Memory Text: Deuteronomy 30:19 ‘I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.’
INTRODUCTION.
Always, it’s a sad story: a young person, in this case a 22-year-old woman, diagnosed with a deadly disease. Brain tumor. Even with all the marvels of modern medicine, nothing could be done until the inevitable. But this young woman, “Sandy,” didn’t want to die.
So, she had a plan. After she died, her head would be put in a deep freeze, into a vat of liquid nitrogen, in hopes of preserving her brain cells. And there it would wait, fifty years, one hundred years, a thousand years, until sometime in the future, when technology had advanced enough so that her brain, composed of neural connections, could then be uploaded into a computer. And yes, Sandy could “live” on, maybe even forever.
Sad story, not just because a young person was going to die but because of where she put her hope of life. Like most people, Sandy wanted life, wanted to live. But she chose a path that, in the end, surely won’t work.
SABBATH: In the age of modern medicine, some are selling the idea of living eternally through the use of liquid nitrogen. Cryonicists say that it’s wrong to refer to a dead body as a corpse. Instead, the dead is just “deanimated.” Sandy who had cancer had a plan to also preserve her brain in this liquid after death believing that future technology will revive her. Eternal life is only in God (the Giver).
SUNDAY: Adam & Eve, the leaves & rocks didn’t choose to come into existence. Such is our case. What God offers is the choice to remain in existence—to choose eternal life in Him. Eden had the “tree of life” which could prolong life. When Adam sinned, the pair lost access to the tree. From onset, man had two choices; eternal life or eternal death (Gen. 2:8, 9, 15-17, 3:22, 23, GC, p. 532,533, Rev. 2:7, 22:2, 14).
MONDAY: We work for God or for Satan. Either we’re wholeheartedly Christians or none at all. There’s no middle ground—we are hot or cold. Man has always had only two choices. Those who are willing to make any sacrifice for eternal life will have it (John 3:16, Gen. 7:22, 23,Rom. 6:23, 8:6, 1 John 5:12, Matt. 7:24-27). At the end of the great controversy, sin & sinners will be destroyed (2 Thess. 1:9).
TUESDAY: The long discourse in Deuteronomy about the result of disobeying God ends with a message of grace. All repentant sinners would be saved. Though the Israel may go into exile, God will restore the nation. God has always be plain with man; we’re to choose good over evil if we’re to have eternal life (Deut. 30:15-20). Sin brings death, evil, & curses. Use the gift of free will wisely.
WEDNESDAY: God offers grace but not cheap grace. Christ died for us. We have a sacrifice to make to earn God’s grace. We shall find everything worth dying for if we want eternal life. No task will be too hard for us (Deut. 30:1-10). God’s promises to Israel would do the nation no good if they sinned against Him. We’re to love God back for His love (Deut. 30:11-14, COL, p. 333, Rom. 10:16-10).
THURSDAY: God doesn’t accept partial obedience. He is a jealous God. We either worship Him who brings life or other gods which brings evil & death. Worship was key in God’s covenant with Israel. Unlike other nations, Israel was the only nation who worshipped the true God (Deut. 32:39, 4:19, 8:19, 11:16, 30:17, 4:24, 5:9, 6:15). God won’t force us to worship Him like the beast (Rev. 13:1-15; 14:6-12).
FRIDAY: We cannot alter our DNA, but the power of choice is ours. Daily, out of willful choice we make a decision to serve God or Satan; to be saved or lost. God has not predestined some to be saved or lost. The gift of freewill comes with the sacred duty of choosing blessings or curses. Sin leads to eternal death not eternal torment. God bids us to choose life not death (Rom. 6:23, Deut. 30:15).
—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 544.
Keywords
Cryonicists- People who argue that modern technology will one day bring them back from the dead if they preserve their brain in liquid nitrogen.
GC- The Great Controversy
COL- Christ’s Object Lessons
DNA- It carries details on how a living thing will look & function.
Captions
SUNDAY- The Tree Of Life
MONDAY- No Middle Ground
TUESDAY- Life And Good, Death And Evil, Blessings and Curses
WEDNESDAY- Not Too Hard For You
THURSDAY- A Question Of Worship
Discussion Questions
? In class, talk more about the idea presented in Tuesday’s study, about whether it is God who directly brings punishment here and now for disobedience or whether it comes as a law-like consequence of the acts of disobedience. Or might it be both? Might there be cases where it is one or the other? How do we understand this topic?
? What do the texts we looked at in the Ellen White statement today teach us about the power of God available to us to overcome sin?
? Read Romans 10:1-10, where Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 30:11-14 as he expounds on salvation by faith in Jesus in contrast to seeking salvation and righteousness through the law. Why do you think he used these verses from Deuteronomy? Pay special attention to Romans 10:10: “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (NKJV). What point is Paul making?
By A Correspondent| In another twist, an engineer at ZBC on Friday appeared in court on allegations of attempting to extort Prophet Tapiwa Freddy of US$20 000 after threatening to expose a love affair between the prophet and radio presenter Rutendo Makuti.
Mutetepi Maushe (36) was not asked to plead to extortion charges when he appeared before magistrate Dennis Mangosi, who remanded him to December 7 on free bail.
Maushe purported to be Rutendo’s brother in the alleged bid to extort.
Rutendo was married to 2013 Presidential candidate, Kisinoti Munodei Mukwazhe who died in November 2019.
According to the State, sometime last year, Goodness and Mercy Ministries leader T Freddy was involved in a love affair with Makuti.
During the relationship, Mutetepi allegedly connived with Rutendo to extort money from Freddy and started threatening him as a brother to her. He was using the name Tapson Makuti.
Allegations are that Mutetepi instructed Freddy, in a phone call, to pay Rutendo US$20 000 for their love affair not to be exposed to the public and to avoid allegations of rape against him.
Sometime this month, Mutetepi called Freddy and allegedly gave him an ultimatum of up to the end of the day to pay the US$20 000 and sign a document admitting that he raped his “sister”.
Freddy noted the extortionist tendencies and reported the matter to police.
Meanwhile, Radio Zimbabwe presenter Rutendo appeared in court on November 12 accused of extorting Freddy for US$35,000.
Rutendo, 33, was granted Z$5,000 bail by Harare magistrate Sheunesu Matova, who remanded her to December 9.
The court heard that sometime in 2020, Freddy had an affair with Makuti who later threatened that if he did not meet her financial and material demands, she would expose the affair.
It is alleged that sometime in August 2021, Freddy was summoned by Chief Chikwaka of Goromonzi. Upon his arrival at the chief’s homestead, he received information that there were some police officers who wanted to extort him at the chief’s residence.
Freddy, says the prosecution, drove off without entering the chief’s home.
The preacher was stopped by police officers at a roadblock on Mutoko Road not too far from the chief’s home.
The officers, the court heard, told Freddy that they had been given instructions by their superior, an Inspector Jaji, and Chief Chikwaka not to allow him passage.
The Zimbabwe National Team has suffered another drop on the latest FIFA World Rankings released on Friday.
The Warriors were in action during the recent November international window in the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers but performed dismally, losing 1-0 to South Africa amd drawing 1-1 against Ethiopia. The results saw them finishing at the bottom of Group G of the qualifying campaign.
In the latest ranking, Zimbabwe lost 8.9 points and slumped by three places to number 121 in the world. This is their lowest position in five years since reaching number 126 in May 2016.
On the African table, the Warriors also dropped three places and moved to number 31.
Meanwhile, Senegal remained the top-placed team on the continent while Belgium retained the top spot on the global ranking.
The end-of-the year FIFA World Rankings will be released on December 16.
World Top 10: 1. Belgium, 2. Brazil, 3. France, 4. England, 5. Argentina, 6. Italy, 7. Spain, 8. Portugal, 9. Denmark, 10. Netherlands.
The Premier Soccer League has, for the second time, reviewed the gate charges for the Castle Lager Premiership matches in the 2021 season.
The PSL had initially pegged the lowest at $20 when fans were allowed into stadiums in October before putting it at $10 following a major outcry.
After consultation with stakeholders, the League has again reduced the lowest ticket to $3.
In a statement, PSL said: “The Premier Soccer League has engaged various stakeholders including club supporters associations concerning gate charges for PSL matches.
“While the PSL notes that clubs suffered huge financial losses during the Covid-19 pandemic and continue to incur a lot of costs in preparation for matches, we also understand the need to make our matches appealing and affordable to football fans who are the heartbeat of the game.
“Taking into account the above, the PSL has reviewed gate charges for all PSL matches effective from the Chibuku Super Cup Semi-finals to be played this weekend”
Tinashe Sambiri| The MDC Alliance will come up with a new name before the 2023 polls.
This was said by party leader, President Nelson Chamisa.
Candidates for local government and house of assembly elections will be selected by consensus.
In a statement on Twitter, MDC Alliance said: President @nelsonchamisa ’s plan to win Zimbabwe for change:
6 million votes Presidential election
Two thirds majority in Parliament
Majority in Local Govt elections
Communities will select candidates by consensus
The party will have a new name for 2023
?President @nelsonchamisa’s plan to win Zimbabwe for change:
1. 6 million votes Presidential election 2. Two thirds majority in Parliament 3. Majority in Local Govt elections 4. Communities will select candidates by consensus 5. The party will have a new name for 2023 pic.twitter.com/9mdQRgKCg3
The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of global progress in tackling tuberculosis and for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths have increased, according to the World Health Organization’s 2021 Global TB report.
In 2020, more people died from TB, with far fewer people being diagnosed and treated or provided with TB preventive treatment compared with 2019, and overall spending on essential TB services falling.
The first challenge is disruption in access to TB services and a reduction in resources. In many countries, human, financial and other resources have been reallocated from tackling TB to the COVID-19 response, limiting the availability of essential services.
The second is that people have struggled to seek care in the context of lockdowns.
“This report confirms our fears that the disruption of essential health services due to the pandemic could start to unravel years of progress against tuberculosis,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This is alarming news that must serve as a global wake-up call to the urgent need for investments and innovation to close the gaps in diagnosis, treatment and care for the millions of people affected by this ancient but preventable and treatable disease.”
TB services are among many others disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but the impact on TB has been particularly severe.
For example, approximately, 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 (including 214 000 among HIV positive people).
The increase in the number of TB deaths occurred mainly in the 30 countries with the highest burden of TB[1]. WHO modelling projections suggest the number of people developing TB and dying from the disease could be much higher in 2021 and 2022.
Challenges with providing and accessing essential TB services have meant that many people with TB were not diagnosed in 2020. The number of people newly diagnosed with TB and those reported to national governments fell from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020.
WHO estimates that some 4.1 million people currently suffer from TB but have not been diagnosed with the disease or have not officially reported to national authorities. This figure is up from 2.9 million in 2019.
The countries that contributed most to the global reduction in TB notifications between 2019 and 2020 were India (41%), Indonesia (14%), the Philippines (12%) and China (8%). These and 12 other countries accounted for 93% of the total global drop in notifications.
There was also a reduction in provision of TB preventive treatment. Some 2.8 million people accessed this in 2020, a 21% reduction since 2019. In addition, the number of people treated for drug-resistant TB fell by 15%, from 177 000 in 2019 to 150 000 in 2020, equivalent to only about 1 in 3 of those in need.
Global investment for TB falls Funding in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that account for 98% of reported TB cases remains a challenge. Of the total funding available in 2020, 81% came from domestic sources, with the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa) accounting for 65% of total domestic funding.
The largest bilateral donor is the Government of the United States of America. The biggest international donor is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The report notes a fall in global spending on TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention services, from US$ 5.8 billion to US$ 5.3 billion, which is less than half of the global target for fully funding the TB response of US$ 13 billion annually by 2022.
Meanwhile, although there is progress in the development of new TB diagnostics, drugs and vaccines, this is constrained by the overall level of R&D investment, which at US$ 0.9 billion in 2019 falls far short of the global target of US$ 2 billion per year.
Global TB targets off track Reversals in progress mean that the global TB targets are off track and appear increasingly out of reach, however there are some successes. Globally, the reduction in the number of TB deaths between 2015 and 2020 was only 9.2% – about one quarter of the way to the 2020 milestone of 35%.
Globally, the number of people falling ill with TB each year (relative to population) dropped 11% from 2015 to 2020, just over half-way to the 2020 milestone of 20%.
However, the WHO European Region exceeded the 2020 milestone, with a reduction of 25%. This was mostly driven by the decline in the Russian Federation, where incidence fell by 6% per year between 2010 to 2020. The WHO African Region came close to reaching the milestone, with a reduction of 19%, which reflects impressive reductions of 4–10% per year in South Africa and several other countries in southern Africa, following a peak in the HIV epidemic and the expansion of TB and HIV prevention and care.
“We have just one year left to reach the historic 2022 TB targets committed by Heads of State at the first UN High Level Meeting on TB. The report provides important information and a strong reminder to countries to urgently fast-track their TB responses and save lives,” said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme. “This will be crucial as preparations begin for the 2nd UN High Level Meeting on TB mandated for 2023.”
The report calls on countries to put in place urgent measures to restore access to essential TB services. It further calls for a doubling of investments in TB research and innovation as well as concerted action across the health sector and others to address the social, environmental and economic determinants of TB and its consequences.
The new report features data on disease trends and the response to the epidemic from 197 countries and areas, including 182 of the 194 World Health Organization (WHO) Member States.
Tinashe Sambiri| The MDC Alliance will come up with a new name before the 2023 polls.
This was said by party leader, President Nelson Chamisa.
Candidates for local government and house of assembly elections will be selected by consensus.
In a statement on Twitter, MDC Alliance said: President @nelsonchamisa ’s plan to win Zimbabwe for change:
6 million votes Presidential election
Two thirds majority in Parliament
Majority in Local Govt elections
Communities will select candidates by consensus
The party will have a new name for 2023
?President @nelsonchamisa’s plan to win Zimbabwe for change:
1. 6 million votes Presidential election 2. Two thirds majority in Parliament 3. Majority in Local Govt elections 4. Communities will select candidates by consensus 5. The party will have a new name for 2023 pic.twitter.com/9mdQRgKCg3
Tinashe Sambiri| In typical military style, Zanu PF vice president Constantino Chiwenga, has declared that his party has the capacity to declare Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa “life President.”
Chiwenga made the remarks in Beitbridge on Wednesday.
He accused the opposition and pressure group of plotting to overthrow his boss.
Chiwenga, quoted by NewsDay, said : “You have heard the chairperson (Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri) saying that last month in October we held the national people’s conference that was chaired by the chairperson and all provinces including yours endorsed him.”
“You said you wanted Shumba, Murambwi, President Mnangagwa, a competent leader, a leader who will be our candidate in the 2023 elections, so that he can achieve his vision 2030. His detractors have been defeated and are now saying this and that. Zanu PF will rule forever and if they dare (the naysayers), we will amend the law that we want (President Emerson Mnangagwa) forever.”
By A Correspondent- Two till operators have been arrested after they fatally assaulted a man for shoplifting.
Police on their twitter page confirmed the incident which occurred in a bushy area near New Magwegwe Suburb on November 17.
“Police in Bulawayo arrested Thabo Dube (19) Magutshwa Pride (23) and Ngonidzashe Mukonyora (29) for murder after they assaulted the victim, Mutuma Mbewe (22) on 17 November in a bush near New Magwegwe.
“The victim was apprehended and detained by the suspects who are till operators, for shoplifting at Hamara Supermarket in Pumula East Luveve. The victim escaped from the supermarket and was apprehended by the suspects with help of the public. He died on the following day whilst admitted at Mpilo Hospital,” said the police.
In another incident police in Fort Rixon are investigating circumstances surrounding a murder case which occurred on November 18 at Glengrary Village, Fort Rixon. The victim, Moment Ncube (22) died upon admission at Bulawayo Hospital due to a deep cut on the head.
By A Correspondent- Two till operators have been arrested after they fatally assaulted a man for shoplifting.
Police on their twitter page confirmed the incident which occurred in a bushy area near New Magwegwe Suburb on November 17.
“Police in Bulawayo arrested Thabo Dube (19) Magutshwa Pride (23) and Ngonidzashe Mukonyora (29) for murder after they assaulted the victim, Mutuma Mbewe (22) on 17 November in a bush near New Magwegwe.
“The victim was apprehended and detained by the suspects who are till operators, for shoplifting at Hamara Supermarket in Pumula East Luveve. The victim escaped from the supermarket and was apprehended by the suspects with help of the public. He died on the following day whilst admitted at Mpilo Hospital,” said the police.
In another incident police in Fort Rixon are investigating circumstances surrounding a murder case which occurred on November 18 at Glengrary Village, Fort Rixon. The victim, Moment Ncube (22) died upon admission at Bulawayo Hospital due to a deep cut on the head.
By A Correspondent- A team of soldiers, central intelligence officers and police officers reportedly pounced on police officers who were refusing to remove a roadblock at Mazowe in Mashonaland Central province. The joint team drove away the police officers with switches.
Police officers manning the road block had to run for dear life and remove their drums on the road.
Sources familiar with the incident allege that an order to discontinue roadblocks was dispatched since motorist were complaining of being fleeced on road blocks but Mazowe police station resisted.
“All stations in Mashonaland Central province complied but Mazowe refused and a lorry full of security forces pounced on them and drove them away with switches,” said the source.
Motorists are happy with the move as they now travel freely without being victimized and fleeced by the police.-Byo24
By A Correspondent- Sungura artiste Tatenda Pinjiisi yesterday walked away smiling from his Mvurwi show at Mzansi lounge after he was given US$3000 by the bar owner in appreciation of the musician’s music.
Pinjisi wept after receiving the money since he did not espect such kind of a gift.
He told a local publication that covid 19 lockdown had grounded him and several artiste since they could not conduct shows.
“I am still in shock to receive this money, as artistes we were so down after the covid 19lockdown since we could not conduct any live shows,” he said.
Mzansi lounge boss Prince Chipenda said he was looking forward to promote up and coming artistes together with struggling artistes.
“I am targerting up and coming as well as struggling artiste in the case of Pinjisi I saw his potential and have invited him for a show here in Mvurwi the response was good from fans as they fairly attended his show but I felt that was not enough hence I also gave him another US$3k.
However, Pinjisi is back in the industry and has lined up a number of shows across this country to end the year in style
By A Correspondent- Scores of mourners thronged Nhekairo Village in Hwedza communal lands for the burial of veteran lecturer and media practitioner Peter Banga.
He was head of department for Mass Communication at Harare Polytechnic and he died in sleep at his Sunningdale home in Harare last week.
Speaker after speakers described Banga, affectionately known as “uncle”, as a humble man who motivated and inspired people from different walks of life.
He worked for ZBC from 1987 to 2005 where he rose to prominence presenting programmes such as Newsreel, Newsbeat and Insight on the then Radio One, Radio Three and ZBC TV, respectively. He retired from ZBC in 2005 and joined Harare Polytechnic as a lecturer. He quickly established himself at the institution where he was elevated to the position of head of department by 2008. He was also a member of the board of studies at the same institution.
Emotional tributes swept through the Banga homestead as mourners found it hard to express how the dearly loved uncle from Hwedza had touched their lives. Most speakers broke down in tears as they gave their speeches. Students, family members, friends and relatives wept uncontrollably throughout the proceedings.
Uncle is survived by his Tanzanian wife Melania and three children.
He left behind him a rich legacy of love, empathy, humility and generosity.
By A Correspondent- Three shop attendants at Hamara Supermarket in Pumula East Luveve, Bulawayo have been arrested for murder after assaulting a thief who died a day later at Mpilo Hospital where he had been admitted.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) issued a statement saying the accused Thabo Dube, Magutshwa Pride and Ngonidzashe Mukonyora, assaulted the victim in a bush near New Magwegwe. Pindula News presents the police statement on the case.
Police in Bulawayo arrested Thabo Dube (19) Magutshwa Pride (23) and Ngonidzashe Mukonyora (29) for murder after they assaulted the victim, Mutuma Mbewe (22) on 17/11/21 in a bush near New Magwegwe.
The victim was apprehended and detained by the suspects who are till operators, for shoplifting at Hamara Supermarket, Pumula East Luveve. The victim escaped from the supermarket and was apprehended by the suspects with help of the public.
On 18/11/21 the victim died whilst admitted at Mpilo Hospital.
In a related case, police in Fort Rixon are investigating circumstances surrounding a murder case that occurred on Thursday 18 November 2021 at Glengrary Village, Fort Rixon.
Police say the victim, Moment Ncube (22) died upon admission at Bulawayo Hospital due to a deep cut on the head.- Pindula News
By A Correspondent- Two people died on the spot while scores were injured yesterday when a haulage truck and a Nyaradzo Funeral Services bus that was carrying mourners collided along the Bulawayo-Harare highway near Cement Siding.
The mourners were returning from Lower Gweru, Midlands province after burying a relative when the bus driver is said to have encroached onto oncoming traffic while trying to overtake.
The bus collided with the haulage truck that was carrying approximately 40 000 bricks.
Bulawayo Chief Fire Officer Linos Phiri said there were almost 80 people on the bus.
“We are still conducting a head count to determine how many people were involved in this accident. So far two people died on the spot, one of them being the driver of the haulage truck and the other being a woman on the bus.
The other passengers were injured while the bus driver broke his legs in the collision,” he said.
When a Chronicle news crew visited the accident scene, the mangled remains of the haulage truck showed the gravity of the accident.
Victims were seated on the road side in shock.
The Fire Brigade team had to cut the roof of the haulage truck to remove the dismembered body of the driver as ambulance teams were attending to accident victims.
There were several ambulances that ferried badly injured survivors to United Bulawayo Hospitals.
There was a traffic jam on the Bulawayo-Harare highway caused by the accident that lasted for more than an hour as rescue teams worked to help the injured.
The traffic jam stretched for almost a kilometre. Police who man the roadblock next to Cecil Avenue along the highway, had to block traffic and only emergency services were allowed to pass through.
One of the survivors, Mr Xolani Moyo said the family was coming from the burial of their grandmother in Dufuya, Lower Gweru.
“We really don’t know what happened. The driver tried to overtake and the next thing we were involved in an accident. We might have lost other relatives but we are still waiting for authorities to confirm that. We are in pain and shocked at the same time,” said Mr Moyo.-statemedia
By A Correspondent- Economists warned Thursday that the fast depreciating Zimbabwe dollar could further push up prices of essential goods and trigger fresh inflationary pressures on the economy.
The economic experts noted that these were the same factors that triggered the 2007/2008 economic meltdown, which ended with a record 231 million per cent inflation, as per official statistics, and the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar.
Zimbabwe’s currency lost much ground against the United States dollar on both the official and parallel markets in recent weeks partly due to the backlog at the foreign exchange auction system.
This Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said the currency traded at US$1:$105 6965, a 5.8% decline from late week’s US$1:$99 9301 exchange rate on the formal market.
Parallel market rates soared to between US$1:$180 and US$1:$200, from between US$1:$160 and US$1:$170 the previous week.
CEO Africa Roundtable chairman Oswel Binha said the real market is the parallel market which is currently trading at over $200 against the US dollar. He added:
If the situation remains like this, inflation will be way on top of the roof in Zimbabwe, which will see business profitability being affected.
This will erode salaries and affect disposable incomes. The continued depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar is the manifestation of the insufficiency of the US dollar in the market.
He added that another problem is that costs of production are pegged at the parallel market, but revenue is pegged using the official exchange rate.
Economist Eddie Cross said the inflation had exceeded reasonable levels adding that a certain percentage of it was being imported from abroad because there is high inflation throughout the world.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers president Denford Mutashu said the rise collapse of the local currency will affect prices both pegged in ZWL$ and US$ as the US dollar prices have also been going up once the local currency sheds value.
A snap survey conducted by NewsDay showed that by Thursday, prices of basic commodities had increased by between 30% and 50% in the past month.
By A Correspondent- Two learners at Seke 1 High School in Chitungwiza were struck by a bolt of lightning while on their way from the school on Friday afternoon.
The learners, who were both 15, were ferried to a nearby hospital and were pronounced dead upon admission.
One of the pupils who had been struck by lightning was tragically hit by a speeding motorist driving a Toyota Sprinter registration number ADJ 4486.
In a statement confirming the incident posted on their Twitter channel, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) said:
The ZRP reports the death of two minors (15) from Seke 1 High School on 19/11/21 due to lightning.
The victims, who were coming from school, fell on the tarmac after being struck by a lightning bolt and one was hit by a motorist driving a Toyota Sprinter registration number ADJ 4486.
Both victims were sent to the hospital and were pronounced dead upon admission.
Meanwhile, police urge all motorists to be cautious on the roads and avoid speeding especially in built-up areas
By A Correspondent- Danamombe High School’s Yutong bus that had been hired to ferry worshippers to a church service at Mutendi Shrine in Masvingo rural on Sunday was burnt to a shell in a bizarre incident.
The bus which was bought at a cost of over US$145 000 was burnt after a whirlwind swept away fire that was lit by congregants.
The fire was blown onto tents before it leapt onto a kombi which was parked beside the bus resulting in the bus itself catching fire.
The Masvingo provincial police spokesperson could neither confirm nor deny the matter when contacted for comment by The Mirror.
Danamombe head Emmanuel Muvengu confirmed the incident but referred further questions to Chivi District Schools Inspector Isaac Gwamuri.
ZCC Mutendi spokesperson Raymond Muringani confirmed the incident and said negotiations on the way forward between the church and the school are underway. He said:
On October 16 we attended a meeting with the ZCC finance committee and we consulted them making an appeal to Bishop Mutendi for help, parents are angry and bitter because of what happened, said Gurajena.
I can confirm that the bus hired from Danamombe by the ZCC congregation was burnt to ashes at the Mutendi shrine. I do not know how it happened.
The Mirror reported sources as saying the fire started at around 9 AM and burnt tents that were pitched at the shrine before spreading to a Sprinter and the bus.
The fire reportedly engulfed the bus at around 9.25 AM when people had gone to Taberi.
The bus was hired from the school on Saturday 14 October and carried over 60 passengers and it was supposed to return on the 52.3km journey after a week.
Danhamombe High School is a Chivi Rural District Council (RDC) run school.
Danhamombe SDC chairperson Junias Gurajena said the bus did not have full coverage insurance.
By A Correspondent- Two men armed with a gun and a knife attacked a family in Beitbridge and fled with US$6 000 and R11 600.
Police, in their twitter page, confirmed the incident which occurred on November 17 at around 2PM.
“The ZRP is investigating a robbery case which occurred on 17 November at 2PM in Beitbridge. Two unknown suspects armed with an unidentified pistol and a knife forced open a locked sliding door at a house in Eastview.
“The suspects attacked three complainants who were sleeping in different bedrooms before demanding cash. Cash amounting to US$6070 and R11600 and five cellphones were stolen,” he said.
Police have urged members of the public to desist from storing large sums of money in their homes to avoid being targets of robbers.
By A Correspondent-Police in Malawi yesterday fired teargas to break up an anti-government protest over alleged corruption and economic mismanagement by President Lazarus Chakwera’s administration.
Hundreds of Malawians poured into the streets in Blantyre to demand that Chakwera’s administration act on its election promises that included creating 1 million jobs and ending hunger.
Speaking to Reuters, Bonny Kalindo, a former legislator who led the Friday protests lamented rising food and fuel prices. He said:
We are into the second year and there are still no jobs. The promise of three meals a day has failed to materialise, and instead, prices of fuel, food and cooking oil have skyrocketed.
Friday’s protests reportedly turned violent as a pro-government group also moved in to stop the march across the city.
Some businesses and government buildings were closed as a result.
Chakwera in June 2020 unseated former leader Peter Mutharika in a re-run election after he pledged to curb corruption and rebuild the ailing economy.
But Malawi’s consumer price inflation rose to 9.8% year on year in October from 8.9% in September.
By A Correspondent- Police Thursday released names of six of the eight people who died in a head-on collision near Battlefields along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway on Wednesday.
The eight died on the spot and 31 others were injured after a Zupco bus collided head-on with a fuel tanker which was travelling in the opposite direction.
The deceased were identified as Clifford Mazhakata (39) of Budiriro, Harare, Rangarirai Chivore (45) of Fairbridge, Bulawayo, Benson Nyamutsamba (49, Bulawayo) Takudzwa Mafunga (22, Kwekwe), Simanga Chuma (35, Mpopoma) and Nkazimulo Gumbo (22, Bulawayo).
“The names of the remaining two victims will be identified in due course,” national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.
By A Correspondent- A Kariba’s Nyamhunga suburb man has lost his eye in an attack by four fishermen after he was caught bedding their colleague’s wife in the resort town.
Clever Chura lost his left eye and sustained head injuries and the four were arrested. He was caught while sleeping with one of the fishermen’s wives following a tip off. Choto and the other three unidentified fishermen were arrested and are expected to appear in court. One of the eye witnesses told H-Metro that Mai Choto disappeared from the scene during the scuffle. “Mai Choto was caught in bed with Chura who is into bicycles repairs,” said the source. “She ran away half naked leaving Chura under the mercy of her husband and three other fishermen. “Arohwa zvakaipisisa akamhanyiswa kuchipatara asisagone kutaura. “Choto was tipped about the affair and he faked a night fishing trip,” said the source. The woman at the centre of the bashing, Mai Choto, a mother of three, could not be reached for comment. H Metro
By A Correspondent- South Africans in Limpopo provinces are threatening to kill Zimbabweans after a 36-year-old Zimbabwean man was arrested last week for allegedly kidnapping and killing seven women.
The Zimbabwean man killed seven, including a fellow countrywoman and six South Africans whom he had lured on the pretext that he was offering them jobs.
Themba Dube, who was allegedly involved in a series of kidnappings and murder of his victims between July last year and August this year, was on the run until his arrest this month. He was arrested after he was found in possession of a suspected stolen cellphone that belonged to one of his victims.
Limpopo spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Ms Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said Dube faces seven charges of kidnapping and seven counts of murder. The alleged serial killer appeared yesterday at Seshego Magistrate’s Court facing seven counts of murder, kidnapping, robber and defeating the course of justice. He was remanded in custody to 27 January next year pending further investigations. Dube’s victims include Sarah Moitswadi Mathiba (42), who was reportedly kidnapped at Lebowakgomo last month. 34-year-old Lesotho national, Moleboheng Mothibeli, who was reported missing in Polokwane in October and Eva Khomotso Makhura (41), who was reported missing at Seshego last month.
Other victims include Mpho Sanah Sinyatsi (34), Andrea Cholo (25), Chisimango Gumbo (48), a Zimbabwean, who was reported missing at Seshego in August and Jane Letswalo (42), whose body was found next to Peter Mokaba Stadium. Dube’s modus operandi was to lure women to Limpopo with the promise of employment. “The accused was still in custody when the investigations led to the discovery of seven bodies of women dumped at different locations in Seshego, Polokwane, Mankweng and Westenburg policing areas,” said Malabi-Dzhangi. She said the following victims had been positively identified by their next of kin. However, forensic investigations are underway to determine if the bodies positively match those of the deceased. “Police investigations are continuing to determine if the suspect can be linked with other cases. We are appealing to anyone who might have a family member missing around Seshego, Mankweng, Lebowakgomo, Polokwane and surrounding areas to contact their nearest police station,” said Ms Malabi-Dzhangi. Dube was on police wated list in connection with at least 14 charges of rape and robbery.
Limpopo provincial spokesperson for the SAPS Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said the horrific crimes were committed between July last year and August this year. “It is alleged that the suspect committed these despicable acts in the Tzaneen policing area under Mopani District at Pharare, Mogophong, Mogoloboto and Burgersdorp villages. The female victims aged between 22 and 46 were reportedly lured by the suspect, who falsely advertised non-existent domestic and security employment opportunities on social media, Facebook platform,” Brig Mojapelo said. He said the suspect patiently waited for the unsuspecting victims at taxi ranks and bus terminals. On their arrival, he would make some excuses and walk with the victims utilising a road that passes through the bush to arrive at their destination. “He would then ultimately rape and rob them of their belongings and then flee the scene,” said Brig Mojapelo. After tracking him for three months, officers arrested Dube on 6 November at Letaba hospital. “This after he was admitted with a gunshot wound allegedly sustained in Burgersdorp village near a graveyard on 2 November 2021,” said Brig Mojapelo.
By A Correspondent- The Meteorological Service Department (MSD) department has warned of violent storms that can blow off rooftops and uproot trees.
MSD says these violent storms were expected in the country any day from and would last for five days.
In a statement on Friday, MSD said the destructive rains would end on Wednesday. “Moisture is drifting into the country from Botswana through Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South Provinces. This coupled with the high temperatures over much of the country should result in thunderstorms which may be violent in places (coupled with strong winds, lightning, hail and heavy rains in some places). This is normal for this time of the year, especially in a season which is expected to have normal to above normal rains,” said MSD.
In light of the rains, members of the public have been warned of lightning and strong winds, localised heavy rains (in excess of 30 mm) and hailstorms in some places. MSD said there are chances that the storms will blow off roof tops, loosen debris and fell trees due to strong winds and the public It encouraged members of the public to stay indoors. “If you urgently need to travel, take caution on the roads as roads may be slippery, and contain hidden dangers covered by water, including fallen trees, utility poles and live wires,” said MSD.
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Friday night auctioned his trademark scarf for US$25 000 while his necktie went for US$10 000. This was at the ED-UNZA (University of Zambia) Scholarship Fundraising dinner he presided over and was graced by some top business leaders at State House in Harare.
His scarf bid for US$25 000 while his necktie fetched US$10 000.
More than US$700 000 and at least US$16 million was raised through bids and pledges from individuals and representatives of the business community at the event.
Mnangagwa had made his scarf – designed along the country’s flag colours – a signature look since he took over as the country’s number one at around the same time this year four years ago. A symbol of distinctness, as he once explained, Mnangagwa has been ridiculed by opponents for wearing the scarf even during sweltering heat.
By A Correspondent- Three people died on the spot when two haulage trucks collided head-on along the Harare-Chirundu highway a few kilometres after Mapinga.
The accident happened on Tuesday night.
According to witnesses, one of the truck drivers who was trying to overtake encroached onto the other lane resulting in the fatal accident involving an empty fuel tanker and truck laden with shelled maize. Two of the drivers died on the spot, including a passenger who was expected to disembark a few metres before the accident.
Mashonaland West police spokesperson Inspector Margaret Chitove confirmed the accident but referred all questions to the national police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner, Paul Nyati who could not be reached at the time of publication. “The fuel tanker failed to overtake, resulting in the head-on accident. Both drivers died on the spot, including one passenger who was dropping off a few metres from here,” said one witness.
By A Correspondent- Two people Friday died after a Nyaradzo Funeral Services bus, transporting mourners, and a haulage truck collided head-on along Harare Road near Cement Side in Bulawayo.
The driver of the truck and a woman in the bus died on the spot, while a number of passengers suffered injuries.
The driver of the bus escaped death but his legs were broken.
Mutare City Council yesterday accused Chinese miner, Freestones Mines, of breaching a lease agreement after launching mining operations without notifying the local authority.
Freestones Mines is also accused of carrying out operations on Dangamvura Mountain without an environment impact assessment (EIA) certificate.
This was revealed in a full council meeting held in the eastern border city.
Council acting engineering director Tonderai Sango said he was surprised that the company started operations on Dangamvura Mountain without their knowledge.
“The Chinese miner came and started to work on the mountain without our permission in the process breaching the lease agreement we had with them. I was actually surprised to hear that there were some people doing some works on the mountain that is when we discovered that they there are the Chinese,” he said.
Council spokesperson Sprein Mutiwi said: “What was happening at the mountain was a breach of a lease agreement, but the miner has since stopped operations.”
In a statement, Freestone Mine director Ruoxin Qi said: “Following numerous concerns regarding our preparatory works for quarry mining activities at Dangamvura Mountain as respectable and la- abiding firm, we found it prudent to shed more light concerning the matter.
“We were issued with a lease agreement by the City of Mutare in 2021 to carry out mining activities at stand number 13415 at Dangamvura Mountain after responding to tender.
“For the record, we had not started the mining activities, but we were just doing preparatory work as we waited for the EIA certificate. It is unfortunate the preparatory works were misconstrued as quarry mining activities which is not in the correct picture.” -Newsday
TWO people died on the spot while scores were injured yesterday when a haulage truck and a Nyaradzo Funeral Services bus that was carrying mourners collided along the Bulawayo-Harare highway near Cement Siding.
The mourners were returning from Lower Gweru, Midlands province after burying a relative when the bus driver is said to have encroached onto oncoming traffic while trying to overtake.
The bus collided with the haulage truck that was carrying approximately 40 000 bricks.
Bulawayo Chief Fire Officer Linos Phiri said there were almost 80 people on the bus.
“We are still conducting a head count to determine how many people were involved in this accident. So far two people died on the spot, one of them being the driver of the haulage truck and the other being a woman on the bus.
The other passengers were injured while the bus driver broke his legs in the collision,” he said.
When a Chronicle news crew visited the accident scene, the mangled remains of the haulage truck showed the gravity of the accident.
The Fire Brigade team had to cut the roof of the haulage truck to remove the dismembered body of the driver as ambulance teams were attending to accident victims.
There were several ambulances that ferried badly injured survivors to United Bulawayo Hospitals.
There was a traffic jam on the Bulawayo-Harare highway caused by the accident that lasted for more than an hour as rescue teams worked to help the injured.
The traffic jam stretched for almost a kilometre. Police who man the roadblock next to Cecil Avenue along the highway, had to block traffic and only emergency services were allowed to pass through.
The driver of the truck and a woman in the bus died on the spot, while a number of passengers suffered injuries.
One of the survivors, Mr Xolani Moyo said the family was coming from the burial of their grandmother in Dufuya, Lower Gweru.
“We really don’t know what happened. The driver tried to overtake and the next thing we were involved in an accident. We might have lost other relatives but we are still waiting for authorities to confirm that. We are in pain and shocked at the same time,” said Mr Moyo.- Chronicle
Tinashe Sambiri| MDC Alliance has dismissed the Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa’s empty bravado on by-elections.
Mr Mnangagwa told his supporters in Beitbridge Zanu PF was ready to trounce opposition in the coming by-elections.
In response MDC Alliance Namibia has described Mr Mnangagwa’s remarks as ” empty, meaningless and insignificant.”
Read statement below :
Choosing not to vote is never a rebellion, it’s surrender-Mdc Alliance Namibia demands reforms!
19 November 2021
Mr Mnangagwa’s utterances before a borrowed crowd in Beitbridge where he commissioned 23 houses for civil servants unraveled his unwillingness to deliver on the much needed comprehensive political and electoral reforms ahead of the impending by-elections and the harmonised elections in 2023. The level of desperation in the Harare regime unearthes its unpreparedness to respect the rule of law and constitutionalism in the motherland. Mr Mnangagwa yesterday said by-elections would go ahead even if the opposition boycotts them to protest his failure to implement reforms that would guarantee free, fair and credible polls. This on its own reflects that the clueless regime is ever desperate to retain power at whatever costs regardless of the citizenry’s audible calls saying #NgaapindeHakeMukomana meaning the People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa should find himself in the State House in 2023.
He went on to say, “We are going to have by-elections in 2022 and tinovasvasvanga(we will trounce them). In 2023, we will then have general elections tovarakasha (we will beat them)”. I want to make it categorically clear that the Mdc Alliance never hinted that they will boycott the elections but through its Secretary for Elections Ian Makone , it announced its commitment and dedication confront Zanupf and their surrogates demanding the alignment of the Electoral Act to the 2013 Constitution by bringing the electoral bill to the August House pronto. As a social democratic party, we believe that elections belong to the people and voting is a fundamental part of independence hence the idea of boycotting is a Zanupf ploy to hoodwink the unsuspecting masses.
Moreover, social democrats in Namibia would like to remind citizens that if they don’t vote, they automatically lose the right to complain against endemic corruption practised by Zanupf belly politicians. It should be clear to all change agents that Mr Mnangagwa desires to see them giving up the national democratic revolution resulting in the creation of voter apathy. In constitutional democracy we are convinced that the world is run by those who show up that is why our political generator (The Eagle) President Advocate Nelson Chamisa Wamba Dia Wamba is busy with the citizens interface preparing for those elections. Every right thinking Zimbabwean should wake up and smell the coffee of socio-economic transfiguration.
Boycotting elections is not our objective and I will never be one because our party has already written to ZEC politely requesting a stakeholder meeting to deliberate issues relating to the conduct of elections in Zimbabwe to avert post elections disputes manifesting in rigging and other irregularities. ZanuPF should be cognisant of the fact that Mdc Alliance is busy campaigning in the rural areas where most rigging takes place through high levels of human butchery, intimidation, torture, partisan distribution of food aid and frog-marching of Mdc Alliance members to Zanupf rallies.
In addition , Mdc Alliance has issued , for reference 20 Principles for Reliable, Inclusive and Credible Elections in Zimbabwe. We made it point blank that ZEC should dismiss all the military personnel at the purported independent body, the voters roll should be released on time as stipulated in the supreme law of the country, the apaque procurement of the election equipment should be resisted with equal measure, real time announcement of results among others constitute the our( PRICE). Constitutional democrats should be ready to defend the Constitution against Zanupf shenanigans. Lets all be geared to demand these comprehensive political and electoral reforms as enshrined in our PRICE document.
Voting is our civic right and by virtue of being Zimbabwean citizens, we should freely fulfil our obligation to take part in the national discourse through voting. It is quite pathetic that the authors of our toiling had the guts to blame Mdc Alliance-run local councils for failure to provide efficient services. The irony of the matter is that since Zanupf took over from Ian Douglas Smith, Harare epitomised the capital city of Africa, the currency was stronger than the USD with a stable exchange rate of 1ZWD=2USD and the infrastructure was just perfect 40 years ago, everything is now dilapidated which is a sign that Zanupf politicians are absolutely divorced from the concrete realities of our people. Our locals are affected by Zanupf’s centralisation of power whereby the central government controls all local councils through its corrupt Minister of Local Government. We are revolutionary intellectuals and public thinkers we can’t be flattered by a regime that has started our country down the slopes of hyperinflation.
In a nutshell, Mdc Alliance Namibia would like to send a clear message to George Charamba who claimed that announcement of by-elections by Mnangagwa caught Mdcs by surprise, and unprepared. “Not only are they unprepared and broke ;they mortally fear that a thorough thumping by the ruining Zanupf will remove the benefit of the doubt on which they hoped to fundraise ahead of 2023”,Charamba said. What Charamba should comprehend is that President Advocate Nelson is the darling of the Zimbabwean citizens! Why is Zanupf barricading roads? Why is Zanupf unleashing violence on a prospective loser? Why is Zanupf arbitrarily arresting Mdc Alliance activists leaving Mwonzora guarded by the police during his poorly attended rallies?
It is clear that the Mdc Alliance President Advocate Nelson Chamisa Wamba Dia Wamba is the only game in town saka tichiti Ngaapinde Hake Mukomana. No to boycotting! We shall continue to demand the independence of ZEC. Voting is a constitutional right that cannot be surrendered through a boycott. We need reforms now!
State Media – Two people have appeared in court on allegations of money laundering amounting to over US$1 million.
Roselyn Dunga (31) and Edmore Chipiso (33) were facing money laundering charges when they appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi.
They were freed on $20 000 bail each.
The court heard that on an unknown date to the prosecutor but during the period extending from August 2021 to November 17, both accused persons acquired an unknown amount of money in United States dollars.
It is alleged that in order to disguise the illicit origins of the money, they purchased a house on a piece of land measuring 2,627 square metres at number 12 Giraffe Crescent, Borrowdale West in Harare for US$580 000 and another house at number 14256 Leggate Street, Gunhill, Harare valued at US$400 000.
The court heard that the accused persons further purchased a piece of land being the remainder of Cobum Plot 23 in Selous measuring 19 9747 hectares worth Us$130 000, a Mercedes Benz S350 black in colour, vehicles comprising an Iveco truck 3xDAF 105 truck horses, 3xflatbed trailers and 1×42 000 litres fuel tanker worth US$1 million. -Herald
Higher Education Examination Council (Hexco) examinations which began on Monday were yesterday thrown into turmoil after teachers quit invigilating the examinations demanding payment for the services.
This comes as teachers have notified the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) of a similar boycott starting Monday when Ordinary and Advanced level examinations kick-off.
Zimsec has refused to pay teachers for invigilation services, claiming the responsibility falls under their employer, the Public Service Commission (PSC).
But the PSC also denied responsibility, shifting blame to the Primary and Secondary Education ministry.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Raymond Majongwe yesterday confirmed that their members quit invigilating Hexco examinations.
Majongwe said they wrote to PSC chairperson Vincent Hungwe informing him of their plans to also boycott Zimsec examinations.
In the letter, PTUZ told Hungwe that the union was concerned that responsible authorities were distancing themselves from paying teachers to invigilate.
“Mr chairman, you will remember that in our meeting with Zimec, MOPSE, unions and the PSC, you undertook to take up the agreement we reached over payment with the Finance and Economic Development ministry,” PTUZ said.
“It is, therefore, unfortunate that Public Service minister (Paul) Mavima is quoted in a national newspaper as saying that it is in fact the responsibility of the Primary and Secondary Education ministry to create contracts between Zimsec and teachers in relation to invigilation.
“Whatever the case might be, we would like to advise your good offices that our members will no longer be able to invigilate examinations run by Zimsec and Hexco. The no-contract no-invigilation principle has already kicked into action.”
Educators’ Union of Zimbabwe Tapedza Zhou said boycotting examinations was the only way to push authorities to pay teachers for services rendered.
Neither the Primary and Secondary Education ministry nor Zimsec is prepared to own up the responsibility for paying invigilators,” Zhou said.
“However, none of them ever said that invigilators must not be paid. They accept that invigilators must be paid. It’s just that they have forgotten who between themselves have a responsibility to pay invigilators. If we stop invigilating, the father of this baby will soon hand himself over.”
But Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro said the ministry was unmoved by the boycott.
“Invigilation and teaching in class are two separate issues. Invigilation can be conducted by anyone. What is important is that learning is going on well and pupils are catching up on their syllabi, preparing for their exams,” Ndoro said.
“We know teachers are providing quality, relevant and inclusive services to our learners throughout the country, despite those claims that they have withdrawn services.” -Newsday
By A Correspondent- Police Thursday released names of six of the eight people who died in a head-on collision near Battlefields along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway on Wednesday.
The eight died on the spot and 31 others were injured after a Zupco bus collided head-on with a fuel tanker which was travelling in the opposite direction.
The deceased were identified as Clifford Mazhakata (39) of Budiriro, Harare, Rangarirai Chivore (45) of Fairbridge, Bulawayo, Benson Nyamutsamba (49, Bulawayo) Takudzwa Mafunga (22, Kwekwe), Simanga Chuma (35, Mpopoma) and Nkazimulo Gumbo (22, Bulawayo).
“The names of the remaining two victims will be identified in due course,” national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.
Dr. Solwayo Ngwenya has graduated with a fourth doctorate degree, this time in Statistics.
The Broadcaster Ezra Sibanda has written celebrating Dr Solwayo Ngwenya saying Friday: is a big day for Prof Solwayo Ngwenya who is graduating once again with his 4th Degree PhD in Statistics at NUST. He did his first degree in Medicine at UZ 1997, also achieved Membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists London, UK 2004, Fellowship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists London, UK 2017 and now PhD in Statistics NUST Zimbabwe 2021. One of the highly qualified specialist doctors in Zimbabwe and arguably the best in Matabeleland, Prof Solwayo is a shining beacon in our nation. He is doing fantastic work for the community and continues to serve our people with pride, dignity, and honour.
Prof Ngwenya
Prof Sitshela you are so inspirational, it’s another piece of a great puzzle, and if you don’t play your role, the puzzle will never be complete. Your piece is unique, just like you. I have trust in you, and I know you will be a leader first of all for yourself and also for humanity.
Prof Ngwenya
So happy to share in the excitement of your graduation day, and so very proud of you. You should be excited. You should be proud. You are amazing. You are awesome. We wish you success. We wish you happiness. All your effort over the years has paid off. Happy Graduation, Congratulations, Amhlophe, Makorokoto!
Three shop attendants at Hamara Supermarket in Pumula East Luveve, Bulawayo have been arrested for murder after assaulting a thief who died a day later at Mpilo Hospital where he had been admitted.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) issued a statement saying the accused Thabo Dube, Magutshwa Pride and Ngonidzashe Mukonyora, assaulted the victim in a bush near New Magwegwe. Pindula News presents the police statement on the case.
Police in Bulawayo arrested Thabo Dube (19) Magutshwa Pride (23) and Ngonidzashe Mukonyora (29) for murder after they assaulted the victim, Mutuma Mbewe (22) on 17/11/21 in a bush near New Magwegwe.
The victim was apprehended and detained by the suspects who are till operators, for shoplifting at Hamara Supermarket, Pumula East Luveve. The victim escaped from the supermarket and was apprehended by the suspects with help of the public.
On 18/11/21 the victim died whilst admitted at Mpilo Hospital.
In a related case, police in Fort Rixon are investigating circumstances surrounding a murder case that occurred on Thursday 18 November 2021 at Glengrary Village, Fort Rixon.
Police say the victim, Moment Ncube (22) died upon admission at Bulawayo Hospital due to a deep cut on the head.- Pindula News
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s lawyers want ZANU PF activist Sybeth Musengezi to withdraw his High Court application challenging the party leader’s ascendancy to power or risk his lawyers being sued.
Musengezi approached the courts in October challenging ZANU PF central committee processes that propelled Mnangagwa to the presidency of the party the ouster of the late former President Robert Mugabe in November 2017.
In a letter to Musengezi’s lawyers, Ncube Attorneys, dated November 11, Mnangagwa said Musengezi should withdraw the case or his lawyers would be sued for approaching the courts with a case “devoid of merit and brought for ulterior motives”. Said Mnangagwa’s lawyers Edwin Manikai of Dube, Manikai and Hwacha Legal Practitioners:
It is, therefore, advisable for your client to withdraw his application unconditionally at this stage, tendering wasted costs, to avoid further abuse of process and privilege and forcing the respondents to incur additional costs defending this spurious and vexatious matter.
In the event of your client not heeding this clarion call, our clients would be left with no other alternative, but to seek cost de bonis propriis (pay costs from your own pocket) against you, on the basis and grounds that your client is facing primarily legal and supremely incontrovertible contestation, proceeding further would be evidence of gross negligence, and with respect, frivolous action in the advice rendered to your client.
This proposal is open for acceptance by your client and yourselves within seven days of the date of this letter, after which it should be treated as having been withdrawn and of no force and effect, unless extended prior to the expiry. In the event, our clients would be placing a copy of this letter before the honourable court in motivation of the prayer for cost de bonis propriis.
Musengezi’s lawyer Nqobani Sithole laughed off the letter yesterday.- NewsDay
Tinashe Sambiri|Professor Jonathan Moyo has warned the MDC Alliance that the Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa wants to push the opposition to boycott the coming by-elections.
Professor Moyo also believes Mnangagwa has dismally failed to prove his mettle.
He said : “They’re saying give Mnangagwa 5 more years; meanwhile ZanuPF has not held an elective Congress; instead they keep saying all provinces have endorsed him; is an endorsement an election? Give him five more years, they say; where’s his PAC? Where’s his SACU? What have they achieved?”
He added: “This census process which started yesterday needs to be closely followed and used to checkmate @ZECzim ‘s ongoing DELIMITATION of constituency boundaries for the 2023 general election!#DisbandZec”
“After abusing #covid19 to block by-elections triggered by his diabolic recalls of MDC-A MPs and Councillors, @edmnangagwa is now posing as Mr pro by-elections, to incite an MDC-A boycott!”
Tinashe Sambiri|The arrest of MP for Mbare Constituency, Hon Starman Chamisa is totally unacceptable, the MDC Alliance has said.
Hon Chamisa was arrested while attending a private party meeting in Mbare on Thursday.
“The police have arrested the MP for Mbare Constituency Hon Starman Chamisa and others who were attending a private party meeting in Mbare today(Thursday).
Reasons for the arrests are not yet known. The regime is panicking and easily unsettled by any gathering of change agents,” MDC Alliance said.
The party also accused Zanu PF of stealing its ideologies and strategies.
“The regime’s bankruptcy of ideas is astounding. Smart Cities is our concept and rural transformation our program whose tenets are well articulated in our Smart Policy document. Their rural transformation emulates of our DURA programme (Development & Urbanisation of Rural Areas).”
Tendai Ndoro is reportedly losing his eyesight because of diabetes and could be forced to retire from playing football.
The 36-year old forward had been training with Division One side Simba Bhora where he hoped to continue his career after leaving South Africa.
However, the illness has severely affected his health and is no longer with the club.
Simba Bhora owner, Simba Ndoro, who is also related to Tendai, confirmed that the attacker was being treated for diabetes.
“He (Tendai) is diabetic and he has been receiving treatment,” Simba told The NewsDay.
“He is no longer with us, but we have been assisting with medical bills. He was supposed to undergo an operation at the weekend. I will have to check how it went on.”- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
Around this time in 2017, Robert Mugabe was militarily removed from office through a coup, the same method of government change-over that has regained fresh currency on our beloved continent and still remains a very real possibility yet again in Zimbabwe.
Coups beget each other . Once there is a coup precedent, as in our case, high prospects always remain for yet another coup…. this time to address the contradictions,and inconsistencies of the earlier one. In Sudan, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has just taken over barely two-and-a-half years after Omar Hassan al-Bashir was militarily hounded out in April 2019. The point is that military coups beget each other and once the coup hymen has been broken, as is the case with Zimbabwe, the chances for yet another easier military penetration always remain high.
In our case, the welfare situation in the barracks remains dire. The majority of our hard-working soldiers earn a measly RTGS 38 000 and they are fretting with restlessness. On his part, I understand that the new ZNA commander David Sigauke, in office now for just over a 100 days, has written about seven memos alerting his superiors to the dire situation in the barracks.
The conditions for another military upheaval in this country are high, given the corruption and sleaze by the political elite and the top generals while the rank and file in the security services sector suffer like the rest of us.
But then a reading of civil-military relations literature will tell you that motives and conducive conditions alone are not enough for a coup to happen. Finer (2002) posits that a coup needs more than just motives and conditions. It needs a catalyst , just as Mugabe’s refusal to meet with his generals on Monday, 13 November 2017 to address their expanding disagreements catalysed the November 2017 coup in Zimbabwe. (Tendi 2019).
Zimbabwe may yet to waiting for that catalyst – – – that Sarajevo moment that could trigger and spark a gargantuan tumult.
A brief background to the statistics of coups in Africa is pertinent. From 1956 to 2001, there were some 80 successful military coups in Africa, the highest number globally. In the same period, there were 108 failed coups and 139 reported coup plots across the continent. Between 2001 and 2019, only a dozen coups were reported, reflecting a decline in coup frequency, even though the number is on the upward spiral yet again. There is certainly no stopping to the restiveness and restlessness of the continent’s men and women in uniform!
However, in November 2017, Zimbabwe had its first ever coup, meaning that coup risk persists even in countries without a coup precedent (Tendi 2019). But as I said before, now that the coup hymen has been broken, there could be easier and more frequent penetration by the restless guys in uniform. History and coup dynamics seem to have taught us that the notion of Onceacoupalwaysacoup might not necessarily be an illogical dictum.
As the cockpit fissures widen between Mnangagwa and his military deputy, Zimbabwe could yet again be on the cusp of another ground zero political moment.
It is important to look into the rear-view mirror given the restive was in the barracks and the parlous welfare situation of the rank and file officers across the entire spectrum of the country’s security services. Today, I republish an edited version of the piece I wrote in November 2017 during Mugabe’s final hours on the political stage. It was a virgin moment for all of us and that is why our desire to see Mugabe’s back made us cheerelead what in essence was a heinous and grossly unconstitutional act. A putsch in every sense of the word. At that stage of pure innocence, we did not know that we were collectively cheerleading our plunging from the frying pan into the fire, nay from purgatory to the white-hot incendiary embers of Hell.
But I still maintain that Mugabe was a bird that was fried in its own fat, a blood- soaked autocrat who was hoist by his own petard.
Astrongmanhoist byhisownpetard
It may well have had to happen this way; to complete a story the same way it was begun. It may well be fair that those who came to power by the gun at Mgagao, those who were kept in power by the barrel of the gun would have to bow out at the behest of the same condign power that birthed and kept them in office all these tenuous years.
It has turned out the acrid smell of gunpowder that kept Robert Mugabe in office all these years is the same chilling stench now itching to accost him to his Waterloo after a bloody 37 years in charge
His ignominious exit, in keeping with his tempestuous tenure that was littered with cadavers and graves, could only be a gunnified one. For one who led a venerated liberation movement—who came into office amid sonorous ululation, it can only be shameful that he could now be landing—unloved and unmourned by friend and foe alike—into the annals of history.
His stubbornness aside, Zimbabwe will never be the same again, judging by the convergence across the political spectrum that we saw in Harare on Saturday. We are all keen to see his back, jointly and severally, each absolving the other!
And it could not have happened in worse irony and similarity of circumstance. On the same day that Gianlugi Buffon, the veteran Italian goalkeeper was kissing goodbye to international football following the Azurri’s failure to qualify for the World Cup, Robert Mugabe was militarily being hounded out of office in Harare. For Buffon was football’s Robert Mugabe, given the longevity of his service to our beloved sport.
He too bowed out in humiliation.
Buffon was bowing out following theAzurri’s failure to qualify for the global football’s fiesta for the first time in 60 years. In Harare, a veteran political goalkeeper,so wont to deflect genuine goals by foul means that included crude physical and political tackles on his opponents, was being hounded out in similarly humiliating fashion by an army to which he is commander-in – chief.
Yet another dynasty was winding up in the same week in Angola, where the billionaire daughter of former president Eduardo dos Santos was sacked by the new President Joao Lourenco from the oil firm she had been seconded by her father who served as President of Angola for 40 years. In Harare, we all saw the full conclusion of our own dramatic script regarding the appointments of Mugabe’s daughter and her husband, who Mugabe had similarly deployed to strategic national institutions.
For Mugabe, the human source of his trouble has always been firmly tucked in his own sheets, literally. Some of us had warned that Marujata, his voluble wife with the penchant to excoriate Cabinet ministers and senior government officials at political rallies would land him in trouble but he would not listen.
Today he stands on the verge of a political sunset, amid the stench of the acrid gunpowder that has controversially kept him in office all these years.
The explanation is simple. Mugabe must take the blame for his predicament. Mugabe ndiyemwenewazvo (no pun intended). Put simply, the man has been hoist by his own petard.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, as William Shakespeare would say.
However, amid the celebration of the imminent departure of a strongman, we must not lose sight of the hard facts. I wish to start by stating that I am an unrepentant regime change activist in respect of the current regime, a mission for which I have served in the trenches of the democratic struggle for the past 20 or so years.
However, it is also my unstinting belief as a democrat that, notwithstanding our justified excitement at this whole drama, we must celebrate with caution, mindful of the fact that we need to vaccinate civilian political processes from military interference, in line with the dictates of the Constitution of the country. We need to ask ourselves, where and when the army will stop their meddling.
Our soldiers, regardless of what we may regard as their heroic role in the past few days, must stay in the barracks and never dabble in politics, in accordance with the letter and spirit of a Constitution that we collectively wrote as a people and overwhelmingly affirmed in a referendum.
For some us, Mugabe was an illegitimate President who has been removed illegitimately, which makes to two negatives. I am not quite certain what two negatives amount to in arithmetic. Yet we must, as a cardinal principle, stick to the dictates of our own Constitution.
It appears the country is paying the price for the needless ZANU PF culture of State-party conflation, abetted by none other than Mugabe himself who always benefitted from a situation where there is no distinction between State and party. In a situation of that conflation, you can always have the army doing what they have just done in Harare.
Yes, soldiers may support and vote ZANU PF privately, but they must certainly not overtly support a party in the course of their duty, as they have now done to the personal detriment of Mugabe, who has himself nurtured and condoned— encouraged even—this unconstitutional behaviour over the years. Who knows what the soldiers will do next if Mugabe continues standing his ground? Judging by what appears to be an unstinting resolve on their cause, the stockholders may well liquidate their stock, literally.
After all liquidation means just that—- liquidation!
What we are witnessing, sadly, is the arena of the State being a playground for internal party politics. If Zimbabwe’s military commanders felt they were stockholders in the ruling party, as they have stated publicly, they were supposed to allow internal party processes to address their concerns, not to use the arena of the State to settle internal party factional disputes.
Indeed, notwithstanding the national euphoria around the events of the last few days, it sets a chillingly dangerous precedent to allow a State institution such as a national army to spearhead the redress of what in essence are internal party issues, in flagrant violation of a national Constitution.
Some of us are very worried. Given that Zimbabwe is standing on the cusp of a watershed election that is constitutionally due next year, what now for the country? Now that the army appears to have taken over all processes, including civilian matters, is the safety and credibility of the electoral process guaranteed? Has the same army also not taken over the biometric voter registration exercise currently underway? And all this at a time the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has confirmed that soldiers and other security officials constitute part of the secretariat of this “independent” election management body?
In other words, what does it say about the purported autonomy of ZEC if a whole head of State can be put under house arrest by the military? Even if the ZEC chairperson were to run a credible process whenever we hold the next election, can she muster enough courage to announce that the army’s preferred candidate has lost, if these guys can have the audacity to hold hostage their own commander-in-chief, a whole Head of State?
One more irony is that the army continues to hide under the thin veil of semantics; insisting that they have not staged a coup when it is a public secret they have literally taken over, with Cabinet Ministers running for cover like common criminals and a whole President probably still under house arrest.
The army says we have not taken over, we are simply “ pacifyingthesituation ”—just like a rapist would insist with a straight face that he was simply pacifying his desires, but please do not call it rape!
Mugabe has simply been hoist by his own petard; he is on the verge of removal by the same army that kept him in office when he was shellacked by Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008. Indeed, there is need to unpack the country’s new “saviours.”
It must be remembered that mantra of “ 27 JunevaMugabemuoffice ” was a militarily orchestrated chorus. I will never forget that contrived chaos and the violence that led to over 200 people losing their lives; with some of us spending half a year in prison on trumped up charges of banditry and terrorism.
Barely 10 months after my stint in the D- class section of one of the country’s notorious prisons, I can still remember the chill that went down my spine when a gun was put on my head as I enjoyed braaied meat with friends at the popular Mereki joint in Warren Park suburb, Harare. That was on 15 April 2008 when the electoral body was engaged in what it called a “ meticulousverification ” of the election results. I was being accused of public violence, the allegation being that I had burnt a bus in protest over the delay in the announcement of the results.
I was to spend yet another month in prison, only to be released on the day the “results” were finally released. So my two stints in prison…and the failed transition in 2008— all had to do with these guys now purporting to be the nation’s “saviours”.
True, the June 27 2008 contrived run-off poll and its attendant violence were driven by the same forces now bandying themselves as the people’s saviors in the latest coup; the same forces now pledging they want to save the nation from imminent economic catastrophe.
It is the classic case of the mosquito purporting it can cure malaria!
Since the brazen pick-pocketing of the people’s will in the past two elections, Zimbabwe was always a society pregnant with a new one. The question is, does the military want to prepare the nation for a proper delivery of the baby or they intend to do Caesarian, with them as the doctors?
As we stand on the cusp of a new society, Zimbabwe’s army cannot pretend to play honest midwife in the birth of a new country. We all know their candidate; the baby they could fish from their pocket and pretend it is the baby the election has birthed!
The ouster of the strongman with the army on the forefront could be a cause for celebration but there is certainly need for caution. As President Morgan Tsvangirai said this week, we must adopt a roadmap for an expedient return to legitimacy and to constitutional order.
The army may have assisted in removing Mugabe but there must be an urgent plan to return the country to legitimacy and to civilian authority. It is only an agreed transitional mechanism with a specific mandate to deliver a free and fair election that may be trusted to play midwife in the birth of a new society. We cannot entrust the army with that midwifery role. The army must hand over to a professional midwife, in this case an agreed transitional body, just as the nyamukuta from the village does upon arrival at a hospital. She hands over to the experts.
The army should quickly wind up their project and place the running of the country in civilian hands. After all, a project is a task or a set of tasks executed over a fixed period of time within a defined schedule (Rondineli 1998). A project is temporary and the army certainly cannot take charge in perpetuity—-ad infinitum, ad nauseam! There must be an urgent scaling down of this project, however necessary it may have been.
My brother George Charamba, whose role had been usurped by Mugabe’s wife, is probably rubbing his hands with glee, awaiting a new political life in what he could be presuming to be a pending dispensation under the man given the mandate by the central committee. As a Presidential spokesman he has curiously gone mum. He has not bothered to tell the world what is really happening around his boss at a time the nation awaits to hear the President’s voice around what is currently unfolding.
Seeing Charamba seated in the meeting with Mugabe, the military’s top brass and Zuma’s envoys, I was not sure on whose side he was. Given his political preferences as we are made to believe they stand now, and his public excoriation by Grace Mugabe the other day in Chinhoyi, his presence could have been a classic case of one who runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds. Was he on Mugabe’s side together with the revered Catholic priest Father Fidelis Mukonori, or he was in agreement with the guns?
As Mugabe struts what could be his last hours upon the political stage, let us prioritize both stability and democracy. It is easy to sacrifice democracy for stability but stability alone in our case will not endure. The country needs to adopt a proper roadmap to legitimacy. That legitimacy can only come from a free and fair election and only a transitional mechanism with a specific mandate can be entrusted with ensuring the delivery of a credible election.
Meanwhile, Mugabe’s 10th—and probably his last—interface “rally” may turn out to be this ominous interface with his own army in which he is Commander-In-Chief.
By A Correspondent- Two till operators have been arrested after they fatally assaulted a man for shoplifting.
Police on their twitter page confirmed the incident which occurred in a bushy area near New Magwegwe Suburb on November 17.
“Police in Bulawayo arrested Thabo Dube (19) Magutshwa Pride (23) and Ngonidzashe Mukonyora (29) for murder after they assaulted the victim, Mutuma Mbewe (22) on 17 November in a bush near New Magwegwe.
“The victim was apprehended and detained by the suspects who are till operators, for shoplifting at Hamara Supermarket in Pumula East Luveve. The victim escaped from the supermarket and was apprehended by the suspects with help of the public. He died on the following day whilst admitted at Mpilo Hospital,” said the police.
In another incident police in Fort Rixon are investigating circumstances surrounding a murder case which occurred on November 18 at Glengrary Village, Fort Rixon. The victim, Moment Ncube (22) died upon admission at Bulawayo Hospital due to a deep cut on the head.
The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of global progress in tackling tuberculosis and for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths have increased, according to the World Health Organization’s 2021 Global TB report.
In 2020, more people died from TB, with far fewer people being diagnosed and treated or provided with TB preventive treatment compared with 2019, and overall spending on essential TB services falling.
The first challenge is disruption in access to TB services and a reduction in resources. In many countries, human, financial and other resources have been reallocated from tackling TB to the COVID-19 response, limiting the availability of essential services.
The second is that people have struggled to seek care in the context of lockdowns.
“This report confirms our fears that the disruption of essential health services due to the pandemic could start to unravel years of progress against tuberculosis,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This is alarming news that must serve as a global wake-up call to the urgent need for investments and innovation to close the gaps in diagnosis, treatment and care for the millions of people affected by this ancient but preventable and treatable disease.”
TB services are among many others disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but the impact on TB has been particularly severe.
For example, approximately, 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 (including 214 000 among HIV positive people).
The increase in the number of TB deaths occurred mainly in the 30 countries with the highest burden of TB[1]. WHO modelling projections suggest the number of people developing TB and dying from the disease could be much higher in 2021 and 2022.
Challenges with providing and accessing essential TB services have meant that many people with TB were not diagnosed in 2020. The number of people newly diagnosed with TB and those reported to national governments fell from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020.
WHO estimates that some 4.1 million people currently suffer from TB but have not been diagnosed with the disease or have not officially reported to national authorities. This figure is up from 2.9 million in 2019.
The countries that contributed most to the global reduction in TB notifications between 2019 and 2020 were India (41%), Indonesia (14%), the Philippines (12%) and China (8%). These and 12 other countries accounted for 93% of the total global drop in notifications.
There was also a reduction in provision of TB preventive treatment. Some 2.8 million people accessed this in 2020, a 21% reduction since 2019. In addition, the number of people treated for drug-resistant TB fell by 15%, from 177 000 in 2019 to 150 000 in 2020, equivalent to only about 1 in 3 of those in need.
Global investment for TB falls Funding in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that account for 98% of reported TB cases remains a challenge. Of the total funding available in 2020, 81% came from domestic sources, with the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa) accounting for 65% of total domestic funding.
The largest bilateral donor is the Government of the United States of America. The biggest international donor is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The report notes a fall in global spending on TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention services, from US$ 5.8 billion to US$ 5.3 billion, which is less than half of the global target for fully funding the TB response of US$ 13 billion annually by 2022.
Meanwhile, although there is progress in the development of new TB diagnostics, drugs and vaccines, this is constrained by the overall level of R&D investment, which at US$ 0.9 billion in 2019 falls far short of the global target of US$ 2 billion per year.
Global TB targets off track Reversals in progress mean that the global TB targets are off track and appear increasingly out of reach, however there are some successes. Globally, the reduction in the number of TB deaths between 2015 and 2020 was only 9.2% – about one quarter of the way to the 2020 milestone of 35%.
Globally, the number of people falling ill with TB each year (relative to population) dropped 11% from 2015 to 2020, just over half-way to the 2020 milestone of 20%.
However, the WHO European Region exceeded the 2020 milestone, with a reduction of 25%. This was mostly driven by the decline in the Russian Federation, where incidence fell by 6% per year between 2010 to 2020. The WHO African Region came close to reaching the milestone, with a reduction of 19%, which reflects impressive reductions of 4–10% per year in South Africa and several other countries in southern Africa, following a peak in the HIV epidemic and the expansion of TB and HIV prevention and care.
“We have just one year left to reach the historic 2022 TB targets committed by Heads of State at the first UN High Level Meeting on TB. The report provides important information and a strong reminder to countries to urgently fast-track their TB responses and save lives,” said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme. “This will be crucial as preparations begin for the 2nd UN High Level Meeting on TB mandated for 2023.”
The report calls on countries to put in place urgent measures to restore access to essential TB services. It further calls for a doubling of investments in TB research and innovation as well as concerted action across the health sector and others to address the social, environmental and economic determinants of TB and its consequences.
The new report features data on disease trends and the response to the epidemic from 197 countries and areas, including 182 of the 194 World Health Organization (WHO) Member States.
Tinashe Sambiri|As has become the norm ZRP cops and Zanu PF hooligans attempted to block President Chamisa’s community engagement meetings in Matabeleland North.
President Chamisa is conducting community engagement programmes in Nkayi and selected parts of Matabeleland North Province.
On Wednesday President Chamisa wrote on Twitter:
“I’M IN NKAYI, MATNORTH..Just had fulfilling citizens and community interface meetings listening to citizens’ concerns, hopes and aspirations.
Great conversations at Nkayi Centre,Vova,Tohwe, Zwelabo and Gwelutshena.Nkayi is ready for change. A New Great Zimbabwe is loading..”
The MDC Alliance condemned organised acts of violence against the People’s President.
Today( Wednesday), as President @nelsonchamisa commenced his tour of Matabeleland North, hired Zanu PF things barricaded roads, co-opted police officers & disrupted the President’s meetings with community leaders at Nkayi Centre.
The primitive politics of violence & intolerance must stop,” said the party.
By A Correspondent- The Meteorological Service Department (MSD) department has warned of violent storms that can blow off rooftops and uproot trees.
MSD says these violent storms were expected in the country any day from and would last for five days.
In a statement on Friday, MSD said the destructive rains would end on Wednesday. “Moisture is drifting into the country from Botswana through Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South Provinces. This coupled with the high temperatures over much of the country should result in thunderstorms which may be violent in places (coupled with strong winds, lightning, hail and heavy rains in some places). This is normal for this time of the year, especially in a season which is expected to have normal to above normal rains,” said MSD.
In light of the rains, members of the public have been warned of lightning and strong winds, localised heavy rains (in excess of 30 mm) and hailstorms in some places. MSD said there are chances that the storms will blow off roof tops, loosen debris and fell trees due to strong winds and the public It encouraged members of the public to stay indoors. “If you urgently need to travel, take caution on the roads as roads may be slippery, and contain hidden dangers covered by water, including fallen trees, utility poles and live wires,” said MSD.
By A Correspondent- On Friday, a Nyaradzo funeral bus killed two people when it collided head-on with a haulage truck along Harare Road near Cement Side in Bulawayo.
The Nyaradzo Funeral Services bus was transporting mourners when the accident occurred. The driver of the truck and a woman in the bus died on the spot, while a number of passengers suffered injuries.
The driver of the bus escaped death, but his legs were broken.
By A Correspondent- South Africans in Limpopo provinces are threatening to kill Zimbabweans after a 36-year-old Zimbabwean man was arrested last week for allegedly kidnapping and killing seven women.
The Zimbabwean man killed seven, including a fellow countrywoman and six South Africans whom he had lured on the pretext that he was offering them jobs.
Themba Dube, who was allegedly involved in a series of kidnappings and murder of his victims between July last year and August this year, was on the run until his arrest this month. He was arrested after he was found in possession of a suspected stolen cellphone that belonged to one of his victims.
Limpopo spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Ms Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said Dube faces seven charges of kidnapping and seven counts of murder. The alleged serial killer appeared yesterday at Seshego Magistrate’s Court facing seven counts of murder, kidnapping, robber and defeating the course of justice. He was remanded in custody to 27 January next year pending further investigations. Dube’s victims include Sarah Moitswadi Mathiba (42), who was reportedly kidnapped at Lebowakgomo last month. 34-year-old Lesotho national, Moleboheng Mothibeli, who was reported missing in Polokwane in October and Eva Khomotso Makhura (41), who was reported missing at Seshego last month.
Other victims include Mpho Sanah Sinyatsi (34), Andrea Cholo (25), Chisimango Gumbo (48), a Zimbabwean, who was reported missing at Seshego in August and Jane Letswalo (42), whose body was found next to Peter Mokaba Stadium. Dube’s modus operandi was to lure women to Limpopo with the promise of employment. “The accused was still in custody when the investigations led to the discovery of seven bodies of women dumped at different locations in Seshego, Polokwane, Mankweng and Westenburg policing areas,” said Malabi-Dzhangi. She said the following victims had been positively identified by their next of kin. However, forensic investigations are underway to determine if the bodies positively match those of the deceased. “Police investigations are continuing to determine if the suspect can be linked with other cases. We are appealing to anyone who might have a family member missing around Seshego, Mankweng, Lebowakgomo, Polokwane and surrounding areas to contact their nearest police station,” said Ms Malabi-Dzhangi. Dube was on police wated list in connection with at least 14 charges of rape and robbery.
Limpopo provincial spokesperson for the SAPS Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said the horrific crimes were committed between July last year and August this year. “It is alleged that the suspect committed these despicable acts in the Tzaneen policing area under Mopani District at Pharare, Mogophong, Mogoloboto and Burgersdorp villages. The female victims aged between 22 and 46 were reportedly lured by the suspect, who falsely advertised non-existent domestic and security employment opportunities on social media, Facebook platform,” Brig Mojapelo said. He said the suspect patiently waited for the unsuspecting victims at taxi ranks and bus terminals. On their arrival, he would make some excuses and walk with the victims utilising a road that passes through the bush to arrive at their destination. “He would then ultimately rape and rob them of their belongings and then flee the scene,” said Brig Mojapelo. After tracking him for three months, officers arrested Dube on 6 November at Letaba hospital. “This after he was admitted with a gunshot wound allegedly sustained in Burgersdorp village near a graveyard on 2 November 2021,” said Brig Mojapelo.
By A Correspondent- Two people have died after a Nyaradzo Funeral Services bus, transporting mourners, and a haulage truck collided head-on along Harare Road near Cement Side in Bulawayo.
The driver of the truck and a woman in the bus died on the spot, while a number of passengers suffered injuries.
The driver of the bus escaped death but his legs were broken.
Goodness and Mercy Ministries church leader Tapiwa Freddy, who stands accused of rape, allegedly had sex with his victim only during her menstrual periods.
This emerged at the Harare Magistrate’s Court where Prophet Freddy appeared on rape charges. Goodness and Mercy Ministries Founder and leader Tapiwa Freddy arrives at the Harare Magistrates Court to answer to allegations of rape. Freddy was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi, who released him on free bail because he was coming from home and not from police custody. It is the State case that in July 2021, Freddy visited the complainant again and tried to have sexual intercourse with her but the complainant discovered that the accused’s manhood had a sore and she refused to sleep with him. Freddy allegedly returned the following day and forced the complainant to have sexual intercourse with him. The court heard that the two are former lovers and had known each other since the days Freddy had some music projects with the complainant at her workplace. It is alleged that in November 2019 the complainant’s husband got sick and she approached Freddy for financial assistance. Freddy gave the complainant US$2 500 to foot her husband’s medical expenses. The complainant accompanied her husband to Karanda hospital for treatment where he subsequently passed away. Freddy assisted the complainant by meeting transport expenses for the transportation of her deceased husband from Karanda hospital to Harare. It is reported that after about three months Freddy proposed love to the complainant. She allegedly refused because her tradition could not allow her to indulge in love affairs before the cleansing of her late husband. The State further alleged that in November 2020 at an unknown date, the two went to the complainant’s rural home in Chiyendambuya to see her child. That same day at around 7:30pm, the two returned to the complainant’s house in Harare where Freddy went to the bedroom and allegedly told her that he was now her husband. The complainant turned him down, the court heard. Despite the complainant’s refusal, the court heard that Freddy allegedly went on to undress, taking advantage of the complainant’s amputated left hand. He allegedly forcefully placed the complainant on the bed and raped her. The complainant cried for help but no one heard her because of the distance between her bedroom and the nearest person. After raping her, Freddy reportedly asked the complainant to consider him as her husband from that time on. He also promised to look after the complainant’s child but she reportedly turned down the offers. It is further claimed that Freddy threatened her with his spiritual powers, as the complainant’s God is not the same one he believes in. It is alleged that the following morning the complainant told her uncle about the ordeal. Her uncle advised her to report the matter to the police but she did not, allegedly fearing for her reputation and the threats from Freddy. It is alleged that Freddy would force the complainant to play his songs more often than other artistes. He allegedly also stopped her from associating with her workmates, friends and other people. It is further claimed he would insult the complainant at her workplace and disturb her from her duties. Anesu Chirenje appeared for the State while Everson Chatambudza and Malvin Mapako represented Freddy. H Metro
By A Correspondent- This week marked exactly four years since soldiers took over the streets of Harare to dislodge Zimbabwe’s founding leader, the late former president, Robert Mugabe, from power, ushering in a Mnangagwa-led government.
Academic Nhamo Mhiripiri said Mnangagwa’s government took over a broken system where nearly everything had crumbled, therefore, any positive change might not have the desired impact. Mhiripiri said:
If we are to measure any achievement; to simply have any one of those sectors still functioning in any bearable sense, is an achievement in itself.
The little improvement might not be remarkable in the eyes of others but for those involved in revamping all those sectors they see gigantic improvements.
Mhiripiri believes the government has performed well in repairing Zimbabwe’s major trunk roads, especially the dangerous Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway. He added:
But people put the politics of the belly ahead of everything else asking to what extent they are able to have three meals a day.
Most Zimbabweans are still failing to get those three meals, not to mention the services in the hospitals; salaries are still depressed and these are things that the government has acknowledged.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Eldred Masunungure said the situation in Zimbabwe was deeply reflective of a highly polarised political climate. He said:
Thus, one’s assessment depends almost entirely on where one sits in the partisan divide. What is indisputable, though, is that the second republic has seen Zimbabwean re-enacting ESAP (Economic Structural Adjustment Programme) under a different name, that is, embracing a neo-liberal agenda of economic reforms with an ugly human face.
This has been coupled with the deployment of the tools of hard authoritarianism. This is a development that is often associated with the Beijing (and now the Kigali) paradigm.
Masunungure further argued that on the domestic front, Zimbabwe was witnessing economic liberalisation accompanied by the closure of political space. He urged the government to marry economic liberalisation to political liberalisation.
Analyst Rashweat Mukundu argued that the government has a lot of rhetoric on reforms, but without much substance adding that the manner in which earmarked projects are handled is “even worse in terms of corruption and nepotism than we had under Robert Mugabe.” He said:
If you look at human rights and democratic reforms, there could be some positives in terms of, say, media reforms that we have seen.
On the other hand, if you look at those that have been licensed, especially in the commercial broadcasting sector, we see abuse by the state.
He also expressed fear that the current administration could be more dangerous than the Mugabe government as it considers its political survival and interest ahead of everything else.
By A Correspondent-Zimbabwe’s top academics have said that the Emmerson Mnangagwa led administration has failed the ordinary people of Zimbabwe.
These academics said this Friday through the private weekly, which interviewed them on what they think were the achievements of Mnangagwa.
This week marked exactly four years since soldiers took over the streets of Harare to dislodge Zimbabwe’s founding leader, the late former president, Robert Mugabe, from power, ushering in a Mnangagwa-led government.
Academic Nhamo Mhiripiri said Mnangagwa’s government took over a broken system where nearly everything had crumbled, therefore, any positive change might not have the desired impact. Mhiripiri said:
If we are to measure any achievement; to simply have any one of those sectors still functioning in any bearable sense, is an achievement in itself.
The little improvement might not be remarkable in the eyes of others but for those involved in revamping all those sectors they see gigantic improvements.
Mhiripiri believes the government has performed well in repairing Zimbabwe’s major trunk roads, especially the dangerous Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway. He added:
But people put the politics of the belly ahead of everything else asking to what extent they are able to have three meals a day.
Most Zimbabweans are still failing to get those three meals, not to mention the services in the hospitals; salaries are still depressed and these are things that the government has acknowledged.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Eldred Masunungure said the situation in Zimbabwe was deeply reflective of a highly polarised political climate. He said:
Thus, one’s assessment depends almost entirely on where one sits in the partisan divide. What is indisputable, though, is that the second republic has seen Zimbabwean re-enacting ESAP (Economic Structural Adjustment Programme) under a different name, that is, embracing a neo-liberal agenda of economic reforms with an ugly human face.
This has been coupled with the deployment of the tools of hard authoritarianism. This is a development that is often associated with the Beijing (and now the Kigali) paradigm.
Masunungure further argued that on the domestic front, Zimbabwe was witnessing economic liberalisation accompanied by the closure of political space. He urged the government to marry economic liberalisation to political liberalisation.
Analyst Rashweat Mukundu argued that the government has a lot of rhetoric on reforms, but without much substance adding that the manner in which earmarked projects are handled is “even worse in terms of corruption and nepotism than we had under Robert Mugabe.” He said:
If you look at human rights and democratic reforms, there could be some positives in terms of, say, media reforms that we have seen.
On the other hand, if you look at those that have been licensed, especially in the commercial broadcasting sector, we see abuse by the state.
He also expressed fear that the current administration could be more dangerous than the Mugabe government as it considers its political survival and interest ahead of everything else.
By A Correspondent- Controversial Harare-based preacher Tapiwa Freddy Thursday night held a sermon seemingly directed to the courts and ZBC presenter accusing him of raping her.
The preacher held the sermon a few hours after appearing before a Harare magistrate on charges of raping Rutendo Makutit, a 33-year-old disabled ZBC presenter.
Freddy was freed on free bail and was remanded out of custody to the 6th of next month for trial.
He posted the sermon titled “Vachaneta Zvavo [They Will Eventually Get Tired] on his social media platforms.
Tendai Ndoro is reportedly losing his eyesight because of diabetes and could be forced to retire from playing football.
The 36-year old forward had been training with Division One side Simba Bhora where he hoped to continue his career after leaving South Africa.
However, the illness has severely affected his health and is no longer with the club.
Simba Bhora owner, Simba Ndoro, who is also related to Tendai, confirmed that the attacker was being treated for diabetes.
“He (Tendai) is diabetic and he has been receiving treatment,” Simba told The NewsDay.
“He is no longer with us, but we have been assisting with medical bills. He was supposed to undergo an operation at the weekend. I will have to check how it went on.”- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
The Sport and Recreation Commission (SRC) has reduced the allegations against ZIFA from the initial seven to one.
The SRC suspended the ZIFA board on Tuesday and cited seven violations in their suspension letter.
But after a review, the Commission has now reduced the charges to one in which they accuse the FA, led by Felton Kamambo, of failing to account for funds they received from the Government for the Warriors’ 2019 Afcon campaign in Egypt.
ZIFA also stands accused of failing to provide information on how they funded the charter plane to Cairo for its members and supporters.
However, the Kamambo-administration still argues that the suspension is unlawful and will approach FIFA to overturn the ban. – Soccer24 Zimbabwe
The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of global progress in tackling tuberculosis and for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths have increased, according to the World Health Organization’s 2021 Global TB report.
In 2020, more people died from TB, with far fewer people being diagnosed and treated or provided with TB preventive treatment compared with 2019, and overall spending on essential TB services falling.
The first challenge is disruption in access to TB services and a reduction in resources. In many countries, human, financial and other resources have been reallocated from tackling TB to the COVID-19 response, limiting the availability of essential services.
The second is that people have struggled to seek care in the context of lockdowns.
“This report confirms our fears that the disruption of essential health services due to the pandemic could start to unravel years of progress against tuberculosis,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This is alarming news that must serve as a global wake-up call to the urgent need for investments and innovation to close the gaps in diagnosis, treatment and care for the millions of people affected by this ancient but preventable and treatable disease.”
TB services are among many others disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but the impact on TB has been particularly severe.
For example, approximately, 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 (including 214 000 among HIV positive people).
The increase in the number of TB deaths occurred mainly in the 30 countries with the highest burden of TB[1]. WHO modelling projections suggest the number of people developing TB and dying from the disease could be much higher in 2021 and 2022.
Challenges with providing and accessing essential TB services have meant that many people with TB were not diagnosed in 2020. The number of people newly diagnosed with TB and those reported to national governments fell from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020.
WHO estimates that some 4.1 million people currently suffer from TB but have not been diagnosed with the disease or have not officially reported to national authorities. This figure is up from 2.9 million in 2019.
The countries that contributed most to the global reduction in TB notifications between 2019 and 2020 were India (41%), Indonesia (14%), the Philippines (12%) and China (8%). These and 12 other countries accounted for 93% of the total global drop in notifications.
There was also a reduction in provision of TB preventive treatment. Some 2.8 million people accessed this in 2020, a 21% reduction since 2019. In addition, the number of people treated for drug-resistant TB fell by 15%, from 177 000 in 2019 to 150 000 in 2020, equivalent to only about 1 in 3 of those in need.
Global investment for TB falls Funding in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that account for 98% of reported TB cases remains a challenge. Of the total funding available in 2020, 81% came from domestic sources, with the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa) accounting for 65% of total domestic funding.
The largest bilateral donor is the Government of the United States of America. The biggest international donor is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The report notes a fall in global spending on TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention services, from US$ 5.8 billion to US$ 5.3 billion, which is less than half of the global target for fully funding the TB response of US$ 13 billion annually by 2022.
Meanwhile, although there is progress in the development of new TB diagnostics, drugs and vaccines, this is constrained by the overall level of R&D investment, which at US$ 0.9 billion in 2019 falls far short of the global target of US$ 2 billion per year.
Global TB targets off track Reversals in progress mean that the global TB targets are off track and appear increasingly out of reach, however there are some successes. Globally, the reduction in the number of TB deaths between 2015 and 2020 was only 9.2% – about one quarter of the way to the 2020 milestone of 35%.
Globally, the number of people falling ill with TB each year (relative to population) dropped 11% from 2015 to 2020, just over half-way to the 2020 milestone of 20%.
However, the WHO European Region exceeded the 2020 milestone, with a reduction of 25%. This was mostly driven by the decline in the Russian Federation, where incidence fell by 6% per year between 2010 to 2020. The WHO African Region came close to reaching the milestone, with a reduction of 19%, which reflects impressive reductions of 4–10% per year in South Africa and several other countries in southern Africa, following a peak in the HIV epidemic and the expansion of TB and HIV prevention and care.
“We have just one year left to reach the historic 2022 TB targets committed by Heads of State at the first UN High Level Meeting on TB. The report provides important information and a strong reminder to countries to urgently fast-track their TB responses and save lives,” said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme. “This will be crucial as preparations begin for the 2nd UN High Level Meeting on TB mandated for 2023.”
The report calls on countries to put in place urgent measures to restore access to essential TB services. It further calls for a doubling of investments in TB research and innovation as well as concerted action across the health sector and others to address the social, environmental and economic determinants of TB and its consequences.
The new report features data on disease trends and the response to the epidemic from 197 countries and areas, including 182 of the 194 World Health Organization (WHO) Member States.
Tinashe Sambiri| MDC Alliance has dismissed the Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa’s empty bravado on by-elections.
Mr Mnangagwa told his supporters in Beitbridge Zanu PF was ready to trounce opposition in the coming by-elections.
In response MDC Alliance Namibia has described Mr Mnangagwa’s remarks as ” empty, meaningless and insignificant.”
Read statement below :
Choosing not to vote is never a rebellion, it’s surrender-Mdc Alliance Namibia demands reforms!
19 November 2021
Mr Mnangagwa’s utterances before a borrowed crowd in Beitbridge where he commissioned 23 houses for civil servants unraveled his unwillingness to deliver on the much needed comprehensive political and electoral reforms ahead of the impending by-elections and the harmonised elections in 2023. The level of desperation in the Harare regime unearthes its unpreparedness to respect the rule of law and constitutionalism in the motherland. Mr Mnangagwa yesterday said by-elections would go ahead even if the opposition boycotts them to protest his failure to implement reforms that would guarantee free, fair and credible polls. This on its own reflects that the clueless regime is ever desperate to retain power at whatever costs regardless of the citizenry’s audible calls saying #NgaapindeHakeMukomana meaning the People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa should find himself in the State House in 2023.
He went on to say, “We are going to have by-elections in 2022 and tinovasvasvanga(we will trounce them). In 2023, we will then have general elections tovarakasha (we will beat them)”. I want to make it categorically clear that the Mdc Alliance never hinted that they will boycott the elections but through its Secretary for Elections Ian Makone , it announced its commitment and dedication confront Zanupf and their surrogates demanding the alignment of the Electoral Act to the 2013 Constitution by bringing the electoral bill to the August House pronto. As a social democratic party, we believe that elections belong to the people and voting is a fundamental part of independence hence the idea of boycotting is a Zanupf ploy to hoodwink the unsuspecting masses.
Moreover, social democrats in Namibia would like to remind citizens that if they don’t vote, they automatically lose the right to complain against endemic corruption practised by Zanupf belly politicians. It should be clear to all change agents that Mr Mnangagwa desires to see them giving up the national democratic revolution resulting in the creation of voter apathy. In constitutional democracy we are convinced that the world is run by those who show up that is why our political generator (The Eagle) President Advocate Nelson Chamisa Wamba Dia Wamba is busy with the citizens interface preparing for those elections. Every right thinking Zimbabwean should wake up and smell the coffee of socio-economic transfiguration.
Boycotting elections is not our objective and I will never be one because our party has already written to ZEC politely requesting a stakeholder meeting to deliberate issues relating to the conduct of elections in Zimbabwe to avert post elections disputes manifesting in rigging and other irregularities. ZanuPF should be cognisant of the fact that Mdc Alliance is busy campaigning in the rural areas where most rigging takes place through high levels of human butchery, intimidation, torture, partisan distribution of food aid and frog-marching of Mdc Alliance members to Zanupf rallies.
In addition , Mdc Alliance has issued , for reference 20 Principles for Reliable, Inclusive and Credible Elections in Zimbabwe. We made it point blank that ZEC should dismiss all the military personnel at the purported independent body, the voters roll should be released on time as stipulated in the supreme law of the country, the apaque procurement of the election equipment should be resisted with equal measure, real time announcement of results among others constitute the our( PRICE). Constitutional democrats should be ready to defend the Constitution against Zanupf shenanigans. Lets all be geared to demand these comprehensive political and electoral reforms as enshrined in our PRICE document.
Voting is our civic right and by virtue of being Zimbabwean citizens, we should freely fulfil our obligation to take part in the national discourse through voting. It is quite pathetic that the authors of our toiling had the guts to blame Mdc Alliance-run local councils for failure to provide efficient services. The irony of the matter is that since Zanupf took over from Ian Douglas Smith, Harare epitomised the capital city of Africa, the currency was stronger than the USD with a stable exchange rate of 1ZWD=2USD and the infrastructure was just perfect 40 years ago, everything is now dilapidated which is a sign that Zanupf politicians are absolutely divorced from the concrete realities of our people. Our locals are affected by Zanupf’s centralisation of power whereby the central government controls all local councils through its corrupt Minister of Local Government. We are revolutionary intellectuals and public thinkers we can’t be flattered by a regime that has started our country down the slopes of hyperinflation.
In a nutshell, Mdc Alliance Namibia would like to send a clear message to George Charamba who claimed that announcement of by-elections by Mnangagwa caught Mdcs by surprise, and unprepared. “Not only are they unprepared and broke ;they mortally fear that a thorough thumping by the ruining Zanupf will remove the benefit of the doubt on which they hoped to fundraise ahead of 2023”,Charamba said. What Charamba should comprehend is that President Advocate Nelson is the darling of the Zimbabwean citizens! Why is Zanupf barricading roads? Why is Zanupf unleashing violence on a prospective loser? Why is Zanupf arbitrarily arresting Mdc Alliance activists leaving Mwonzora guarded by the police during his poorly attended rallies?
It is clear that the Mdc Alliance President Advocate Nelson Chamisa Wamba Dia Wamba is the only game in town saka tichiti Ngaapinde Hake Mukomana. No to boycotting! We shall continue to demand the independence of ZEC. Voting is a constitutional right that cannot be surrendered through a boycott. We need reforms now!
Tinashe Sambiri|The arrest of MP for Mbare Constituency, Hon Starman Chamisa is totally unacceptable, the MDC Alliance has said.
Hon Chamisa was arrested while attending a private party meeting in Mbare on Thursday.
“The police have arrested the MP for Mbare Constituency Hon Starman Chamisa and others who were attending a private party meeting in Mbare today(Thursday).
Reasons for the arrests are not yet known. The regime is panicking and easily unsettled by any gathering of change agents,” MDC Alliance said.
The party also accused Zanu PF of stealing its ideologies and strategies.
“The regime’s bankruptcy of ideas is astounding. Smart Cities is our concept and rural transformation our program whose tenets are well articulated in our Smart Policy document. Their rural transformation emulates of our DURA programme (Development & Urbanisation of Rural Areas).”
Tinashe Sambiri|The arrest of MP for Mbare Constituency, Hon Starman Chamisa is totally unacceptable, the MDC Alliance has said.
Hon Chamisa was arrested while attending a private party meeting in Mbare on Thursday.
“The police have arrested the MP for Mbare Constituency Hon Starman Chamisa and others who were attending a private party meeting in Mbare today(Thursday).
Reasons for the arrests are not yet known. The regime is panicking and easily unsettled by any gathering of change agents,” MDC Alliance said.
The party also accused Zanu PF of stealing its ideologies and strategies.
“The regime’s bankruptcy of ideas is astounding. Smart Cities is our concept and rural transformation our program whose tenets are well articulated in our Smart Policy document. Their rural transformation emulates of our DURA programme (Development & Urbanisation of Rural Areas).”
Tinashe Sambiri|Professor Jonathan Moyo has warned the MDC Alliance that the Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa wants to push the opposition to boycott the coming by-elections.
Professor Moyo also believes Mnangagwa has dismally failed to prove his mettle.
He said : “They’re saying give Mnangagwa 5 more years; meanwhile ZanuPF has not held an elective Congress; instead they keep saying all provinces have endorsed him; is an endorsement an election? Give him five more years, they say; where’s his PAC? Where’s his SACU? What have they achieved?”
He added: “This census process which started yesterday needs to be closely followed and used to checkmate @ZECzim ‘s ongoing DELIMITATION of constituency boundaries for the 2023 general election!#DisbandZec”
“After abusing #covid19 to block by-elections triggered by his diabolic recalls of MDC-A MPs and Councillors, @edmnangagwa is now posing as Mr pro by-elections, to incite an MDC-A boycott!”
By Simba Chikanza | After driving off with the lion carcass worth a whopping USD40,000, the Zimbabwe National Parks has refused to compensate a Chisumbanje mother, Tendai Chijakara who was viciously attacked by a lion while carrying her 8 month old baby on her back, on the morning of the 13th July this year.
Tendai Chijakara (42) was attacked by the male lion with its claws which caused large perforations at her side of the abdomen.
“I am lucky only due to God’s hand,” she tells ZimEye.
She says she had travelled towards nearby homesteads to do some debt collections when she met the male lion face to face, while others were fleeing into their houses.
Her baby was on her back at the time of the attack during which she says she survived by constantly looking at the cat into its eye, so to make it shy.
“I looked at it straight in the eye, which shine; they shine like fire,” she says.
She begins her account saying: “I am Tendai Chijakara, I am the one involved with the lion on the 13th of July; I have my child here, Welma Chijakara who I was carrying on my back, when the lion pushed me down; it had run towards me, after coming into our neighbourhood to a house where it was first spotted; I was coming from collecting debts, that’s when I heard people shouting that there is a lion somewhere, so when the lion heard the sound of a vehicle in the road, it jumped the fence and started running towards me.
“When it charged towards me, it pushed me down, I was carrying my baby, who is 8 months old, Welma Chijakara, who I am holding right now; when it made me fall, my baby then sat down.
“I had now fallen into a kneeling position and when that happened, the lion started to stomp on top of my body. So at that time I remembered what the elders have told us that when a lion confronts you, what you do is to look at it straight in the eye; doing this will make it shy away, at that time my child was sitting away about 1 m apart; she was crying wondering what on earth is happening to me.
“At that time I was praying to God saying that it is better that the lion eat me up instead of my child, who doesn’t know anything.
“While I was praying like that the lion’s eyes were shining like fire; I had to encourage myself to remain resolute, but I knew it that this is the end of my life, because it has never happened before; you know well that a lion is a beast, it devours people… It started to walk on me, and pushed me down three times.
“On the 2nd time of pushing me, I woke up and looked at it straight in the eye again, saying to myself, for me to stand up and run away, I am worried for my child, and I said I would rather wait for it; It then hit me with its head, and started to scratch me all over and to lick me.
“When I rose up, I now had saliva all over my face; it started licking me all over, wondering how to eat me up, while covering my face.
“There was a time when both our faces crashed into each other, while it was deliberately trying to shut off my ability to look at it in the eye; it was deliberately blocking my eyesight using its furs.
“While all this was happening, at end it started to roar loudly, getting frustrated wondering why it was difficult for it to devour me; it started opening its large mouth; its teeth sort of enlarged, and I said to God, if it is my time to die, it doesn’t matter, my grave will be its tummy.
“I just braved up against it. After that, it continued looking at me; while staring at me, its eyes are shining, the lion’s eyes are very bright as if full of fire.
“While doing that, that is when it then came after me this time with full force; it could have removed all my intestines, I could have died right there. I was sleeping from the side, that’s when it started to gore into my flesh pulling chunks out of my body, while pocking in with its large claws.
“So at that time, that’s when it then rose up and began running away towards other people, after discovering that it has failed me.
“At that point, that’s when I rose up, picked up my child and ran into the house.”
At that point, it did not take 2 minutes, the lion came back after noticing that there was no prey as people had ran into their houses;
“This is how I escaped death, it’s not because I fought it in any way. It is God who intervened, my time had not come, if not for that, I would have died; we were just the three of us, the lion, my child, and I; So it injured me badly, I went to the police station, got a letter and went to the hospital; after going to the hospital, until they gave me some injections, and some parasets, and they told me they have no medication. They said to me the wounds require me to be admitted…”
The Department of National Parks has said they cannot provide compensation because the government has no money.
In a letter seen by ZimEye, the Nat Parks further claimed they were not aware of the incident until this month.
“This is unacceptable, Nat Parks cannot do this,” said the Director of Pumulani Africa Women Against Violence, Comfort Dondo.
She commented over the value of the lion’s carcass, saying it goes into the tens of thousands, and could be sold to pay the victim’s expenses.
ZimEye is following up on the case. (Refresh this page for more updates) VIDEO LOADING BELOW…
By A Correspondent| News reaching ZimEye reports that the alleged ZBC presenter Rutendo Makuti’s brother who gave Prophet T Freddy ultimatum to pay USD20 000 has been arrested and is appearing at the court now.
According to reports, he is not Rutendo’s brother but a workmate.
1. The accused person is a male adult who resides at number 13111 Glenview 8 Harare. He is a prophet with the Goodness and Mercy Ministries Church Glenview Harare.
2. The complainant Rutendo Makuti is a female adult aged 33 years who resides at number 996 Mt Pleasant Heights Marlborough Harare. She is employed by ZBC Mbare Studios as a radio presenter and producer.
3. The two are former lovers and had known each other since the days the accused had some music projects with the complainant at the complainant’s workplace.
4. Sometime in November 2019 the complainant’s husband got sick. The complainant approached the accused person for financial assistance. The accused person gave the complainant $2 500-00 for free in order for her to foot her husband’s medical expenses.
5. The complainant accompanied her husband to Karanda hospital for treatment where he subsequently passed away. The accused person assisted the complainant by meeting transport expenses for the transportation of the accused person from Karanda hospital to Harare.
6. After about three months the accused person proposed love to the complainantbut the complainant refused because her tradition could not allow her to indulgein other love affairs before the cleansing of the death of her husband.
7. In November 2020 at an unknown date the two went to the complainant’s rural home in Chiyendambuya to see the complainant’s child. That same day at around 1930 hours the two reported back to Harare at the accused’s home. Whilst there the accused went straight to the complainant’s bed.
8. After some few minutes the accused person stood up and faced the complainant. He told the complainant that he was now her husband. The complainant denied the offer. Despite the complainant’s refusal the accused person went on to remove his belt, thirt and pair of trousers. Taking advantage of the complainant’s amputated left hand, the accused person forcefully placed the complainant on the bed. He removed the complainant’s skirt, pant and lied on her whilst she was facing upwards. The accused inserted his erected penis into the complainant’s exposed vagina and raped her once without her consent. The complainant cried for help but no one heard her because of the distance between her bedroom and that of the next person.& After the rape the accused person asked the complainant to consider him as her husband from that time on. He also promised to look after the complainant’s child but she denied the offers. The accused then threatened the complainant with his spiritual powers citing that the complainant’s God is not the same he believes in. At about 2200 hours the accused person left to his home.
9. The following morning the complainant informed his uncle Murambiwa WitnessBungu about the ordeal. His uncle advised her to report the matter to the policebut she did not, fearing for her reputation. And also the threats from the accusedperson.
10.Since then the accused person would come and had sexual intercourse with the complainant only during her menstrual periods. Everytime the accused would have sexual intercourse with the complainant the complainant would notice some bleeding cuts on her thighs.
11.In July 2021 the accused person visited the complainant again. He tried to have sexual intercourse with the complainant but the complainant discovered that the accused’s penis had a sore. The complainant denied to have sexual intercourse with the accused person. The accused person went to hospital for a medication. The following day the accused person came again and forced the complainant to have sexual intercourse with him without protection and a sore on his penis.
12.The accused person would force the complainant to pay his songs more often than other artists. He would also deny her association with her work mates, friends and other people. He would also insult the complainant at her workplace and disturb her from her duties
13.In August 2021 at an unknown date the accused invited the complainant at Moja Shopping Centre where a conflict ensued between the two which resulted in the accused person slapping the complainant on the face and pushing her down and nearly overrun her with his motor vehicle.. After the assault the accused pleaded with the complainant after the assault and promised to assist the complainant with money for medication. However the complainant turned down the offer.
14. The complainant sought counseling from the Family Support Trus can be invited as a witness in this case. The counselor
15.The complainant subsequently filed a report with the police.
16.On the 15th day of November 2021 the complainant was medically examined andthe medical report can be produced in court as an exhibit number”
We acknowledge receipt of your letter today responding to our letter, which we had also copied to other offices. It is therefore commendable that you have chosen to respond timeously to our letter.
However, we would like to express our displeasure with the response, in which your organization tries to wash its hands off the issue of payment for invigilation, choosing instead to engage in semantics.
It is not untrue that the issue of payment for ZIMSEC duties has nothing to do with ZIMSEC, and that payment of teachers for your duties lies with their employer, the Public Service Commission.
It would seem that both your organization and the PSC want to send teachers from pillar to post in the hope that we will tire of asking on the travesty of free invigilation.We do remember that in the 2019 meeting you referred to, it was never agreed that payment for invigilation be left at the doorstep of the PSC.
Rather ZIMSEC highlighted that it was underfunded, and that its parent ministry, MOPSE and the PSC would appeal to Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to improve ZIMSEC’s financial position so that it could in a better position to pay invigilators.
The reason why we were meeting with ZIMSEC is because we were aware, as we are still even now, that the running of public examinations is a preserve of ZIMSEC.
It is a fact that you pay item writers, who happen to be teachers, for work they do for your organization.
You also pay school heads for examination management, and examiners for marking scripts, although they are also employed by the PSC. We are awake to the fact that ZRP details provide paid services also funded by ZIMSEC.
By copy of this letter, we would like to advise you that since the payment for invigilation is, in your judgement, a matter between ourselves and our employer, our members will only report for invigilation of your work when we finish engaging with the employer
ZAMBIA Revenue Authority (ZRA) says all motor vehicles excluding trucks, tankers and heavy-duty vehicles, transiting through Zambia as cargo by road, will be required to be transported using a carrier specifically designed to carry them effective 1st January 2022.
Authority Corporate Communications Manager Topsy Sikalinda, said in a statement that this is in an effort to support local companies in the clearing and forwarding sector that have in the past faced various risks related to clearing of transit vehicles.
Mr Sikalinda explained that the requirement to move motor vehicles in transit on carriers is in line with the Customs and Excise, rules, 2021, which are contained in Gazette Notice No. 124 of 2021.
He said the measure will protect customs bonds for clearing agents whose business operations get disrupted due to outstanding transit transactions on the customs system that are reported, that the vehicles do not exit the country.
“According to a 2020 Auditor General’s report, over 25 million Kwacha has not been collected by the Authority due to pending outstanding transits that have not been acquitted in the system,” he said.
“Note that this measure does not affect local imports of vehicles. Our imports will continue being driven by road and the drivers at the borders will continue generating income on importations into Zambia and other new opportunities that will be created by this measure,”.
Mr Sikalinda added that the measure is aimed at improving trade facilitation by enhancing the logistics sector through the reduction of risks related to transit vehicles, adding that it will further improve revenue collection for all Revenue Authorities in the region because smuggling loopholes will be closed not only for Zambia but its neighbouring countries as well.
“This measure is not being implemented in isolation but in consultation with all key partners among them Revenue Authorities in the region,” he said.
A defiant Sybeth Musengezi has told Zanu PF to stop its scare tactics and allow the High Court appeal he filed challenging President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s election to proceed saying a soccer match is played for 90 minutes.
He was responding to a letter written by Zanu PF to his lawyers urging him to withdraw his case and save his money.
But Musengezi said Highlanders cannot ask Mushowani to leave the pitch in at 33 minutes, in reference to the Zanu PF letter.
“A soccer match is played for 90mins, even more if the referee declares extra time. Highlanders can not ask Mushowani FC to leave the soccer pitch at 33 minutes 16 seconds just because the Highlanders head coach ‘thinks’ they’ll win the game using home advantage … to soccer fans,”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa Thursday issued an emphatic vow his Zanu PF party will take the MDC Alliance to the cleaners in by-elections slated for early next year, adding that the polls shall proceed despite opposition grumbles and boycott threats.
Mnangagwa was addressing an estimated 6 000 strong Zanu PF crowd which converged at Dulivhadzimo Stadium in Beitbridge to see him preside over the commissioning of 28 houses for civil servants.
The crowd comprised mostly villagers bussed from different parts of Matabeleland South province.Said the Zanu PF leader, “We are going to have by-elections in 2022 and tinovasvasvanga (we will trounce them). In 2023, we will then have general elections tovarakasha (we will beat them).”
“The opposition has hinted that they will boycott the elections, but we will hold them all the same.”Mnangagwa added, “They are afraid of getting into elections. We are not deterred; we will go ahead with elections and we will win. We will get all the seats.”
Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance has hinted on the thought of boycotting the elections insisting on government first putting together the necessary electoral reforms to level the playing field.
Douglas Mwonzora’s MDC-T has also been widely reported to be opposed to the holding of elections amid claims the opposition faction feared decimation of a delicately held parliamentary representation if polls are held.
The holding of by-elections has been a source of persistent conflict between Zanu PF and the MDC Alliance which has dozens of its MPs and councillors recalled for refusal to align their loyalties with Mwonzora.
The US embassy in Harare, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, among some prominent institutions, have also called for the holding of the long delayed by-elections in the country.
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s lawyers want Zanu PF activist Sybeth Musenegzi to withdraw his High Court application challenging the party leader’s ascendancy or risk his lawyers being sued.
Musengezi approached the courts in October challenging Zanu PF central committee processes that led to Mnangagwa assuming the party leadership following the ouster of the late former President Robert Mugabe in a November 2017 military coup.
He argued that the processes and resolutions of the November 19, 2017 central committee meeting which resulted in the appointment of Mnangagwa as acting president were unlawful, null and void. Mnangagwa was confirmed as substantive Zanu PF president in an elective congress held in December, 2017. The Zanu PF leader has dismissed Musengezi’s court challenge as frivolous and malicious. In a letter to Musengezi’s lawyers Ncube Attorneys, dated November 11, Mnangagwa said Musengezi should withdraw the case or his lawyers would be sued for approaching the courts with a case “devoid of merit and brought for ulterior motives”. “It is, therefore, advisable for your client to withdraw his application unconditionally at this stage, tendering wasted costs, to avoid further abuse of process and privilege and forcing the respondents to incur additional costs defending this spurious and vexatious matter,” said Mnangagwa’s lawyers Edwin Manikai of Dube, Manikai and Hwacha Legal Practitioners. The letter was also written on behalf of Zanu PF, Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu and acting political commissar Patrick Chinamasa, who were cited as respondents in the case. “In the event of your client not heeding this clarion call, our clients would be left with no other alternative, but to seek cost de bonis propriis (pay costs from your own pocket) against you, on the basis and grounds that your client is facing primarily legal and supremely incontrovertible contestation, proceeding further would be evidence of gross negligence, and with respect, frivolous action in the advice rendered to your client,” Mnangagwa’s lawyers added. “This proposal is open for acceptance by your client and yourselves within seven days of the date of this letter, after which it should be treated as having been withdrawn and of no force and effect, unless extended prior to the expiry. In the event, our clients would be placing a copy of this letter before the honourable court in motivation of the prayer for cost de bonis propriis.” “We note that your client did not specify his address or residence or business, as required by the High Court rules, and thereby risking our clients in efforts to recover costs that might be made against him in this matter.” The letter was copied to the Registrar of the High Court. Musengezi’s lawyer Nqobani Sithole laughed off the letter yesterday. Mpofu filed his opposing papers on November 5, 2021, arguing that Mnangagwa was not liable to judicial proceedings and enjoyed presidential immunity. Zanu PF, Mpofu and Chinamasa have disowned Musengezi as a Zanu PF member, arguing that he brought the application for ulterior motives. Former Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko and ex-Zanu PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo were also cited in the case. The two have not filed any court papers. Newsday
By A Correspondent- Armed police on Wednesday allegedly pounced on MDC Alliance activists that were gathered at Vova shopping centre in Nkayi, Matabeleland North province to meet their party leader Nelson Chamisa.
Chamisa has been touring rural areas in the country to mobilise support ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections.
His tours have encountered violent attacks by ZANU PF supporters.
MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson, Gift Ostallos Siziba Thursday claimed that Chamisa was attacked in Nkayi on Wednesday. Siziba claimed:
Armed with AK47s and tear smoke, the State unleashed terror on thousands of citizens of Nkayi.
Vova shopping centre was turned into a war zone by trigger-happy regime agents who were petrified that if president Chamisa addressed the people, they would be fired.
A whole battalion comprising high-ranking police officers, Central Intelligence Organisation officers (CIOs) and mujibhas were stationed in Nkayi.
However, Siziba could not reveal how Chamisa managed to escape the attack.
Indications are that Chamisa had initially managed to navigate his way into Matabeleland North, and met supporters in various places like Tohwe and at Turk Mine.
In a social media Facebook post on Wednesday, Chamisa said:
I’m in Nkayi, Matabeleland North. Just had a fulfilling citizen and community interface, listening to citizens’ concerns, hopes and aspirations. Great conversations at Nkayi centre, Vova, Tohwe, Zwelabo and Gwelutshena. Nkayi is ready for change. A new great Zimbabwe is loading.
Later, there was a massive gathering at the Vova shopping centre where the police pounced on the crowd and dispersed it.
By A Correspondent- Four of the 28 government staff houses commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Beitbridge on Wednesday suffered roof damage during a storm just hours after the official ceremony.
Strong winds blew zinc roofing sheets from a nearby house onto the four properties, causing damage to the asbestos roofing.
The incident took place at around 3 PM after Mnangagwa had left for a ZANU PF rally at Dulivhadzimo Stadium.
Zinc roofing sheets from the neighbour’s house, identified only as Ndou, could be seen lying near the new houses commissioned by Mnangagwa just a few hours earlier.
Faith Tamirepi, a tenant at Ndou’s house, told ZimLive:
The roof was partially blown off during a storm and our property was soaked.
We picked some of the roofing sheets at those new houses and we’re just waiting for the owner of the house.
A picture showing the damage to some of the new houses after zinc roof sheets from a nearby house landed on them
The house whose roof was blown off, only for the zinc sheets to land on new houses which had been just commissioned by President Mnangagwa
She said no one was injured.
President Mnangagwa commissioned the 28 new houses which are part of 52 built so far to accommodate government workers in the border town – Zimbabwe’s gateway to South Africa.
By A Correspondent- Police in Marange, Manicaland province, have recovered bodies of a 33-year-old woman and her two minor children from a local dam, amid fears she could have committed suicide following a domestic dispute with her polygamous husband. National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident saying investigations into the matter are underway. “We are investigating a case were a Marange woman Elizabeth Mukachiki aged (33) and her two children Kelvin Bonyongwa aged (3) and Costin Bonyongwa, a young brother to Kelvin were found dead in a dam after she had gone missing,” Nyathi said. He said the bodies were discovered on Wednesday in a dam located in Mayedzengwa village, under Chief Marange. “Investigations show that the now deceased had a domestic dispute with her polygamous husband,” Nyathi said.
By A Correspondent- Norton member of parliament legislator, said President Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed to take full control of the Zanu PF party since the ouster of the late former President Robert Mugabe.
In a series of Twitter messages titled Reflections on the Second Republic on its Anniversary, Mliswa said Mnangagwa should also have included him in his cabinet as Minister of Sports.
Reflections on the Second Republic on its Anniversary.
If anything exemplifies the hypocrisy in @ZANUPF_Official It’s the fact that today ED is running the country with most of the people who were there in 2004 when he was blocked from being VP& 2017 when he was fired.
What is striking about this is that no one has said anything about those episodes. The truth has never been said. A few people were singled out such as @ProfJNMoyo, @Hon_Kasukuwere, @DrGGandawa, @waltermzembi,the CIO etc. But only the army was clear in its support for ED.
In the run-up to November 2017, Mugabe had decided to remove all the service chiefs but they stood their ground. Chihuri was supposed to arrest Chiwenga who was in China but Sanyatwe and the Presidential Guard defended their Commander.
This led to the march against Mugabe when everybody went out. The army had to support this march because it was mobilised by the War Veterans& the people. Zimbabwe Grounds were full; opposition was there. Point being this was a Zimbabwe thing not a @ZANUPF_Official
event.
I, together with James Maridadi were supposed to move a motion for Mugabe’s impeachment but Monica Mutsvangwa moved it in the Senate& Maridadiseconded it in the Lower House. The Speaker of the House was under pressure because Bonyongwe as Leader of Gvt Business was blocking it.
Bonyongwe tried frantically to stop the process saying let’s wait for the Congress. However, the Speaker (Advocate Jacob Mudenda) stood his ground. The unanimous decision was that it would be too late. Oppah was called by some with the same ideas but she said we can’t stop now we will be killed.
It was a tense time such that even some Generals were becoming fearful. When it finally began it was an inclusive thing. Tsvangirai,@nelsonchamisa, @DrThoko_Khupe, @EngMudzuri all supported it. That is why I still ask why most of these people were later shunned out?
They could have been part of the new Gvt and things would have been different. Personally, I always wanted to be the Minister of Sports even during Mugabe’s time. I worked hard for this project and wouldn’t have been averse to a post in Sports Ministry to be honest.
I suffered during Mugabe’s time and was constantly arrested for being ED’s person. What did I get? More arrests. Today we have upstarts like Mudhatelling Matanga to arrest me. Nobody can doubt the role that I played but I have suffered even after.
We can’t have the same today. We shall see what the likes of Mudha will say during elections. You get people saying the President doesn’t know what is happening but as the leader, you have got to control your dogs. They have to bite on your instruction only.
Mugabe didn’t know about it when Tsvangirai was beaten but that still got him out of power. He lost power due to reckless subordinates too. You cannot be arresting people just because you are powerful. That is where we say denga rinoona [heavens see].
Corruption has not stopped, it’s even worse. The Motlanthe Commission report has not been responded to. The Welfare of War Veterans. Reforms. Democracy. Stable currency. Human rights violations have continued. The economy is in a mess.
Those things are critical in us saying we are a better nation. This is no matter what roads you are building. There is a need for reconciliation. Within the ruling party itself there is a need for reconciliation over past issues involving accusations against Mai Majuru& others.
Before we seek engagements with the West there is a need for reconciliation with the opposition so that we have a unified voice in the global stage. It’s not the monopoly of the ruling party to advance the cause of the country. Being gung-ho& ignoring the opposition won’t work.
There must be reflections all around and the truth must be said. We can’t accuse everyone who says the truth kuti apanduka [has sold out]. I suffered for the President during Mugabe’s time. He knows that.
But the same is happening now. We all respect the President’s office but we will always be critical of what is wrong in a professional and respectable manner. Someone has to say the truth.
By A Correspondent- Residents at Lupane Centre are living in fear after stray elephants, one of them with a calf, were spotted in the area on Tuesday. While the presence of elephants is not new in Lupane as the area is adjacent to the Hwange National Park with vast conservancies around, the visit by the jumbos this time of the year is not common, according to authorities in Lupane District. Rangers from Kusile Rural District Council (KRDC)’s Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire) quickly mobilised and hunted down the elephants following reports that a herd of three including a calf had been spotted along the Victoria Falls highway near Mabhikwa High School while another with a calf had been spotted in Ndengwende village near Lupane Police Camp. Rangers shot dead a bull at Madojwa village a few kilometres from Lupane centre yesterday.
The ones that were spotted near Mabhikwa High School at the layby reportedly moved past the Grain Marketing Board Lupane depot and residential areas. Various stakeholders under the auspices of the Civil Protection Unit conducted awareness campaigns telling residents and school children to be on the lookout of the jumbos. KRDC acting chief executive Mr Wellington Mthembo yesterday said one bull had been shot down. “I am not sure about the authenticity of the one with a calf but what I can confirm is that a bull was shot at Madojwa village by rangers,” he said. Mr Mthembo said the presence of elephants is not unusual in Lupane.
“People in Lupane have co-existed with elephants for a long time. There are indigenous forests which are habitat to elephants so they always come out. The only issue now is when they come closer to the community and the frequency which is getting higher. Usually, they come during the cropping season,” said Mr Mthembo. Lupane Residents Association chair Mr Christopher Mazibisa implored residents and villagers to be alert. “Reports came through that the elephants were seen closer to Lupane centre and passed near Mtshibini School which is a danger to children. However, rangers shot one down and we hope this brings relief to people but we encourage everyone to ensure they are safe each time,” he said. Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said he was yet to get a report. Incidents of wildlife especially elephants roaming around human settlements have become common in areas near national parks.
By A Correspondent- Zanu PF’s Zvimba South legislator and businessman Philip Chiyangwa is challenging the compulsory acquisition of his land in Warren Park, Harare, where the State wants to set up a museum for African liberation.
This is contained in a High Court chamber application where Chiyangwa is challenging the seizure of the land, which measures about 5,5 hectares. Chiyangwa, the executive chairman of Kilima Investments, the company that owns the property, is accusing the government of pulling out of talks to buy the land, opting instead to grab it and wants the court to issue an order declaring the attempt null and void, unconstitutional and having no justification in an “open and democratic society”. The land in contention is Stand 9297 Warren Park Township of Warren Park where government is setting up a museum to chronicle Africa’s liberation. In August, President Emmerson Mnangagwa invited 16 countries to participate in the construction of the museum during the official launch of the first phase of the project. Chiyangwa said the government was trying to avoid paying for the land by resorting to compulsory acquisition despite making a move to negotiate payment terms earlier. “It is apparent to the applicant that the respondent is set to forcibly proceed and arbitrarily appropriate applicants property. Applicant contends that the respondent’s conduct is manifestly unconstitutional, wrongful and prejudicial to the applicant’s rights and interests for the following reasons,” Chiyangwa said in his founding affidavit filed on November 12 through his lawyers Mutamangira and Associates. “The respondents’ conduct is wholly arbitrary, unconstitutional and has no place for justification in an open and democratic society.” Lands and Agriculture minister, Anxious Masuka, who is cited as the respondent, said in the Government Gazette that he was compulsorily acquiring the land on behalf of the President. Ironically, Chiyangwa heads a campaign by Zanu PF to raise US$140 million for Mnangagwa’s 2023 re-election campaign. He heads a fundraising committee made up of late Genius “Ginimbi” Kadungure’s ex-wife, Zodwa Mkandla, Everisto Mudhikwa, Codes Scott Sakupwanya,Tafadzwa Musarara and Antony Pote. Chiyangwa said he was given the land by Harare City Council as restitution for properties the city had grabbed from him. The settlements were agreed and registered before the High Court in 2015. In his affidavit, Chiyangwa said the head of the Institute of African Knowledge secretariat behind the construction of the museum, Kwame Muzawazi expressed interest in the property. “The said ambassador Muzawazi advised the applicant’s managing director Brian Chiyangwa of an intention on the part of the Institute of African Knowledge to make an offer for the purchase of applicant’s entire property,” Chiyangwa said. “Ambassador Muzawazi advised the applicant that the Institute of African Knowledge is a government department in the Office of the President and Cabinet with the responsibility of constructing a museum for the history of African liberation.” However, nothing came out of the offer, but that did not stop government from “recently engaging the applicant in negotiations for the acquisition of the land”. “The negotiations have not yet been finalised in producing an agreement, and the parties have agreed on an acceptable offer being tabled by the government. It is untenable that in an open, free, fair and democratic society the government now seeks to renege on negotiations and instead now seeks to emasculate the applicant to part with his property through forcible means by arbitrary application of the law.” Chiyangwa said he was served with a notice to compulsorily acquire the property on November 3, 2021. “On November 3, 2021, the applicant through its legal practitioners of record communicated its objection to proposed compulsory acquisition of the property. The respondent has not made any communication to the applicant indicating any change of position notwithstanding the details of objection to compulsory acquisition of the applicants property.” The businessman planned to construct a world-class shopping complex at the site, which he says will include supermarkets, fuel service station, clothing shops and all types of complementary infrastructure. “To date, the applicant has invested more than US$10 million and the applicant’s complex nears completion and would have been due for use and access to the public before the end of the year 2021,” he said. The matter is yet to be heard while Masuka is still to file opposing papers. -Newsday
Yesterday, as President Chamisa commenced his tour of Matabeleland North, hired Zanu PF things barricaded roads, co-opted police officers & disrupted the President’s meetings with community leaders at Nkayi Centre. The primitive politics of violence & intolerance must stop, announced the MDC Alliance party.
Armed police on Wednesday allegedly pounced on MDC Alliance activists that were gathered at Vova shopping centre in Nkayi, Matabeleland North province to meet their party leader Nelson Chamisa, who is on a meet-the-people campaign throughout the country.
Chamisa has been traversing different rural areas in the country to drum up support ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections.
However, his tours have encountered violent attacks by Zanu PF supporters.
MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson, Gift Ostallos Siziba yesterday claimed that Chamisa was attacked in Nkayi on Wednesday.
“Armed with AK47s and tear smoke, the State unleashed terror on thousands of citizens of Nkayi.
“Vova shopping centre was turned into a war zone by trigger-happy regime agents who were petrified that if president Chamisa addressed the people, they would be fired,” Siziba said.
“A whole battalion comprising high-ranking police officers, Central Intelligence Organisation officers (CIOs) and mujibhas were stationed in Nkayi,” he said.
However, Siziba could not reveal how Chamisa managed to escape the attack.
Earlier, he had told Southern Eye that Matabeleland North embraced the MDC Alliance leader.
“Fellow Africans, the democratic movement as led by Advocate Chamisa has been welcomed warmly by compatriots in this part of Zimbabwe.
“In Tohwe, Nkayi, Turk Mine, Vova the citizens were clear on the task and agenda to liberate Zimbabwe and change our concrete realities.
“The message remains: It’s time for citizens to converge and prepare for change,” Siziba said.
Indications are that Chamisa had initially managed to navigate his way into Matabeleland North, and met supporters in various places like Tohwe and at Turk Mine.
Later, there was a massive gathering at Vova shopping centre where the police pounced on the crowd and dispersed it.
In a social media Facebook post on Wednesday, Chamisa said: “I’m in Nkayi, Matabeleland North. Just had a fulfilling citizen and community interface, listening to citizens’ concerns, hopes and aspirations. Great conversations at Nkayi centre, Vova, Tohwe, Zwelabo and Gwelutshena. Nkayi is ready for change. A new great Zimbabwe is loading.”
Contacted for comment, Matabeleland North police spokesperson Inspector Glory Banda said: “Yesterday (Wednesday) I was not at work and I am not privy to that issue.”
During the late MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s era, Matabeleland North was a no-go area as it was under the late former Senior Assistant Commissioner Edmore Veterai.
Tsvangirai’s armoured BMW X5 vehicle was in 2008 impounded by police in Lupane over allegations that it had been improperly imported.
The car was impounded at the height of the 2008 election campaigns.
Police said they were keen to interview South African businessman Adrian Espag in connection with its importation. Another no-go area for the MDC in the province was Nkayi. Newsday
A Chegutu-bound truck carrying cotton seed went up in smoke on Wednesday reducing much of the lint to ashes.
Midlands acting police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Ethel Mukwende yesterday confirmed the incident that occurred at the Shurugwi-Boterekwa escarpment.
Chegutu accident
Mukwende said indications were that the truck caught fire after a battery exploded due to a mechanical fault.
Austin Hozheri, aged 41 of Tshovani, Chiredzi, was driving an Eagle truck towing a trailer loaded with cotton seed from Checheche depot to Chegutu.
“On approaching the 38km peg along Gweru-Shurugwi Road at the Boterekwa mountain range, the vehicle is said to have developed a mechanical fault and the battery exploded and fire erupted.”
She said police and the fire brigade attended the scene and extinguished the fire, but the truck horse had been reduced to ashes with the trailer partially damaged.
The driver, however, escaped unhurt although much of the cotton seed had been destroyed. -Newsday
Tinashe Sambiri|As has become the norm ZRP cops and Zanu PF hooligans attempted to block President Chamisa’s community engagement meetings in Matabeleland North.
President Chamisa is conducting community engagement programmes in Nkayi and selected parts of Matabeleland North Province.
On Wednesday President Chamisa wrote on Twitter:
“I’M IN NKAYI, MATNORTH..Just had fulfilling citizens and community interface meetings listening to citizens’ concerns, hopes and aspirations.
Great conversations at Nkayi Centre,Vova,Tohwe, Zwelabo and Gwelutshena.Nkayi is ready for change. A New Great Zimbabwe is loading..”
The MDC Alliance condemned organised acts of violence against the People’s President.
Today( Wednesday), as President @nelsonchamisa commenced his tour of Matabeleland North, hired Zanu PF things barricaded roads, co-opted police officers & disrupted the President’s meetings with community leaders at Nkayi Centre.
The primitive politics of violence & intolerance must stop,” said the party.
A US$15 million facility has been approved by Government to pay for imports of fuel that will be sold in local currency by service stations starting at the end of this month.
The fuel will be available to all those who want to access it, according to an instruction President Mnangagwa has given to the Ministry of Energy and Power Development.
Most fuel at present is sold in foreign currency, with imports done through free funds, largely the foreign currency paid by users.
There were modest imports using foreign currency auction funds, with some cheating and selling this in foreign currency, but few have been bidding recently for auction funds for fuel, hence the need for the direct Government action.
Last month, the energy sector regulator, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulation Authority (Zera), flighted an advert inviting fuel station owners and distributors who wished to participate in supplying fuel in local currency.
So far, 57 fuel station owners and distributors have responded and the first tranche of 15 distributors and fuel station owners is now working with Zera and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on modalities to ensure that the facility is water tight.
Acting Energy and Power Development Minister Dr Jenfan Muswere confirmed the development yesterday.
According to details made available, the Zimbabwe dollar fuel facility will also be extended to State-owned enterprises and strategic Government contracts for roads and dams construction.
The ministry has already developed some of the modalities and frameworks in monitoring the implementation of the Zimbabwe dollar fuel scheme.
They include that all fuel companies should have the national fuel management system installed, that designated service stations should sell in local currency only and Zera will monitor and analyse the specific supplier, including banking transactions.
Companies are also expected to submit weekly returns to Zera, and ensure that service stations selling fuel in local currency are advertised in the print and electronic media.
Companies participating in the facility must have at least three service stations in different provinces.
Containers are banned for the Zimbabwe dollar fuel, which will prevent people buying in local currency and selling in foreign currency.
The participating companies will be barred from uplifting fuel from the National Oil Infrastructure Company depots before reconciling the previous allocation.
Hefty penalties will be applied on companies that fail to account for proper application of fuel sold in local currency.
Fielding questions from backbenchers in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Dr Muswere said the framework was being developed, which will see Zera working closely with the Reserve Bank and fuel suppliers and distributors to come up with a list which will then be published by the Ministry of Energy and Power Development.
Responding to a question from Buhera South legislator, Cde Joseph Chinotimba (Zanu PF), who wanted to know how soon the facility would be ready, Dr Muswere said: “What I would like to assure him and this House is that before the end of this month, the Zimbabwean dollar fuel facility will be fully functional.” -Herald
Tinashe Sambiri|As has become the norm ZRP cops and Zanu PF hooligans attempted to block President Chamisa’s community engagement meetings in Matabeleland North.
President Chamisa is conducting community engagement programmes in Nkayi and selected parts of Matabeleland North Province.
On Wednesday President Chamisa wrote on Twitter:
“I’M IN NKAYI, MATNORTH..Just had fulfilling citizens and community interface meetings listening to citizens’ concerns, hopes and aspirations.
Great conversations at Nkayi Centre,Vova,Tohwe, Zwelabo and Gwelutshena.Nkayi is ready for change. A New Great Zimbabwe is loading..”
The MDC Alliance condemned organised acts of violence against the People’s President.
Today( Wednesday), as President @nelsonchamisa commenced his tour of Matabeleland North, hired Zanu PF things barricaded roads, co-opted police officers & disrupted the President’s meetings with community leaders at Nkayi Centre.
The primitive politics of violence & intolerance must stop,” said the party.
The People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa in Nkayi…
Tinashe Sambiri| Former Zanu PF spindoctor, Jonathan Moyo has revealed how Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa secretly plotted to topple his boss Robert Mugabe.
Jonathan Moyo tweeted: “FIVE YEARS AGO, a year before his Nov 2017 coup, Mnangagwa and I at the Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE) graduation day on 18 Nov 2016.
ME: I know about your Blue Ocen Strategy, your coup plot.
EMMERSON: Bodo. Me? I have been behind shefu for 51 years!”
Jonathan Moyo also revealed that Simon Khaya Moyo was loathed by Mnangagwa for “drafting” the latter’s dismissal letter.
“Like in 2014, SK Moyo expected the Vice Presidency of ZanuPF in Nov 2017; out of his well founded but misplaced belief that the Unity Accord still mattered in the post-coup ZanuPF and govt. He was the most senior and most deserving candidate, having been National Chairman!
In 2017 SK Moyo’s association with or involvement in the drafting of the 6th Nov letter dismissing Mnangagwa from govt & the 14th Nov presser accusing the ZDF Command Element of treason cost him the VP post; second time in three years, which this time went to Kembo Mohadi!
While SK Moyo did not draft the 6 Nov 2017 letter alone, as the letter’s drafters included President Mugabe, Chombo, Kasukuwere and Grace who called the shots in the marathon meeting on the day; he fine turned it; and key phrases like Mnangagwa’s “lack of probity” were his!
SK Moyo survived the coup mainly because he was in the loop due to his marital ties with the coupmakers arising from his son’s marriage in July Moyo’s family. Having gone for him in 2014 Mnangagwa’s Midlands clan saved SK Moyo in Nov 2017. But even so, not all was forgiven,” argued Jonathan Moyo.
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has hit back at its South African counterparts, SAFA, accusing them of lying to their fans and FIFA.
Bafana Bafana lost 1-0 to the Black Stars on Sunday to bow out of the World Cup Qualifiers, but the Southern Africans were not happy with how Senegalese referee Ndiaye Maguette handled the match and the reception they got from their hosts.
SAFA then made an official complaint to FIFA, claiming that its national team was mistreated during their stay in Ghana.
The FA also urged the world football body to investigate a possible manipulation of the game.
In response, the GFA says the accusations are baseless, and it’s a plot to shift focus from their elimination.
“We wish to state categorically that the allegations are frivolous, baseless and lacks merits and should be treated with all the contempt that it deserves,” GFA said in a statement.
“These allegations from South Africa Football Association are nothing but a planned scheme and a calculated attempt to shift focus from the defeat, divert attention from their failure to qualify for the play-offs and unjustly dent the hard-earned victory of the Black Stars.”
The GFA added: “The Black Stars is a globally accepted brand that would not indulge in any action to bring the game into disrepute.
“Ghana has been to three FIFA World Cup Tournaments and remains the only African country in history to win the FIFA World Youth Championships in 2009. We worked very hard for the victory against South Africa.
“The Black Stars played well and won on merit without any form of support from the officiating officials.- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
We have greater knowledge than ever before about how to prevent and treat diabetes yet the number of people with diabetes is growing rapidly and the lack of access to diagnosis and treatment is causing unnecessary suffering and death, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
More than 420 million people have diabetes.
The number of people with diabetes has quadrupled since 1980 and is expected to rise beyond half a billion by the end of the decade.
The increasing prevalence of diabetes is largely caused by the increasing prevalence of obesity and physical inactivity. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 5-19 rose dramatically from 4% in 1975 to over 18% in 2016.
Deaths from diabetes increased by 70% globally between 2000 and 2019.
The condition is also responsible for the largest rise in male deaths among the top 10 causes of death, with an 80% increase since 2000.
Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.
One in two adults with type 2 diabetes is unaware of their condition.
Globally, health systems are failing to diagnose and care for people living with diabetes.
Despite the discovery of insulin 100 years ago, many children, adolescents and adults with type 1 diabetes struggle to access insulin, as well as basic technologies such as blood glucose meters and test strips.
Half of all adults with type 2 diabetes are undiagnosed. Those who are diagnosed are not guaranteed access to essential diabetes and related medicines and regular screening for complications.
A low number of manufacturers globally, due to factors including manufacturing complexity, intellectual property protection, and other practices such as regulatory and market exclusivities, has stifled market competition for insulin and delivery devices and contributed to higher prices.
The global cost of diabetes has been estimated at over US$ 1 trillion annually.
According to a recent WHO survey, the diabetes services in 62% of WHO’s 194 Member States have been partially or completely disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This disruption serves to underscore the importance of ensuring that services for diabetes are available in primary health care systems and can withstand disruptions such as those that have occurred during the pandemic.
The vulnerability of people with diabetes to other health complications has been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in a high proportion of people with diabetes among hospitalized patients with severe manifestations of COVID-19.
Diabetes is not being included sufficiently in universal health coverage packages, meaning that insulin, other diabetes medicines and associated technologies are unaffordable for many people who need them, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
In general, primary health-care facilities in low-income countries do not have the basic technologies or essential medicines needed to diagnose and manage diabetes.
Globally, essential medicines for diabetes are reported to be generally available in about 80% of facilities in the public and private health-care sectors. However, they are available in only about one-half of facilities in low- and lower middle-income countries. Data on diabetes derived from monitoring and surveillance systems in most countries are sparse and inadequate.
Only 56% of countries have recently conducted a diabetes prevalence survey, meaning that the reliability of information related to deaths from diabetes is doubtful.
The solutions Actions for governments
Develop and strengthen monitoring systems to determine the disease and death resulting from diabetes, the diabetes treatment gap, and health system performance (capacity and interventions).
Set national diabetes monitoring and coverage targets.
Promote a healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoidance of tobacco and work with relevant sectors to address the barriers preventing a healthy lifestyle.
Include diagnosis of and treatment and care for diabetes within the primary health care system.
Strengthen referral systems between primary and other levels of care.
Strengthen health workforce and institutional capacity to detect early and manage diabetes.
Ensure that insulin is included in the national essential medicines list.
Include care for diabetes (including insulin and other medicines, insulin delivery devices and blood glucose monitoring devices) in national insurance packages.
Increase the meaningful engagement of people with diabetes on issues relating to treatment and care.
Actions for WHO
Expand efforts to promote a healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoid tobacco and work with relevant sectors to address the barriers preventing a healthy lifestyle.
Identify solutions to facilitate purchase by low- and middle-income countries of insulin, other diabetes medicines and monitoring and delivery devices; to increase the transparency of prices; and to facilitate regulation.
Provide guidance to national health authorities on inclusion of diagnosis of and care for diabetes within primary health care systems and national insurance systems.
Actions for civil society
Maintain the visibility of diabetes on the global health and development agendas.
Monitor progress in meeting agreed targets relating to diabetes prevention and control.
Engage with processes to ensure that the voices of people with lived experience of diabetes are considered when decisions are made on policies and programming.
A 48-year-old woman from the Ndali area of Chiredzi died after she was stung by a black scorpion on Tuesday night, police have confirmed.
According to Masvingo Provincial Police spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa, Flora Munorwei of Zunguza Village was confirmed dead on arrival at St Joseph Gudu Clinic, a few hours after she had been stung by the scorpion.
Munorwei and her husband were sleeping outside their bedroom hut and the black scorpion sneaked under blankets around 9.30 PM on Tuesday and stung her.
The couple was sleeping outside their bedroom hut to relieve themselves from the prevailing high temperatures.
Munorwei was woken up after feeling pain in her left shoulder only to discover that a black scorpion had stung her.
Her condition deteriorated a few minutes after family members had woken up to kill the poisonous scorpion.
She was carried to the clinic in a wheelbarrow and passed on less than two hours later.
Police discovered a black mark on her left shoulder where she had been stung by the scorpion and her body was taken to Chiredzi General Hospital where it is awaiting post-mortem. – The Herald
By A Correspondent- Four of the 28 government staff houses commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Beitbridge on Wednesday suffered roof damage during a storm just hours after the official ceremony.
Strong winds blew zinc roofing sheets from a nearby house onto the four properties, causing damage to the asbestos roofing.
The incident took place at around 3 PM after Mnangagwa had left for a ZANU PF rally at Dulivhadzimo Stadium.
Zinc roofing sheets from the neighbour’s house, identified only as Ndou, could be seen lying near the new houses commissioned by Mnangagwa just a few hours earlier.
Faith Tamirepi, a tenant at Ndou’s house, told ZimLive:
The roof was partially blown off during a storm and our property was soaked.
We picked some of the roofing sheets at those new houses and we’re just waiting for the owner of the house.
A picture showing the damage to some of the new houses after zinc roof sheets from a nearby house landed on them
The house whose roof was blown off, only for the zinc sheets to land on new houses which had been just commissioned by President Mnangagwa
She said no one was injured.
President Mnangagwa commissioned the 28 new houses which are part of 52 built so far to accommodate government workers in the border town – Zimbabwe’s gateway to South Africa.
By A Correspondent- Amid revelations on social media that Masvingo City Council had donated nearly ZW$1 million towards First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa’s Chambuta project, residents have expressed disgruntlement over the matter, demanding transparency on ratepayers’ money. In an interview, Masvingo Mayor Cllr Collen Maboke confirmed that some funds were channeled towards Chambuta Orphanage and said that Masvingo City Council have adopted one of the houses at the orphanage and they are responsible for its rehabilitation as well as furnishing it. “I am aware of the money which was given to the Chambuta Orphanage because it was an agreement made as a local authority since we have adopted one of the houses at the orphanage. It has been our responsibility to furnish and rehabilitate that house. I am however not in a position to know the correct amount of money channeled towards that project. My job is to sign and chair meetings. The Town Clerk can answer some of the questions you have because the duties of the executive mayor were transferred to the clerk and I am only a ceremonial mayor,” said Maboke. Residents however questioned why the decision was made without prior consultation, knowledge and consent of ratepayers by the local authority, saying there are more pressing issues bedeviling service delivery. Masvingo United Residents and Rate Payers Alliance (MURRA) spokesperson Godfrey Mtimba said it is time to take action against council’s diabolic actions to transfer residents’ hard-earned cash without their consent. “As residents, we are so much appalled by the revelations that such huge amounts of rate payers’ funds were donated towards the First Lady’s project without our knowledge and consent. We feel this is a case of misplaced priorities. We have braved years of poor service delivery but the authorities find it fit to do such a donation. We demand an explanation as soon as possible and will not sit and relax when our hard earned money is being abused,” said Mtimba. Masvingo Service Delivery Residents and Ratepayers Association (MASDRRA) secretary general Moses Mavhusa said he was not going to comment as he needed the full facts first. “Where did you get that information about the donation from? We want facts first,” said Mavhusa. A resident who preferred anonymity said council had disappointed and betrayed the people who gave them the mandate to make Masvingo shine. “It is very disappointing that we have more serious issues which need to be addressed and if that amount had been transferred towards the betterment of the city, we would have been at another level,” said the resident. Town Clerk Edward Mukaratirwa said the money went towards government’s project and it was not a donation. “It is not like Maboke and Mukaratirwa just woke up one day and chose to send money to Chambuta. It was government’s proposal requiring us to refurbish that house and buy other things needed there,” said Mukaratirwa. It is not the first time in which council has channeled ratepayer’s funds towards other projects. Earlier this year, council was accused of transferring a huge chunk of money towards First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa’s cooking competition held at Masvingo Polytechnic without the knowledge and approval of residents.
By A Correspondent- Beverly “Bev” Sibanda’s manager of 11 years, has betrayed the dancer resulting in her firing him via a text message.
State media reports that Harpers Mapimhidze, Bev’s manager, was fired by the dancer this week.
The 28-year-old raunchy dancer told H-Metro that she has even removed Harpers from their WhatsApp group, and has become her own manager.
Bev said she made the drastic move as Harpers became preoccupied with managing a pub since the relaxation of the COVID-19 restrictions. She said:
I have removed Harpers from my WhatsApp group after realising that he was no longer committed.
Harpers is now employed at City Sports Bar where he has been managing the pub and it seems he is enjoying his job there.
Ever since the relaxation of the COVID-19 restrictions, Harpers has not been looking for shows as he appears busy, which prompted me to organise my own shows for survival.
I sent him a text message informing him that I had fired him and it’s up to him to take the message or not.
Despite partying ways with Harpers, Bev said she was not in a hurry to find the replacement.
Meanwhile, Harpers, who also doubles as the Dancers Association of Zimbabwe president, confirmed that he has parted ways with Bev saying he was now committed to his new job. He said:
It’s true that I have parted company with Bev due to the new commitments that I have at City Sports Bar.
I have been working here for the greater part of the lockdown and I now have a demanding schedule so I don’t think I will be able to continue managing her.
I have been managing Bev since 2010 and you can see it has been 11 solid years that I have assisted her.
Harpers is credited for making Bev the brand she is today as he also handled the dancer’s domestic issues.
By A Correspondent- Zanu PF’S deputy provincial chairperson for Harare Godwin Gomwe has appeared in court facing a charge of assault.
He is alleged to have assaulted a man for not taking off his cap while talking to him. Gomwe, who is jointly charged with Shelter Gomwe, Collins Gwatidzo and Fungai Rusinamhodzi, appeared before Harare magistrate Barbara Mateko on Wednesday. The quartet was remanded on $1 000 bail each to December 9 for trial. The complainant is Gibson Labani. Allegations are that on November 9, Labani and Gomwe had a misunderstanding over a cottage built by the former. Gomwe assaulted Labani for not removing his cap while addressing him. It is alleged that Gwatidzo joined in the assault, accusing Labani of disrespect. The State alleged that Gomwe and his co-accused also assaulted Emilia Mashavave. Mashavave lost her cellphone valued at US$45. The complainants reported the matter to the police, leading to the arrest of Gomwe and his accomplices.
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa Wednesday said by-elections would go ahead despite the calls for electoral reforms by the opposition.
Mnangagwa made the remarks while addressing about 6 000 party supporters in Dulivhadzimu Stadium in Beitbridge where he presided over the commissioning of 28 houses for civil servants.
He claimed victory was certain for the ruling party. Mnangagwa boasted as the crowd cheered:
We are going to have by-elections in 2022 and tinovasvasvanga (we will trounce them). In 2023, we will then have general elections tovarakasha (we will beat them).
The opposition has hinted that they will boycott the elections, but we will hold them all the same.
Mnangagwa has said the by-elections will be held during the first quarter of next year.
There are 133 vacant Parliamentary and local government seats following the recall of MDC Alliance legislators and councillors.
Mnangagwa said the central government expects both rural and urban local authorities to address housing issues, “but we have no local authorities, they are dead.”
MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said any proclamation for elections must be accompanied by a clear reform roadmap that paves the way for an undisputed election. She added:
The bad governance and legitimacy crisis that continues to plague Mr Mnangagwa’s regime is a direct result of the disputed election of 2018.
Mahere added that there was a need to disband the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) which is accused of being captured by the ruling ZANU PF.
MDC-T spokesperson Witness Dube said ZANU PF’s claims that the opposition feared by-elections is a strategy meant to conceal the ruling party’s fear for electoral reforms.
By A Correspondent- Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has endorsed President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the ruling Zanu PF’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.
The endorsement of Mnangagwa by Chiwenga comes when there is deep factionalism in Zanu PF involving the former military boss and Mnangagwa over who should lead the party and government.
Chiwenga went on to say that his party was even willing to amend the Constitution to enable Mnangagwa to be a life president because “he is the one we love.”
By A Correspondent- Norton member of parliament legislator, said President Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed to take full control of the Zanu PF party since the ouster of the late former President Robert Mugabe.
In a series of Twitter messages titled Reflections on the Second Republic on its Anniversary, Mliswa said Mnangagwa should also have included him in his cabinet as Minister of Sports.
Reflections on the Second Republic on its Anniversary.
If anything exemplifies the hypocrisy in @ZANUPF_Official It’s the fact that today ED is running the country with most of the people who were there in 2004 when he was blocked from being VP& 2017 when he was fired.
What is striking about this is that no one has said anything about those episodes. The truth has never been said. A few people were singled out such as @ProfJNMoyo, @Hon_Kasukuwere, @DrGGandawa, @waltermzembi,the CIO etc. But only the army was clear in its support for ED.
In the run-up to November 2017, Mugabe had decided to remove all the service chiefs but they stood their ground. Chihuri was supposed to arrest Chiwenga who was in China but Sanyatwe and the Presidential Guard defended their Commander.
This led to the march against Mugabe when everybody went out. The army had to support this march because it was mobilised by the War Veterans& the people. Zimbabwe Grounds were full; opposition was there. Point being this was a Zimbabwe thing not a @ZANUPF_Official
event.
I, together with James Maridadi were supposed to move a motion for Mugabe’s impeachment but Monica Mutsvangwa moved it in the Senate& Maridadiseconded it in the Lower House. The Speaker of the House was under pressure because Bonyongwe as Leader of Gvt Business was blocking it.
Bonyongwe tried frantically to stop the process saying let’s wait for the Congress. However, the Speaker (Advocate Jacob Mudenda) stood his ground. The unanimous decision was that it would be too late. Oppah was called by some with the same ideas but she said we can’t stop now we will be killed.
It was a tense time such that even some Generals were becoming fearful. When it finally began it was an inclusive thing. Tsvangirai,@nelsonchamisa, @DrThoko_Khupe, @EngMudzuri all supported it. That is why I still ask why most of these people were later shunned out?
They could have been part of the new Gvt and things would have been different. Personally, I always wanted to be the Minister of Sports even during Mugabe’s time. I worked hard for this project and wouldn’t have been averse to a post in Sports Ministry to be honest.
I suffered during Mugabe’s time and was constantly arrested for being ED’s person. What did I get? More arrests. Today we have upstarts like Mudhatelling Matanga to arrest me. Nobody can doubt the role that I played but I have suffered even after.
We can’t have the same today. We shall see what the likes of Mudha will say during elections. You get people saying the President doesn’t know what is happening but as the leader, you have got to control your dogs. They have to bite on your instruction only.
Mugabe didn’t know about it when Tsvangirai was beaten but that still got him out of power. He lost power due to reckless subordinates too. You cannot be arresting people just because you are powerful. That is where we say denga rinoona [heavens see].
Corruption has not stopped, it’s even worse. The Motlanthe Commission report has not been responded to. The Welfare of War Veterans. Reforms. Democracy. Stable currency. Human rights violations have continued. The economy is in a mess.
Those things are critical in us saying we are a better nation. This is no matter what roads you are building. There is a need for reconciliation. Within the ruling party itself there is a need for reconciliation over past issues involving accusations against Mai Majuru& others.
Before we seek engagements with the West there is a need for reconciliation with the opposition so that we have a unified voice in the global stage. It’s not the monopoly of the ruling party to advance the cause of the country. Being gung-ho& ignoring the opposition won’t work.
There must be reflections all around and the truth must be said. We can’t accuse everyone who says the truth kuti apanduka [has sold out]. I suffered for the President during Mugabe’s time. He knows that.
But the same is happening now. We all respect the President’s office but we will always be critical of what is wrong in a professional and respectable manner. Someone has to say the truth.
The suspended Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) board is considering approaching FIFA to have its ban overtuned.
The board, led by Felton Kamambo, was suspended on Tuesday by the Sports and Recreation Commission for “gross incompetence”, and a new set-up will be announced in the coming days.
But the Kamambo-administration is arguing that the suspension was done without a proper procedure and is in violation FIFA statutes which prohibits Government’s interference in the running of Football Associations.
A report will be submitted to FIFA and this could attract severe sanctions that could see the country banned from participating in international tournaments and the world governing body closing its financial assistance.
Meanwhile, the SRC says it is prepared to deal with the FIFA sanctions and would use the ban to fix some issues in the Zimbabwean football.- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has hit back at its South African counterparts, SAFA, accusing them of lying to their fans and FIFA.
Bafana Bafana lost 1-0 to the Black Stars on Sunday to bow out of the World Cup Qualifiers, but the Southern Africans were not happy with how Senegalese referee Ndiaye Maguette handled the match and the reception they got from their hosts.
SAFA then made an official complaint to FIFA, claiming that its national team was mistreated during their stay in Ghana.
The FA also urged the world football body to investigate a possible manipulation of the game.
In response, the GFA says the accusations are baseless, and it’s a plot to shift focus from their elimination.
“We wish to state categorically that the allegations are frivolous, baseless and lacks merits and should be treated with all the contempt that it deserves,” GFA said in a statement.
“These allegations from South Africa Football Association are nothing but a planned scheme and a calculated attempt to shift focus from the defeat, divert attention from their failure to qualify for the play-offs and unjustly dent the hard-earned victory of the Black Stars.”
The GFA added: “The Black Stars is a globally accepted brand that would not indulge in any action to bring the game into disrepute.
“Ghana has been to three FIFA World Cup Tournaments and remains the only African country in history to win the FIFA World Youth Championships in 2009. We worked very hard for the victory against South Africa.
“The Black Stars played well and won on merit without any form of support from the officiating officials.- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
BUHERA – The majority of villagers in Buhera believe that this country is going down not because of sanctions but corruption. The Mirror did a vox pop with villagers soon after Zanu PF and aligned organisations staged demonstrations in the district against sanctions which they blamed for the economic meltdown of the country.
It was surprising that even villagers who participated in the demonstrations believed that the economic decline of Zimbabwe had little to do with sanctions. The villagers urged President Mnangagwa to remove all senior Government officials implicated in corruption as a way of improving the economy.
In Buhera the demonstrations were held on October 25 and demonstrators moved from Chain business centre to Murambinda Growth Point where they were led by ZANU PF district leadership.
Addressing the demonstrators district Chairperson Causemore Chimombe said sanctions were hurting the economy and needed to be removed unconditionally. Chimombe read a speech on behalf of Manicaland ZANU PF Provincial Chairperson Mike Madiro.
The Zimbabwe Government has set aside October 26 of each year as a day to call for the removal of sanctions against the country. The sanctions were imposed by the USA, European union and Britain targeting individuals in government for abusing human rights, corruption and misgovernance.
The American Government insists that sanctions are not against the country but individuals and institutions that rank high in human rights abuses. Tawanda Gwebu who participated in the march said that there was endemic corruption in Government and the private sector and it was the source of the country’s economic problems.
“Corruption has destroyed the economy and has taken away the little moral fabric of our society” said Gwebu. Buhera entrepreneur who requested anonymity said corruption is rife in government more than in the private sector.
“Institutions which are supposed to deal with corruption must be adequately resourced and allowed to operate independently to bring culprits to book” he said. Laiton Marambanyika from Marambanyika village under Chief Nyashanu said while sanctions affect individual strategic institutions that are key in economic development, it was corruption by well connected politicians that have destroyed the economy.
“Connected people in government and outside have formed cartels that are stealing from government and this will take time to break” Marambanyika told The Mirror.
Edwin Gamanya who stays at Murambinda Growth Point said mismanagement of the country’s resources and political patronage are contributing to economic decay. A village head in Buhera West who declined to be named said it is corruption which is contributing significantly high to the problems the country is currently facing.
Winmore Mafuruse, a sex worker at the growth point said they were forced to demonstrate but they believed sanctions was rhetoric. “Its a rhetoric mantra. Its corruption that have taken us to this point and clients are nolonger paying as they used to do.
Economist Andrew Muchingami told The Mirror that the sanctions mantra is a scapegoat measure to hide misgovernance, corruption, incompetency by individuals in government.
“They are just trying to hide the truth and waste tax payers’ money through these demonstrations, ” said Muchingami. ZANU PF activist, Tandirai Mugadza however, said sanctions were real and hurting the economy and therefore should be removed. “The sanctions are hurting vulnerable people and therefore must be unconditionally removed,” Mugadza said.- The Mirror
We have greater knowledge than ever before about how to prevent and treat diabetes yet the number of people with diabetes is growing rapidly and the lack of access to diagnosis and treatment is causing unnecessary suffering and death, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
More than 420 million people have diabetes.
The number of people with diabetes has quadrupled since 1980 and is expected to rise beyond half a billion by the end of the decade.
The increasing prevalence of diabetes is largely caused by the increasing prevalence of obesity and physical inactivity. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 5-19 rose dramatically from 4% in 1975 to over 18% in 2016.
Deaths from diabetes increased by 70% globally between 2000 and 2019.
The condition is also responsible for the largest rise in male deaths among the top 10 causes of death, with an 80% increase since 2000.
Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.
One in two adults with type 2 diabetes is unaware of their condition.
Globally, health systems are failing to diagnose and care for people living with diabetes.
Despite the discovery of insulin 100 years ago, many children, adolescents and adults with type 1 diabetes struggle to access insulin, as well as basic technologies such as blood glucose meters and test strips.
Half of all adults with type 2 diabetes are undiagnosed. Those who are diagnosed are not guaranteed access to essential diabetes and related medicines and regular screening for complications.
A low number of manufacturers globally, due to factors including manufacturing complexity, intellectual property protection, and other practices such as regulatory and market exclusivities, has stifled market competition for insulin and delivery devices and contributed to higher prices.
The global cost of diabetes has been estimated at over US$ 1 trillion annually.
According to a recent WHO survey, the diabetes services in 62% of WHO’s 194 Member States have been partially or completely disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This disruption serves to underscore the importance of ensuring that services for diabetes are available in primary health care systems and can withstand disruptions such as those that have occurred during the pandemic.
The vulnerability of people with diabetes to other health complications has been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in a high proportion of people with diabetes among hospitalized patients with severe manifestations of COVID-19.
Diabetes is not being included sufficiently in universal health coverage packages, meaning that insulin, other diabetes medicines and associated technologies are unaffordable for many people who need them, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
In general, primary health-care facilities in low-income countries do not have the basic technologies or essential medicines needed to diagnose and manage diabetes.
Globally, essential medicines for diabetes are reported to be generally available in about 80% of facilities in the public and private health-care sectors. However, they are available in only about one-half of facilities in low- and lower middle-income countries. Data on diabetes derived from monitoring and surveillance systems in most countries are sparse and inadequate.
Only 56% of countries have recently conducted a diabetes prevalence survey, meaning that the reliability of information related to deaths from diabetes is doubtful.
The solutions Actions for governments
Develop and strengthen monitoring systems to determine the disease and death resulting from diabetes, the diabetes treatment gap, and health system performance (capacity and interventions).
Set national diabetes monitoring and coverage targets.
Promote a healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoidance of tobacco and work with relevant sectors to address the barriers preventing a healthy lifestyle.
Include diagnosis of and treatment and care for diabetes within the primary health care system.
Strengthen referral systems between primary and other levels of care.
Strengthen health workforce and institutional capacity to detect early and manage diabetes.
Ensure that insulin is included in the national essential medicines list.
Include care for diabetes (including insulin and other medicines, insulin delivery devices and blood glucose monitoring devices) in national insurance packages.
Increase the meaningful engagement of people with diabetes on issues relating to treatment and care.
Actions for WHO
Expand efforts to promote a healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoid tobacco and work with relevant sectors to address the barriers preventing a healthy lifestyle.
Identify solutions to facilitate purchase by low- and middle-income countries of insulin, other diabetes medicines and monitoring and delivery devices; to increase the transparency of prices; and to facilitate regulation.
Provide guidance to national health authorities on inclusion of diagnosis of and care for diabetes within primary health care systems and national insurance systems.
Actions for civil society
Maintain the visibility of diabetes on the global health and development agendas.
Monitor progress in meeting agreed targets relating to diabetes prevention and control.
Engage with processes to ensure that the voices of people with lived experience of diabetes are considered when decisions are made on policies and programming.
Higher Education Examination Council (Hexco) examinations which began on Monday were yesterday thrown into turmoil after teachers quit invigilating the examinations demanding payment for the services.
