By- The Police have arrested five (5) more CCC Five supporters for attending the opposition’s activist Moreblessing Ali.

This takes to 10, including Members of Parliament, Job Sikhala (Zengeza West) and Godfrey Sithole (Chitungwiza North), the number of CCC supporters arrested.

The Harare Magistrate Court denied bail to the CCC MPs and three supporters of the opposition party, Misheck Guzha, Adious Makoma and Precious Jeche.

Sikhala and Sithole, who have been appearing in court in leg irons, were remanded in custody to 6 July.

Magistrate Gibson Mandaza said Sikhala and Sithole are “a threat to public security” and likely to re-offend if released on bail. Mandaza ruled that Sikhala had already disregarded a High Court order that barred him from using Social Media.

The ruling on the trio’s bail application will be delivered Thursady at 3 PM.

Noble Chinhanu, of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, is representing the trio.

By-Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala and his Chitungwiza North counterpart Godfrey Sithole have been denied bail.

The two are in prison for demanding justice in the gruesome murder of CCC activist Moreblessing Ali.

A Harare magistrate Wednesday denied the two bail and said they would cause chaos if released.

The two were arrested on Tuesday on charges of incitement to commit violence.

Sikhala, the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) deputy national chairperson and Sithole, the Chitungwiza North legislator, are being accused of mobilising their party supporters to unleash violence in Nyatsime, Chitungwiza, during a memorial service for Moreblessing Ali.
Ali, a CCC member, was abducted outside a nightclub in Nyatsime on May 14, and her dismembered remains were discovered in a disused well at a farm in Beatrice, about 10km away from where she was taken.
The chief suspect in her murder, Pius Jamba (31) was arrested last Friday and was on Saturday remanded in custody.

Magistrate Gibson Mandaza, remanded Sikhala and Sithole in custody to July 6 this year and their lawyers immediately indicated that they would
be launching an urgent appeal at the High Court.
In denying them bail, magistrate Gibson Mandaza said Sikhala and Sithole were “a threat to public security” and were likely to re-offend if
released.

– New Ziana

By- A Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) bus has crashed into a Highfield home.

ZBC News reports that the family in Harare are lucky to be alive.
ZBC News arrived just after the accident, with family members breaking windows to come out of the house after the bus had blocked the veranda entrance.
The bus driver, which had no passengers, escaped unhurt, but the conductor sustained minor injuries and was immediately ferried to a local clinic for treatment.

By-The Zanu PF regime, through the Harare magistrate Mrs Munashe Chibanda has for the second time dismissed an application for exception filed by a legal clerk with Tendai Biti Law Chambers who is facing two fresh counts of fraud due to lack of merit.

The magistrate ruled that the trial should commence on June 29.

Constantine Chaza had applied for an exception on amended charges arguing that the charges on the State outline do not constitute an offence.
In dismissing the application, Mrs Chibanda said Chaza’s application lacked merit.
On the first count, it is alleged that on February 26, 2020 at the High Court in Harare, Chaza tendered a fake special power of attorney from Elliot Rogers in the matter in which the complainant, Tendai Mashamhanda, was the other party.

The court acted upon the misrepresentation and allowed Chaza to file the papers.
The matter came to light when Mashamhanda managed to contact Rogers in the United Kingdom, who denied giving Chaza any power of attorney and the matter was reported to the police.
The special power of attorney tendered by Chaza was checked out by the CID Forensic Laboratory for analysis together with other documents that Rogers signed and it was allegedly discovered that the documents were not signed by the same person.
On the second count, it is alleged that on October 18 2021 at the High Court in Harare, Chaza again allegedly tendered a fake special power of attorney from Rogers in another case.

It is further alleged that the matter came to light when the complainant, Piwayi Chiutsi, noted that the signature on the special power of attorney dated September 27, 2015 was different from the signature by Rogers on an affidavit done on October 7, 2014 and a report was made to the police.

Chaza is on $5 000 bail on another matter involving perjury charges after allegedly filing a false statement under oath at the High Court.
-State media

By-CCC leader Nelson Chamisa Wednesday led hundreds who attended his party’s deputy chairman Job Sikhala and Chitungwiza North MP Godfrey Sithole’s court hearing.

Ostallos Siziba, the CCC deputy spokesperson, posted pictures of Chamisa at Harare magistrate’s courts on Twitter.

Siziba posted:

Shoulder to Shoulder: In Court today in solidarity with our #NyatsimeTrio together with Hon Job Sikhala and Hon Gody Sithole for their bail hearings. We stand together knowing fully well that one day We Shall Be Free!! Solidarity always! Thank you Champions #FakaPressure

https://twitter.com/Cde_Ostallos/status/1539609050115104769/photo/1

By-A Harare magistrate Wednesday denied bail to Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala and his Chitungwiza North counterpart Godfrey Sithole and said the two would cause chaos if released.

The two were arrested on Tuesday on charges of incitement to commit violence.
Sikhala, the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) deputy national chairperson and Sithole, the Chitungwiza North legislator, are being accused of mobilising their party supporters to unleash violence in Nyatsime, Chitungwiza, during a memorial service for Moreblessing Ali.
Ali, a CCC member, was abducted outside a nightclub in Nyatsime on May 14, and her dismembered remains were discovered in a disused well at a farm in Beatrice, about 10km away from where she was taken.
The chief suspect in her murder, Pius Jamba (31) was arrested last Friday and was on Saturday remanded in custody.

Magistrate Gibson Mandaza, remanded Sikhala and Sithole in custody to July 6 this year and their lawyers immediately indicated that they would
be launching an urgent appeal at the High Court.
In denying them bail, magistrate Gibson Mandaza said Sikhala and Sithole were “a threat to public security” and were likely to re-offend if
released.

– New Ziana

By-A Harare magistrate Wednesday denied bail to Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala and his Chitungwiza North counterpart Godfrey Sithole and said the two would cause chaos if released.

The two were arrested on Tuesday on charges of incitement to commit violence.
Sikhala, the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) deputy national chairperson and Sithole, the Chitungwiza North legislator, are being accused of mobilising their party supporters to unleash violence in Nyatsime, Chitungwiza, during a memorial service for Moreblessing Ali.
Ali, a CCC member, was abducted outside a nightclub in Nyatsime on May 14, and her dismembered remains were discovered in a disused well at a farm in Beatrice, about 10km away from where she was taken.
The chief suspect in her murder, Pius Jamba (31) was arrested last Friday and was on Saturday remanded in custody.

Magistrate Gibson Mandaza, remanded Sikhala and Sithole in custody to July 6 this year and their lawyers immediately indicated that they would
be launching an urgent appeal at the High Court.
In denying them bail, magistrate Gibson Mandaza said Sikhala and Sithole were “a threat to public security” and were likely to re-offend if
released.

– New Ziana

By Gift Ostallos Siziba

We are at Harare magisatrate court in solidarity with our Champions Hon Job Wiwa Sikhala and Hon Godfrey Sithole.

The state denied Sikhala bail. A travesty of justice. Political prisoners must be freed.

We forge ahead knowing fully that one day the victory of the people will bring total freedom to the oppressed.

FakaPressure

https://twitter.com/joseph_kalimbwe/status/1539578871170875394?s=20&t=rIxghp7YfUVmVPaJC_6Zpw

Full text- @CCCZimbabwe Alternative Health Policy @advocatemahere #Zimbabwe #Health pic.twitter.com/g6mhQLsEmC

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) June 22, 2022

First Mutual Funeral Services has advertised a post for a driver. Pindula News presents the advert below:

DRIVER/UNDERTAKER

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Reporting to the Branch Supervisor, the successful candidate will be responsible for the following;

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• Documentation — processing documents for burials and repatriation.

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• Attending to bereaved clients with dignity and compassion.

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• Preparing of funeral services quotations and recommending products to clients.

• corning up with a funeral program in liaison with the bereaved family.

• Acting as the company’s point person in assisting families during bereavement.

• Managing the showroom and ensuring adequate stocking of all casket ranges.

• Monitoring movement of stock and personal effects.

• Maintaining vehicle movement and maintenance records.

• Assisting in the supervision of housekeeping and burials ensuring good health standards.

• Submitting reports to the Branch Supervisor.

Person Specification

• Ordinary level passes

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• three (3) years of experience as an Undertaker

• Good communication skills oral and written,

• Good interpersonal skills With you, for you. Candidates meeting the above criteria should forward their Curriculum Vitaes (CVs), copies of certificates and application letters to Group Iluman Resources via the following email address: [email protected].

Applications should be sent by not later than 26 June 2022.

By A Correspondent- Beitbridge Border Post, the country’s busiest inland port of entry, has been identified as the country’s major corruption hot spot, with some Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) officials under investigation after building mansions in Harare.

Zimra is investigating three Beitbridge-based revenue officers who built mansions in Harare, but failed to account to their employer how they raised the money following a lifestyle audit.

The revenue authority could, however, not release the names of the officers since the matter is still under investigation.

This emerged during a stakeholders’ workshop on the progress made in the fight against corruption held in Bulawayo on Friday.

Presenting a lifestyle audit report to parliamentarians and other stakeholders during the meeting, Zimra loss control manager Mr Selleck Mapfeka said lifestyle auditing or monitoring is a basic comparison of one’s proceeds or sources of income against how it is utilised.

It is an accountability tool which is conducted when the visible lifestyle or standard of living of an individual appears to exceed their known income levels.

“We are currently investigating three officers who built mansions in Harare, but failed to explain how they acquired the wealth following a lifestyle audit,” he said.

Mr Mapfeka said corruption is more pronounced at Beitbridge Border Post and urged Government to consider extending the lifestyle audits to other stakeholders operating at the border post.

“We also have another officer who built a block of flats and he has since resigned.

The lifestyle audit also revealed that some Zimra revenue officers based in Beitbridge had six properties acquired through shady deals at the border,” he said.

Mr Mapfeka also mentioned the case of a former Beitbridge based Zimra revenue officer Mr Kennedy Nyatoti, who made history by becoming the first person to lose assets under the country’s civil-based asset forfeiture law when his US$150 000 mansion in Harare and US$10 000 car were forfeited to the State.

Nyatoti joined Zimra in 2014 aged 25 and two years down the line he got married and paid lobola of US$10 000. In 2017, he took his family for a holiday in China and spent US$15 000.

During the same year, Nyatoti bought a residential stand for US$24 000 and under-declared that it was worth US$18 000. He built and completed his house in five months.

“We investigated Kennedy Nyatoti, who was based at Beitbridge Border Post, which is a major a hot spot for corruption, and he failed to explain the source of his wealth following a lifestyle audit,” he said.

Mr Mapfeka said Nyatoti’s ill-gotten wealth emanated from fraudulently clearing immigrants’ rebates for people not qualifying to bring in goods duty-free under the rebate facility.

After Nyatoti failed to declare his assets, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) made a court application for civil forfeiture in terms of the amended Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act.

The High Court then ordered forfeiture of the mansion and the car.

Police recovered the forfeited assets and subsequently handed them over to the Zimra asset management unit.

Previously, the State could only apply for forfeiture after a conviction for a corruption-related offence.

However, the law now allows the State to apply for forfeiture under civil rules even without instituting criminal proceedings.

“We need a lifestyle audit for all border stakeholders.

While as Zimra, we conduct lifestyle audits for our staff, others seconded at the ports of entry are not conducting lifestyle audits,” he said.

“In fact, you have someone deployed at Beitbridge border and shockingly, within a short period of time, they are now driving posh cars and building mansions.

We need to fight corruption to the end.

We are, therefore, saying all people deployed the ports of entry should be subjected to lifestyle audits.”

Mr Mapfeka said most of the assets are being recovered through inter-agency collaborations and involvement of the NPA through prosecutor-guided investigations.

“We don’t have a centralised property database where all properties can be looked at.

For instance, if you go to the Deeds Registry, they have what they have,” he said.

“Similarly, if you go to the land developers and councils, it is same story hence when it comes to investigations, it is a challenge.”

Mr Mapfeka said when they conduct a lifestyle audit, they expect a person to explain his or her source of wealth.

“There is nothing wrong in owning properties, but there is something terribly wrong if you can’t explain your source of wealth either.

Anything that is acquired using ill-gotten wealth is tainted property,” he said.

Mr Mapfeka said a lifestyle audit is one of the critical tools that they use in as far as dealing with corruption is concerned.

“Assets are checked against the asset declaration form.

When you are recruited by Zimra, the first thing you are required to do, is to complete an asset declaration form that will form the basis of any lifestyle audit,” he said.

“If the loss control division is going to carry out a lifestyle audit, they will use that as a baseline. Proof of source of wealth should be produced in all lifestyle audits and we continue to record success stories.”

Mr Mapfeka said Zimra set up an integrity committee in 2019 including an in-house corruption diagnosis tool, which was developed to measure corruption.

“In the past, we used to measure corruption based on the number of prosecutions, but we realised that we were not getting the intended results.

We are now measuring our efforts in fighting corruption and we come up with a corruption index every quarter,” he said.

“We are now using the Integrated Results-Based Management and every employee of Zimra is measured on the level of corruption at the end of every quarter.

On lifestyle audits, we also do recruitment vetting, parallel financial investigations and asset forfeiture and recovery.”

Zimra also has a hotline, which is managed by a third party for people to use to report corruption.

Before it was stopped last December, the revenue collector had a whistle-blower facility where Zimra would pay the whistle-blower 10 percent of the recoveries.

Zimra acting Commissioner for Revenue Assurance Mr Edward Phiri said as part of efforts to fight the scourge, they have launched anti-corruption campaign dubbed “#I‘m for zero campaign” to promote zero tolerance to corruption.

The Zimra Revenue Assurance Investigation Division carries out criminal investigations regarding alleged violations of the tax and customs laws.

“We have been going around the country doing ‘I am for zero campaigns’, which we have done in Mutare, Beitbridge, Bulawayo and Harare and this week we will be in Masvingo.

This is an initiative that we have taken as we try to address this scourge,” said Mr Phiri.

“The revenue assurance division, which has an anti-money laundering unit, has the responsibility to deal with offences that spill from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Financial Intelligence Unit, Zacc, police and other law enforcement agents.”

It also emerged during the meeting that out of 254 cases being handled by NPA, a majority of them are from Harare.

A total of US$50 million was also recovered from conviction-based asset forfeiture in 2021 and police say they arrested 495 suspects for corruption-related cases in the same year.-standard

By A Correspondent- Government has failed to pay contractors under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) for the past five months, slowing down the road rehabilitation initiatives.

Government launched ERRP in 2021 after President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared the country’s roads a national disaster.

A follow-up Statutory Instrument (SI) 47 of 2021 was later gazetted, empowering the Transport and Infrastructural Development ministry to authorise the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) to source funding for road rehabilitation.

At a dinner held in Gweru on Friday, Transport deputy minister Mike Madiro said: “I think it is important to understand the revenue flow pattern of government. Every end of year there are shutdowns, so in the first quarter there are dribs and drabs, but in the second quarter at least things start to flow. That needs to be recognised given the pressures which are on the government first.”

However, speaking on condition of anonymity, some of the contracted firms expressed fears that they would receive their money when it has already lost value to inflation.

“We find ourselves being paid late the money that we were supposed to be paid in January. This has reduced the value of our salary by a third,” a contractor said.

“It means if we were supposed to be paid US$150 000 equivalent, we are now being paid US$50 000. This money was supposed to be paid five to six months ago.”

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube recently said government was planning to pay contractors 50% of their receipts in United States dollars, and the other half in local currency. In February, Zinara said it was setting aside $17 billion for the ERRP programme this year. The roads authority disbursed $6 billion to local authorities in the first quarter of the year.

By A Correspondent- After hiding from the media and the public since his forced return from South Africa, Kudakwashe Mahachi had no choice but to appear at the Bulawayo Magistrates’ Court yesterday to answer charges of theft.

He arrived at court in the company of his lawyer, Nkosiyabo Sibanda of Tanaka Law Chambers and his best friend Zibusiso Hadebe.

Mahachi was suspended by South African Premier Soccer League side SuperSport United and returned to Zimbabwe to defend himself over allegations of scalding his four-year-old son with boiling water.

He has, however, avoided being seen in public ever since his return.

His expected morning court appearance was abortive, but he appeared before magistrate Maxwell Ncube with Karen Gundani prosecuting in the afternoon.

Gundani said Mahachi allegedly snatched and damaging his sister’s iPhone XR smartphone on June 13, as part of concerted efforts to destroy evidence nailing him for purportedly scalding his son.

According to Gundani, the midfielder unlawfully took the iPhone XR cellphone with a Econet sim card knowing that Meline Mahachi was entitled to own, possess or control the property or realising that there was a real possibility that Meline Mahachi might be deprived ownership or control of the smartphone.

Circumstances are that Meline Mahachi was called by her brother, Kudakwashe, who had parked his car outside her yard in the company of his wife, Rose Mahachi and friend Hadebe, who was driving the car.

He requested to use her phone to track his smartphone, which he claimed to have lost.

The state alleges that Mahachi took the black iPhone XR smartphone from the complainant and told Hadebe to start the ignition.

The complainant asked for her cellphone back, but Mahachi refused to return it.

He disembarked from the car and smashed it on the ground, saying he wanted to destroy evidence of photos and videos.

He picked up the damaged cellphone and walked away along Taylor Road towards Makokoba suburb.

The complainant made a police report leading to the arrest of the footballer.

The total value of the stolen phone is US$400 and nothing was recovered.

According to the State, Mahachi had no lawful right to act in the manner he did.

The prosecutor requested for a postponement to July 5, saying the State had not yet recorded witness statements needed for the matter to proceed to trial.

Meanwhile, Mahachi’s brother-in-law Paul Sixpence, the husband to Meline Mahachi, also appeared in court yesterday for allegedly assaulting Hadebe.

Sixpence (37) appeared before magistrate Nomagugu Maphosa.

Hadebe (35) from New Magwegwe alleges that Sixpence unlawfully assaulted him with fists several times and pulled him out of the car he was driving “intending to cause bodily harm on him and inflicted injuries on his body on the same day.

The State said Hadebe was sitting in the car while Mahachi was talking to his sister when Sixpence approached him saying “liyasijwayela” (you are undermining us) and punched him on the face several times and pulled him from the seat of the car.

Sixpence is alleged to have snatched the car keys and went into the house and returned them after some time.

Hadebe made a report to the police report leading to the arrest of Sixpence.

Hadebe sustained no visible injuries and did not seek any medical attention.

By A Correspondent- The state has been accused of engaging individuals who are giving false witness statements in order to augument their baseless charges accusing three CCC activists Cecilia Chimbiri, Joana Mamombe and Netsai Marova of communicating and publishing falsehoods.

The trio were abducted by suspected state security agents.

Said a source:

The police tampered with the car. Baseless witnessing has just been called to try and finish the made up puzzle in which the state is accusing the trio of publishing or communicating falsehoods.

On the witness stand, the state called the owner of the Mercedes Benz which the trio was abducted in .

They tampered with the car. The state’s witness confirmed and said he doesn’t know who drove the vehicle into the police station from TM shop which is opposite Harare central police station.

The trio were forced to disembark from their car to go into the omnibus on that fateful day.

On cross examination, the state witness denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of the car except the fact that he was called to see it in the police parking lot. He claimed that he had learnt that the trio had been abducted from social media and this was days after 13, 14 and 15 May.

“My car had no special security features that include tracking anti hijack or alarm , I also do not remember the number plates of the car,“ he told the court.

He said this after state prosecutor continued asking him about the number plate which defence counsel said was leading the witness.

The state witness continued to say he is not sure of the registration number of the car as state was trying hard to force him to remember it.

How this particular witness would assist in confirming the trio communicated or published falsehoods prejudicial to the state or faked their abduction remains unclear.

Why he was called remains a mystery because nothing tangible seems to be coming out of his testimony except him confirming that he knows the two accused are his friends. He only also knows that his car was driven into the police station by who knows who.

Reza continues to call witnesses who are giving testimonies confirming that the trio were abducted .

The witnesses continue to tell the truth even after being coached.”

By A Correspondent- South Africa has adopted multi-pronged approaches to tackle the scourge of xenophobia through community dialogues and soccer matches between foreigners and locals, among other interventions, a government official said here on Monday.

These various measures are aimed at enhancing social cohesion and nation-building, Poso Makhado, manager of community mobilization and empowerment at the National Department of Social Development, told Xinhua, noting that soccer legends from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana and a team of Somalians joined recent soccer matches.

He condemned “opportunistic individuals” who force foreigners to pay protection fees, saying poverty, inequality and unemployment in South Africa force some local people to resort to crimes and foreigners happen to be the “soft targets.”

Some locals are also complaining that there are many undocumented foreigners coming into the country, he added.

South Africa records more than 50 xenophobic incidents every year, a result of competition for limited job and business opportunities, according to Silindile Mlilo, a doctoral researcher and project manager at African Center for Migration and Society of University of Witwatersrand.

However, International Organization of Migrants’ Chief of Mission in South Africa Lily Sanya believed that migration is beneficial if well managed.

She suggested setting quotas on migrant workers in the region so that countries can exchange skilled personnel and manage migration, adding that the exchange of skills would result in economic growth.

The South African government is also in discussion with Zimbabwe on how to tackle xenophobia.

“We were raising awareness that we are one people … We are concerned, alarmed and stressed about these attacks against African brothers,” said Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa David Hamadziripi.

By A Correspondent- Former Gweru Urban Member of Parliament (MP), Roderick Rutsvara has died.

Rutsvara, aged 48 died at a Gweru private hospital on Saturday due to a kidney ailment.

The development was confirmed by brother to the late Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) former lawmaker, Kumirai Rutsvara who said:

A dark cloud has fallen in our family as we have been robbed following the death of my brother who was a pillar of strength and a unifier in the family.

His death is a huge blow to the family and has left a vacuum which is difficult to fill.

He will be buried in Zvavahera, Gutu district in Masvingo Province on Tuesday.

The late former legislator was born in 1974 in Gutu, Masvingo.

He did his Secondary education at Mutero High School in Gutu before proceeding for his tertiary education in South Africa where he studied Business Management at ABS College in South Africa.

By A Correspondent- Zipra veterans in Matabeleland North have demanded that Zanu-PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu must visit the province to show them some Zipra properties, which he claims he bought in Nyamandlovu.

This follows the death of Zipra war veteran Stanley John Wolfenden, who was the custodian of Zipra properties.

Wolfenden had challenged Mpofu over ownership of some of the properties, including farms, which he claimed to be his.

Wolfenden, who passed on on Saturday, was the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo’s aide.

At independence in 1980, Nkomo advised former Zipra combatants to contribute $50 each to acquire Nitrum Investments Holdings, which owned a number of farms and buildings.

Nitrum chairman Walker Mathe said he was saddened by Wolfenden’s death as he was the custodian of the Nyamandlovu Zipra assets.

“Mpofu claimed to have bought the properties, but Wolfenden was opposing his claims. His (Wolfenden) death will now cause us to ask Mpofu to come and explain to us how he bought the properties since the witness who knows more about them has passed on,” Mathe said.

“As far as we know, these properties still belong to Zipra. We want a solution to this before next year’s elections.”

Mpofu dismissed the claims by Zipra cadres.

“Which properties are they talking about? Do not ask me stupid things,” Mpofu said before dropping the call.

In 2020, Zipra veterans engaged President Emmerson Mnangagwa seeking the return of their properties that were confiscated by the late former President Robert Mugabe during Gukurahundi in the mid-1980s.

Some of the Zipra properties grabbed by government included Castle Arms Motel and Nest Egg building in Bulawayo, Ascot Farm in Solusi, Wood Glen Farm in Nyamandlovu and Hawton Farm in Gweru.

The late former Midlands governor Cephas Msipa reportedly resettled people from Sogwala at Hawton Farm in Gweru.

Zipra properties in Harare included Nijo Farm, Salisbury Motel and Snake Park.

The Zipra ex-fighters also lost over 4 000 head of cattle during seizure of their properties by the government.

By A Correspondent- An unlicenced police officer has been convicted for negligent driving after he lost control of his speeding vehicle and rammed into a traditional leader’s car.

Nomatter Enock (35), who is at ZRP Camps and Hostels, Chinhoyi, recently appeared before magistrate Langton Ndokera facing two counts of violating the Road Traffic Act chapter 13:11, relating to driving negligently and driving without a valid driver’s licence.

The complainant is the State representing Chief Zvimba, born Stanley Wurayayi Mhondoro.

On the first count, Enock was slapped with a ZW$40,000 fine or 40 days imprisonment.

The police officer was also prohibited from driving any class of motor vehicle within the next 24 months.

On second count, accused person was ordered to deposit $30,000 fine or alternatively spend 30 days in jail.

The State’s case, led by Tendai Tapi, was that on September 13, 2020 at around 7:15pm, Enock was driving a Mazda B25 registration number ACM6016 along Harare-Chirundu highway towards Chinhoyi.

The court heard that upon approaching the 102 kilometre peg along the said road, the cop lost control of his vehicle and encroached into the right lane of an oncoming Isuzu KB250 being driven by Chief Zvimba.

Court heard that Enock was driving at an excessive speed thereby failed to navigate the car.

Noone was injured in the accident while both cars sustained moderate damages.

By A Correspondent- The Zanu-PF Mashonaland East provincial leadership says many ruling party members were seeking transfers from urban to rural areas.

Addressing members at a provincial co-ordinating committee meeting in Marondera at the weekend, provincial secretary for administration, Felix Mhona said most transfers were from Harare province.

“We are getting transfers of members, mainly from Harare to this province. They are so many. Some of them took part in the 2018 election, but failed to win any seats,” he said.

Zanu-PF has been struggling to make inroads in urban areas where the opposition controls local authorities.

“The province should work hand in hand with the district on vetting and accepting such members,” Mhona added.

The ruling party commands a huge following in Mashonaland East province, especially in constituencies such as Uzumba, Maramba and Pfungwe.

The opposition won two out of the 23 constituencies in the 2018 polls.

The influx of urban members has, however, divided opinion in rural areas, and sowed divisions among party members.

By A Correspondent- Former ZRP boss Augustine Chihuri secured some relief Tuesday after the High Court gave him back a luxury Harare mansion valued at US$7 million.

Chihuri, reportedly now based in South Africa, is accused of stealing some US$32 million in public funds while at the helm of the country’s police service.

He was head of the ZRP for some 25 years before being sacked after backing the losing side in the 2017 military coup which brought President Emmerson Mnangagwa to power.

Chihuri initially moved to Malawi but is now understood to be based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

His vast wealth was placed under management in 2020 after the State slapped him with unexplained wealth orders which required explanation of the sources of his various businesses and properties.

However, in a High Court ruling delivered Tuesday, Justice Pisirayi Kwenda varied the orders, directing the return of some of Chihuri’s property.

The property included the luxury Gletwyn mansion which reportedly features 16 en-suite bedrooms, seven lounges, nine garages, a helipad and a fishing dam.

Chihuri had denied owning the property in 2017, warning that; “Let the nation be warned that police will not fold hands in dealing with those misusing social media to settle their issues.”

Meanwhile, also returned to the former ZRP chief were five vehicles, several houses as well as equipment for his two farms in Chinhoyi and Shamva.

Chihuri’s lawyers led by Harare attorney Addington Chinake, had wanted the judge to consider the validity of the unexplained wealth orders.

The State accuses Chihuri of using his authority as head of the police to fleece million of dollars in public funds which were channeled to five companies linked to family members and relatives.

The companies reportedly received US$32 million to supply various goods and materials to the police.

Chief law officer and head of assets forfeiture unit Chris Mutangadura represented the State in the case.

By A Correspondent- Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube Tuesday told reporters during a post-Cabinet media briefing that the government was willing to ensure that part of workers’ salaries was in United States dollars.

His remarks come as workers have since 2019 periodically embarked on industrial action demanding USD-denominated salaries and better working conditions. They say their Zimbabwe-dollar-denominated salaries have been eroded by rising inflation. 

NewsDay’s Privilege Gumbodete and Pride Mzarabani cite Ncube as saying:

I cannot comment on ongoing negotiations and details between civil servants and government as yet … As government, we are sensitive to the plight of all the civil servants and we will do whatever we can to make sure we can accommodate the demands, obviously within the budgetary constraints we face.

As you know, the government is offering US$175. So on that part, we have already shown we are willing to make sure that part of the salaries is in United States dollars, but as to the recent request from civil servants, all those things are under consideration, under discussion.

Civil servants recently rejected a 100 per cent government wage increase with effect from July 1.

Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions secretary-general David Dzatsunga said: “We want US$840.”

Meanwhile, economists have said it would be unwise for workers across all sectors to accept salary increments in the local currency given its continued devaluation due to inflation. They say the increment will worsen inflation.

By A Correspondent- Mberengwa Rural District Council allegedly spent over US$6 000 on Thursday last week on a meeting which never happened.

The Midweek Watch’s Bridget Mutukwa reports that all the 37 councillors refused to hold a full council meeting despite constituting a quorum because technocrats and chiefs were not present.

The Council pays for the allowances and all other related costs for the 37 councillors of Mberengwa which is one of the biggest rural districts in the country.

Councillors argued that they wanted the technocrats to be in the meeting so that they guide them on technical issues although there is no law that provides for their mandatory presence in ordinary full council meetings.

Acting chief executive officer, Percy Mwedzi reportedly persuaded councillors to go ahead with the meeting to reduce costs for the RDC which is facing serious financial problems, but the majority of councillors vehemently refused.

Mwedzi argued that the council will fork out another US$6000 for councillors to reconvene the meeting. The meeting was postponed to June 24, 2022. Pleaded Mwedzi to no avail:

The error has been noted and I suggest that we go ahead as the Act allows us to do so in the absence of the technocrats. All the councillors are present which means there is a quorum and the heads of departments will be invited in the next meeting as there are so many issues that need to be addressed in the council.

After the opening remarks by the Council chairperson, Nyembesi Shumba, Mberengwa District Development Coordinator, Vafias Hlabati raised a point of order and asked why heads of Government departments were not invited.

The question sparked a heated debate between councillors and Council staff led by the acting CEO, with the majority of councillors concurring to postpone the meeting.

By- President Emerson Mnangagwa has demoted the Minister of State in the Office of the President and Cabinet in charge of Monitoring the Implementation of Special Agricultural and Related Programmes, Davis Marapira and deployed him to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.

 Below is a statement issued by Misheck Sibanda which announces the development:

His Excellency, the President, has in terms of Section 104 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe of 2013 transferred the Minister of State in the Office of the President and Cabinet in charge of Monitoring the Implementation of Special Agricultural and Related Programmes, Honourable Davis Marapira, to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development to be responsible for Agricultural Colleges, Water Resources and Irrigation Development, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

He will report to Honourable Minister, Dr. Anxious J. Masuka.

The appointment is with immediate effect.

The social, political and economic transformation of Zimbabwe can only take place when there is change, peace, tolerance and dialogue. We need to build this nation and transform the lives of its people for the better.

— Sen Douglas Mwonzora (@DMwonzora) June 22, 2022

By- Hundreds are expected today at the CCC deputy chairman and party’s MP for Chitungwiza North Godfrey Sithole bail hearing.

The two are back in court today after spending almost a week in remand prison.

They were arrested last week at the funeral of CCC activist Moreblessing Ali.

CCC posted Tuesday urging its supporters to attend the two’s court hearing.

CCC posted: 

Our MPs 

@JobSikhala1

 & Godfrey Sithole will appear at the Harare Magistrate Court 

@1400hrs

 tomorrow for their bail ruling . Let’s come & show solidarity with our champions who’re being persecuted for demanding justice for Moreblessing Ali. #freejobsikhala #FreeGodfreySithole

By- CCC deputy chairman and the party’s MP for Chitungwiza North Godfrey Sithole are expected back in court today.

The two were arrested last week at the funeral of CCC activist Moreblessing Ali.

CCC posted Tuesday urging its supporters to attend the two’s court hearing.

CCC posted: 

Our MPs 

@JobSikhala1

 & Godfrey Sithole will appear at the Harare Magistrate Court 

@1400hrs

 tomorrow for their bail ruling . Let’s come & show solidarity with our champions who’re being persecuted for demanding justice for Moreblessing Ali. #freejobsikhala #FreeGodfreySithole

By- Harare Tuesday lifted the COVID-19 midnight curfew citing “satisfactory progress” in the containment of the global pandemic.

Acting Information Minister Jenfan Muswere announced this during a post-Cabinet media briefing.

He said business hours for the hospitality industry are now from 8 am to 3 am the following day.

Muswere said:
While enforcement of Covid-19 regulations must continue, the curfew which is currently running from 12 midnight to 5:30 am has been lifted.
The curfew was introduced at the height of the pandemic as a precautionary measure to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Part of the reasoning behind abolishing movements at night was to minimise social contact during the hours with minimum authority supervision.

As of 20 June 2022, Zimbabwe had 254 919 confirmed cases, including 247 649 recoveries and 5 536 deaths. A total of 6 264 867 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Meanwhile, neighbouring South Africa is also considering lifting COVID-19 regulations as cases and deaths have been declining in recent weeks.
South Africa is the most affected African country with more cases and fatalities.

By- Teachers’ salaries have been eroded and reduced to US$42.

CCC President Nelson Chamisa made the calculations in a tweet Tuesday when he was analysing inflation that has reached an alarming rate.

He said teachers would gain respect under the opposition’s government in 2023.

Posted Chamisa”

14/16 Civil servants were earning US$540 but teachers are now taking home ZWL$30,000 which is equivalent to US$42 …Hospitals are now death traps …women are being asked to buy consumables for them to be registered to give birth;

By- Teachers’ salaries have been eroded by inflation to a level of them now earning US$42.

This was revealed by the opposition CCC in a tweet Tuesday when it was analysing inflation that has reached an alarming rate.

CCC said teachers would gain respect under the opposition’s government in 2023.

Posted CCC”

14/16 Civil servants were earning US$540 but teachers are now taking home ZWL$30,000 which is equivalent to US$42 …Hospitals are now death traps …women are being asked to buy consumables for them to be registered to give birth;

By- Harare Tuesday lifted the COVID-19 midnight curfew citing “satisfactory progress” in the containment of the global pandemic.

Acting Information Minister Jenfan Muswere announced this during a post-Cabinet media briefing.

He said business hours for the hospitality industry are now from 8 am to 3 am the following day.

Muswere said:
While enforcement of Covid-19 regulations must continue, the curfew which is currently running from 12 midnight to 5:30 am has been lifted.
The curfew was introduced at the height of the pandemic as a precautionary measure to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Part of the reasoning behind abolishing movements at night was to minimise social contact during the hours with minimum authority supervision.

As of 20 June 2022, Zimbabwe had 254 919 confirmed cases, including 247 649 recoveries and 5 536 deaths. A total of 6 264 867 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Meanwhile, neighbouring South Africa is also considering lifting COVID-19 regulations as cases and deaths have been declining in recent weeks.
South Africa is the most affected African country with more cases and fatalities.

By- Zanu PF and War veterans are blocking CCC members from accessing IDs in the ID blitz currently underway in Gutu.

Community members in the area said that if this is not resolved, many CCC members will not vote next year.

 This came during a community dialogue organized by communities working with Heal Zimbabwe in Gutu on 18 June 2022.

Participants at the dialogue said a Zanu PF official only identified as Mudzamiri, who is also a war veteran and a retired soldier, was leading the team hijacking the IDongoing (ID) blitz.

 ”Here in Gutu the blitz is heavily politicized.Mudzamiri has threatened the mobile Civil Registry team not to issue documents to community members until they agree to be accompanied to Matizha Business centre where they will collect the documents. Upon arrival at the centre, Mudzamiri then forces citizens to affirm their support for Zanu PF and forces them to register at the local Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) office.Mudzamiri is working with other war veterans in the area” said the participants. 

By-The Police said they had arrested 188 000 people since the beginning of the launch of operations against machete gangs and cross-border crimes last year.

In a statement, the ZRP said the operations have been carried out across the country and are still ongoing.

Below is the ZRP statement:
On June 19, Police arrested 239 people countrywide in the operation ‘No to cross-border crimes’. So far, 160 616 people have been arrested since the operation began.
Meanwhile, on June 19, 2022 police throughout the country arrested 130 people during the operation, ‘No to machetes gangs.’ Cumulative arrests since January 1, 2022, now stand at 26 675.
Machete gangs surfaced around 2019 when they were targeting mainly mining towns such as Kwekwe and Mazowe.
They would invade mines whilst some physically and sexually attacked members of the public in those towns.

Prominent machete groups are MaShurugwi and Al Shabab.

By- War veterans have hijacked the government-initiated Identification Documentation processing program currently underway in Gutu.

Community members in the area said the war veterans are blocking suspected CCC supporters from getting IDs, so they would not vote next year.

 This came during a community dialogue organized by communities working with Heal Zimbabwe in Gutu on 18 June 2022.

Participants at the dialogue said a Zanu PF official only identified as Mudzamiri, who is also a war veteran and a retired soldier, was leading the team hijacking the IDongoing (ID) blitz.

 ”Here in Gutu the blitz is heavily politicized.Mudzamiri has threatened the mobile Civil Registry team not to issue documents to community members until they agree to be accompanied to Matizha Business centre where they will collect the documents. Upon arrival at the centre, Mudzamiri then forces citizens to affirm their support for Zanu PF and forces them to register at the local Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) office.Mudzamiri is working with other war veterans in the area” said the participants. 

Tinashe Sambiri| The county’s education system is in the graveyard, CCC leader President Nelson Chamisa has said.

In a statement on Tuesday, President Chamisa bemoaned the demise of the country’s health sector.

The CCC leader also presented a comprehensive transformation of the economy plan.

See full statement below:

OUR RAPID & ACCELERATED TRANSFORMATION OF THE ECONOMY PLAN

The CITIZENS government will come up with policy framework and turnaround strategy which among others includes the following:

1. Develop demand driven policies informed by inclusive policies and inclusive politics anchored upon an inclusive dialogue with all political actors, economic players, labour, business, civil society and academia with a view to build A NEW CONSENSUS and buy-in.
2. Our policies will be predictable, consistent and guarantee certainty – this will help citizens, economic agents, workers, business and investors to plan with certainty.
3. The corrupt will be an endangered species and extinct. We will eliminate corruption, enforce rule of law, foster political tolerance, constitutionalism and respect of property rights, which, combined, are critical ingredients required to attract investment, savings and production.

4.Resolving the debt crisis in Zimbabwe by engaging the multilateral community and opening Zimbabwe to the world.

5.We will make Zimbabwe an entrepreneurial society- new industries, new factories and new companies and new sectors and employing more.

6.We will embark on radical Central Bank reforms on the back of wide consultation with bankers, business and labour.

7.We will start with full dollarization and then create a conducive environment and the right confidence levels for the adoption of our local currency.

As part of our de-dollarisation road map we will make sure that we meet the following: (i) fiscal consolidation; (ii) current account surplus; (iii) 6 months import cover (forex reserves); (iv) stable exchange rate; (v) single digit inflation; and (vi) productive and competitive economy.

8. On the back of a well functioning economy, powered by production and stable macroeconomic environment, we will provide a dynamic social services which inter alia includes a robust heath and education system, well functioning welfare system and a highly rewarding civil service which will attract workers from the private sector.

The monster and beast we are taming;
9.In 2018 annual inflation was 5% but the regime has guided inflation to 837.5% in July 2020 and somehow managed to drop inflation to 55% in July 2021 after having used hard earn foreign currency from the exporters to bribe the economy by dishing it our at unreasonably controlled rates – now they have run out of steam annual inflation is now raking havoc again and shot to 132% in May 2022 – its not turning back;

9. Prof Mthuli 2019 budget was $8.1 billion but has shot up by 11900% to $960 billion in 2022 – its unprecedented! Fun enough salaries have not risen by the same magnitude.
10. Poverty levels as reported by ZIMSTAT shows that people in extreme poverty has risen from 29% (4.64 million people) to 49% (7.9 million people), that is, an additional 69% of the population was pushed into extreme in the last 4 years.
11. Civil servants were earning US$540 but teachers are now taking home ZWL$30,000 which is equivalent to US$42 …
12. Hospitals are now death traps …women are being asked to buy consumables for them to be registered to give birth;
13. Likewise, the education system is in the graveyard. Parents have assumed the role of government by paying teachers incentives with a view to arrest the situation.
14. War veterans and pensioners have been reduced to beggars.
15. Corruption has reached alarming levels. The recent audit on COVID funds shows that the monies were squandered and the targeted vulnerable people never received anything.

Failure is written everywhere and all over
This time let’s end and fix this !!

FakaPressure

By A Correspondent- ZANU PF MPs are reportedly caucusing and canvassing for support and votes to remove Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda.

Mudenda fell out of favour with ZANU PF bigwigs after reports that he was corrupt and involved in several murky deals from his time as Board Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe CAAZ to the ZESA Vic Falls land scandal .

ZANU PF and security agencies are also rumoured to be investigating Mudenda’s relationship with several Western embassies.

Sources who spoke to this reporter revealed that Mudenda’s statement calling for diaspora vote without addressing sanctions was motivated by his compromised relations with Western embassies outside the government’s re-engagement policy.

Party Parliamentary bigwigs are reportedly canvassing for Mudenda’s immediate removal and  a young female candidate is being touted as Mudenda’s replacement.

A ZANU PF source said Mudenda has business interests with some Western embassies.

Tinashe Sambiri| The county’s education system is in the graveyard, CCC leader President Nelson Chamisa has said.

In a statement on Tuesday, President Chamisa bemoaned the demise of the country’s health sector.

The CCC leader also presented a comprehensive transformation of the economy plan.

See full statement below:

OUR RAPID & ACCELERATED TRANSFORMATION OF THE ECONOMY PLAN

The CITIZENS government will come up with policy framework and turnaround strategy which among others includes the following:

1. Develop demand driven policies informed by inclusive policies and inclusive politics anchored upon an inclusive dialogue with all political actors, economic players, labour, business, civil society and academia with a view to build A NEW CONSENSUS and buy-in.
2. Our policies will be predictable, consistent and guarantee certainty – this will help citizens, economic agents, workers, business and investors to plan with certainty.
3. The corrupt will be an endangered species and extinct. We will eliminate corruption, enforce rule of law, foster political tolerance, constitutionalism and respect of property rights, which, combined, are critical ingredients required to attract investment, savings and production.

4.Resolving the debt crisis in Zimbabwe by engaging the multilateral community and opening Zimbabwe to the world.

5.We will make Zimbabwe an entrepreneurial society- new industries, new factories and new companies and new sectors and employing more.

6.We will embark on radical Central Bank reforms on the back of wide consultation with bankers, business and labour.

7.We will start with full dollarization and then create a conducive environment and the right confidence levels for the adoption of our local currency.

As part of our de-dollarisation road map we will make sure that we meet the following: (i) fiscal consolidation; (ii) current account surplus; (iii) 6 months import cover (forex reserves); (iv) stable exchange rate; (v) single digit inflation; and (vi) productive and competitive economy.

8. On the back of a well functioning economy, powered by production and stable macroeconomic environment, we will provide a dynamic social services which inter alia includes a robust heath and education system, well functioning welfare system and a highly rewarding civil service which will attract workers from the private sector.

The monster and beast we are taming;
9.In 2018 annual inflation was 5% but the regime has guided inflation to 837.5% in July 2020 and somehow managed to drop inflation to 55% in July 2021 after having used hard earn foreign currency from the exporters to bribe the economy by dishing it our at unreasonably controlled rates – now they have run out of steam annual inflation is now raking havoc again and shot to 132% in May 2022 – its not turning back;

9. Prof Mthuli 2019 budget was $8.1 billion but has shot up by 11900% to $960 billion in 2022 – its unprecedented! Fun enough salaries have not risen by the same magnitude.
10. Poverty levels as reported by ZIMSTAT shows that people in extreme poverty has risen from 29% (4.64 million people) to 49% (7.9 million people), that is, an additional 69% of the population was pushed into extreme in the last 4 years.
11. Civil servants were earning US$540 but teachers are now taking home ZWL$30,000 which is equivalent to US$42 …
12. Hospitals are now death traps …women are being asked to buy consumables for them to be registered to give birth;
13. Likewise, the education system is in the graveyard. Parents have assumed the role of government by paying teachers incentives with a view to arrest the situation.
14. War veterans and pensioners have been reduced to beggars.
15. Corruption has reached alarming levels. The recent audit on COVID funds shows that the monies were squandered and the targeted vulnerable people never received anything.

Failure is written everywhere and all over
This time let’s end and fix this !!

FakaPressure

Another Health Workers Strike headache for ED- United Bulawayo Hospital Interns issue strike notice pic.twitter.com/MQA2TQXYVU

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) June 21, 2022

By A Correspondent- British Parliamentarian, Lord Jonathan Oates, has described as deplorable the manner in which the Zanu PF regime is tormenting opposition members.

Lord Oates is a member of the British House of Lords.

He challenged Mr Mnangagwa to stop tormenting political opponents.

Lord Oates posted on Twitter:

“Does @edmnangagwa have any idea how damaging these images are to Zimbabwe’s reputation around the world.

Why are remand prisoners who pose no flight being risk put in leg irons? Come to think of it why are they under arrest at all?”

He was responding to one Patrick Jachi tweet below: Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole arrive at court in leg irons!

There is no rule of law in Zimbabwe!
They are being treated like criminals while the real criminals in ZANU PF are busy looting, murdering and abducting citizens! Zimbabwe will be free”

Case Alert

CITY of Harare has capitulated and released a motorist’s vehicle which the local authority had illegally impounded on charges of violating municipal traffic laws.

On 9 June 2022, City of Harare municipal police officers accompanied by some Zimbabwe Republic Police officers blocked a Harare motorist Tinashe Shamuyashe’s Land Cruiser vehicle after he had stopped in the central business district to allow a passenger to disembark from his vehicle, charging that he had blocked other vehicles as he had stopped
on the road.

After the incident, Shamuyashe drove his vehicle to City of Harare’s Municipal Depot along Coventry road after some municipal police officers ordered him to accompany them and proceeded to issue him with a ticket totalling US$229 for committing a traffic offence which reflected that the prescribed penalty for obstruction of vehicles was US$50, tow-away fees of US$100, a storage fee of US$50 and value added tax amounting to US$29.

Upon questioning why he was being charged a tow-away fee when his vehicle was never towed away and a storage fee when his vehicle was never kept in storage, Shamuyashe did not receive a plausible response and instead he was referred to City of Harare’s Traffic Enforcement Offices at Trafalgar Court to make payment and was told that he could
only get his vehicle from the storage facility at Coventry road until he pays the stipulated fines.

This compelled Shamuyashe to engage Paidamoyo Saurombe of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who wrote a letter of complaint to City of Harare protesting against the levying of fines for services that the local authority had not provided and for unlawfully seizing his vehicle.

However, City of Harare ignored Shamuyashe’s letter and kept on holding his vehicle.

In response, Saurombe on Monday 13 June 2022 filed an urgent chamber application at Harare High Court seeking an order to compel the local authority to release Shamuyashe’s vehicle.

In the application, Saurombe argued that City of Harare’s conduct of charging for towing fees and storage fees, where those services have not been offered, was unlawful and that there is no law which provides for the deprivation of Shamuyashe’s property in the manner City of Harare had deprived him and that the Constitution protects him from unlawful deprivation.

The human rights lawyer contended that Shamuyashe was being inconvenienced together with his family from relying on the vehicle for their daily usage and this had forced them to use public transport.

The deprivation of the usage of his vehicle, Saurombe argued, was an infraction of Shamuyashe’s constitutional right to property enshrined in Section 71 of the Constitution.

On Thursday 16 June 2022, on the eve of the hearing and determination of the urgent application by High Court Judge Justice Neville Wamambo, officials from City of Harare capitulated and asked Shamuyashe to collect his vehicle and thereby ending the illegality.

A train belonging to the Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway (BBR) Company has derailed in Esigodini.

National Railways of Zimbabwe Acting Public Relations Officer Mr Martin Banda confirmed the incident saying the train, which is being run by BBR under a 20-year Build Operate and Transfer Agreement, derailed just after Esigodini.

The train plies the Beitbridge – Gwanda – Esigodini to Bulawayo route.
Police are yet to confirm the incident.-ZBC

By A Correspondent- The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has cleared the foreign currency auction backlog with all allotments made by the end of May now fully funded and all successful bidders since then getting their money on time.

The Chief executive officer of the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe Mr Fanwell Mutogo told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development.

Last month, President Emmerson Mnangagwa issued a cocktail of measures to stabilise the economy. Among the measures was a directive to the central bank to clear the backlog and only auction available foreign currency each week to avoid creating another backlog. 

The Herald, a state-run publication cites Mutogo as saying:

Ever since the adjustment (announced by the President) there has been no backlog since May 31; there has been no incremental rise in backlog.

At its peak, the backlog was approximately US$200 million. The shortage of foreign currency at the auction is said to be driving companies to the black market where they get forex at higher rates. This has been forcing businesses to raise the prices of their commodities in a bid to recoup incurred expenses.

Mutogo also commended the RBZ’s Financial Intelligence Unit for monitoring transactions in the banking sector and dealing with those that were abusing the foreign currency auction system for personal enrichment.

By-Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere has announced the arrest of three party members over the violence that erupted in Nyatsime during the memorial service of slain CCC activist Moreblessing Ali.

The party at the weekend reported that Marondera police’s Law and Order division had summoned four activists – Misheck Guzha, Audious Makoma, Precious Jeche and Felix Biri.
In an update on Monday evening, Mahere said:

3 CCC leaders from Nyatsime whose homes & shops were burnt by suspected Zanu PF thugs have now been arrested by @PoliceZimbabwe. They’re the victims of arson & political violence but they’re being persecuted. The 3 are Misheck Guzha, Audious Makoma & Precious Jeche.

This comes as bail ruling for two more CCC officials, Job Sikhala (Zengeza West MP) and Godfrey Sithole (Chitungwiza North MP) has been set for Wednesday 22 Jumye 2022. The duo was also arrested over the violence with authorities accusing them of inciting public violce.

They deny the allegations saying the charges were maufactured by the state.

By A Correspondent| According to Zimbabwe Human Rights Monitors Platform, Chitungwiza is now one of the major hotspots for politically motivated violence after the dormitory Town recorded the majority of rights violations.

Towards the end of May, a CCC activist Moreblessing Ali was abducted and murdered in cold blood by a Zanu PF linked Pius Jamba who has since been arrested.

Ali’s death has since heightened tension in Chitungwiza as CCC and Zanu PF activists traded blows over the right to preside over the funeral.

In a space of seven days , our team recorded 15 cases of Human Rights violations and all of them are politically motivated ranging from extrajudicial killing to arbitrary arrests. This week Chitungwiza is the major hotspot of HRVs. @ZimEye @SAHRDNetwork @tsunga_arnold

— Zimbabwe Human Rights Monitors Platform (@ProtectHRDs) June 21, 2022

Zimbabwe is due to hold the next elections in one year and the early indicators are not showing good signs.

By A Correspondent- Two members of a four-man Bulawayo armed gang that terrorised Pelandaba and Gwabalanda residents last month have been remanded in custody to June 27 for commencement of trial.

Kelvin Njabulo Dube (30) of Pumula South and Prince Ndlovu (38) of Old Lobengula appeared last week before Bulawayo provincial magistrate Nobuhle Ndlovu and were not asked to plead.

Prosecutor Portia Mshungu told the court that on May 11, the suspects, in the company of their co-accused who are still at large, broke into Siphathisiwe Nyoni’s house in Pelandaba West.

The robbers were allegedly armed with machetes, knives and axes. They managed to gain entry after forcibly opening the door with a sharp object and ordered Nyoni and her son into their bedroom where they demanded cash.

The gang allegedly stole US$1 000, R10 000 and two Samsung cellphones and an iPhone. They then drove off in Nyoni’s Nissan Tiida vehicle and their getaway vehicle, a Mazda Demio. The vehicles were later abandoned in the Glengara area, Bulawayo.

During the same night, Fortune Mpofu was sleeping with his family in Gwabalanda when he heard the external door being forced open.

A few minutes later, he heard their bedroom door being prised open and was attacked by the suspects who robbed them of an iPhone X5, iPhone 6s, MacBook laptop, Vivo Y3 cellphone and US$300.

The duo admitted to having committed several offences and their application for bail was opposed by the State at the Western Commonage Court.-newsday

By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s associate, Alyaksandr (Alexander) Zingman is said to be the ultimate beneficiary of the deal in which Zimbabwe will be buying firetrucks from Belarus.

The fire engines will be acquired from a Belarusian company owned by Zingman  who was named by Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe’s honorary consul in Belarus in 2019.

The unclear arrangement, which Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo said was a “government-to-government” agreement, could cost the councils over US$32 million with each truck being sold at US$464 296. each, 

In a letter to town clerks, secretaries and CEOs dated June 20, Moyo’s local government ministry said each “rural local authority” would get one fire engine while “urban local authorities” would get two and “metropolitan local authorities” are in line to get three each.

Moyo, who is being accused of ordering the firetrucks without consultations with the municipalities, said the engines would “alleviate capital equipment shortages in local authorities.”

Government sources told ZimLive that the ultimate beneficiary of the tender contract is Zingman, a Belarusian mogul who has met Mnangagwa and members of his family more than a dozen times.

Zimbabwe has already bought 11 fire engines to fight forest fires from Zingman’s AFTRADE DMCC, a dealer selling Belarusian machines in Africa. Zingman personally delivered the equipment in June last year. The consignment also included five Toyota Hilux vehicles and 30 motorcycles.

Zingman previously linked to the arms trade has put together unclear deals which have seen Zimbabwe import agricultural equipment and buses worth tens of millions of dollars from Belarus.

This is happening when Harare residents have dragged Moyo to court after he pushed through a contract for a waste-to-energy project at the Pomona dumpsite at a cost of €304 000 000 (about US$320 million). The deal was signed with Netherlands-registered Geogenix BV, a company which has no prior experience in a similar project and has questionable financial capacity.

Geogenix BV is owned by Albanian Mirel Mertiri, who is under investigation in his own country for million-dollar corruption involving an incinerator project. Mertiri’s Zimbabwean partner is Dylesh Nguwaya, a controversial businessman with links to Mnangagwa’s twin sons Sean and Collins.

Local authorities argue that the concept of devolution adopted in a 2013 constitution was to allow them to plan their budgets at the local level, considering their most pressing projects.

-ZimLive

By A Correspondent- The Zanu-PF leadership in Mashonaland East province is considering to dissolve its cell structures ahead of next year’s elections claiming they were not representative enough.

Addressing a provincial co-ordinating committee meeting in Marondera on Sunday, provincial chairperson Daniel Garwe said the party will set up new structures.

“Here in Marondera, we all know that the cell structures do favour only two individuals — I won’t mention their names. The cell structures should benefit the party, Zanu-PF and President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa. We are going to come up with fresh cell structures in Marondera,” Garwe said.

A Zanu-PF candidate, Ignatius Mateveke, lost to Citizens Coalition for Change candidate Caston Matewu in the March 26 by-elections.

The defeat did not go down well with some party members who accused some leaders of failing to mobilise enough support for the party. There are reports that some of the cell members voted for the opposition.

Meanwhile, a party mobilising team led by politburo member David Parirenyatwa will begin moving around the province starting today to mobilise people to register to vote.

It would also assist them get national identification documents.

-newsday

By A Correspondent- Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) lawmaker Job Sikhala Monday took the state to task over its continued use of leg irons and cuffs on him and co-accused Godfrey Sithole, while armed robbers went unchained.

The two, who are charged with inciting public violence had their case rolled over to Wednesday by deputy chief magistrate Gibson Mandaza.

Prosecutor Michael Reza was forced to apologise on behalf of prison officers after Sikhala shouted from the dock that what he and his colleague were being subject to was unheard of.

The officers claimed they had misplaced keys to the leg irons before they were found.

“This is not right. Why are we in leg irons while armed robbers are walking uncuffed,” he complained.

As bail hearing continued, the duo’s lawyer, Alec Muchadehama demanded the release of the video in which his clients allegedly incited violence.

“The accused persons as we speak did not even see the video, so should they be denied bail for something they do not even know?  

“The investigating officer even told the court that the video was later removed from social media while the accused were in police custody,” said Muchadehama.

Reza said the State will stick to the doctrine of common cause.

The magistrate said he will hand over his judgement on Wednesday.

Sikhala and Sithole face public violence charges after clashes rocked the funeral wake and memorial service of murdered CCC party activist Moreblessing Ali.

Ali’s body was found last week dismembered and thrown into a well at the home of claimed Zanu-PF supporter and murder suspect Pius Jamba

Prosecutors allege that Sikhala, who is also the Ali family lawyer, urged Zimbabweans to avenge the Ali’s murder in a video which went viral on social media.

For his part, Sithole, the CCC member of Parliament for Chitungwiza North, is charged with participating in inciting violence and arranging lorries which ferried party activists who attacked the homes of Zanu-PF supporters.

By A Correspondent- Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has lamented how the local government ministry procured fire tenders without any consultation with the local authority.

Said Mafume:

“Our councils were not consulted. The essence of devolutionis for local people to make their own decisions.

Some councils can’t even manage a fire brigade!

Thecost can build clinics & is astronomical.”

By A Correspondent- Eight commuter omnibus conductors who were arrested over the weekend for trying to bribe traffic police by paying them amounts ranging from US$2 to US$5 were sentenced to six months in prison by Harare magistrate Noticia Shenge.

The conductors, Hamphry Midzi (22), Godknows Nyawata (24), Abisha Kamwaya (28), Tinotenda Matuvha (23), Bothwell Jack (18), Tadiwa Webster Homotso (19), Tinotenda Bhudala (19) and Raphael Zinyama (33) had their 12-year sentences suspended to six months on condition that they do not commit the same offences in five years.

NewsDay’s Desmond Chingarande reports that the conductors will, therefore, serve effective six-month jail terms.

Magistrate Shenje said she took note that bribery offences were on the rise, adding that the court does not condone corruption. She said:

The court is of the view that a deterrent sentence in the form of a custodial sentence will send a clear message to would be offenders and that bribing police officers is a serious offence.

The conductors were arrested on June 16 this year at around 8 am when their buses were stopped at police roadblocks around Harare.

The convicts disembarked from their buses and approached police officers and gave them varying amounts of United States dollars from US$2 to US$5 as bribe money for free passage at roadblocks.

This led to their arrests. Some members of the public are expressing concern over the arrests of those who engage in petty corruption while individuals who are “stealing millions” from state coffers remain untouched.

To date, several political elites have been arrested over corruption and a huge fraction of them was released after the state failed to provide compelling evidence against them. 

Civil society organisations (CSOs) have decried the discrimination of diasporans who will not vote in the 2023 general elections because the country has not reformed its electoral laws.

There have been loud calls from different sections of society demanding amendments to the country’s Electoral Act to allow for the diaspora vote in next year’s general elections.

In its first electoral reform series titled Diaspora Vote in Zimbabwe: Feasibility versus Desirability, civic society group Tutuma Zimbabwe said people in the diaspora will not vote next year, because Zimbabwe has failed to effect constitutional and Electoral Act amendments.

“One way of granting Zimbabweans residing outside the country the right to vote is to amend the Constitution of Zimbabwe and ensure that there is an express provision to this effect. After this amendment, subsequent amendments to the Electoral Act have to be made, which will clearly lay down the procedures on how citizens residing outside the country will be registered and how they will vote on the polling day,” the Tutuma Zimbabwe study said.

“This includes putting in place all the logistical requirements needed to facilitate external voting and external voter registration. Alternatively, the legislature can amend the Electoral Act to allow registration and voting by Zimbabweans residing outside the country. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission can also make additional administrative regulations to this effect.”

Election Resource Centre programmes manager Solomon Bobosibunu told NewsDay that it was too late to call for the diaspora vote before next year’s elections.

“It’s not justifiable, but practically it’s no longer possible. The timeframe left between now up to the time Zimbabwe can promulgate laws that will be used in an election means that we might be behind time. If all the laws are not enacted by January 2023, then ultimately those laws will not see the light of the day.

“There is no longer sufficient time for amendments to the Electoral Act to be done; we lost a lot of time without even taking any action around the Diaspora vote. This should have been started around 2018-2019. Now we are only left with five months before 2023,”Bobosibunu said.

Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) chairperson Andrew Makoni said:  “The diaspora vote is one of the reforms being pushed alongside other reforms. Parliament has until the end of the year 2022 to agree to electoral reforms and pass the necessary law. There is still time for the electoral reforms to be made. However, it will be up to Parliament to consider the diaspora vote or not. As Zesn we have been pushing for a law allowing all citizens to exercise their right to vote despite their location.”

-Newsday

By A Correspondent- Government run National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm) is reportedly struggling to meet demand for drugs at public health institutions, resulting in acute shortages of critical medicines across the country.

Last year, government gave NatPharm a monopoly to procure drugs, banning public institutions from purchasing drugs from private pharmaceutical companies.

This resulted in Natpharm getting overburdened and failing to meet demand.

Health ministry secretary Air Commodore Jasper Chimedza declared NatPharm the sole supplier of drugs for public health institutions in a circular dated December 13, 2021.

“Solicitations of these products from suppliers in the private sector should only be done after NatPharm confirmed inability to supply the products within the required period,” Chimedza said.

Public health sector stakeholders yesterday told NewsDay that NatPharm had, however, not admitted that it had no capacity to supply drugs to health institutions, despite many waiting for months for replenishment of out-of-stock drugs.

This has resulted in some hospitals turning away patients, especially those suffering from chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and psychiatric patients due to drug shortages.

A pharmacist at a local public health institution who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “We have a serious shortage of drugs such as insulin and oral drugs for diabetic patients and those related to hypertension.

This has been going on for some months and we don’t remember when we last adequately attended to patients suffering from diabetes, for instance.

We get funds from government, but when we want to buy the supplies from NatPharm, we fail to get them. Sometimes, we get a fraction of the full quantities we would have ordered.

The challenge is that NatPham is not admitting that it is failing to provide the drugs.  We cannot purchase them from private companies as prescribed by government.”

Another medical superintendent added:

“The other challenge is that we are getting drugs with a very close expiry date. Some drugs we get won’t last for more than two months. Just recently, we got a consignment of drugs from NatPharm that are expiring next month.

We have plenty of them and we won’t have disbursed all of them by next month. We are definitely going to dispose of them yet we would have used funds.”

Health ministry spokesperson Donald Mujiri refused to comment on the matter and referred questions to NatPharm spokesperson Munyaradzi Masiiwa, who rubbished the claims saying it was a tactic by public health institutions to be allowed to purchase drugs from private pharmaceutical companies.

“NatPharm receives annual procurement plans for public health institutions and operationalises them. It is inaccurate that we supply short-dated medicines to hospitals. Short-dated medicines are only given to public health institutions as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, and are supplied for free to willing facilities.

Whenever we do a donation, hospitals request what they want to consume. Some of the public health institutions have received medicines on credit and to date more than $140 million worth of drugs have been supplied to public health institutions on credit.

It is, therefore, inaccurate for the institutions to claim that they bring money upfront to NatPharm for procurement of medicines,” Musiiwa said.-Newsday

By A Correspondent- A 21 year old man died due to neglect, after he was not given treatment for HIV while he was a prisoner at Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Chelmsford, an inquest has determined. HIV is a “treatable” condition with the right care and no longer impacts the lifespan of suffers.

However, Thokozani Shiri, known as Thoko, died in April 2019 after pleading with prison staff to get him to hospital and after months of not receiving any medication for his condition. Thoko had been diagnosed with HIV in Zimbabwe in 2013 when he was a teenager before moving to the UK.

He spent two terms inside HMP Chelmsford the first between November and March 2018 where he received no medication or treatment for his condition until after his release.

He was then imprisoned again in March 2019 after stabbing a teenager during an altercation on a footpath in School Lane, Harlow, on October 8, 2018. Just two months later, on April 14, 2019, Thoko died.

An inquest into his death, before Her Majesty’s Assistant Coroner Michelle Brown, was held at Essex Coroners Court and concluded on June 8. The inquest heard that prison healthcare failed for months to provide anti-retroviral medication during those two periods of imprisonment that Shiri died from an HIV-related infection.

His treating consultant in the community gave evidence to the inquest saying that “Thoko was a young man”, that his HIV was “very treatable” and that his death “shouldn’t have happened”.

The jury was told that with his health deteriorating, on April 7, 2019, Thoko told a prison officer “I can’t breathe… I need to go to hospital”, but that an ambulance was not called until five days later.

A week after first making that request Thoko died at Broomfield Hospital. He was deemed vulnerable, having been treated for HIV before being imprisoned, and this was exacerbated by his dependency upon prison healthcare to provide him with life-saving medication.

In his first spell in prison, he received no medication for his HIV while in his second he only began to receive treatment in March 2019, just 19 days before his death. The prison healthcare provider, Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT), said it had been aware during both imprisonments that Shiri had HIV.

When reaching their conclusions, the jury found that five separate failings had probably caused Thoko’s death. The failures identified by the jury included a failure to provide anti-retroviral medication to Thoko during both periods of imprisonment, a failure to refer him to an HIV clinic during both periods of imprisonment, and other systemic failings.

The jury also concluded that each of those five areas of failure amounted to neglect, with the jury identifying a gross failure to provide basic medical attention to Thoko, who was in a dependent position, and that this failure had caused his death.

The prison officer who Thoko pleaded with to go to hospital has not been identified, and despite his family asking for the prison to provide and keep hold of the CCTV footage of the incident, the tape was overwritten and was therefore unavailable to be used in evidence at the inquest.

Coroner Brown was so concerned over this, and the fact that a senior prison governor appeared not to understand the medical emergency policy during his evidence to the inquest, that a formal report on the prevention of future deaths addressing this point will be sent to the Secretary of State for Justice.

Prison governors admitted at the inquest hearings that a “Code Blue” (medical emergency) alert should have been triggered and an ambulance should have been called on April 7 and not five days later.

The inquest also heard that when Thoko’s mother Beauty Shiri’s arrived at the hospital on April 13, arrangements had not been put in place quick enough to allow her to see her son before his condition deteriorated. Thoko had already been put into an induced coma when his mother was finally able to see him, from which he tragically never regain consciousness before his death

The inquest heard that despite being comatose the prison continued to restrain him unnecessarily with handcuffs. When his mother was finally allowed to see him, he was chained to the bed and barely recognisable to her. She stayed at his side until he died 12 hours later.

The Prison and Probation Ombudsman concluded in a damning report that “this was a case in which a young man died a preventable death as a result of what I can only describe as neglect by healthcare staff, and whose mother was then treated with gross insensitivity by prison staff”.

In a statement, the Shiri family said: “Thoko was just like any young man– he loved life, his friends and family. He was exploring what the world had to offer him, but he ended up on the wrong side of the law, culminating in a short-term custodial sentence. As a family, we had great hopes that this would allow him to reflect and look to a brighter future.

“This was not to be, as a short-term prison sentence turned into a death sentence. Thoko was denied very basic care that would have enabled him to live his life despite his long-term condition. We are saddened as we know that people with his condition do not have a reduced life expectancy and that, with basic management, his condition was not fatal.”

Leigh Day solicitor Maya Grantham, who represents Beauty Shiri, said: “Thoko was a young man, who was dependent on EPUT to provide basic medical care that would have saved his life. However, despite knowing Thoko had HIV, that basic medical care was not provided by EPUT to Thoko during two separate periods of imprisonment.

“The circumstances of Thoko’s preventable death must never be repeated, and it is hoped that this inquest investigation has shone a light onto those circumstances to ensure that will be the case.” EPUT’s response

Paul Scott, chief executive officer for EPUT, said: “Our thoughts and condolences remain with Mr Shiri’s loved ones at this difficult time and we offer our sincere apologies that he didn’t receive the level of care expected.

“We no longer offer a prison service but are committed to learning lessons from this case and embedding them across our organisation to ensure that we provide the best possible care for all our patients.”

The trust ceased to provide its prison service in March 2019 following ‘a strategic review of its operations’.

-Essexlive.com

By- The State has said that it has lined up 20 witnesses to testify against Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislators Job Sikhala (Zengeza West) and Godfrey Sithole (Chitungwiza North).

The two are accused of inciting members of the public to commit violence in Nyatsime, Chitungwiza.

Prosecutor Michael Reza told Harare magistrate Felix Mandaza yesterday that Sikhala and Sithole mobilised Nyatsime residents to commit violence during the funeral wake of murdered CCC activist Moreblessing Ali last week.
Several properties were destroyed during the melee.
The duo’s lawyer, Alec Muchadehama argued that the State failed to give justifiable reasons why the MPs were being denied bail, adding that investigating officer Gift Mutamba failed to submit evidence proving that Sikhala and Sithole committed an offence, for instance, that they distributed fliers mobilising people to commit public violence.
“One previous conviction and substantiated by facts cannot be said that Sikhala is likely to commit another offence. The reason of joining the second accused person (Sithole) is also not explained,” Muchadehama submitted.
He said it was also impossible for the two MPs to mobilise people in Nyatsime to perpetrate violence when they were not legislators of that area.
“They are not village heads that can influence villagers. Only the Seke headman can influence people in that area,” Muchadehama argued.
He further argued that the words uttered by Sikhala while in Nyatsime were not incitement of violence, adding that the legislator was not likely to flee as his passport has been with the clerk of court since 2019.
Muchadehama proposed that his clients be granted $20 000 bail each.
Mandaza postponed the matter to tomorrow for bail ruling. Newsday

By-A Harare magistrate Monday denied bail to Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Members of Parliament, Job Sikhala and Godfrey Karakadzai Sithole.

They are accused of inciting public violence in Nyatsime.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Mr Gibson Mandaza ordered the two to spend two more nights in remand prison.

Sikhala and Sithole, who represent Zengeza West and Chitungwiza North constituencies, respectively, completed mounting their bail application, where they exposed the State.
.
The duo is being charged with incitement to commit public violence.

They also denied posting a video on social media mobilising their supporters to cause violence following the death of their party member Moreblessing Ali.

Ali was killed by Pius Jamba, who has since appeared in court charged with murder.

The State opposed granting bail to Sikhala and Sithole, saying they were likely to commit more offences.

The State also said that Sikhala allegedly committed the offence whilst he was on bail on similar charges.

Mr Michael Reza appeared for the State while Mr Alec Muchadehama and Mr Jeremiah Bamu represented Sikhala and Sithole.

By-Zanu PF President Emerson Mnangagwa has honoured his party’s Matabeleland South Women’s League vice chair lady Evelyn Mpofu who died last week.

Mpofu collapsed on Friday evening near her home in Esigodini.
Posting on Twitter announcing the honour Mnangagwa has given to Mpofu Zanu PF said the late has been given a state-assisted funeral.

Posted Zanu PF:
Cde ED has conferred a State-assisted Funeral & Liberation Heroine status to the late Central Committee member Cde Evelyn Mpofu’ NaBorder .

Cde ED has conferred a State assisted Funeral & Liberation Heroine status to the late Central Committee member Cde Evelyn Mpofu 'NaBorder . pic.twitter.com/VNQTA5r2CQ

— ?? ZANU PF PATRIOTS ?? (@zanupf_patriots) June 20, 2022

By-Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere has announced the arrest of three party members over the violence that erupted in Nyatsime during the memorial service of slain CCC activist Moreblessing Ali.

The party at the weekend reported that Marondera police’s Law and Order division had summoned four activists – Misheck Guzha, Audious Makoma, Precious Jeche and Felix Biri.
In an update on Monday evening, Mahere said:
3 CCC leaders from Nyatsime whose homes & shops were burnt by suspected Zanu PF thugs have now been arrested by @PoliceZimbabwe. They’re the victims of arson & political violence but they’re being persecuted. The 3 are Misheck Guzha, Audious Makoma & Precious Jeche.
This comes as bail ruling for two more CCC officials, Job Sikhala (Zengeza West MP) and Godfrey Sithole (Chitungwiza North MP) has been set for Wednesday 22 Jumye 2022. The duo was also arrested over the violence with authorities accusing them of inciting public violce.
They deny the allegations saying the charges were maufactured by the state.

By- Prison officials Monday brought CCC deputy chairman and his counterpart Godfrey Sithole to the courts in leg irons.

Leg irons are used on murder and robbery suspects.

CCC posted on social media complaining about this:

 Hon 

@JobSikhala1

 & Hon Godfrey Sithole have been brought to court in leg irons. There is no lawful basis for this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. There’s also no basis for them to be held at Chikurubi instead of Remand Prison. This persecution must stop!

?Today, Hon @JobSikhala1 & Hon Godfrey Sithole have been brought to court in leg irons. There is no lawful basis for this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. There’s also no basis for them to be held at Chikurubi instead of Remand Prison. This persecution must stop! pic.twitter.com/2rRJkzyaXC

— Fadzayi Mahere?? (@advocatemahere) June 20, 2022

By-President Emerson Mnangagwa is reportedly seeking an audience with CCC leader Nelson Chamisa to convince him to postpone national elections.

According to NewsHawks, Mnangagwa fears that if elections are held under the current economic crisis, he would be history,

Posted NewsHawks:

Zimbabwean government and ruling Zanu PF insiders tell The NewsHawks President Emmerson Mnangagwa fears next year’s 2023 general elections amid economic implosion and wants them avoided through inter-party negotiations with his main rival, opposition CCC leader Nelson Chamisa.

Zimbabwean government and ruling Zanu PF insiders tell The NewsHawks President Emmerson Mnangagwa fears next year's 2023 general elections amid economic implosion and wants them avoided through inter-party negotiations with his main rival, opposition CCC leader Nelson Chamisa. pic.twitter.com/HyE6lcDTRx

— TheNewsHawks (@NewsHawksLive) June 20, 2022