LEEDS(ZimEye)-ZAPU-EUROPE Secretary for Information, Mr Artwell Ndlovu says reports by Newsday that ZAPU leader Dumiso Dabengwa is visiting UK are incorrect and might be based on an old interview held in January but would wish to inform the public that should the President visit the Province members will be advised through official channels in the usual manner.
Mr Ndlovu said:
Members in Europe Province and the public in general have been calling the Provincial Executive Committee seeking confirmation of a story published in the “NewsDay” of 3rd June, 2011 entitled
“Dabengwa reaches out to Diaspora”. The article alleges that the President, Dr Dumiso Dabengwa is in the UK “..where he is engaging stakeholders in Europe to mobilise resources for his party.”

The articles goes on to say that Dr Dabengwa “… is expected to address ZAPU supporters there in an effort to stem factionalism that has riddled the European branch of ZAPU” and goes on to cite the Mr Artwell Ndlovu, the Secretary for Information, Publicity & Marketing as the source of that information.
The Provincial Executive Committee for Europe Province would like to advise members of ZAPU and the public that this story is completely false and that Mr Artwell Ndlovu did not provide the information as claimed in that article. Should the President visit the Province, members will be advised through official channels in the usual manner. We are contacting the  “NewsDay” to ask them to retract their false story.

(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Zimbabwe’s police has finally granted the MDC permission to hold its rally on one of the country’s traditional political rally grounds, Zimbabwean Grounds, after several unsuccessful efforts to do so by the party.
The MDC will hold a peace rally at the High-Fields venue to report back the on the electorate the goings on in the party as well as unveil the party’s new leadership, the party has said.
“The peace rallies will spread throughout the country’s provinces and will give the MDC leadership led by President Tsvangirai an opportunity to report back to the people on the resolutions of the MDC’s third National Congress that was held in Bulawayo in April.
The rallies will also be an opportunity to unveil the party’s new leadership, brief the nation on the progress being made by the inclusive government and challenges faced, the issue of the election road map as a prerequisite to the holding of free, fair and credible elections as well as to speak on and denounce the disturbing violence that has resurged in the country,” said the party in a statement.
The party also said it would report about the party’s expectations at the much anticipated SADC summit on Zimbabwe to be held in SouthAfrica on 11 June.
In March, the MDC applied for the holding of its rallies to the police when they were told by the aggressive police that Zanu (PF) had booked both the Glamis Arena and Zimbabwe grounds for the whole year developments which were strongly denied by the Harare Mayor Muchadei Masunda who testified to that effect in the court of law.
The MDC has continued to preach peace to the public despite it being maliciously accused of violence by the the desperate Zanu (PF) party through a smear campaign that has seen the party sponsor a bogus organization calling itself Zimbabwe Today to publish a magazine portraying the labor affiliated party as being violent when evidence of political violence clearly proves otherwise.
MDC said the peace rally will be held under the theme “Free Zimbabwe:Say No to Violence – Yes to Peace” in a bid to advocate against politically motivated violence among the electorate. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

ZimEye Media is pleased to host acclaimed author and a former UK diplomat to Zimbabwe Philip Barclay at Leeds Thursday who will be speaking at the Bangladeshi Community Centre in the city before heading to York for another major conference.
Philip Barclay is the author of ‘Zimbabwe: Years of Hope and Despair’, the acclaimed, first hand account of Zimbabwe’s violent 2008 elections.
 
Irish writer and broadcaster Fergal Keane says of the book:
 
‘Very, very good. Barclay’s book is chilling and heartbreaking. He is as far from the diplomat of the ‘old school’ as can be imagined. As a man, and a writer, he is engaged and brave’

 

‘beautifully written, so informative and moving and at times heart-breaking’
Venue: Bangladeshi Community Centre, Leeds, LS8 5AN
TIME: 1230Hrs – 1400Hrs
DATE: 02 June 2011
ALL WELCOME!
(ZimEye, UK, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)The MDC formation led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has accused Zanu (PF) elements within the police force of using the unfortunate incident of the death of police inspector Petros Mutedza (42) who was allegedly murdered at a liquor centre in Glen-View, to soil their party.
During a press conference by the party’s Secretary General Tendai Biti at the party headquarters on Wednesday, the MDC said the police through its spokesperson Andrew Phiri had rushed to the national press with the news that MDC supporters had attacked and killed a policeman even before investigations had been done to ascertain whether or not they were MDC supporters.

Biti said in a bid to justify their earlier accusations that MDC was a violent party, the police rounded up all known party activists and supporters in Glen-View who were brutally assaulted.
“It is clear that some Zanu PF elements in the police are using this unfortunate incident to try to convince SADC that MDC is a violent Party. Our own investigations have revealed that the police officers in question had a fight with patrons at a beer hall following which the late officer was injured. We call upon the police to look at such things as the relationship between the deceased officer and the members of the public in that area,” said Biti addressing journalists at Harvest house.
Biti also called on the police to decisively deal with the issue of the murder of other MDC members and activists with the same vigour that they have employed in the case of the now deceased policeman.
“We reiterate that police must deal decisively in terms of the law with all perpetrators of violence including those who murdered the likes of Tonderai Ndira, Better Chokururama, Godfrey Kauzani and other victims of state sponsored violence. Some Zanu PF elements in the police want to use this unfortunate incident to divert the impending SADC Summit from the real issues,” he said.
He however urged the SADC to endorse the resolution of the Bloc’s Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation which was held in Zambia on 31 March. Biti said his party was ready for a free and fair election underwritten by SADC and the AU.
“As we have always said before, we are ready for free and fair elections based on a clear roadmap that is underwritten by SADC and the AU. The roadmap must have specific timelines and benchmarks,” he added.
Zanu (PF) has in the recent past launched a propaganda offensive against the MDC to portray the party as a violent party despite it being the traditionally known violent party in the country. Last week another Zanu (PF) supporter Goodson Nguni launched a magazine (Zimbabwe Today) with pictures of brutalized MDC supporters and activists in which it is attributing the brutalities to the MDC while the state media has been a rich ground for hate language against MDC and its leaders despite the party being part of the current government.
Some analysts have warned against Zanu (PF)’s use of incidents like the Glen-View one to legitimize their brutality and violence on the political opponents like MDC supporters during any future election. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)The Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) is currently in panic mode after it emerged that a bogus prison officer stole some duplicate keys for three of the country’s biggest prisons before disappearing. It is currently not known what the ‘officer’ intended to use the keys for but it is strongly believed that the bogus officer could free suspects and other criminals from prison.

Internal sources have revealed that the man, only identified as Zvoma, approached the ZPS traditional lock and key supplier on the pretext that the service required fresh stocks.
Zvoma is reported to have posed as the head of the procurement department, for the uniformed organization who convinced the supplier.
ZPS authorities have since paraded male officers from headquarters and the regional office in the hope that the company officials would identify the culprit.
“Well, we are on high alert at both our offices and jails in Mashonaland since we do not know what he will do with the keys,” he said.
“Maybe he has plans to become a supplier of keys or he has other cruel intentions like selling them to other people who can free their colleagues.
“We are working with the police force on the matter,” said Solomon Mutamba, the ZPS Mashonaland region spokesperson. The Zimbabwe Prison Service is home to several dangerous hard-core criminals who may become a menace to the population of the country and beyond borders if freed.
At the time of writing, it was not clear exactly which prisons were on high security alert and on danger of an intrusion. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

PHOTO EXCLUSIVE- Aussie Ambassador Jacqueline Zwambila who Australian government officials are probing for alleged gross violations of employment laws and abuse of a male employee who made a number of complaints about Zimbabwe’s representative.
Last year she was also accused of stripping in front of embassy staff another allegation she also strongly denied. But employee Felix Machiridza said this week he could personally ‘confirm’ that on a day in November 2010 Ms Zwambila upon arriving at the official residency had informed him and another employee that she had ‘taught the embassy male staff members a lesson’.
A ZimEye reader Friday commented on the first article titled: 

Fresh Allegations of stripping …

“Makwembere and others need to leave politics out of this and examine the real issues. No one is a saint, but when one accepts public office they need to be above reproach. There isn’t only one ambasador from the MDC-T. Why is that there are no issues like this emanating from Sudan, Germany and Nigeria oreven from Senegal? The MDC is a huge party terefore you can’t claim to know everyone.
If ambassador Zwambila committed these offences let her face the consequences. A human rights defender who turns into an abuser must be demoted forthwith. We don’t want leades who are going to bhave like the same old ZANU PF where leaders can violate people’s rights with impunity.
Just because the poor fellow has decided to come out into the open with his ordeal does not make him a pariah. I am sure he is a reasonable guy who had exhausted all means available to him and ended up going t the press as a last resort.
Whether you dismiss him as fake or lambast him does not help his cause. Look at the bigger picture.
No one, even the PM should jst go scot free if they violate human rights, No!!!
Boot licking is a worm that should be nipped in the bud. That is why we end up with leaders that are law unto themselves, and making themselves immune from reproach. Do not create monsters which will make you cry foul tomorrow. Now is the time to examine and approve or disapprove of people that we want or do not want to lead us.
Be sober and examine issues surrounding mai ava without blindly blaming politics. Mudslding inoitika but zvamai ava zvanyanya. Time to take stock of our leadership. Makwembere, all people who matter are found on google. Benzi *******.” (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)-The MDC-T party has officially announced new changes to their external structures as it emerged that there will no longer be provincial authorities as before and these have been renamed and their authority clipped to that of mere coordinating committees under the sole control of the new organising secretary Nelson Chamisa, as it was also confirmed that national chairman Lovemore Moyo has been relieved of his duties.
Our reporter Jack Jiri carried an exclusive interview with Douglas Mwonzora who however denied UK reports that Lovemore Moyo had been demoted.
The development has been welcomed as it became official that the 33 year old Chamisa will now be Boss over the party’s external structures in foreign countries, after numerous reports of corruption, vote rigging, money laundering and scandalous appointments in the past 4 years under former boss Lovemore Moyo’s leadership.
Below is the full report:
The MorganTsvangirai led MDC party has given its National Organising Secretary Nelson Chamisa the task of dealing with their external assemblies dismissing rumours circulating in the United Kingdom that the party has dissolved its international structure.
“The UK structures were not dissolved, what happened was that there was (a) renaming of the structures. Instead of a province in the UK you now have a co-ordinating committee and the branches remaining intact. We also restructured the reporting system of all external structures, instead of them to report to the National Chairman as they used to do before they are now reporting to the National Organising Secretary. Nelson Chamisa the party’s National Organising Secretary will advise this when he is through with his external structures reporting system blue print in a few weeks time.
“Firstly there was no power that was stripped off any top leader. Previous provinces which are now coordinating committees may be run by the same people. The restructuring process was done in order to strengthen them. What must come clear and need to be understood is that these external structures are not permanent and they cannot be there forever and we hope that one day Zimbabwe is going to be free and we will not be having those external structures,” MDC-T national spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora told ZimEye in an exclusive interview.
Mwonzora said it was not true that National Chairman Lovemore Moyo was stripped of his powers but was given other responsibilities which go with his senior position.
“Regarding National Chairman Lovemore Moyo, its true that he is no longer dealing with external structures. The Standing committee felt that he was now a very senior member of the party, third in the top hierarchy and cannot be drawn into squabbles that were characterising these external structures. He now has other responsibilities of being the highest disciplinary board member in the standing committee,” he said.
In the United Kingdom some members welcomed the development while those in previous influential positions withdrew from interviews. Many former provincial leaders avoided calls while some expressed their disappointment over the changes. Speaking to ZimEye however one Regis Manyanya, Nottingham Zimbabwe community leader said the changes were necessary:
“MDC UK and Ireland needed a thorough cleaning and streamlining. It is a requirement as there was too much bureaucracy…In UK vulnerable people have been used and dumped; Accountability starts with a staff that is manageable, not the current system that is open to abuse,’ he said commenting that there existed gross duplication of duties.
 
Why did Samanyanga not nominate Tendai Biti?
Former UK-Midlands North Chairman Munetsi Jangwa also expressed disappointment on why the UK province did not nominate Finance minister Tendai Biti for re-election as Secretary General at the recent national congress:
“We were very disappointed with the nominations that they made; I think the major was on the nominations for the secretary general. Getting rid of Tendai Biti is a suicidal issue. We all know that he is the best performing minister, and so it does not make sense at all. Those nominations do not represent what the membership want. As an external structure it has damaged us greatly.”
Meanwhile Samanyanga dismissed the comments as Jangwa’s personal opinion and not that of the party as a whole.
However Regis Manyanya on the other hand blasted the default chairman Samanyanga who assumed office after a controversial election under Lovemore Moyo:
“(Tonderai) Samanyanya used excessive funds and travelled to Harare through the blessings of the district chairmen who did not consult the branch chairs”, he said.
Nelson Chamisa used to be the MDC-T party’s spokesperson. Born born February 28, 1978, Chamisa is the youngest technocrat in the MDC top heirarchy(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)-A senior Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) officer lost top state secrets after his laptop was allegedly stolen during a workshop at St Lucia Park conference centre in Harare’s Marlborough suburb.
 
Sources at St Lucia Park told ZimEye that the laptop belonging to an unnamed CIO official believed to be at director level, disappeared from a conference room on Friday morning during tea break.
 
“There was panic when the CIO’s discovered that their boss’s laptop had disappeared,” said an official at the conference facility. “We were ordered to block all exit facilities and all vehicles leaving the park were thoroughly searched, but unfortunately nothing was recovered.”
 
The official who requested anonymity fearing reprisal from the dreaded spy agency, said hotel officials were tossed around by the CIO’s who wanted to know details about all the guests and visitors in the premises during the time of the disappearance.
 
“They shouted to us that the laptop has to be recovered because it contained sensitive information which could compromise state security,” he said.
 
The CIO’s were attending a workshop which drew participants from other intelligence and security organizations in Southern Africa and elsewhere.
 
Sources at St Lucia Park said it is suspected that one of the participants, probably from a foreign intelligence organization, was responsible for the disappearance.
 
“If it is not one of the foreign agents responsible for the theft,” said the source. “then we suspect that one of the CIO’s caused the disappearance to undermine his boss as part of the power struggles to succeed the late Menard Muzariri who was the deputy director-general.”
 
St Lucia Park is also now the home to the SADC Regional Peace Keeping Training Centre which used to be housed at the KG V1 army barracks near the city.
 
The peacekeeping training centre houses many foreign security officers, including some from western countries. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)Donor fed inmates of Harare Remand prison are facing another possibility of a food crisis after it has emerged that the prison’s Officer-in-Charge Chief Superintendent Billiard Chibaya is converting the donated foodstuffs to his personal use.
Officers who spoke to ZimEye revealed that Chibaya who is a war veteran is looting stocks of the Red Cross donated foodstuffs and taking them to his camp house which he in turn is transporting to Mbare musika for resale through some vendors. A daily audit conducted regularly showed gaps created by large amounts of stock which are untraceable.
“He (Chibaya) is our boss and we have nowhere to report this because if anyone does, they will be targeted (for victimization) but this has been going on since he was transferred to this station some two years ago”, said an officer who requested anonymity.
The looted foods include mealie meal and cooking oil. “…but the quantities (loot) are increasing every time. The foodstuffs include among others cooking oil, beans, sugar and mealie-meal;” he said.

The officers who at the time of writing could not prove the existence of the Mbare stall-market confessed:
“we hear he is operating a market-stall in Mbare which sells the commodities,” said one of the officers.
Hundreds of prison-inmates died during the 2008-2009 period as a result of a combination of starvation and a cholera outbreak with the then Zanu (PF) government blocking some donor agencies from addressing the situation. The problem later then changed for the better with the intervention of UNICEF in combating Cholera and Red Cross assisting with food.
Meanwhile Supt Chibaya reportedly launched a crackdown on officers suspected of leaking the information to the media with two officers with journalism backgrounds having been so far victimized by the ageing Officer-in-Charge. His crackdown team includes one self styled war veteran Chief Prison Officer (CPO) Mark Katsatse, the man who removed drip from the unconscious Glenview MP Paul Madzore when he was admitted at the avenues clinic in 2007 and also told Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai t0hat he would never rule Zimbabwe on his visit to prison to see the then incarcerated Morgan Komichi, Intelligence officer CPO Walter Mbanje, one Senior Prison Officer Muringani and Robert Chukucha a junior officer who was part of the 2008 terror squad in Bindura and Shamva who openly boasts of having shot and killed a woman in cold blood.
“Chibaya suspects that some two junior officers are the ones who are writing articles or simply leaking the information to the media about him and his abuse of office because the two did journalism. They have however been transferred to Chinhoyi and Karoi prisons respectively as part of his strategy to get rid of them,” the office added.
According to the source Chibaya believes that one of the two authored a story which alleged that he had displaced some juvenile inmates from their cells to pave way for his chicken rearing project thereby exposing them to hard core criminals and their abuses such as sodomy, a project he stopped soon after reading the story on the ZimEye website. It has also been reported that Chibaya who has been giving orders to the organisation’s regional offices through the phone to transfer the two has never made some formal investigations into the matter, referring to rely on speculation.
Since then, the suspected officers have been victimized in different ways with the crackdown team set up by Chibaya playing a central role. Some officers who have previously been victimized by Chibaya include Tinashe Maradzika and Although Damu who were also transferred to Chinhoyi and Karoi Prisons respectively. Efforts to get a comment from the two officers at the time of publishing were fruitless as both their phones were not reachable. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe) PIC: An entrance to the Harare Remand Prison.

Huddersfield(ZimEye)CONTRARY TO UK-media reports, Huddersfied businessman Alan Fish is not returning to Zimbabwe to support the opposition MDC for its annual congress.
A UK publication erroneously reported Friday that Alan Fish, who lives at High Flatts near Birdsedge, was preparing to travel to the southern African country to support Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
In a tele-message to ZimEye on Sunday Alan Fish said that the publishing of his interview with the Huddersfied Examiner was delayed and had been carried out a great while before the MDC-UK elections whose questionable outcome influenced him to stop supporting Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party as he used to.
He said that before the elections he had planned to do
“a bit of networking (for the MDC)  in the United Kingdom but the elections overtook everything…”, he said though without disclosing the exact time and date the Examiner-interview had been carried out.

Harare(ZimEye)-Zimbabwe’s ailing President Robert Mugabe has threatened to take stern measures against the country’s homosexuals saying the practice is against the Zimbabwean culture.
Addressing mourners mostly comprised of mainly members of the Central Intelligent Organisation and the Uniformed Forces at the burial of the Deputy Director General of the state’s spy organization Menard Muzariri, Mugabe (87)  accused the west of trying to “contaminate” the country’s culture with the Western practice of homosexuality which he said could only be done by people of with mental instability.
“We should be left as Zimbabweans to debate about our issues. We do not worry about the goings on in Europe, we do not worry about the unnatural things they are doing there that people are going against nature…we do not want to be contaminated (by their practices) anyone who does that is mad and if not mad then we will punish them,” said Mugabe.
Mugabe has strongly been against the practice of homosexualism describing the Gays and Lesbians as worse than dogs.
“We will not have that here as it is not part of our culture. Where shall we end if man takes man, we will have a situation when man sleep with dogs,” he said.
Mugabe also accused the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai for  being a front for the former colonial masters bent on re-colonising the country adding that he (Tsvangirai) had during the liberation war run away from the struggle and so should not be allowed to rule the country.
“What pains the most is that those who ran away from the struggle are now coming back saying they also want to rule, they have called for sanctions and are inviting those whom we fought to come back here and lead us again and that’s what we are saying no to,” said Mugabe.
However Mugabe was not in high spirits as he struggled to walk upright, limping and talked with a low toned voice which lacked  his-usual energetic tone as he mumbled in some instances showing signs of old age. His wife Grace Mugabe was nowhere to be seen at the burial as the rumour is rife that she is battling with serious hip problems in Singapore.(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

-How Lovemore Moyo facilitated the rigging of UK elections-
Leeds(ZimEye) The MDC party led by Morgan Tsvangirai in the UK risks a major split after shocking evidence of shameful vote rigging emerged at the MDC-T national elections Saturday at Leeds where chair-position contestant Emily Madamombe lost to outgoing interim chairman Tonderai Samanyanga.
Madamombe lost to Samanyanga by two votes, figures evidently adjusted two hours after an initial result-disclosure made only to the contestants after the voting process in which women with their children were forced to endure long hours stretching into the following day Sunday.
Madamombe has launched a challenge demanding a nullification of the election.

Party members accuse Moyo of deliberately engineering the election outcome to easily secure a provincial vote for the upcoming MDC national congress to be held in Harare penned for this month. According to the alleged strategy, the losing candidate Samanyanga who was seen almost in tears just after the initial announcement would then organise his province to vote for Lovemore Moyo who is reportedly set for a fierce combat with either Sam Sipepa Nkomo, or Lucia Matibenga during the upcoming party congress.
Vote Recount Denied
When challenged to do a recount of votes, Lovemore Moyo vehemently refused. Several senior party members interviewed by ZimEye have given testimony and queried why Moyo did not perform the recount which they said could have lasted less than 20 minutes to complete.
“Lovemore Moyo refused to do a vote recount as (also) demanded by Theresa Makone upon Emily Madamombe’s request. Why did he do that?”, charged the executive members who requested anonymity, Monday.
At the beginning of the voting process Moyo had declared that every individual in the meeting hall would vote, despite a strict MDC-T party statute which states that in that type of election only district executive members are eligible. “Everyone in this place is going to vote today”, Moyo had announced early afternoon Saturday before the voting process commenced. 
 
Deliberate Time Stretch
The election which would have lasted less than ninety minutes and involving less than 500 voters was stretched into midnight when both independent observers and many journalists now tired had vacated the building. The meeting lasted more than 13 hours and continued past midnight in what ended up appearing like a national election involving millions of voters when only about just 430 people were voting. At 0010Hrs women with families living more than 200 miles away were only beginning to vote. The delay has been sharply criticized by the ZAPU party.
“In ZAPU the previous elections have been less than two hours. They have been so efficient and quick and to hear that an election can go up to the next day is so pathetic considering that there were women and kids. Maybe the MDC should learn from smaller parties than learning from ZANU”, said a Leeds based ZAPU cadre.
The MDC party led by Welshman Ncube also criticised the delay. The party’s deputy chairman for UK said that the process should not last more than 3 hours, referring also to that party’s upcoming UK elections due in June 2011.
“A provincial election should not last more than 3 hours” said Langelihle Khoza.

If it is true that the election lasted more than 12 hours, that is just too long, because even in a normal working environment people work up to eight hours,” hinted Khoza adding that some people in the MDC-T party are what he termed ‘pseudo-democrats’ who claim to be advocates of democracy when in actual fact they are not.
 
Trail of Events
1100Hours-  Meeting Commences, people begin swamming the meeting hall. Election Observers prepare ballot papers.
1300Hours to 1500Hours – Speeches Begin, Thamsanga Mahlangu, Theresa Makone and Lovemore Moyo speak.
Lovemore Moyo announces that everyone would vote.
1338Hours – Interim Outgoing chairman, Tonderai Samanyanga informs ZimEye the contrary that only district executives were allowed to vote(audio recording archived).
1500 – Voting begins
Party members vote, with ordinary party members taking part as well.
1600Hrs – 1700Hrs Leeds Party Member ‘Fidza’ votes three times in full view of security. Returns 30 minutes later and challenges the organisers on the voting process’ authenticity.
1800Hrs – Theresa Makone ejects Fidza from the meeting hall.
1830Hrs – A female party ordinary member from Glasgow votes in full view of security.
2215Hrs – Chairmanship votes secretly announced. Madamombe heads for hotel to prepare for inauguration.
2245Hrs – Madamombe returns to meeting hall.
0010Hrs – Women begin lining up for voting.
0030Hrs (Sunday)- Announcement is made that Madamombe has lost. Madamombe requests a recount of votes. Lovemore Moyo refuses to recount the votes.
 
Secret Results
Results from the election were first announced to the contestants of the chair-post who were strictly ordered not to inform anyone until official announcement was made. Upon returning to the hall, Madamombe was shocked to find out the figures had been altered against her and that she was now two votes behind Samanyanga.
Madamombe (pictured) was seen in new official attire as she returned to the hall prepared to make her first speech as the new chairperson. It was at this time she was told that she had lost.
British Businessman and a key supporter of the MDC party Alan Fish who has worked tirelessly to help asylum seekers, announced Monday he would never again support the MDC party saying that it had proved to be a party that cheats on its own people. 
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 (ZimEye Zimbabwe)  
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Leeds(ZimEye)A UK businessman who has selflessly supported the MDC party for years while also assisting asylum seekers in Yorkshire has dumped the Morgan Tsvangirai led MDC party calling it a party of ‘cheats’ following a vote rigging witnessed at the party’s national election held at Leeds.
Alan Fish typed in comments on ZimEye on Tuesday following his initial verbal announcement to ZimEye on Sunday that he will never support the MDC-T party again. His words follow another announcement in which losing contestant Emily Madamombe said she was challenging the legitimacy of the election. Click Here for Madamombe’s announcement.
Fish, a local businessman based in Huddersfield who has through his church served to assist asylum seekers while also supporting the MDC party condemend the sham election of Tonderai Samanyanga:
We here reproduce the comment-discussion in which a ZANU PF supporter named ‘Bla Miki’ seemed to welcome Fish to his party re-naming him “Cde Alan Fish”:

—ENDS—
PRECEDING STORIES 

Shocking Evidence of MDC-T Vote Rigging

‘Vote Rigging’ at MDC Internal-Election

(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)-The European Union Ambassador to Zimbabwe has clashed with the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare on the effects of restrictive measures imposed on the Zanu (PF) leadership by the European bloc in 2003.
The EU ambassador Aldo Dell’ Ariccia was handing over ten vehicles which his organization donated to the Ministry of Health when he indicated that the sanctions imposed on the Zanu (PF) leadership had no effect on the lives of the ordinary people in Zimbabwe.
“I would like to encourage the Ambassador to consider the restrictive measures, sanctions or whatever you call them, removed because it is impacting on the country’s health delivery system,” said Dr Douglas Mombeshora the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare in his speech.
Responding to the sanctions fiasco Dell’ Ariccia in turn responded that the sanctions where put in place to discourage the Zanu (PF)
government from engaging in violent behavior that resulted in human rights violations and added that the situation in Zimbabwe had actually changed for the worse.

“Can I tell you what; the situation here in Zimbabwe has changed for the worse. We have a Minister in jail and a number of people in jail as well without clear charges,” said Dell’ Ariccia.
He reiterated that his organization would only remove the sanctions after the government had improved to human rights index of the country which he said would be possible only after enough reforms have been done.
“We hope to receive enough signal in respect of reforms for us to consider lifting the sanctions otherwise the situation remains the
same,” he said.
The EU donated 10 one tone trucks to assist in the implementation of the Environmental Health duties to avoid a repeat of the 2008 cholera outbreak which left more than 4000 dead and more children orphaned.
The vehicles will be distributed to the country’s ten provinces with each province receiving one vehicle which will be used by the
Environmental Health Technicians to train some Environmental Health Assistants in their different communities.
The Environmental Health Assistant Training according to Mombeshora includes the prevention and control of cholera, diarrhoeal diseases, malaria and tuberculosis.
The EHA aims at improving practical training of Trainee Environmental Health Technicians.
Mombeshora however appealed to the EU to to consider funding the program in light of the fact that the projected budget for the EHA will dry up in December this year.
“In light of the successful implantation of the project so far, I would like to request our sponsors and EU to seriously consider
extending funding for the programme,” appealed Mombeshora.(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

“A facilitator is a facilitator and should facilitate dialogue between Zimbabweans by way of persuasion.
“That is the best he can do. He cannot prescribe that we do A, B, C, D. We prescribe to ourselves to do A, B, C, D in accordance with our own laws,” said Mugabe.
“MDC-T thinks that Sadc or AU can tell us how we can do our business or how to implement what we have agreed.
“We are a sovereign State and as a sovereign State we don’t accept any interference and even our neighbours should not tell us what to do.”
This comes after the octogenarian leader was warned by the troika chairperson Rupia Banda of the possible North Africa style uprising if he continued to take the people for granted.
“If there is anything that we must learn from the upheavals going on in the northern part of our continent, it is that the legitimate expectations of the citizens of our countries cannot be taken for granted,” President Banda declared.
“We must therefore continue at the SADC level to consolidate democracy through the establishment of institutions that uphold the tenets of good governance, respect for human rights and the rule of law,” he said.
“The issues that we will be addressing require decisive resolutions in charting the future of our regional body.”
Mugabe said the country could go for elections without a new constitution if the people where to reject the one under formulation.
However many stakeholders have warned against going for elections under the current constitution saying this would result in blood shed as is the Zanu (PF) tactic of winning elections.
“We have a new constitution being formulated. The process is slow, but we would want to see at the end of the day whether the draft constitution is going to be accepted by the people.
“If accepted, well, then we proceed to elections and if people reject it, we then go to elections on the basis of the old constitution. We should be ready for the outcome, but being ready for the outcome is another story and preparing for it is another story,” said Mugabe.(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)One of Zimbabwe’s much awaited daily newspaper which was licensed last year has hit the streets with a demo paper being distributed for free around the capital on Thursday.
The paper, The daily Mail which will be a daily paper as the name suggests is at a cost of US$1 on the streets a price most of the papers are selling their newspapers.

Though today’s version was supposed to be a free one, the vendors ended up selling at the designated price due to the demand of the paper by readers. Insiders from the stable said the paper which also have a weekend edition was scheduled to hit the streets permanently sometime in
April.
“It is not yet confirmed but we are being told that the paper would be out by the end of this April as they are still sorting out some logistical issues,” said the source. Efforts to get a comment from the paper’s editor Barnabas Tondhlana were fruitless as there was poor mobile phone connectivity between ZimEye and him.
Zimbabwe bowed to the pressure to license some more media players from some civic organisations and the international community after the banning of the Daily News by the then Information Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo in 2003 which has also resurfaced after being re-licensed by the inclusive government.
However concerns over the freeing of the airwaves remains as no radio or television players have been granted licenses since then. The state controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) continues to operate in a partisan way outside the simple principles of public broadcasting that is, propping up politically motivated violence, whipping up emotions of hate and name calling in most of its programs and other anti-Zanu (PF) voices have been virtually suppressed.
The coming of The Mail means Zimbabwe will now have five daily newspapers namely The Herald, The Chronicle, The Daily News, Newsday and The Mail but they might come up to six if the Boka owned The Nation which was also given a license was to open operations. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)The Movement for Democratic Change has reclaimed the Speaker of Parliament seat which was wrestled away form its candidate Lovemore Moyo by the Zanu (PF) king pin Professor Jonathan Moyo through the supreme court.

Harare(ZimEye)The MDC-T party said today it unearthed a $25000 bribery scam engineered by ZANU(PF) to lure its legislators to vote for its speaker of parliament candidate.
“Five of our MPS received $5000 each from a coordinator of the syndicate a senator Believe Gaule which they quickly handed over to us the chief whips of the party as evidence of the scam. We are in possession of the of $25 000 which our MPS have surrendered this morning,”MDC-T chief whip Innocent Gonese told reporters at a press briefing in Harare Tuesday morning while her deputy Dorcas Sibanda was showing the bribe.
ZANU(PF) has nominated Simon Khaya Moyo for the position of the speaker of house of Assembly, while MDC-T has returned the ousted Lovemore Moyo for the same post whose elections are due this afternoon.
Gonese who refused to divulge the names of his party MPs who were given the bribe by ZANU(PF) said they are investigating 10 more MDC-T MPs who were promised farms and cash if the assist ZANU(PF) to win the speakership post.
“From the evidence we got from our sources from both ZANU(PF) and the MDC the people coordinating are Jonathan Moyo,senator Believe Gaule and Kudakwashe Basikiti,”Gonese added.
Efforts by this reporter to get a comment from ZANU(PF) spokesperson Rugare Gumbo were fruitless as his mobile phone was not reachable. The position of speaker is up for grabs after the Supreme Court nullified the election of incumbent Lovemore Moyo following a challenge by former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

By Zvamaida Murwira |Herald| DETHRONED House of Assembly Speaker Mr Lovemore Moyo will be barred from attending proceedings when the House resumes sitting to elect the new presiding officer, Clerk of Parliament, Mr Austin Zvoma has said.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mr Zvoma said adequate security measures would be put in place to restrict the voting process to only eligible members.
“Mr Moyo will not be among the members who will participate in voting but he is eligible to stand as Speaker, but during the election, he will be barred from entering the Chamber as he is a former Member of Parliament.
“The Clerk will put adequate measures for this,” Mr Zvoma said.
Mr Moyo was elected House of Assembly Speaker on August 25 2008.
He was, however, dethroned on March 10, after the Supreme Court ruled that his election was marred with irregularities.
This followed an appeal by Tsholotsho North legislator Professor Jonathan Moyo to quash Mr Lovemore Moyo’s election.
Mr Zvoma said following extensive consultations to understand the legal implications of the Supreme Court ruling nullifying Mr Moyo’s election, he concluded that Mr Moyo ceased to be a legislator.
Mr Moyo, he said, could not expect to have his constituency seat reserved for more than 30 months while waiting to have an outcome of a court challenge by Prof Moyo.
“That would suggest Lovemore Moyo was holding both the position of Speaker and MP, since the 25th of August 2008,” he said.
Mr Zvoma said until it was proven otherwise in a court of law, he will continue holding the view that Mr Moyo ceased to be MP for Matobo North when he became Speaker, considering the long period he executed duties as the presiding officer of the Lower House.
He said he had since written to President Mugabe updating him on what transpired and what his office was doing to comply with the Supreme Court judgment.
“The Clerk has written to His Excellency, the President for purposes of consultation as the President is part of the legislature telling him what has happened and why it is happening like that and to reassure him that things will be done properly.
“So I have consulted the President and have also included legal advice and will announce the dates for the election of Speaker in due course,” Mr Zvoma said.
He slammed MDC-T secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti for failing to have an appreciation of the law by claiming that the Clerk of Parliament had no authority to move the date of sitting by the House forward.
“I am disappointed that a person like Minister Biti, a lawyer chooses to react emotionally and not rationally by seeking to denigrate the person of the Clerk on a flawed basis and interpretation of the implication of the Supreme Court ruling by misleading the public that the Clerk is flouting the law by varying the dates to which the House had adjourned,” he said.
Mr Zvoma said it was critical to note that the Supreme Court judgment superseded the sitting of the House on March 22 2011.
As the Clerk, in the absence of a legitimately elected Speaker, he said, he had lawful authority to defer the sitting of the Lower House.

Harare(ZimEye)-Education, Art, Sport and Culture Minister David Coltart said the government is going to reintroduce night school learning throughout the country in order to assist children who dropped out of school in the past decade of economic decline adding that he had raised the funds to be paid to the teachers who shall do the work.
Thousands of school going people dropped out of school before the inception of the Government of National Unity (GNU) because of most parents’ failure to raise school fees school.
Some of the affected crossed the border for the Diaspora without completing their education.
“I have just finalised the funding deal with donors which will see teachers being paid for extra lessons countrywide. We have realised that it is essential to establish night schools so that people who dropped out of school can go back and at least get basic education that will enable them to fend for themselves,” Coltart said at an electricity commissioning programme at Westlea Primary School.
Coltart said the funding will also reduce the burden which parents were carrying of giving incentives to teachers.
As a result of  the depressed economy teachers were demanding incentives from parents
The Incentives parents were paying were meant to improve teachers’ salaries.
This then resulted in an inequitable treatment of students from impoverished family backgrounds (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

South Africa ANC Youth league president wants the South African government to take over 60% of Anglo American Corporation’s shareholding, city press reports.
Julius Malema who turned 30 on the 3rd of March said Friday:
“If we don’t do it (nationalisation), we’ll always stay poor. The Oppenheimers don’t need to worry because we only want 60 percent of Anglo American’s money…”

The ANC has been to be backing Malema in many of his controversial announcements. Following his birthday last week, the party said in a statement that they wish he ‘grows more radical and militant’.
Malema said that Anglo had agreed to give 51 percent of its mining interests to black people in Botswana and seemed to ask why the company did not want to do the same in South Africa accusing the mining giant of thinking black people were what he termed ‘idiots’ and of abusing the black population in South Africa.
In an emotional speech seemingly sympathetic with the dissatisfied working class masses, Malema said that political freedom was useless without economic freedom.
“We’re now economic freedom fighters. The revolution started to get food. We don’t have to apologise, or be shy about this struggle.”
With an unpopular surge in inflation, South Africa is also faced with an unemployment crisis that has also seen the ANC fearing a rising working  class turning against it in coming polls. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)A Harare Magistrate’s-Court public prosecutor was Saturday severely assaulted by her husband after she was found in an adulterous act with a boyfriend in their matrimonial home.
The prosecutor, Patience Chimusaru, who stays at Harare central prison camp was struck in the head by her husband at their camp house after the man had found the two making love.
The matter was later reported to the police but in denial that she had been attacked for adultery, Chimusaru who has not sought legal action against her husband, was swift to withdraw before journalists had picked up the story.
A source at Harare magistrate’s court’s prosecution department confirmed the incident though no finer details were provided. The prosecutor was however seen by ZimEye bandaged in the head where the assault is alleged to have been directed.
“This is really true but I have no authority to comment on such issues as they are personal issues,” said the source. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)-President Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace has been implicated in illegal foreign currency dealings in 2007, and a truck fraud case with a South African Haulage Company by the name of Fast Truck Haulage, a case which led to the arrest of four South African nationals at the weekend.

Grace Mugabe’s name cropped up when three of the disputed trucks were on the 19th February dumped at her Mazoe Orphanage home. According to the state outline in 2007 Olga Bugu who in her affidavit said was at that time not employed, transferred from RBZ US$1million to South African based business man Ping Sung HSIEH’s Chantria Trading Account at Standard charted bank south Africa after the two greed that six IVECO haulage trucks were to be delivered at number 67 Chancellor Road under the facilitation a Zimbabwe based Mr. Stanley Nhare who is a co-Director of the company with Ping Sung of South Africa.
The six vehicles were supposed to be delivered to number 67 Chancellor Road Harare. There are only two premises situated at in Chancellor Road, and they are all part of the state house. Chancellor road begins at corner Josiah Tongogara and Seventh Street and ends at number 1 Borrowdale road. The only building between the two roads is the state house.

The state alleges that the fraud case against Ping arose after he failed to deliver the consignment in 2008 and dumped three of the six trucks at Grace Mugabe’s Orphanage home on 19th February.

“The four Cassim Jee Bilal (28), Henry Radebe(57), Samuel Risimati Baloyi and Sydney Masitho Sekgobela(40) drove from South Africa three Iveco trucks with trailers, registered in South Africa under the Fast Track Haulage Company with a temporary import expiry date of 4 March and left them at Grace Mugabe’s orphanage home in Mazoe on 19 February to security guard Givemore Matambwa making him also to sign a document acknowledging the receipt of the trucks on behalf of Stanley Nare,” read the court case outline.
It is the state’s case that the four drivers were arrested the very day after the guard alerted Nhare who refused the trucks because they were not enough.
Representing the four, prominent Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa argued that they were not linked to the fraud saying they were mere hired drivers. She also challenged the state to provide evidence of the origins of the $1million which was transferred from RBZ for the purchase of the six haulage trucks.
“We want the state to give us the evidence where the money transferred from the RBZ in 2007 came from given that this was the time when the illegal money burning was rife in the country. We know that at this time people were prosecuted for burning money, “she challenged.
The state represented by a senior law officer in the Attorney General’s Office,
Chris Mtangadura said by delivering the vehicles the four connived with Mr. Ping to defraud Omega Bungu and should be denied bail and convicted together the with Mr. Ping who has since been indicted by the South African government with his hearing being scheduled for the 4th of March.

“The four should be denied bail and answer road charges because they acted in common purpose with Mr. Ping. They were aware that the trucks they drove from South Africa had temporary import permits which expire 4 March and deceived the complainant. To further
incriminate themselves they are the ones who processed these temporary import permits yet they knew they were going to dump the trucks in Zimbabwe, “said Mtangadura.

Harare Provincial magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe who was presiding over the case remanded the four in custody to 2 March pending trial of the case on the 14th March.
“Given the fact that the four processed the temporary import permits, it convinced me that they acted in common purpose with the principal accused who is Mr. Ping. Other factors to consider are that the four are foreign nationals. If granted bail chance of them skipping to their South African boarder are high, “ruled Guvamombe. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)The number of activists charged with treason is not 46 as reported by other media houses, ZimEye can reveal.
Many journalists erroneously reported that there were (46) arrested activists in court when in actual fact they were only (45) present.
At the beginning of procedings the charged were in total 46 but one Rinos Chari (42) was dropped from the list before procedings bringing the final list that appeared in court to 45.
We publish below the FULL list of ISO activists arrested for plotting the said ‘Egypt’ style protest.
They are:

1 Munyaradzi Gwisai (46)
Zimbabwe Labour Center

2 Antonater Choto
Zimbabwe Labour Center
3 Tatenda Mombeyarara
Zimbabwe Labour Center
4 Michael Sozinyu
Medical Professionals and Allied Workers Union
5 Edson Chakuma
United food and Allied Workers Union
6 Hopewell Gumbo
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development
7 Welcome Zimuto
3rd Year student, Chinhoyi University
8 Philip Magaya
Unemployed
9 Prolific Simbarashe Mataruse
Unemployed
10 Godknows Biya
Zimphos
11 David Mupatse
Unemployed
12 Douglas Muzanenhamo
Unemployed
13 Reki Jimu (40)
Chitungwiza Central Hospital
14 Ganizani Nunu (41)
Unemployed
15 Josphat Chinembiri Terenyika (44)
Unemployed
16 Strutton Nyaya Muhambi (42)
Unemployed
17 Trevor Chamba (21)
Unemployed
18 Clarence Mugari (39)
Zimbabwe Graphical Workers Union
19 Munyaradzi Maregedze (35)
MARS
20 Willie Tinashe Hlatswayo (25)
4th year Student, UZ
21 Ian Muteto (23)
2nd years Student, Bindura University
22 Tinashe Mutazu (24)
Unemployed
23 Pride Evidence Mukono (age not given)
2nd year Student, UZ
24 Lenard Kamwendo (30)
Kubatana Trust
25 Tinashe Chisaira (24)
Zimbabwe Labour Center
26 Trust Munyama (25)
4th year Student, Harare Poly
27 Peter Garanewako (22)
Unemployed
28 Elizaberth Chipo Makume (53)
Unemployed
29 Megline Malunga (47)
Unemployed
30 Daison Bango (29)
Unemployed
31 Malvern Hobwana (24)
Unemployed
32 Tashinga Mudzengi (24)
Org not given
33 Ednar Chabalika (24)
Unemployed
34 Thokozile Mathe (34)
Unemployed
35 Francesca Thomson (41)
Unemployed
36 Masline Zvomuya (23)
Crossroads House
37 Nhamo Kute (36)
Unemployed
38 Annie Chipeta (42)
Unemployed
39 Tabeth Chideya (63)
Unemployed
40 Charles Mbwandarikwa (42)
Mutasa Pri School, Highfields
41 Thomas Chibaya (31)
CPL PVT (LTD)
42 Fatima Manhando (50)
Unemployed
43 Blessing Muguzaya (33)
Unemployed
44 Robert Muhlaba (54)
Seke Teacher’s College
45 Tinashe Muzambi (22)
Unemployed
The presiding magistrate Mutevedzi rolled the matter over to Thursday(today).
The activists complained of failing to access their lawyer Mr Aleck Muchadehama who was representing them when they
where detained at the notorious Law and Order section of the Harare Central police.
Muchadehama however applied to the court to have time to take instructions from his clients after the court leant that he had not
been allowed to see his clients when they were in police custody. 
ZimEye will keep our valued readers and the rest of the Zimbabwean population informed on the procedings. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

London(ZimEye)27 year old writer, Tendai Tagarira has claimed to predict Robert Mugabe’s death.
The Denmark based writer said that Mugabe will not pass the year 2011 before something happens to him.
Said Tagarira:
“…Mugabe continues to ever push them to the brink but I can tell you that his time is running out. I predict that Mugabe will not be with us by the end of the year!…”
The young prolific writer hinted claiming that the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Lybia are a clue of what is to come in Zimbabwe.
Calling on all opposition parties to head to the streets, he said:
“Look at our brothers in Tunisia,Egypt and now Lybia. They have stood up to the wicked autocratic regimes and demanded their freedom. No amount of guns or intimidation can stop the people’s voice. The Zimbabwean security forces should learn from Lybians who have flown their jets to Malta after refusing to shoot the people. In Zimbabwe, the military and security forces is staffed by hard liners, some who are responsible for the Gukurahundi massacres. These men will not be afraid to open fire on the people but the day they fire their first bullet against the masses, they will be finished! The time is coming for the Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe to arise and stand up to Mugabe! The opposition parties in Zimbabwe need to stop playing ball with Mugabe and instead lead protest marches. The people of Zimbabwe are fed up and on the brink of doing a “Libya”.
Tagarira resides in Denmark where he has formed a political party whose membership is still unknown and its manifesto also remains undisclosed. The young writer who recently declared a rastafarian-protest against Mugabe, also plans to challenge the ageing dictator for the presidency in the upcoming general elections. (ZimEye, UK, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says President Mugabe is to blame on the current wave of violence being perpetrated by members of the uniformed forces because he is the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Forces.
He told a public meeting in Harare that Mugabe was just looking for ways to defend his party by claiming that there is no violence in the country, yet on the other hand he is aware of what the uniformed forces are doing, because he is the one who give them orders.
“We have a structure where we have a Commander-in-Chief who purports not to know what is happening, but indirectly orders the army to act. The buck stops with (President) Mugabe. If they (uniformed forces) defy his orders against violence, then we can say we have a coup in the country of which I don’t believe there is one,” he said.
PM Tsvangirai said he would confront Mugabe over the issue as soon as he comes back from Singapore where he is reportedly receiving treatment.
He also bemoaned the uniformed forces’ failure to transform themselves into a professional force, preferring to be pro-Zanu (PF) in the discharge of their duties.
“Over two years they (the uniformed forces) have failed to adjust and refused to let go of their partisan actions,” Tsvangirai added.
Uniformed forces continue to treat MDC supporters as enemies despite the formation of the Government of National Unity two years ago.(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)-Grade one pupils are being punished for failing to draw President Robert Mugabe’s portrait and congratulatory massages below it.
ZimEye witnessed some grade one pupils at Admiral Tait Primary school in Harare being ordered by their teachers to draw the aging President’s portrait and inscribe: ‘21st Movement, happy birthday to you’ below the portrait.
Infants who fail to do the assignment are being delayed from their early breaking time. The teachers said the directive was coming from the Ministry Education that every grade one child should do the assignment which would be sent back to the ministry before Friday this week as Robert Mugabe’s 21st February birthday celebrations draw near.
“We were just told that we should make them draw the portrait and submit the drawings to the ministry this week. They said it’s a running competition,” answered one teacher who pleaded not to be named after ZimEye had asked the reason why the minors were being delayed.
In an interview on Thursday Education Arts Sports and Culture
Minister David Coltart said politicians should leave the education sector.
“I have said consistently that schools should not be political battle grounds in any form or fashion, that is why I put bans on any political party using schools for political rallies; its illegal and unwarranted for politicians to coerce teachers, headmasters and worse still school children to provide money for any political party activities.
“I have always said this contradicts our fundamental educational policy,” he said.
ZANU (PF) youths teachers in Harare are also reportedly forcing teachers through their headmasters that they should leave at least two days a week for lessons about the liberation struggle.
The teachers said most headmasters who ignored the order were being victimised by the youths who went from school to school asking whether the children were, in fact, being taught about their party instead of being educated on Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.
The teachers were also being forced to donate cash and in kind for President Robert Mugabe’s 87th birthday bash under the banner of the “21st February Movement”.
The movement was formed by the current Minister of Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu, and is meant to honour and praise the ailing President Mugabe annually. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)After a heated national council convened Thursday, the MDC party expelled and subsequently ‘donated’ Arthur Mutambara to Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party.
Arthur Mutambara who was the party leader and lost the position last month no longer has a party and is now branded a ZANU PF member.
A resolution was taken following a report by the party president Welshman Ncube after conversations with President Mugabe which revealed that the ZANU PF leader was adamant to swear-in Welshman Ncube to the influential position of Deputy Prime Minister. The MDC said it took the position after Robert Mugabe told the party’s newly-elected leader Welshman Ncube “in no uncertain terms” on Tuesday that he would not swear him in.
It is believed that the denial by Mugabe is because the ZANU PF leader ‘fears’ Welshman Ncube’s political acumen and community-influence in Zimbabwe. One party member who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the problem is because Mugabe “fears Ncube’s relations with South African president Jacob Zuma” who is also the chief principal facilitator to Zimbabwe’s government of national unity.
Speaking to ZimEye, the party’s spokesman Nhlanhla Dube bluntly criticised Mutambara’s siding with Robert Mugabe:
“He can continue to enjoy that protection (from Mugabe) but certainly he cannot continue to pretend to be a member of our party,” he said adding that the party had chosen to fire Mutambara and to therewith ‘donate’ him to ZANU PF.
“We’ll apply for an amendment of the GPA where we are saying we are happy with ZANU PF having the position of the deputy prime minister. We are happy donating that position” Dube said adding that Arthur Mutambara (pictured) no longer wields the mandate of the party which ushered him into that position.
The party’s secretary general Priscilla Misihairabwi weighed in on the comments adding:
“We are now saying given Mugabe’s stance, they [Zanu PF] can have that position that was allocated to us, so that Mutambara becomes their Deputy Prime Minister,” Misihairabwi said.
Misihairabwi said they would not be seeking to occupy the deputy premiership and would now focus on rebuilding their party and preparing for elections.
“We want to give Arthur the position that he so desperately wants and hopefully we will have less public fights than we are having because we know its driven by him wanting to be Deputy Prime Minister. He said it to me personally.”
Mutambara claimed that as a principal signatory of the GPA, his position as Deputy Prime Minister was secured.
(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

(Harare)After weeks of speculation and media smearing, Arthur Mutambara was finally expelled from MDC leadership Thursday after an extraordinary national council meeting today(Thursday).
Mutambara who has been in government through the MDC party no longer has a party he represents.
Speaking to ZimEye, the party’s spokesperson Nhlanhla Dube criticised Mutambara’s siding with Robert Mugabe:
“He can continue to enjoy that protection (from Mugabe) but certainly he cannot continue to pretend to be a member of our party,” he said
The party is now expected to make a formal report to President Robert Mugabe and the Speaker of Parliament informing them of the decision, with the expectation that Mutambara will give up his post as Deputy Prime Minister. In statement this week Mutambara shocked the world when he said that he would not recognise Welshman Ncube as president of the MDC despite his having voted for his leadership last month.  MORE TO FOLLOW…
(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

London(ZimEye)Growing anarchy as a result of a revolt by party members against MDC-N leader Welshman Ncube is to be rooted out soon likely resulting in former party leader Arthur Mutambara being expelled for rebellion, ZimEye has been told.
Mutambara the former party leader who became the subject of major discussions on the media at the end of January may soon be ex-communicated from the party for failing to heed to a congress decision to step down from his Vice Premiership and siding with Robert Mugabe.
Speaking to ZimEye Monday, the MDC’s UK chairman, Abraham Mdlongwa responded saying:
“The attitude of the UK party structures of the MDC is that the MDC has issued a lawful instruction regarding the re-deployment of its personnel in government. Party members are required to obey this lawful instruction and any party members who act to the contrary will face disciplinary action in terms of our party code of conduct”

Mdlongwa added saying that the support Mutambara has received from Mugabe is a sign that Mutambara has always been a Mugabe-fanatic. Mugabe told a luncheon hosted for him by the country’s ambassador to Ethiopia: “It creates legal matters, it complicates issues. They were able to remove him politically, but legally he was sworn in as a Member of Parliament. I swore him in as Deputy Prime Minister.
“It’s up to him if he wants to resign, but if he refuses, well, we are stuck, but the Global Political Agreement will go ahead.”
The party wrote to President Robert Mugabe informing him of the demotion of Mutambara who has been ear-marked for the post of minister of Regional Integration and International Co-operation which was held by the skillful party cadre and Ncube loyalist Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga, who is to take over the ministry of Industry and International Trade.
Ncube ousted former party leader Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara after a common consensus was reached to remove him. But rebels led by one Joubert Mudzumwe have maintained that Mutambara is still the leader of the party which is now known as the MDC-N following Ncube’s election. Quoted by Radiovop, Kuraone Chihwayi, the deputy spokesperson of the MDC-N said on Friday his party’s national standing committee met and decided to refer the issue of its “ambitious prodigal sons ” to the party’s disciplinary committee headed by Jacob Moyo. (ZimEye, UK, Zimbabwe)

London(ZimEye) A Zimbabwean UK based shipping businessman who has had thousands of pounds worth of goods disappear in his care reportedly told a customer that he would ‘send her goods from London to Harare by road’, ZimEye has been told.
Our reporter was contacted by a customer who to her misfortune had not read the 2009 story exposing the businessman’s crude dealings, and due to ignorance she agreed to make a shipment transaction for a fee of at least £6400 after she had been ‘told’ that her goods would be shipped from London to Harare ‘by road’. The lady who sent two vehicles and a host other valuable goods to Harare does not know the whereabouts of her shipment since September last year although having been ‘promised’ they would be in Harare by Christmas 2010.
The businessman who ZimEye exposed in 2009, is also now operating under three different company brands, it has emerged. A secretary who answered the company phone Friday said her company’s name is Croswell and not the ZimCargo that it used to be.
An undercover ZimEye reporter discovered that Nembaware is still trading at large in London despite being exposed two years ago by this publication. The businessman (pictured) has also failed to provide documentation such as bills of loading for the goods as requested by the woman who now joins many others who have lost their shipments within the last few years. It is reported that he owes a certain company in Africa more than £30,000 and hence he is not able to deliver his customers’ goods into Zimbabwe and the goods are being held up.
Meanwhile another company Nembaware cloned its name (Zim Cargo) ended up having to change its brand altogether. “Since Mr Nembaware  has been using our name Zimcargo we had no choice but to stop using our registered name and have been trading as TBS Cargo www.zwtbs.com, if anyone needs any clarification please do not hesitate to call us on…,”  a statement was released by the company in 2009.
Bonnie Nembaware denies promising to send his customer’s goods via road. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Harare(ZimEye)A white businessman was on Friday forced to move from his Harare Lake Chivero Kuimbashiri lodge by an unruly mob of more than 200 war veterans and ZANU (PF) militia, as the party began a violent attack on white owned businesses.
According to the businessman Gary Stafford, the violent war veterans said they were doing it in the name of ‘indigenisation’.
“They are saying they want ‘to empower their people’. Yes they are saying they are war veterans and there are more than 200 of them. Please you can come and hear yourself what they want to take the lodge for. I am afraid they are here right now,“ he said.
ZANU (PF) through the Indigenization minister Savior Kasukuwere is directing its youths to grab foreign owned companies. Reports say invasions have started in the Lowveld where war veterans have warned sugar cane plantation owners to vacate the properties. ZANU(PF) is synonymous  with  property  rights  abuse  especially when the country is preparing for elections.
There are also reports coming from Nyanga that a group of thugs led by a female war veteran by the name Natsai Bukuta, recently embarked on a looting spree of several white-owned properties.
Nyanga South Member of Parliament, Willard Chimbetete, this week confirmed that white-owned tourist lodges and cottages were invaded by the so-called war veterans who looted property valued at millions of United States dollars. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

A Critical examination done by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network has revealed a grave presence of ghost voters in the current voter’s roll and a high level of voter education -ignorance among Zimbabweans.
ZESN defines ghost voters as not only of deceased persons in the voter’s roll but also of young people and names and addresses of completely non existant voters.
According to the research document the organisation officially launched in Harare on Thursday, 27% of the voters registered in the voter’s roll were deceased.
 
“The computer test revealed 2344 people born between 1901 and 1909 aged between 101 and 110 years old, and also revealed 9 people born between 1890 and 1900 aged between 111 and 120 years old,” said the report. The registrar’s office reportedly also denied ZESN access to the electronic voters’ roll.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the function on Thursday in Harare , ZESN Chairperson Tinoziva Bere said the government should not privately clean up the shambled voter’s roll but rather engage all stakeholders in the pursuit of transparency and accountability.
ZESN recommended that there is an urgent need for voter education in the country, encouraging new voters to register.
The organisation said given that the current voter’s roll is in
shambles, there is need for the drawing up of a new voter’s roll which will improve the currency, accuracy and completeness of the voter’s roll.
The process, ZESN said should be transparent and inclusive to ensure that all eligible persons are registered.
The current voter registration requires that for one to be a registered voter he or she has to produce a proof of residence.
In this regard ZESN recommended that such requirements should be revised to enable urban dwellers and youths who do not own houses to register for voting.
The election monitoring watchdog said the government should fully capacitate the Zimbabwe Election Commission if it is serious about the holding of a credible election.  The Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede(pictured) could not be reached for comment at the time of writing (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Lybia’s ruler Muammar Gaddafi reached a total 41 years in power today(Sunday).
The Lybian dictator (pictured) who dreams of uniting the African continent under his leadership has been at the helm of the Lybian presidency since  the 16th January 1970 when he became premier of Libya. He has ruled the country ever since and now holds the title ‘Colonel’.
Gaddafi is now left with less than 24 months to become Africa’s longest serving ruler. At the moment the record is held by Gabon’s former President Omar Bongo, currently recorded as Africa’s longest dictator and who died at age 73 in 2009. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe who is yet the world’s oldest ruler follows behind Gadaffi by ten years. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

Gbabgo, who has ruled the world’s biggest cocoa producer, was defeated in the November elections by Alassane Ouattara, who has set up his own parallel government while claiming he won the hotly disputed poll.

Like the ageing Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, Gbabgo has the full backing of his country’s military and has adamantly refused to hand over power to Quattara braving fierce world pressure that has threatened to use force to remove him.

Gbagbo also claims he is under siege from western governments out to see him out of power.

He has likened his case to that of Mugabe, who also claims western governments want him out of power at all costs.

Gbagbo said the move to remove him militarily by Ecowas was the result of a Western plot directed by France and the United States, whose ambassadors he accuses of undermining Ivorian electoral procedures in order to propel Ouattara into power.(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

 

Harare(ZimEye)-Both MDC formations, including ZAPU heavy -weights boycotted the burial of the late National hero Nevison Nyashanu on Sunday.
The late former ZAPU deputy secretary General and Buhera North legislator Nyashanu died on the eve of the Boxing Day holiday at the age of 84 in Harare.
Only present at the event were members of the apostolic sect set who were holding pro-ZANU-PF banners and the party’s violent youths who sang and cheered.
The smaller MDC faction leader Arthur Mutambara who used to attend state functions which MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai would have boycotted was also not present.
Observers believe that Mutambara might have avoided the hero’s burial because of his internal party politics.

Mutambara is under fire from his party for hero worship ZANU-PF leader Robert Mugabe and as a result of that he is facing a chop in the party congress to be held next week.
The party wants to replace him with Welshman Ncube, who is the current Secretary General.
President Mugabe who is on leave was also reluctant to attend the burial of the former ZAPU secretary general Nevison Nyashanu. John Nkomo who is the acting President graced the occasion.
In a traditional ZANU-PF style the Acting President castigated the west for refusing to lift sanctions.
“The west has no interests in this country besides defending their own interests. They want our land and natural resources and a government that protects their interests,” he said. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)