such as Zimbabwe were trends showing that international sales were shifting from developed markets with more restrictive laws, and migrating to emerging markets giving more opportunity for producing countries to take a larger control of the production chain and therefore retain more profits.
Unfortunately the problem actually came back not really on government policy, but lack of adequate capital resources to reinvest on capturing a market share globally. In a US$722 billion dollar industry, Zimbabwe only madeUS$651 million last year and that was considered to be a good year.
To understand how little control the government has over prices; according to a study done by William Barnett on the global tobacco industry in 2007, he found that for every dollar spent on a tobacco leaf, 21 cents went to its wholesale and retail, 43 cents went to its manufacturing, 7 cents went to all additives and non materials needed in its manufacture with the actual plant and its farming only getting 4 cents, the 4 cents representing what farmers got at the auction floor with the 25 cents going to taxes benefiting the countries where the companies were headquartered.
Should China Be Blamed For Our Problems?
The “look east policy” is another misconception again used to explain the tobacco industry woes with certain partisan camps blaming the rise of contract farming funded by China as a cause. Again to reiterate, tobacco is directly tied to the land and soil which explains why Zimbabwe is still highly regarded, this however does not mean tobacco companies have no qualms in taking advantage of Zimbabwe’s political woes, buying dirt cheap and then reselling outside its borders at higher prices or simply smuggling the tobacco to neighboring markets in Malawi or Zambia.
China is actually part of the global monopoly that runs the tobacco world, therefore if one thinks a competitor may offer a better price they would be sadly mistaken. The world has default tobacco monopolies that are Philip Morris (American), British American Tobacco(British), Japan Tobacco International (Japan), Imperial Tobacco Group (British) and China Tobacco International Corporation(China) all of which have merged together or have joint ventures or collective agreements meant to control prices and structure.
The fact that China is in Zimbabwe instead of Britain or the United States, actually does not make a difference to the industry itself beside capital allocation, funding and what types of tax incentives and policy that is passed legislatively on behalf of tobacco companies or whether their home country has a foreign policy objective.
At the end of the day we still have little say in the machinations of this global industry which all comes back to the most important individual in this conversation which is the Zimbabwean farmer and how to help them.
Tsungai Chipato
Journalist based in Canada
contact at [email protected]
Parliament Runs Out Of Money, Shuts Down
Parliament is broke and this has forced it to adjourn indefinitely, several MPs have said.
According to the March 19 edition of Hansard, the speaker, Jacob Mudenda, announced the adjournment of parliament to May 5. But several MPs said the break was likely to be longer than this due to a biting liquidity crunch that was making it difficult to fund parliamentary business.
The speaker did not give a reason for the adjournment of business after parliament resumed work on January 27 after the Christmas holiday.
“This does not augur well. Government and parliament were struggling to fund our trips and normal parliamentary business, but there is uncertainty around this closure. There is talk that it could be extended due to the poor financial position,” said an MP who declined to be named.
MPs and senators routinely claim money to cover fuel, accommodation, food and allowance expenses. Government already owes the legislators hundreds of thousands of dollars, with some former MPs still battling to get what is owing to them since their term of office.
Hotels turn MPs away
Some hotels are now turning away MPs who needed accommodation owing to the accumulation of huge bills that government is failing to honour.
Currently, parliament does not even have a substantive clerk after the mysterious departure of Austin Zvoma last year. Zvoma was reported to have been forced out owing to his alleged links to the faction led by Joice Mujuru, who has since been fired from the ruling party.
Another MP said that most MPs were using their personal resources to attend parliamentary business, and had been doing so for some time.
“We keep getting promises that we will be reimbursed soon, but it seems there is no money to do that. After battling for some time, quite a number of MPs have now resolved not to attend parliament and their grievances have been made known to the acting clerk and the speaker.
“As it stands, treasury is struggling to raise money and it might take months before we are back in the House,” said another MP. She added that ad hoc adjournments would worsen the backlog of bills and other parliamentary processes.
Little progress
Currently, the national assembly and senate are supposed to be deliberating on hundreds of laws that need to be aligned to the constitution adopted in 2013. Little progress has been made since the elections that took place the same year and ushered in the eighth parliament.
“At this rate, the year will end without any progress being made to align the laws with the new constitution. That would mean we would have gone for two years without doing anything on the laws and the new constitution. This has negative implications on reforms relating to elections, the media and other key issues,” she added.
Don’t cause trouble
The main opposition party, the MDC-T, insists that it will not take place in any by-elections or major polls without electoral reforms. The MP added that the adjournment of parliament could be used to serve Zanu (PF) political interests.
“Given our current political and economic problems, it seems government is of the view that MPs are likely to worsen the situation through parliamentary committee actions and general motions that would whip up people’s emotions. The government would rather have the MPs out of the picture so that they don’t cause unnecessary trouble,” she added.
Administrative staff is also said to be facing operational problems as the secretariat is reportedly struggling to purchase small items like stationery.
The government is struggling to pay civil servants and soldiers have been forced to go on lengthy breaks to cut down on operational costs.
Most key government programmes have been put on hold while referral hospitals are fast running out of essential drugs, with health ministry officials saying only 40 percent remains. Currently, government is relying on the donor community for more than 90 percent of its drug stocks.
Unemployment has risen to more than 80 percent, according to independent researchers, as companies continue to close down. Mudenda, who is a senior Zanu (PF) member sitting in the party’s politburo, could not be reached for comment. – The Zimbabwean
“Mnangagwa area” Primary School Records 30 Years of 0% Pass Rate
Somabhula-Disgusted parents at Brunsguard Primary school in Somabhula (in Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s home Midlands province area) have fired an onslaught at the school administration for incompetence.
This comes after the local school recorded zero percent for the past thirty(30) years, as ZimEye.com reveals. Parents with children learning at the school have since threatened to remove them next term, a development that will affect its sustainability.
According to displeased parents there was drama at the school as parents disrupted the main Annual general meeting (AGM) agenda accusing the teaching staffs of being incompetent, citing series of massive grade 7 failure rates. They alleged since Zimbabwe got its Independence in 1980,the school recorded dismal academic performance.
“I personally think the school should seek for divine intervention from prophets like Magaya and Makandiwa. The school administration got torrid time as (us) parents quizzed them for failing to troubleshoot the long failure rate problem.
“To be honest as parents we wonder why Brunsguard has failed to impress all these years. The school was built around 1977 by a commercial white farmer and by then it was one of the best farming schools attaining very good results. But at this juncture eeish, our pupils gets as far as grade 7 hardly constructing a single simple English sentence let alone speaking in the language,” said the seemingly troubled parent .
Another source said most burning concerns by parents were raised at the school’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the institution last Thursday where she said a senior teacher; Mr Douglas Zvaravashe was on fire for absenting himself from school.
“I think there is need of serious inspection by the Education Ministry about the goings on here. Some teachers here willy-nilly abscond and come for lessons late as they first attend their farm fields. We are extremely worried because of the carefree attitude displayed by the tutors. We have every reason to care because these problems do kill the future of our children,” he said.
The wearisome parent who however said the community must not paint all the teachers at the school with one brush, appealed to the Ministry of Education to help them remove the rotten tomatoes before they spoil the whole basket failure of which he threatened to remove all her four children at the school.
The School head, Mr Dumisani Ndlela refused to comment and was quick to refer all questions to the District Education officer.
Several efforts to contact the Provincial Education Director (PED) Agness Gudo were fruitless as her mobile phone was not reachable by the time of going to print.
81 Mujuru ‘Kids’ Are Crooks- Brother
JOEL Mujuru, elder brother of the late Retired General Solomon Mujuru, yesterday dismissed reports that his younger brother sired about 90 children with different women, saying the family was only aware of nine children from three wives including the former Vice-President Joice Teurai Ropa Mujuru.
Joel described all the other women and children who were now emerging from the woods seeking to claim a stake in the late army commander and national hero’s estate as “street kids and gold diggers” seeking to reap where they did not sow.
Mujuru died mysteriously in an inferno at his Beatrice farm in 2011. His multi-million-dollar estate has not yet been distributed and is currently at the centre of a fierce fight with several beneficiaries and claimants, among them Joice and her five children, lining up for a share of the spoils.
His official wives, according to Joel, were Joice, the late Simbiso — who had two children — and another woman he only identified as “Maidei’s mother”.
His vast business empire included mining and farming ventures.
But Joel said what was disturbing and suspicious was that several children were now surfacing at the courts before they introduced themselves to him, the only known surviving elder brother of the deceased.
“The rest who now claim to be Solomon’s children are street kids who are after his wealth,” Joel said.
“What kind of children are they who appear at the courts without even coming to see their father’s relatives? We like Solomon’s children, but those we don’t know should go for paternity tests first before we can accept them. Where were they when Solomon was still alive?”
The family is currently embroiled in a war over the estate, with many children surfacing at the High Court to claim their share of the vast empire amid reports that the former Vice-President had hidden her late husband’s will to deny other children born out of wedlock their share of the inheritance.
When the family met at the High Court recently to choose an executor, about 20 children were reportedly named as the late General’s children.
Some of them claimed that the former VP had changed ownership of some properties and demanded an audit of “their” father’s estate before it was distributed.
But Joel said his brother’s estate was still intact.
“If they want to know about Solomon’s estate, they should ask us. They should only go to the courts if there is a dispute. I am not supporting Teurai, but we cannot ignore her, she is Solomon’s wife. After all, as the Mujuru family, we don’t want anything from Solomon’s estate. It should be shared by his wives and children. But those that emerge now should go for paternity tests first,” Joel said.
He added: “I want everyone — including Teurai — to know that we don’t need anything from Solomon’s estate. If Teurai also thinks that we want her husband’s wealth, she is mistaken.”
Meanwhile, former Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said the Zanu PF national disciplinary committee’s report which implicated the late General Mujuru in a plot with his wife Joice to oust President Robert Mugabe as way back as 2004 was a desperate attempt to besmirchthe former VP.
Mujuru was recalled from her VP post and Zanu PF position in December, and summarily expelled from the party last week for allegedly plotting to kill Mugabe.
“For them to now say the late General was plotting to kill the President, and yet they buried him at the National Heroes’ Acre, shows a desperate attempt to find fault in his wife. Why were they quiet all along and say it only when he is dead and punish his wife for that?” Gumbo queried.
Gumbo, Mujuru and former Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa were expelled from the party for allegedly plotting against Mugabe. – Newsday
Mugabe Jets Into South Africa
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace arrived in Pretoria on Tuesday afternoon for their first state visit in 21 years to consolidate bilateral relations with South Africa.
The couple stepped off Air Zimbabwe flight AZW001 at Air Force Base Waterkloof at 17:10. They emerged from the covered staircase leading from the plane, holding hands.
Seven-year-old Miso Magenu, wearing a white dress and purple jersey, had been waiting patiently at the foot of the stairs. She clasped a bunch of Proteas and red roses which she handed to the Mugabes as they set foot on the red carpet, which had been hastily unrolled from a luggage trolley and brushed minutes earlier.
International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoane-Mashabane and Telecommunications Minister Siyabonga Cwelewere among the officials there to greet the Mugabes.
There was much kissing of cheeks, smiling, shaking of hands, and nodding of heads as the Mugabes were led through a guard of honour to a black BMW.
Mugabe, in a grey suit, lowered himself slowly into his seat. Grace Mugabe, in a dress with blue trim, skipped around the car to the other side, got in and disappeared behind the tinted bulletproof glass. They were driven off in a convey of about 17 Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs.
Nkoana-Mashabane told reporters that the two-day visit with the head of South Africa’s third biggest trading partner was intended to strengthen trade ties.
“The focus is largely on the consolidation of our bilateral ties, political and economic,” she said.
Business delegations from the two countries would meet to “remove all blockages from trade and economic relations”.
News24
Penis Concoction: Macheso In Trouble as Child’s Belly Swells: WARNING – DISTURBING PICTURES
Sungura maestro Alick Macheso is set for trouble with local and foreign police authorities over the “detestable” act he performed on his child as the singer’s son’s health has since drastically deteriorated after the man inserted his manhood on him.
Grueling pictures in ZimEye.com’s possession and now revealed, show Alick junior’s stomach is swelling exponentially, a condition “linked” to the manhood act by the singer.
The nhova-peni* incident led to the couple’s eventual divorce last year.
Macheso may have thought that the matter was done and dusted when he reached a divorce settlement with his wife last year, but a burden of shocking details are emerging from the case and he cannot be allowed to go away scot-free, says UK Govt Gender Based Violence Expert, Betty Makoni.
This comes after the boy had his stomach continue to swell under mysterious circumstances.
Macheso’s estranged wife Tafadzwa told ZimEye.com in an interview all is not well with her four year old son.
“He keeps releasing blood at the nose and his belly keeps swelling,” she said.
She added alleging that the lad’s belly started swelling around the time that his father, Alick, performed his peni* concotion.
It was when Tafadzwa protested against the penis method which the singer claimed would heal the child, that she was booted from the home and told he would divorce her for disrespecting the man’s traditional beliefs, Tafadzwa hinted to ZimEye.com.
“Cheso argued with a doctor ”
Tafadzwa said that at one time when they used to live together, her husband allegedly argued with a practicing doctor as Alick claimed that the condition is just “kwashiokor.”
“He did not listen to the doctor and shouted back saying it is all kwashiokor,” she said.
Only $450 per month – maintenance
It has also emerged that Macheso doles out only $450 which is insufficient to take care of the two children Tafadzwa was given by Macheso.
“I pay $200 rent and the rest is left for both food and everything else and so this is just too little”, Tafadzwa said. During divorce and maintenance court discussions Macheso had agreed to pay $1500, but this was revised down to $750 and later the singer pleaded saying was only going to pay $450.
When reached for comment, Betty Makoni speaking from the UK, told ZimEye.com she finds that Tafadzwa was victimised and stopped from “revealing it all” during the divorce process.
“I have also talked to Tafadzwa. Society judged her too quick without listening to the whole story,” Makoni who is also the Girl Child Network founder told ZimEye.com.
She continued, “Now that the stormy mob is quiet we must revisit how Alick Macheso inserted his male organ into mouth of his children and how that traumatised Tafadzwa. I have committed to help her share her story because am so sure this will help other Zimbabwean women.
“When a man does something as terrible as this why is it the woman suffers most.
“Why is it that Child Protection in Zimbabwe did not take action against Alick Macheso.
“Why cut maintenance for Alick Macheso ex wife when she has a child with such terminal illness she is looking after.”
Meanwhile Macheso has claimed that Tafadzwa fabricated the story in order to “fix” him, saying she had threatened to do that before.
“She is lying,” he said. “How could I do that? I used kutara to treat the child. She is claiming that she has the evidence to substantiate her claims. Let her produce it,” he said.
He also said he used a treatment known in Shona culture as kutara for treating the sunken fontanelle on the child. Kutara involves a father sliding his manhood from the face, left ear, right ear and the back of the head to the middle of the head.
If investigations continue, Macheso could end up being put on travel sanctions under allegations of child abuse and he may find himself not being able to enter the UK where he frequents for various money spinning shows.
When contacted for a comment, the singer did not pick up his calls.
A Level Genius Girl Needs Urgent Help
A LOWER Sixth student at St Dominic’s Chishawasha Secondary School, who scored 9As and 2Bs in her “O” Level examinations in 2013, might soon find herself out of school as her maternal grandparents have failed to raise the required fees.
Ayshire Mapeture has since sent out an SOS through her headmistress Sister Rose Rushwaya.
In her letter of appeal dated March 30 2015, Ruswaya said her institution could not continue to take care of Mapeture’s needs because of other pressing financial commitments.
“We have admitted her into school because she is well-groomed and we see that she has potential that given a chance, she will make a difference in society,” Rushwaya said.
“Mapeture passed her ‘O’ Levels with 9As and 2Bs, but could not collect her results as soon as they were released early 2014 because she had arrears in the school accounts.”
Mapeture stays with her maternal grandparents in Norton. She is the first born in a family of two.
Her parents are separated and both stay in South Africa in different households, but without stable employment.
She is currently studying Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry and dreams of becoming an optician.
Any financial assistance should be channelled through the headmistress’ office or call Rushwaya on +263 774 229 828 or +26377 276 7025.
-The above article first appeared in the Newsday paper-
Zuma’s Spokesman Quits Job as Robert Mugabe Flies into South Africa
South African President Jacob Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj has quit his job shortly after Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe flew into that country.
This came as Mugabe made his first official State visit to that country since the ‘gloriuous’ Nelson Mandela years, more than 20 years ago; While South Africa has seen three Head of States since then, Mugabe on the other hand has ruled his own country for more than 35 years as he slides into his advanced centurian decade and is now beyond the 91 mortality age-mark.
Maharaj who resigned at the age of 80 said he needs to take a rest.
While Maharaj had not responded to questions sent in by ZimEye.com on the reasons for his resignation and why now, it emerged he had learnt of Mugabe’s visit more than four weeks before Tuesday sparking rumours that the timing was deliberate.
Meanwhile Zuma announced his spokesperson and special adviser, Mac Maharaj will retire at the end of this month.
The presidency announced Maharaj’s departure in a press statement on Tuesday afternoon. The spokesperson was also President Jacob Zuma’s special adviser.
“We wish to thank Mr Maharaj for this special service to the president and the country and wish him well in his retirement,” said Zuma in a statement.
According to the presidency’s statement, Maharaj – who turns 80 later this month – has decided that “it is time to slow down a bit”.
Last week Maharaj gave the clearest indication yet that he was about to retire when he owned up to an April Fool’s prank he played on the media and said “I won’t be here next year”, when a journalist suggested that the media would not believe him in future.
He had decided to have a last laugh because he said the media was nagging him with requests for comment on many issues, including the latest government report on the upgrades at Zuma’s private home in Nkandla.
“I was sitting there getting calls from you guys for comment on anything from Nkandla to the lottery. So I thought, okay, I’m going to reverse the roles and take the media for a ride,” he said.
A long journey comes to an end
Maharaj came back from political retirement to lead Zuma’s propaganda machinery in the presidency in 2011, after Zuma had faced several publicised scandals that painted his leadership in a negative light and exposed his office’s weak communication.
A former Robben Island political prisoner, Maharaj was one of the leaders of Operation Vula, a top-secret Umkhonto weSizwe operation in the late 1980s designed to strengthen the ANC’s armed wing inside South Africa.
He also served on the ANC’s national executive committee and the South African Communist Party’s central committee. Maharaj was a minister of transport in the first democratic government and left government in 1999 to join FirstRand Group.
The deputy director general in the Government Communication and Information System, Harold Maloka, will be the acting presidential spokesperson from the beginning of May. – M&G/ZimEye
Prosperity Preaching Is Not Christianity – Pastor
Prosperity sermons are false religion and nonsense they are not Christian teachings, says Presiding Bishop of Lighthouse Chapel International, Dag Heward-Mills.
“Today Christians are into happiness preaching – everything to make you happy – Christ did not come to make us happy – Christ came to save us from our sins – and to put happiness and prosperity as the reason for Christianity is a false religion – that is not Christianity.
“Let us not follow comfort – to be a good Christian you cannot be comfortable – to be a good Christian you cannot always try to be happy – this prosperity, money gospel is a nonsense gospel that is not why Jesus came to this world…” he said.
Bishop Heward-Mills made the statement during his Easter message to thousands of church members who gathered at the Independence Square for a Good Friday Convention this Easter.
Preaching on the topic “the token of the blood”, Bishop Heward-Mills said rather than routinely drumming up prosperity to their congregation, Pastors must seek to preach the essence of Christ to their followers and by directing them to the tenets that Christ lived by.
He said some preachers have made the gospel about prosperity and money and are therefore directing the attention and trust of Christians off Christ and God to the extreme desire for comfort, happiness and success in secular life, rather than in things that pertain to God.
The Bishop said the focus on comfort, happiness and prosperity is a sign of a backsliding Christians and God will bring judgment on such people.
Bishop Dag Heward-Mills contended that because of the extreme focus on prosperity preaching, most Christians have placed their businesses and politics above God and they lie, steal, cheat and do everything for business and political success, without thinking about pleasing God.
“Today when a Christian says ‘I am blessed’ it means business is working – today a lot of Christians will sacrifice anything for business to work – you put aside Christ, you become a liar, you become a thief – you cannot see the difference between Christians and non-Christians because of business,” he said.
The outspoken corruption crusader also warned Christians who are into politics not to place politics above God and rig elections because “God will bring judgment on you if you did that.”
He said it is about time people saw the clear difference between Christians and non-Christians in all aspects of life. – Pulse
BREAKING NEWS: Daiton Somanje Dies
Pengaudzoke band leader Daiton Somanje has died.
ZimEye.com can reliably confirm after a bout of spiraling rumours circulating on his death, the singer finally succumbed out of life just after 5PM.
He passed away at Parirenyatwa Hospital.
His eldest son, Somanje, told ZimEye.com, “It is true, he has left us. He passed away at 5PM at Pari hospital,” he said.
Daiton’s health deteriorated in 2014, since then he never fully recovered.
He will be remembered for his songs such as Tsaona , Sahwira Usaome Moyo and many others.
“Sex with own mother.”
Before his death, Daiton had buried his hatchet with son Faheem who was allegedly caught red handed in an affair with his step mother.
The feud between the two hogged the limelight three years ago after Daiton accused his son of bedding his Marondera wife Annah Kezias, among other allegations.
Daiton then disowned his son after suspecting that he was having an affair with his stepmother.
But the relationship got back on track recently and Daiton has roped Faheem for live shows.
The 25-year-old Faheem confirmed the development, but refused to explain how they had settled their differences. “The feud is now water under the bridge. We are back to normal. He is my father and I am his son,” said Faheem.
Mystery: Mugabe Stepping Down?, Flies Away to Jacob Zuma “Secret” Meeting
News24| *Mugabe arrives in SA for first state visit in over 20 years
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is due to arrive in South Africa on Tuesday afternoon, his country’s biggest trading partner, three days after his spokesperson suggested he would “soon bow out”.
The 91-year-old leader will arrive at 15:00 on board a plane from the struggling Air Zimbabwe state carrier. He will be accompanied by business leaders, government ministers and his wife Grace, who has recently been ill.
This is the first state visit Mugabe has paid to South Africa since 1994.
An official statement from the department of international relations said the visit will focus on “bilateral and economic co-operation” as well as “regional and continental matters”.
The Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reports that Mugabe may ask President Jacob Zuma to help fund a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit on industrialisation, which is due to take place in Harare on April 26.
“He could be looking for some [financial] reprieve of some sort,” Pedzisai Ruhanya, of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute told News24.
Twenty months after elections that returned Mugabe to power, Zimbabwe’s economy is shrinking. A tightly-stretched budget means he is struggling to pay civil servants and pay for commitments Zimbabwe has taken on after Mugabe’s election to the chair of both the SADC and the African Union.
Ruhanya told News24 that Zimbabwe’s failure to address concerns over indigenisation, which requires foreign-owned firms to part with majority shares, continued to be a deterrent for foreign direct investment, including from South Africa.
“There are no fundamental reforms in our politics,” he said.
Zimbabwe is still a major market for South African-produced goods. Critics, including some cabinet ministers, insist this is to the detriment of local industry. Zimbabwe’s ageing factories haven’t been able to recapitalise and they struggle to compete with their more efficient competitors in South Africa.
“As a political concern, Zimbabwe is no longer an issue in South Africa,” said MacDonald Lewanika, the director of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.
“I think this has been demonstrated through various inactions they have taken since they relinquished their role as facilitator [in the Zimbabwe political crisis].”
“Their [South Africa’s] interest seems to be more economic than it does around values and political issues. All of these things are part of what inform the environment ahead of the president’s official visit to South Africa,” Lewanika told News24.
Zimbabwe’s political scene is currently dominated by bitter infighting within Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party. The party last week finally expelled former vice president Joice Mujuru, who was sacked in December when her growing popularity appeared to threaten Mugabe and his family’s hold on power.
State media at the weekend carried a suggestion that Mugabe would soon “bow out”. A column in the official Herald, widely believed to be written by Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba, said Mugabe had “discharged a key assignment to do with succession” in what appeared to be a reference to his placing of new Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in direct line to succeed him.
Grace, 49, also appears destined for high-level politics following her election to the post of Zanu-PF women’s league chair in December.
– News24
Pamela Anderson Tells Kasukuwere: Stop Export of Kidnapped Baby Elephants
Actor Calls on Minister of Environment to Stop the Exportation of Elephants From Zimbabwe
Harare – With dozens of fragile baby elephants held captive in Zimbabwe and set to be sold to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China, top US actor Pamela Anderson sent an urgent letter on PETA’s behalf this morning asking the Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Saviour Kasukuwere, to stop the elephants’ exportation. Anderson also wrote to authorities in the UAE and China.
Anderson – an honorary director of PETA US, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – notes in her letter that France recently cancelled its plans to buy and import up to 20 elephants who were captured in Zimbabwe.
“As a mother, I have been deeply upset by the heartbreaking news about the 80 or so baby elephants who were torn away from their families, many even witnessing their own family’s gruesome slaughter”, writes Anderson. “Please prioritize the welfare of these helpless baby elephants by banning their sale and exportation and urge your government comrades to join the 21st century by reuniting these elephants with their families. Every compassionate soul around the globe will appreciate your kind-hearted decision.”
Pamela Anderson’s letter to Minister Saviour Kasukuwere follows.
The Honorable Saviour Kasukuwere
Minister of Environment, Water and Climate
Zimbabwe, Government Administration
Kaguvi Building, 11th floor
Central Avenue
Harare, Zimbabwe
Respected Minister,
As a mother, I have been deeply upset by the heartbreaking news about the 80 or so baby elephants who were torn away from their families, many even witnessing their own family’s gruesome slaughter. These terrified babies are reportedly being held captive while awaiting sale to China and the United Arab Emirates, far from their homelands, where they will never see their families again and never have any semblance of a normal or happy life. I’m sure that you’ve heard the international outcry and the pleas that these elephants be released back to their herds. I am writing to you to urge you to do everything in your power to assist in the effort to stop such profiteering at the expense of wildlife.
At least one baby has already died following this traumatic capture. In the wild, female elephants stay with their mothers for their entire lives, while males stay with their matriarchal herds well past 10 years of age. Disrupting these complex relationships is detrimental to the species, further endangering a declining population. And kidnapping ruins the life of each individual.
You have the unique opportunity to intervene in this horror story. Please prioritize the welfare of these helpless baby elephants by banning their sale and exportation and urge your government comrades to join the 21st century by reuniting these elephants with their families. Every compassionate soul around the globe will appreciate your kind-hearted decision.
Sincerely yours,
Pamela Anderson
Mujuru Goes Tsvangirai, Now Forming Own Flame
EXPELLED FORMER VICE PRESIDENT Joice Mujuru has followed Morgan Tsvangirai’s trail by branching out of the ruling party and forming her own party, an insider has cast-all.
Tsvangirai used to be a powerful ZANU PF commissar but in 1999 decided to desert Robert Mugabe and form the MDC party together with a crawl of academics and activists all disgruntled with ZANU PF’s perversion of the political pool.
Mrs Mujuru’s latest move likely was revealed by her top lieutenant Didymus Mutasa who said the party will bw called ZANU (People First). Mutasa who is popularly known under the nickname, “Gamatox,” said members of the “original and genuine Zanu PF which was formed on August 8, 1963” had decided to form “People First“ after the ruling party was taken over by a bunch of mafikizolos at the December 2014 congress.
Mutasa warned that the proposed new party would rock the ruling party since it had the backing of key figures in the security establishment as well as former Zipra and Zanla commanders.
“We want to have a party, but we are still talking about it. We are with Mai Mujuru, Rugare Gumbo and all those who were removed from the party,” he told a privately-owned radio station.
“It is many of us from different oppositional parties such as Simba Makoni, Dumiso Dabengwa and a lot of others who were no longer supporting Zanu PF.
“Our membership is composed of the original and seasoned politicians, commanders of the Zimbabwe African National Army (Zanla), Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra) and Zimbabwe People’s Army (Zipa) forces who are now being marginalised,” he said.
Mutasa hinted that many big names of disgruntled former Mugabe loyalists are warming up to the move.
Margaret Dongo, who left Zanu PF in the 1990s to stand as an independent candidate also appeared to warm up to the idea of a new party yesterday.
“A Zanu PF returning to the ideals of the liberation struggle is long overdue. It will attract war veterans, nationalists and all those who were wrongly expelled from the party. The generation that waged the liberation war is still there and should lead the party not these mafikizolos.
“Fortunately, these guys have seen the light and there are a lot of war veterans who have been looking for shelter,” Dongo said.
And despite the public bravado after expelling Mujuru and her allies, it is widely known that the People First movement has rattled the ruling party, amid fears that party hardliners may resort to extreme violence to thwart their opponents.
But Mutasa and team are not deterred.
“We should all converge to save our country from the corrupt and selfish leadership of the illegal 2014 Zanu PF. We will accept as members all Zimbabweans from all walks of life who are determined to work for a new Zimbabwe.
“We envisage a Zimbabwe where every member of society matters. Hence we shall require that in all considerations people must come first. Hence our slogan People First,” he said.
Gumbo said yesterday that the expulsion of Mujuru from the post-congress Zanu PF was a blessing in disguise as it would open the door for “like-minded persons” to work together towards a common objective.
“The expulsion of Mai Mujuru just shows vindictiveness on the part of those who are in the party’s politburo, but they have also played into our hands,” he said cryptically.
“Just a money-faction” – Prof Moyo
Commenting on the development ZANU PF spin doctor Jonathan Moyo scoffed at the move.
“Media dreams of a split will come to grief not least because the nefarious pursuits of expelled malcontents in the wilderness cannot be rationally described as a split,” Moyo said.
Dumiso Dabengwa’s 2008 foray into the political wilderness was not a split in Zanu PF nor was Simba Makoni’s Mavambo in the same year which ended up as Magumo in 2013.”
He continued, “it is also notable that the expelled Mujuru-Mutasa-Rugare cabal was widely seen as the money-faction before its long overdue expulsion because money was, as it still is, more important to the threesome than ideology.”
Zanu PF’s Door To Door Campaign Angers MDC- T Youths
The MDC-T youth have staged a protest in Bulawayo’s Mpopoma -Pelandaba constituency citing that the ruling party is preparing to rig the parliamentary by- elections set for the 10th of June .
As the country prepares for elections after MDC-T recalled at least 21 MPs aligned to MDC-Renewal led by Sekai Holland last month, tension is rising between the two parties Zanu PF and MDC-T.
Five of the constituencies are in Bulawayo and Zanu PF has declared its intention to reclaim the seats lost in 2000 to the then newly-formed MDC.
MDC-T youth secretary for Mpopoma-Pelandaba constituency Mthokozisi Ncube said yesterday’s protest was sparked by a Zanu PF door-to-door campaign to recruit potential voters.
He claimed the party had embarked on a door-to-door campaign where it was recording names of unregistered voters and trying to intimidate them into voting for Zanu PF.
“We staged protests today (yesterday) against Zanu PF in the constituency. We noted that Zanu PF members have begun their door-to-door visits registering children aged between 15 and 17,” he claimed.
“They are told they would vote in the by-elections. We totally condemn such moves of forcing people to vote against their will.”
Ncube said the demonstrations targeted potential Zanu PF candidates Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and Joe Tshuma.
“Although we never saw Tshuma and Ndlovu, our message was clear, they should stop forcing people especially, children to vote,” he said.
“Tshuma should tell his other central committee members in their next meeting to stop it.”
However, Ndlovu who last week declared that he was interested in representing Zanu PF in the polls said he was not aware of the demonstration.
“No one has told me about the protests. In any case, I am in Harare now,” he said.
MDC-T has threatened to boycott the by-elections demanding electoral reforms. Zanu PF has scoffed at the boycott threats saying the opposition is afraid of certain defeat. -southen eye
Kasukuwere Claims $16 000 for Air Ticket from Harare to Vic Falls, REPORT Claims
ENVIRONMENT, Water and Tourism Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, claims $16 000 from National Parks for Air Ticket from Harare to Vic falls, a whistleblower has reported claiming.
A flight to and from Victoria Falls costs no more than $300per person .
Minister Kasukuwere was reached for comment Monday and had not responded at the time of writing. When he later did reply, he expressed shock, dismissing the report as malicious.
“What is that?Paying who?For what?,” asked Minister Kasukuwere.
The claims were sparked by Hurungwe West former-legislator Temba Mliswa who charged at Kasukuwere’s-doorstep alleging that he is amassing money while not declaring his tax obligations [READ MORE Kasukuwere’s 50 Room Mansion Raises a Stink ….. -] . The report also comes after Minister Kasukuwere vocalised that he views President Robert Mugabe as “our god.”
The whistleblower who cannot be named for their protection wrote in part: “Iyo yakasukuwere angatadza kuvakasei mansion iyoyo sezvo achi claimer $16 000 ku Zim Parks for air ticket from Hre to Vic falls ..imagine For more Zim Parks is under his ministry. You are free to check with National Parks right now,” they said.
Minister Kasukuwere’s response was awaited at the time of writing.
South African 15 yr Old Girl Blocked from Joining IS
AP|A SOUTH African teenager was taken off an airline flight because the 15-year-old girl was suspected to be leaving her home in Cape Town to join the Islamic State group, state security officials said Monday.
The girl was found at the Cape Town International Airport on Sunday, said State Security spokesman Brian Dube. It is believed that she was planning to travel to Saudi Arabia.
“There was information we were able to get that showed she might have been in contact with recruiters,” said Dube.
Security officials found documents in her home that showed she had been planning to join the military group.
The girl was questioned and then returned to her family’s care, he said. The girl’s family was also debriefed before she was sent home.
The State Security department is investigating how the teenager had paid for the flight and how she may have been recruited.
Her parents discovered she was missing on Sunday morning and alerted the authorities, according to local media reports.
South Africa’s State Security Minister David Mahlobo said in local media that the girl’s social media accounts showed she was interested in joining the Islamic extremist group.
This is the first case of a South African teenager suspected of trying to join the Islamic State group, Dube said.
Teenagers in countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia have run away from home to join the group that now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria.
Removing Robert Mugabe Today, By 4pm!
ANALYSIS|The disappearance of activist Itai Dzamara together with the suspicious deaths of several CIO agents in 2015 have all caused much suffering. Zimbabweans must have a serious national discussion. However, if abductions, deaths disappearances and all other forms of repression of the majority by a minority continue, there are lessons to be drawn from history. We all need to do our utmost to avoid that nasty possibility, say some analysts.
We can remove Robert Mugabe from power today easily through very ethical and legal methods and it can all be accomplished by 4PM Tuesday afternoon, writes human rights activist Shaun Namhla from his Gaborone workplace. But if it is possible to remove Mugabe, what real ethical methods would be used apart from force through civic action?
How academics are brilliant at postulating theories of physical action, but they are never anywhere near the muddy ground, but choose to ink comments from their white wall terraced-houses in Western outposts. If there is any war to be waged in Zimbabwe it is war against the self. War against the Zimbabwean mindset. If not we shall get rid of Obote, replace him with Idi Amin and replace him with Museveni, and so on
After 30 years of subjugation, within which you have 15 years of hyper politics, there is no longer a possibility that Mugabe, and his party can be removed from power other than them making a mistake or a religiously based revolution taking place.
The only other way, is for people who wielding a revolutionary consciousness; for them to organise and institute an elite struggle hoping that once such a process starts people will refocus. However, the environment of hyper politics in Zimbabwe means that a revolution is likely, by it’s nature to be equally counter revolutionary.
In a nutshell a popular uprising is now one of the most remote possibilities, the only option is available through the actions of the elite political classes and or military, in each case the chances of ending up with a worse or bad situation are 50% and 40% respectively.
But in the most successful of possibilities an outcome can easily be reached through a change of mind – when people have matured to rid themselves of tyranny within themselves and in that situation, Mugabe can be removed in just a few hours. When we are free from ourselves, on that day Mugabe will no longer exist as a problem. He won’t need to be removed; he will just frolick away; he will just not have any other option other than to head to Zvimba for retirement.
Blood All Over: Man Bludgeons Wife to Death Over Kids
A 28-year-old Harare man allegedly stabbed his ex-wife more than 10 times, killing her instantly following a dispute over the custody of their two minor children. Sydney Mudiro later drank poison in a bid to end his life, but was rushed to hospital.
According to the State Mudiro, of No. 3 Hopley Zone 5 Waterfalls, last week followed his ex-wife (name not given) of nine years to her new lodgings at house Number 308 Ushewokunze Phase 1 and demanded to have custody of their kids aged six and three.
The now deceased is said to have refused to give Mudiro the children and in a fit of rage he fatally stabbed the woman. Witnesses who saw the scene say there was blood all over the place.
Mudiro appeared in court last Thursday before magistrate Mr Vakayi Chikwekwe, charged with murder.
He was not asked to plead to the charge. Mr Chikwekwe remanded him in custody to May 16 and advised him to apply for bail at the High Court due to the gravity of the offence.
Mr Chikwekwe told him that the lower court had no jurisdiction to entertain bail issues in such cases.
The State, led by Mrs Leonellah Chitanda-Matowa, alleges that on April 1 at around midday, Mudiro went to his ex-wife’s house in Hopley.
It is alleged Mudiro tried to take their two minor children from her by force.
An altercation ensued between Mudiro and his ex-wife, the court heard.
It is the State’s case that Mudiro told the mother of his children that he wanted to have custody of the children, but the woman refused to give him the children. She allegedly told Mudiro that according to the law she was entitled to have custody of the kids.
This did not go down well with Mudiro, who then produced an okapi knife and stabbed the woman several times all over her body. The court heard that Mudiro went on to drink poison in an attempt to take his own life.
Neighbours made a report to the police and Mudiro was rushed to hospital. It is further alleged that Mudiro, who was under police custody in hospital, attempted to escape but was apprehended.-Herald
Canada, Zim Ambassador’s Son Shot Dead In US
One of the teenage sons of Canada’s former ambassador to Zimbabwe, Roxanne Dube , Jean Wabafiyebazu, 17, was last week shot dead in gun battle and during an apparent drug deal gone bad in Miami and his brother is in custody charged with felony murder.
The boys’ father, the Zimbabwean Germano Wabafiyebazu, said he and his estranged wife are “devastated” at the news.
Wabafiyebazu is separated from Dube and still lives in Ottawa. He told the Canadian Sun paper, he wanted his kids Marc, 15, and Jean, 17, to stay with him while Dube accepted her latest diplomatic post.
He said his estranged wife, Canadian Consul General Roxanne Dube, told him she feels guilty for taking their children to Florida with her two months ago.
Wabafiyebazu said he was told his sons borrowed their mom’s black BMW, with diplomatic licence plates, around 2 p.m. Monday and went off to meet someone in the hopes of buying marijuana. He says he was aware Jean struggled with substance abuse.
“They had a project to go and buy marijuana,” he said.
They met “an intermediary” who told them a home to go to where the weed could be bought, Germano said.
“Miami is different,” he said. “Roxanne was not aware of anything.”
He’s not sure what went down in the home in Florida — some sort of disagreement — which led to Jean being fatally shot. He said Marc was waiting in the car and when he heard the shots, Marc rushed into the house and fired two warning shots in the air in an attempt to attract attention and summon police.
“My son saw his brother dead,” he said.
Police arrived soon after, and arrested Marc at the scene for felony murder. Under Florida law, anyone involved in a crime in which a murder is committed could also face a felony murder charge. According to an arrest report obtained by the Miami Herald, Marc is facing additional charges after threatening to shoot a detective while at police headquarters.
Television footage from the scene in the Coral Gables district showed a large pool of blood on the floor of the multi-unit dwelling and one of the victims being wheeled into an ambulance.
Police believe Marc and Jean — both allegedly armed with guns — planned to rob the drug dealers.
Marc Wabafiyebazu on trial
Meanwhile the brother Marc, is now due to appear in the juvenile court on April 8.
Authorities say he would not be protected by diplomatic immunity.
Dube and her family, meanwhile, expressed condolences to the family of Joshua Wright, the other deceased victim, and said they just want to be there for the younger son.
“Your grief is our grief,” she said. “We can only hope that, in time, we will find common purpose towards diminishing the causes of such violent crimes. For now, we just want to be there for Marc, our incredibly caring son who loved his brother very much, and to say goodbye, ever so tenderly and quietly to Jean, our love.”
The Miami Police Department has not commented on the shootings. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office confirmed that another man, 19-year-old Anthony Rodriguez, was charged with second-degree murder and marijuana possession with intent to sell for his alleged role. The Rodriguez arrest report says a second man was shot to death inside the house. Prosecutors also said Rodriguez was wounded in the arm in the shootout.
The police report also quotes unidentified witnesses as saying Rodriguez brought two pounds of marijuana to the house and began to negotiate.
“During the negotiations, both deceased victims became involved in an exchange of gunfire,” the report says.
In addition, Marc Wabafiyebazu faces charges of threatening a police officer while in custody, according to a separate police report. The boy is alleged to have said “he was going to kill (a detective) and that he would shoot him in the head.”
Germano Wabafiyebazu said he and Dube were divorced a few years ago and that their son Jean struggled with substance abuse.
Dube just started her job as consul general in Miami in February. She was previously Canada’s ambassador to Zimbabwe from 2005 to 2008 and also served as a staff member for a Canadian Liberal cabinet minister for more than a decade. (Sun/ Guardian/Agencies).
“Notorious” ZRP Cop Knocked Down
A male police officer kombi operators allege is notorious for bribery in the Highfield area, was last month knocked down by a passing kombi at a roadblock in the afternoon of the 22nd March.
The cop (name withheld) who survived the accident, is still recovering from the injuries sustained medics say are serious.
A 39-year-old man appeared in court last Thursday for allegedly knocking the policeman.
Lloyd Chirombo appeared before Mbare magistrate Ms Anita Tshuma charged with negligent driving.Ms Tshuma remanded Chirombo in custody to April 16. Prosecutor Ms Miriam Chiba said Chirombo was not a proper candidate for bail because he was likely to abscond as it took the police two weeks to apprehend him.
“Chirombo is not fit to be granted bail because he was on the run and our fear is that if he is remanded out of custody he might not come to court. More so, he committed a very serious offence considering that he knocked down a police officer who was clad in his uniform and was on duty,” she said.
Chirombo told the court that he was denying the allegations on the basis that he was not the one who was driving the motor vehicle on the day in question.
“I was off duty on the day in question. I was not running away from the police because I did not even know that the police were after me,” he said.
Allegations are that on March 22 this year at a roadblock in Highfield, Chirombo was driving a commuter omnibus.
The court heard that he knocked down a police officer in uniform who was carrying out traffic duties but he did not stop.
Pastor Maponga breaks-down … as Orphans reveal chilling sexual abuse ordeals
By Chrispen Tabvura
ZimEye Correspondent
Pastor Tapiwa Maponga, who is also the founding director of Educate a Child Foundation, recently breaks down, during chilling revelations of pain and horror by 27 Mpopoma children, since the deaths of their parents.
The children who said they are experiencing hell on earth, narrated their ordeals at the hands of surviving guardians, who are taking advantage of their orphanage status and sexually abuse them.
This was the second time during an Amazing Stars drama in the township. A number of children, whose images cannot be published to protect their already damaged moralities and dignity, attended the event.
The drama, a community developmental and self-help exercise courtesy of Sebenzela-Shandira Zimbabwe ideology, was created as a community platform to highlight social issues and explore participants’ drama talent.
Of the 27 sexually abused, nine are boys who have suffered bruises of gruesome sodomy at the hands of their relatives. Antony and Steven, names changed to protect the innocence, are severely traumatised. They revealed their plight during the Arts training session .
“My parents died a few weeks after they returned from South Africa. It looks like they were poisoned at their work place, since it was at the height of xenophobia against Zimbabweans by SA citizens, who were accusing them of taking their employment opportunities.
I stayed with my uncles who took turns to rape me every night, and sometimes I would opt to sleep in the Kelvin industrial area, where I will be away from torture,” said a tearful Antony.
The Grade Six boy has since moved away from his uncle’s house, but is still a victim as they occasionally summon him home. Antony is appealing for assistance to be permanently removed from the criminally perverted uncles’ clutches.
Another innocent orphan who has sought refuge at Vulindhlela Orphanage revealed his chilling experience. Steven could not narrate a word without breaking down, and would time to time remove his trousers to show the scars of the sexually depraved monster relatives whilst narrating his ordeal.
“I wish all my parents were alive and if it was possible for me to call them from their graves, so that I can show them what I am going through after their departure from earth,” said Steven before breaking down into tears.
Several girls, now under Patricia Tshabalala’s caring wing, are victims of their relatives who take advantage of their orphan status, and sexually abuse them. More than 21 girls under the age of 14 have been rescued from the clutches of depraved relatives.
“It is so bad, and unethical that an uncle or cousin can take advantage of his own relative to prey and quench sexual desire or appetite from your blood relative. I wish Zimbabwean laws can introduce sharia laws to deal with this evil habit,” said a visibly angry Patricia Tshabalala, a Founding Director for Vulindhlela Orphanage in Mpopoma, Bulawayo.
A Care-Giver at a different drama event in Nketa told one of the organisers that although charges are at times laid against sexual offenders, these are often dropped by other family members because the offender is either the head of the house, or the main bread-winner. Children are suffering because of a depressed economy!
ZimEye is in possession of pictures and videos of the sexually abused minors, but will not be published for professional, ethical and legal reasons.
Pastor Maponga is appealing to the Christian world to intervene with more assistance, to extricate these poor souls from this bondage of evil.
Kasukuwere’s 50 Room Mansion Raises a Stink and Tax Payments Evasion
Former Hurungwe West legislator Temba Mliswa has dared Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) commissioner general Gershem Pasi to collect taxes from elite politicians like Environment minister Savior Kasukuwere whom he alleges is building a monstrous house with many rooms.
Mliswa said while the revenue authority is making strides at enforcing tax compliance, much revenue is still going unaccounted for through unethical dealings conducted by powerful politicians in the country.
“I would like to throw simple questions, Kasukuwere the house you are building in Glen Lorne, three floors with an elevator and over 50 bedrooms. He owes me $13 000 from service station rentals. How then did he get the money?” queried Mliswa during a recent news conference in Harare.
He added: “Zimra, I mean Gershem Pasi is busy going for small boys, why can’t he go for these big boys. That’s my challenge for Gershem Pasi. Go for these big boys. Let’s see where the money is coming from. The moment that you say I’m now this rich, we start asking have you been paying tax. If you are a true leader you must pay your tax”.
“The other guys who are purporting to be rich do so while Zimra is sitting on millions of what they owe but because they have political connections and so forth, it’s just being put on hold,” said Mliswa.
This comes at a time when government is struggling to meet its wage bill and service delivery continues to crumble at a time when Zanu PF ministers and business tycoons who are well-connected continue to immorally amass wealth.
The youthful politician has been arrested and acquitted several times.
Many believe he is a victim of political reprisals for naming powerful people engaging in corrupt activities.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe being an agro-based economy, Mliswa said it is critical that government does a thorough land audit to ensure that there is fair distribution of wealth among all citizens.
“Zanu PF thinks we don’t know about a system called warehousing being used by the big guys to own many farms. You own it but your name doesn’t exist on papers. The land probe is serious”.
“If I say for example minister (Local government minister Ignatius) Chombo has 10 farms, the Grange in Rafingora that is in his name and has over 2 000 hectares. Then X farm and I believe the system must be able to check that”.
“You will find there is another owned by a nephew who doesn’t have even “O” Level but there are new tractors on the farm but doesn’t have a bank account but you then have to look at the farming activities then compare the individual’s name and capacity”.
Civil society and the opposition have made repeated calls for a land-audit while government dragged its feet until last year when $10 million was allocated for the programme. BY Daily News
Did Your Spouse Change?
It takes time and effort to change and it takes time for a spouse to believe that the positive change is real, and respond with his or her own changes. Whether we accept it or not change is happening, for good or for worse.
If You Have Recently Changed In A Positive Way
If you have recently changed in a positive way, it is going to take a long time for your spouse to fully, 100% know you have changed and that you will not change back. This is not (necessarily) a lack of believing you, but rather a part of human nature that is very difficult to fight. Do not take it personally, do not confront your spouse about it, and do not give up. Remember that it is you who moved forward and is ahead. But your spouse can not comprehend it. You made the change first of all for you own seek, not just to please people. Keep going, keep growing and doing what you should, and wait for your spouse to catch up.
Lack Of Quick Belief In The Change Can Discourage
Most people get discouraged by the lack of quick belief from their family and quickly give up, going back way behind where they have been. You have to fight to maintain and defend you change. The environment will not make it easy. Instead find and hang around people who believe in you, people who can motivate you when your spouse is trying to push you in the opposite direction.
If It’s Your Spouse Who Has Recently Changed
If it’s your spouse who has recently changed, not being able to fully accept him/her change is beyond your control. However, you can work to control what you do and say. Verbally appreciate the change in your spouse. If you fail, let him or her know that you are trying your best.
It Takes Time To Trust
It takes time to trust, especially after incidents of disappointments. On the other hand, blind faith is even more dangerous. If you need more evidence and time to get assured that your spouse has really changed, go ahead and make sure. But do not disappoint your spouse in the process. Remember he or she has put a lot of effort in order to be where he or she is today. What your spouse needs is support, not a critic. The fact that he or she has changed means he or she knows that he or she was in the wrong path. Reminding him or her of the past does not make things better, but worse.
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© Copyright 2014 by It’s My Footprint, www.itsmyfootprint.com/blog.
Train Suicides Reach Alarming Figures
Public relations manager of National Railways of Zimbabwe, Fanuel Masikati has expressed concern over the increase in cases of people committing suicide by throwing themselves in front of on-coming trains.
According to the NRZ, 147 people died between January 2007 and February 2015 on the country’s railway lines after throwing themselves in front of on-coming trains.
In a statement, NRZ Public relations manager said many of the suicide cases involve women carrying young children.
Masikati did not, however provide figures for this year alone.
“Suicidal cases involving people who throw themselves in front of on-coming trains and those that seat on the railway lines are on the increase, a scenario which is of major concern to the NRZ and the public at large. People should seek counselling when confronted with challenges and seemingly difficult situations,” said Masikati.
“Some children and adults have been seen lying and sitting on railway lines, which is dangerous. These practices should be discouraged as they may result in people losing their lives. We’re appealing to the general public to desist from such retrogressive acts and report such cases to the nearest police or railway security stations.”
He said statistics show a trend where many people committ suicide in January, September and December, a situation he attributed to the so called “January disease” and school fees dilemma among other social challenges.
“It is common knowledge that many people are faced with hardships and social problems, but it is not an option or solution to commit suicide,” said Masikati.
He said rejection, negligence and societal stigma were also contributing to prevalence of suicide cases.
Masikati also said between January 2007 and February 2015, 167 people died and 581 were injured in accidents at rail level crossings.
He appealed to all motorists and public transport drivers to exercise extreme caution, when approaching rail level crossings.
“There are many people dying or being injured at rail level crossings as well as those involved in suicidal cases. Let’s all be responsible when driving on our roads. Remember, you cannot win an argument with a train,” said Masikati.
He said there were also people who were digging for gold along the railway lines as well as under the railway lines while others have been seen ploughing along the railway lines.
“This is risky to the movement of both passenger and freight trains throughout the country, particularly during the rainy season as it causes wash aways that have resulted in the derailment of trains,” he said. -chronicle
Dzamara abduction-France Reads Riot Act to Mugabe
The French government said they were worried by the abduction of journalists –cum- rights activist Itai Dzamara and warned that the unfortunate development might affect relations between Harare and Paris which were starting to improve.
France last week introduced an Oil manufacturing company which is going to start operations very soon.
The western country also promised to bring in more French investors and business delegations from other European countries “because there is a Market in Zimbabwe”.
The ambassador of France to
Zimbabwe Laurent Delahousse said people should have confidence in their government’s capacity to protect its citizens.
“We have had over three weeks now since the abduction of Itai Dzamara.
“I expressed the day after the abduction my worry about this very bad development and my hope is that the government of Zimbabwe will do everything within its power to find Itai, and to bring the perpetrators of this crime to law,” said ambassador Delahousse.
“Let us have confidence in the capacity of the government of Zimbabwe to protect its citizens”.
The western envoy said:
“This of course is a very unwelcome event .I express my solidarity with the family and friend of Itai .I call to get Itai back. Find Itai .Bring Itai back to his family, to his friends and to his activities”.
Dzamara was abducted in March by suspected members of the CIO.
Humun rights organizations and the international communities have challenged government to search for Dzamara.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition at the weekend announced that it was going to offer a reward to anyone with information leading to the location of the missing scribe.
A Diaspora human rights grouping the ZDA led by Australian based Frank Dube has also offered a whooping $10 000 reward for anyone with information pointing the where Dzamara is.
The organization said people with information can assist using a Harare number (0772889217).
Buthelezi, Gigaba Apologise to Zimbabweans, All Foreigners
Levie Tsongo
South Africa’s Home Affairs minister Melusi Gigaba has acted as a respectable leader and apologised to foreigners attacked on South African soil, a day after the Inkhata Freedom Party(IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi apologised. Several foreign nationals were attacked in Isipingo and Umlazi, South of Durban last week.
Gigaba addressed the foreigners who are being accommodated in temporary
shelters because of last week’s attack. About 250 men women and children, most from the Democratic Republic of Congo, were attacked, their shops looted and belongings stolen. One Congolese man was burnt alive and died.
He urged foreigners who have documentation problems to approach home affairs officials.
One of the refugees commended Gigaba’s and Buthelezi’s actions as being honorable.
“It takes an honorable and humble man to apologise for a wrong done. What the minister and IFP leader is honorable,” he said, “We hope that government will help us get back to our normal lives.”
Some want to go back home.
“I think I’d rather be killed in my own country than here,” says Gilbert Akilimali an asylum Seeker from the DRC.
The government says it will work with the United Nations High Commission to help the refugees, both those who want to stay and those who want to go back home.
IFP leader Buthelezi apologised to the foreigners and said it was unacceptable that people from African countries that provided refuge for South Africans who were in exile are now being attacked in this country.
Both apologies come after King Goodwill Zwelithini’s call for foreigners to go back to their countries of origin which sparked violent attacks against foreigners in Isipingo and Umlazi. However, Zwelithini has since refused to apologise saying that he never said such a thing.
BREAKING NEWS: $10,000 Cash Reward for Finding Itai Dzamara
A diaspora group has splashed a liquid reward offer of $10,000 for information leading to the rescue of Itai Dzamara who was abducted on the 9th March in Glen View, Harare.
Suspected CIO agents pretending to be police officers took Dzamara in March after saying they were arresting him on the grounds of stealing a cow. He was abducted following his civic action calling on Robert Mugabe to step down as he is now too old.
The ZDA group led by Australia based Frank Dube called on Zimbabweans to call in (Harare number 0772889217) with “credible information” on the kidnapping.
The statement said a reward will be handed to anyone who “volunteers credible information that will lead to Dzamara’s location.
The statement came as the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition NGO also announced they are set to make a handsome offer for Dzamara’s find.
“We are putting together something and will be introducing a reward to anyone with information pointing to Dzamara’s whereabouts, and the person will be protected because we know that people might be afraid of disclosing who took him,” said the NGO’s Coordinator Nixon Nyikadzino.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit was in the way at the time of writing as Human Rights lawyers said they are dragging the CIO to court for failing to cooperate for the Dzamara’s release.
WARNING – DISTURBING VIDEO: Hwindis and Rank Marshals Caught In Sickening Act On Top of Grave,
Touts and rank marshals captured performing press ups on top of a grave during the burial of the late Mbongeni, a local Bulawayo Hwindi/Tout.
South Africa: Jacob Zuma Exposed on Xenophobia Crimes
President Jacob Zuma has been blasted for responding passively to serious concerns of xenophobia after his son and Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini both called for foreigners to leave that nation.
Zuma merely vocalised a passive assurance to foreigners living in South Africa that they are protected by a “friendly” legislative system which accommodates everyone, activists have charged.
“He is meant to be the President of South Africa and seeing serious violations of the South African law by a King, all he says is that people will be protected by the constitution, what type of a President is he?,” said NGO co-ordinator, Kungwe Nduna.
Activists from Julius Malema’s EFF party weighed in saying, “Zuma has proved he is not worth the salt and is not seirous about improving South Africa’s damaged international reputation.”
President Zuma’s comments follow recent utterances by Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini calling for the deportation of foreigners from South Africa.
Ironically, President Zuma’s eldest son, Edward, last week also came out in full support of King Zwelithini’s controversial statement.
King Zwelithini reportedly made the remarks, which sparked criticism, at a moral regeneration rally in Pongola, northern KwaZulu-Natal, a fortnight ago.
President Zuma’s spokesperson, Mr Mac Maharaj, yesterday told our Bulawayo Bureau that South Africa had a liberal and open system that allowed everyone to stay in the country as long as they had the correct documents.
“Our policy as the South African government is that we have a very clear and well defined liberal system that allows anyone to be in our country legally regardless of where they come from. We believe our country has an open and friendly legislative system to accommodate our neighbours including other countries in Africa and beyond,” said Mr Maharaj.
“Inasmuch as we have our own socio-economic problems just like any other country, we firmly believe that we need to deal with them rather than entirely blaming it on foreigners. We have one of the most liberal systems in the world,” he said.
When asked to comment on King Zwelithini’s remarks calling for the deportation of foreigners, Mr Maharaj said: “I only speak on the official government position. His statements in the newspapers have nothing to do with the Presidency. You better speak to him.”
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi last week condemned the Zulu king’s comments, saying they were highly inflammatory and against Sadc protocols. King Zwelithini’s remarks also sparked outrage from the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and opposition parties, which described them as “highly irresponsible”.
The king’s remarks were made against the backdrop of rising tensions between foreign nationals and locals in the wake of recent xenophobic attacks in the neighbouring country.
The violence began in Soweto, Gauteng, in January and later spread to KwaZulu-Natal, where it has claimed three lives.
Three weeks ago, a Zimbabwean woman who was wrongly accused of killing a young boy, was lynched by an angry mob in a shanty township near South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.
The woman was burnt alive while another man, also from Zimbabwe, managed to escape after police intervened. The Zimbabwean pair had been accused of bewitching the boy. A probe later revealed that the boy had been electrocuted.
South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), described King Zwelithini’s comments as “highly irresponsible”.
“Particularly given the recent spate of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, he should do the right thing — retract and apologise,” said DA national spokesperson Phumzile van Damme.
The SAHRC said it was looking into the matter.
“His utterances, if proven true, would border on xenophobia,” said SAHRC spokesperson Isaac Mangena. The Zulu monarch has refused to apologise.
Man Caught Raping A Dead Body
A MAN from Mvuma allegedly raped and strangled a 22-year-old milk vendor and struck her head with an unknown object before raping the dead body, police have confirmed.
The unidentified man in his mid 30s and believed to be a serial rapist in Mvuma who preys on travellers waiting for transport along Masvingo-Harare near Chicken Slice allegedly went on to attempt to rape another woman who was coming from Chicken Slice Mvuma on her way home.
The incident occurred last week Tuesday when the victim, Privilege Mutara of Chivhu resettlement area was found dead by a passerby who sought to rescue yet another rape victim who had escaped death by a whisker from the same assailant.
Acting Midlands police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Ethel Mukwende confirmed the tragic incidents saying the police had launched a manhunt for the suspect who is believed to be behind a spate of rape cases in Mvuma town.
“I can confirm that we are investigating a case of attempted rape and murder after a woman was allegedly sexually harassed by an unknown male adult and another brutally murdered after being raped.
It is alleged that a female adult from Mvuma was walking towards Shayamavhudzi Township in Mvuma town using a bushy path coming from Chicken Slice. While on her way, she met the suspect and he tripped her to the ground and attempted to rape her. The complainant screamed but the suspect tried to gag her by pouring a handful of soil into her mouth,” she said.
However, luck ran out for the suspect when a passerby heard the complainant crying out for help and ran towards the bush where he found the suspect attempting to rape the complainant.
“The passerby chased after the suspect but came across Matara’s body which had been stripped naked. The passerby reported the matter to the police who attended the scene and discovered that Matara had been sexually abused,” said Asst Insp Mukwende.
She said the suspect was still at large.
“We are appealing to the members of the public who might have information pertaining to the whereabouts of the suspect to report to any nearest police station.
“We want to warn Mvuma residents to be wary of the suspect as he has reportedly raped many women in the area using the same method,” said Ass Insp Mukwende.
Meanwhile, Matara’s parents were up in arms with her husband after she went missing for three days but he did not make a follow-up on the matter.
Sunday News is reliably informed that the parents are demanding money from her husband and have reportedly vowed not to bury her if he fails to pay the money. – State Media
Prayers for Mugabe’s Health
Prayers for the well-being of Zimbabwe, President Mugabe and the country’s entire leadership dominated proceedings of most churches during Easter conferences held in various parts of the country which ended yesterday.
Some churches took advantage of the conferences to pray for a quick turnaround of the economy which has been affected by the West’s illegal sanctions regime.
At the United Family International Church’s convention held at the City Sports Centre in Harare, Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa led the congregation in praying for the nation, President Mugabe and the leadership.
In the weeks preceding the conference, Prophet Makandiwa had emphasised to his church members the importance of praying for the country’s leadership and especially President Mugabe since the Bible instructs Christians to respect authority.
He also said it was not proper for Christians to despise the country’s President.
This was then emphasised by Prophet Makandiwa’s spiritual father and Ghanaian acclaimed Prophet Victor Kusi Boateng who spoke at the UFIC conference urging Christians from all denominations in the country to pray for those in leadership.
Prophet Boateng said churches should continue to play their role in communities.
The UFIC Easter conference was attended by thousands of people from Zimbabwe and others from Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Canada, United States, Britain and Australia.
Meanwhile, Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries head of humanitarian Mrs Cathrine Nyangoni said the main word throughout their Easter celebrations was on hope as represented by Jesus’ resurrection.
“Prophet Walter Magaya’s message was centred more on hope, saying every situation, whatever it is, can be overcame similar to the resurrection of Jesus from death,” she said.
Faith Ministries’ Pastor Shingi Munyeza said they took advantage of Easter to ask God for quicker economic turnaround for Zimbabwe.
“We had an Easter conference throughout our churches,” he said. “Our focus on Zimbabwe was that our turnaround will be sooner than expected.
“We also prayed that we do not look to man for solutions to our problems, but that we look up to God.
“We prayed that our spiritual leaders will become accountable so as to set the example to political leaders.”
The Faith Ministries conference was held under the theme “Advancing Kingdom Territory”.
Anglican Diocese of Harare spokesperson Mr Precious Shumba said they took the opportunity during their Easter celebrations held at the Harare Gardens to dedicate the country to God.
“It’s a tradition within the Anglican Church that there is a prayer for the nation all the time,” he said. “So, as per tradition we had prayers for the country during the Easter celebrations.”
Family of God spokesperson Pastor Shuvai Wutawunashe said their Easter conference held at the Aquatic Complex in Chitungwiza and attended by delegates from different countries dedicated a special service on Saturday afternoon to pray for the “resurrection” of the country’s economy.
“Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon we had a special service where we prayed for the President’s health and continued wisdom,” she said.
“We also prayed for the resurrection of the country’s economy, our continent and an end to all social ills in today’s life.”
Pastor Wutaunashe said Zimbabweans had a role to play in the resurrection of the country’s economy through hard work in different areas of expertise as well as through prayer.
Zaoga Forward in Faith Manyame district pastor Jabulani Zondo said although they pray for the country all the time, Easter provided a unique opportunity to re-affirm the prayers.
“Jesus Christ died for our sins on the cross and resurrected from the dead on day three,” he said.
“His resurrection brought salvation to the people and we hope through continued prayer our country will be delivered.”
Men Caught In Sex Act Pants Down, Finally Acquitted
TWO Bulawayo men who were allegedly caught pants down while masturbating inside their parked car at a secluded place earlier this year have been acquitted.
Bulawayo magistrate Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze said the State had failed to prove its case beyond any reasonable doubt against Rodney Joseph (36), of Northend suburb and William Chimunhu (36) of Westgate.
Joseph and Chimunhu, who were being charged with public indecency, had pleaded not guilty arguing that they were only relaxing in their car.
“If indeed Joseph wanted to do the act I am sure he was going to switch off the light inside the car and go to the back seat where Chimunhu was. From the evidence given, I don’t think the State has a case against these two men and as such I retain a verdict of not guilty and accordingly they are acquitted,” ruled Msipa-Marondedze.
Allegations against Joseph and Chimunhu were that on January 22, shortly after 3AM, Sergeant Dominic Takawira of ZRP Westgate was on night patrol when he spotted a car parked at a secluded place near Sizinda Clinic in Westgate.
Takawira became suspicious and went close to the vehicle to investigate.
“Takawira peeped through a window of the car and found Joseph and Chimunhu inside.
“He saw Chimunhu lying on his back on the car seat and he was half naked while Joseph was busy fondling his erect manhood,” said Nkathazo Dlodlo, prosecuting.
The two men allegedly sprang to their feet when they realised that they had been spotted.
Takawira arrested them. chronicle