By- Local Government minister July Moyo has reversed a decision by Harare City Council Councillors to elect an Acting Mayor saying the meeting was illegal and so are any decisions made at that gathering.
In a letter, by Local Government Secretary, L Mudyiwa, said councillor Mutizwa will continue acting until Mayor Jacob Mafume has been cleared by the courts. Reads the letter:
ACTING MAYOR-CITY OF HARARE
The above matter refers. Reference is made to the letter dated 20 April 2022 by the Honourable Minister. It has come to my attention that on 22 April 2022, an illegal meeting was convened where an Acting Mayor was elected. We have observed that this meeting which purportedly elected an Acting Mayor was not properly convened as there was no declaration of vacancy and no notice by the Chamber Secretary to convene the meeting, hence it was an illegal. Therefore, whatever decisions and resolutions made during that meeting are null and void.
Councillor Mutizwa who has been the Acting Mayor must continue in that Acting capacity until Jacob Mafumes Issues are finalised by the Court and or Tribunal.
L. Mudyiwa Acting Secretary for Local Government and Public Works
Cc: Minister of Local Government and Public Works
Minister of State for Provincial Affairs- Harare Metropolitan Province
Deputy Minister of Local Government and Public Works
Permanent Secretary Ministry of Local Government and Public Works
Secretary- Harare Metropolitan Province Acting Mayor- City of Harare
By- The ZRP are investigating a robbery incident which occurred along Second Street, Budiriro 1, Harare where five complainants in a Toyota Granvia vehicle were robbed of cash and cellphones valued at US$ 7 025.
Posted ZRP on Twitter:
The driver pulled off the road after realizing a tyre puncture on his vehicle before 4 unknown suspects in an unmarked blue Honda Fit vehicle stopped on the pretext that they wanted to assist. They brandished an unidentified pistol & demanded valuables from all the occupants.
B- The Zimbabwe Republic Police have announced the death of seven people in a road acccident that occurred in Bulawayo today.
Posting on their tweer hanndle, ZRP said thaccident left 11 injured.
Poste ZRP: B1/2 The ZRP confirms a fatal RTA which occurred at the intersection of Masiyephambili and Khami Rd today at 0500 hours where six people died while 11 others were injured.
1/2 The ZRP confirms a fatal RTA which occurred at the intersection of Masiyephambili and Khami Rd today at 0500 hours where six people died while 11 others were injured.
— Zimbabwe Republic Police (@PoliceZimbabwe) April 26, 2022
By- Local Government minister July Moyo has reversed a decision by Harare City Council Councillors to elect an Acting Mayor saying the meeting was illegal and so are any decisions made at that gathering.
In a letter, by Local Government Secretary, L Mudyiwa, said councillor Mutizwa will continue acting until Mayor Jacob Mafume has been cleared by the courts. Reads the letter:
ACTING MAYOR-CITY OF HARARE
The above matter refers. Reference is made to the letter dated 20 April 2022 by the Honourable Minister. It has come to my attention that on 22 April 2022, an illegal meeting was convened where an Acting Mayor was elected. We have observed that this meeting which purportedly elected an Acting Mayor was not properly convened as there was no declaration of vacancy and no notice by the Chamber Secretary to convene the meeting, hence it was an illegal. Therefore, whatever decisions and resolutions made during that meeting are null and void.
Councillor Mutizwa who has been the Acting Mayor must continue in that Acting capacity until Jacob Mafumes Issues are finalised by the Court and or Tribunal.
L. Mudyiwa Acting Secretary for Local Government and Public Works
Cc: Minister of Local Government and Public Works
Minister of State for Provincial Affairs- Harare Metropolitan Province
Deputy Minister of Local Government and Public Works
Permanent Secretary Ministry of Local Government and Public Works
Secretary- Harare Metropolitan Province Acting Mayor- City of Harare
By-Zanu PF Mashonaland West youth league on Sunday threatened to beat up the provinces minister, Mary Mliswa-Chikoka before they disrupted an event meant select candidates that will represent the province at next week’s crunch youth league conference.
The riotous situation saw Zanu PF Chinhoyi district chairman Job Mavata, locking the door to prevent his rivals from accessing the command centre where election results were being announced.
Provincial youth league chairman, Tapiwa Masenda was also targeted for victimisation.
By the time the situation turned violent, polls to elect representatives for Chegutu and Kadoma were yet to be conducted.
Masenda confirmed the skirmishes when contacted by NewZimbabwe.com for comment. He said: Yes, there was commotion caused by one or two unruly elements. You would appreciate that even during elections to choose a village head, things can get heated. This was an election just like any other poll where tempers will be running high. Nonetheless, districts, specifically Chegutu and Kadoma, yet to choose their youth representatives will do so during polls to be held tomorrow (Tuesday). Results of elections that were conducted: a). Valerie Makonza defeated Chipo Tagwirei and Sthembeni Madzima in elections to choose a female representative. b). Shepherd Marime was elected unopposed for Hurungwe/Kariba district. c). Decide Manhanzva won the Zvimba/Makonde polls after defeating Godknows Muzhandamuri and Admire Muronzi, who is brother-in-law to information permanent secretary Nick Mangwana. Elections to choose Chegutu and Kadoma youth representatives who will attend and cast ballots at the National Youth Conference that kicks off on May 4 are pending. The polls were initially scheduled for Norton, but were later set for Zanu PF provincial offices in Chinhoyi, a move designed to manage skirmishes that could disrupt the polls again.
Kaitano Tembo has reportedly ruled out any move to the Castle Lager Premiership following his sacking a South African side SuperSport United.
According to the Citizen newspaper, the 51-year-old is not be interested in coaching in the local top-flight, but can take a national team job if the vacancy arises.
A source close to Tembo’s camp told the publication: “The standard of the Premier Soccer League is very high and it would be taking a step back if Tembo goes to Zimbabwe.
“The only offer we might entertain is if the job is that of being the head coach of the Zimbabwean national team.”
Meanwhile, as reported Tembo recently went for an interview for the co-head coach job at Sekhukhune United, but lost out on the post to Owen Da Gama.- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
Real Madrid travel to Manchester and will undergo a test at the Etihad Stadium Real Madrid travel to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday night.
Both Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola will be looking to guide their sides back into the Champions League final, and a nail-biting tie is in store.
Ruben Dias made his return to City’s starting XI in their comfortable 5-1 victory over Watford on Saturday, and Guardiola will hope to be able to call on Kyle Walker following his ankle injury.
However, City will be without Joao Cancelo, who is suspended after picking up his third booking of the tournament at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano in the last round against Atletico Madrid.
Real Madrid have a number of injury concerns, as David Alaba is a doubt after coming off with a thigh issue against Osasuna, while Casemiro and Ferland Mendy are also doubtful. It is expected that Alaba and Casemiro will undergo a test at the Etihad to determine if they are fit enough to play.
Man City vs Real Madrid predicted line-ups Manchester City’s predicted line-up (4-3-3): Ederson; Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne; Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling.
Real Madrid’s predicted line-up (4-3-3): Thibaut Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Nacho Fernandez, Marcelo; Toni Kroos, Eduardo Camavinga, Luka Modric; Fede Valverde, Karim Benzema, Vinicius Junior.- Marca
World Immunization Week, celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed and to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.
WHO works with countries across the globe to raise awareness of the value of vaccines and immunization and ensures that governments obtain the necessary guidance and technical support to implement high-quality immunization programmes. The ultimate goal of World Immunization Week is for more people – and their communities – to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.
This World Immunization Week 2022 campaign page will be updated regularly in the lead up to and during World Immunization Week.
A Long Life for All is not a promise, it’s an ambition.
Because everyone deserves a chance at a fulfilling life. One where we’re free to pursue happiness. And look back without wondering “What if?”.
Vaccines have been indiscriminately saving lives since 1796. The first Smallpox immunization was a fight back against disease.
For the first time, it gave everyone a chance. And hundreds of vaccines later, Across two and a quarter centuries. Billions of people have lived longer lives. Grown up to become firefighters. Doctors. Musicians. Fathers. Mothers. Brothers. Sisters. Vaccines might not get credit for that first kiss. That winning goal. That special day. That final hug. But their worth isn’t just measured in doses given. It’s in minutes given back. And lives prolonged.
Vaccines provide opportunity and hope for all of us to enjoy a more fulfilling life. And that’s something we should all be fighting for. Vaccines, in the pursuit of a long life well lived.
Tinashe Sambiri|Citizens’ Coalition For Change spokesperson Advocate Fadzayi has mocked the Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa over frantic attempts to rig the economy.
Despite Mr Mnangagwa’s empty bravado, the economy is dwindling with each passing day.
Commenting on the pathetic state of the economy, Mahere said:
“Economy haina chitsotsi. Njuga dzarema…”
“Vakamboti heee mapera, hamuna plan. Now moto urikubvira and they want to direct which log goes where. Hanzi furidzai makadai moto wenyu unyatsobvira.”
Tinashe Sambiri|Citizens’ Coalition For Change vice president Hon Tendai Biti says the Zanu PF regime has intensified efforts to seize land from hapless Chilonga villagers.
Mr Mnangagwa wants to allocate the land to his personal friends.
Biti described the move as callous…
“The Hlengwe Shangaan Community of Chilonga in Chiredzi is under renewed attack from the regime & #Dendairy who are determined to take over their land.
2compliant headman have been appointed as Chiefs& same are working in cohorts with regime against the Hlengwe. Let’s #SAVEChilonga,” Hon Biti wrote on Twitter.
CCC has also bemoaned the worsening state of the country’s economy:
“The continued rise in prices for basic commodities is a great cause for concern.
Civil servants are still earning a slave wage.
CCC govt will honour civil servants by bringing back the US$ salaries to civil servants.”
Tinashe Sambiri|Citizens’ Coalition For Change vice president Hon Tendai Biti says the Zanu PF regime has intensified efforts to seize land from hapless Chilonga villagers.
Mr Mnangagwa wants to allocate the land to his personal friends.
Biti described the move as callous…
“The Hlengwe Shangaan Community of Chilonga in Chiredzi is under renewed attack from the regime & #Dendairy who are determined to take over their land.
2compliant headman have been appointed as Chiefs& same are working in cohorts with regime against the Hlengwe. Let’s #SAVEChilonga,” Hon Biti wrote on Twitter.
CCC has also bemoaned the worsening state of the country’s economy:
“The continued rise in prices for basic commodities is a great cause for concern.
Civil servants are still earning a slave wage.
CCC govt will honour civil servants by bringing back the US$ salaries to civil servants.”
Former United States President Trump will not return to Twitter, even as Elon Musk purchases the social media company and reinstates his account, instead using his own TRUTH Social as the sole platform for his voice.
Twitter, on Monday afternoon, announced it agreed to be acquired by Musk for $44 billion.
The former president told Fox News Monday that he will formally join his own TRUTH Social over the next seven days, as planned.
“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH,” Trump told Fox News. “I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH.”
Trump told Fox News he will begin “TRUTHing” over the next week.
The Trump Media & Technology Group social media platform, TRUTH Social, formally launched last month and has been up and running under its brand-new cloud services for four days, after having beta-tested since February. Former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is the company’s CEO.
“We’re taking in millions of people, and what we’re finding is that the response on TRUTH is much better than being on Twitter,” Trump said. “Twitter has bots and fake accounts, and we are doing everything we can.”
He added: “The bottom line is, no, I am not going back to Twitter.”
Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Twitter deemed a number of his tweets connected to the violent protests as inflammatory and warned of “the risk of further incitement of violence.”
When asked whether a Musk-owned Twitter could be competition to TRUTH, Trump said that he feels it would be a positive development in the social media space.
A screengrab of former President Trump’s suspended Twitter page.
“I think it is good. We want liberty and justice and fairness in our country, and the more we can have open, the better,” Trump said. “But no, I don’t view that as a competition for what I am doing.”
“This is a platform for my voice. TRUTH is a platform for my voice and for my supporters,” Trump said. “But I want everybody to come over to TRUTH—conservatives, liberals, whatever.”
The former president said Twitter “became very boring because conservatives were thrown off or got off the platform when I left.”
“It became boring because there was no interaction,” Trump said. “The interaction on TRUTH has been amazing.”
He added: “We want everybody.”
“TRUTH Social will be a voice for me,” Trump continued. “And that’s something nobody else can get.”
The former president would not comment on whether he has been in contact with Musk.
A source familiar told Fox News that Trump and Musk have a very good relationship and are friendly. The source cited Trump coming to Musk’s defense in 2018 after the Tesla CEO was charged with securities fraud over misleading tweets about a potential transaction to take Tesla private.
Musk, on Monday, tweeted:
“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,” Musk tweeted.
Meanwhile, TMTG CEO Devin Nunes told Fox News Monday that TRUTH Social has an “uncancellable architecture now that is working flawlessly and lightening-quick.”
“What President Trump started with this company really is a movement, that has led us to a point where now Elon Musk is saying, hey, this is a problem,” Nunes said. “And we’re glad he is saying it is a problem.”
The topic of content moderation has come under scrutiny from critics on the right, who have argued that tech giants should no longer benefit from protections of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act if they censor certain viewpoints.
President Donald Trump listens during a roundtable discussion on the Federal Commission on School Safety report, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The provision has been pivotal to the rise of today’s social media giants by allowing not only Internet service providers – but also Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and others –to be shielded from liability from content posted on their platforms by third parties, in most cases.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act currently states that “no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
Trump Media & Technology Group first launched in October. The company said last month that the partner has agreements for $1 billion in capital from institutional investors.
TMTG’s plan is to become a publicly listed company through a merger with the publicly traded Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company whose sole purpose is to acquire a private company and take it public.
The Director Of Human Rghts Watch, Kenneth Roth has resigned. He announced he is stepping down after 30 years of serving the institution.
Said Roth: “I am privileged to have headed Human Rights Watch for three decades.
“With my colleagues and our supporters, we have built a global organization and a powerful defender of people’s rights. But it is time to pass the baton. I will be leaving @HRW in August. “
I am privileged to have headed Human Rights Watch for three decades. With my colleagues and our supporters, we have built a global organization and a powerful defender of people's rights. But it is time to pass the baton. I will be leaving @HRW in August. https://t.co/KnvSFaNsuGpic.twitter.com/IB70PNpski
EFFICIENCY has improved at the Registrar General’s office with more than 50 000 e-passports having been issued within a period of three months.
The ZBC News crew visited the Harare Passport Office and witnessed a number of people collecting their passports and the Registrar-General, Mr Henry Machiri explained the latest development.
“We have issued 50 080 passports as of Friday last week at our two sites, that is Harare and Bulawayo,” said Mr Machiri.
A lady who had applied for her e-passport and had come to collect it expressed her joy saying, “I did my application under one roof and the process is smooth unlike before. I applied and after seven days my passport was ready for collection and I have just collected it.”
People from Bulawayo have also commended efficiency at the Registrar General’s Offices after the launch of the e-passport system, with chaotic long queues which promoted corruption now a thing of the past. Those who have accessed the much needed travelling document say the passport acquiring process has become seamless. “We say kudos to this new system, I just applied successfully for my passport using the new system. It’s hustle-free,” said one Bulawayo resident. “Everything is done under one roof, I have applied for my passport and I came to collect today,” said another. For some successful e-passport applicants, the convenience ushered in by the new system has eliminated unnecessary third parties and chances of corruption. “The online platform is easy to use, it takes you from one stage to the other. It’s you and the machine, before this system, we struggled and we will be forced by circumstances to produce bribes. But now it’s a seamless process,” another said. In line with government policy of leaving no one and no place behind, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage is targeting to extend the biometric passport system to all the ten provinces of the country before moving to district level.
“We are now decentralising and this is work in progress. By June 30, we will be issuing passports in other provinces. We will be also cascading to districts such as Murehwa, Zvimba and Beitbridge,” he said.
The e-passport was launched in January this year after government entered into a partnership with a Lithuanian company, Garsu Pasaulis for the production of passports that meet modern international standards.
By A Correspondent- A lone armed robber who stole US$36 000 from a Harare home and used US$10 000 to pay lobola for his wife appeared in court on Monday.
Prosecutors alleged that for several months, Aaron Franscico Machona, 37, terrorised residents of Waterfalls in Harare – including shooting a woman in the head in front of her children.
Machona was charged with murder, attempted robbery, armed robbery and money laundering when he appeared before Harare magistrate Yeukai Dzuda.
Dzuda remanded him in custody to May 8 after advising him to apply for bail at the High Court.
Anesu Chirenje, for the National Prosecuting Authority, alleged that:
i). on December 9, 2021, at around 2 AM, Machona broke into a house on Woodlands Road in the Uplands area of Waterfalls, pointed a gun at Kelvin Mutundwa, 29, who had woken up to investigate the noise disturbance.
ii). He tied Mutundwa’s hands and legs before stealing US$2 which was in a drawer and three mobile phones. Machona ordered Mutundwa’s wife, Faith Muhuwa, to knock on one of the tenants’ bedrooms and pretend her child was having a medical emergency.
iii). the tenant, Hilary Marufu, 22, opened the door, and found a gun pointed at his head. Machona allegedly demanded valuables and made off with a mobile phone, two wristwatches, necklaces and two bucket hats
iv). Machona also seized keys to a BMW 3 Series parked outside which he used as his gate-away car. It was later found dumped in Chitungwiza.
v). At around 1.45 AM on January 30, 20222, Machona allegedly broke into Mario Pepa’s home on Ruwa Avenue in Waterfalls, demanded cash from Pepa and his wife. Pepa wrestled Machona who shot through the asbestos roofing as a warning. Machona fled after seeing lights from an approaching vehicle.
vi). That same morning, at around 4 AM, pounced at another property at Picnic Park in Waterfalls where 43-year-old Shamiso Nhera – a housemaid – was alone. Nhera heard the dog barking and woke up to investigate only to be confronted by an armed man in the passage.
Machona allegedly force-marched Nhera to the bedroom where he blindfolded her. Machona allegedly stole: a). two mobile phones, b). two laptops c). expensive perfumes. d). a safe containing US$36,000 which was mounted inside a fitted wardrobe.
Machona removed Nhera’s blindfold and ordered her to carry the safe out of the house and she complied. After walking some 200 meters, Machona allegedly ordered Nhera to put down the safe, return to the house and never look back.
vii). On March 9, 2022, at midnight, Machona pounced on another house in Uplands, Waterfalls, where 31-year-old Jubilee Utsiwegota, her mother Mavis Utsiwegota, 78, and four children were sleeping. He violently assaulted Mavis with her own walking stick while demanding cash. She handed over US$60 and two mobile phones but Machona kept on the assault until Jubilee tried to restrain him. Machona shot her in the head and she died instantly.
viii). On April 13, around 2 AM, Machona broke into a house on Forbes Road in Uplands, pointed a gun at 50-year-old Archibald Nyikadzino and demanded cash. Nyikadzino handed over US$102. He ordered Nyikadzino to lead him to another room where 39-year-old Clifford Nyakudya was sleeping. He ordered both Nyikadzino and Nyakudya to lie on the floor before taking three mobile phones and US$17. Machona then force-marched the two men into a third bedroom where Jorum Nyikadzino, 35, was sleeping. He took US$70 and a mobile phone.
ix). Machona used some of the proceeds of his crimes to pay lobola for his wife who has a Mozambican father and Zimbabwean mother. Machona travelled to Mozambique for the event, paying out US$10 000.
x). He also allegedly purchased a Toyota Runx vehicle and a residential stand at Unit C in Seke on which he built a three-roomed house.
Machona was arrested after police received information that he had been seen with a gun. When he was interrogated, he allegedly gave up information on his months-long one-man crime wave.
By A Correspondent| Government has reinstated six traditional leaders to their positions as village heads after rescinding their illegal and unceremonious dismissal which took place seven years ago.
The six village heads namely Member Mutinha, Patrick Manjonjo, Aleck Munava, Morgan Gora, Nobo Mahobho and Taurai Machipisa of Ward 17 in Hurungwe District in Mashonaland West province were unfairly dismissed by Chief Nyamhunga (born Boniface Chinehasha) between April and May 2015.
They were also stripped of their entitlements and replaced by six village heads namely Emmanuel Mutinha, Clever Hwenda, Insuarance Kapamara, Simbarashe Kaponda, Dzumbunu Paratema and Pasipanodya Manjonjo.
The dismissal took place during the run-up to the Hurungwe West constituency parliamentary by-election held on 10 June 2015, which was contested by the late Keith Guzah representing ZANU PF party and Temba Mliswa, who stood as an independent candidate after he had been expelled as the ruling party’s provincial chairperson for Mashonaland West province.
Although the village heads made several efforts to seek clarity regarding their dismissal, they were later advised by the Hurungwe West District Administrator (now District Development Co-ordinator (DDC) that their positions had been filled and their cases sealed adding that the benefits and stipends they used to receive had also been withdrawn.
After their dismissal, Mutinha, Munava, Gora, Mahobho, Machipisa and Manjonjo engaged Webster Jiti of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who filed an application at the High Court, challenging the decision to dismiss them without preferring any charges against them nor convening any disciplinary hearing for them.
In the application, the village heads argued that they had complied with the provisions of Section 281 of the Constitution which provides that traditional leaders should not “act in a partisan manner or further the interest of a political party or cause”.
Now Mutinha, Munava, Gora, Mahobho, Machipisa and Manjonjo are heaving a sigh of relief as they were recently reinstated to their positions by Zvinechimwe Churu, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, who stated that they had been unfairly dismissed and withdrew the appointment of the six people who had assumed their roles and duties.
The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works represented by one E. Chitombo advised the District Development Coordinator for Hurungwe District that Churu had reinstated the six village heads as from 17 August 2021 in terms of the provisions of the Traditional Leadership Act.
Chitombo ordered the District Development Coordinator to process payment of the village heads’ monthly allowances.
By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe will be introducing electronic courts, also known as e-courts, starting May 1.
The announcement was made through Statutory Instrument (SI) 78, 79 and 80 of 2022 published in the Government Gazette Friday.
The new regulations apply to the Constitutional Court, High Court and the Supreme Court respectively.
“It is hereby notified that the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs has, in terms of section 26(2) of the Constitutional Court Act [Chapter 7:22], approved the following rules made by the Chief Justice. These rules may be cited as the Constitutional Court (Amendment) Rules, 2022 (No. 1),” reads one of the notices.
“The Constitutional Court Rules, 2016, published in Statutory Instrument 61 of 2016 (hereinafter called the principal rules), are amended as follows, rule 2 of the principal rules is amended in subrule by the insertion of the following definitions and Interpretations…IECMS account” means Integrated Electronic Case Management that is a litigant’s account accessed through the internet which enables him or her to access the IECMS platform,” reads part of the notice.
The IECMS will introduce electronic case filing, automatic case allocation to judicial officers, electronic case tracking and management from filing to finalisation and virtual hearings.
The e-courts have been introduced in line with new technologies and the need for efficiency in the delivery of justice with consistency and collective effort by all justice delivery players.
Giving his State of the Judiciary Address (SOJA) early this year Chief Justice Luke Malaba said efficiency is connected to justice delivery as justice must not be delayed.
He further lamented the access to justice challenges that the nation continues to face due to the persistent Covid-19 pandemic.
To address the challenges, and in line with the 2022 legal year theme, Malaba promised that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) will adopt technological measures that are earmarked to reform and transform the current operations in the justice delivery sector.
All players in the justice system including judges and magistrates and court staff and the JSC itself, legal practitioners, the National Prosecuting Authority, the Office of the Attorney-General, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service have received training from the JSC ICT team.
By A Correspondent- Chief Magistrate Faith Mushure has said the Judiciary Services Commission (JSC) is investigating misconduct and corruption allegations among rogue magistrates.
She was speaking during the swearing in of 11 new magistrates in Harare Friday.
Mushure said a vibrant committee will be set up to help fight any form of corruption within the justice system.
“We have a vibrant complaints handling system in place. Whenever we receive complaints of corruption we don’t slip anything under the carpet, we ensure that appropriate investigations are carried out. Currently we have a member who is undergoing investigations and trial for forging some deceased’s estate documents so we take cases and corruption reports seriously,” she said.
“We have also adopted the same attitude of zero tolerance at corruption which has been adopted at national level so the gospel is the same, we are putting hands together against corruption as the JSC. We are making sure that all cases of corruption against magistrates are investigated and we will leave no stone unturned,” said Mushure.
She said the JSC is also working on upgrading and expanding its courts across the country.
Various projects are being carried out in Lupane the court is about to be completed soon, in Gwanda we also have projects being administered and Glennorah, Epworth we have engaged the City of Harare to provide the land so that we can build more courts,” Mushure said.
She said that they have opened regional courts in Zvishavane, Mt Darwin and are also increasing regional magistrates in all the areas that have regional courts.
Mushure also said the JSC has been experiencing shortages of magistrates with some stations operating with only one magistrates.
“There has been shortages of Magistrates in various stations such as Mberengwa, Lupane and Mwenezi and the newly appointed Magistrates has been deployed to such stations,” she said.
“Each station is now going to be run by more than one Magistrate unlike before where one station would be run by just one Magistrate.
“These 11 new magistrates will bring the total to 247 magistrates in Zimbabwe. We now have two or more magistrates per station as we used to have one magistrate per some stations like Lupane, Mberengwa and Mwenezi,” Mushure said.
She also said some of the magistrates left work for greener pastures, which explains why the JSC is calling for better remuneration for its workers.
By A Correspondent- The bail application of the seven people accused of the murder of Elvis Nyathi, has been postponed to today at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg. Nyathi, a Zimbabwean national, was beaten and burnt to death in Diepsloot on 7 April.
One of the accused in the Elvis Nyathi murder case says police did not explain why he was being arrested.
The 41 year old father of two and six other accused are applying for bail in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg.
Nyathi, a Zimbabwean national, was beaten and burnt to death in Diepsloot north of Johannesburg earlier this month.
The seven men are facing charges of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, assault, robbery and extortion.
Accused number one says he intends to plead not guilty as he was not involved in any criminal acts on the day Elvis Nyathi was killed.
He says he is well known in the community as he is active in political structures and a CPF member. He says on April 7, 2022, he was attending a community meeting addressed by the Minister of Police at Diepsloot police station.
He says police arrived at his house late one night over the Easter weekend and arrested him without explaining why he was being arrested. He denies the crimes he is accused of, stating he has a strong alibi confirming he was home during the mob act.
The party called on the South African government and the ruling party to seek lasting solutions to high number of crimes in communities.
It says law enforcement agencies should bring to book those committing crimes in the communities regardless of their nationalities.
The party says it reiterates that it doesn’t condone any criminality by any Zimbabwean nationals.
The Nyathi family has since been evacuated out of the area to a place of safety.
ZANU-PF’s SA spokesperson Kennedy Mandaza has pleaded with South Africans, especially the people of Diepsloot, to respect the rule of law.-sabc
Two people died on the spot, while three were injured when a Honda Fit was hit by a train at a rail crossing in Harare’s Hillside area this morning, Zimbabwe Republic Police national spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi has confirmed.
The Honda Fit vehicle that was hit by a train in Hillside Harare early morning today
By A Correspondent- A Chinese mechanic turned cook is set to be deported from Zimbabwe after he was jailed for violating the terms of his residence permit.
Li Changfeng (24), was selling Chinese traditional dishes to locals in Bulawayo’s Old Luveve suburb.
Changfeng’s culinary skills attracted the attention of immigration officials who then looked into his work status in the country.
It was the established his work permit stipulated that he was employed as a mechanic by Dongxin Machinery, a firm in Kadoma that specialised in mining machinery.
Changfeng had resigned from the company but he failed to notify immigration officials as was legally required.
He was therefore found to have broken the law as he continued using the existing permit.
Changfeng appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Gamuchirai Gore, facing charges of violating the terms of his employment permit as outlined in the Immigration Act.
He was convicted and fined R500, and detained at Khami medium prison, awaiting deportation from Zimbabwe.
By Showbiz Reporter | The so called, “mbinga,” who the Controversial preacher, Panganai Java yesterday announced as his friend, Obert Karombe’s girlfriend has spoken for the first time in hospital.
The woman, spoke to a live video audience narrating how the accident happened. She said(video):
ARMY TRUCK ACCIDENT SURVIVOR SPEAKS ON LIVE: We had a head on, and my man's died on the spot…We were in… Beatrice Road… we were coming back to Harare…I needed to book a flight, because my birthday is tomorrow, I need to start preparing and go compare certain things. pic.twitter.com/eZV4au7V8a
Hey are you Okay? I am trying I am fighting. Guys this is supposed to be white. But its full of blood. What happened? So, we had a head on, and my man’s died on the spot…We were in… Beatrice Road… we were coming back to Harare… I needed to book a flight, because my birthday is tomorrow, I need to start preparing and go compare certain things. So, yeah. I am so sorry, it’s okay, it’s okay. Guys my ear was sewed back on, I didn’t have my ear, like, my ear was literally sewed back on. I don’t know, I will show you things, but yeah, thank God you’re okay. Yeah, we all thank God, but tomorrow it’s my birthday guys…I don’t know how I am going to get through that but God knows…
Meanwhile, the ZANU PF activist Passion Java spoke glowingly of the man said to be a rich mbinga saying he was his good friend.
7 months ago, Java announced him as the last Zimbabwean mbinga in South Africa. Mbingas are people who reveal sudden riches obtained from criminal sources after engaging in Satanic rituals.
The accident happened along Beatrice Road and it was a head on collision with the army truck. Details trickling in suggest that the army lost control and swerved into his lane causing the crash.
Obert, who was referred to as a ‘mbinga’, had recently engaged for marriage, one Kumbirai Ellen Bosha, fondly known as African Goddess.
He is survived by his wife and 2 children.
Passion Java: REST IN PEACE my good Friend, South Africa will not be the same without you. pic.twitter.com/puHdjCSx9e
By A Correspondent| The Harare Magistrates court has ordered authorities to pay ZWL200 000 to a teacher who was arrested, tortured and abused by some Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers three years ago.
Munyaradzi Masiyiwa, who is employed as a teacher and is the Deputy Secretary-General of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), was arrested by ZRP officers on 16 August 2019 at Market Square bus terminus in Harare as he was waiting to board a commuter omnibus to go to his residence.
The ZRP officers mistook Masiyiwa, who was wearing a red-shirt for an opposition MDC party supporter on a day when the Nelson Chamisa-led party had organised an anti-government protest to press President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration to arrest the country’s worsening economic crisis.
ZRP officers handcuffed Masiyiwa and bundled him into their truck and severely assaulted and tortured him while he lay on his abdomen with truncheons all over his body before instructing him to make coital movements and simulate as if he was having sexual intercourse with the ZRP vehicle.
The law enforcement agents then detained Masiyiwa at Harare Central Police Station in a small and overcrowded cell, where they continued assaulting him and also denied him food before charging him with committing public violence.
Upon arrival at Harare Central Prison after he was remanded in custody, Masiyiwa was ordered by prison officers to strip naked and to jump up and down with his hands in the air.
While in prison, the ARTUZ leader was also denied food by prison officers such that when he returned to court on 19 August 2019 he collapsed during court proceedings and was only allowed to have food at that point. He was eventually cleared of the public violence charges on 7 October 2019.
This prompted Masiyiwa to engage Tinashe Chinopfukutwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who sued ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Hon. Kazembe Kazembe, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Hon.
Ziyambi Ziyambi and Commissioner-General of Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) Moses Chihobvu and a police officer only identified as Jambaya for ZWL200 000 in damages for pain and suffering, trauma, contumelia, embarrassment and humiliation.
During trial, Masiyiwa argued that he had been severely abused and humiliated by the conduct of ZRP and ZPCS officers.
This resulted in Harare Magistrate Victoria Mashamba ordering Matanga, Kazembe, Ziyambi, Chihobvu and Jambaya to pay ZWL200 000 as compensation for the ill-treatment of Masiyiwa broken down as ZWL100 000 for pain and suffering and ZWL100 000 for embarrassment, affront to dignity, humiliation and contumelia.
By A Correspondent- There is a bloodbath in the financial services sector, with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Monday shutting down yet another foreign currency dealership, Access Forex.
The company announced in a statement it has been directed to suspend operations with immediate effect.
This comes only a few days after the RBZ suspended Metbank from operating as a forex dealer and banned Simbisa Brands’ Innbucks money transfer platform which had become popular with clients.
In a notice to its clients, Access Forex management said international transfers between South Africa, the United Kingdom (UK) and Zimbabwe will not affected by the suspension.
Following communication from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe concerning our domestic money transfer service, Access Forex will be suspending local money transfers effective Friday, 22 April 2022,” the company said.
“While we are engaging the relevant authorities with the hope of resuming the service soon, we will therefore not be accepting any cash-inns in any of our branches or partners offices. Any client wishing to collect money sent to them from a local source (within Zimbabwe) before 22 April 2022 will be able to do so by visiting any of our branches or trusted partners countrywide,” it said.
“Please note that international money transfers between South Africa and Zimbabwe and between the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe are not affected by the directive and remain available,” the notice reads.
Access Forex is a Zimbabwean owned money transfer platform operating in the UK.
Watchers say the move by the RBZ is an insufficient and piecemeal attempt to solve the country’s economic crisis underlined by runway inflation.
By-Elections for the Zanu PF Mashonaland West youth league on Sunday did not proceed after delegates turned violent.
The elections were to select candidates that will represent the province at next week’s crunch youth league conference.
The riotous situation saw Zanu PF Chinhoyi district chairman Job Mavata, locking the door to prevent his rivals from accessing the command centre where election results were being announced.
He threatened to beat the elections supervisor, provincial affairs minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, who doubles as Zanu PF provincial chairperson.
Provincial youth league chairman, Tapiwa Masenda was also targeted for victimisation.
By the time the situation turned violent, polls to elect representatives for Chegutu and Kadoma were yet to be conducted.
Masenda confirmed the skirmishes when contacted by NewZimbabwe.com for comment. He said: Yes, there was commotion caused by one or two unruly elements. You would appreciate that even during elections to choose a village head, things can get heated. This was an election just like any other poll where tempers will be running high. Nonetheless, districts, specifically Chegutu and Kadoma, yet to choose their youth representatives will do so during polls to be held tomorrow (Tuesday). Results of elections that were conducted: a). Valerie Makonza defeated Chipo Tagwirei and Sthembeni Madzima in elections to choose a female representative. b). Shepherd Marime was elected unopposed for Hurungwe/Kariba district. c). Decide Manhanzva won the Zvimba/Makonde polls after defeating Godknows Muzhandamuri and Admire Muronzi, who is brother-in-law to information permanent secretary Nick Mangwana. Elections to choose Chegutu and Kadoma youth representatives who will attend and cast ballots at the National Youth Conference that kicks off on May 4 are pending. The polls were initially scheduled for Norton, but were later set for Zanu PF provincial offices in Chinhoyi, a move designed to manage skirmishes that could disrupt the polls again.
By A Correspondent- A Harare woman, Happygill Muyengwa, is suing her husband’s girlfriend, Elmina Kusikwenyu, US$15 000 for adultery.
She argues that Kusikwenyu has been involved in an extramarital affair with her husband since 2014 and they now have a child.
The court was told Muyengwa’s husband has also paid lobola for Kusikwenyu and they have since moved in together.
In summons filed with the High Court, Muyengwa claimed US$15 000 for loss of companionship and consortium.
She also demanded ZW$15 000 adultery damages.
Muyengwa said she warned Kusikwenyu that she was his wife but she continued the illicit affair.
However her bid to sue hit a brick wall due to a technical error.
High Court judge, Justice Catherine Kate Bachi-Mzawazi removed her case from the roll for being defective after she made requests in United States currency and local currency in the same summons.
Muyengwa did not cite the name of her husband.
In addition nothing on the papers illustrated that the address the summons were served on is the residential or domicilium stand of the defendant.
The judge advised her to seek legal representation to help her with the lawsuit.
“I removed the matter from the roll for the reasons that Muyengwa, in her summons couched her claim as firstly, ZW$15 000 for adultery damages and secondly US$15 000 for loss of companionship and consortium. In my view she had not properly pleaded her claim as she then tried to do in her affidavit of evidence,” Justice Bachi-Mzawazi said.
“In my view, that made the summons defective. I felt that the defect in the summons cannot be cured.
“Even though this was an application for default judgment, it was based on defective summons. For these reasons, I advised the applicant to approach legal aid organisations so that she may be assisted.
“As a result, instead of dismissing or striking off her application I simply removed it from the roll giving her a leverage or opportunity to reset the matter once her papers have been put in order,” said the judge.
By-Zanu PF has cancelled its Mashonaland West youth league elections in Chinhoyi after the event had turned violent.
The elections were to select candidates that will represent the province at next week’s crunch youth league conference.
The riotous situation saw Zanu PF Chinhoyi district chairman Job Mavata, locking the door to prevent his rivals from accessing the command centre where election results were being announced.
He threatened to beat the elections supervisor, provincial affairs minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, who doubles as Zanu PF provincial chairperson.
Provincial youth league chairman, Tapiwa Masenda was also targeted for victimisation.
By the time the situation turned violent, polls to elect representatives for Chegutu and Kadoma were yet to be conducted.
Masenda confirmed the skirmishes when contacted by NewZimbabwe.com for comment. He said: Yes, there was commotion caused by one or two unruly elements. You would appreciate that even during elections to choose a village head, things can get heated. This was an election just like any other poll where tempers will be running high. Nonetheless, districts, specifically Chegutu and Kadoma, yet to choose their youth representatives will do so during polls to be held tomorrow (Tuesday). Results of elections that were conducted: a). Valerie Makonza defeated Chipo Tagwirei and Sthembeni Madzima in elections to choose a female representative. b). Shepherd Marime was elected unopposed for Hurungwe/Kariba district. c). Decide Manhanzva won the Zvimba/Makonde polls after defeating Godknows Muzhandamuri and Admire Muronzi, who is brother-in-law to information permanent secretary Nick Mangwana. Elections to choose Chegutu and Kadoma youth representatives who will attend and cast ballots at the National Youth Conference that kicks off on May 4 are pending. The polls were initially scheduled for Norton, but were later set for Zanu PF provincial offices in Chinhoyi, a move designed to manage skirmishes that could disrupt the polls again.
Below is an excerpt of the exclusive interview on 3rd April 2010 with the MDC Alliance renegade, Thokozani Khupe in which she announced how she is taking over President Nelson Chamisa’s seat.
Are you going to inherit @nelsonchamisa's challenge against @edmnangagwa over the 2018 elections? Khupe replies:"why would I challenge when I don't have evidence? He challenged and was asked to produce evidence…why should I waste my time? Unfortunately I'm not understanding…" pic.twitter.com/PiuNUNAvft
Simba Chikanza: Are you going to inherit Nelson Chamisa’s challenge against Mnangagwa over the 2018 elections?
Thokozani Khupe: “How? Why would I challenge when I don’t have evidence? He challenged and was asked to produce evidence…why should I waste my time?”
Simba Chikanza: I am saying there is evidence, there are LIVE broadcast videos beginning with the 15th Dec 2017, ZBC video clearly showing the deployment of the army to change election results. There are other videos right up to election day…. You are avoiding all this evidence simply because a court verdict said so?
By Farai D Hove | The late former Prime Minister Ian Smith left behind a fully functioning water supply system that ensured clean water went into every house in the capital city, Harare.
Fast forwards 44 years later, state president Emmerson Mnangagwa is promising boreholes, let alone supplying them. The elected ZANU PF MP, Zalerah Makari on Tuesday morning spoke loudly of the ZANU PF leader saying:
“We want to thank His Excellency President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa who took his time to spent the day with the people of Epworth.
“He also addressed key issues in Epworth such as the drilling of 14 solar powered boreholes. As Epworth we are that we’re not left behind!”
By- Citizens Coalition for Change has shifted its focus to training polling agents who will be monitoring the ballots in the next year’s elections.
Posting on the party’s twitter account, Tuesday, the CCC secretary general, Charlton Hwende, said they had main three focus areas before the next year’s elections.
He tweeted: We are less than 12months before an election and the 3 critical priority areas are 1. Voter registration 2. Candidates selection and Polling Agents training 3. Fundraising. Let’s not be distracted from these 3 key areas that will guarantee us a landslide victory in 2023.
We are less than 12months before an election and the 3 critical priority areas are 1. Voter registration 2. Candidates selection and Polling Agents training 3. Fundraising. Let’s not be distracted from these 3 key areas that will guarantee us a landslide victory in 2023
— Chalton Hwende MP Chairperson Public Accounts (@hwendec) April 25, 2022
Mr Robber, how would you feel if you were the one getting 4 bullets into your head?
Aaron Machona, how would you feel if you were the one getting 4 heavy bullets into your head?
A suspected serial robber and murderer, who committed a spate of robberies in Harare, appeared in court yesterday following his dramatic arrest on Friday.
Aaron Machona, was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate, Yeukai Dzuda, who remanded him in custody.
In the first charge of murder and armed robbery, the court heard that on March 9, at around 1am, Jubilee Utsiwegota was asleep in her bedroom.
Her mother, Mavis Utsiwegota, and four other children were also sleeping in the house when Machona broke into the premises.
He was allegedly armed with a CZ pistol and started assaulting the elderly Mavis Utsiwegota demanding money.
The late Jubilee confronted Machona and tried to stop him from assaulting her mother.
Machona allegedly fired four shots into her head leading to her death.
He stole two cellphones and US$60.
In another count, Machona broke into Kelvin Mutandwa’s house using an unknown object.
When Mutandwa heard the noise, he saw Machona wearing a balaclava, pointing a pistol at him.
Machona ordered Mutandwa to lie down and he tied his hands and legs and he stole US$2 that was in the drawer and a cellphone.
He ordered Mutandwa’s wife to lead him to the other tenant’s bedroom.
Hilary Marufu (22) opened the door and Machona confronted him with a pistol and ordered him to lie down.
Machona allegedly stole watches and cellphones and drove away in Marufu’s car, which he later dumped in Chitungwiza.
He is also facing attempted robbery charges after he allegedly broke into Mario Pepa’s house and demanded money.
He threatened to shoot both Pepa and his wife.
Pepa allegedly wrestled with Machona and he fired a shot before escaping from the scene.
Machona is then alleged to have broken into Shamiso Nhera’s house.
She was awoken by barking dogs and saw him in the corridor armed with a pistol.
He allegedly forced her back into her bedroom where he blindfolded her and took her phones and ransacked the house.
He ordered her to carry a safe, which had US$36 000, and accompany him outside.
Machona was also charged for unlawful possession of a firearm.
Allegations are that on April 22, detectives received information that he was involved in a spate of robberies, and he had been seen at Chigovanyika Shopping Centre in Chitungwiza.
Machona became suspicious and drove off at high speed and a chase ensued in which the police fired warning shots.
He was eventually cornered at a fuel station leading to his arrest.
When police searched his house, they found a pistol and a magazine with one round of ammunition.
A HARARE man stripped his wife in public as a way of settling a property dispute.
The matter came to light after Pantience Bekerwa appeared before the Harare Civil Court seeking a protection order against her husband Norest Nyakutanda.
Pantience told the court she was being abused by her husband who even stripped her in public
“This man is abusing me both physically and emotionally, he has a tendency of stripping me in public.
“He treats me like crap at my own house and to make matters worse the property he is claiming is mine.
“I bought it with my own money.”
However, Norest claimed his wife was lying before the court so that she could gain sympathy from the judge, at the expense of justice.
“I am the one who is suffering at the hands of this woman.
“She stole my property and left me with an empty house.
“Now, I don’t even have even a blanket to cover myself during the night, I sleep on cardboards yet I once had blankets,” he said.
Magistrate Tamara Chibindi granted the protection order in favour of Pantience and advised both parties to maintain peace while solving their challenges. H Metro
LOCAL Government Minister July Moyo has said kombis are not coming back.
Minister Moyo reiterated that only ZUPCO buses, or those under the ZUPCO franchise, are allowed to ferry passengers.
Government banned private kombis at the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.
“Private kombis are not coming back, President Mnangagwa is working very hard to purchase ZUPCO buses which will be enough to cater for the commuting public,” Minister Moyo said.
The police also warned the public not to board mushika-shika transport as they risk being robbed or killed.
For the past few months, police has been recording cases in which people were raped, robbed or killed.
“The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) reiterates that members of the public must avoid boarding mushikashika vehicles or use their private vehicles as pirate taxis as they risk falling prey to robbers,” police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Nyathi said.
Zimbabwe Passengers Association president, Tafadzwa Goriyati, said passengers were facing a transport crisis as ZUPCO was ending its evening operations earlier than expected.
“In the evening, passengers are boarding anything which comes on the road because of the shortage of ZUPCO transport, people are being robbed of their possessions because of transport challenges,” he said
Patricia Mberi, who lives in Budiriro, said their area was being serviced by one ZUPCO bus.
“If you miss that bus, you will have to wait for another trip, commuting to town is very hard and expensive because you hike from here and you pay US$1 to the roundabout and board another car to town,” she said.-HMetro
By- Zanu PF has responded to allegations that the ruling party was planning to infiltrate the opposition CCC structure should the latter hold an elective congress.
The party’s director of communications Tafadzwa Mugwadi said that claims by CCC that the ruling party plans to infiltrate the opposition party’s elective congress showed that Zanu PF was ubiquitous.
This comes after CCC deputy spokesperson Gift Siziba recently claimed that CCC had no plans of holding a congress as Zanu PF plotted to infiltrate their movement.
Siziba was quoted as saying:
Let me clear this once and for all, some people are motivated by Zanu PF, to imagine and think that we are going for a congress.
Look we are a new political organisation, we do not hold congresses and we have no intention to hold a congress.
In CCC, the congress does not exist… it is in the headquarters of Zanu PF and CIO, who in their imagination think we are going to have a congress and they can deploy their people.
Mugwadi said CCC leaders are confused and paranoid, a legacy of their days at the helm of the MDC Alliance. Said Mugwadi:
Are they suggesting that with that claim they are also Zanu PF? Zanu PF will be glad to hear that the organisation which claims to be the biggest opposition is now claiming that it has Zanu PF membership within it.
But most importantly, it is their fear of leadership acrimony which continues to dog the organisation, the leadership acrimony which they carried from their old party MDC. They are clueless.
They don’t have a constitution, and they claim that the citizens are the structures, but surprisingly they carry the titles which they had when they were in the MDC Alliance.
Ironically, some political commentators with links to Zanu PF argue that CCC should hold a congress before the 2023 general elections.
Exiled former Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo dismissed CCC’s fears of infiltration. Moyo tweeted:
The CCC is saying no vacancies and no congress of any kind. CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation) wants to infiltrate us; maybe a people’s convention, get the nomenclature right.
But a citizen’s convention is better nomenclature. Wait, CIO can only infiltrate a congress; not a convention since it’s American, right.
Zimbabwe is not at all listed in Africa’s Highest Literacy Top 10 Rates, according to the Twitter based Africa Fact Zone. The microblog, run by a Nigerian African opinionator, Isima Odeh has small nations such as Swaziland and Libya, ahead of the once renowned Zimbabwe. The WorldBank UNESCO figures have Zimbabwe on 88,69 and yet the below has Swaziland’s 88,44 listed ahead of Zimbabwe.
Harare Magistrate Victoria Mashamba has ordered the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) and two cabinet ministers to pay ZWL$200 000 to a teacher who was arrested, tortured and abused by police and prison officers two years ago.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Munyaradzi Masiyiwa, who is employed as a teacher and is the Deputy Secretary-General of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), was arrested on 16 August 2019 in Harare.
He was arrested at Market Square bus terminus in Harare as he was waiting to board a commuter omnibus to go to his place of residence.
Police officers who arrested Masiyiwa allegedly mistook him for an opposition MDC party supporter as he was wearing a red shirt.
The arrest took place on the day when the then Nelson Chamisa-led party had organised an anti-government protest over the country’s worsening economic crisis.
The police officers who arrested Masiyiwa handcuffed, bundled him into their truck and severely assaulted and tortured him while he lay on his abdomen.
They used truncheons to assault Masiyiwa all over his body before instructing him to make coital movements and simulate as if he was having sexual intercourse with the ZRP vehicle.
He was taken to Harare Central Prison where he was remanded in custody and further assaulted.
Masiyiwa was allegedly ordered by prison officers to strip naked and jump up and down with his hands in the air and was also denied food.
He was eventually cleared of the public violence charges on 7 October 2019.
Masiyiwa engaged ZLHR’s Tinashe Chinopfukutwa who sued ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and ZPCS Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu and a police officer only identified as Jambaya.
Masiyiwa demanded ZWL$200 000 in damages for pain and suffering, trauma, contumelia, embarrassment and humiliation.
He told the court that he had been severely abused and humiliated by the conduct of ZRP and ZPCS officers.
Magistrate Mashamba ordered Matanga, Kazembe, Ziyambi, Chihobvu and Jambaya to pay ZWL$200 000 to Masiyiwa as compensation for the ill-treatment.
The penalty was broken down as ZWL$100 000 for pain and suffering and ZWL$100 000 for embarrassment, affront to dignity, humiliation and contumelia. – Pindula News
By- Operation dudula activists are said to be hunting down Zimbabwean truck drivers living and working in South Africa .
The affected drivers said that the Dudulka thugs were accusing them of stealing trucking jobs from South Africans.
Richard Mudhara, a Zimbabwean truck driver working in Johannesburg, told GroundUp in an interview that he was abducted on 2 March a few kilometres from Durban by three men.
He said his abductors told him they were with the All Truck Drivers Foundation (ATDF) and Operation Dudula.
Mudhara alleged that the men had stopped his truck, smashed the windows and forced him out.
They then tied him up and held him at gunpoint in bushes while his truck was driven away. Said Mudhara:
My mind was racing. They told me they were after truck drivers from Zimbabwe.
They told me to comply or be killed so I prayed for them to let me live.
… I prayed for them to let me live because some who found themselves in similar circumstances, were reported dead.
He said his life was saved when the gunman received a phone call and left him there.
The drivers, with Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) permits, claim that rogue police are also extorting them for cash.
However, Operation Dudula, a rising anti-immigrant, vigilante-like group has distanced itself from the attacks.
Zandile Dabula, Operation Dudula’s secretary-general said they don’t fight people, but the government, adding that the movement was yet to focus on the trucking sector.
Not only Zimbabwean drivers are under attack, but other immigrant drivers from Zambia and Malawi are also targeted by xenophobic groups.
Vusimusi Sibanda from the African Diaspora Global Network claimed that 15 immigrant truck drivers were reported to have been killed over the past three years. He said:
People who attacked these truck drivers were not arrested, which is why we have more vigilante groups such as Operation Dudula and the ATDF.
Lives were lost and trucks were destroyed yet no one was ever held accountable and even the government has not done anything to stop these attacks.
Sibanda said the Network was pushing for SAPS and the SA government to intervene in the attacks against immigrant truck drivers.
SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Robert Netshiunda told GroundUp that they have made several arrests linked to attacks on truck drivers.
Netshiunda urged drivers to report any corrupt activities so that police can investigate them.
He said criminals are behind the spate of attacks on truck drivers three months ago and the attacks had nothing to do with vigilante groups.
Dynamos moved back to the top of the Castle Lager Premiership table after edging out Manica Diamonds 1-0 on Matchday 12 on Sunday.
The Glamour Boys are now on twenty-six points, level with Chicken Inn but separated with a superior goal difference.
The match had a pacey start but both sides struggled to create meaningful opportunities in the first quarter-hour of the game.
The hosts broke the deadlock on minute 25 after Bill Antonio’s cross was tapped home by Emmanuel Paga. The tempo slowed down in the following moments with Manica struggling to come back into the game.
The match went to the break with Dembare leading.
The introduction of Pascal Manhanga and Timire Mamvura early in the second improved the Gem Boys’ mobility in the front and brought some threats to Dynamos.
Nyasha Chintuli was the target man, as he created a couple of good chances including the deflected shot that was saved by the keeper. He also broke free and went clear at goal but took long to release the ball and was dispossessed.
With all good opportunities coming on their side, Manica failed to get the equaliser for the remainder of the game.
Dynamos, on the other end, played deep and were quiet for the better part of the half. They never threatened until the last stages of the game when they tried to take the pressure off.
Elsewhere, CAPS United lost 2-1 to Triangle United, while Bulawayo Chiefs edged Whawha 1-0. Herentals lost their match 1-0 to Cranborne Bullets. – Soccer24 Zimbabwe
Aston Villa midfielder Marvelous Nakamba marked his return from a long lay-off with a cameo appearance in the goalless draw at Leicester City on Saturday.
The Zimbabwean spent four months on the sidelines due to a knee injury suffered in December and missed fifteen games.
The 28-year-old tore his medial collateral ligament (MCL) and had to undergo surgery to treat it.
After recovering, Nakamba was included in the Villa matchday squad in the previous round against Tottenham but did not feature. He was introduced in the added time at King Power and appeared on the pitch for two minutes before the referee blew the final whistle.
Meanwhile, the goalless result ended Villa’s four-match losing run in the league.- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
MWENEZI – Election officers who presided over the March 26, 2022 by-elections are yet to be paid, The Mirror has heard.
Sources said the officers were supposed to be paid US$40 per day from the day of training until the end of the voting process.
The officers who spoke on condition of anonymity said that officers in other areas have been paid.
The Mirror contacted officers in Bikita and Gutu who confirmed that they have been paid.
They said that they were paid on April 12, 2022.
Charles Dasva the Zec Mwenezi District Election Officer professed ignorance on the non-payment and said he was going to check with the provincial accountant.
He referred further questions to Zec spokesperson Jasper Mangwana.
Mangwana said he could not talk because he was in a meeting and requested to communicate via text messages.
He however, did not respond to the questions send to his mobile phone via text messages. Further efforts to get a comment from Mangwana hit a brick wall as his mobile went unanswered.- Masvingo Mirror
Harare Magistrate Victoria Mashamba has ordered the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) and two cabinet ministers to pay ZWL$200 000 to a teacher who was arrested, tortured and abused by police and prison officers two years ago.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Munyaradzi Masiyiwa, who is employed as a teacher and is the Deputy Secretary-General of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), was arrested on 16 August 2019 in Harare.
He was arrested at Market Square bus terminus in Harare as he was waiting to board a commuter omnibus to go to his place of residence.
Police officers who arrested Masiyiwa allegedly mistook him for an opposition MDC party supporter as he was wearing a red shirt.
The arrest took place on the day when the then Nelson Chamisa-led party had organised an anti-government protest over the country’s worsening economic crisis.
The police officers who arrested Masiyiwa handcuffed, bundled him into their truck and severely assaulted and tortured him while he lay on his abdomen.
They used truncheons to assault Masiyiwa all over his body before instructing him to make coital movements and simulate as if he was having sexual intercourse with the ZRP vehicle.
He was taken to Harare Central Prison where he was remanded in custody and further assaulted.
Masiyiwa was allegedly ordered by prison officers to strip naked and jump up and down with his hands in the air and was also denied food.
He was eventually cleared of the public violence charges on 7 October 2019.
Masiyiwa engaged ZLHR’s Tinashe Chinopfukutwa who sued ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and ZPCS Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu and a police officer only identified as Jambaya.
Masiyiwa demanded ZWL$200 000 in damages for pain and suffering, trauma, contumelia, embarrassment and humiliation.
He told the court that he had been severely abused and humiliated by the conduct of ZRP and ZPCS officers.
Magistrate Mashamba ordered Matanga, Kazembe, Ziyambi, Chihobvu and Jambaya to pay ZWL$200 000 to Masiyiwa as compensation for the ill-treatment.
The penalty was broken down as ZWL$100 000 for pain and suffering and ZWL$100 000 for embarrassment, affront to dignity, humiliation and contumelia. – Pindula News
By-South African who murdered Elvis Nyathi, a Zimbabwean national on 6 April are expected back in the Randburg Magistrates Court, in Johannesburg this morning.
The seven face charges of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery, and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
The accused appeared in court on Friday last week where the matter was postponed to Monday.
They are expected to apply for bail this morning when they return to the dock.
On Friday, one of the accused delayed court proceedings as he requested time to get legal representation from legal aid.
The accused’s lawyer told the court that she would be recusing herself, citing a lack of communication with her client.
The late Elvis Nyathi Banajo Mbodazwe was born on 14 February 1979, at Brunapeg Hospital to parents Mfanyana Nyathi and Sipho Ndlovu.
He grew up at Tshatshe, Sewula in Kezi, and did his primary education at Sewula Primary School in Matabeleland South Province.
Nyathi’s family moved to Insuza and in 2006 he left for South Africa, where he was a gardener until his death.
In South Africa, he lived in Diesploot Extension One where he was beaten, stoned and set alight metres from his home.
Nyathi was currently building his own home in Ntabazinduna, Umguza District, Matabeleland North Province.
He leaves behind his wife Nomsa Tshuma and four children.
Tinashe Sambiri|Citizens’ Coalition For Change leader President Nelson Chamisa’s support base is increasing in the rural areas.
On Saturday President Chamisa was in Chirumanzu, traditionally known as Emmerson Mnangagwa’s stronghold.
Watch video below: https://twitter.com/nelsonchamisa/status/1517918585255079938?s=20&t=qlVao6BJKCtvSdXT-mb69A
CCC also held a successful fundraising event in Namibia on Saturday:
Citizens Coalition For Change Namibia Windhoek held a successful fundraising event at Katutura Youth Centre.
The idea is to raise funds for the 7 May by-elections. Change champions in Namibia, Windhoek pledged to prosecute the yellow revolution to its logical conclusion.
Special thanks to the Chairperson Elisha Chambara and his entire leadership team. The message to go and register to vote on 2023 was at the centre.
Victory is certain with participatory democracy.- CCC Namibia
MWENEZI – Election officers who presided over the March 26, 2022 by-elections are yet to be paid, The Mirror has heard.
Sources said the officers were supposed to be paid US$40 per day from the day of training until the end of the voting process.
The officers who spoke on condition of anonymity said that officers in other areas have been paid.
The Mirror contacted officers in Bikita and Gutu who confirmed that they have been paid. They said that they were paid on April 12, 2022.
Charles Dasva the Zec Mwenezi District Election Officer professed ignorance on the non-payment and said he was going to check with the provincial accountant. He referred further questions to Zec spokesperson Jasper Mangwana.
Mangwana said he could not talk because he was in a meeting and requested to communicate via text messages.
He however, did not respond to the questions send to his mobile phone via text messages. Further efforts to get a comment from Mangwana hit a brick wall as his mobile went unanswered.
French President Emmanuel Macron has won a second term in office, defeating his far-right rival Marine Le Pen by a comfortable margin in a runoff election.
His supporters erupted with joy on Sunday as the results appeared on a giant screen at the Champ de Mars park by the Eiffel tower. Leaders in Berlin, Brussels, London and beyond welcomed his defeat of the nationalist, eurosceptic Le Pen.
With nearly all votes counted, Macron was on course for a solid 58.6 percent of the vote, according to interior ministry figures.
Le Pen, the candidate of the far-right National Rally party (Rassemblement National or RN), received 41.4 percent of the votes, the highest in her last three unsuccessful presidential bids.
In his victory speech, Macron acknowledged that many had only voted for him only to keep Le Pen out and promised to address the sense of many French that their living standards are slipping.
“Many in this country voted for me not because they support my ideas but to keep out those of the far-right. I want to thank them and know I owe them a debt in the years to come,” the 44-year-old said.
He also promised to address the “anger and the disagreements” that led to many French voters choosing the extreme right, saying “This will be my responsibility and that of those around me.”
“No one in France will be left by the wayside,” he continued, pledging to be a “president for all”.
Macron is the first French president to win a second term for two decades, but Le Pen’s result also marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France and has revealed a deeply divided nation.
Le Pen, who at one stage of the campaign had trailed Macron by just a few points in opinion polls, was quick to concede defeat. But she hailed her result as a “brilliant victory” and vowed to keep up the fight with parliamentary elections in June.- Al Jazeera
World Immunization Week, celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed and to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.
WHO works with countries across the globe to raise awareness of the value of vaccines and immunization and ensures that governments obtain the necessary guidance and technical support to implement high-quality immunization programmes. The ultimate goal of World Immunization Week is for more people – and their communities – to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.
This World Immunization Week 2022 campaign page will be updated regularly in the lead up to and during World Immunization Week.
A Long Life for All is not a promise, it’s an ambition.
Because everyone deserves a chance at a fulfilling life. One where we’re free to pursue happiness. And look back without wondering “What if?”.
Vaccines have been indiscriminately saving lives since 1796. The first Smallpox immunization was a fight back against disease.
For the first time, it gave everyone a chance. And hundreds of vaccines later, Across two and a quarter centuries. Billions of people have lived longer lives. Grown up to become firefighters. Doctors. Musicians. Fathers. Mothers. Brothers. Sisters. Vaccines might not get credit for that first kiss. That winning goal. That special day. That final hug. But their worth isn’t just measured in doses given. It’s in minutes given back. And lives prolonged.
Vaccines provide opportunity and hope for all of us to enjoy a more fulfilling life. And that’s something we should all be fighting for. Vaccines, in the pursuit of a long life well lived.
Tinashe Sambiri|Citizens’ Coalition For Change leader President Nelson Chamisa’s support base is increasing in the rural areas.
On Saturday President Chamisa was in Chirumanzu, traditionally known as Emmerson Mnangagwa’s stronghold.
Watch video below: https://twitter.com/nelsonchamisa/status/1517918585255079938?s=20&t=qlVao6BJKCtvSdXT-mb69A
CCC also held a successful fundraising event in Namibia on Saturday:
Citizens Coalition For Change Namibia Windhoek held a successful fundraising event at Katutura Youth Centre.
The idea is to raise funds for the 7 May by-elections. Change champions in Namibia, Windhoek pledged to prosecute the yellow revolution to its logical conclusion.
Special thanks to the Chairperson Elisha Chambara and his entire leadership team. The message to go and register to vote on 2023 was at the centre.
Victory is certain with participatory democracy.- CCC Namibia
By- Police in Zvishavane have arrested 15 people in connection with public violence that erupted at the weekend at Mandava Stadium, Zvishavane, when FC Platinum Football Club hosted Highlanders Football club in a Premier League Soccer Match.
Below is a full police statement detailing the violence:
The match started at 1500 hours and about 1 200 fans were in attendance. Members from DUB, SU, CID and Canine were on deployment under Zvishavane DHQ Operation Order Number 13/22. In the 81st minute, FC Platinum was awarded a penalty and Highlanders players led by Peter Muduwa shirt number 21 disputed the decision. Supporters on the Eastern stand who were predominantly in black and white regalia and supporting Highlanders reacted to the penalty decision by throwing missiles in the form of water bottles and stones into the pitch toward players, match officials and the police that had formed a barricade forcing the match officials to stop the match.
The rowdy supporters moved in, scaled the perimeter fence and charged toward the police who retreated to allow the Highlanders captain, Highlanders marshals and the police command to intervene with dialogue. The mediation took about 20 minutes. As the Highlanders captain Ariel Sibanda, marshals and the police were engaging with the Highlanders supporters to calm down, the Highlanders Team manager Vezigama Dlodlo [NFPK] withdrew the captain and when the players were about to resume playing, the Highlanders supporters became more provoked and the situation degenerated into violence. The Highlanders supporters intensified throwing missiles, invaded the pitch and tore advertisement billboards.
They also started throwing missiles at FC Platinum supporters on the western grandstand. One Police Dog Ceaser, number PD1215 on deployment from Gweru Canine was struck by a stone. The Police Dog sustained minor injuries and is limping. FC platinum team bus, Scania, green in colour registration mark FC Plats was struck with a stone on its right side window panel. It was parked behind the VIP grandstand. The bus sustained a shattered right side window panel consisting of a large hole in the middle of the panel. ZRP Zvishavane RRB number 5068641 refers. Upon realising that the situation was getting out of hand, police created escape routes on the eastern, western and main gates and repelled the advancing mob with tear smoke after dialogue had failed and the threat was increasing. After having been driven out of the stadium, the Highlanders supporters went on terrorising motorists from the stadium up to the CBD. In the CBD, a Blue Horizon bus registration number AEG 1054 being driven by Christopher Mutupo a male aged 42 years Nr 83-098612C-83 of 6256 Chikanga township, Mutare and plying the Bulawayo-Chiredzi route was struck by a stone seemingly by the Highlanders supporters heading towards Bulawayo.
The bus sustained a shattered right side window panel. Value damaged to be established. ZRP Zvishavane RRB number 5068639 refers. No causalities were recorded as the mob was repelled by Police with tear smoke. A total of 15 accused persons were arrested and detained for “disorderly conduct as defined in section 41 of the Criminal law [Codification and Reform] Chapter 9.23. ZRP Zvishavane 1049/22-1063/22 refers. See Annexture “A” attached. Investigations are in progress. ZRP ZVISHAVANE DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS
By- Citizens Coalition for Change President, Nelson Chamisa has sent a congratulatory message to the French President-elect- Emmanuel Macron following his victory in the European country’s Presidential election run-off.
In his message, Chamisa said it’s the time for the young generation to lead.
on this historic re-election.This is such an inspiration and reminder to all the young people across the world that it’s doable!. Going forward, France is a strategic ally and a key player in addressing global challenges,” tweeted Chamisa.
Congratulations to the 44 year-old @EmmanuelMacron on this historic re-election.This is such an inspiration and reminder to all the young people across the world that it’s doable!. Going forward, France is a strategic ally and a key player in addressing global challenges. pic.twitter.com/dO64JYbfKz
By- Zanu PF has responded to allegations that the ruling party was planning to infiltrate the opposition CCC structure should the latter hold an elective congress.
The party’s director of communications Tafadzwa Mugwadi said that claims by CCC that the ruling party plans to infiltrate the opposition party’s elective congress showed that Zanu PF was ubiquitous.
This comes after CCC deputy spokesperson Gift Siziba recently claimed that CCC had no plans of holding a congress as Zanu PF plotted to infiltrate their movement.
Siziba was quoted as saying:
Let me clear this once and for all, some people are motivated by Zanu PF, to imagine and think that we are going for a congress.
Look we are a new political organisation, we do not hold congresses and we have no intention to hold a congress.
In CCC, the congress does not exist… it is in the headquarters of Zanu PF and CIO, who in their imagination think we are going to have a congress and they can deploy their people.
Mugwadi said CCC leaders are confused and paranoid, a legacy of their days at the helm of the MDC Alliance. Said Mugwadi:
Are they suggesting that with that claim they are also Zanu PF? Zanu PF will be glad to hear that the organisation which claims to be the biggest opposition is now claiming that it has Zanu PF membership within it.
But most importantly, it is their fear of leadership acrimony which continues to dog the organisation, the leadership acrimony which they carried from their old party MDC. They are clueless.
They don’t have a constitution, and they claim that the citizens are the structures, but surprisingly they carry the titles which they had when they were in the MDC Alliance.
Ironically, some political commentators with links to Zanu PF argue that CCC should hold a congress before the 2023 general elections.
Exiled former Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo dismissed CCC’s fears of infiltration. Moyo tweeted:
The CCC is saying no vacancies and no congress of any kind. CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation) wants to infiltrate us; maybe a people’s convention, get the nomenclature right.
But a citizen’s convention is better nomenclature. Wait, CIO can only infiltrate a congress; not a convention since it’s American, right.
By- A Zimbabwean teacher has won a case in which he was seeking compensation from the state for being tortured in prison.
Harare Magistrate Victoria Mashamba ordered the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) and two cabinet ministers to pay ZWL$200 000 to Munyaradzi Masiyiwa, who is employed as a teacher and is the Deputy Secretary-General of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ).
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Masiyiwa was arrested on 16 August 2019 in Harare.
He was arrested at Market Square bus terminus in Harare as he was waiting to board a commuter omnibus to go to his place of residence. Police officers who arrested Masiyiwa allegedly mistook him for an opposition MDC party supporter as he was wearing a red shirt. The arrest took place on the day when the then Nelson Chamisa-led party had organised an anti-government protest over the country’s worsening economic crisis.
The police officers who arrested Masiyiwa handcuffed, bundled him into their truck and severely assaulted and tortured him while he lay on his abdomen. They used truncheons to assault Masiyiwa all over his body before instructing him to make coital movements and simulate as if he was having sexual intercourse with the ZRP vehicle. He was taken to Harare Central Prison where he was remanded in custody and further assaulted. Masiyiwa was allegedly ordered by prison officers to strip naked and jump up and down with his hands in the air and was also denied food. He was eventually cleared of the public violence charges on 7 October 2019. Masiyiwa engaged ZLHR’s Tinashe Chinopfukutwa who sued ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and ZPCS Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu and a police officer only identified as Jambaya. Masiyiwa demanded ZWL$200 000 in damages for pain and suffering, trauma, contumelia, embarrassment and humiliation.
He told the court that he had been severely abused and humiliated by the conduct of ZRP and ZPCS officers. Magistrate Mashamba ordered Matanga, Kazembe, Ziyambi, Chihobvu and Jambaya to pay ZWL$200 000 to Masiyiwa as compensation for the ill-treatment. The penalty was broken down as ZWL$100 000 for pain and suffering and ZWL$100 000 for embarrassment, affront to dignity, humiliation and contumelia.
By- Operation dudula activists are said to be hunting down Zimbabwean truck drivers living and working in South Africa .
The affected drivers said that the Dudulka thugs were accusing them of stealing trucking jobs from South Africans.
Richard Mudhara, a Zimbabwean truck driver working in Johannesburg, told GroundUp in an interview that he was abducted on 2 March a few kilometres from Durban by three men.
He said his abductors told him they were with the All Truck Drivers Foundation (ATDF) and Operation Dudula.
Mudhara alleged that the men had stopped his truck, smashed the windows and forced him out.
They then tied him up and held him at gunpoint in bushes while his truck was driven away. Said Mudhara:
My mind was racing. They told me they were after truck drivers from Zimbabwe.
They told me to comply or be killed so I prayed for them to let me live.
… I prayed for them to let me live because some who found themselves in similar circumstances, were reported dead.
He said his life was saved when the gunman received a phone call and left him there.
The drivers, with Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) permits, claim that rogue police are also extorting them for cash.
However, Operation Dudula, a rising anti-immigrant, vigilante-like group has distanced itself from the attacks.
Zandile Dabula, Operation Dudula’s secretary-general said they don’t fight people, but the government, adding that the movement was yet to focus on the trucking sector.
Not only Zimbabwean drivers are under attack, but other immigrant drivers from Zambia and Malawi are also targeted by xenophobic groups.
Vusimusi Sibanda from the African Diaspora Global Network claimed that 15 immigrant truck drivers were reported to have been killed over the past three years. He said:
People who attacked these truck drivers were not arrested, which is why we have more vigilante groups such as Operation Dudula and the ATDF.
Lives were lost and trucks were destroyed yet no one was ever held accountable and even the government has not done anything to stop these attacks.
Sibanda said the Network was pushing for SAPS and the SA government to intervene in the attacks against immigrant truck drivers.
SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Robert Netshiunda told GroundUp that they have made several arrests linked to attacks on truck drivers.
Netshiunda urged drivers to report any corrupt activities so that police can investigate them.
He said criminals are behind the spate of attacks on truck drivers three months ago and the attacks had nothing to do with vigilante groups.
By-The Nelson Chamisa’s CCC political outfit has been warned against choosing not to hold an elective congress.
The warning has been issued by political analysts who said that the party risked t tarnishing its democratic credentials if it avoids holding an elective congress before the 2023 general elections. CCC interim deputy spokesperson Gift Siziba recently said that the party was not going to hold any elective congress before the 2023 national elections.
Siziba said that the party will have a people’s convention, and not a congress. However, political analyst Methuseli Moyo argued that CCC needs to hold a congress for its legitimacy. Said Moyo: A congress is what constitutes a party, appoints persons into position to exercise power and administration of party affairs. One wonders how CCC will constitute itself and delegate authority to office-bearers. Without a congress, CCC remains a collection of friends deploying each other into positions.
As such, they would be handicapped to challenge ZANU PF on any issue to do with democracy and procedure. In a nutshell, CCC must go to Congress before elections to legitimise itself. It can’t take over power when it has not been mandated by anyone. As things stand, CCC is a party in the making, and only a congress can constitute a party. Another political analyst Vivid Gwede said holding an elective congress is a cornerstone of democracy. Gwede said: It is true that a congress may be divisive for CCC ahead of the 2023 elections. But the quest for political change should not trump the imperative for elected leadership as the cornerstone of representative democracy. Exiled former ZANU PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo downplayed CCC’s fears of infiltration and insisted the party should hold an elective congress. Moyo tweeted: The CCC is saying no vacancies and no congress of any kind. CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation) wants to infiltrate us; maybe a people’s convention, get the nomenclature right. But a citizen’s convention is better nomenclature. Wait, CIO can only infiltrate a congress; not a convention since it’s American, right?
By- Police in Harare have arrested a 37-year-old suspected lone armed robber who shot and killed a Waterfalls woman during an armed robbery before committing a spate of other criminal cases has been arrested in Chitungwiza.
The notorious armed robbery suspect Aaron Fransisco Machona (37) committed a series of armed robbery cases in Harare from December 2021 to April 2022.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the arrest. “The suspect would operate alone while targeting cash or electrical accessories and would fire to subdue identified victims. On 9th December 2021 at about 0200 hours, the suspect stormed a house in Uplands Waterfalls, Harare and captured two complainants while armed with a pistol and wearing a balaclava. He stole property worth US$4 160 and drove away in the complainant’s silver BMW 318 vehicle (ACW 4417). “On 30th January 2022, the suspect invaded another home along Ruwa Avenue Waterfalls, Harare where he attacked a couple whom he threatened to shoot with a pistol before he fired one shot into the roof. The suspect later ran away after noticing some light rays filtering through the room before stealing anything,” he said. On March 9, 2022, the suspect who was armed with an unidentified pistol while covering his face with a balaclava, stormed another house in Uplands Waterfalls, Harare through an unlocked door and attacked three occupants while demanding cash.
The complainants surrendered US$60, Itel 16 and Huawei cellphones, however the suspect kept on demanding for more cash while assaulting one of the complainants aged 78 all over the body with a stick. One of the victims Jubilee Utsiwegota (30) tried to stop the suspect resulting in Machona drawing a pistol before shooting her once on the head. Utsiwegota died instantly. “On 13th April 2022, the suspect broke into a house in Uplands Waterfalls, Harare and tortured three complainants while armed with a pistol and wearing a balaclava. The suspect stole property worth US$ 1 302 and left the complainants locked up in a wardrobe. “On 22nd April 2022, Police detectives spotted Machona’s silver Toyota Runx vehicle (AFD 6503) and pursued him resulting in a high speed chase. The suspect was eventually arrested at Chigovanyika St Mary’s, Chitungwiza,” Asst Comm Nyathi said. Police searched the suspect’s house in Unit C Chitungwiza and recovered a CZ P-10 pistol with a magazine of one round, Samsung cellphone, four purses, three plastic flippers used to open windows, catapult, screwdriver, Hp laptop, Mobicel laptop, Compaq black laptop, black satchel and black laptop bag. Police investigations have revealed that the CZ P-10 pistol was stolen by means of theft from a motor vehicle in Kadoma on November 25, 2021 and the recovered Samsung cellphone was stolen by means of robbery in Uplands Waterfalls, Harare on April 13, 2022.
Machona had acquired a stand and built a three roomed house in Chitungwiza, bought a vehicle and paid US$10 000 lobola for his wife through the proceeds of armed robbery cases.
By- Zanu FF Matabeleland South province has said that they might lose more seats if their party does not intensify to campaign in the next year’s elections.
They said their party should campaign to get more people to register to vote before the delimitation exercise as the province risks losing over five constituencies.
Delimitation, which is carried out after a population census and is provided for in Sections 160 and 161 of the Constitution, refers to the dividing of the country into constituencies and wards for the purposes of elections and involves coming up with a minimum threshold of registered voters in each of the country’s 210 National Assembly constituencies. The exercise could see some constituencies with a low number of registered voters being merged with others while some could be split into more than one, subject to the number of registered voters. The region, which is least represented in Parliament, has 38 parliamentary seats out of 210 constituencies. Bulawayo has 12 seats with Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North having 13 each. The remainder of the seats are spread across the other seven provinces outside the Matabeleland region. It has been previously reported that the Matabeleland region has the least number of registered voters countrywide, a development that could eventually result in the loss of constituencies ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections if the trend remains the same. According to statistics released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) recently, Bulawayo has the lowest number of registered voters with 254 630 followed by Matabeleland South with 259 689 registered voters and Matabeleland North standing at 335 851. Speaking during a provincial coordinating committee (PCC) meeting in Gwanda yesterday, Zanu-PF Matabeleland South provincial chairman, Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu, said the party has the capacity to retain its seats in the province. He, however, said more needs to be done to ensure that people register to vote. “The country is going through three major activities which include the mobile registration exercise, which is being conducted by Civil Registry Department, the biometric voter registration exercise and the population and housing census. “These are very important exercises and Matabeleland South province however, stands to lose between five to seven constituencies if the voter registration numbers don’t improve,” said Ndlovu. “We are a stronghold of Zanu-PF and if we don’t take action now to correct the trend we are seeing, we would have let our party down.” Ndlovu called on party members to encourage the masses to obtain birth certificates and national identity documents for them to be able to register to vote. “The dispensation that we have been given by President Mnangagwa has relaxed the requirements for obtaining national identity documents. If we don’t take action to correct the trend of low voter registration, we would have let our President down,” he said. “Let us therefore try as much as we can to save our constituencies in this province.” Ndlovu said the ruling party has the responsibility to make sure that development initiatives are delivered to the people. “President Mnangagwa has made sure that provinces have power through devolution. The party constitution confers adequate powers for us to monitor implementation of Government programmes and propose policies for implementation,” he said. -State media
Tinashe Sambiri|Citizens’ Coalition For Change leader President Nelson Chamisa’s support base is increasing in the rural areas.
On Saturday President Chamisa was in Chirumanzu, traditionally known as Emmerson Mnangagwa’s stronghold.
Watch video below: https://twitter.com/nelsonchamisa/status/1517918585255079938?s=20&t=qlVao6BJKCtvSdXT-mb69A
CCC also held a successful fundraising event in Namibia on Saturday:
Citizens Coalition For Change Namibia Windhoek held a successful fundraising event at Katutura Youth Centre.
The idea is to raise funds for the 7 May by-elections. Change champions in Namibia, Windhoek pledged to prosecute the yellow revolution to its logical conclusion.
Special thanks to the Chairperson Elisha Chambara and his entire leadership team. The message to go and register to vote on 2023 was at the centre.
Victory is certain with participatory democracy.- CCC Namibia
By A Correspondent| Harare East legislator, Tendai Biti has renewed his bid to have Harare Regional Magistrate Wongai Muchuchuti Guwuriro recused from presiding over his case citing her alleged bias and constant infringement on his rights as an accused person.
He is facing allegations of verbally assaulting a Russian national, Tatiana Aleshina outside Harare Magistrates Court in November 2020.
Biti was last year made to stand trial without his lawyer of choice Alec Muchadehama who was reported to be at the Master of High Court however, Magistrate Guwuriro proceeded with trial.
Previously, Biti filed for both recusal and review of Guwuriro’s judgments at High Court with Justice Tawanda Chitapi dismissing the application, he has since filed a notice of appeal of the Chitapi ruling at the Supreme Court.
“Your Worship I make this application with great respect for you. The reasonable fear that I hold today is that justice will not be done in my case. I also state the point that the issue is not whether you are biased but I have a suspicion
“I ask that you recuse yourself, on the 26th of March 2022, I was remanded in this court after the Chitapi J judgement. We lodged an appeal at the supreme court of Zimbabwe. You go to rule against an appeal for the superior Court, that ruling frightened me. The principal of noting an appeal is an elementary principal of law, Your Worship its elementary law it’s been taught in first year at Law school,” Biti told the court
He added “The decision to Justice Chitapi was cancelled by our appeal which was noted by the Supreme Court. The appeal is a Constitutional right of an accused person according to a fair trial in section 69 of the Constitution. The right to review and the right to appeal. The Chitapi J ruling remains extant until it has been appealed, it is the common law.
“This Court is biased your Worship, I say this with great respect and it pains me to say this. I want to address things happen on the 14th. On the 11th of April Mr Muchadehama applied for record of proceedings of 13th of October 2021. Several things happened where I was alone without my legal counsel.
“You can’t sit in my case Your Worship. I have sued you many times your Worship. It’s only fair your Worship if you recuse yourself, it’s high time you leave and have someone to be a referee. Your Worship I appeal to you that this is not personal but it’s about justice. Your Worship with the great respect I have lost confidence in you.”
The matter was remanded to 9 May 2022 for continuation.
Highlanders have blasted the police following the violent scenes that marred their match against FC Platinum.
The incident occurred when referee Kuzivakwamwari Jaravaza awarded the hosts a penalty in the 82nd minute, after Peter Muduwa was adjudged to have fouled Walter Musona in the box.- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
Dynamos moved back to the top of the Castle Lager Premiership table after edging out Manica Diamonds 1-0 on Matchday 12 on Sunday.
The Glamour Boys are now on twenty-six points, level with Chicken Inn but separated with a superior goal difference.
The match had a pacey start but both sides struggled to create meaningful opportunities in the first quarter-hour of the game.
The hosts broke the deadlock on minute 25 after Bill Antonio’s cross was tapped home by Emmanuel Paga. The tempo slowed down in the following moments with Manica struggling to come back into the game.
The match went to the break with Dembare leading.
The introduction of Pascal Manhanga and Timire Mamvura early in the second improved the Gem Boys’ mobility in the front and brought some threats to Dynamos.
Nyasha Chintuli was the target man, as he created a couple of good chances including the deflected shot that was saved by the keeper. He also broke free and went clear at goal but took long to release the ball and was dispossessed.
With all good opportunities coming on their side, Manica failed to get the equaliser for the remainder of the game.
Dynamos, on the other end, played deep and were quiet for the better part of the half. They never threatened until the last stages of the game when they tried to take the pressure off.
Elsewhere, CAPS United lost 2-1 to Triangle United, while Bulawayo Chiefs edged Whawha 1-0. Herentals lost their match 1-0 to Cranborne Bullets. – Soccer24 Zimbabwe
World Immunization Week, celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed and to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.
WHO works with countries across the globe to raise awareness of the value of vaccines and immunization and ensures that governments obtain the necessary guidance and technical support to implement high-quality immunization programmes. The ultimate goal of World Immunization Week is for more people – and their communities – to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.
This World Immunization Week 2022 campaign page will be updated regularly in the lead up to and during World Immunization Week.
A Long Life for All is not a promise, it’s an ambition.
Because everyone deserves a chance at a fulfilling life. One where we’re free to pursue happiness. And look back without wondering “What if?”.
Vaccines have been indiscriminately saving lives since 1796. The first Smallpox immunization was a fight back against disease.
For the first time, it gave everyone a chance. And hundreds of vaccines later, Across two and a quarter centuries. Billions of people have lived longer lives. Grown up to become firefighters. Doctors. Musicians. Fathers. Mothers. Brothers. Sisters. Vaccines might not get credit for that first kiss. That winning goal. That special day. That final hug. But their worth isn’t just measured in doses given. It’s in minutes given back. And lives prolonged.
Vaccines provide opportunity and hope for all of us to enjoy a more fulfilling life. And that’s something we should all be fighting for. Vaccines, in the pursuit of a long life well lived.
Nick Mangwana tells me "there are 10 British Lords I was instructed by the State Security Minister to work with because their properties in Zimbabwe are secured, they will never be touched." WHO ARE THESE LEGISLATORS @nickmangwana@CatharineHoey @oatesjonny ? pic.twitter.com/vKg4nWieFj
Tinashe Sambiri|A video clip of a heavily drunk Zanu PF activist during the ongoing census programme has gone viral on social media.
Zanu PF seized the key programme last week, replacing thousands of civil servants with known party stalwarts.
In the video clip, the Zanu PF activist is seen in a drunken stupor.
The clip was posted on Twitter by Citizens’ Coalition For Change vicechairperson Hon Job Sikhala…
Statistics Agency Rusape .
Be advised one of your Census official is stuck at Rilly Shop Vengere just next to Vengere Clinic.
The lady is a local ZANUPF DCC member is drunk can’t stand ,Tablet is broken,Official Census Satchel bag is packed with Kitoko beer ,,Cap haachina
Statistics Agency Rusape .
Be advised one of your Census official is stuck at Rilly Shop Vengere jus next to Vengere Clinic.
The lady is a local ZANUPF DCC member is drunk can't stand ,Tablet is broken,Official Census Satchel bag is packed with Kitoko beer ,,Cap haachina. pic.twitter.com/CbYUNaKzLk
French President Emmanuel Macron has won a second term in office, defeating his far-right rival Marine Le Pen by a comfortable margin in a runoff election.
His supporters erupted with joy on Sunday as the results appeared on a giant screen at the Champ de Mars park by the Eiffel tower. Leaders in Berlin, Brussels, London and beyond welcomed his defeat of the nationalist, eurosceptic Le Pen.
With nearly all votes counted, Macron was on course for a solid 58.6 percent of the vote, according to interior ministry figures.
Le Pen, the candidate of the far-right National Rally party (Rassemblement National or RN), received 41.4 percent of the votes, the highest in her last three unsuccessful presidential bids.
In his victory speech, Macron acknowledged that many had only voted for him only to keep Le Pen out and promised to address the sense of many French that their living standards are slipping.
“Many in this country voted for me not because they support my ideas but to keep out those of the far-right. I want to thank them and know I owe them a debt in the years to come,” the 44-year-old said.
He also promised to address the “anger and the disagreements” that led to many French voters choosing the extreme right, saying “This will be my responsibility and that of those around me.”
“No one in France will be left by the wayside,” he continued, pledging to be a “president for all”.
Macron is the first French president to win a second term for two decades, but Le Pen’s result also marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France and has revealed a deeply divided nation.
Le Pen, who at one stage of the campaign had trailed Macron by just a few points in opinion polls, was quick to concede defeat. But she hailed her result as a “brilliant victory” and vowed to keep up the fight with parliamentary elections in June.- Al Jazeera
Tinashe Sambiri|A video clip of a heavily drunk Zanu PF activist during the ongoing census programme has gone viral on social media.
Zanu PF seized the key programme last week, replacing thousands of civil servants with known party stalwarts.
In the video clip, the Zanu PF activist is seen in a drunken stupor.
The clip was posted on Twitter by Citizens’ Coalition For Change vicechairperson Hon Job Sikhala…
Statistics Agency Rusape .
Be advised one of your Census official is stuck at Rilly Shop Vengere just next to Vengere Clinic.
The lady is a local ZANUPF DCC member is drunk can’t stand ,Tablet is broken,Official Census Satchel bag is packed with Kitoko beer ,,Cap haachina
Statistics Agency Rusape .
Be advised one of your Census official is stuck at Rilly Shop Vengere jus next to Vengere Clinic.
The lady is a local ZANUPF DCC member is drunk can't stand ,Tablet is broken,Official Census Satchel bag is packed with Kitoko beer ,,Cap haachina. pic.twitter.com/CbYUNaKzLk
MWENEZI – Election officers who presided over the March 26, 2022 by-elections are yet to be paid, The Mirror has heard.
Sources said the officers were supposed to be paid US$40 per day from the day of training until the end of the voting process.
The officers who spoke on condition of anonymity said that officers in other areas have been paid.
The Mirror contacted officers in Bikita and Gutu who confirmed that they have been paid. They said that they were paid on April 12, 2022.
Charles Dasva the Zec Mwenezi District Election Officer professed ignorance on the non-payment and said he was going to check with the provincial accountant. He referred further questions to Zec spokesperson Jasper Mangwana.
Mangwana said he could not talk because he was in a meeting and requested to communicate via text messages.
He however, did not respond to the questions send to his mobile phone via text messages. Further efforts to get a comment from Mangwana hit a brick wall as his mobile went unanswered.- Masvingo Mirror
By A Correspondent- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa Abebe Haile-Gabriel has said that the deepening hunger crisis in Africa has left more than 280 million people facing malnutrition in the continent.
Haile-Gabriel made the remarks at the FAO Regional Conference for Africa in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea to discuss solutions to the growing hunger crisis.
The 32nd session of the FAO Regional Conference for Africa (ARC32) was attended by more than 50 government ministers across Africa and representatives from the observer countries, donor organisations, civil society and the private sector.
“Collectively, we have learned to do things differently, to go digital like never before, and to quickly forge new partnerships to overcome threats,” he said.
“That same agility and spirit of collaboration is needed now for the silent pandemic of poverty, hunger and undernourishment and extreme vulnerabilities to shocks in Africa.”
He said even before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were more than 280 million undernourished people in Africa.
“In 2020, the region recorded the sharpest rise in the prevalence of undernourishment covering 21 percent of the population which is more than double that of any region,” he said.
By A Correspondent- Renowned engineer and banker, Wilbert Mubaiwa, has launched a new political party which will contest in next year’s general election.
The new party, which uses blue and purple colour codes, is known as the National People’s Congress (NPC).
The party was launched in Harare Saturday afternoon, with Mubaiwa, who claims to be a pan-Africanist, pledging to unite a polarised nation.
Addressing delegates at the launch, drawn from the country’s 10 provinces, Mubaiwa said his party was centralist in nature, and different from other political parties in terms of ideology.
“We don’t believe in pointing fingers and fighting other parties; we believe in proffering solutions,” Mubaiwa told delegates at the launch.
Mubaiwa, a Guruve South losing independent candidate in the 2018 polls, said they had been planning to launch the party since 2019.
“We considered a lot of things before coming up with this new party,” he said.
“We know that there are more than 100 political parties registered with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and we are offering an alternative from all those political parties.”
The former managing director (MD) of Sunway City said his party was anchored on the concept of Ubuntu.
“Ubuntu entails Africanism. If you see me talking to a Zanu-PF leader, it doesn’t mean I am a sell-out,” he said,
“When you see me dining with Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) officials, it means there is osmosis of ideas. Being in different political parties does not make us enemies.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed Rosemary Rubvumo Mukogo as a commissioner of the Public Service Commission (PSC) with effect from 1 May 2022.
Mugoko’s appointment was announced by Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda in a statement on Friday.
He said Mukogo has over 30 years of experience operating at strategic levels both in the public and private sectors.
Mukogo served Government in the then Ministry of Trade and Commerce and rose to the post of under-secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
She was subsequently appointed the chief executive of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).
I
n the private sector, Mugoko was an executive director of Air Harbour Technologies.
Since 2001, Mukogo served on boards in both public and private sector institutions including Zimbabwe Newspapers Group, and the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism.
She has also served on the boards of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe, Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, Zimref Gold (Pvt) Ltd and Mosioa Tunya (Pvt) Ltd.
Mukogo is a holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Zimbabwe.
She also holds post-graduate qualifications in Environmental Economics and Policy Analysis from Harvard University.
By A Correspondent- The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has hit back at Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya’s suggestion that their position on the crumbling local currency was misinformed.
It warned that the economy faces a total collapse if government insists on foisting the rapidly weakening local currency on the market when it is obvious that it is no longer viable.
Mangudya came out guns blazing Saturday, strongly criticising the lobby group and said instead of removing the Zimdollar, government was actually in the process of dedollarising.
But CZI escalated the situation Sunday, warning the Zimdollar was on the “brink of rejection in the face of exchange instability and increasing inflation”.
In its position paper on the sensitive issue leaked to the media on Friday, CZI called on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to suspend the foreign currency auction system after the Zimdollar fell to $350 against the greenback whose official interbank rate stands at $155.
The suggestion left Mangudya seething with anger. He issued a strongly worded statement that the auction system would remain because suspending it would cause shortages of goods on the market and abet inflation.
But an unperturbed CZI president Kurai Matsheza Sunday said there was need for a compromise.
“I think the route of discussion and engagement should be open and we all are really positive that these engagements will take us forward. I don’t think authorities will not listen to us. They may have a position, but I am sure that position can be debated and common ground can be found,” he said.
“I am sure they will listen to what we have highlighted in that paper and they will engage. We are not saying that they can adopt 100% of the recommendations, some of them can be picked, but I am sure that common ground can be found.”
Should the status quo remain, Matsheza said: “I am sure some will have difficulty to continue operating, it is going to be difficult. But, look, the situation has been difficult for the Zimbabwean operating environment and I am sure some may actually find it difficult to continue.”
CZI was adamant in its position paper that getting the price of foreign currency right was fundamental to Zimbabwe’s economic development.
“An overvalued Zimdollar broadly undermines the scope for maximising structural efficiency and the growth of both the export industry and import substitution,” it said.
“The policy of maintaining an overvalued Zimdollar imposes a big tax on the export industry undermining its growth and transparency. The policy also unwittingly subsidises imported industrial goods that then start competing unfairly for supermarket space with locally manufactured goods and accelerates deindustrialisation.”
CZI also suggested that foreign currency retentions be financed through the budget and that banks encourage exporters to freely set reserve prices and sell their foreign currency on the auction system.
The group also suggested that the central bank should do away with the foreign currency priority list and liberalise the market, while also keeping tight control on money supply.
It also called for RBZ to suspend quasi-fiscal activities which increase money supply growth and create market distortions or arbitrage opportunities.
Mangudya responded: “Government and the bank (RBZ) are committed to an orderly de-dollarisation process and, hence, it is false that a mono-currency system is now in place. The foreign exchange auction system remains in place and will not be suspended as doing so will cause shortages of goods on the market and abet inflation. All foreign exchange accounts are safe and the bank has no reason or appetite to ‘raid’ the accounts as alleged in the CZI paper.”
As a result of the Zimdollar depreciation and rising inflation, prices are soaring almost daily as businesses try to maintain the value of goods and services.
The annual inflation rate, in particular, reached 72,7% as of last month.
Renowned American economist, Steve Hanke, gave the country the highest inflation rate in the world at the start of last week.
“I measure Zim’s inflation every day with PPP and high-frequency data. At 189%/yr, it has surpassed Venezuela and soared to the top of my #WeeklyWatchlist. According to my precise measurements, Zim is now the not-so-proud owner of the highest annual inflation in the world,” he wrote in a tweet dated April 17.
In a tweet on Friday, Hanke said Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate was now at 207%.
“Zimbabwe’s government is so crooked that its own anti-corruption commissioner was fired for being corrupt. This story is ironic with a capital ‘I’. Speaking of ‘I’, consider inflation. In Zimbabwe, inflation no laughing matter. Today, I measure Zimbabwe’s inflation at 207%/yr. That’s a 1yr high,” he said.
Bus operators have challenged the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to deal with some soldiers, police officers and Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) officers who are allegedly facilitating the smuggling of goods instead of arresting “soft” targets.
This comes after ZACC impounded nine buses during the ongoing blitz against smuggling.
One of the bus operators, who declined to be named, told NewsDay that one of the buses impounded by ZACC was an inter-city bus operating between Beitbridge and Harare. Said the bus operator:
My bus was caught in that blitz operates from Dulivhadzimo bus terminus in Beitbridge and not across the border.
Obviously, most of our clients are people from South African trips, but it is not my duty to ask for a declaration form.
We simply load the goods on the bus and whether these people have gone through the border to declare their goods is not our business as bus operators.
After all, we hear these people pay soldiers and police to cross with their stuff.
ZACC is coming to the soft target; it should be dealing with soldiers, police and other security agents who are facilitating this smuggling.
How do the goods cross where these officers are patrolling? That is where ZACC should be probing.
The contraband found on the buses included an assortment of alcoholic drinks, blankets, bags containing new clothes, shoes, washing powder and energy drinks.
Meanwhile, ZACC spokesperson John Makamure said those bus operators whose buses were impounded can argue their cases in court.-newsday
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says it will discontinue issuing copies of the voters’ roll to stakeholders on CDs.
ZEC said that the move is to help protect people’s personal data from being shared via social media platforms.
In the past, ZEC had been issuing the voters roll to election stakeholders so that they can analyse it.
ZEC spokesperson Commissioner Jasper Mangwana said that instead of the voters’ roll on CDs, ZEC will be creating an interactive online portal that it will be monitoring. Said Mangwana:
In the future, we are not going to issue the voters’ roll on CDs to candidates and stakeholders.
We are going to create an online portal that is searchable because the voters roll is supposed to be searchable, and this portal can be monitored by ZEC you will be issued with login details to access it and the portal will send an OTP to a local number only.
However, Team Pachedu said the move would be illegal and will make it impossible to audit the voters’ roll. Tweeted Team Pachedu:
Jasper Mangwana says that ZEC will soon stop issuing voters’ rolls on CDs.
ZEC wants to create a monitored online portal where records can only be searched one at a time and will only be accessible in Zimbabwe.
This is illegal and will make auditing impossible!
ZEC and Team Pachedu are involved in a dispute on the issue of the ZEC server which Team Pachedu claims is being hosted by Africom, a company owned by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF).
Mangwana denies that the ZEC server is hosted by Africom, saying it is not in a location that was alleged by Team Pachedu.
The accident victim from the army truck head on collision in Beatrice Road that killed socialite Obert Karombe speaks while reading comments from her live video (full text):
Hey are you Okay? I am trying I am fighting. Guys this is supposed to be white. But its full of blood. What happened? So, we had a head on, and my man’s died on the spot…We were in… Beatrice Road… we were coming back to Harare… I needed to book a flight, because my birthday is tomorrow, I need to start preparing and go compare certain things. So, yeah. I am so sorry, it’s okay, it’s okay. Guys my ear was sewed back on, I didn’t have my ear, like, my ear was literally sewed back on. I don’t know, I will show you things, but yeah, thank God you’re okay. Yeah, we all thank God, but tomorrow it’s my birthday guys…I don’t know how I am going to get through that but God knows…
Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) may diminish its image as a vanguard of democracy if it maintains its stance on not holding an elective congress before 2023 general elections, analysts have indicated.
CCC has said it will not succumb to external pressure to hold a congress although it says consultations with citizens about the issue were still in progress.
Analysts insist that CCC will be handicapped in challenging Zanu PF on democracy if it continues to be run by an interim executive.
Political analyst Methuseli Moyo said: “A congress is what constitutes a party, appoints persons into position to exercise power and administration of party affairs. One wonders how CCC will constitute itself and delegate authority to office bearers.
“Without a congress, CCC remains a collection of friends deploying each other into positions. As such, they would be handicapped to challenge Zanu PF on any issue to do with democracy and procedure.
“In a nutshell, CCC must go to congress before elections to legitimise itself. It can’t take over power when it has not been mandated by anyone. As things stand, CCC is a party in-the-making, and only a congress can constitute a party.”
Another political analyst Vivid Gwede said holding a congress was important for democracy and nothing should override that.
“It is true that a congress may be divisive for CCC ahead of the 2023 elections. But the quest for political change should not trump the imperative for elected leadership as the cornerstone of representative democracy,” Gwede said.
CCC interim spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere, however, said the party was carrying out nationwide consultations, the results of which will be made available to the public at the appropriate time.
Said Mahere: “Our priority at the moment is making sure we do the work to win Zimbabwe for change in 2023 and form the next government — not the pursuit of internal positions. We are all change champions who have been tasked with working to mobilise the masses to register to vote, vote and defend the vote next year.
“The CCC is a citizens’ movement that is introducing a new way of doing politics in Zimbabwe with a specific focus on putting the citizens first in all decision making. The citizens are being consulted about the next steps concerning our internal processes and the outcome of these deliberations will be communicated at the appropriate time.”
She added that the party would not be pushed into a corner by those who have different priorities.
“Zimbabweans have suffered enough and all citizens’ hands must be on deck to fight for lasting change and transformation for the nation,” she said.
Exiled former minister Jonathan Moyo challenged CCC to hold an elective congress as this was according to the dictates of the country’s supreme law.
“The CCC is saying no vacancies and no congress of any kind. CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation) wants to infiltrate us; maybe a people’s convention, get the nomenclature right. But a citizen’s convention is better nomenclature. Wait, CIO can only infiltrate a congress; not a convention since it’s American, right,” Moyo tweeted.
CCC deputy spokesperson Gift Siziba last week said CCC had no plans of holding a congress as Zanu PF plotted to infiltrate their movement.
“Let me clear this once and for all, there are people who are motivated by Zanu PF, to imagine and think that we are going for a congress. Look we are a new political organisation, we do not hold congresses and we have no intention to hold congress.
“In CCC, the congress does not exist …it is in the headquarters of Zanu PF and CIO, who in their imagination think we are going to have a congress and they can deploy their people,” Siziba said.
Zanu PF director of communications Tafadzwa Mugwadi said the infiltration claims by the opposition were an indicator that Zanu PF is everywhere.
“Are they suggesting that with that claim they are also Zanu PF? Zanu PF will be glad to hear that the organisation which claims to be the biggest opposition is now claiming that it has Zanu PF membership within it,” Mugwadi said.
“But most importantly, it is their fear of leadership acrimony which continues to dog the organisation, the leadership acrimony which they carried from their old party MDC. They are clueless. They don’t have a constitution, and they claim that the citizens are the structures, but surprisingly they carry the titles which they had when they were in the MDC Alliance.”
By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has announced new diesel and petrol prices effective 25 April 2022.
Diesel now costs US$1.71 and ZWL$264.77 per litre while the price of petrol has been increased to US$1.63 and ZWL$252.40 per litre.
In a public notice, ZERA said prices have been set in accordance with oil price patterns on the international market. Part of the notice reads:
Prices have been set in accordance with oil price patterns on the international market, which the Authority is continuously monitoring. The public and operators are advised that the blending ratio is now at E10.
Operators may sell petroleum products below the prescribed prices depending on their trading advantages and should display prices in a prominent place as provided for by the fuel pricing regulations.
Before this latest price adjustment, the price of diesel was US$1.60 and ZWL$213.90 per litre while the price of petrol was US$1.59 and ZWL$213.49 per litre.
By A Correspondent| One of Zimbabwe’s promising footballer Kudakwashe Mdianyama died in a car crash that happened in Derbyshire United Kingdom in the early hours of Saturday.
Kudakwashe’s twin brother Simba survived the crash but is reportedly in a critical condition in hospital, according to Team Zimbabwe UK where the two were part of a football developmental side.
Kudakwashe was a promising footballer who featured in the Team Zimbabwe UK under 17.
He also participated in a UK AFCON tournament where they beat African giants Nigeria and Morocco on their way to being crowned champions.
“We have just received sad news from Coventry. One of our players Kuda, one of the twin brothers from the Under 17 Squad, has passed away following a car accident here in the UK. We’re told the other twin brother Simba is also critically ill in hospital, battling for his life,” reads a message shared in one of Zimbabwe diasporans WhatsApp groups.
The late Kudakwashe MdianyamaThe late Mdianyama twins (circled) the late Kudakwashe in yellow and Simba in goalkeeper’s shirt
By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) said that vehicle owners who are behind in their vehicle licence payments will be allowed clear arrears without incurring any penalties during the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair from 26 to 30 April.
ZINARA public relations and marketing manager Tendai Mugabe said the offer to motorists is part of the ZITF promotion held annually.
He urged vehicle owners with arrears to take advantage of this window period to pay their vehicle licences at minimum cost.
Motorists can make payments at any ZINARA office or agent across the country. Said, Mugabe:
We want to encourage motorists who have arrears to take advantage of this window period to regularise their vehicle licences at ZINARA offices or that of our licensing agents countrywide.
Mugabe also said ZINARA would give tollgate exemption coupons to motorists who are up to date with payment of their licences during ZITF. He said:
As ZINARA, we salute all motorists who are paying their vehicle licences because this has enabled us to make timely disbursements to road authorities.
We are also appealing to road authorities to expedite their acquittal processes to accelerate the refurbishment of our road network.
By Jacob NgarivhumeI was arrested on 20th July 2020 in Harare after I specifically called for peaceful anti-corruption protests.
The completely unimaginative Mnangagwa dictatorship resorted to its usual allegations, calling our protests a Western-inspired conspiracy. Using their tired and well-worn tactics, my colleagues and I were labelled as puppets of the West who, by protesting, were selling out the country to the whites.
Such ludicrous accusations do not fool Zimbabweans. They know that the cancerous corruption of the ruling party elite is responsible for our daily struggle to put food on the table.
When I was arrested on trumped up charges of inciting violence, I was imprisoned for 45 days before being brought before the courts.
Nearly two years have since passed, but they have refused to bring me to trial because it suits the regime and its captured courts to hold me in judicial ‘perjury’. Since 2020, I have been summoned to the courts every two weeks. I am made to report to the police weekly. And I had to surrender my passport.
Death threats that came intermittently, now come regularly. Virtually every second day I receive a threat on my phone.
When the state changed both the magistrate and prosecutors responsible for my case, I received a message that seemed to celebrate the fact that I was now in the hands of the state’s longest knives who will soon convict me and send me back to Chikurubi.
One such text threatened me with unspeakable actions, which the CIO are planning against me and my close family.
The regime’s most deliberately debilitatingly act, however, has been to deny me a livelihood, putting unbearable strains on my family, especially my children’s education.
As I manage a research institute that operates regionally and internationally, it is essential that I am able to travel. But since the state took possession of my passport two years ago as a condition of bail, I have been unable to work.
Last month my research company was commissioned for a US$100 000 education research programme in Southern Africa. I was required to travel to Zambia to conduct an inception training workshop for the team responsible to implementing the project.
Given that I have always attended court and reported faithfully to the police, my legal team approached the High Court seeking the temporary release of my passport so that I could travel to Zambia for just one week to carry out the training.
But rather than a sympathetic hearing over a spurious case that has been pending trial for two years, the state prosecutor opposed our application, and the High Court dismissed it, agreeing that I was a flight risk because my trial is still pending.
\This is unconscionable. But should we be surprised? While at the High Court I overheard the prosecutor conversing with fellow state lawyers that she had instructions to oppose our application and that it would be declined.
The ‘instruction’, according to her, was final and the High Court justice would be obliged to rule against us; of that she was certain.
Twenty-four hours later our application fell through. While I have been waiting for the opportunity to face my accusers and prove my innocence, the state has given excuse after excuse to delay my trial.
While I chose not to flee like a coward and remain steadfast in the face of provocations, the courts have allowed themselves to be shamelessly suborned to the will of their predatory political masters.
In democracies, independent courts and their judicial officers not only uphold the law, but the very justice demanded of society.
They stand as the last bulwark of the citizen against the tyranny of corrupt and repressive regimes.
But in our country, the courts have become contemptible accomplices to the oppression that bedevils us all.
The magistrate overseeing my case in the lower court is apparently ready to convict me. I have been informed that I am, as a matter of certainty, going back to Chikurubi.
Two other prosecutors have said that the ‘instruction’ for conviction has been given, and that it is only a matter of time – of their choosing – before I return to prison.
Inevitably I feel deeply troubled and trapped.But this only makes our liberation all the more urgent! We must never give in to tyranny! We must, by all means, take the fight to the villainous Zanu-PF and against all those state institutions and functionaries – especially the security services, ZEC and the courts – that serve the dictatorship.
We must make an uncompromising stand for democracy and justice, and wipe the board clean of our corrupt oppressors.
By-The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries has warned of more economic woes falling the falling of the local Zimbabwean dollar against the United States dollar.
CZI last week released its position paper where it urged the RBZ to suspend the foreign currency auction system and fully liberalise the foreign exchange market after the Zimdollar fell to $350 against the US dollar on the parallel market.
In his response to the CZI position paper on Saturday, 23 April, RBZ Governor John Mangudya said CZI was misinformed and the paper should be disregarded.
Mangudya insisted that the foreign currency auction system will remain in place because suspending it would cause shortages of goods on the market and abet inflation.
However, on Sunday, 24 April, CZI president Kurai Matsheza said there is a need to find common ground, otherwise, if the status quo is maintained, some companies could collapse. Said Matsheza:
I think the route of discussion and engagement should be open and we all are really positive that these engagements will take us forward.
I don’t think the authorities will not listen to us. They may have a position, but I am sure that position can be debated and common ground can be found.
I am sure they will listen to what we have highlighted in that paper and they will engage.
We are not saying that they can adopt 100% of the recommendations, some of them can be picked, but I am sure that common ground can be found.
I am sure some will have difficulty continuing operating, it is going to be difficult.
But, look, the situation has been difficult for the Zimbabwean operating environment and I am sure some may actually find it difficult to continue.
Here are the CZI’s recommendations outlined in its position paper released on Friday that seemingly angered Mangudya:
The auction should be suspended until the backlog is cleared and published as such
The Auction requires independent supervision along with the RBZ. This can include a Chartered Accountancy Firm and a professional registered auctioneer. This serves to address the rapid trust injection required to stabilize the Z$
Allow the currency auction to perform a price discovery role for the efficient allocation of foreign currency. This implies true Dutch Auction Principals as originally envisaged are implemented. The highest bids get full allocation within the regulated limits. This will curb abuse of the auction by unscrupulous players in the market, as well as eliminate the premiums and discounts being applied on the official rate. It would further increase flows of foreign currency into the formal system through the participation of willing sellers.
Auction what is adjudged independently to be available.
Foreign currency retentions must be financed through the budget.
Banks must encourage exporters to freely set reserve prices and sell their foreign currency on the auction system.
Policy must do away with the priority list and liberalise the market.
High level multi-sectoral meeting that must find a solution for agricultural financing. Banks CEO’s, RBZ, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Finance must be closed in a room in Vic Falls until they find a solution that removes the burden of funding agriculture on printing money.
Tight control of money supply through holding constant the stock of money circulating in the economy and implementing reserve and broad money targeting.
Suspension of all quasi-fiscal activities which have an effect of increasing money supply growth and creating market distortions or arbitrage opportunities
By Showbiz Reporter | Controversial preacher, Panganai Java has announced that one of his friends Obert Karombe has died in an accident with an army truck.
The ZANU PF activist spoke glowingly of the man said to be a rich mbinga saying he is his good friend.
7 months ago, Java announced him as the last Zimbabwean mbinga in South Africa. Mbingas are people who reveal sudden riches obtained from criminal sources after engaging in Satanic rituals.
The accident happened along Beatrice Road and it was a head on collision with the army truck. Details trickling in suggest that the army lost control and swerved into his lane causing the crash.
Obert, who was referred to as a ‘mbinga’, had recently engaged for marriage, one Kumbirai Ellen Bosha, fondly known as African Goddess.
He is survived by his wife and 2 children.
Passion Java: REST IN PEACE my good Friend, South Africa will not be the same without you. pic.twitter.com/puHdjCSx9e
By-The business has warned of more economic woes falling the falling of the local Zimbabwean dollar against the United States dollar.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) on Friday, 22 April released its position paper where it urged the RBZ to suspend the foreign currency auction system and fully liberalise the foreign exchange market after the Zimdollar fell to $350 against the US dollar on the parallel market.
In his response to the CZI position paper on Saturday, 23 April, RBZ Governor John Mangudya said CZI was misinformed and the paper should be disregarded.
Mangudya insisted that the foreign currency auction system will remain in place because suspending it would cause shortages of goods on the market and abet inflation.
However, on Sunday, 24 April, CZI president Kurai Matsheza said there is a need to find common ground, otherwise, if the status quo is maintained, some companies could collapse. Said Matsheza:
I think the route of discussion and engagement should be open and we all are really positive that these engagements will take us forward.
I don’t think the authorities will not listen to us. They may have a position, but I am sure that position can be debated and common ground can be found.
I am sure they will listen to what we have highlighted in that paper and they will engage.
We are not saying that they can adopt 100% of the recommendations, some of them can be picked, but I am sure that common ground can be found.
I am sure some will have difficulty continuing operating, it is going to be difficult.
But, look, the situation has been difficult for the Zimbabwean operating environment and I am sure some may actually find it difficult to continue.
Here are the CZI’s recommendations outlined in its position paper released on Friday that seemingly angered Mangudya:
The auction should be suspended until the backlog is cleared and published as such
The Auction requires independent supervision along with the RBZ. This can include a Chartered Accountancy Firm and a professional registered auctioneer. This serves to address the rapid trust injection required to stabilize the Z$
Allow the currency auction to perform a price discovery role for the efficient allocation of foreign currency. This implies true Dutch Auction Principals as originally envisaged are implemented. The highest bids get full allocation within the regulated limits. This will curb abuse of the auction by unscrupulous players in the market, as well as eliminate the premiums and discounts being applied on the official rate. It would further increase flows of foreign currency into the formal system through the participation of willing sellers.
Auction what is adjudged independently to be available.
Foreign currency retentions must be financed through the budget.
Banks must encourage exporters to freely set reserve prices and sell their foreign currency on the auction system.
Policy must do away with the priority list and liberalise the market.
High level multi-sectoral meeting that must find a solution for agricultural financing. Banks CEO’s, RBZ, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Finance must be closed in a room in Vic Falls until they find a solution that removes the burden of funding agriculture on printing money.
Tight control of money supply through holding constant the stock of money circulating in the economy and implementing reserve and broad money targeting.
Suspension of all quasi-fiscal activities which have an effect of increasing money supply growth and creating market distortions or arbitrage opportunities
By- The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has announced new diesel and petrol prices.
The new fuel prices are with effect from today 25 April 2022.
Diesel now costs US$1.71 and ZWL$264.77 per litre while the price of petrol has been increased to US$1.63 and ZWL$252.40 per litre.
In a public notice, ZERA said prices have been set in accordance with oil price patterns on the international market. Part of the notice reads:
Prices have been set in accordance with oil price patterns on the international market, which the Authority is continuously monitoring. The public and operators are advised that the blending ratio is now at E10.
Operators may sell petroleum products below the prescribed prices depending on their trading advantages and should display prices in a prominent place as provided for by the fuel pricing regulations.
Before this latest price adjustment, the price of diesel was US$1.60 and ZWL$213.90 per litre while the price of petrol was US$1.59 and ZWL$213.49 per litre.
Please investigate fully the fatal car crash of the viral mbinga, Obert Karombe, because things are not adding up. The scene in Beatrice Road needs many eyes, before evidence is destroyed.
WHOSE DUTY IS IT TO CREATE EMPLOYMENT IN A COUNTRY.
BY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA | Prophet Makandiwa was at the end of the hot wire being abused and insulted for saying that the government does not create jobs. He went on to say that the government only ensures that the environment is conducive. Prophet Makandiwa was very correct and to the point. The World Bank’s World Development Report on Jobs indicates that most jobs are created in the private sector and are often the driver, rather than outcome, of economic growth. It is the duty of the government to provide key services like health, education and a good investment climate, this can help create the right jobs that will lead to improved standards of living and inclusive growth. Prophet Makandiwa touched the apple of an eye when he said it is not the duty of the government to create employment.
Job industry is broken down into two categories. These are the public sector which are the government jobs and the private sector which is free market jobs.
Government has an insatiable appetite for power and control. It also holds the monopoly on force and coercesion. In its quest for growth and control over the people it has forever expended its reach into every aspect of our lives. This has resulted in an endlessly expanding, often redundant and invasive bureaucratic structure. There is not one person, place or thing that is untouched by government overreach. This takes money and since the government cannot produce wealth it lives like a giant leech drawing the lifeblood out of the economy weakening the body of our free market and our freedom. Government jobs produce nothing and by their existence diminish the ability of the people to exercise their liberty.
In the private sector productive activities in the free market generate wealth. This is how truly productive jobs are created. As the economy expands jobs are created and we all benefit from the added wealth. Government is like a millstone around the neck of economic growth.
The government creates jobs by creating an Environment that encourages sustainable business growth. The worst thing a government can do, long term, is to increase government employment. As a general rule government does not produce a sellable product. That equates to a drain on resources that could. Improve the market.
Government payroll is funded by tax payers. Tax dollars come out of every citizens pocket. That reflects on demand for products. A lower demand for products is reflected in a lower creation of new jobs.
We must always remember that Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; George Washington likens it to “like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.” There are certain things that government cannot do and must not attempt. The most important thing it cannot do is create wealth it cannot produce any means of creating wealth and though it has tried every effort by government to produce wealth in the market economy has met with disaster. Government does make jobs available to those that should serve the public interest but these jobs are not wealth creating jobs. They are in fact the opposite. In every act by government there is a loss of productivity and wealth generation. Government loves to expand its power by creating growth slowing, never ending parasitic bureaucracies that live off the wealth creators.
While it is true that jobs are created by the public sector the government can create jobs in teaching jobs, post office jobs, public defending jobs, army, police and all civil service posts. Those alone are not enough to support an entire nation, but they are nonetheless jobs for millions of people.
In the private sector, the government can allow for conditions that “generate” jobs. Maybe that entails lowering corporate taxes, or maybe it entails maintaining a strong infrastructure.
In addition to that, the government can create demand for private sector jobs by investing in things such as infrastructure. (i.e. funding the construction of the transcontinental railroad system thus creating demand for construction, manufacturing, mining, farming and many things.
So, yes (in theory) the government can create jobs or (more importantly) create demand for jobs.
Many people in Zimbabwe have developed a belief that the government is supposed to create jobs for its citizens. This is the culture planted in people’s minds by the opposition propaganda. The government must well inform its people and impart skills which should be developed so that individuals become ready to be employed.
World over the government does not create jobs. It has become a decampaining slogan by the opposition and a lie which has been fed into the youth that they are unemployed because of the government. but there are many issue in between.
The term well-informed and skill set are fashionable but the thing is a basic level of info has to be there to get things done.
Government has to work on psyche of people also as in many places getting a job is more reputed than being a businessman so it is the duty of the government to change the mindset of the people from office orientation to self belief and self sufficiency. its not about money its about definition and definitions can be changed but that depends,DO people want to change their mind set or not and is changing the definitions should be even there or not . The opposition has corrupted the mindset of the youth such that the youth now seriously believe that they are let down by the government. The government does mot employ or create employment. The whole country can not be civil servants. Job creation needs a conducive environment and Zimbabwe has been fighting cruel and crippling sanctions since 1998. The opposition in its several names has supported sanctions against Zimbabwe to make the environment not conducive for job creation. Why because they want the people to believe that ZANU PF has failed. So the truth of the matter is that the government is not supposed to create jobs they need to focus on governance
Government is responsible for the overall welfare of its citizens, this is true. But it is not a one way traffic affair. Compliance to governance by the citizens and ensuring productivity and financial buoyancy of the state is a responsibility of every citizen hence the ruling snd opposition has to function with accountability from citizens so that every body contributes to the wellbeing of a nation.
unfortunately in Zimbabwean type of democracy people misguide citizens by giving freebies and rope in their vote share. This should be made illegal and punishable. Actually this is vote buying and under Zimbabwean laws it is illegal. If people are to understand that job creation is for all and
when economic buoyancy is restored and improved there will be jobs opportunities and after that anybody unemployed should be sent to serve the nation in defence paramilitary and social security activities compulsorily. This will ensure that everyone will do some job to live.
all employment exchanges should be given targets and accountabilities to even undertake recruitment to private sector. Labour laws and labour accountability should be fixed and no union should be allowed to interfere with the functioning of any organisation but can go to labor court for any grievances. No strikes and zindabad should be allowed.
Lest we forget, the opposition carried damaging staysways strikes and job stoppages which created a hostile enviroment for job creation. The strikes and work stoppages engineered by the opposition forced many private companies to close down. Coupled with the agonising sanctions the labour environment in Zimbabwe became toxic.
Ironically the same youth which was fooled and paid to punch holes in their future by destroying the economy through sanctions are the ones now being told that their unemployment is as a result of mismanagement of funds by ZANU PF. This has been the campaigning point by the opposition. The truth must be said it is not the duty of the government to create employment. Yes it does have some employment to offer but it is just a fraction of national employability.
The government provides the employment judtice system through labour courts. All labour disputes only through fast track labour court by a clearly drafted law foccusing on both labour welfare and productivity. These fast track courts should ensure that no exploitation of any kind by any management happens. This is part of governance and is what the government of Zimbabwe is doing.
One of Zimbabwe’s prominent pastor Prophet Makandiwa was in the firing line when he said “government does not create jobs” his statement was met with unforgiving satanic attacks from the opposition. Unfortunately Makandiwa was right in his statement. We can still ask questions like “Can government create jobs? Does the state have a role in facilitating job creation? Or should it just get out of the way of business, cutting red tape and taxes so entrepreneurs can grow the economy?
The question of the state’s role in the economy has traditionally been one of the big dividing lines between the political Left and Right. However, there has been something of a consensus across the political spectrum that low taxes, light touch regulation, and a small state are the key ingredients for economic success. Proponents of more state intervention in the economy argue that only government can reduce growing inequalities, ensure fair distribution of public services like gas and electricity, and ensure quality, well-paid jobs. Critics of state intervention, meanwhile, point to the failed economic policies. We must understand that job creation is “the role of individuals and businesses. The politicians can use our money, collected through taxes to create jobs but that is nothing to do with the economy and everything to do with politics. We are the masters of our economy. If we celebrate the failures of the government hoping to starve people to rebellion then we are shooting ourselves in the feet.
It is not a binary option. Both opposition and government need to focus on solving the issues facing humanity. Job creation is no longer simply about creating financial wealth but involves ensuring a sustainable future for the citizens in particular and humanity at large. We must realise that employability is a product consisting of a specific set of skills, such as soft, hard, technical, and transferable. Additionally, employability is considered as both a product (a set of skills that “enables”) and as a process that “empowers” an individual to acquire and improve marketable skills that can lead to gainful employment. This the government is doing by providing education and training.
While it is true that the government can’t create jobs, Zimbabwe’s government passes policies that make it easier for the private sector to create jobs. These are direct laws that make it easier to start business and to invest in Zimbabwe. So, when people blame the government for unemployment (whilst at the same time believing that the government can’t create jobs) they are blaming the government for making it harder for the private sector to create jobs. Looking at this aspect private sector is discouraged by sanctions against Zimbabwe. Who is supporting these sanctions none other than Mr Biti Mr Chamisa and Mr Hopewell Chin’ono. ZANU PF government in the form of the new dispensation have put emphasis on Employability which is the lifelong, continuous process of acquiring experience, new knowledge, purposeful learning, and skills that contribute to improving your marketability for enhancing your potential to obtain and maintain employment through various shifts in the labor market. It is based on a set of individual characteristics. It further put up initiatives of putting attractive conditions in different provinces through devolution fund. This makes each province to use their resources to develop and create employment for people in their provinces. It is not equivalent to employment; rather, it is a prerequisite for gainful employment. Essentially, employability is your relative ability to find and stay employed, as well as make successful transitions from one job to the next, either within the same company or field or to a new one, at the discretion of an individual and as circumstances or economic conditions may dictate. It allows you to identify your strength and weakness so that you use them to enhance you income capacity. It is true that jobs are a cornerstone of development, with a pay off far beyond income alone. They are critical for reducing poverty, making cities work, and providing youth with alternatives to violence and drug abuse. So it is imperative that we tell the youth the truth. You will not simply be employed without some training some self confidence.
Jobs stresses the role of strong private sector led growth in creating jobs and outlines how jobs that do the most for development can spur a virtuous cycle. ZANU PF is aware that poverty falls as people work their way out of hardship and as jobs empower women to invest more in their children and families. Efficiency increases as workers get better at what they do, as more productive jobs appear, and as less productive ones disappear. Societies flourish as jobs foster diversity and provide alternatives to conflict.
A good job can change a person’s life, and the right jobs can transform entire societies. Governments need to move jobs to center stage to promote prosperity and fight poverty. In most countries in the world Private sector accounts for 90 percent of all jobs. So it the duty of every Zimbabwean to make Zimbabwe a fair ground for job creation.
President Emerson Dambudzo MNANGAGWA had emphasised the need for jobs jobs jobs because he-is fully aware that Jobs equal hope. Jobs equal peace. Jobs can make fragile countries become stable jobs are the source of life.
The president has always stated how jobs make cities function better, connect the economy to global markets, protect the environment, and give people a stake in their societies. This is why he supported the artisan miners and give them pride in their job removing the denigrating name “makorokoza” to artisan miners.
Jobs are the best insurance against poverty and vulnerability, ZANU PF in government is playing a vital enabling role by creating a business environment that enhances the demand for labour in mining farming and many sectors.
The economic crisis caused by sanctions and other recent events have raised employment issues to the center of the Zimbabwean politics.
Many Zimbabweans are working, but nearly half work in farming, small household enterprises, or in casual or seasonal day labor, where safety nets are modest or sometimes non-existent and earnings are often meager.
“The youth challenge alone is staggering. Because of the stigma placed on these jobs by the colonial past many young people are neither working nor studying. They are conditioned to regard employment as being in an office or getting a salary every month. Any income generating or informal income generating venture is despised. We need to move our youth mindset from that thinking.
Our youth should appreciate that farming and self-employment are prevalent and safety nets are modest at best, unemployment rates can be low. Because people look down upon these jobs most people work long hours but cannot make ends meet.Therefore, the quality and not just the number of jobs is vitally important.
To this end with the best interest of the youth at heart the government has identified which jobs would do the most for development given their specific context, and remove or offset obstacles to private sector creation of such jobs.
As we approach 2023 we must refocus. Anything which gives you a steady income should be taken with respect and it is employment.
We must never listen to the opposition when they say your employment is in the hands of the government. The government is there to govern and protect your rights your interests and provide peace.
ZANU PF has made the environment set for employment creation despite the sanctions which are being supported by the opposition.
The spirited efforts by CCC and subversive statements puked by CCC publicist Hopewell Chin’ono are not helping. It is sad that we have people misleading the youth that their future is being soiled. The truth is that the youth have opportunities and their future is safe in the hands of ZANU PF.
We all have a duty to create employment and we must not blame the government. Indeed Prophet Makandiwa challenged us well it is not the duty of the government to employ people.
When the renegade Elias Mudzuri attended Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State House national function in 2018, CCC Secretary General Chalton Hwende labelled him a sell out, but 3 years later the same man is on camera enjoying ice cream at Mnangagwa’s independence gig. Never before has an opposition party celebrated indepemdence with ZANU PF.
Hwende was during the week criticised by propagandist Tirimusango Hwenje in the below tweet
