By A Correspondent- The trial of five MDC-Alliance members, who were arrested last year for allegedly staging an illegal demonstration in Warren Park, Harare, opened yesterday after the State succeeded in applying for separation of trials with that of two other members.
Netsai Marova and Obey Sithole were issued with arrest warrants after they failed to avail themselves to court, and the State wants them tried separately upon their arrest.
The trial of Joana Mamombe, Stanley Manyenga, Cecilia Chimbiri, Lovejoy Chitengu and Makomborore Haruzishe opened at the Harare Magistrates Court where they indicated that they wanted to make an application for exception to the charges before they plead.
They are all charged with participating in a gathering to promote public violence with an alternative charge of violating the Covid-19 national lockdown regulations. Mamombe and her accomplices, through lawyer Mr Alec Muchadehama, told the court that they intend to make written submissions in their application for exception to the charge.
Youths in Zanu PF regalia disrupted a food distribution programme organised by Unki Mine and attacked workers for sabotaging government activities.
The hooligans, led by a soldier, came in a truck and disrupted food distribution programme initiated by the mine as part of social responsibility efforts.
The hooligans attacked Kudakwashe Nyome, the chairperson of the mine workers committee accusing him of being a sellout.
“On September 20, Zanu PF youths approached Nyome and told him he would be punished for working with western forces to disrupt government programmes.
The youths also accused him of being unpatriotic and working with agents of regime change to sabotage the new dispensation,” said a human rights organization in a report.
“On July 2, 2021 Nyome and four MDC Alliance members were forcefully taken by State security agents for allegedly denouncing President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
They were bundled into an unregistered truck with tinted windows by men wielding rifles.
The men took them to a secluded place were they were kicked, hit with clenched fists and baton sticks.
The five bled profusely after the attack. Nyome sustained a hip joint injury.
The government accused Nyome and his colleagues of violating COVID-19 regulations,” added the human rights organization.
“Nyome appeared in court on September 21 facing charges of violating COVID-19 regulations. He was then remanded out of custody custody.
However, it is surprising to note that the matter has been postponed several times indicating that there are political implications in the whole scenario.
We urge the government to respect and uphold fundamental human rights,” the organization added.
Zaka – Zaka District Schools Inspector Mr Samson Chidzurira has praised Zimbabweans living in USA through their organizations World Big Family Inc (WBF) and Naledi for a timely donation of 15 bicycles and 15 solar kits to girl learners at Zaka High School.
The donation which was handed over to girls at Zaka High School last Friday was over $5000.00 United States dollars.
The colourful event saw a sizeable crowd of learners, parents, staff members converging at Zaka High School under strict Covid 19 regulations.
Zaka DSI Mr Samson Chidzurira said he was pleased to see people in the diaspora assisting vulnerable children in rural areas.
‘Access to education and quality education has been fulfilled by Naledi & WBF today at Zaka High. Learners can now travel to school easily and recharge researching gadgets at home using their solar kits’.
“Access to education and ICT especially girls is our number one priority and we want to warmly thank our benefactors” he said.
WBF rep Mr Pride Chinganda said it was their wish to see rural girls excel more in ICT subjects hence the donation of solar kits to enhance e-learning during lockdown periods.
“We want to remove the divide between rural and urbanites especially during this Covid era where lock downs have affected physical learning.
“Use of ICT becomes an enabler in emancipating girl child. We are coming in to compliment government effort” he said.
Mr Makaza from Naledi said that the organization was happy seeing Zaka community embracing the donation.
“Most NGOs are found wanting when it comes to donations. Recipients of donations may not like it.
“Here it’s different. We are moved by joy and excitement shown by the learners and parents here present. This is the beginning of our relationship with the school. We hope to work together on more projects” said Makaza.
Apart from donation, 15 fruit trees were planted in the school garden as well as a palm tree in honour of the late head Mr Chinganda R who succuumbed to Covid 19.
The late Chinganda was a key member of the World Big Family Inc (WBF).
The Acting Head Mr Michael Svuure thanked the organizations for their gesture towards developing Zaka high school.
Dr Mutanda urged the girls to work extra hard in their studies and make positive use of the gadgets they were given.
By A Correspondent- Condolence messages continue to come for the former Public Service Commission chairman Mariyawanda Nzuwah. Dr Nzuwah died at his home yesterday after a short illness.
Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda sent his condolences to the Nzuwah family yesterday.
“It is with deep shock and sense of sadness that Government and the entirety of the public service and I learnt of the demise of Dr Mariyawanda Nzuwah. Our heartfelt condolences go to Mrs Nzuwah and family on the passing on of a true patriot and accomplished senior public servant of our nation,” he said. Dr Nzuwah succeeded Malcom Thompson as the chairman of the Public Service Commission in 1992, a position he held until his retirement in March 2018. Dr Sibanda said during his 26 years at the helm of the Public Service, Dr Nzuwah had laid a solid foundation of a modernised and highly skilled public service, which is recognised not only in the SADC region but the entire Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management (CAPAM). “He will be remembered for his hard work, meticulous advice on issues of public administration and his humble disposition towards superiors, colleagues and members of the public service. May the Lord God Almighty cover his family with grace and the comfort that we share in their grief. May his dear soul rest in eternal peace,” said Dr Sibanda.
Nzuwah is survived by his wife Janice Marie, their children and grandchildren.
By A Correspondent- The trial of five MDC-Alliance members, who were arrested s last year for allegedly staging an illegal demonstration in Warren Park, Harare, opened yesterday after the State succeeded in applying for separation of trials with that of two other members.
Netsai Marova and Obey Sithole were issued with arrest warrants after they failed to avail themselves to court, and the State wants them tried separately upon their arrest.
The trial of Joana Mamombe, Stanley Manyenga, Cecilia Chimbiri, Lovejoy Chitengu and Makomborore Haruzishe opened at the Harare Magistrates Court where they indicated that they wanted to make an application for exception to the charges before they plead.
They are all charged with participating in a gathering to promote public violence with an alternative charge of violating the Covid-19 national lockdown regulations. Mamombe and her accomplices, through lawyer Mr Alec Muchadehama, told the court that they intend to make written submissions in their application for exception to the charge.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) has disconnected 58 Mbare Hostels due to failure to pay bills.
Earlier this month, the power utility announced that it would move to disconnect defaulting customers to improve recoveries of monies owed by several electricity consumers, including individuals, municipalities, organisations, and corporations.
In a statement on Tuesday, City of Harare advised the residents to organise themselves and pay for the arrears.
“Council is urging residents of the 58 Mbare Hostels to organise themselves and pay for their electricity,” reads the statement in part.
“The residents have not been paying and were recently disconnected.
The government has resolved to keep schools open despite a surge in COVID-19 cases in some schools since early this month.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting minister Monica Mutsvangwa said Cabinet noted that the increase in infections was insignificant to warrant schools closure.
In a post-Cabinet Press briefing on Tuesday, Mutsvangwa said: The meeting, however, noted that out of a total school enrolment of 4,6 million, the number of COVID-19 positive cases detected is insignificant. All cases are being well-managed in line with the standard guidelines for the co-ordinated prevention and management of COVID-19 at all learning institutions in Zimbabwe.
Furthermore, most cases among learners are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms. Accordingly, Cabinet resolved that schools will remain open. Learners, who are isolated, will be provided with alternative learning platforms.
A number of schools have been hit by COVID-19 infections, with teachers claiming the government prematurely reopened schools before creating a conducive environment in learning institutions.
Minister Mutsvangwa also said the government had resolved to enhance surveillance and contact tracing at schools and the surrounding communities and to increase on-site COVID-19 testing of all suspected cases.
The government will also restrict movement into and out of the schools affected until the outbreaks have been controlled. She added that there will be vaccination of all eligible populations in schools and also in the surroundings.- NewsDay
Warriors caretaker coach, Norman Mapeza has picked the team that will play the Black Stars of Ghana in a back-to-back World Cup qualifier matches scheduled for next month.
Wellington Mpandare, the ZIFA general manager in charge of all national teams, who is also the Warriors team manager, said they had already written to the clubs asking for the release of the players. He said:
The coach has already named the players who will be part of the Warriors team to play against Ghana, in the back-to-back ties, next month.
We have already dispatched letters to the concerned clubs where the players ply their trade.
The squad will be announced in the coming days, after the necessary confirmations are completed.
We are hoping that all the players, who have been chosen by the coach, will travel for the crucial fixtures.
Mpandare said Mapeza included some local-based players. Former coach Zdravko Logarusic overlooked local-based players due to the inactivity in the local game.
Only Dynamos utility player Godknows Murwira, as well as the FC Platinum duo of William Stima and Silas Songani, were unused substitutes during the goalless draw against South Africa.
With the Chibuku Super Cup resuming next Wednesday, local-based players are expected to be match-fit.
Mpandare also said foreign-based players will fly directly to Ghana.
Mapeza will be hoping to have the UK-based players, among them Marvelous Nakamba, Tendayi Darikwa, Admiral Muskwe, Brendan Galloway and Jordan Zemura.
They were barred by their clubs, from travelling for the matches against South Africa and Ethiopia, because of Covid-19 complications.
Ghana will host the first leg, on October 9, before the two teams clash again, at the National Sports Stadium, three days later.- The Herald
The Premier Soccer League has released the fixtures for the next Chibuku Super Cup round to mark the return of football in the country.
The games were suspended in June following a surge in coronavirus cases. After the government recently gave the green light for the resumption of the action, the tournament is now set to resume with the remaining group stage encounters.
Clubs have already conducted coronavirus tests, and group training is underway.
The matches will resume on Wednesday 29 September with Group 1 ties. – Soccer24 Zimbabwe
By A Correspondent- A 21 year old woman who was allegedly rap_ed by her father over a nine-year period has refused to end their se_xual relationship. The woman, who has since fallen preg_nant, identified another man as her baby’s father but it was later revealed that her father had impreg_nated her.
The woman’s refusal to end the affair has caused a rift in the family and a team of social workers has been assigned to investigate the matter with a view to providing counselling to the family and offering ongoing psychosocial support to the woman who has suffered humiliation at the hands of her stepdaughter.
“Our team of social workers will also have sessions with the girl and provide her with psychosocial support,” said KZN MEC for Social Development, Nonhlanhla Khoza.
Furthermore, Khoza has called on police to investigate and charge the father.
“This man should face statutory rap_e since he started to sleep with his daughter while still a minor,” the MEC said.
It is alleged that the girl and her father began a se_xual relationship when she was 12.
It is further alleged that the 52-year-old man began rap_ing his daughter when she would come over to visit him.
Khoza said the girl lost her mother and stayed with her sibling, father and stepmother.
She expressed shock at the incident adding that such acts showed that there were those in communities who had lost their moral compass.
Khoza called on communities to stand together and call out those involved in child abuse, rap_e and gender-based violence.
“If the communities did not keep quiet for so long, such dastardly acts may have been averted earlier. Our communities should understand that ignoring cases of sexual exploitation perpetuates such actions.
“We want to appeal to the SAPS to conduct a thorough investigation and put forward a strong case for prosecution against the man. As a society, we need to send a strong message to perpetrators of such crimes that we have zero tolerance for their disgusting behaviour,” Khoza said.
Below is Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema’s full speech delivered at the UN general assembly yesterday.
Hakainde Hichilema President of the Republic of Zambia
• YOUR EXCELLENCY, MR. ABDULLA SHAHID, PRESIDENT OF THE 76TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY; • YOUR EXCELLENCY MR. ANTÓNIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS; • YOUR EXCELLENCIES HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT; • DISTINGUISHED LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
I WISH TO BEGIN BY CONGRATULATING YOUR EXCELLENCY MR. ABDULLA SHAHID, ON YOUR ELECTION AS PRESIDENT OF THE 76TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY. I AM CONFIDENT THAT YOUR WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE AND VAST EXPERIENCE IN MULTILATERAL ISSUES WILL LEAD TO A SUCCESSFUL DISCHARGE OF THE IMPORTANT RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ASSEMBLY THROUGHOUT THIS SESSION.
ZAMBIA STANDS READY TO WORK WITH YOU AS YOU EXECUTE YOUR MANDATE IN PRESIDING OVER THE MATTERS OF THIS SESSION. TO THE OUTGOING PRESIDENT, HIS EXCELLENCY MR. VOLKAN BOZKIR, I WISH TO CONVEY ZAMBIA’S APPRECIATION FOR YOUR COMMENDABLE SERVICE TO THE UNITED NATIONS FAMILY DURING THE 75TH SESSION.
MR. PRESIDENT, I HAVE THE DISTINCT HONOUR TO DELIVER MY MAIDEN SPEECH AS THE 7TH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA FOLLOWING THE ELECTORAL VICTORY OF OUR UNITED PARTY FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (UPND) IN THE PRESIDENTIAL AND GENERAL ELECTIONS THAT WERE HELD ON 12TH AUGUST, 2021.
I AM PLEASED TO INFORM THIS AUGUST HOUSE THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA ONCE AGAIN ROSE TO THE OCCASION TO USHER IN A NEW GOVERNMENT THROUGH A PEACEFUL ELECTION. THIS HAS ENABLED ZAMBIA TO FURTHER CONSOLIDATE HER DEMOCRATIC CREDENTIALS, WHICH SERVES AS AN INSPIRATION ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT, WHERE THE OUTCOME OF AN ELECTION IS DETERMINED BY THOSE WHO VOTE AND NOT THOSE WHO COUNT THE VOTES.
WE ARE THEREFORE PROUD TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP IN OUR COUNTRY WHERE PEOPLE ASPIRE FOR A FREE AND JUST SOCIETY AND WHERE THEY ASPIRE FOR THEIR VOICES TO BE HEARD.
MR. PRESIDENT WE WERE ABLE TO ACHIEVE THIS POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION EVEN AT THE TIME WHEN ZAMBIA WAS GRAPPLING WITH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, AND IN THE MIDST OF DEEP SORROW FOLLOWING THE PASSING ON OF OUR FOUNDING FATHER AND FIRST REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT, DR. KENNETH DAVID KAUNDA.
I THEREFORE WISH TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY, ON BEHALF OF THE ZAMBIAN PEOPLE, TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THIS ICONIC LEADER WHO WAS FONDLY KNOWN AS K.K.
IT IS WITHOUT DOUBT THAT THE LAST REMAINING STEWARD OF LIBERATION STRUGGLES HAS LEFT AN INDELIBLE MARK ON HUMANITY. DR. KAUNDA’S PRINCIPLES, VALUES AND CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS THE IDEALS OF EMANCIPATION AND INDEPENDENCE DID NOT ONLY SPREAD ACROSS THE AFRICAN CONTINENT, BUT ACROSS THE ENTIRE GLOBE.
HIS UNTOLD DEVOTION TO PEACE AND UNITY LAID THE VERY FOUNDATION FOR ZAMBIA’S STATURE AS A BEACON OF PEACE, NOT ONLY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA, BUT THE AFRICAN CONTINENT AS A WHOLE. THE ZAMBIAN GOVERNMENT WILL THEREFORE, BUILD UPON KK’S PROFOUND LEGACY TO LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER. AS WE WORK TOWARDS THIS YEAR’S THEME LET US REMEMBER THE IMPORTANT LESSONS THAT DR. KAUNDA TAUGHT US, ESPECIALLY AS WE WORK TOWARDS REVITALIZING THE UN SYSTEM.
MR. PRESIDENT THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS HAD A FAR REACHING SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT GLOBALLY, INCLUDING, DISTURBING TRADE FLOWS, SUPPLY CHAINS AND VARIOUS ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES.
IN ADDITION TO LOSS OF LIVES, THE PANDEMIC INCREASED POVERTY LEVELS THROUGH JOB LOSSES, STRESSED HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS AND WORSE STILL, THE DELIVERY OF EDUCATION TO LEARNERS. DISRUPTION TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEMS, PARTICULARLY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, WAS IN PART, DUE TO INADEQUATE INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY (ICT) FACILITIES. IN RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC, ZAMBIA HAS DEVELOPED A NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE PLAN FOR COVID-19, WHICH HAS BEEN USED TO GUIDE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MITIGATION MEASURES FOR THE PANDEMIC. THE VACCINE PROGRAMME FORMS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE RESPONSE PLAN. DESPITE OUR PLACING THE VACCINE PROGRAM HIGH ON THE LIST OF MITIGATION MEASURES, ZAMBIA HAS ONLY MANAGED TO VACCINATE ABOUT 3% OF ITS POPULATION.
THIS IS AGAINST THE COUNTRY’S TARGET OF VACCINATING 70% OF THE ELIGIBLE POPULATION BY THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2022. THIS CLEARLY HIGHLIGHTS THE INEQUITABLE ACCESS TO VACCINES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, ESPECIALLY THAT MORE THAN 2 BILLION VACCINES HAVE BEEN ADMINISTERED WORLDWIDE.
MR. PRESIDENT, IT IS FAIR TO STATE THAT RECOVERY FROM THE PANDEMIC HINGES UPON MASS VACCINATIONS BEFORE CONSIDERING OTHER REFORMS OR FACILITIES THAT TEND TO FAIL WHEN COUNTRIES LOCK-DOWN THEIR ECONOMIES. IT IS, THEREFORE, GRATIFYING THAT THIS SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILL CONSIDER BUILDING ON INITIATIVES SUCH AS THE AFRICAN VACCINE ACQUISITION TRUST (AVAT) AND COVID-19 VACCINES GLOBAL ACCESS (COVAX).
THE TWO INITIATIVES HAVE MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES, SUCH AS ZAMBIA, TO ACCESS THE LIFE-SAVING VACCINES, WHICH WILL CONTRIBUTE TO BUILDING RESILIENCE AND RECOVERY FROM THE PANDEMIC.
I WISH, THEREFORE, TO EXPRESS ZAMBIA’S APPRECIATION FOR THE SUPPORT THAT HAS BEEN PROVIDED THUS FAR THROUGH THE COVAX AND AVAT FACILITIES, THE UN SYSTEM AND VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS.
TO FURTHER GUARANTEE RESILIENCE, WE CALL FOR CONCERTED AND ENHANCED GLOBAL EFFORTS TOWARDS PROMOTING INVESTMENTS PARTICULARLY IN LOCAL MANUFACTURING CAPACITY AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER ON VACCINES, RELATED INFRASTRUCTURE, HUMAN CAPITAL AS WELL AS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R & D).
MR. PRESIDENT THE NEW ADMINISTRATION IN ZAMBIA IS COGNISANT THAT A CONDUCIVE GOVERNANCE ENVIRONMENT IS A PRECURSOR FOR THE COUNTRY’S POLITICAL STABILITY, SECURITY, ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. IT ALSO FOSTERS ENHANCED TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND CONSULTATIVE DIALOGUE. WITH THIS REALISATION, OUR ADMINISTRATION WILL WORK TOWARDS STRENGTHENING OF OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNANCE INSTITUTIONS AND ENSURE THE INDEPENDENCE AND AUTONOMY OF THE THREE ARMS OF GOVERNMENT, PARTICULARLY THE LEGISLATURE AND JUDICIARY.
THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION WILL BE AT THE CENTRE OF OUR TRANSFORMATION AGENDA AND THIS SHALL BE EXECUTED WITH ZERO-TOLERANCE.
WE SHALL ALSO PROMOTE FREE MEDIA AND AN ACTIVE CIVIL SOCIETY AS THEY ARE CRITICAL IN UPHOLDING CHECKS AND BALANCES, HUMAN RIGHTS, LIBERTIES AND FREEDOMS.
MR. PRESIDENT MY GOVERNMENT’S HIGH PRIORITY IS TO RESTORE MACROECONOMIC STABILITY; ATTAIN FISCAL AND DEBT SUSTAINABILITY; PROMOTE ECONOMIC GROWTH, ENHANCE ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION AND MANAGE THE CONTRACTION OF DEBT. I AM CONFIDENT THAT THESE MEASURES WILL RESTORE MACRO-ECONOMIC STABILITY AND PUT THE COUNTRY BACK ON ECONOMIC RECOVERY.
TO SUSTAIN THIS GROWTH, ZAMBIA WILL DEDICATE EFFORTS TO GUARANTEE A STABLE AND PREDICTABLE ENVIRONMENT THAT WILL ATTRACT AND PROTECT LOCAL, REGIONAL AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AS WELL AS ENHANCE LOCAL PARTICIPATION IN THE ECONOMY.
THIS IS A PREREQUISITE FOR A VIBRANT PRIVATE SECTOR LED ECONOMY AND THUS CREATE JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVERYONE.
MR. PRESIDENT, TO COMPLEMENT THESE EFFORTS, ZAMBIA HAS EMBARKED ON AN AMBITIOUS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION AGENDA WITH A VIEW TO CREATING EQUITABLE OPPORTUNITIES AND POVERTY REDUCTION FOR THE ZAMBIAN PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY THE YOUTH AND WOMEN.
IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL, OUR ADMINISTRATION SHALL DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT INTERVENTIONS AIMED AT INDUCING ENHANCED PRODUCTIVITY IN AGRICULTURE, MINING, ENERGY, FINANCIAL SERVICES, TOURISM, TECHNOLOGY, HEALTH AND EDUCATION AS WELL AS SUPPORT THE GROWTH OF MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES.
DESPITE THESE WELL THOUGHT OUT INTERVENTIONS, TODAY’S WORLD ECONOMY IS MORE COMPLEX THAN EVER BEFORE.
GIVEN THE NUMEROUS GLOBAL CONCERNS, INCLUDING PANDEMICS, CLIMATE CHANGE AND ILLEGAL HUMAN MIGRATION, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE ADAPT TO THESE EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION BY FOSTERING KEY PARTNERSHIPS AND DEEPENING INTEGRATION AT ALL LEVELS . THIS IS CRITICAL TO ENSURE THAT WE REALISE OUR ASPIRATIONS OF RESTORING ZAMBIA ON A PATH TO SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.
MR. PRESIDENT, ZAMBIA IS AWARE OF THE CRITICAL ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN GUIDING THE WORLD TO FOCUS ON THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA. IN PARTICULAR, THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT HAS SET THE TONE AND BENCHMARKS FOR COUNTRIES TO INCORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY IN THEIR DEVELOPMENT POLICIES.
OUR “NEW DAWN GOVERNMENT” IN ZAMBIA IS COMMITTED TO REALISING TANGIBLE GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WHILE PAYING PARTICULAR ATTENTION SO THAT THIS IS NOT ACHIEVED AT THE EXPENSE OF FUTURE GENERATIONS. LIKE MANY OTHER DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, ZAMBIA CALLS FOR CLOSER COOPERATION AND SUPPORT FOR CAPACITY TO ADOPT BETTER, SAFER, CLIMATE CHANGE SENSITIVE AND MODERN METHODS OF INCREASED PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY.
OUR ADMINISTRATION HAS ESTABLISHED A MINISTRY THAT IS THE FIRST OF ITS KIND IN ZAMBIA, THE MINISTRY OF GREEN ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT, TO ADDRESS THIS, AMONG OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES CONCERNING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY. THIS WILL BE CRUCIAL TO BUILD THE ABILITY FOR IMPLEMENTING CLIMATE POSITIVE ACTIONS.
MR. PRESIDENT I AM DRAWN TO THE PROPHETIC INSCRIPTION ON THE WALL OF THE UNITED NATIONS PLAZA, AND I QUOTE “…THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES AND THEIR SPEARS INTO PRUNING HOOKS; NATION SHALL NOT LIFT UP SWORD AGAINST NATION, NEITHER SHALL THEY LEARN WAR ANY MORE…” ISAIAH 2: 4-5. END OF QUOTE.
THESE WORDS, MR. PRESIDENT, SERVE AS A REMINDER TO THE UNITED NATIONS TO WORK TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION. THOUGH WE HAVE MADE LEAPS AND BOUNDS, IN THE AREA OF PEACE, SECURITY AND STABILITY, THERE REMAIN POCKETS OF CONFLICT IN MANY REGIONS OF THE WORLD WHERE GUNS HAVE NOT BEEN SILENCED. THE SILENCING OF GUNS THEREFORE GOES BEYOND ADDRESSING CONVENTIONAL WARFARE, BUT ALSO IN ADDRESSING NEW EMERGING THREATS OF OUR CENTURY WHICH INCLUDE: CHALLENGES OF EXTREMISM AND INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM, CYBERCRIME, ASYMMETRIC WARFARE PROLIFERATION OF NON-CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS AND ORGANIZED CRIME.
AS AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO WORK TOGETHER TO ADDRESS THE ROOT CAUSES OF THESE GLOBAL THREATS THROUGH VARIOUS NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND GLOBAL MECHANISMS.
MR. PRESIDENT THE FORMER SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS, THE LATE DR. KOFI ANNAN, LAID OUT AN AMBITIOUS AGENDA BEFORE THE 60TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY, WHICH IS STILL PERTINENT TODAY. IN HIS REPORT, “IN LARGER FREEDOM: TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT SECURITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL”, HE MADE THE CASE THAT DEVELOPMENT, SECURITY AND RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CANNOT BE ENJOYED IN THE ABSENCE OF THE OTHER. THESE ARE INDISPENSABLE REALITIES OF A WELL-FUNCTIONING NATION AND INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM.
I HOWEVER, WISH TO GO A STEP FURTHER IN ASSERTING THAT THE FOUNDATION TO SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IS PEACE AND STABILITY. WITHOUT PEACE AND HARMONY, DEVELOPMENT CANNOT BE ATTAINED.
ZAMBIA WILL, THEREFORE, CONTINUE TO SUPPORT NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES AIMED AT PROMOTING PEACE AND SECURITY.
IN THIS VEIN, ZAMBIA REAFFIRMS ITS COMMITMENT TO PLAY AN ACTIVE ROLE IN THE SADC MISSION IN MOZAMBIQUE AIMED AT RESTORING PEACE TO THE CABO DELGADO PROVINCE.
IN ADDITION, ZAMBIA REMAINS COMMITTED TO THE CAUSE OF THE LUSAKA MASTER ROADMAP TO SILENCE THE GUNS IN AFRICA, AN INITIATIVE BEING IMPLEMENTED BY ALL AFRICAN UNION (AU) MEMBER STATES TO PROMOTE PEACE AND SECURITY, WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN ENDORSED FOR EXTENSION FOR A 10-YEAR PERIOD FROM 2021 TO 2030. WE THEREFORE, WISH TO CALL FOR CONTINUED SUPPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN SILENCING THE GUNS IN AFRICA AND OTHER CONTINENTAL INITIATIVES.
MR. PRESIDENT IN THE QUEST FOR PROMOTING GLOBAL PEACE AND SECURITY, ZAMBIA NOTES, WITH SATISFACTION, THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS (TPNW), WHICH BECAME OPERATIVE ON 22ND JANUARY 2021. THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE TPNW IS A TANGIBLE FEAT TOWARDS ADVANCING THE CAUSE OF NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE. ZAMBIA ENCOURAGES OTHER STATES THAT ARE YET TO RATIFY THE TPNW TO COME ON BOARD SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE MAKING ADVANCES TOWARDS ACHIEVING OUR ASPIRATIONS OF ERADICATING NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
ON THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL (UNSC) REFORM, ZAMBIA IS STILL CONCERNED WITH THE SLOW PACE OF NEGOTIATIONS WHICH HAVE CONTINUED WITHOUT MAKING MUCH PROGRESS.
ZAMBIA, IN THIS REGARD, WISHES TO REITERATE THE AFRICAN COMMON POSITION, THE “EZULWINI CONSENSUS”, THAT CALLS FOR A MORE REPRESENTATIVE AND DEMOCRATIC UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL, IN WHICH AFRICA, LIKE ALL OTHER WORLD REGIONS, WILL BE FAIRLY REPRESENTED.
MR. PRESIDENT THE CALL FOR GENDER EQUALITY IS NOW A CENTURY-OLD STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN TO PARTICIPATE EQUALLY WITH MEN IN SOCIETY. DESPITE THE REALIZATION THAT WOMEN’S FULL AND EFFECTIVE PARTICIPATION IN ALL AREAS OF LIFE RESULTS IN PROSPERITY, WOMEN ARE STILL, HOWEVER, INVOLVED LESS IN PUBLIC LIFE AND DECISION-MAKING.
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE CONTINUE TO DEMAND FOR THE PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY WHILE PAYING PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN, GIRLS, CHILDREN, AND THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILITIES.
FOR US IN ZAMBIA, WE WILL REMAIN COMMITTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT AND PROMOTION OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS, AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY, OUR NEW PARLIAMENT ELECTED THE FIRST FEMALE SPEAKER TO PRESIDE OVER ZAMBIA’S SUPREME LAW MAKING ORGAN OF GOVERNMENT. I FURTHER WISH TO STATE WITH PRIDE THAT ZAMBIA’S VICE PRESIDENT, AS WELL AS THE DEPUTY SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE ARE WOMEN.
CONSISTENT WITH OUR COMMITMENT, ZAMBIA IS IMPLEMENTING VARIOUS INITIATIVES DESIGNED TO HARMONISE THE DEVELOPMENT, PROGRAMMING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT EFFORTS TARGETING WOMEN AND THE YOUTH ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
IN DOING ALL THIS, OUR AIM IS TO ELIMINATE HUNGER AND RURAL POVERTY. FURTHER, ZAMBIA EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF ENSURING THAT COMMUNITIES HAVE WOMEN AT EVERY LEVEL OF DECISION MAKING, AS DOING SO WILL TRANSLATE INTO A DISCOURSE THAT WILL BE INCLUSIVE, REPRESENTATIVE AND THUS MORE HOLISTIC AND INSIGHTFUL. OUR GOVERNMENT WILL FOCUS ON INCREASING SUPPORT FOR WOMEN THROUGH CREATION OF EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMS AMONG OTHERS. WE WILL ALSO FOCUS ON INCREASING ACCESS TO SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS FROM IMPOVERISHED HOUSEHOLDS THROUGH FINANCIAL AID AND GRANT SCHEMES.
MR. PRESIDENT I WISH TO STRESS THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA WILL REMAIN COMMITTED TO ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY AND MULTILATERALISM, TO CONSOLIDATE GLOBAL EFFORTS THROUGH PROMOTING OPEN AND CORDIAL RELATIONS WITH THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, IN ORDER TO ENSURE COLLECTIVE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.
MR. PRESIDENT, AS I CONCLUDE, I WISH TO EMPHASIZE THAT IT IS THE DUTY AND RESPONSIBILITY OF ALL OF US IN THE GLOBAL DEMOCRATIC COMMUNITY, TO MAKE DEMOCRACY WORK FOR OUR PEOPLE. WE CAN DO THIS BY DELIVERING DEMOCRACY DIVIDENDS THROUGH ACCELERATING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, BALANCED DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES AND OUR PEOPLE ACCESSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR A BETTER LIFE.
THIS IS WHAT WILL MAKE DEMOCRACY ATTRACTIVE TO OUR PEOPLE IN THE INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES. THIS IS WHAT WILL MAKE DEMOCRACY SUSTAINABLE AND KEEP AWAY AUTOCRATIC AND HEAVY HANDED ALTERNATIVES FROM LEADERSHIP. THIS IS WHAT WILL FOSTER A PEACEFUL, PROSPEROUS AND A MORE UNITED WORLD. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.
Police in Bulawayo have increased their visibility to curb crimes that are usually associated with the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair due to an influx of visitors.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube told Southern Eye yesterday that law enforcement agents were more than ready to deal with criminals that often cash in on the increase in the number of visitors in the country’s second largest city during the annual trade extravaganza.
“We have realised that there is an influx of visitors in Bulawayo, we are glad to receive them, we want to tell them that they are safe,” Ncube said.
“We have deployed enough police officers to deal with those who will be engaged in criminal activities. Some criminals would have travelled from afar, we want to warn them that Bulawayo is not a hunting ground for criminals and does not tolerate lawlessness.’’
He added: “We urge the public to co-operate with police and that they should not leave their luggage in their cars.’
Of late, Bulawayo has been hit by a spate of armed robbery, resulting in exchange of gunfire between police officers and armed robbers.
Last month, armed robbers were cornered by police in Bulawayo. One was shot dead, while two were injured when the six armed robbers, who had come all the way from South Africa, pounced on a house along Franklin Drive in Fourwinds, Bulawayo.
Four firearms were recovered at the scene. –Newsday
The government has resolved to keep schools open despite a surge in COVID-19 cases in some schools since early this month.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting minister Monica Mutsvangwa said Cabinet noted that the increase in infections was insignificant to warrant schools closure.
In a post-Cabinet Press briefing on Tuesday, Mutsvangwa said: The meeting, however, noted that out of a total school enrolment of 4,6 million, the number of COVID-19 positive cases detected is insignificant. All cases are being well-managed in line with the standard guidelines for the co-ordinated prevention and management of COVID-19 at all learning institutions in Zimbabwe.
Furthermore, most cases among learners are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms. Accordingly, Cabinet resolved that schools will remain open. Learners, who are isolated, will be provided with alternative learning platforms.
A number of schools have been hit by COVID-19 infections, with teachers claiming the government prematurely reopened schools before creating a conducive environment in learning institutions.
Minister Mutsvangwa also said the government had resolved to enhance surveillance and contact tracing at schools and the surrounding communities and to increase on-site COVID-19 testing of all suspected cases.
The government will also restrict movement into and out of the schools affected until the outbreaks have been controlled. She added that there will be vaccination of all eligible populations in schools and also in the surroundings.- NewsDay
No Going Back – President Chamisa On Struggle For Democracy
Tinashe Sambiri| MDC Alliance leader President Nelson Chamisa has thanked the people of Zimbabwe for showing determination to fight for change despite incessant efforts by enablers of the regime to frustrate the people’s struggle.
President Chamisa is satisfied with the overwhelming support from citizens in and out of the country.
Read statement below:
TODAY, I wish to thank all of you who support the struggle for a free Zimbabwe.
The support is from all ages & corners of Zimbabwe including the diaspora.
You guys are awesome! Most of you we’ve never met but you invest and have believed in the promise of a NEW GREAT ZIIMBABWE even at great cost and personal risk.
I will never let you down!Together we Will WIN Zimbabwe for total and real change.
Tinashe Sambiri| MDC Alliance leader President Nelson Chamisa has thanked the people of Zimbabwe for showing determination to fight for change despite incessant efforts by enablers of the regime to frustrate the people’s struggle.
President Chamisa is satisfied with the overwhelming support from citizens in and out of the country.
Read statement below:
TODAY, I wish to thank all of you who support the struggle for a free Zimbabwe.
The support is from all ages & corners of Zimbabwe including the diaspora.
You guys are awesome! Most of you we’ve never met but you invest and have believed in the promise of a NEW GREAT ZIIMBABWE even at great cost and personal risk.
I will never let you down!Together we Will WIN Zimbabwe for total and real change.
Police officer commanding Mashonaland West province, Commissioner Coneli Dube, was today denied bail by a Mashonaland West provincial magistrate in a case he is accused of obstructing the course of justice.
Ms Ruth Moyo remanded Dube in custody to October 6 this year.
Dube spent last night in custody after appearing unrepresented in a bail application attempt.
The State led by Ms Teveraishe Zinyemba, yesterday, opposed the bail application on the basis that the accused would interfere with witnesses and was a flight risk who was also likely to abscond.
ZACC’s senior investigations officer, Mr Patrick Madiye said if granted bail, the accused could influence or intimidate some of the witnesses who were his subordinates.
Mr Madiye also told the court that the accused had influenced the transfer of two senior officers from the province.
In his bail application, Dube had averred that he was not a flight risk as he was willing to surrender his travel documents.
He said he was not familiar with the witnesses hence he would not interfere with them, but Ms Moyo consented to the State’s decision and advised him to apply for bail at the High Court.
Dube is accused of trying to protect four Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers, Detective Assistant Inspector Moses Million, Detective Assistant Inspector Newton Musende, Detective Sergeant Never Muchekawaya and Detective Constable Justice Mapfanya who are facing charges of extorting money from one Washington Ongorani.
He allegedly withheld the criminal docket for the four, thereby contravening Section 184 (1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act chapter 9:23. – Herald
Tinashe Sambiri|The Zanu PF regime is planning to eliminate human rights activist and MDC Alliance Youth Assembly secretary for labour and social welfare Makomborero Haruzivishe, ZimEye.com has learnt.
Makomborero Haruzivishe complained of being choked by men pretending to be in a trance at night. The same men also attempted to slit open his throat.
MDC Alliance Youth Assembly secretary general, Gift Ostallos Siziba has accused of the regime of sending its secret agents to torment Makomborero Haruzivishe.
“Mako was attacked last night…the regime is callous.
We call for his immediate release,” said Siziba.
MDC Alliance Youth Assembly spokesperson Stephen Sarkozy Chuma said: “We have received very unfortunate reports that Makomborero Haruzivishe’s life is in danger at Harare Remand Prison.
Mako complains that there are inmates who wanted to slit his throat under the fake impression that they were under some hallucinations or trance.
This is a clear attempt on our comrade’s life by the regime. History has taught us that Harare Remand Prison is a guillotine for activists and opposition members.
In the past we lost Learnmore Jongwe and so many cdes under unclear circumstances.
It is in that perspective that we demand for unconditional release of Mako because the regime has failed in its duty to protect him as a citizen in line with constitutional provisions and rights of prisoners.”
Tinashe Sambiri|Fearless MDC Alliance vice chairperson Hon Job Sikhala has vowed to confront the Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa over the deepening political crisis in Zimbabwe.
The hard-hitting politician said he would soon lose his temper due rampant abuse of human rights and muzzling of democratic space in Zimbabwe.
“If this situation continues to throttle our democratic space, some of us will lose our temper very soon.
Ndokuvharisirai chinyika chose ichi zvandandakuitirai gore rapera muna July.
Rambai muchiita matoto iwaya.”
Hon Sikhala also described Mnangagwa as the worst dictator on earth.
“Uyu pama evil dictators ose amunoziva put together havasviki kana quarter yake pahutsinye nehumhondi.
He is evil personified. He must fall by any means necessary.”
More than 700 000 people die due to suicide every year. For every suicide there are many more people who attempt suicide. A prior suicide attempt is the single most important risk factor for suicide in the general population. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in 15-19-year-olds. 77% of global suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries. Ingestion of pesticide, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally. Every year 703 000 people take their own life and there are many more people who attempt suicide. Every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind. Suicide occurs throughout the lifespan and was the fourth leading cause of death among 15-29 year-olds globally in 2019.
Suicide does not just occur in high-income countries, but is a global phenomenon in all regions of the world. In fact, over 77% of global suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries in 2019.
Suicide is a serious public health problem; however, suicides are preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions. For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.
Who is at risk? While the link between suicide and mental disorders (in particular, depression and alcohol use disorders) is well established in high-income countries, many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship break-up or chronic pain and illness.
In addition, experiencing conflict, disaster, violence, abuse, or loss and a sense of isolation are strongly associated with suicidal behaviour. Suicide rates are also high amongst vulnerable groups who experience discrimination, such as refugees and migrants; indigenous peoples; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) persons; and prisoners. By far the strongest risk factor for suicide is a previous suicide attempt.
Methods of suicide It is estimated that around 20% of global suicides are due to pesticide self-poisoning, most of which occur in rural agricultural areas in low- and middle-income countries. Other common methods of suicide are hanging and firearms.
Knowledge of the most commonly used suicide methods is important to devise prevention strategies which have shown to be effective, such as restriction of access to means of suicide.
Prevention and control Suicides are preventable. There are a number of measures that can be taken at population, sub-population and individual levels to prevent suicide and suicide attempts. LIVE LIFE, WHO’s approach to suicide prevention, recommends the following key effective evidence-based interventions:
limit access to the means of suicide (e.g. pesticides, firearms, certain medications); interact with the media for responsible reporting of suicide; foster socio-emotional life skills in adolescents; early identify, assess, manage and follow up anyone who is affected by suicidal behaviours., These need to go hand-in-hand with the following foundational pillars: situation analysis, multisectoral collaboration, awareness raising, capacity building, financing, surveillance and monitoring and evaluation.
Suicide prevention efforts require coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, including the health sector and other sectors such as education, labour, agriculture, business, justice, law, defence, politics, and the media. These efforts must be comprehensive and integrated as no single approach alone can make an impact on an issue as complex as suicide.
Challenges and obstacles Stigma and taboo Stigma, particularly surrounding mental disorders and suicide, means many people thinking of taking their own life or who have attempted suicide are not seeking help and are therefore not getting the help they need. The prevention of suicide has not been adequately addressed due to a lack of awareness of suicide as a major public health problem and the taboo in many societies to openly discuss it. To date, only a few countries have included suicide prevention among their health priorities and only 38 countries report having a national suicide prevention strategy.
Raising community awareness and breaking down the taboo is important for countries to make progress in preventing suicide.
Data quality Globally, the availability and quality of data on suicide and suicide attempts is poor. Only some 80 Member States have good-quality vital registration data that can be used directly to estimate suicide rates. This problem of poor-quality mortality data is not unique to suicide, but given the sensitivity of suicide – and the illegality of suicidal behaviour in some countries – it is likely that under-reporting and misclassification are greater problems for suicide than for most other causes of death.
Improved surveillance and monitoring of suicide and suicide attempts is required for effective suicide prevention strategies. Cross-national differences in the patterns of suicide, and changes in the rates, characteristics and methods of suicide, highlight the need for each country to improve the comprehensiveness, quality and timeliness of their suicide-related data. This includes vital registration of suicide, hospital-based registries of suicide attempts and nationally-representative surveys collecting information about self-reported suicide attempts.
WHO response WHO recognizes suicide as a public health priority. The first WHO World Suicide Report “Preventing suicide: a global imperative”, published in 2014, aims to increase the awareness of the public health significance of suicide and suicide attempts and to make suicide prevention a high priority on the global public health agenda. It also aims to encourage and support countries to develop or strengthen comprehensive suicide prevention strategies in a multisectoral public health approach.
Suicide is one of the priority conditions in the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) launched in 2008, which provides evidence-based technical guidance to scale up service provision and care in countries for mental, neurological and substance use disorders. In the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030, WHO Member States have committed themselves to working towards the global target of reducing the suicide rate in countries by one third by 2030.
In addition, the suicide mortality rate is an indicator of target 3.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals: by 2030, to reduce by one third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment, and promote mental health and well-being.
HARARE, 21st SEPTEMBER, 2021 In the last two weeks under Level 2 Covid-19 Lockdown, we have continued to see a steady fall in the number of new Covid-19 cases in our country. We have been averaging Two Hundred and Thirty-Eight (238) new cases per day and a dramatic fall in deaths averaging Four (4) per day respectively. This is an encouraging sign that the preventive measures that have been put in place by Government to try and curb the spread of the deadly virus, when followed through to the letter by all Zimbabweans, have been very effective. However, during the same period, our country nevertheless, experienced some outbreaks throughout the country, most notably in schools which reopened recently. Through concerted and efforts by both Government and other players in the health sector, we were able to contain these outbreaks in schools before they spilled into communities.
In order to ensure that we continue along the path towards total containment of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have decided it prudent to extend the Level 2 Covid-19 National Lockdown measures announced a fortnight ago by a further two weeks. The situation will be reviewed thereafter to assess the progress we shall have made in order to move to a more relaxed level.
By A Correspondent-The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) has disconnected 58 Mbare Hostels due to failure to pay bills.
Earlier this month, the power utility announced that it will move to disconnect defaulting customers in a move aimed at improving recoveries of monies owed by several electricity consumers, including individuals, municipalities, organisations and corporations.
In a statement on Tuesday, City of Harare advised the residents to organise themselves and pay for the arrears.
“Council is urging residents of the 58 Mbare Hostels to organise themselves and pay for their electricity,” reads the statement in part.
“The residents have not been paying and were recently disconnected. ZimMail
By Dr Masimba Mavaza | As the president of Zimbabwe prepares to visit the United Kingdom in a trip which will see him gracing the Kingdom of Scotland Zimbabweans a in high morale hoping to see their leader as he lifts the flag of Zimbabwe high. Many presidents will come and some will meet their nationals on the side and address their own. This Zimbabweans will enjoy when the listening president comes and maybe time allowing they will have the precious moments to chat.
In all this excitement there are Zimbabweans who are trying to spoil the party for Zimbabwe. How cruel some people could be: Day and night the MDC and some evil groups masquerading as human rights activists are planning to have flash demonstrations to vilify Zimbabwe and rubbish all the efforts being done by the President.
It is surprising how these malcontents hope to be assisted by demonstrating against their country in a foreign land. Many of these are good for nothing charlatans bent to soil the good name of Zimbabwe.
The charlatans preparing against Zimbabwe are comprised of two groups whose mindset is pathetic, and indeed demented. They form the well known Movement For Demented Charlatans MDC, or otherwise known as Mentally Disturbed Children Away from Home. MDC A.
The MDC demonstrators are also comprised of two groups: those who are confused and paid by their white handlers. The main sponsor of the MDC and those so called Human Rights groups is a MR J Burke a rich white Rhodesian now settled in the UK and a MR M Fish a farmer settled up in the north in Leeds. The MDC members will converge for the love of money and are prepared to drag the name of Zimbabwe in the mud for few coins. It is a shame that in this meeting you will not see any national of other nations demonstrating against their own country. If this is not betrayal by MDC and its supporters, then we will have no name for it.
The other group is a group of Zimbabweans without status in the UK. Most of them came to the UK for economic reasons but in order to get visas fast they sought to seek asylum in the UK.
An asylum seeker when he or she becomes successful in his claim he will be called a refugee. The definition of a refugee according to the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is: “a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”
In the UK, a person becomes a refugee when government agrees that an individual who has applied for asylum meets the definition in the Refugee Convention; they will ‘recognise’ that person as a refugee and issue them with refugee status documentation. Usually refugees in the UK are given five years’ leave to remain as a refugee. They must then must apply for further leave, although their status as a refugee is not limited to five years. If the asylum is refused one becomes a Refused asylum seeker, a person whose asylum application has been unsuccessful and who has no other claim for protection awaiting a decision.
Some refused asylum seekers voluntarily return home, others are forcibly returned. For some, it is not safe or practical to return until conditions in their country change.
In all types of asylum, immigration or human rights applications, you will need evidence to support your application.
Evidence is information to prove – to the Home Office, or maybe to the courts if you are appealing a refusal – that you are telling the truth. This may be to prove that you need to be in the UK, that you can’t live elsewhere, or just that you meet the criteria (the rules) of the application.
The evidence needed will be specific to your case, to your individual situation. There are, however, some standard rules and principles that need to be met and these will depend on the kind of application you are making.
So in order to get the evidence many Zimbabweans will lie that they are MDC members so that they can present that they are being tortured tormented or they are in fear of death if they are returned to Zimbabwe.
For some applications, such as in asylum applications there may be several points at which you can submit evidence to support your case. In other applications, you may only get one opportunity to submit evidence. The evidence you should submit will depend on the rules you are trying to show you meet and maybe where in the application process you are. For example, if you have had a refusal from the Home Office and you have an opportunity to provide more evidence, your evidence should try to address the reasons the Home Office have given for their refusal. Can you show that you do, in fact, meet the rules or requirements? When possible, you should try and pre-empt (take action to stop it happening) the Home Office refusal and provide evidence for areas they commonly refuse applications on, or areas of your application that appear to be weak or vague.
So many people will then resort to demonstrations at the Zimbabwean High Commission every twice a week. They will take photos dancing to some funny drum beat shouting obscenities to the embassy staff and insulting their own country all for creating evidence that they are in danger should they be returned back to Zimbabwe. Many will post their photos on social media and on internet and argue that their photos at the embassy has been viewed by the CIO and that they are now marked for death should they be returned to Zimbabwe.
Now with the coming of the president those asylum seekers or failed asylum seekers will be stampeding to Scotland only to insult the president so that they can bolster their asylum claim. This second claim is called Fresh application.
For the selfish reasons of wanting a visa these people are prepared to portray Zimbabwe as death trap so that Zimbabwe will be kept on the sanction list. Imagine how many people will be affected and are being affected by the sanctions. For what? For a visa of one pathetic liar who hates his country.
At the early stages of an asylum claim, their evidence may just be their testimony about what has happened to them and/or what they think may happen, and why that means it is not safe to return to your country. So they feel vindicated if they demonstrate against Zimbabwe.
We will see these people in Scotland not because they have a conviction in what they are saying but that they drag Zimbabwe into a dip end just for them to be given asylum.
Documentary evidence is often hard to get because of the circumstances in which you had to leave your country so photos while you are holding placards denouncing your country being cheered by few colonisers presents a good documentary evidence of the idiocy one displays as they destroy their country.
Documentary evidence might include a political party membership card, an arrest warrant, a birth certificate, or newspaper articles about you or about persecution of people like you. This is why these people would want to hog the headline. It is all a show.
Those you will see in Scotland vilifying Zimbabwe are motivated by the basis of a fresh claim which is new evidence about the original reason they claimed asylum; or it might be that their situation has changed since they claimed asylum and had an appeal heard and dismissed; the situation in their country may have changed; or that by insulting the president they have become surplus evidence and they are new targets.
Every day, all over the world, people make one of the most difficult decisions in their lives: to leave their homes in search of a safer, better life. But they do not set to lie about their country and put those left behind in the jaws of sanctions.
Most people in the world have had the experience of leaving the place where they grew up. Maybe they will only move as far as the next village or city. But for some people, they will need to leave their country entirely – sometimes for a short time, but sometimes forever. This is the world we are in today. Some people out there are so proud of their countries. Not these few Zimbabweans in the MDC camps.
There are many reasons why people around the globe seek to rebuild their lives in a different country. Some people leave home to get a job or an education. Others are forced to flee persecution or human rights violations such as torture. Millions flee from armed conflicts or other crises or violence. Some no longer feel safe and might have been targeted just because of who they are or what they do or believe – for example, for their ethnicity, religion, sexuality or political opinions. But Zimbabwe has never seen such triggers yet Zimbabweans are seen at every international gathering insulting their nation and the leaders. Shame on us.
We still have many Zimbabweans talking bad about our health system. It is not a secret that now ED Mnangagwa the president has commissioned a great commission. Which is the renovations of hospitals in Zimbabwe. A state of the art hospital is almost getting finished in Bindura.
Harare Hospital has been refurbished and equipment which costs over half a million has been commissioned. Wilkins hospital was given a face lift and now boasts on of the world class ward wing with a Covid centre near by.
Many districts and provinces are seeing their hospitals renovated. The times for medical tourists is gone.
The new dispensation is pulling through thick and thin but we still have some misfits singing the pride of their countries away in demonstrations out of the country.
Some are demonstrating for a diaspora vote in diaspora. How does the United Nations help you with how votes are taken in Zimbabwe.
Often, the grievance quickly expands to include a repudiation of the government, or its head, or more general denunciations of corruption and economic inequality yet the protestors are not in Zimbabwe. Aerial photos of the anti-government marches routinely show an intimidating sea of people furiously demanding change. And yet, it is surprising how little these crowds achieve. The fervent political energy on the ground is hugely disproportionate to the practical results of these demonstrations.
But most massive rallies fail to create significant changes in politics or public policies. The problem is what happens after the march.
The hodgepodge groups that participated had no formal affiliation with one another, no clear hierarchy, and no obvious leaders. But social networks helped to virally replicate the movement so that the basic patterns of camping, protesting, fundraising, communicating with the media, and interacting with the authorities were similar from place to place.
So besides trying to destroy Zimbabwe the MDC demonstrations abroad will yield nothing. – [email protected]
Tinashe Sambiri|Fearless MDC Alliance vice chairperson Hon Job Sikhala has vowed to confront the Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa over the deepening political crisis in Zimbabwe.
The hard-hitting politician said he would soon lose his temper due rampant abuse of human rights and muzzling of democratic space in Zimbabwe.
“If this situation continues to throttle our democratic space, some of us will lose our temper very soon.
Ndokuvharisirai chinyika chose ichi zvandandakuitirai gore rapera muna July.
Rambai muchiita matoto iwaya.”
Hon Sikhala also described Mnangagwa as the worst dictator on earth.
“Uyu pama evil dictators ose amunoziva put together havasviki kana quarter yake pahutsinye nehumhondi.
He is evil personified. He must fall by any means necessary.”
Tinashe Sambiri|Fearless MDC Alliance vice chairperson Hon Job Sikhala has vowed to confront the Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa over the deepening political crisis in Zimbabwe.
The hard-hitting politician said he would soon lose his temper due rampant abuse of human rights and muzzling of democratic space in Zimbabwe.
“If this situation continues to throttle our democratic space, some of us will lose our temper very soon.
Ndokuvharisirai chinyika chose ichi zvandandakuitirai gore rapera muna July.
Rambai muchiita matoto iwaya.”
Hon Sikhala also described Mnangagwa as the worst dictator on earth.
“Uyu pama evil dictators ose amunoziva put together havasviki kana quarter yake pahutsinye nehumhondi.
He is evil personified. He must fall by any means necessary.”
Tinashe Sambiri|The Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC T president Douglas Togarasei Mwonzora have mooted the formation of a Government of National Unity, it has emerged.
Impeccable source have revealed both men are wary of losing elections to MDC Alliance leader President Nelson Chamisa – hence the gambit is meant to circumvent the coming polls.
Mwonzora’s political party is set to join POLAD regarded as a launchpad for the formation of the anticipated GNU.
MDC T secretary for Information and Publicity, Witness Dube on Tuesday said the party was ready to join POLAD.
“Our MDCT Standing Committee today received Zimbabwe president H.E. @edmnangagwa ‘s response to our dialogue proposals.
This effectively means that dialogue has started. Meanwhile deputy chair @giles_mutsekwa submitted our draft internal dialogue proposals to president @DMwonzora,” Dube posted on Twitter.
Al Ahly have fined Pitso Mosimane and his technical staff following their loss to Tala’ea El Gaish in the 2020/21 Egyptian Super Cup on Tuesday.
The Red Devils lost 3-2 on penalties in an encounter that had ended in a 0-0 draw at Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria.
The defeat saw the side losing their second successive cup final in two months and this forced the club hierarchy to hit the technical team, director of football, and players with 300,000 Egyptian pounds ($19,092) fines.
A statement by the Cairo giants reads: “Mahmoud El Khatib, Al Ahly’s president, decided to impose a 300k fine on Al Ahly players, director of football and the coaching staff after the disappointing performance in the Egyptian Super Cup on Tuesday, despite the great support that the team receives to achieve titles and meet the expectations of the fans.
“Also, the administrative staff and the medical staff will be subjected to a fine that is relative to their salaries.”- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
Tinashe Sambiri| MDC Alliance leader President Nelson Chamisa has thanked the people of Zimbabwe for showing determination to fight for change despite incessant efforts by enablers of the regime to frustrate the people’s struggle.
President Chamisa is satisfied with the overwhelming support from citizens in and out of the country.
Read statement below:
TODAY, I wish to thank all of you who support the struggle for a free Zimbabwe.
The support is from all ages & corners of Zimbabwe including the diaspora.
You guys are awesome! Most of you we’ve never met but you invest and have believed in the promise of a NEW GREAT ZIIMBABWE even at great cost and personal risk.
I will never let you down!Together we Will WIN Zimbabwe for total and real change.
The World Cup qualifier between the Black Stars of Ghana and the Warriors of Zimbabwe will be played in the city of Cape Coast, 150 kilometres from the capital, Accra.
Ghana and Zimbabwe meet in a Group G qualifier looking to bounce back from disappointing results, 0-1 losses to South Africa and Ethiopia respectively.
They meet at the 15 000 seater Cape Coast International Stadium on the 9th of October, before clashing again in Harare at the National Sports Stadium, three days later.
Fans are expected in the stadium, as CAF gave the green light for 2250 fans to watch the last qualifier between Ghana and Ethiopia at the same venue.
Warriors stars abroad are set to fly from their respective bases straight to Ghana.
Freshly-recruited coach Norman Mapeza is expected to announce his provisional squad anytime soon.- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy has shared his side of the story as to what really happened between him and Kaitano Tembo, during the two coaches’ nasty and heated exchange on the touchline last week.
The Usuthu coach was caught on camera calling his SuperSport United counterpart “broke” during the two sides’ goalless draw in the DStv Premiership.
McCarthy said he was provoked by Tembo, that is why he reacted the way he did, to stand up for himself.
“The SuperSport bench was putting a lot of pressure on the referee. When they started doing this, we were told to sit down but it’s okay for the opposition to do it,” he said on Metro FM’s Ultimate Sports Show.
“Then I said to the opposition coach, ‘you can’t tell us to sit down when you guys are doing the same thing and you are pressing the referee for every decision to go your way and it’s okay we must sit back. Now we are also going to press him.’
“Then I was told to shut up you c. For me, that was the ultimate [provocation]. Someone calls me a c which I’m definitely not. If someone calls me that, now it’s not about football, you are attacking the individual.
“Of course I have every single right to stand up for myself and that’s exactly what I did. I am not going to be bullied by a coach or anyone else. People who know me, know that is the mother of all insults. I will never do wrong to anyone if you don’t do me wrong first.”
Continued McCarthy: “I stand up for myself and I am now made to be the villain, I’m the bad guy. And the person who started all this whole saga is the one in good light being called, ‘oh what a fantastic guy, what a marvelous coach, what a good example this and that.’ What example? You are not an example if you call me what you did.
“I don’t care if I lose all the respect from people because I stand up for myself.- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
By A Correspondent- A ZUPCO bus was this morning involved in an accident with another bus.
The development was revealed by Passengers Association of Zimbabwe president Tafadzwa Goliath.
He said:
“Chicken bus yaruza ma brakes ikadzoka Shure ikapinda paInterAfrica yutong today around 10 am meaning the brakes for the chicken bus malfunctioned and it crashed into a Yutong bus which was stationery around 10am today.
Hurumende ngaiwe nehanya nesu povo meaning the government should also care for the masses who travel using public transport.”
Tinashe Sambiri| MDC Alliance leader President Nelson Chamisa has thanked the people of Zimbabwe for showing determination to fight for change despite incessant efforts by enablers of the regime to frustrate the people’s struggle.
President Chamisa is satisfied with the overwhelming support from citizens in and out of the country.
Read statement below:
TODAY, I wish to thank all of you who support the struggle for a free Zimbabwe.
The support is from all ages & corners of Zimbabwe including the diaspora.
You guys are awesome! Most of you we’ve never met but you invest and have believed in the promise of a NEW GREAT ZIIMBABWE even at great cost and personal risk.
I will never let you down!Together we Will WIN Zimbabwe for total and real change.
Tinashe Sambiri|Fearless MDC Alliance vice chairperson Hon Job Sikhala has vowed to confront the Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa over the deepening political crisis in Zimbabwe.
The hard-hitting politician said he would soon lose his temper due rampant abuse of human rights and muzzling of democratic space in Zimbabwe.
“If this situation continues to throttle our democratic space, some of us will lose our temper very soon.
Ndokuvharisirai chinyika chose ichi zvandandakuitirai gore rapera muna July.
Rambai muchiita matoto iwaya.”
Hon Sikhala also described Mnangagwa as the worst dictator on earth.
“Uyu pama evil dictators ose amunoziva put together havasviki kana quarter yake pahutsinye nehumhondi.
He is evil personified. He must fall by any means necessary.”
Tinashe Sambiri|The Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC T president Douglas Togarasei Mwonzora have mooted the formation of a Government of National Unity, it has emerged.
Impeccable source have revealed both men are wary of losing elections to MDC Alliance leader President Nelson Chamisa – hence the gambit is meant to circumvent the coming polls.
Mwonzora’s political party is set to join POLAD regarded as a launchpad for the formation of the anticipated GNU.
MDC T secretary for Information and Publicity, Witness Dube on Tuesday said the party was ready to join POLAD.
“Our MDCT Standing Committee today received Zimbabwe president H.E. @edmnangagwa ‘s response to our dialogue proposals.
This effectively means that dialogue has started. Meanwhile deputy chair @giles_mutsekwa submitted our draft internal dialogue proposals to president @DMwonzora,” Dube posted on Twitter.
Tinashe Sambiri|The Zanu PF regime is planning to eliminate human rights activist and MDC Alliance Youth Assembly secretary for labour and social welfare Makomborero Haruzivishe, ZimEye.com has learnt.
Makomborero Haruzivishe complained of being choked by men pretending to be in a trance at night. The same men also attempted to slit open his throat.
MDC Alliance Youth Assembly secretary general, Gift Ostallos Siziba has accused of the regime of sending its secret agents to torment Makomborero Haruzivishe.
“Mako was attacked last night…the regime is callous.
We call for his immediate release,” said Siziba.
MDC Alliance Youth Assembly spokesperson Stephen Sarkozy Chuma said: “We have received very unfortunate reports that Makomborero Haruzivishe’s life is in danger at Harare Remand Prison.
Mako complains that there are inmates who wanted to slit his throat under the fake impression that they were under some hallucinations or trance.
This is a clear attempt on our comrade’s life by the regime. History has taught us that Harare Remand Prison is a guillotine for activists and opposition members.
In the past we lost Learnmore Jongwe and so many cdes under unclear circumstances.
It is in that perspective that we demand for unconditional release of Mako because the regime has failed in its duty to protect him as a citizen in line with constitutional provisions and rights of prisoners.”
Tinashe Sambiri|The Zanu PF regime is planning to eliminate human rights activist and MDC Alliance Youth Assembly secretary for labour and social welfare Makomborero Haruzivishe, ZimEye.com has learnt.
Makomborero Haruzivishe complained of being choked by men pretending to be in a trance at night. The same men also attempted to slit open his throat.
MDC Alliance Youth Assembly secretary general, Gift Ostallos Siziba has accused of the regime of sending its secret agents to torment Makomborero Haruzivishe.
“Mako was attacked last night…the regime is callous.
We call for his immediate release,” said Siziba.
MDC Alliance Youth Assembly spokesperson Stephen Sarkozy Chuma said: “We have received very unfortunate reports that Makomborero Haruzivishe’s life is in danger at Harare Remand Prison.
Mako complains that there are inmates who wanted to slit his throat under the fake impression that they were under some hallucinations or trance.
This is a clear attempt on our comrade’s life by the regime. History has taught us that Harare Remand Prison is a guillotine for activists and opposition members.
In the past we lost Learnmore Jongwe and so many cdes under unclear circumstances.
It is in that perspective that we demand for unconditional release of Mako because the regime has failed in its duty to protect him as a citizen in line with constitutional provisions and rights of prisoners.”
Tinashe Sambiri|The Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC T president Douglas Togarasei Mwonzora have mooted the formation of a Government of National Unity, it has emerged.
Impeccable source have revealed both men are wary of losing elections to MDC Alliance leader President Nelson Chamisa – hence the gambit is meant to circumvent the coming polls.
Mwonzora’s political party is set to join POLAD regarded as a launchpad for the formation of the anticipated GNU.
MDC T secretary for Information and Publicity, Witness Dube on Tuesday said the party was ready to join POLAD.
“Our MDCT Standing Committee today received Zimbabwe president H.E. @edmnangagwa ‘s response to our dialogue proposals.
This effectively means that dialogue has started. Meanwhile deputy chair @giles_mutsekwa submitted our draft internal dialogue proposals to president @DMwonzora,” Dube posted on Twitter.
A day can hardly pass without a case of armed robbery not in our national or regional newspapers.Zimbabwe was a peaceful.It was taboo on the use of guns in crimes.
Unlike in many SADC countries , Zimbabwe has very few licenced guns in the hands of civilians.The Zimbabwe security forces are those trained and handlers of guns.Few civilians can operate a gun.
Most of the crimes committed involving guns a serving or retired or fired security forces personal is behind or the ringleader.This only shows that gun crimes are mastermind by police officers or soldiers ..retired, fired or serving.
The major push factor for soldiers and police officers into gun crimes is the economic crisis in the country. The government must quickly address the conditions of service of civil servants and uniformed forced before the country is plunged into a failed state like Somalia.
In the 1980s and 1990s Zimbabwe was known to be a firearm crime free nation but the government’s failed economic policies have pushed it into the current state.If ZanuPF continue at the helm with its failed economic policies we are likely to see a sharp increase in gun crimes.To reduce crimes the best and only solution is to vote out this incompetent administration of Mnangagwa.
Civil servants are the most corrupt in Zimbabwe. The cabinet of Mr.Mnangagwa must ask itself how the civil servants come to work for whole month with a salary of Rtgs 25 000 .A government which is happy to see its employees at work but not bothered to think how they survive for whole month on such a slavery salary.
Mr Muthuli Ncube must be taken to task to present a reasonable budget of a civil servant Rtg 25 000.The civil servants are only in office in order to use the office space to transact their personal business.
The members of the uniformed forces with limited opportunities to do business at their workplace due to the nature of command structure in security forces they are forced into hardcore crimes.The security forces officers will be trying to supplement their merger salary.
Our soldiers and police officers are law and order enforcement agents by day but hardcore criminals during the night.Police at roadblock are not shy to openly demand for bribes.The soldiers have no option but to use the gun to supplement their salaries.This a clear sign that ZanuPF has failed the nation and Zimbabweans must respond by registering to vote in millions.In 2023 a huge turnout to vote out ZanuPF must be assured for the future generations to change for the better.
??✋???Patriotic Papa JC speaks when things are not good !!!
By A Correspondent- President Nelson Chamisa has pledged to avail a new great Zimbabwe to citizens who are working hard for a free Zimbabwe.
In a facebook post Wednesday, President Chamisa said:
TODAY, I wish to thank all of you (the majority) who support the struggle for a free Zimbabwe. The support is from all ages & corners of Zimbabwe including the diaspora.You guys are awesome! Most of you we’ve never met but you invest and have believed in the NEW ZIMBABWE promise even at great cost and personal risk. I will never let you down and pledge to pay you back with a NEW GREAT ZIMBABWE. Together we Will WIN Zimbabwe for total and real change. The future is bright and exciting! #Godisinit
By A Correspondent | Anti fraud investigators probing the controversial UK licensed immigration-sponsor and CEO of Lorac, have found the company truly defrauded people, as earlier reported by ZimEye, in a development that has seen the first of refunds being processed.
Evidence of the refund
Lorac is a company that for 4 months has been collecting thousands of dollars from struggling Zimbabwean job seekers promising them work in Britain.
In July, Caroline Nyakudya avoided a media question on the recruitment cap she has on her sponsorship facilitation from the British government.
Two days later, Nyakudya went to the extent of claiming friendship with a journalist while avoiding an interview over the matter. On Saturday, she promised she would answer the question during her Monday webcast.
A few days later, there was a shift when she blatantly refused to answer to any other question other than those she has handpicked. She announced that she is only engaging those who have paid her USD100 fee. it is believed that she has so to date gained tens of thousands of US dollars from desperate job seekers.
She failed to explain discrepancies on company documentation she has been advertising, and also failed to disclose her limitations.
Back then, Nyakudya while on a broadcast, said:
I will pick out some questions shortly…so the rest of the team, if you can look out for any questions that might be there, from candidates, okay, so from existing candidates who are going through the process…those candidates who are going through the process, who have decided Lorac International is the model that they are going with. Those to us are our priority and those to us are the people that we really need to ensure understand the system, and understand how it runs. And understand how to contact and to communicate. So we want to make sure that when you are trying to contact us you are contacting us, A: on the correct numbers…You’re also contacting us, in terms of the correct pathways. So we are not really, we will not be responding to information that is not passed through our correct channels. That is not information that we are paying out any attention to at all; we will be responding to any information that is directed to us with regards to our official channels. And that is where we stand.
Yesterday the first ever customer to obtain a refund following the investigation by this news network came up to narrate her story.
She wrote saying:
Hello Hanzvadzi Just to help someone out there ! I had paid $100 for someone , after having realised that it was money making program ,
“I filed a dispute with PayPal! Lorac health never responded but the PayPal dispute wing took it over !
“I received the refund in full ! See below ! I advise those who went through the same predicament to demand their refund through PayPal! ! ”
We publish below some of the concerns and questions posted by customers on the Lorac International’s facebook page after Carol did a live on July 19 on the International recruitment process.
The concerns and questions have not been addressed to date.
Lucia Madzorers : Thank you Carol patiently waiting for the consultant s response
Bethany GeetsLucia Madzorers if you don’t mind me asking, has a consultant bn already assigned to you?What exactly is happening
Chio Gore · 13:09Hello Carol I am very patient asi iii it’s been a month now I paid you guys with no contact
Sisa TshabalalaDo you realize you have always been repeating the same message over the past 3 videos nhayi CEO?I understand vanhu munemashandiro enyu, but how can everyone be on the same stage yet we applied at different times? Is there one consultant that one has …
Milz Kafamauro · 12:45Maybe Simba was right you apply you are told stories
Sharon Moyo · 22:50What if you have IELTS Academic , do you still need to do General ?
Noma Zulu · 15:20So can pay the application fee and become unsuccessful. Why not go through the screening process and then let the successful candidates pay10
Brian Masube · 1:15I got a Consultant but he hasn’t sent me the secret code
Chio Gore · 14:03All ihave is ww are still going to give u a consultant
Grace Ona · 37:52From your office in harare. They mentioned that the recuitment process is 18months pliz clarify on that what it means. Coz the first group of 10 people are going early august or last july 2021. So does that mean the next group will be taken after 18 months
On its homepage Lorac International claims that the organisation are Leaders in Health & Social Care UK Job Market.
The organisation says they are a Specialist recruitment organisation for UK Home Office approved providers.
“We excel in providing specially trained quality staffing for the UK market. We pride ourselves in being an ethical and equal opportunities employer.”
In the UK, its physical address is 2 Parsons Street, Dudley, England, while in Zimbabwe, it is located at Number 24 Harvey Brown avenue in Milton Park Harare.
Efforts to get a comment from Nyakudya was work in progress by the time of writing.
By A Correspondent- Tonganyika Trust, a local organisation founded by Harare South MP Tongai Mnangagwa (Zanu-PF), yesterday launched an empowerment project in the capital aimed at equipping young women with critical skills for self-sustenance.
The project will also be supported by Women’s and Empowerment banks.
The two banks will provide loans to young women to start their own businesses upon completion of training.
Mnangagwa said through the project, he would open a platform for women to speak freely about the challenges they are encountering.
“The project will open a platform for women to air out their problems to me. Protection is guaranteed,” he said.
“There is also a mentorship programme to groom adolescent women to become leaders and I will personally accord them the opportunity to come to Parliament and witness first-hand how Parliament business is conducted.”
He added that both the handicraft project and the mentorship programme were open to interested teen girls and young women.
Tonganyika Trust will pay all the costs incurred in the project.
By A Correspondent- The Ministry has started the construction of Destiny road to Hob House tarred road.
The construction of Hob House road was initiated by the recalled ward 17 Councillor John Nyamhoka and the late town Clerk Joshua Maligwa had signed for it in 2020.
The road was supposed to be constructed using 2019 budget, unfortunately, ZINARA failed to release funds to Council in time. This led to the construction of Dream House to Hob House tarred road very late.
However, the Ministry of Roads is now fulfilling what was agreed on using money from ZINARA.
Speaking to John Nyamhoka, he said he is happy that what he pushed during his time has been finally fulfilled.
“I am happy because we are going to have a tarred road in Hob House soon. This is what i and other residents of Hob House pushed about three years back. It was my wish to have a better roads in my ward. Most of the buses were avoiding Hob House because of poor roads”, said Nyamhoka.
Meanwhile, Zanu pf is on the ground, trying to take the credit, lying that it is its project.
Speaking to a resident who asked for anonymity said Zanu pf aspiring candidates are trying to lie to us that Zanu pf is constructing the road.
He said, “Zanu pf is now on the ground using this as a campaign tool. All zanu pf aspiring candidates are now seeing on the ground, the likes of Mutengo and Esau Mupfumi.
“They think that we are sleeping and do not know what is taking place. When budgets meeting were done we attended. We all knew that soon or later there is going to be a tarred road from Destiny to Hob House.
“Infact the road was supposed to be from Jeff road to Hobhouse via Dream House.
“So these Zanu pf people think that we are not aware that it is the Ministry of Roads which is constructing roads with the money from ZINARA. The money that was supposed to be given to Mutare City Council so that it would do the same job”, he said.
The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) has overturned a High Court order issued July this year declaring the extension of Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s term of office beyond his retirement age of 70 by President Emmerson Mnangagwa was unconstitutional.
This means Malaba can stay on for the next five years as the country’s topmost judge with his services most likely to come in handy should there be another disputed elections in 2023.
Malaba is viewed as a close ally to Mnangagwa, whose 2018 poll victory was upheld by the judge after being challenged in the ConCourt by arch-rival Nelson Chamisa of MDC Alliance.
By Jane Mlambo| Controversial Norton legislator Temba Mliswa has challenged Zanu PF Mashonaland West Youth Chairperson Vengai Musengi to a boxing match and has offered him 10 beasts should he go beyond 30 seconds in the boxing ring.
Mliswa said proceeds from the bout will go towards supporting party youths in the province impoverished by Musengi’s lack of leadership.
Mliswa claimed that Musengi called and threatened him over an issue he did not disclose.
“I was called by Mash West Youth Chair Vengi Musengi who threatened me. As a young person he seems to have too much erratic energy. Thus I have sought to channel that energy towards a constructive end. I have challenged him to a clean bout in the ring until one of us surrenders,” said Mliswa.
The firebrand former Mash West chairperson said the boxing match should be televised with front row seats going for US$100.
He added that if Musengi lasts more than 30 seconds in the boxing ring, he will get 10 cattle as an incentive.
“No machetes, guns and thuggish acts, just a refereed fight. We sign indemnity forms, he chooses whether we do gloves or bare hands or any martial arts discipline and people pay to watch. Live television& front row seats US$100. We channel the proceeds to charity.
“The money we realize from this will be shared between the youths in Mash West who have suffered his lack of leadership. The other half we give to Norton. As an incentive I have put 10 cattle on the table if he can last beyond 30 seconds,” added Mliswa.
Bulawayo police yesterday disrupted International Peace Day commemorations organised by Ibhetshu LikaZulu, a local civic group seeking restorative justice and redress of the Gukurahundi issue.
Police stormed the meeting in central Bulawayo and briefly detained event organiser Mbuso Fuzwayo for allegedly convening an unsanctioned meeting.
Fuzwayo was released after the intervention of his lawyer Nqobani Sithole.
“As an organisation, we still have a position, and we are not convinced it is the best thing for us, especially when we are talking about the past injustices, to go and ask for permission from the police, CIO and the army; the reason being that they are the main perpetrators,” Fuzwayo told NewsDay.
“We have engaged the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, even when we appeared before the jury where we raised that concern that we are not comfortable to either ask or inform these institutions because of the role they played in the past injustices.
“So our position is that if they want to have someone who they will be asking or informing, they have to create a structure for us to inform them about our activities around Gukurahundi,” Fuzwayo said.
The International Peace Day is a United Nations-sanctioned event commemorated on September 21 every year by observing a 24-hour period of non-violence.
The theme for this year’s commemorations was Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world.
By A Correspondent- Former First Lady Grace Mugabe suffered another blow as a Chinhoyi magistrate threw out her bid for judicial review of Chief Zvimba’s ruling ordering the exhumation of the late former President Robert Mugabe’s remains.
Chief Zvimba in May ordered the exhumation of Mugabe’s remains for reburied at the National Heroes Acre.
Grace, who was in Singapore, gave her daughter Bona, powers of attorney to represent her in the court case to have the chief’s judgment reviewed on technicality.
The former First Lady want-ed Chief Zvimba’s order to be suspended because he served the papers at Mugabe’s Borrowdale mansion instead of his rural Zvimba home. She also wanted the ruling to be suspended on the grounds that the chief ordered her to pay a fine with cattle that are not in his area of jurisdiction. Grace also questioned the chief ‘s jurisdiction over the matter.
But yesterday, Chinhoyi magistrate Ruth Moyo said Bona had no right to apply for judicial review of the ruling that was handed down by Chief Zvimba in the case between Grace and Tinos Manongovere.
This is the second defeat for the Mugabe family.
Early this month, Moyo dismissed an application by Mugabe’s children, Bona, Tinotenda Robert Jnr and Bellarmine to suspend Chief Zvimba’s ruling.
Mugabe’s children have since appealed against Moyo’s ruling.
“An application must be deposed on the basis of the funding affidavit’ in casu, the court has a determination that when Bona Mutsahuni filed the founding affidavit, she had no authority at law to do so,” part of Moyo’s ruling read.
“The special power of attorney was executed on July 27, 20 days after the application was filed and has no retrospective effect. The court will not deal with all other points.”
Grace’s lawyer Fungai Chimwamurombe said they were not happy with the ruling and would appeal.
“Obviously, we are not happy with this ruling as it disregards the power of attorney given to Bona by her mother since she was out of the country,” Chimwamurombe said.
Mugabe died in September 2019 and was buried at his Kutama rural home after the family stood its ground against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government that wanted him to be buried at the national shrine.
Zanu PF has barred unvaccinated members to attend its annual conference scheduled for Bindura next month.
Speaking at the Patty’s Politiburo meeting held in Harare yesterday, chairperson Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri raised the red flag that all unvacinnated delegates would not be allowed in to the meeting.
While Addressing journalist after the party’s Politburo meeting at Jongwe house on Monday.
Zanu PF acting spokesperson Mike Bimha also confirmed the development saying the development was also meant to reduce the number of delegates attending the national conference at all the provincial virtual centres.
“It also endorsed the need to follow the Covid-19 regulations and protocols. This implies that all delegates at each provincial centre must have been vaccinated and tested. They must be able to observe social distancing,” said Bimha.
“The Politburo following deliberations resolved to suspend provincial elections until further notice. This was done to allow party structures to focus on the preparations of the Annual People’s Conference.”
The Politburo also reiterated the position of the party constitution on the youth league which states 35 years as the limit for league membership.
“It was agreed that this provision must be respected unconditionally and that the composition of the youth league at any time must be 35 years and below.
“However, to ensure growth of the national members of the youth league who are now above 35 years, it was resolved that these members will be retrained and redeployed as ex-officio members of the Central Committee.”
Zanu PF is set to hold its annual conference in Bindura with some delegated following the proceedings virtually at Provincial centers.
By A Correspondent| A ruling ZANU PF parliamentary candidates Esau Mupfumi and a Mutengo have been accused of hijacking a Zimbabwe National Road Authority (ZINARA) road project currently under development in Mutare’s Hobhouse.
According to a Mutare source, the two politicians are trying to take the credit, lying that it is their project.
Speaking to a resident who asked for anonymity said Zanu PF aspiring candidates are trying to lie to us that Zanu PF is constructing the road.
He said, “Zanu PF is now on the ground using this as a campaign tool. All Zanu PF aspiring candidates are now seeing on the ground, the likes of Mutengo and Esau Mupfumi.
“They think that we are sleeping and do not know what is taking place. When budgets meeting were done we attended. We all knew that soon or later there is going to be a tarred road from Destiny to Hob House.
“Infact the road was supposed to be from Jeff road to Hobhouse via Dream House.
“So these Zanu PF people think that we are not aware that it is the Ministry of Roads which is constructing roads with the money from ZINARA. The money that was supposed to be given to Mutare City Council so that it would do the same job,” he said.
The Ministry has started the construction of Destiny road to Hob House tarred road.
The construction of Hob House road was initiated by the recalled ward 17 Councillor John Nyamhoka and the late town Clerk Joshua Maligwa had signed for it in 2020.
The road was supposed to be constructed using 2019 budget, unfortunately, ZINARA failed to release funds to Council in time. This led to the construction of Dream House to Hob House tarred road very late.
However, the Ministry of Roads is now fulfilling what was agreed on using money from ZINARA.
By A Correspondent- A Masvingo ‘illegal’ money changer was left ruing his actions to evade law enforcement agents after being hospitalized at Masvingo Provincial Hospital following an alleged attack by a Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officer on Saturday September 11 at Victoria Hotel during a blitz targeting illegal money changers and vendors.
Justice Murambwi (37) of Runyararo West Suburb said he met this fate at the hands of a ‘ruthless’ officer who slid him on the pavement as he tried to negotiate his escape route from their area of operation popularly known as paChicken Inn.
“We were at Victoria Hotel when the police pounced on us. One of the officers tackled me and I fell to the ground leading to severe injuries I sustained on my right leg. X-ray results are showing that the leg sustained two fractures, one on the ankle joint and the other one on the fibula. The doctor said this could cause permanent injury.
“The case was reported at Masvingo Central Police but I am yet to know the name of the officer who injured me though if an identification parade is conducted I would positively identify the guy,” said Murambwi.
When TellZim News crew visited the health institution, a visibly shaken Murambwi expressed agony, anguish and despair as he lied on his hospital bed and said he has no other alternative source of income thereby looking up to fellow workmates to foot the medical bills.
A police report seen by TellZim News dated September 11 2021, showed that the case was reported, stating that Murambwi only fell on the pavement and sustained injuries but it had no CR number.
“The patient fell on the pavement and injured his right ankle,” reads part of the document.
Medical report stamped September 13 2021, stated that the injuries are severe and disability is likely to happen.
“The injuries are likely to have been caused by a blunt object. Serious force could have been used to inflict pain. The injuries are severe and disability is likely to happen,” reads part of the medical report.
Masvingo Provincial Police spokesperson, Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa said the case was reported and investigations are underway.
“The name of the perpetrator is not yet known and we are still investigating the matter”, said Dhewa.
Sources privy to the case said Murambwi was injured by a police officer who was raiding vendors and illegal money changers.
“I was here on Saturday. A police officer tackled Murambwi as he tried to evade arrest and he sustained serious injuries on the leg. It seems the police are trying to conceal the case, when we visited the police station we were taken to different offices but nothing materialised. Most of us here can identify the officer if we see him,” said the source.-TellZim
By A Correspondent- Harare City Council has raised security fears as the fight for control of vending sites in Mbare hots up.
A recent report by council’s small-to-medium enterprises committee revealed that city fathers were reluctant to reopen Mupedzanhamo because of political contestations over the site.
The councillors resolved that acting mayor Stewart Mutizwa should engage the leaders of the warring parties, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa to help end the chaos.
“Arising from the discussion, the committee expressed concern over political involvement at almost all the markets and requested his worship, the acting mayor, acting town clerk and acting chamber secretary to engage the leadership of the relevant political parties in order to find a lasting solution to the problem,” the meeting heard.
The report said in July, there was chaos at Mupedzanhamo, which left two people nursing gunshot wounds.
“The housing and community services department reported that political disturbances had caused the delay to reopen Mupedzanhamo flea market,” the report read in part.
“The presence of the police at the market could not deter the violent youths. However, the police had verbally urged council to temporarily suspend the reopening of the market citing security concerns. The youths from different political persuasions were fighting for the control of the market.”
Other council facilities which have been rendered “uncontrollable” include Glen View complex and Coca-Cola market, among others.
The committee also said unscrupulous individuals were charging unsuspecting traders US$5 per day to operate at Mupedzanhamo and pocketing the money.
“At Dieppe/Seke Roads (Coca-Cola) market site, the management committee was contributing to the delay to reopen the market.
“They have fenced part of the market, preventing council officials from collecting revenue and have been collecting US$10 per day from unsuspecting traders while at Mbare Musika bus terminus, vagrants have taken refuge in the bus terminus, thereby creating unnecessary parking challenges, vandalism, erecting makeshift structures and other social ills.
“Illegal flea market operators have also invaded the bus terminus, creating insecurity to buses parked and health concerns especially the spread of COVID-19 disease.”
By A Correspondent- The African Apostolic church leader, Paul Mwazha had to seek the hand of the High court in a bid to stop war between his sons and holding pilgrimages at church shrines which were scheduled for this week.
Mwazha’s second son and faction leader Alfred Kushamisa has invited members of the church to attend church pilgrimages scheduled to be held this week and next week.
This move violates the High court order which barred both parties from accessing church shrines at Ndarikure Shashe in Midlands and Mapembe in Manicaland, Bulawayo24.com has learnt.
Mwazha wants all gatherings cancelled pending the finalisation of the leadership wrangle to curb possible violent clashes between the sons at the shrines.
Zimbabwe: Dire Lack of Clean Water in Capital Urgently Tackle Years-long Crisis in Harare
(Johannesburg, September 22, 2021) – Residents of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, face a potable water crisis three years after a deadly cholera outbreak, Human Rights Watch said today. Zimbabwe’s central government and the Harare City Council should urgently act to ensure clean water for millions of people affected.
The water situation in Harare is largely the same as in 2008, when Zimbabwe experienced the most devastating cholera outbreak in Africa in 15 years. The outbreak killed 4,200 people and infected at least 100,000. Human Rights Watch found that the city’s perennial water crisis, which is linked to the cholera outbreak, is the result of the city’s obsolete water infrastructure, a ballooning population, severe droughts, and pervasive government corruption and mismanagement. Poor governance and disputes between the central government and the Harare City Council have hindered efforts to address the problems.
“Harare’s long unresolved water crisis is a ticking time bomb of magnified health risks that forces residents to seek alternative, often unsafe water sources,” said Dewa Mavhinga, Southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Zimbabwean authorities at the national and local levels should work together to promptly and permanently end Harare’s dangerous water problems.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 85 people in October 2019 and July and August 2021 water in five densely populated, or high-density, areas (Budiriro, Glenview, Highfields, Mabvuku, and Mbare) who had no access to safe drinking water: in Harare, the peri-urban informal settlement of Epworth near Harare, and the surrounding towns of Chitungwiza, Norton, and Ruwa. Human Rights Watch also interviewed 11 central government and municipal officials, public health experts, legal experts, city council employees, and staff of nongovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies in Zimbabwe. Human Rights Watch also reviewed reports from the government, UN, nongovernmental groups, and the media on water issues in Harare.
The infrastructure for piped water in Harare was developed in the 1950s, before Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, and designed for a population of 300,000 people. Currently, Harare’s greater metropolitan area has about 4.5 million people, more than half of whom have no access to clean water and are at risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
The water crisis in Harare has affected people’s rights to water and sanitation as well as other related rights, including the rights to life, food, and health. “Sometimes we get city council water in the taps,” a woman from the high-density suburb of Mabvuku told Human Rights Watch. “It is not clean. We cannot drink it and, because it smells badly, we cannot use it to cook.”
Common water sources, namely shallow wells, taps, and many boreholes – deep, narrow wells – are often contaminated, Human Rights Watch said. However, despite the known risk of contaminated water, there is no specific official information on which water sources are safe, leaving residents to take their chances.
“The water that comes out from the taps is neither clean nor safe to drink, so we have to depend on borehole water, which we feel is better,” said a 46-year-old woman from Harare’s Glenview suburb. “But we know that even borehole water is not safe for drinking.”
More affluent families in Harare’s low-density suburbs drill safe boreholes and purchase bottled water, options not available to the vast majority of the population. The humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders) in Zimbabwe has developed a method of protecting new boreholes from contamination with sanitary seals, but local governments have not adopted this solution, which costs several thousand US dollars per borehole.
Under section 77 of Zimbabwe’s 2013 constitution, “every person has the right to safe, clean, and potable water.” The government is obligated to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of available resources, to achieve the progressive realization of the right to water. Zimbabwe is also a party to African regional and international human rights treaties that recognize the right to water and sanitation.
The government at the national and local levels should urgently act to ensure alternative sources of safe drinking water, such as safe boreholes and protected wells, for the entire population, Human Rights Watch said.
“Zimbabwean authorities should not wait for the next cholera outbreak to provide access to safe drinking water for everyone,” Mavhinga said. “The government should invest in low-cost water equipment and distribution systems to uphold the right of millions of Zimbabweans to potable water.”
For additional information on the Harare water crisis, witness accounts, legal standards, and recommendations, please see below.
For more information, please contact: In London, Dewa Mavhinga (English, Shona): +1-917-519-0038 (mobile); or [email protected]. Twitter: @dewamavhinga In Abuja, Mausi Segun (English): +234-805-442-5515; or [email protected]. Twitter: @MausiSegun In New York, Babatunde Olugboji (English): +1-646-204-5082; or [email protected]. Twitter: @tolugboji26
Harare’s Water Crisis
The millions of residents of Harare and the surrounding areas have been hard hit by the region’s water crisis. In Mbare, a high-density suburb of Harare which has the country’s biggest and busiest bus terminus and a vegetable market visited by thousands of people daily, water and sanitation facilities are insufficient, residents said.
Blocks of “bachelor flats” in Mbare, built and designed for one-person occupancy during colonial times, now house large families, severely straining the limited water resources. Because of the lack of water, the flush toilets are severely inadequate, unsanitary, and in many cases as a result are nonfunctional. Both Harare and Chitungwiza have numerous open markets in which thousands of people set up stalls to sell meat, vegetables, fruit, and livestock, but the markets lack adequate water and sanitation facilities. For instance, at the Kamunhu Shopping Centre, the Harare City Council established about 2,000 market stalls for traders, but it did not provide running water.
Residents who at times get tap water described the water’s quality as poor. A 53-year-old woman from the Mabvuku high-density suburb said that: “Now we get water in our taps twice a week in the evenings, but we cannot drink that water, we only use it for washing. For drinking and cooking water, we [go to] boreholes where we wait sometimes four hours to get it.”
Those who have no access to tap water rely on boreholes for all their water. A 32-year-old mother of two in the Highfields high-density suburb said that her tap water was shut off after she failed to pay Zim $6,000 (US$70) in water bills over six months. Consequently, she depends on the potentially dangerous water from the borehole. “Many people queue to get water from the borehole, but we do not know if the water is safe to drink,” she said.
The boreholes are also not always reliable or accessible. A 56-year-old mother of three in the Budiriro high-density suburb said:
In 2019, we had a borehole that was working here in Budiriro 5. We would spend over six hours waiting for water, but it was better we had a borehole nearby. The borehole broke down and has not been working for the last five months. We must now walk a long distance to Mufakose, another residency area, sometimes at night, to fetch water from boreholes there.
The Chitungwiza municipality depends on treated water supplied by the Harare City Council. The water supply in Harare directly affects the Chitungwiza municipality, which gets rationed water as a result. Epworth, an informal settlement adjacent to Harare, has no water infrastructure for its 120,000-plus residents. Instead, tens of thousands of Epworth residents have depended on a dam with stagnant, unsafe water for more than three decades, even though the water is unfit for human consumption. A 21-year-old woman who has lived her entire life in Epworth without tap water said:
I know that the dam water is not safe to drink, sometimes we fall sick after drinking the water, but I have no choice. I need the water to survive, and I have nowhere else to get water.
In Harare’s low-density suburbs in the north and east of the city, more affluent families have devised alternatives, including drilling safe boreholes and using bottled water, which costs Zim $86 (US$1) for a one-liter bottle. That is unaffordable for the vast majority of Zimbabweans, many of whom live well under the poverty line.
Médecins Sans Frontières in Zimbabwe, which since 2015 has worked to bring safe, clean water to vulnerable communities, in 2017 introduced new drilling and cementation techniques, placing sanitary seals to protect newly drilled boreholes from contamination. MSF reported that tested water from these boreholes showed “‘zero’ bacteriological and chemical contamination.”
MSF has since advocated drilling these safe boreholes to prevent contamination, including through the dissemination of a toolkit on good practices in water, sanitation, and hygiene that explains how to protect borehole water from contamination. However, the average cost is very high, ranging from US$5,400 to $6,000 per borehole, and Harare and surrounding towns have not adopted the cementation technology.
Water Crisis Causes
Several factors have contributed to Harare’s severe water problems, including economic decay; perennial droughts affecting Lake Chivero, which is dammed to supply Harare with water; the lack of maintenance of the old water infrastructure; the inability to procure the necessary chemicals to treat water sources; political struggles between the central government under the ruling party and the opposition-controlled city council; and corruption.
Economic Decay, Dilapidated Water Infrastructure
Harare’s water supply comes from Lake Chivero dam water, which the city’s mayor, Jacob Mafume, says is so heavily contaminated with raw sewage that it requires many different chemicals to purify. Harare City Council’s water department uses 12 chemicals, including chlorine gas, aluminum sulfate, sulfuric acid, sodium silicate, activated carbon, and hydrated lime, to treat and purify water from the Lake Chivero dam. Most of these chemicals are imported and very expensive, creating a huge challenge for a country facing severe foreign currency shortages.
Ian Makone, a Harare city councilor, blamed leakages in the old, dilapidated, and inadequate water distribution network for the water crisis. “More than 40 percent of pumped treated water is not delivered due to leakages,” Makone said. There are cracks in both the water and sewage pipes because of the city’s failure to replace decades-old pipes several years ago, causing flowing tap water to be mixed with sewage in several places across Harare.
Conflicts Between National and Local Authorities
Zimbabwe’s government has an obligation under international human rights law to ensure that the right to water is met, regardless of whether the policies are carried out by the national government or delegated to local authorities. Political tensions between the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party, which controls the central government, and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDCA), which controls the Harare municipal government, has adversely affected water service delivery in the region.
The central government has not fulfilled constitutional provisions that allow for the devolution of power from the central government to the municipal level. Zimbabwe’s Parliament has not enacted legislation to establish appropriate systems and procedures to facilitate coordination between the central government and local authorities. Thus, while the Harare City Council has the responsibility to supply clean water to residents, the central government, through the Ministry of Local Government, wields the decision-making power. At the same time, the central government is responsible for constructing dams to provide water for cities, but no new dams have been constructed for Harare and Chitungwiza despite the existence of such plans for decades.
Harare’s Mayor Mfume told Human Rights Watch that inadequate laws authorizing the local government to provide water have hampered the city council’s efforts to address the water crisis and improve service delivery for the metropolitan area. “Currently, we are unable to operate effectively because our hands are tied by the Ministry of Local Government and the centralization that inhibits the operations of municipalities,” he said. “The mayors have no real powers.”
The [ZANU-PF controlled] Ministry of Local Government still enjoys superpowers. It appoints all town clerks, CEOs, and other officials. This means they continue to sabotage our efforts for change. The government still approves and limits our budgets. We are not able to determine rates, leaving us unable to make enough money to provide adequate services.
The ZANU-PF party minister for the Harare metropolitan province, Oliver Chidawu, said the central government acknowledged the challenges of decentralization and the water crisis, and is in discussions about long-term plans, including the construction of new dams, but said the major challenge is funding. He said the government needs support from international donors to be able to have a comprehensive response to the water crisis.
Existing legislation makes it complicated and difficult for municipal authorities to address problems like access to clean water, the former mayor of Harare, Herbert Gomba, said. For instance, under the Joint Ventures Act, before the city can engage a private company for services, it must first send a resolution to the national Ministry of Local Government, which must then send a resolution to the Office of the President and Cabinet for approval. The Urban Councils Act prohibits cities from borrowing money or entering into contracts without Ministry of Local Government authorization. In addition, the Procurement Act removed procurement powers from local authorities and put the powers in the Office of the President and Cabinet.
The local and central governments have continued to blame each other without resolving Harare’s water crisis.
Local and National Government Corruption
Public sector corruption and mismanagement at the local and central government levels have exacerbated the government’s neglect of water infrastructure over the last two decades, compromising access to safe, clean water. Transparency International’s 2020 Corruption Perception Index found that corruption is extremely high in Zimbabwe, ranking it 157 out of 179 countries. Corruption is rife in the central government as well as within the Harare City Council and Chitungwiza municipality, negatively affecting service delivery.
In July 2020 the anticorruption unit in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office arrested the then-mayor of Harare, Herbert Gomba, and other top city council officials, on allegations of corruption and abuse of office regarding approval irregularities in the sale of land and alteration of plans. Gomba’s case is still in the courts. Four months later, Mafume, who replaced Gomba as mayor, was also arrested on allegations of corruption, prompting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to assert that the Zimbabwean government was using its law enforcement agents to target council officials from the MDCA. Mafume’s case is also still before the courts.
Domestic and International Legal Standards Guaranteeing the Right to Water
Zimbabwe’s 2013 constitution protects the right to water. Section 77 of the constitution states that every person has the right to “safe, clean, and potable water.” Under the constitution, the state “must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to achieve the progressive realization of this right.”
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which Zimbabwe has ratified, does not expressly include the right to water. However, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has interpreted the right to water as being implied by various rights codified in the African Charter, including the right to “a general satisfactory environment” favorable to peoples’ development, which is unattainable without access to water and sanitation. The African Commission in 2020 published Guidelines on the Right to Water in Africa, which it said was grounded in regional treaties’ protection of economic, social, and cultural development; health; access to natural resources; the environment; and food
In 2010 121 countries, including Zimbabwe, voted in the UN General Assembly to recognize a freestanding right to water. In 2011 the UN Human Rights Council endorsed the right to safe drinking water and to sanitation as basic rights.
The General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2015 that states that the right to water entitles everyone, without discrimination, “to have access to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water for personal and domestic use.”
The UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights has interpreted international law on the right to water, as well as state obligations, in its General Comment No. 15. The state’s minimum core obligations include ensuring people’s access to sufficient, safe water and physical access to water facilities or services that are a reasonable distance away.
Zimbabwe has ratified international human rights treaties that contain – explicitly or implicitly – provisions on the right to water, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Recommendations to the Zimbabwe Central Government
Implement legal and other reforms to ensure the full promotion, protection, and enjoyment of the right to water enshrined in section 77 of Zimbabwe’s 2013 constitution and African regional and international human rights law.
Ensure residents’ access to potable water either directly through central government authority or by adequately empowering local governments.
Work with city councils to develop and implement a system, such as sliding scale fees, to ensure the delivery of affordable and safe piped water to low-income families.
Work with local authorities to ensure that all public boreholes are regularly tested for water quality and that these results are disseminated to residents.
Provide regular, up-to-date information to residents on the water quality of both taps and boreholes in their areas so they understand the health risks and benefits of available water sources.
Upgrade the water infrastructure in Harare and surrounding areas.
Take steps to reduce corruption, including by developing and enforcing transparency and accountability measures regarding the allocation of finances and expenditures.
Recommendations to the Harare City Council
Ensure residents’ access to potable water either directly through central government authority or by adequately empowering local governments.
Develop and implement a system, such as sliding scale fees, to ensure the delivery of affordable and safe piped water to low-income families.
Upgrade the water infrastructure in Harare.
Provide regular, up-to-date information to residents on the water quality of both taps and boreholes in their areas so they understand the health risks and benefits of available water sources.
Ensure that all public boreholes are regularly tested for water quality and that these results are disseminated to residents.
Take steps to reduce corruption, including by developing and enforcing transparency and accountability measures regarding the allocation of finances and expenditures.
By A Correspondent | Anti fraud investigators probing the controversial UK licensed immigration-sponsor and CEO of Lorac, have found the company truly defrauded people, as earlier reported by ZimEye, in a development that has seen the first of refunds being processed.
Evidence of the refund
Lorac is a company that for 4 months has been collecting thousands of dollars from struggling Zimbabwean job seekers promising them work in Britain.
In July, Caroline Nyakudya avoided a media question on the recruitment cap she has on her sponsorship facilitation from the British government.
Two days later, Nyakudya went to the extent of claiming friendship with a journalist while avoiding an interview over the matter. On Saturday, she promised she would answer the question during her Monday webcast.
A few days later, there was a shift when she blatantly refused to answer to any other question other than those she has handpicked. She announced that she is only engaging those who have paid her USD100 fee. it is believed that she has so to date gained tens of thousands of US dollars from desperate job seekers.
She failed to explain discrepancies on company documentation she has been advertising, and also failed to disclose her limitations.
Back then, Nyakudya while on a broadcast, said:
I will pick out some questions shortly…so the rest of the team, if you can look out for any questions that might be there, from candidates, okay, so from existing candidates who are going through the process…those candidates who are going through the process, who have decided Lorac International is the model that they are going with. Those to us are our priority and those to us are the people that we really need to ensure understand the system, and understand how it runs. And understand how to contact and to communicate. So we want to make sure that when you are trying to contact us you are contacting us, A: on the correct numbers…You’re also contacting us, in terms of the correct pathways. So we are not really, we will not be responding to information that is not passed through our correct channels. That is not information that we are paying out any attention to at all; we will be responding to any information that is directed to us with regards to our official channels. And that is where we stand.
Yesterday the first ever customer to obtain a refund following the investigation by this news network came up to narrate her story.
She wrote saying:
Hello Hanzvadzi Just to help someone out there ! I had paid $100 for someone , after having realised that it was money making program ,
“I filed a dispute with PayPal! Lorac health never responded but the PayPal dispute wing took it over !
“I received the refund in full ! See below ! I advise those who went through the same predicament to demand their refund through PayPal! ! ”
(How many more years must we have waited for what you promised?
You said you are master farmers.
You said you had the cattle.
And you said you had the plough.
Are your promises just day-dreaming?)
Thomas “Mukanya” Mapfumo in his song Maiti kurima hamubvire
Zimbabwe’s music maestro, Thomas “Mukanya” Mapfumo asked these pertinent question decades after Zimbabwe’s independent. After decades of Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies kept promising the nation mass prosperity, “Gutsa ruzhinj!” as the called it in Shona; and yet the reality on the ground was mass poverty.
It is now 41 years of Zanu PF empty promises and the economic situation is even worse; Basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed and 49% of our people now live in abject poverty. Mukanya’s pertinent questions are more relevant and urgent now than ever!
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic ruin and political paralysis (the country has clearly failed to produce political leaders, either from the ruling party or the opposition, with the competence and vision to get the nation out of the man-made hell-hole the nation is stuck in) is the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The nation has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for four decades and counting and it shows.
Instead of these Zanu PF thugs acknowledging they have failed to deliver the promised mass prosperity and therefore must now allow the nation to move on, to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. The regime is digging in and is even more determined to hang on to power than ever before.
Zanu PF is holding its district and then provincial elections in preparation for the national elections next year. It is a dog-eat-dog for position at the top table especially now when those who get a seat feast whilst those who fail to get one starve. Of course, it is all about getting into power to feather one’s nest!
“You should not be elected to get riches, you should be elected to serve the people, and you must seek office to produce results for the best of the land, Our President Emmerson Mnangagwa has always been saying that we should work for our nation,” noted Zanu-PF secretary for external relations and former Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, commenting on fight for position in Manicaland Province.
“Yes, we liberated our country in 1980, but the war is still on as we also need to liberate our economy.”
Zanu PF has become a party of corrupt, incompetent vote rigging and murderous hypocrites who speak with a forked tongue, saying one thing but meaning the exact opposite.
“You should not be elected to get riches but to serve the people!” he said. Corruption is rampant in Zimbabwe and presiding over it are the Zanu PF leaders; each is lord and master of his or her own patch but always on the lookout to extent their influence and power by taking over someone else’s patch by hook or by crook whilst being fearful not to be swallowed up in turn.
Even Robert Mugabe, the party’s top dog for 37 years was not safe as the November 2017 military coup showed.
Zanu PF ended white colonial oppression but only to impose themselves as the nation’s new oppressors.
As for the economy, four decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left the nation’s once upon a time robust and booming economy in ruins!
Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt, incompetent, murderous and vote rigging thugs. And as long as the nation remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery.
Zimbabwe used to grow enough food to feed her own people with plenty left over to be the breadbasket of the region. The country is blessed with fertile land and excellent weather; and, for all intents and purposes, it is the Biblical Garden of Eden.
Yet 20 years after independence, Zanu PF seized the farms and gave them to party loyalists mostly. Zimbabwe lost its cherished breadbasket of the region laurels and today the nation is starving – a damning testimonial to Zanu PF leaders’s corruption and breathtaking incompetence.
“We have noted with concern that we have party members when it comes to (party) elections,” continued former Minister Mumbengegwi, turning to the up coming 2023 national elections.
“So far we have 3,6 million registered voters, we are targeting five million votes, so we are urging party leaders to go out there and mop up for more people to join our party. But I am very sure we are going to win the elections resoundingly, come 2023.”
There are reports of Zanu PF members buying votes or using some such vote rigging dirty tricks to win the party elections. These are nothing compared to the blatant cheating and, if need be, wanton violence the party will resort to secure election victory.
The nation had the golden opportunity during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the democratic reforms designed to take away Zanu PF’s carte blanche powers to rig elections. The important task of implementing the reforms was entrusted to Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years.
Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and the rest is history, as one would say.
With not even one token reform implemented Zanu PF will rig the 2023 elections just as readily as the party has rigged all the other elections in the past. And by participating in these flawed and illegal elections the opposition are giving credibility to the flawed process and, by extension, giving the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy.
After 41 years and counting of rigged elections it is high time the nation demanded the implementation of the reforms before the elections. It is insane to allow this madness of participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy continue.
It is too late to stop the 2023 elections going ahead, both Zanu PF and MDC are determined to participate in the flawed elections. What we can do is make sure the election process is seen for what it is – a farce – and condemned. Zanu PF must not get legitimacy from holding another flawed and illegal election process.
“We liberated our country and now need to liberate our economy!” How ironic, since it is both the nation and the economy that need liberating from the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF rule.
“Mharidzo yeZanu PF yerushungunuko zviroto!” Zanu PF’s promises of liberation and liberty are day-dreams!)
By A Correspondent- Government has resolved to keep schools open despite a surge in COVID-19 cases in schools since early this month.
In a post-Cabinet Press briefing yesterday, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said although infections had increased, the government felt they were insignificant to warrant schools closure.
“The meeting, however, noted that out of a total school enrolment of 4,6 million, the number of COVID-19 positive cases detected is insignificant. All cases are being well-managed in line with the standard guidelines for the co-ordinated prevention and management of COVID-19 at all learning institutions in Zimbabwe,” she said.
A number of schools have been hit by COVID-19 infections, with teachers claiming the government prematurely reopened schools before creating a conducive environment in learning institutions. However, Mutsvangwa said although they had been an increase in cases, there was no hospitalisation.
“Furthermore, most cases among learners are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms. Accordingly, Cabinet resolved that schools will remain open. Learners, who are isolated, will be provided with alternative learning platforms,” she said.
In keeping the schools open, government said it would push to have pupils aged 14 and above vaccinated.
“Government has, therefore, instituted the following measures to contain the COVID-19 surge in schools … enhancement of surveillance and contact-tracing at schools and the surrounding communities, … increasing on-site COVID-19 testing of all suspected cases.
“Restriction of movement into and out of the schools affected until the outbreaks have been controlled. There will be vaccination of all eligible populations in schools and also in the surroundings.”
The new cases as of last week stood at 1 669 while the total active cases of COVID-19 stood at 2 425 as the third wave of COVID-19 recedes.
“As we stand, active cases in the country stand at 2 425, this week the number of cases reported went up to 1 669, the education sector contributed significantly to this increase,” Mutsvangwa said.
Meanwhile, the government has lined up anti-sanctions webinars and interviews to mark the anti-sanctions solidarity day previously characterised by street marches and feasting.
“The activities will also include engagements of the diaspora, diplomatic corps and Sadc missions. Media briefings, interviews and webinars by Zimbabwean ambassadors in their areas of accreditation will be conducted, while statements on the sanctions situation will be delivered during bilateral and multilateral meetings,” Mutsvangwa said.
By Patrick Guramatunhu- The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party would implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of Zanu PF rigged elections and bad governance.
After 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, on the political centre stage MDC have failed to implement even one token democratic reform.
To add insult to injury, it is none other than MDC leaders who are undermining the demand for reforms by participating in flawed elections giving the process some modicum of credibility and, by extension, giving the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. There is no limit to MDC betrayal and buffoonery!
“Your Excellency, at the start of this year, the people’s president, Nelson Chamisa presented our Zimbabwe Agenda 2021 address in which he announced our big idea for 2021 — namely that we would create a platform around which citizens all over Zimbabwe would converge for change,” wrote Advocate Fadzayi Mahere, MDC A spokesperson in an open letter addressed to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“The inspiration behind our convergence model is the fact that Zimbabweans are facing worsening poverty, chronic unemployment, an acute public transport disaster, eroded wages, skyrocketing prices, poor public health delivery, an education crisis and a complete breakdown of the social contract,” she explained.
So Nelson Chamisa’s “big idea for 2021” that will propel MDC A to electoral victory was creating “a platform around which citizens all over Zimbabwe would converge for change.” And Mahere tells us the big idea is working and the “inspiration behind the convergence” is “worsening poverty, chronic unemployment, etc., etc.”
This is just nonsense, of course!
The worsening economic situation is all due to Mnangagwa’s failure to revive the economy, stamp out the rampant corruptions, etc. Mnangagwa’s flag ship mantra of “Zimbabwe is open for business!” was a lead balloon that never took-off because the post November Zimbabwe was still a Banana Republic, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt and murderous thugs, same as Mugabe days.
Yes the worsening economic situation has made people desperate for change but only someone who is desperate for political relevance who claim credit for the worsening economic situation when they clearly had no power to change anything one way or the other.
Worse still, MDC A is once again banking on the people’s suffering and desperation to deliver electoral victory regardless of the country’s political reality of rigged elections.
Zimbabwe’s 2008 elections were held at a time when the country’s economy was in deep, deep trouble; much worse than we see today. The people were desperate for change then, so desperate it was common to characterise it as “If the choice on the ballot is between Mugabe and the donkey; the donkey will win!”
Morgan Tsvangirai garnered 73% of the votes, according to Mugabe’s Freudian slip. It was none other than Mnangagwa who stopped ZEC announcing the result. After six weeks of cooking up the figure Tsvangirai’s votes were whittled down to 47%, just enough to force a run-off.
The run-off was all about Zanu PF operatives assisted by the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services staff punishing the masses for having rejected Zanu PF and Mugabe in the March 2008 vote. “What was accomplished by the bullet, cannot be undone by the ballot!” thundered Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe “won” the run-off with 84% of the vote but no one, not even the SADC and AU leaders who had turned a blind eye to Zanu PF rigged elections in the past, recognised him as the legitimate winner given the blatant cheating and wanton violence.
SADC leaders forced Robert Mugabe to agree to the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms to ensure the blatant cheating and wanton violence that had marred the 2008 elections would not be repeated. A GNU was formed comprising of Zanu PF leaders and the two MDC factions and the last two were expected to implement the reforms.
It is really frustrating that Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends failed to implement even one token reform in the five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. SADC leaders reminded Tsvangirai and company to implement the reforms but were ignored.
Mugabe bribed Tsvangirai and company with the trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, they forgot about the reforms and were deaf to the SADC leaders’ nagging on the matter.
Even if the economic meltdown was to reach the same nauseating depths of the 2008 driving the nation to once again risk the punishment they received from Zanu PF for rejecting the party and vote for the opposition; there is no guarantee this regime will not rig the vote again.
Indeed, there is a volume of evidence that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 election already. Zanu PF has already said 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora will be denied the vote, for example. It is no secret that most people in the diaspora blame Zanu PF for the economic mess that has forced them to leave the country; they would not be voting for the party. And Zanu PF is cherry picking who can and cannot vote!
“Young people are registering to vote en masse to take us to our six million voter target,” claimed Advocate Mahere.
In the 2018 elections, Nelson Chamisa claimed that he had won the presidency with 2.6 million vote to Mnangagwa’s 2.4 million although Chamisa failed to produce the V11 forms, the summary on the vote count from each Polling Station. To be fair, even ZEC failed to produce all the V11 forms to back Mnangagwa’s 2.4 million votes.
“The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission (ZEC) contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Election Observer Mission Final Report. “As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
The EU Election Observer Mission Final Report recommended a number of reforms to be implemented. Zanu PF has not implemented even one meaningful reforms mainly because the party knew that MDC A and the rest of Zimbabwe’s opportunistic opposition camp will participate in the 2023 elections even if Zanu PF does not implement even one reform.
MDC A and the rest of the opposition opportunist participated in the 2018 elections knowing fully well the process was flawed and illegal. They knew that ZEC had failed to produced something as basic as a verified voters’ role, for Pete’s sake. Still, they participated out of greed. They knew Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition and these they found irresistible!
Implementing the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections is the key for democratic change and economic recovery, nothing of any substance can ever be accomplished until we cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. Nothing!
After 41 years of rigged elections; the challenge is for the ordinary Zimbabweans to finally wake-up to the political reality that MDC leaders are no longer pursuing the common cause of implementing the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. It is for the ordinary people to put their foot down and demand the implementation of the reforms to guarantee elections meet international standard.
By A Correspondent- The MDC T led by Douglas Mwonzora has commenced the dialogue process with President Emmerson Mnangagwa, MDC-T Secretary for Information and Publicity Witness Dube has revealed.
Dube said his party’s Standing Committee on Tuesday received Mnangagwa’s responses to the party’s dialogue proposals.
He said:
@OurMDCT Standing Committee today received Zimbabwe president H.E. @edmnangagwa‘s response to our dialogue proposals. This effectively means that dialogue has started. Meanwhile deputy chair @giles_mutsekwa submitted our draft internal dialogue proposals to president @DMwonzora
@OurMDCT Standing Committee today received Zimbabwe president H.E. @edmnangagwa's response to our dialogue proposals. This effectively means that dialogue has started. Meanwhile deputy chair @giles_mutsekwa submitted our draft internal dialogue proposals to president @DMwonzorapic.twitter.com/KmAoEwbElE
By A Correspondent- A Bulawayo man has lost R181 500, US$5 000, and $4 700 to thieves.
State media report that the thieves snatched a bag containing the money from the man’s vehicle, which he had left parked in Bulawayo’s city centre while buying food.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident.
Insp Ncube said the complainant left his car parked at the corner of Jason Moyo and 11th Avenue on Thursday last week at around 10AM while buying food and leaving his two workers behind.
He said the two workers later disembarked from the vehicle. “I can confirm that we recorded a case of theft from a motor vehicle which occurred in the CBD at corner Jason Moyo and 11th Avenue. The complainant parked his car and went to buy some food leaving behind his two workers. The workers also disembarked from the vehicle and went out to get some fresh air. When he returned, a bag containing his cash and work suit was missing,” he said.
“A witness who was close by claimed to have seen a suspect who was carrying a bag jump into a Nissan truck which drove away. The complainant lost R181 500, US$5 000 and $4 700.” Insp Ncube said investigations were underway and appealed to members of the public with information that could lead to the arrest of the suspects to contact the police.
He urged members of the public to take extra care of their valuables. He said whenever people leave their valuables under the care of other people, they have to be specific about the valuables they have.
Insp Ncube also urged members of the public to desist from keeping large sums of money in their vehicles or homes as they were endangering their lives.
By A Correspondent- POlice in Bulawayo have reportedly arrested anti-Gukurahundi campaigner and Ibhetshu LikaZulu Secretary-General Mbuso Fuzwayo.
Reports say Fuzwayo was arrested and detained by police in Bulawayo for holding the International Day of Peace commemorations yesterday.
Fuzwayo and his pressure group have often clashed with authorities for holding commemorations of the massacre of 20 000 civilians by the military in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces back in the early 1980s.
The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly.
By A Correspondent | Anti fraud investigators probing the controversial UK licensed immigration-sponsor and CEO of Lorac, have found the company truly defrauded people, as earlier reported by ZimEye, in a development that has seen the first of refunds being processed.
Evidence of the refund
Lorac is a company that for 4 months has been collecting thousands of dollars from struggling Zimbabwean job seekers promising them work in Britain.
In July, Caroline Nyakudya avoided a media question on the recruitment cap she has on her sponsorship facilitation from the British government.
Two days later, Nyakudya went to the extent of claiming friendship with a journalist while avoiding an interview over the matter. On the Saturday, she promised she would answer the question during her Monday webcast.
A few days later, there was a shift when she blatantly refused to answer to any other question other than those she has handpicked. She announced that she is only engaging those who have paid her USD100 fee.
It is believed that she has so to date gained tens of thousands of US dollars from desperate job seekers.
She failed to explain discrepancies on company documentation she has been advertising, and also failed to disclose her limitations.
Back then, Nyakudya while on a broadcast, also said she would respond to people who inquire from her through “our official channels.”
Her response on live camera was:
I will pick out some questions shortly…so the rest of the team, if you can look out for any questions that might be there, from candidates, okay, so from existing candidates who are going through the process…those candidates who are going through the process, who have decided Lorac International is the model that they are going with. Those to us are our priority and those to us are the people that we really need to ensure understand the system, and understand how it runs. And understand how to contact and to communicate. So we want to make sure that when you are trying to contact us you are contacting us, A: on the correct numbers…You’re also contacting us, in terms of the correct pathways. So we are not really, we will not be responding to information that is not passed through our correct channels. That is not information that we are paying out any attention to at all; we will be responding to any information that is directed to us with regards to our official channels. And that is where we stand.
Yesterday the first ever customer to obtain a refund following the investigation by this news network came up to narrate her story.
She wrote saying:
Hello Hanzvadzi Just to help someone out there ! I had paid $100 for someone , after having realised that it was money making program ,
“I filed a dispute with PayPal! Lorac health never responded but the PayPal dispute wing took it over !
“I received the refund in full ! See below ! I advise those who went through the same predicament to demand their refund through PayPal! ! ”
By A Correspondent- Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira, who was arrested for corruption, has appeared in public.
Chadzamira made a public appearance yesterday in Masvingo when he commissioned the two tractors acquired under the Belarus agricultural mechanisation programme.
Since his arrest two weeks ago, Chamira had been lying low.
HARARE, 21st SEPTEMBER, 2021 In the last two weeks under Level 2 Covid-19 Lockdown, we have continued to see a steady fall in the number of new Covid-19 cases in our country.
We have been averaging Two Hundred and Thirty-Eight (238) new cases per day and a dramatic fall in deaths averaging Four (4) per day respectively. This is an encouraging sign that the preventive measures that have been put in place by Government to try and curb the spread of the deadly virus, when followed through to the letter by all Zimbabweans, have been very effective. However, during the same period, our country nevertheless, experienced some outbreaks throughout the country, most notably in schools which reopened recently. Through concerted and efforts by both Government and other players in the health sector, we were able to contain these outbreaks in schools before they spilled into communities.
In order to ensure that we continue along the path towards total containment of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have decided it prudent to extend the Level 2 Covid-19 National Lockdown measures announced a fortnight ago by a further two weeks.
The situation will be reviewed thereafter to assess the progress we shall have made in order to move to a more relaxed level.
By A Correspondent-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has sent condolence message to the family of the country’s longest-serving civil servant Mariyawanda Nzuwah.
Dzuwa died in Harare yesterday.
He was the former Chairman of the Public Service Commission and served in government for more than 35 years.
In his condolence message, Mnangagwa said Nzuwah’s death was a blow to the Nation.
As a committed cadre, he placed his professional skills and career at the disposal of the struggle and his country soon after the attainment of our Independence. Hence, together with the likes of fellow academic contemporaries in the mould of the late national heroes Dr Tichaona Jokonya, Dr Charles Utete, the current Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda, and many others, were reassigned from the University of Zimbabwe to throw their weight behind public service. That made them a rare crop of leaders in the civil service. The late Dr Nzuwah will be remembered in the annuls of our Bureaucracy as the first indigenous person to Chair the Public Service Commission making him a longest-serving member or the Commission to date. He distinguished himself by ably superintending over the transformation of our Civil Service from a colonial bureaucracy serving minority interests to placing it at the service of the majority of our people in a post-Independent Zimbabwe.
On behalf of the eating Party, ZANU-PF, Government, my family, and on my own behalf, I express deep sorrow and grief to the Nzuwah family, especially to Mrs Nzuwah and the children who have lost a devoted husband, loving father and guardian. May they take comfort from the knowledge that the Nation joins them in mourning his loss.
HARARE, 21st SEPTEMBER, 2021 In the last two weeks under Level 2 Covid-19 Lockdown, we have continued to see a steady fall in the number of new Covid-19 cases in our country. We have been averaging Two Hundred and Thirty-Eight (238) new cases per day and a dramatic fall in deaths averaging Four (4) per day respectively. This is an encouraging sign that the preventive measures that have been put in place by Government to try and curb the spread of the deadly virus, when followed through to the letter by all Zimbabweans, have been very effective. However, during the same period, our country nevertheless, experienced some outbreaks throughout the country, most notably in schools which reopened recently. Through concerted and efforts by both Government and other players in the health sector, we were able to contain these outbreaks in schools before they spilled into communities.
In order to ensure that we continue along the path towards total containment of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have decided it prudent to extend the Level 2 Covid-19 National Lockdown measures announced a fortnight ago by a further two weeks. The situation will be reviewed thereafter to assess the progress we shall have made in order to move to a more relaxed level.
Ngezi Platinum Stars have signed Ghanaian midfielder Derrick Bonnah as the replacement of Gerald Takwara.
Bonnah, 24, signed a two-year contract with the ZPSL side. He will join the rest of the team once his work permit is out.
Club secretary-general, Cloete Munjoma, confirmed the deal to the Herald, saying: “We have signed the Ghanaian, we are only waiting for his work permit so that he flies in and join the team at training.
“He comes in as a replacement for Takwara who left some two months ago. Takwara was a key figure in our team and we believe Bonnah will be an able replacement.
“Bonnah is a very good player and we hope that he will add depth and options, for the technical team.”
Munjoma also revealed that they are closing down on signing Last Jesi who is a free agent following his release at Al Hilal of Sudan.
The secretary-general added: “Last Jesi, we are at an advanced stage to secure him. We have done most of the work and we are only tying up the loose ends, to complete the process.”- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
By A Correspondent| Zimbabwe police on Monday 20 September 2021 detained 10 student teachers after arresting them for allegedly staging protests in the capital city against a steep hike in tuition fees.
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers swooped on some students as they were gathered at Belvedere Technical Teachers College in Harare and allegedly protesting against the decision by college authorities to hike tuition fees and for not being allowed access to campus for those with outstanding payments. The students are due to write examinations in October.
The 10 students namely Lavender Makoni, Stephen Mariwo, Julia Munyanyi, Tariro Chineganda, Talent Madzivanyika, Nqobizitha Masuku, Blessing Nyamarowa, Nokhuthula Zengeni, Walter Muzami and Tracy Ngomambi were first detained at Milton Park Police Station and were later transferred to Harare Central Police Station, where they were charged with disorderly conduct in a public place as defined in section 41 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
The 10 student teachers, who are represented by Tinashe Chinopfukutwa and Paidamoyo Saurombe of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and are detained at Harare Central Police Station are expected to appear at Harare Magistrates Court on Tuesday 21 September 2021.
Chinopfukutwa and Saurombe were on Monday evening making frantic efforts to get Makoni admitted in hospital after she sustained some injuries from assault by police officers who arrested him.
Zanu PF has barred unvaccinated members to attend its annual conference scheduled for Bindura next month.
Speaking at the Patty’s Politiburo meeting held in Harare yesterday, chairperson Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri raised the red flag that all unvacinnated delegates would not be allowed in to the meeting.
While Addressing journalist after the party’s Politburo meeting at Jongwe house on Monday.
Zanu PF acting spokesperson Mike Bimha also confirmed the development saying the development was also meant to reduce the number of delegates attending the national conference at all the provincial virtual centres.
“It also endorsed the need to follow the Covid-19 regulations and protocols. This implies that all delegates at each provincial centre must have been vaccinated and tested. They must be able to observe social distancing,” said Bimha.
“The Politburo following deliberations resolved to suspend provincial elections until further notice. This was done to allow party structures to focus on the preparations of the Annual People’s Conference.”
The Politburo also reiterated the position of the party constitution on the youth league which states 35 years as the limit for league membership.
“It was agreed that this provision must be respected unconditionally and that the composition of the youth league at any time must be 35 years and below.
“However, to ensure growth of the national members of the youth league who are now above 35 years, it was resolved that these members will be retrained and redeployed as ex-officio members of the Central Committee.”
Zanu PF is set to hold its annual conference in Bindura with some delegated following the proceedings virtually at Provincial centers.- Bulawayo 24
By Simba Chikanza | PART 2 | In August I warned that Nelson Chamisa will have moved into danger zone if he changes his party name. He’s in enough danger, already, I highlighted. Back then, I also blew the sirene saying any change of name, is a metre closer to both endorsing and assuming military level crimes committed from 1 Aug 2018 and afterwards.
Barely a month later my prediction is proved, as a name proposed by Prof Jonathan Moyo is registered at the electoral commission. Even suggestions by Pro Moyo that the ‘brandname’ would have been saved if it had been registered on the 1st of September, will not stop ZEC from double registering like they did in 2017 when former Vice President Joice Mujuru was elbowed out by a shadowy (ZANU PF manifest) British nurse, Barbara Nyagomo’s little blue party, People First.
In this updated session, I speak on what I term: Sikhalarising the struggle for democracy. I touch on two individuals, Job Sikhala and Makomborero Haruzivishe, who among many others, the civic society needs to pay attention to.
Emmerson Mnangagwa-and- Luke Malaba-
Those advising the people’s president are misleading him as they make him underestimate the notoriety of the ED-Mwonzora coalition because Chamisa’s chances of ever running Zimbabwe will dwindle under a new name. Already Mnangagwa is preparing to amend the constitution so that only parties with 5 years of existence will be allowed to contest, so Chamisa will have to wait for 5 years to contest after changing his party name (effectively launched a new entity). He will spend the next 2 years campaigning, and come July 2023, will arrive at the polling station to be told he does not qualify.
So, while the temptation is there, the best method is the middle of the road approach: confront. I have a lot to say here, but much which I have already demonstrated myself.
Mnangagwa’s life outside the borders can be put out easily and swiftly, and before it changes name, the MDC A needs to spend the next month using its last remaining powers to put out the criminals’ life outside the borders. This is how the criminal Ian Smith regime was put to an end, not by any bullet, bayonette or bomb, but using live legal ammunition. The MDC Alliance does have this strength, and I have proved it that this great party is simply too lazy, ignorant, or both, of the powers it has. On several occasions I have deployed some of these powers which are largely based on the 2018 election victory.
I am glad that I recently deployed some of these tools to help the Zambian people on 13 Aug. I am ready for question and answers but for now to say, please stop pushing President Chamisa to betray the blood of the innocent 2018 victims.
You change the party name, then what, you think you’ll penetrate ZEC, and outwit the Chinese model terror machinery because you’re popular? Even if Chamisa wins with 99% of the vote, Mnangagwa will still do the counting, and Mnangagwa retains the power to announce the results after which there is no viable recourse of appeal because the judiciary is Mnangagwa himself. New methods are needed to deal with criminality and the type that’s in Zimbabwe cannot be cured by base ballotry. Having traveled in many countries and consulted some of the best legal brains around the world, I am ready to help this great party deal with this criminality.
Sikhalarising the struggle.
If this situation continues to throttle our democratic space, some of us will lose our temper very soon.
Ndokuvharisirai chinyika chose ichi zvandandakuitirai gore rapera muna July.
“If this situation continues to throttle our democratic space, some of us will lose our temper very soon,” said Sikhala on Monday.
He continued saying:
“Ndokuvharisirai chinyika chose ichi zvandandakuitirai gore rapera muna July. Rambai muchiita matoto iwaya,” he concluded.
There is one man who has been misunderstood in the movement for democratic change party since 1999, Job Sikhala who’s passion is manifest since his childhood days. He’s crazy, he’s different, but his wild ideas are perhaps the outcry of every Zimbabwean today. What makes him unique is that he seems to care less about human approval, and he has shown he is ready to go to prison for his passion. At a time when everyone is saying we’ll remove Mnangagwa in 2023, he is saying it’s happening this year. He won’t wait for ZEC approval. His younger version, Mako Haruzivishe is same, and the lad became the only one to challenge the powers that be during the Motlanthe Commission, declaring legal purities not known since independence 1980.
These two who demonstrate that freedom is not asked, it is taken, are like a few others, who don’t wait for Chamisa’s approval to help push the cause. Their kind is the type of riotous free spirit needed to deal with the current criminality. Don’t wait for approval. March to State House and take it, and there are so many of ways of doing that. (In the 3rd session I speak on what else to do.
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance vice president Hon Tendai Biti has scoffed at the Zanu PF regime’s manoeuvres to nail him.
The regime accuses Hon Biti of insulting Russian investor Tatiana Aleshina.
Magistrate Stanford Mambanje cancelled the warrant of arrest on Monday.
“Despite the fact that I was at court by 8.30 AM, State Prosecutor Micheal Reza applied for a warrant of arrest against me in my ongoing persecution engineered by land baron Ken Sharpe.
This was a prepaid warrant as the @HeraldZimbabwe was reporting on the same before its issuance.
In cancelling the Warrant, Magistrate Stanford Mambanje was critical of State position and State lies.
It is quite clear the extent of State Capture and the desperate attempt to silence critical alternative voices. We have never been cowards. We never yielded on matters of principle.
Our struggle is just one. Our struggle is a pure one, is for a just free democratic open Zim in which every citizen will live a happy prosperous life.
Neither Mnangagwa nor his political commissars masquerading as prosecutors will stop wheels of change. A new Zim is beckoning,” Hon Biti posted on Twitter.
Tinashe Sambiri|Two The MDC Alliance officials who were arrested in Gutu on Sunday have been granted RTGS $ 2500 each.
The two, Langton Mabande Guvava( secretary for cadreship and training) and Gutu North Constituency chairperson Philip Mahachi were arrested for allegedly violating COVID-19 regulations.
The two were arrested at Zvavahera Business Centre.
The meeting they were addressing was attended by 36 people.
ZimEye.com has been informed that Gutu North MP Yeukai Simbanegavi ordered police to arrest Mahachi and Guvava.
Tinashe Sambiri|The Citizens Convergence Programme was mooted by the People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa and attempts by the regime to snatch it are futile, the MDC Alliance has said.
In a statement, the MDC Alliance described the launch of the so called Citizens Convergence for Change party as a desperate ploy by the regime as its leader Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s popularity declines with each passing day.
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s party has hung itself by its word following criticism over the no jab-no-church policy. This time, ZANU PF has gone ahead to demonstrate it means what it says, though for now, up to the point of state media reportage. The Herald reports that:
Only vaccinated delegates will attend this year’s Zanu PF 19th Annual People’s Conference to be held in Bindura, Mashonaland Central next month.
Addressing the media on Monday, Zanu PF acting spokesperson Mike Bimha said the party’s national chair, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, who chairs the national committee on conference preparations, gave a report on the state of preparedness of the party to host the conference.
After Muchinguri-Kashiri’s presentation, the Politburo endorsed the recommendations to reduce the number of delegates attending both the national conference as well as delegates gathered at the provincial virtual centres.
“It also endorsed the need to follow the Covid-19 regulations and protocols. This implies that all delegates at each provincial centre must have been vaccinated and tested. They must be able to observe social distancing,” said Dr Bimha.
Leading by example, the ruling party called on its members to continue observing Covid-19 protocols to reduce transmission.
The conference will be held in a format that will see Politburo and central committee members meeting at the Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE) in Mashonaland Central provinces while across the country, party senior leaders will follow events from designated centres in each province with the provincial leadership of Mashonaland Central, the host province, congregating at BUSE town campus.
This is in line with Covid-19 protocols that include decongesting public places while the conference will be the first in two years after last year’s edition was postponed because of the ravaging and fast-spreading pandemic.
Recently, a technical committee led by the revolutionary party director for administration, Dickson Dzora expressed satisfaction with preparations for the annual indaba of the ruling party.
“The Transitional Stabilisation Programme will come under the spotlight during the conference while the introduction of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) will also be discussed.
“As a party, which is people-centred and with people-centred policies, we need to take stock of promises which were made in 2018, the resolutions made in Esigodini and Goromonzi and the economic transformation programme.
We need to see where we are in terms of party structures, state of the party and the economy. A lot has happened in the past two and half years, we have transformed this economy as we move towards vision 2030.
“We will talk about milestones achieved and organise ourselves to romp to victory in 2023.
“We will continue to implement the economic transformation which will uplift the standard of living of our people.”
“The conference will give us an opportunity to reflect on the state of the party and state of the economy. During his inauguration President Mnangagwa said the economy must take a front seat while politics take the back seat,” said Dzora. -Herald
A 28-year-old man yesterday appeared in court on allegations of duping businessman Phillip Chiyangwa’s daughter, Cherish Natasha Chiyangwa through a business partner, of £18 000 in a botched mining investment deal.
Willard Munyaradzi Kachere denied the charges when he appeared before magistrate Mrs Judith Taruvinga charged with fraud.
Kachere told the court that he did not enter into any agreement with Cherish and that the money which is alleged to have been sent to him had been send through Jamie Farai Muswibe and did not amount to £18 310.
“He entered into a business transaction with Jamie Farai Muswibe wherein they shared all the risks, profits and losses associated with running a business enterprise.
“He advised Jamie Farai Muswibe and his agents that he had defrauded the business funds which he and Jamie Muswibe had invested into the business.
“He has been making serious efforts to ensure that the funds he has been defrauded were recovered as well as trying to make due to Muswibe since he was the one in custody of the funds,” said Kachere through his lawyers.
Chiyangwa, in her testimony, told the court that Kachere approached her seeking US$20 000 as capital which was to be invested in mining. She said Kachere promised her that they would earn US$2 000 in monthly profits.
Mr Tapiwanashe Zvidzai, prosecuting, said that sometime in April last year Kachere approached Chiyangwa saying he wanted partners to invest in the mining business.
It is said that Kachere told Chiyangwa that if she invested US$20 000 in the deal, they would get US$2 000 in profits every month.
The court heard that Chiyangwa then engaged her business partner Muswibe, who then sent Kachere 18 310 pounds through World Remit. Kachere allegedly received the money. It is said that Kachere failed to give Chiyangwa the promised monthly profits, which prompted Muswibe to return into the country to establish why he was failing to remit the profits as agreed.
Kachere is expected to be back in court on October 4 for trial continuation. – Herald
POLICE officer commanding Mashonaland West province, Commissioner Coneli Dube, who was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Unit (ZACC) on allegations of obstructing the course of justice, spent last night in custody and is expected in court today for bail ruling.
Dube appeared before Mashonaland West provincial magistrate, Ms Ruth Moyo for initial remand.
He is accused of trying to protect four Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers, Detective Assistant Inspector Moses Million, Detective Assistant Inspector Newton Musende, Detective Sergeant Never Muchekawaya and Detective Constable Justice Mapfanya who are facing charges of extorting money from one Washington Ongorani.
Dube allegedly withheld the criminal docket for the four ,thereby contravening Section 184 (1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act chapter 9:23.
Prosecuting, Ms Teveraishe Zinyemba told the court that Dube committed the offence on February 13 this year, when he allegedly withheld the docket under ZRP Chinhoyi Central CR 48/02/21.
The docket had been prepared by Chief Inspector Elymas Silivani who went with it to court under prosecutor reference number A225/21.
The court further heard that on March 12, 2021, a public prosecutor, Ms Gutu, returned the docket to the police station with instructions for the investigating officer to return the docket on March 19, 2021.
The accused, the court heard, instructed one Superintendent Ruwanda to bring the docket to his office before ordering him to ignore the instruction of the public prosecutor.
Dube is also said to have ordered Superintendent Ruwanda to lock away the docket in the district office’s safe until further instructions.
The then Officer Commanding Makonde District, Chief Superintendent Elliot Magomo, the court further heard, approached the accused to inquire why dockets were being kept under lock and the accused is alleged to have claimed that it was a directive from a higher office.
On May 13, Chief Superintendent Magomo wrote to Dube advising him of a complaint from Ongorani who queried why his case was taking long but Dube took no action.
The State opposed the bail application on the basis that the accused was a flight risk who was also likely to abscond and interfere with witnesses.
ZACC’s senior investigations officer, Mr Patrick Madiye said if granted bail, the accused could influence or intimidate some of the witnesses who were his subordinates.
Mr Madiye also told the court that the accused had influenced the transfer of two senior officers from the province.
In his bail application, Dube had averred that he was not a flight risk as he was willing to surrender his travel documents.
He said he was not familiar with the witnesses hence he would not interfere with them. -Herald
More than 700 000 people die due to suicide every year. For every suicide there are many more people who attempt suicide. A prior suicide attempt is the single most important risk factor for suicide in the general population. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in 15-19-year-olds. 77% of global suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries. Ingestion of pesticide, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally. Every year 703 000 people take their own life and there are many more people who attempt suicide. Every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind. Suicide occurs throughout the lifespan and was the fourth leading cause of death among 15-29 year-olds globally in 2019.
Suicide does not just occur in high-income countries, but is a global phenomenon in all regions of the world. In fact, over 77% of global suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries in 2019.
Suicide is a serious public health problem; however, suicides are preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions. For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.
Who is at risk? While the link between suicide and mental disorders (in particular, depression and alcohol use disorders) is well established in high-income countries, many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship break-up or chronic pain and illness.
In addition, experiencing conflict, disaster, violence, abuse, or loss and a sense of isolation are strongly associated with suicidal behaviour. Suicide rates are also high amongst vulnerable groups who experience discrimination, such as refugees and migrants; indigenous peoples; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) persons; and prisoners. By far the strongest risk factor for suicide is a previous suicide attempt.
Methods of suicide It is estimated that around 20% of global suicides are due to pesticide self-poisoning, most of which occur in rural agricultural areas in low- and middle-income countries. Other common methods of suicide are hanging and firearms.
Knowledge of the most commonly used suicide methods is important to devise prevention strategies which have shown to be effective, such as restriction of access to means of suicide.
Prevention and control Suicides are preventable. There are a number of measures that can be taken at population, sub-population and individual levels to prevent suicide and suicide attempts. LIVE LIFE, WHO’s approach to suicide prevention, recommends the following key effective evidence-based interventions:
limit access to the means of suicide (e.g. pesticides, firearms, certain medications); interact with the media for responsible reporting of suicide; foster socio-emotional life skills in adolescents; early identify, assess, manage and follow up anyone who is affected by suicidal behaviours., These need to go hand-in-hand with the following foundational pillars: situation analysis, multisectoral collaboration, awareness raising, capacity building, financing, surveillance and monitoring and evaluation.
Suicide prevention efforts require coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, including the health sector and other sectors such as education, labour, agriculture, business, justice, law, defence, politics, and the media. These efforts must be comprehensive and integrated as no single approach alone can make an impact on an issue as complex as suicide.
Challenges and obstacles Stigma and taboo Stigma, particularly surrounding mental disorders and suicide, means many people thinking of taking their own life or who have attempted suicide are not seeking help and are therefore not getting the help they need. The prevention of suicide has not been adequately addressed due to a lack of awareness of suicide as a major public health problem and the taboo in many societies to openly discuss it. To date, only a few countries have included suicide prevention among their health priorities and only 38 countries report having a national suicide prevention strategy.
Raising community awareness and breaking down the taboo is important for countries to make progress in preventing suicide.
Data quality Globally, the availability and quality of data on suicide and suicide attempts is poor. Only some 80 Member States have good-quality vital registration data that can be used directly to estimate suicide rates. This problem of poor-quality mortality data is not unique to suicide, but given the sensitivity of suicide – and the illegality of suicidal behaviour in some countries – it is likely that under-reporting and misclassification are greater problems for suicide than for most other causes of death.
Improved surveillance and monitoring of suicide and suicide attempts is required for effective suicide prevention strategies. Cross-national differences in the patterns of suicide, and changes in the rates, characteristics and methods of suicide, highlight the need for each country to improve the comprehensiveness, quality and timeliness of their suicide-related data. This includes vital registration of suicide, hospital-based registries of suicide attempts and nationally-representative surveys collecting information about self-reported suicide attempts.
WHO response WHO recognizes suicide as a public health priority. The first WHO World Suicide Report “Preventing suicide: a global imperative”, published in 2014, aims to increase the awareness of the public health significance of suicide and suicide attempts and to make suicide prevention a high priority on the global public health agenda. It also aims to encourage and support countries to develop or strengthen comprehensive suicide prevention strategies in a multisectoral public health approach.
Suicide is one of the priority conditions in the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) launched in 2008, which provides evidence-based technical guidance to scale up service provision and care in countries for mental, neurological and substance use disorders. In the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030, WHO Member States have committed themselves to working towards the global target of reducing the suicide rate in countries by one third by 2030.
In addition, the suicide mortality rate is an indicator of target 3.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals: by 2030, to reduce by one third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment, and promote mental health and well-being.
Zimbabwean national, Zimiseleni Moyo, has been appointed MC Galaxy Football Academy head coach, five months after he joined the Zambian club as an assistant.
The ex-Railstars, Motor Action and Tsholotsho FC footballer replaces Nerbet Phiri.
MC Galaxy, who are in the Football Association of Zambia Lusaka Provincial Division Three League, engaged Moyo in May when they were struggling in the league.
At that time, they were in position 16 and went on to finish the season on position six following Moyo’s arrival.
MC Galaxy’s dream is to break into the Premiership in 2025.
Speaking about his recent promotion, Moyo expressed gratitude to the club, saying he has embraced the challenge. He said:
Obviously, this appointment comes with great responsibility and I’m looking forward to the challenge as I continue learning to coach.
I’m really thankful to MC Galaxy Football Academy for appointing me as a coach. The 2025 vision continues and I’m loving this new chapter of my football life.- Chronicle
By A Correspondent-The government has the Level 2 Lockdown Measures announced on the 7th of September 2021 by another two weeks, under the same conditions.
The Secretary of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nick Mangwana posted on social media on Tuesday notifying members of the public about the development. He said: His Excellency the President has extended the Level 2 Lockdown Measures announced on the 7th of September 2021 by another two weeks, under the same conditions.
This is happening when statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care indicate that coronavirus infections and deaths have been falling in recent weeks.
There have, however, been a spike in new cases in some schools especially in the Midlands province. Under the Level 2 Lockdown Measures, business operators are allowed to operate between 0800 hours to 1900 hours. Beer hall operators, nightclubs and or shebeens remain closed. Public gatherings are limited to not more than 100 people and should be held within the stipulated period and not cross over into the curfew period which is from 2200 hours till 0530 hours the next morning. Intercity travelling is allowed.
By A Correspondent-The government has the Level 2 Lockdown Measures announced on the 7th of September 2021 by another two weeks, under the same conditions.
The Secretary of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nick Mangwana posted on social media on Tuesday notifying members of the public about the development. He said: His Excellency the President has extended the Level 2 Lockdown Measures announced on the 7th of September 2021 by another two weeks, under the same conditions.
This is happening when statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care indicate that coronavirus infections and deaths have been falling in recent weeks.
There have, however, been a spike in new cases in some schools especially in the Midlands province. Under the Level 2 Lockdown Measures, business operators are allowed to operate between 0800 hours to 1900 hours. Beer hall operators, nightclubs and or shebeens remain closed. Public gatherings are limited to not more than 100 people and should be held within the stipulated period and not cross over into the curfew period which is from 2200 hours till 0530 hours the next morning. Intercity travelling is allowed.
By A Correspondent- Political activist Linda Masaira has teamed up with gender and sued Johanne Marange Church for marrying off underage girls.
Masarira has partnered, Precious Nyaradzo Musarurwa and Munyaradzi Midzi, and engaged lawyer Ms Jacqueline Sande in the court case.
The four are challenging the constitutionality of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church doctrine of marrying off young girls.
They are saying the laws were helping to cover up alleged sexual abuse among congregants.
The activists have launched the suit at the Constitutional Court seeking urgent alignment of the Marriages Act and the Customary Marriages Act with the Constitution within six months to protect girls under 18.
The proposed Marriages Bill, which does bring both civil and customary marriages into a single law and insists that both parties to any marriage must be at least 18 and both consenting, has been bogged down in Parliament for much of this year and will have to be reintroduced in the next session when it is now likely to pass after the Government conceded that customary unions, although not civil marriages, need a lobola element.
In the law suit that is likely to help intensify pressure for the new legislation, the Ministers of Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage and of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development were also listed as respondents in their official capacities along with the Attorney General of Zimbabwe.
The application is based on the recent incident where a 15-year-old Annah Machaya died while giving birth at a Johanne Marange shrine in Manicaland. The Constitutional Court will first rule on whether the three have the legal right to directly approach the court with their case, before getting into the merits. They also seek to push the Government into expediting the amendment of the marriage laws to criminalise child marriages and intimacy involving children before the age of consent.
The Constitutional Court some five years ago, outlawed marriage of children under 18 years but the age of sexual consent in terms of the Criminal Law Codification Reform Act remained at 16 years.
The three want it raised to 18 years to fit in with the minimum marriage age. In the application, the applicants argued that the church’s doctrine was unlawful and any members caught on the wrong side of the law must be arrested and charged without fear or favour.
The three argue and allege that the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church doctrine and other doctrines have been used to deceive and coerce girls and women to take part in sexual activities, childbearing and more through forced marriages without facing any legal consequences for their allegedly unlawful acts.
The three argue in their papers filed at the Constitutional Court that the unconstitutionality of such practices by individuals but most notably, religious sects like the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church who practice child marriages, sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse affecting girls and women and depriving them of their rights. They further argue that the existence of child marriages, some six years after the Constitutional Court judgment, should be blamed on the Government which did not speed up the alignment process.
The existence of early child marriages and pregnancies is evidence that there is a gap that the law needs to cover in order to protect girls against such discrimination. Girls are entitled to effective protection by the courts as the upper guardian of the rights of children which is responsible for enforcing the fundamental rights designed for their protection and has a duty to ensure alignment of all the other laws to the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the relevant international laws, reads the papers.
However, Government through The Attorney General’s civil division argued that the order being sought is incompetent because Parliament was already dealing with the amendment of the laws in question. At this juncture, respondents would like to highlight that already the Parliament of Zimbabwe is in the process of enactment of the new Marriages Act which has been deliberated by the National Assembly and has now reached Senate.
The ministers named and the Attorney General no longer have any control of the pace at which lawmakers consider the Bill. To that end, the nature or the order being sought by the applicants is incompetent since the four officials can no longer control the process due to the doctrine of separation of powers, reads the notice of opposition. It was also argued that the matter of Annah Machaya complained of was already in the criminal court with suspects being charged.
By A Correspondent- Gender activists have sued Johanne Marange Church for marrying off underage girls.
The activists, Precious Nyaradzo Musarurwa, Linda Masarira and Munyaradzi Midzi, through their lawyer Ms Jacqueline Sande are challenging the constitutionality of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church doctrine marrying off young girls.
They are saying the laws were helping to cover up alleged sexual abuse among congregants.
The activists have launched the suit at the Constitutional Court seeking urgent alignment of the Marriages Act and the Customary Marriages Act with the Constitution within six months to protect girls under 18.
The proposed Marriages Bill, which does bring both civil and customary marriages into a single law and insists that both parties to any marriage must be at least 18 and both consenting, has been bogged down in Parliament for much of this year and will have to be reintroduced in the next session when it is now likely to pass after the Government conceded that customary unions, although not civil marriages, need a lobola element.
In the law suit that is likely to help intensify pressure for the new legislation, the Ministers of Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage and of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development were also listed as respondents in their official capacities along with the Attorney General of Zimbabwe.
The application is based on the recent incident where a 15-year-old Annah Machaya died while giving birth at a Johanne Marange shrine in Manicaland. The Constitutional Court will first rule on whether the three have the legal right to directly approach the court with their case, before getting into the merits. They also seek to push the Government into expediting the amendment of the marriage laws to criminalise child marriages and intimacy involving children before the age of consent.
The Constitutional Court some five years ago, outlawed marriage of children under 18 years but the age of sexual consent in terms of the Criminal Law Codification Reform Act remained at 16 years.
The three want it raised to 18 years to fit in with the minimum marriage age. In the application, the applicants argued that the church’s doctrine was unlawful and any members caught on the wrong side of the law must be arrested and charged without fear or favour.
The three argue and allege that the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church doctrine and other doctrines have been used to deceive and coerce girls and women to take part in sexual activities, childbearing and more through forced marriages without facing any legal consequences for their allegedly unlawful acts.
The three argue in their papers filed at the Constitutional Court that the unconstitutionality of such practices by individuals but most notably, religious sects like the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church who practice child marriages, sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse affecting girls and women and depriving them of their rights. They further argue that the existence of child marriages, some six years after the Constitutional Court judgment, should be blamed on the Government which did not speed up the alignment process.
The existence of early child marriages and pregnancies is evidence that there is a gap that the law needs to cover in order to protect girls against such discrimination. Girls are entitled to effective protection by the courts as the upper guardian of the rights of children which is responsible for enforcing the fundamental rights designed for their protection and has a duty to ensure alignment of all the other laws to the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the relevant international laws, reads the papers.
However, Government through The Attorney General’s civil division argued that the order being sought is incompetent because Parliament was already dealing with the amendment of the laws in question. At this juncture, respondents would like to highlight that already the Parliament of Zimbabwe is in the process of enactment of the new Marriages Act which has been deliberated by the National Assembly and has now reached Senate.
The ministers named and the Attorney General no longer have any control of the pace at which lawmakers consider the Bill. To that end, the nature or the order being sought by the applicants is incompetent since the four officials can no longer control the process due to the doctrine of separation of powers, reads the notice of opposition. It was also argued that the matter of Annah Machaya complained of was already in the criminal court with suspects being charged.
By A Correspondent-The country’s longest-serving civil servant Mariyawanda Nzuwa has died.Dzuwa was the former Public Service Commission (PSC) chairperson.
Below is President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s condolence message , following the death of Dr Mariyawanda Nzuwah.
The death this morning of our former Chairman of the Public Service Commission, Dr Mariyawanda Nzuwah, has dealt a great blow to our Nation which has been robbed of a long-serving civil servant, very dedicated and loyal to his country.
An eminent academic, Dr Nzuwah’s early scholarly works were in nationalist research in support of the liberation struggle. As a committed cadre, he placed his professional skills and career at the disposal of the struggle and his country soon after the attainment of our Independence. Hence, together with the likes of fellow academic contemporaries in the mould of the late national heroes Dr Tichaona Jokonya, Dr Charles Utete, the current Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda, and many others, were reassigned from the University of Zimbabwe to throw their weight behind public service. That made them a rare crop of leaders in the civil service. The late Dr Nzuwah will be remembered in the annuls of our Bureaucracy as the first indigenous person to Chair the Public Service Commission making him a longest-serving member or the Commission to date. He distinguished himself by ably superintending over the transformation of our Civil Service from a colonial bureaucracy serving minority interests to placing it at the service of the majority of our people in a post-Independent Zimbabwe.
On behalf of the eating Party, ZANU-PF, Government, my family, and on my own behalf, I express deep sorrow and grief to the Nzuwah family, especially to Mrs Nzuwah and the children who have lost a devoted husband, loving father and guardian. May they take comfort from the knowledge that the Nation joins them in mourning his loss.
By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission, ZAC has arrested the Zimbabwe Republic Police Officer Commanding Mashonaland West province Commissioner Conneli Dube.
ZAC announced the arrest of the senior cop Tuesday saying that he had been nabbed on allegations of criminal abuse of office.
Officers arrested comm Dube from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) following allegations that he had been protecting junior officers implicated in a bribery case.
In a statement, ZACC spokesperson Commissioner John Makamure confirmed the arrest.
“A high ranking ZRP officer, Commissioner C. Dube who is the Officer Commanding Mashonaland West Province has been arrested on allegations of abuse of office.
“He is alleged to have ordered that no action be taken on CID operatives who had been arrested on a bribery case. The accused is expected to appear in the Chinhoyi Magistrate’s Court today,” he said.
Thabiso Kutumela (Mamelodi Sundowns FC) Bongokuhle Hlongwane (Maritzburg United FC) Evidence Makgopa (Baroka FC) Victor Letsoalo (Royal Am FC) Luther Singh (F.C Copenhagen)
Percy Tau (Al Ahly FC ) Vincent Pule (Orlando Pirates FC) Mduduzi Mdantsane (Cape Town City FC) Tshegofatso Mabasa (Orlando Pirates FC)- Soccer24 Zimbabwe
More than 700 000 people die due to suicide every year. For every suicide there are many more people who attempt suicide. A prior suicide attempt is the single most important risk factor for suicide in the general population. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in 15-19-year-olds. 77% of global suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries. Ingestion of pesticide, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally. Every year 703 000 people take their own life and there are many more people who attempt suicide. Every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind. Suicide occurs throughout the lifespan and was the fourth leading cause of death among 15-29 year-olds globally in 2019.
Suicide does not just occur in high-income countries, but is a global phenomenon in all regions of the world. In fact, over 77% of global suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries in 2019.
Suicide is a serious public health problem; however, suicides are preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions. For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.
Who is at risk? While the link between suicide and mental disorders (in particular, depression and alcohol use disorders) is well established in high-income countries, many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship break-up or chronic pain and illness.
In addition, experiencing conflict, disaster, violence, abuse, or loss and a sense of isolation are strongly associated with suicidal behaviour. Suicide rates are also high amongst vulnerable groups who experience discrimination, such as refugees and migrants; indigenous peoples; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) persons; and prisoners. By far the strongest risk factor for suicide is a previous suicide attempt.
Methods of suicide It is estimated that around 20% of global suicides are due to pesticide self-poisoning, most of which occur in rural agricultural areas in low- and middle-income countries. Other common methods of suicide are hanging and firearms.
Knowledge of the most commonly used suicide methods is important to devise prevention strategies which have shown to be effective, such as restriction of access to means of suicide.
Prevention and control Suicides are preventable. There are a number of measures that can be taken at population, sub-population and individual levels to prevent suicide and suicide attempts. LIVE LIFE, WHO’s approach to suicide prevention, recommends the following key effective evidence-based interventions:
limit access to the means of suicide (e.g. pesticides, firearms, certain medications); interact with the media for responsible reporting of suicide; foster socio-emotional life skills in adolescents; early identify, assess, manage and follow up anyone who is affected by suicidal behaviours., These need to go hand-in-hand with the following foundational pillars: situation analysis, multisectoral collaboration, awareness raising, capacity building, financing, surveillance and monitoring and evaluation.
Suicide prevention efforts require coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, including the health sector and other sectors such as education, labour, agriculture, business, justice, law, defence, politics, and the media. These efforts must be comprehensive and integrated as no single approach alone can make an impact on an issue as complex as suicide.
Challenges and obstacles Stigma and taboo Stigma, particularly surrounding mental disorders and suicide, means many people thinking of taking their own life or who have attempted suicide are not seeking help and are therefore not getting the help they need. The prevention of suicide has not been adequately addressed due to a lack of awareness of suicide as a major public health problem and the taboo in many societies to openly discuss it. To date, only a few countries have included suicide prevention among their health priorities and only 38 countries report having a national suicide prevention strategy.
Raising community awareness and breaking down the taboo is important for countries to make progress in preventing suicide.
Data quality Globally, the availability and quality of data on suicide and suicide attempts is poor. Only some 80 Member States have good-quality vital registration data that can be used directly to estimate suicide rates. This problem of poor-quality mortality data is not unique to suicide, but given the sensitivity of suicide – and the illegality of suicidal behaviour in some countries – it is likely that under-reporting and misclassification are greater problems for suicide than for most other causes of death.
Improved surveillance and monitoring of suicide and suicide attempts is required for effective suicide prevention strategies. Cross-national differences in the patterns of suicide, and changes in the rates, characteristics and methods of suicide, highlight the need for each country to improve the comprehensiveness, quality and timeliness of their suicide-related data. This includes vital registration of suicide, hospital-based registries of suicide attempts and nationally-representative surveys collecting information about self-reported suicide attempts.
WHO response WHO recognizes suicide as a public health priority. The first WHO World Suicide Report “Preventing suicide: a global imperative”, published in 2014, aims to increase the awareness of the public health significance of suicide and suicide attempts and to make suicide prevention a high priority on the global public health agenda. It also aims to encourage and support countries to develop or strengthen comprehensive suicide prevention strategies in a multisectoral public health approach.
Suicide is one of the priority conditions in the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) launched in 2008, which provides evidence-based technical guidance to scale up service provision and care in countries for mental, neurological and substance use disorders. In the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030, WHO Member States have committed themselves to working towards the global target of reducing the suicide rate in countries by one third by 2030.
In addition, the suicide mortality rate is an indicator of target 3.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals: by 2030, to reduce by one third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment, and promote mental health and well-being.
Tinashe Sambiri|The Citizens Convergence Programme was mooted by the People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa and attempts by the regime to snatch it are futile, the MDC Alliance has said.
In a statement, the MDC Alliance described the launch of the so called Citizens Convergence for Change party as a desperate ploy by the regime as its leader Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s popularity declines with each passing day.
Tinashe Sambiri|The Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa is now a darling of gays following indications that his party is willing to give ear to their concerns.
This was said by Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ).
The association pointed out that Zanu PF was the only party in the country that responded to their issues.
Sylvester Nyamatendedza, a senior GALZ official, told a local online news portal that ahead of the 2018 elections, their organisation approached 16 political parties contesting in that year’s plebiscite seeking clarification on whether their grievances had been included in their election manifestos.
He said ahead of the elections, Zanu PF gave the association an opportunity to share its concerns and demands on behalf of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) communities.
Nyamatendedza said : “Prior to the 2018 elections, the LGBTI community who are members of GALZ asked us to inquire from political parties their interpretation on good governance and service delivery system, if their manifestos had anything to do with LGBTI issues, and what their plans were as a party if they won the elections regarding LGBTI.
We wrote to 16 political parties, and we only received a response from the ruling party, ZANU PF who asked us for a meeting. We managed to submit our needs, concerns, and demands as the LGBTI community.
Zanu PF’s new stance on GALZ is far from former President Robert Mugabe’s position.
Tinashe Sambiri|Two The MDC Alliance officials who were arrested in Gutu on Sunday have been granted RTGS $ 2500 bail each.
The two, Langton Mabande Guvava( secretary for cadreship and training) and Gutu North Constituency chairperson Philip Mahachi were arrested for allegedly violating COVID-19 regulations.
The two were arrested at Zvavahera Business Centre.
The meeting they were addressing was attended by 36 people.
ZimEye.com has been informed that Gutu North MP Yeukai Simbanegavi ordered police to arrest Mahachi and Guvava.
