INJURIES and illness have hit the Warriors camp ahead of tomorrow’s must-win game against Burkina Faso in the ongoing African Nations Championships (Chan) tournament, with five players set to be ruled out, leaving coach Zdravko Logarušić with just 15 infield players to pick from.
Smarting from their 1-0 defeat to hosts Cameroon in the opening match of the tournament on Saturday that left their chances of progressing hanging by a thread, the Zimbabwe coach has got a huge crisis in his camp to deal with.
Richard Hachiro and Ronald Chitiyo,who started the match against the Indomitable Lions, have been ruled out of tomorrow’s match after picking injuries during the game.
Hachiro is struggling with a knee injury, while Chitiyo was substituted later in the game due to an Achilles problem.
Three other players Andrew Mbeba, Qadr Amini and Thomas Chideu will also miss the match due to illness.
The trio were also unavailable for the first game.
This effectively leaves Logarušić with only 15 players at his disposal to choose from a team to face the Stallions, who are equally desperate to win the match after losing 1-0 to Mali in their first Group A match.
“This is a crisis we are faced with,” team manager Wellington Mupandare said yesterday.
“It’s a difficult situation for the coaches now because they don’t have a big pool to choose their squad from for this important match. We have a problem of fitness in the squad because of the problems that we all know, and this development can only complicate things.”
Logarušić had hoped to “refresh” his team for the Burkina Faso clash, but the unavailability of some of his stars will certainly muddle those plans.
This Chan continues to be a nightmarish experience for the Croat, who was forced to pick inactive players for the tournament after last season’s local Premier League failed to start due to COVID-19.
The players had not kicked a ball in a competitive game in over a year.
Then as the team was beginning to intensify their preparations, a bout of the deadly virus hit their camp, affecting nine players and six officials, resulting in discontinuation of training.
Cameroon and Mali top Group A with three points, and the two clash in another match tomorrow with the winner almost assured of a place in the quarter-finals.-NewsDay
“Ours must always be a story of hope. Of citizens who, knowing how ruthless & repressive this regime is, chose courage over inaction.”
As I was about to part ways with my phone to enter police detention, I sent Cee Musandu, my communications director, this message.
She had asked me what she should say. We have been the best of friends since 2016 when we joined #ThisFlag, a citizens’ movement that challenged the poverty, injustice and corruption prevailing under then President Robert Mugabe. The idea was to inspire an engaged citizenry that held the Government to account.
Many amazing and awful things had happened over the last four years but nothing had prepared us for the week that was to come.
It started on the Sunday morning. Two plainclothes police officers in an unmarked vehicle knocked on our gate and asked to see me. When asked what the issue was, they said it was in connection with tweets I had posted protesting police brutality. I had gone to the shops to buy some meds and supplies for the continued lockdown. They left.
As soon as I received the news, my heart sank. Courage does not mean you aren’t afraid. It means you act in spite of your fear. Hopewell Chin’ono and Job Sikhala had been arrested by the Police days earlier on similar charges. “Go seek refuge at a friend’s house,” my little brother suggested. I explained to him that you never run away from the Police. I quickly went back home, assuming that they’d come back. I telephoned David Drury, my old boss, mentor and trusted lawyer of choice.
He advised me to stay put and wait for their return. I waited for what seemed like an eternity. Upon nightfall, Mr Drury said that because the police had not come back, we would have to attend upon Harare Central Police Station first thing in the morning.
At 9am on Monday morning, we were at the Police Station. We waited for an hour before being attended to. They would not immediately confirm or deny whether or why they wanted me pursuant to their visit the day before. Eventually, they confirmed that I was under arrest for my tweets. By 10.50am, I had signed my warned and cautioned statement. The docket was complete.
We figured we would immediately go to court as we were in good time. To our surprise, the detective inspector came in with a detention order and told us to hurry up as we were “behind time.” She had been ordered to hurry up and take me to the cells. Mr Drury appealed with them to take us to court to avoid unnecessary and potentially unlawful pre-trial detention. (This was the first of many appeals he would make to police, prison and court officers in the ensuing seven days.) The officer refused and offered no explanation or reasons to explain why I had to be jailed if the matter was ripe for court.
I was thrown into the all familiar lice-infested police cell with a drop toilet. The proverbial puddle of urine from last time and all the times before greeted me.
Rather, it slapped my face. I was barefoot, having signed my shoes in upon entry as per procedure. There was no sanitizer, no facility to flush the loo, no sink and tap, no toilet paper and no sanitary bin. The blankets smelt of old urine. I shared the cell with 6 other ladies, most of whom were detained for breaching lockdown regulations. And there was Lisa, an alleged armed robber with whom I would make further contact in days to come. We talked, sighed and laughed then fell asleep on their concrete beds and covered ourselves in stained blankets that smelt of a mix of urine, human and dirt.
The next day, I was bundled into the back of a small police truck escorted by nine police officers who breathed on each other and breathed on me. Some wore masks and some wore them incorrectly.
An application was made to challenge my placement on remand on the ground that the Constitutional Court had declared the sections under which I was charged void and on the ground that the initial remand form was insufficient. The Magistrate postponed the handing down of his ruling to Friday. It was Tuesday. I was to be detained at Chikurubi Prison in the meantime.
As I walked up the prison truck in the rain, I slipped and fell. I quickly got back up because, since I was a child, my mother had taught me to get up immediately after a fall, dust myself up and move on. Mr Drury got into the truck to check if I was OK. He brought with him my bucket of supplies – assembled in haste by my siblings. It had all the good stuff – chocolate, candy, nuts, reading material and toiletries most of which I would soon learn were forbidden “inside”.
When we arrived, they told us to eat. Dinner was old sadza and watery beans. I politely declined – partly because I was in no state to eat but mostly because of the rule of caution that I had dished out to many a client when I was on the lawyering end of such an ordeal. The events of the previous two days had frozen my legal brain as I watched constitutional rights bludgeoned and the Supreme Law rendered a lifeless museum piece. I resolved that the only way to make it through this ordeal was to embrace it, follow all orders including the illegal ones and then just make the most of it. “Behave with beauty and dignity at all times,” is the best advice I received that week. We knelt before the prison wardens whom we called “Mbuya”. They took our details then stripped us of all clothing and our bras then handed us our green prison garb. I had a whole prison number – 38/21. My reading material (a YOU magazine and a Newsday newspaper) were taken away for “censoring.” I never got the newspaper back.
We were placed in an isolation cell with no window. Covid positive inmates were housed in the cell next to us. We shared a “toilet” outside lock up time. We were locked in our cell and a 5l container with the top cut off was placed in the corner of the room for us to relieve ourselves that night. The next morning, we were moved to another section. It was a mix of remand prisoners and convicted inmates. Convicted inmates wore yellow. The concrete floor was our mattress. We had to make our beds out of old, dirty, torn, smelly blankets stamped “Parirenyatwa Hospital.” Breakfast was watery porridge and a smidgen of peanut butter with some sugar which inmates had to eat with their fingers because spoons are forbidden.
We went round the room sharing the charges that had brought us in. Curious, I saved my story till last. Murder, murder, murder, murder, armed robbery, theft, armed robbery, lockdown, curfew, lockdown then “tweeting.” They laughed. So did I. One of the inmates in our section was Chipo* who, four years earlier, had axed a man to death in Gutu and started “eating his brain.” She would walk into our cell and pick an inmate up then place her down again. She would rummage through the bin for food, chase rats “to eat” and sometimes snatch people’s food. It was evident to an untrained medical eye that she had no mental capacity to commit a crime.
We were ordered to go and weed the garden. No distinction was drawn between those who were “in with labour”, those on remand and a person in my position who was challenging the very placement on remand. I chose happiness and took it as an opportunity to get some much-needed exercise. When the hoe was passed to me, they said “Fadzie, scrape don’t dig. This is weeding.”
I made many friends because humanity is wired towards positivity. People in distress tend to make the most of tough situations united by our basic human instincts that want dignity, freedom, community and progress. I helped many fill out their bail application forms and dished out legal advice on available defences to many who requested it. I encouraged those who had done bad things to live right as soon as they got out. Story after story made me reflect on my own personal circumstances and feel grateful for God’s many mercies.
Mr Drury, Emma Drury, my fellow advocates from Chambers, Harrison Nkomo, Rose Hanzi and Tino from ZLHR all came to visit me. I lived for those visits. Sometimes, I’d stand lifeless at the window of my cell staring at the gate in anticipation that someone would show up. Mr Drury showed up everyday – a lawyer of immense distinction, integrity and honour who had taught me the ABC’s of court litigation, legal drafting and client management as we fought several land and human rights cases over a decade ago when I was a junior lawyer at Gollop and Blank was now plying his trade on me. I was confused as to how it had got to this but at the same time, reassured that I was in extremely capable hands. I nearly shed a tear when he pledged his own title deeds as he moved my bail application. “Your worship, I know her and can vouch for her. I’m prepared to put my head on the block because I know she won’t abscond.”
“Please tell my mom to stop crying,” I repeatedly said to everyone who visited. My parents, brothers and sisters are gladiators. Family is life.
Every day at lock-up time, I sat at my window and watched the skyline change from blue to a beautiful golden-peachy hue. The quiet beauty of the setting sun descending below the horizon was a peaceful reminder that the whole thing would eventually end. At least I hoped. I had mentally prepared for this to go on for weeks.
After seven interminable nights of incarceration, the court granted bail. I stepped out of the prison truck and knelt before the prison wardens one last time, crying internal tears of joy that the sun had finally set on this ordeal. I also remain hopeful that one day, the sun will set on injustice and repression. Until then, I will always choose courage over inaction.
I will never stop imagining that Zimbabwe will one day be free.
Warriors skipper Ian Nekati has rallied his teammates and urged them to put 100% effort to collect maximum points when they play Burkina Faso tomorrow.
Zdravko Logarusic’s charges lost their first Group A clash against hosts Cameroon 0-1 last Saturday and desperately need a win in the second match to brighten their chances of progressing to the next round of the rescheduled bianual football spectacle, reserved exclusively for locally-based players.
The Chicken Inn right back has urged his teammates to go for the kill in search of three points.
“We are going to be positive and tichawedzera attack yedu because we need goals kuti tiende mberi,” he told local broadcaster ZBC TV.
“Sa captain ndakagara nevakomana and told them how important the game is, and munhu wese anofanirwa kuisa 100%.”-Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
Ronald Koeman has defended Lionel Messi after the Barcelona captain received a red card in Sunday’s Spanish Super Cup final to Athletic Bilbao.
The 33-year old was expelled in last minute of regulation time following a VAR intervention when he struck Asier Villalibre in an off-the-ball incident as frustration got the better of him. The red card was his first in his senior Barca career.
The team went on to lose the match 3-2 after extra time.
Speaking after the match, Koeman said: “I can understand what Messi did.
“I don’t know how many times they fouled him, and it’s normal to react when they keep trying to foul you as a player who is looking to dribble with the ball, but I need to see it again properly.”
Given the red card was shown for violent conduct, Messi is likely to face a four-game ban across La Liga and the Copa del Rey.- Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
Zimbabweans had gotten used to seeing the name Tino Kadewere on the scoresheet for Olympique Lyon so much so that some thinks its abnormal for him to play three games without finding the back of the net.
It’s perhaps a case of a man being a victim of his own brilliance or fans believing in him too much to argue that three games is too much football played for him to not score. Whichever the case is, the lanky striker is on ”rough patch” according some.
Yesterday’s 0-1 loss to Meltz, which he started and lasted until the 76th minute, was the third consecutive game he has not found the back of the net for Rudi Garcia’s side.
Understandably for the Zimbabwean football-loving public, since the Highfield bred star opened his Lyon account in the 3-2 win over Strasbourg on the 18th of October last year, he has not played for 270 minutes without scoring, as is the case now but equally factual is the fact that in that same period, his striker partner, Cameroonian Karl Toko Ekambi, with whom he has formed a lethal attack together with captain Memphis Depay, has not scored either.
Of the the trio, only Depay has scored in the last three games; the Dutch whiz with three strikes to his name- a brace against Lens and one against Rennes.
The bright side is that few initially believed the Warriors star can command a regular place in the star-studded Lyon attack but he has defied those odds to do so hence any sane person can bet his last cent that he can recover his goal scoring touch.
Worryingly for him though, the departure of Mousa Dembele to Atletico Madrid might have been something everyone affiliated to Kadewere wanted, but it also resulted in Algerian striker Islam Slamini joining the club.
Competition will obviously be the order of the day as Slimani seeks to revive his career, which is why it is important for Tino to pull up his socks.- Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC MDC Alliance vice president, Hon Tendai Biti has pointed out that there is no legal basis for detaining journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and Hon. Job Sikhala.
Commenting on the elections in Uganda Hon Biti said Museveni has “outdone himself in stealing elections.”
“Kaguta Museveni has outdone himself this time around. The deranged autocrat rigged so brazenly that his fellow rigsters ,including Biya , Lungu,Conte ,Afwerki,Obiang, Ondimba , Magafuli ,Rwambiwa , Nguesso, Eyadema , Deby & Ouattara have been too embarrassed to congratulate him.”
“With Fadzi’s release we now demand the release of Hopewell Chin’ono a,Job Sikhala and young Alan Moyo.
They are innocent and the illegitimate fascist regime has no legitimate grounds for detaining the same #FreeJobSikhala #FreeHopewell,” added Hon Biti.
Warriors coach Zdravko Logarusic is targeting maximum points against Burkina Faso on Wednesday.
The Warriors suffered a 1-0 loss to Cameroon in their opening match of the African Championship (CHAN) and are currently on the bottom of Group A.
Logarusic is now looking to pick his first points against the Stallions.
“The Burkina Faso game is different altogether,” he said. “We know for certain that even a draw may not be enough at the end judging from where we want to be at the end of the tournament.
“We will adjust obviously. Burkina Faso are not Cameroon. We are all playing away from home and we will punch hard. We need a result and I have told the boys to go at them right from the start.”
Kick-off is at 9 pm Zimbabwean time.-Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC MDC Alliance vice president, Hon Tendai Biti has pointed out that there is no legal basis for detaining journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and Hon. Job Sikhala.
Commenting on the elections in Uganda Hon Biti said Museveni has “outdone himself in stealing elections.”
“Kaguta Museveni has outdone himself this time around. The deranged autocrat rigged so brazenly that his fellow rigsters ,including Biya , Lungu,Conte ,Afwerki,Obiang, Ondimba , Magafuli ,Rwambiwa , Nguesso, Eyadema , Deby & Ouattara have been too embarrassed to congratulate him.”
“With Fadzi’s release we now demand the release of Hopewell Chin’ono a,Job Sikhala and young Alan Moyo.
They are innocent and the illegitimate fascist regime has no legitimate grounds for detaining the same #FreeJobSikhala #FreeHopewell,” added Hon Biti.
Own Correspondent| A prominent Masvingo vendor, Mbuya Gamuchirai has sensationally claimed she recently reconciled with her lover who abandoned her at 16.
Mbuya Gamuchirai is known for selling groceries and second hand clothes.
Said Mbuya Gamuchirai: “I’m so happy after witnessing the unbelievable miracle.
Some people might say prophet Isaac Makomichi is a witch but my story is different.
I got pregnant when I was 16 and the father of the child abandoned me.
Since that time,I have been trying to get married but I failed.
I visited Prophet Isaac Makomichi and he gave me some oil. After using the oil for two weeks I began to see positive results.Now I am relieved because I reconciled with my man.
I thank the God of Prophet Isaac Makomichi.”
Church leaders insist Makomichi’s spiritual power is not from God.
The Emergency Committee will be reconvened within three months, at the discretion of the Director-General.
The Director-General thanked the Committee for its work.
Advice to the WHO Secretariat:
SARS-CoV-2 Variants
Continue to work with partners to develop standardized definitions and nomenclature of SARS-CoV-2 virus variants, based on their genetic sequence, that avoids stigmatization and is geographically and politically neutral. Provide clear information to State Parties on what constitutes a variant of concern.
Continue to increase worldwide capacities for SARS-CoV-2 molecular testing and genetic sequencing, in line with WHO guidance, and encourage rapid sharing of sequences and meta-data to strengthen monitoring of virus evolution and to increase global understanding of variants and their effects on vaccine, therapeutics and diagnostic efficacy. Strengthen the SARS-CoV-2 risk monitoring framework for variants by accelerating collaboration and harmonizing research to answer critical unknowns about specific mutations and variants, through relevant networks and expert groups such as WHO SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution Working Group and the WHO R&D Blueprint for Epidemics. COVID-19 Vaccines
Accelerate research on critical unknowns about COVID-19 vaccination efficacy on transmission, duration of protection against severe disease and asymptomatic infection, duration of immunity (following infection or vaccination), long-term protection after using different vaccination intervals, protection after a single dose, and vaccination regimes, in line with the SAGE and the Research and Development Blueprint recommendations. Promote global solidarity and equitable vaccine access by encouraging States Parties and manufacturers to donate resources and provide support to the COVAX Facility. Promote technology transfer to low- and middle- income countries with the potential capacity to accelerate global production of COVID-19 vaccines. Support State Parties, including fragile states, in preparing for COVID-19 vaccine introduction by developing a national deployment and vaccination plan, in line with WHO guidance, that addresses barriers to COVID-19 vaccine readiness. Such planning should include prioritization of populations, regulatory authorization, supply and logistics preparation, indemnification and liability, health workforce planning, and access for humanitarian and vulnerable population. Health Measures in Relation to International Traffic
Lead development of risk-based international standards and guidance for reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission related to international travel (by air, land, and sea) based on current science and good practices that include clear recommendations for testing approaches and quarantine duration as appropriate. The guidance should additionally include advice on adapting those measure to specific risk settings, including movements of migrants, temporary workers, travellers and conveyance operators. Rapidly develop and disseminate the WHO policy position on the legal, ethical, scientific, and technological considerations related to requirements for proof of COVID-19 vaccination for international travelers, in accordance with relevant IHR provisions. Coordinate with relevant stakeholders the development of standards for digital documentation of COVID-19 travel-related risk reduction measures ,that can be implemented on interoperable digital platforms. This should include vaccination status in preparation for widespread vaccine access. Encourage States Parties to implement coordinated, time-limited, risk-based, and evidence-based approaches for health measures in relation to international travel.
Evidence-Based Response Strategies
Continue to rapidly provide and regularly update evidence-based advice; guidance; tools; and resources, including regular dissemination of resources to combat misinformation for COVID-19, to enhance evidence-based COVID-19 preparedness and response strategies and implementation of such strategies.
Surveillance
Continue to actively support countries to further strengthen their SARS-CoV-2 surveillance systems, including strategic use of genetic sequencing, by leveraging existing systems such as the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) and relevant networks for systematic sharing of data and specimens.
Strengthening Health Systems
Provide strategic insight on how State Parties can sustain the public health infrastructure, capacities, and functions developed for COVID-19 response to support strengthened health systems and universal health coverage in the long-term…
Credit:WHO
Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
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Tinashe Sambiri|MDC MDC Alliance vice president, Hon Tendai Biti has pointed out that there is no legal basis for detaining journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and Hon. Job Sikhala.
Commenting on the elections in Uganda Hon Biti said Museveni has “outdone himself in stealing elections.”
“Kaguta Museveni has outdone himself this time around. The deranged autocrat rigged so brazenly that his fellow rigsters ,including Biya , Lungu,Conte ,Afwerki,Obiang, Ondimba , Magafuli ,Rwambiwa , Nguesso, Eyadema , Deby & Ouattara have been too embarrassed to congratulate him.”
“With Fadzi’s release we now demand the release of Hopewell Chin’ono a,Job Sikhala and young Alan Moyo.
They are innocent and the illegitimate fascist regime has no legitimate grounds for detaining the same #FreeJobSikhala #FreeHopewell,” added Hon Biti.
Tinashe Sambiri|The MDC Alliance has described Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s victory in the just-ended Presidential election in Uganda as null and void.
Museveni stands accused of killing opposition members and massive rigging.
Museveni also altered the Presidential age limit to maintain his grip on power.
See the MDC Alliance statement below:
MDC Alliance Statement On Elections In Uganda
STATEMENT ON THE JUST ENDED UGANDAN ELECTIONS
The Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC A) is deeply concerned by the just-ended fundamentally flawed elections in Uganda.
The elections were marred by human rights abuses and fell short of regional and international standards governing democratic elections including the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
We urge the international community to hold President Yoweri Museveni’s government to account and not to lower the bar for free, fair and democratic elections as doing so encourages dictators across the African continent.
Despite criticising African leaders who subverted democratic processes to remain in power during his early days, President Yoweri Museveni manipulated the country’s Constitution to remove the presidential age limit in order to extend his stay in power as one of Africa’s longest-serving authoritarian leaders.
In the run-up to the January 2021 elections, 54 citizens were killed and dozens of others were arrested following riots that were triggered by the arrest of Presidential Candidate Bobi Wine for allegedly violating Covid 19 regulations whilst internet was shutdown.
Arrests of independent monitors, denial of accreditation to international observer missions and the current house arrest of President Bobi Wine have also seriously and negatively affected the credibility of the elections.
Contrary to the impetus that propelled the struggle for liberation across Africa including the principle of one man one vote’, we have observed a rise in electoral authoritarianism or elections without democracy in countries such as Uganda, Zimbabwe and Tanzania where elections have become rituals for authoritarian consolidation.
In these countries, elections have been punctuated by the weaponization of the law, abuse of state resources and institutions, violence, intimidation, and outright rigging among a menu of electoral manipulation.
We implore the African Union and the international community to unreservedly hold to account countries that do not respect democratic principles and human rights in line with international norms and practises as not doing promotes undemocratic elections and authoritarianism.
“Ours must always be a story of hope. Of citizens who, knowing how ruthless & repressive this regime is, chose courage over inaction.”
As I was about to part ways with my phone to enter police detention, I sent Cee Musandu, my communications director, this message.
She had asked me what she should say. We have been the best of friends since 2016 when we joined #ThisFlag, a citizens’ movement that challenged the poverty, injustice and corruption prevailing under then President Robert Mugabe. The idea was to inspire an engaged citizenry that held the Government to account.
Many amazing and awful things had happened over the last four years but nothing had prepared us for the week that was to come.
It started on the Sunday morning. Two plainclothes police officers in an unmarked vehicle knocked on our gate and asked to see me. When asked what the issue was, they said it was in connection with tweets I had posted protesting police brutality. I had gone to the shops to buy some meds and supplies for the continued lockdown. They left.
As soon as I received the news, my heart sank. Courage does not mean you aren’t afraid. It means you act in spite of your fear. Hopewell Chin’ono and Job Sikhala had been arrested by the Police days earlier on similar charges. “Go seek refuge at a friend’s house,” my little brother suggested. I explained to him that you never run away from the Police. I quickly went back home, assuming that they’d come back. I telephoned David Drury, my old boss, mentor and trusted lawyer of choice.
He advised me to stay put and wait for their return. I waited for what seemed like an eternity. Upon nightfall, Mr Drury said that because the police had not come back, we would have to attend upon Harare Central Police Station first thing in the morning.
At 9am on Monday morning, we were at the Police Station. We waited for an hour before being attended to. They would not immediately confirm or deny whether or why they wanted me pursuant to their visit the day before. Eventually, they confirmed that I was under arrest for my tweets. By 10.50am, I had signed my warned and cautioned statement. The docket was complete.
We figured we would immediately go to court as we were in good time. To our surprise, the detective inspector came in with a detention order and told us to hurry up as we were “behind time.” She had been ordered to hurry up and take me to the cells. Mr Drury appealed with them to take us to court to avoid unnecessary and potentially unlawful pre-trial detention. (This was the first of many appeals he would make to police, prison and court officers in the ensuing seven days.) The officer refused and offered no explanation or reasons to explain why I had to be jailed if the matter was ripe for court.
I was thrown into the all familiar lice-infested police cell with a drop toilet. The proverbial puddle of urine from last time and all the times before greeted me.
Rather, it slapped my face. I was barefoot, having signed my shoes in upon entry as per procedure. There was no sanitizer, no facility to flush the loo, no sink and tap, no toilet paper and no sanitary bin. The blankets smelt of old urine. I shared the cell with 6 other ladies, most of whom were detained for breaching lockdown regulations. And there was Lisa, an alleged armed robber with whom I would make further contact in days to come. We talked, sighed and laughed then fell asleep on their concrete beds and covered ourselves in stained blankets that smelt of a mix of urine, human and dirt.
The next day, I was bundled into the back of a small police truck escorted by nine police officers who breathed on each other and breathed on me. Some wore masks and some wore them incorrectly.
An application was made to challenge my placement on remand on the ground that the Constitutional Court had declared the sections under which I was charged void and on the ground that the initial remand form was insufficient. The Magistrate postponed the handing down of his ruling to Friday. It was Tuesday. I was to be detained at Chikurubi Prison in the meantime.
As I walked up the prison truck in the rain, I slipped and fell. I quickly got back up because, since I was a child, my mother had taught me to get up immediately after a fall, dust myself up and move on. Mr Drury got into the truck to check if I was OK. He brought with him my bucket of supplies – assembled in haste by my siblings. It had all the good stuff – chocolate, candy, nuts, reading material and toiletries most of which I would soon learn were forbidden “inside”.
When we arrived, they told us to eat. Dinner was old sadza and watery beans. I politely declined – partly because I was in no state to eat but mostly because of the rule of caution that I had dished out to many a client when I was on the lawyering end of such an ordeal. The events of the previous two days had frozen my legal brain as I watched constitutional rights bludgeoned and the Supreme Law rendered a lifeless museum piece. I resolved that the only way to make it through this ordeal was to embrace it, follow all orders including the illegal ones and then just make the most of it. “Behave with beauty and dignity at all times,” is the best advice I received that week. We knelt before the prison wardens whom we called “Mbuya”. They took our details then stripped us of all clothing and our bras then handed us our green prison garb. I had a whole prison number – 38/21. My reading material (a YOU magazine and a Newsday newspaper) were taken away for “censoring.” I never got the newspaper back.
We were placed in an isolation cell with no window. Covid positive inmates were housed in the cell next to us. We shared a “toilet” outside lock up time. We were locked in our cell and a 5l container with the top cut off was placed in the corner of the room for us to relieve ourselves that night. The next morning, we were moved to another section. It was a mix of remand prisoners and convicted inmates. Convicted inmates wore yellow. The concrete floor was our mattress. We had to make our beds out of old, dirty, torn, smelly blankets stamped “Parirenyatwa Hospital.” Breakfast was watery porridge and a smidgen of peanut butter with some sugar which inmates had to eat with their fingers because spoons are forbidden.
We went round the room sharing the charges that had brought us in. Curious, I saved my story till last. Murder, murder, murder, murder, armed robbery, theft, armed robbery, lockdown, curfew, lockdown then “tweeting.” They laughed. So did I. One of the inmates in our section was Chipo* who, four years earlier, had axed a man to death in Gutu and started “eating his brain.” She would walk into our cell and pick an inmate up then place her down again. She would rummage through the bin for food, chase rats “to eat” and sometimes snatch people’s food. It was evident to an untrained medical eye that she had no mental capacity to commit a crime.
We were ordered to go and weed the garden. No distinction was drawn between those who were “in with labour”, those on remand and a person in my position who was challenging the very placement on remand. I chose happiness and took it as an opportunity to get some much-needed exercise. When the hoe was passed to me, they said “Fadzie, scrape don’t dig. This is weeding.”
I made many friends because humanity is wired towards positivity. People in distress tend to make the most of tough situations united by our basic human instincts that want dignity, freedom, community and progress. I helped many fill out their bail application forms and dished out legal advice on available defences to many who requested it. I encouraged those who had done bad things to live right as soon as they got out. Story after story made me reflect on my own personal circumstances and feel grateful for God’s many mercies.
Mr Drury, Emma Drury, my fellow advocates from Chambers, Harrison Nkomo, Rose Hanzi and Tino from ZLHR all came to visit me. I lived for those visits. Sometimes, I’d stand lifeless at the window of my cell staring at the gate in anticipation that someone would show up. Mr Drury showed up everyday – a lawyer of immense distinction, integrity and honour who had taught me the ABC’s of court litigation, legal drafting and client management as we fought several land and human rights cases over a decade ago when I was a junior lawyer at Gollop and Blank was now plying his trade on me. I was confused as to how it had got to this but at the same time, reassured that I was in extremely capable hands. I nearly shed a tear when he pledged his own title deeds as he moved my bail application. “Your worship, I know her and can vouch for her. I’m prepared to put my head on the block because I know she won’t abscond.”
“Please tell my mom to stop crying,” I repeatedly said to everyone who visited. My parents, brothers and sisters are gladiators. Family is life.
Every day at lock-up time, I sat at my window and watched the skyline change from blue to a beautiful golden-peachy hue. The quiet beauty of the setting sun descending below the horizon was a peaceful reminder that the whole thing would eventually end. At least I hoped. I had mentally prepared for this to go on for weeks.
After seven interminable nights of incarceration, the court granted bail. I stepped out of the prison truck and knelt before the prison wardens one last time, crying internal tears of joy that the sun had finally set on this ordeal. I also remain hopeful that one day, the sun will set on injustice and repression. Until then, I will always choose courage over inaction.
I will never stop imagining that Zimbabwe will one day be free.
By Taruberekera Masara in Pretoria| Primary and secondary education Minister Cain Mathema has to find a way of reopening schools to alleviate a disaster that is awaiting Zimbabwe’s school going children.
A generation is fastly being lost and it is compelling to issue a call for the government to prioritize school reopening and make classrooms as safe as possible.
While the urgency of arresting the Covid 19 crisis is primary, averting the irreversible harm to children’s education and well being is equally important.
It is imperative for the government to find a way of averting this brewing disaster. Schools must be opened.
Assertions by government run newspaper the Herald that current intervention measures by the government to school children and their education will be enough to help kids keep track are highly shocking.
Education has severely been disrupted, as schools struggle to cope with repeated closures and re-openings, and the transitioning. Even the options of digital and online schooling have never been handy enough.
These emergency measures have severely disadvantaged kids.
The only alternative is to open schools.
According to the World Bank, around 1.6 billion school children were affected by these closures at their peak (World Bank 2020).
“While the economic costs of closing businesses arise immediately and are thus very salient, closed schools and childcare centres have negative economic effects on the human capital accumulation of children that only arise in the long run”,
“Education is a crucial determinant of future wages, and schools are an important driver of intergenerational mobility (Kotera and Seshadri 2017, Lee and Seshadri 2019)” they wrote.
It is increasingly becoming a reality that at the end of the lockdown restrictions we will have fifth or sixth graders whose reading levels will be that of a third grader or even worse. While we gloat in trying to arrest the disease through lockdowns,alternatives to serve the situations must be rolled out effectively and efficiently.
There is no room for excuse,its about a generation that can be lost,its about the future of our nation.
UNESCO warned that “Covid-19 school closures around the world will hit girls hardest”. Statistics on the ground in Zimbabwe points to a possibility that there will be “ drop-out rates which will disproportionately affect adolescent girls, further entrench gender gaps in education, and lead to increased risk of sexual exploitation, early pregnancy and early and forced marriage.”
Already country wide findings collated a tally of over400 school girls in Manicaland province who dropped out of school some with pregnancies.In Kwekwe three junior councillors eloped.
These are some of the so many cases whose cause could be largely school closures. According to World Vision, teenage pregnancy spiked during the Covid-19 lockdown, they added that the crisis is now is threatening to bar 1 million girls across sub-Saharan Africa from returning to school.
In their research study titled “Covid-19 Aftershock: Access Denied”, the organisation notes the pandemic caused “additional and unanticipated disruption”.
“School closures during crises can result in girls spending more time with men and boys than they would were they in school, leading to greater likelihood of engagement in risky sexual behaviour and increased risk of sexual violence exploitation.”
The adverse effects are exponentially wide Robert Jenkins UNICEF’s chief of education said: “The closures not only interrupted educational progress; they also curtailed normal social interaction and limited access to essential services families relied on, including school nutrition and health programs, information on disease prevention, and access to clean water and sanitation.”
By and large the children are at loss. Deferment of opening schools have far reaching implications. There is need for rethink, remodelling and restructuring. Quickly.
It may be difficult to get children back to school following long-term school closures. Maintaining learning and links to schools during closures are crucial. Arguments have been that even during the time schools are closed radio and television education programs are being aired. While it is very positive to what extent are they effectively and efficiently beneficial. Are the services available for all.
If an urban setting like Kwekwe does not have reception for radio and television what about remote areas like Chivi, Mbire and Guyu to mention a few. Who do we fool? Children need those four walls and a teacher in front of them.
The benefits of school closures should be balanced against the strong adverse effects. We should think ahead.
UNICEF made it clear that the needless closure of schools has no overarching goal.
“What we have learned about schooling during the time of COVID is clear: the benefits of keeping schools open, far outweigh the costs of closing them, and nationwide closures of schools should be avoided at all costs”,
“Evidence shows that schools are not the main drivers of this pandemic. Yet we are seeing an alarming trend whereby governments are once again closing down schools as a first recourse rather than a last resort”
“In some cases, this is being done nationwide, rather than community by community, and children are continuing to suffer the devastating impacts on their learning, mental and physical well-being and safety”said Jenkins.
Teacher trade unions must also spare a thought for children beyond their advocacy for own members. We are losing a generation.
The country’s first black Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Dr Kombo Moyana succumbed to COVID-19 on Monday night.
Moyana who was at the helm of the central bank between 1983 and 1993 died while admitted at a local hospital.
Dr Moyana’s death was confirmed by members of his church the United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (UCCZ).
“Dear UCCZ Church Family. “It is with a heavy heart that I am informing you that last night we lost one of us at UCCZ Eastlea Dr Kombo James Moyana exRBZ Governor passed on to Glory last night.He was in Hospital. He succumbed to Covid 19.”
A crackdown by security forces against protests in Jan 2019 resulted in the deaths of 17 Zimbabweans. Two years on we continue to call for accountability and on the govt to enact political and economic reforms that will benefit all Zimbabweans #ActiononReform#StandUp4HumanRights
Two years. When will Zimbabwe investigate, prosecute, and convict government security forces accused of rape, torture, and killing civilians in Jan 2019? Two years is too long to seek justice/answers/accountability. pic.twitter.com/cIUDbzh7ez
By Patrick Guramatunhu- Zanu PF and its apologists are renowned for their single mindedness belief in offence as not only the best but only defence. It is therefore a novelty to see them scrambling to mount a rear-guard defensive action!
“Zimbabwe does not hold China responsible for the emergence and spread of Covid-19 and the two countries continue to enjoy excellent relations, Government has said,” reported the Zanu PF controlled Sunday Mail.
“This follows the circulation of a purported telephone conversation between the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and political activist-cum-journalist Simba Chikanza where he infers that Government blames China for the pandemic.”
Of course, “Zimbabwe does not hold China responsible for the emergence and spread of covid-19!” It was a Freudian slip of the tongue on the part of Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri!
In other words Zimbabwe holds China responsible; everyone knows China, being a secretive nation, tried to keep the outbreak a secret and thus giving the virus a head start. And like everyone else, Zimbabwe has been making a concerted and conscientious effort never to publicly accuse China of anything!
Indeed, when the number of corona virus cases and deaths started to soar in Europe and the Americas in March and April 2020; USA President Donald Trump blamed China. He insisted in calling it “The China virus!” It was none other than Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri who said the virus was God’s punishment of the West for imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Officially, Zimbabwe has one of the lowest per capita corona virus cases and deaths in the world but only because the Zanu PF government, like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is super sensitive about criticism and so has been under reporting the figures.
However, the corona virus cases and deaths have soar in the last month Zimbabwe’s wilfully inadequate health care service was quickly overwhelmed. In her interview with Simba Chikanza, Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri described how she had been running around like a headless chicken trying to get medical help for a relative with covid-19.
“Zimbabweans are dying. This is serious. Covid 19 is serious,” a tearful Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told Chikanza.
“The Chinese, the disease is now on a fresh peak now. Cases are rising again. They are the ones who started their experiments and things got out of hand and now their experiments are costing us. They cannot control this now. They have costed us…. those whom we call our all weather friends, look at what they have done to us.”
At moments such as this it is near impossible to keep up the phoney lies bottled in.
The gene is out of the bottle; Zimbabwe, just like many other nations out there, blames China for the corona virus. The CCP’s lack of democratic accountability and its obsession with secrecy to hide its blundering failures is costing us all the earth!
The Zanu PF regime and its apologists’ rear-guard action claiming Zimbabwe is not blaming China for the corona virus is futile. The gene is out of the bottle and cannot be put back.
“We wish to make it clear that the sentiments expressed do not reflect the position of the Government of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe and China enjoy excellent relations,” continued the statement from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Rubbish! Zimbabwe’s so called “excellent” relationship is one of the tick to the cow; the tick gets all the blood it wants and get so bloated it cannot even move, the cow gets absolutely no benefit from the relation. Indeed, the Zimbabwe cow has been sucked dry it is weak and sickly.
“An army-linked miner, Anjin Investments (Pvt) Ltd, grabbed the most lucrative diamond claim in Marange from a firm owned by the government after being relicensed under unclear circumstances, it has emerged,” reported The Independent/Bulawayo 24 last week.
“Investigations carried out with support from Information for Development Trust, a non-profit organisation helping journalists to expose corruption and bad governance, established that Anjin has effectively taken over Portal B, a diamond-rich zone in Marange that was being mined by the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), a government outfit set up in 2016.”
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and political paralysis is corruption and the wholesale looting in Marange has become the epicentre of it all.
In 2016 Robert Mugabe revealed that the country was being swindled out of a staggering US$ 15 billion in diamond revenue. The one nation that has been behind the looting in Marange is China, Anjin is a Chinese company.
Mugabe fell-out with the Chines big-time accusing them not fulfilling their promise to fund Zimbabwe’s mega-deals. The Chinese, in turn, accused Mugabe of not paying his debts. Mugabe booted out Anjin out of Marange.
It is widely believed the Chinese played a major role in Zimbabwe’s November 2017 military coup which booted Mugabe out of office. Mnangagwa was the chief beneficiary of the coup and he not only arranged for Anjin’s return but, as we can now see, claim the most lucrative diamond claim!
It has been said Zimbabwe is stuck with this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship because China will never allow free, fair and credible elections and regime change. Never!
The destiny of Zimbabwe is not and has never been in the hands ordinary Zimbabweans but in the Chinese!
Oh please, we are not all stupid and blind not to know the difference between “Zimbabwe and China enjoy excellent relations!” and “Zanu PF and China enjoy excellent relations!”
— Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe (@ChineseZimbabwe) January 18, 2021
By A Correspondent- The Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe has issued a statement saying it is not fair to hold the entire Chinese community over a 25seconds video published below.
We publish below the developments which led to the above video as published by a local publication, Newsday:
Two mine workers at the Fools Investment Mine in Hope Fountain, which is just outside Bulawayo, were last Saturday assaulted by their Chinese employer after they demanded payment of their outstanding wages.
Their employer, Zhong Yi Zhang allegedly owes workers’ wages backdated to July last year.
Some of the affected workers, who spoke to Southern Eye, but refused to be named, said they feared victimisation.
They alleged that Yi Zhang is abusing them.
“These guys are just beating people; yesterday (Saturday) he (Yi Zhang) assaulted two workers.
“We made a police report at Waterford in Bulawayo, and the Chinese rushed to Hillside Police Station in a bid to block any legal action against them,” one of the mine workers said.
“Two people were assaulted, after several workers gathered to demand their salaries which are outstanding from July last year.
“The workers were asking for a written agreement on how they will recover their outstanding money. Those who were assaulted are Constan Masa and Tatenda Mangena,” he said. As a result of beatings, Mangena is said to have sustained injuries on the arm, while Masa was injured on his private parts.
The workers alleged that the Chinese employer pays them any amount that he deems fit, instead of paying their stipulated wages.
Fools Investment Mine manager Thabani Masuku confirmed the incident, adding that it stemmed from a petition which the workers submitted last Friday.
“They were asking for their money and they had submitted a petition saying their concerns should be looked into by January 31 before they take action on the employer,” Masuku said.
“I took the petition to the director, and he said he will look into it. He later sent away the workers who had gathered.
“The next day (Saturday), he assigned some workers to work, but other employees stopped them from performing the duties, saying they must wait until workers’ grievances are addressed.”
Masuku said the Chinese director then started taking pictures and when the workers asked him why he was doing that a scuffle ensued.
“He attacked the workers with fists and later took a shovel which he used to attack one of the workers and injured him on the arm.
“During the scuffle, a security guard fired a shot and the mine director rushed to the office and brought a gun which he pointed at Masa, before calming down and handing it to the guard,” he said.
In their petition, the workers demanded a timeframe for the supply of personnel protective equipment, since they had none.
They also demanded backdated pay to July 2020.
Other demands included provision of information on pay dates, and that their salaries must be paid in US dollars.
National Union of Mines Quarrying, Iron and Steel Workers of Zimbabwe regional officer Abraham Kavalanjila confirmed the incident.
“We condemn this barbaric act by these employers. The law has to take its course. No one is above the law. We will not allow such behaviour targeted at workers. There must be no racial discrimination, the Labour Act is clear.
“As a union we will work 24 hours a day and seven days a week until this matter is resolved in terms of the law,” Kavalanjila said.
Zhang’s spokesperson Han Le’s phone was not reachable.
Bulawayo Police spokesperson, Inspector Abednicho Ncube referred Southern Eye to national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi who was not picking calls.
By Wilbert Mukori- There is no denying that Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess. Anyone with half a working brain would tell you Zimbabwe’s problems are, above all else, man-made problems and all emanating from bad governance.
The very fact that the economic and political mess is a man-made problem offers one hope; a man-made problem has a man-made solution. What is the solution?
Well, that is the trillion dollar question.
However, what I do know with certainty is that Zanu PF and MDC leaders are not the solution to our problem. I know that because they are the ones who landed us into this mess and after 40 years of dragging us deeper and deeper into the abyss it is naive to still belief they can get us out of the mess.
If Zanu PF and MDC leaders are so clever as to lead us out of the mess, then why did they, Zanu PF, drag us into the mess in the first place. And, in the case of MDC, have they failed to do so these last 20 years, 5 of which they were in the 2008 to 2013 GNU.
Of course, it is insane to repeat the same thing over and over again, for 40 and 20 years and counting, and expect a different result. And yet there are some “experts” egging to repeat the same foolishness once again!
“This is best time for Mnangagwa, Mwonzora and Chamisa to sit down together,” argued Daily News and rolled out their so-called experts.
“These three are the key political players in that Chamisa is very popular and that Mnangagwa prefers to see Mwonzora as the official opposition leader,” argued University of Zimbabwe political analyst, Eldred Masunungure.
“If the mood of talking to each other like all the sides want to portray is there, that would be the most progressive way to push forward a national agenda that is not partisan.”
The last political dialogue between these political leaders ended with the 2008 to 2013 Government of National Unity (GNU) whose principle task was to implement the democratic reforms. They failed to implement even one reform in five years!
If is one thing to keep wittering on and on about having the same politicians in yet another GNU but what is there to suggest they will do any better!
“The dialogue has to concern not just political issues, but economic ones as well. It will take a very long time for Zimbabwe to recover sufficient economic stability to act as a platform for multi-sector growth,” advised Stephen Chan, Professor of World Politics at the London School of Oriental and African Studies.
At least the 2008 to 2013 GNU had a clear objective; “to implement the democratic reforms necessary to ensure the blatant cheating and wanton violence of the 2008 elections are not repeated ever again”! Since Mnangagwa insists the July 2018 elections were “free, fair and credible”, it was doubtful if anyone was ever going to get the new GNU to implementing any meaningful political reforms. And Professor Chan, in his infantile wisdom is giving the GNU an excuse for shelving political reforms – focus on the economy.
So Professor Chan, is the new GNU going to follow Zanu PF economic policies, as articulated in the party’s Vision 2030 or is it the MDC’s RELOAD or whatever? If it is Vision 2030, why has Zanu PF failed to implement its policies since it has 2/3 parliamentary majority already and does not need the opposition?
Even if RELOAD were the right economic policies and the country was to enjoy similar economic recovery as in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, the economic had a 12% growth rate in 2009 from a – ve 6% the previous year; at the end of the GNU Zanu PF got back into power because no meaningful political reforms were implemented. History will repeat itself again!
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic mess and political paralysis is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The nation has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime for 40 years and counting because the party rigged elections to stay in power. Not many people understand that reality and even few dare to acknowledge it in their proposed solution.
The 2008 to 2013 GNU’s greatest promise as a solution to end the Zimbabwe economic and political crisis was the acceptance by SADC leaders that the 2008 elections were not free, fair and credible. The GNU was tasked to implement a raft of democratic reforms to ensure future elections are free, fair and credible.
Sadly, none of the political leaders in both Zanu PF and the two MDC factions in the GNU had the vision nor political will and courage to implement the reforms. And ever since the GNU, MDC leaders have given up the hope of getting the reforms implemented and have participated in flawed and illegal elections knowing fully well that by doing so they would give legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF regime.
Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats, a bribe MDC leaders have found irresistible.
By blatantly rigging the July 2018 elections Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs – same as it was under Mugabe. His “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra was died in the water because investors are a shrewd and savvy lot, they do not do business in a pariah state.
The two University intellectuals’ rolled out by the Daily News proposed solution is doomed to fail because it is premised on cheap deception. The proposed new GNU of Zanu PF and MDC is nothing but the vote rigging Zanu PF dictatorship with MDC leaders added in as window dressing mannequin. The shrewd and savvy investors will never be fooled by that, they will know the GNU is the same Zanu PF pariah state by another name.
Zanu PF and MDC leaders will never implement the democratic reforms to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. Never! They had the best opportunity to do so during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and they wasted it.
Just because Zanu PF and MDC leaders failed to implement the democratic reforms does not mean the reforms are no longer necessary. They are our only ticket out of this economic and political hell-on-earth we have been stuck in for four decades now!
Just because Zanu PF and MDC leaders have proven beyond all doubt that they are corrupt and incompetent and will never ever implement the democratic reforms does not mean no one else can do it. Of course, there are hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans who understand what the reforms are about and have the knowledge and vision to have the reforms implemented.
What has stopped the country appointing the body of visionary leaders to implement the reforms is the ordinary people themselves; they have been very slow in understand that MDC leaders, much less Zanu PF, will never implement the democratic reforms. Even after the MDC leaders failed to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, the people have continues to follow the party blindly like sheep to the slaughter.
The people have not searched for the competent leaders to implement the reforms because they believe, even now with all the benefit of hindsight, that MDC leaders will deliver democratic change. And having people like Masunungure and Chan bombarding them with all this nonsense of a new Zanu PF and MDC GNU as a solution has only helped to confuse povo and not enlighten them!
Of course, it is infuriating that the goal for free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe has been made that much harder to attain by not just the Zanu PF tyrants but by the opposition MDC sell-outs and many others masquerading as intellectuals, independent media, etc.
After 40 years and counting of rigged elections; we must either implement the reforms to ensure Zimbabwe’s next elections are free, fair and credible. Or the elections must be declared null and void to create the political space for the appointment of the body that will implement the reforms. This is not too much to ask!
By A Correspondent- A woman who, allegedly assisted her boyfriend to rape her 13 year old daughter, was yesterday granted bail along with her lover by the Bulawayo High Court.
The woman (48) and her lover (36), both of Matopo district in Matabeleland South province, were released on $2 000 bail each by High Court judge Justice Thompson Mabhikwa.
He remanded their case to February 18, for trial.
The names of the accused are withheld to protect the identity of the victim.
The court heard that sometime in 2014, the two lovers had a child. They then connived that during the period, the boyfriend would sleep with the 13 year old minor.
The girl would sleep with her mother in the kitchen, but later, the man would sneak into their blankets and rape her.
This is said to have happened several times under her mother’s watch until she fell pregnant.
Allegations are that at times the mother would allegedly also order the girl to go to her boyfriend’s home regularly to sleep with him.
After the girl fell pregnant, her relatives then made a report to the police, which led to the arrest of the two lovers.
— Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe (@ChineseZimbabwe) January 18, 2021
By A Correspondent- The Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe has issued a statement saying it is not fair to hold the entire Chinese community over a 25seconds video published below.
We publish below the developments which led to the above video as published by a local publication, Newsday:
Two mine workers at the Fools Investment Mine in Hope Fountain, which is just outside Bulawayo, were last Saturday assaulted by their Chinese employer after they demanded payment of their outstanding wages.
Their employer, Zhong Yi Zhang allegedly owes workers’ wages backdated to July last year.
Some of the affected workers, who spoke to Southern Eye, but refused to be named, said they feared victimisation.
They alleged that Yi Zhang is abusing them.
“These guys are just beating people; yesterday (Saturday) he (Yi Zhang) assaulted two workers.
“We made a police report at Waterford in Bulawayo, and the Chinese rushed to Hillside Police Station in a bid to block any legal action against them,” one of the mine workers said.
“Two people were assaulted, after several workers gathered to demand their salaries which are outstanding from July last year.
“The workers were asking for a written agreement on how they will recover their outstanding money. Those who were assaulted are Constan Masa and Tatenda Mangena,” he said.
As a result of beatings, Mangena is said to have sustained injuries on the arm, while Masa was injured on his private parts.
The workers alleged that the Chinese employer pays them any amount that he deems fit, instead of paying their stipulated wages.
Fools Investment Mine manager Thabani Masuku confirmed the incident, adding that it stemmed from a petition which the workers submitted last Friday.
“They were asking for their money and they had submitted a petition saying their concerns should be looked into by January 31 before they take action on the employer,” Masuku said.
“I took the petition to the director, and he said he will look into it. He later sent away the workers who had gathered.
“The next day (Saturday), he assigned some workers to work, but other employees stopped them from performing the duties, saying they must wait until workers’ grievances are addressed.”
Masuku said the Chinese director then started taking pictures and when the workers asked him why he was doing that a scuffle ensued.
“He attacked the workers with fists and later took a shovel which he used to attack one of the workers and injured him on the arm.
“During the scuffle, a security guard fired a shot and the mine director rushed to the office and brought a gun which he pointed at Masa, before calming down and handing it to the guard,” he said.
In their petition, the workers demanded a timeframe for the supply of personnel protective equipment, since they had none.
They also demanded backdated pay to July 2020.
Other demands included provision of information on pay dates, and that their salaries must be paid in US dollars.
National Union of Mines Quarrying, Iron and Steel Workers of Zimbabwe regional officer Abraham Kavalanjila confirmed the incident.
“We condemn this barbaric act by these employers. The law has to take its course. No one is above the law. We will not allow such behaviour targeted at workers. There must be no racial discrimination, the Labour Act is clear.
“As a union we will work 24 hours a day and seven days a week until this matter is resolved in terms of the law,” Kavalanjila said.
Zhang’s spokesperson Han Le’s phone was not reachable.
Bulawayo Police spokesperson, Inspector Abednicho Ncube referred Southern Eye to national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi who was not picking calls.
By A Correspondent| A Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) leader Allan Moyo who has spent more than 40 days in prison will appear at High Court on Tuesday 19 January 2021, where a Judge will hear and make a determination on his bail application.
Setting down and hearing of Moyo’s bail application at High Court was delayed after his lawyer Obey Shava of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights encountered some challenges in securing the UZ student’s record of proceedings from Harare Magistrates Court, where he was denied bail by Magistrate Judith Taruvinga, who in December 2020 ruled that he is a flight risk as he could abscond standing trial.
Moyo, a University of Zimbabwe student was arrested on Monday 7 December 2020 by Zimbabwe Republic Police members and charged with incitement to commit public violence as defined in section 187(1)(a) of the Criminal Law(Codification and Reform) Act as read with section 36(1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act after he allegedly called for a revolt against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
Prosecutors claim that the 23 year-old Moyo incited some commuters on 3 July 2020 at Copacabana bus terminus in Harare when he addressed and told them that the time to stage a revolt against President Mnangagwa’s administration in Zimbabwe was conducive as the ZANU PF party leader has failed the people of Zimbabwe.
Prosecutors also alleged that Moyo told commuters that President Mnangagwa’s government was not capable of presiding over the country’s affairs as it has presided over the suffering of people in Zimbabwe
By A Correspondent| MISA Zimbabwe has filed an urgent application with the High Court for an order compelling the responsible ministries to widely disseminate comprehensive information on both private and public testing, isolation and treatment of COVID-19.
The Minister of Health and Child Care, and the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, are cited in the application as first and second respondents respectively.
In its application, MISA Zimbabwe says the information and reportage being disseminated on the current public health situation in the country is incomplete, uninformative, and inadequate.
In that regard, MISA Zimbabwe contends the current information fails to take into consideration the requirements of all citizens in Zimbabwe.
This application comes on the backdrop of an earlier one filed by the organisation in April 2020 wherein the High Court ordered the two ministries to ‘publish and disseminate on all available platforms, the daily COVID-19 updates in all the official languages.’
It is MISA Zimbabwe’s argument that the quality of information being disseminated is poor and shortchanging the citizens as no information has been disseminated on the new strain of COVID-19.
There is also no information as to the statistics emanating from private health facilities.
“There is no information advising the public of the new variant of COVID-19, its pathology and whether such variant has been detected in Zimbabwe.
“In fact, there is no information as to whether the 1st Respondent is even testing for the new COVID-19 variant. The amount of cross-border interaction with South Africa makes Zimbabwe particularly susceptible to exposure” says MISA Zimbabwe.
MISA Zimbabwe also highlighted that:
“Critically there is no information as to the statistics emanating from private health care providers such as the number of tests that have been conducted by such facilities, the attendant results, various aggregation of those results around gender age and location.
“All this information is critical in regards to public awareness and well as delimiting the true state of the public health emergency.”
It further argues that there is still no information on the nature and quantity of equipment available in the designated public and private institutions in Zimbabwe to deal with the resurgent pandemic.
“We are in a second and more dangerous wave of the virus and it is important that the public is made aware of the state of preparedness,” says MISA Zimbabwe.
— Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe (@ChineseZimbabwe) January 18, 2021
By A Correspondent- The Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe has issued a statement saying it is not fair to hold the entire Chinese community over a 25seconds video published below.
We publish below the developments which led to the above video as published by a local publication, Newsday:
Two mine workers at the Fools Investment Mine in Hope Fountain, which is just outside Bulawayo, were last Saturday assaulted by their Chinese employer after they demanded payment of their outstanding wages.
Their employer, Zhong Yi Zhang allegedly owes workers’ wages backdated to July last year.
Some of the affected workers, who spoke to Southern Eye, but refused to be named, said they feared victimisation.
They alleged that Yi Zhang is abusing them.
“These guys are just beating people; yesterday (Saturday) he (Yi Zhang) assaulted two workers.
“We made a police report at Waterford in Bulawayo, and the Chinese rushed to Hillside Police Station in a bid to block any legal action against them,” one of the mine workers said.
“Two people were assaulted, after several workers gathered to demand their salaries which are outstanding from July last year.
“The workers were asking for a written agreement on how they will recover their outstanding money. Those who were assaulted are Constan Masa and Tatenda Mangena,” he said.
As a result of beatings, Mangena is said to have sustained injuries on the arm, while Masa was injured on his private parts.
The workers alleged that the Chinese employer pays them any amount that he deems fit, instead of paying their stipulated wages.
Fools Investment Mine manager Thabani Masuku confirmed the incident, adding that it stemmed from a petition which the workers submitted last Friday.
“They were asking for their money and they had submitted a petition saying their concerns should be looked into by January 31 before they take action on the employer,” Masuku said.
“I took the petition to the director, and he said he will look into it. He later sent away the workers who had gathered.
“The next day (Saturday), he assigned some workers to work, but other employees stopped them from performing the duties, saying they must wait until workers’ grievances are addressed.”
Masuku said the Chinese director then started taking pictures and when the workers asked him why he was doing that a scuffle ensued.
“He attacked the workers with fists and later took a shovel which he used to attack one of the workers and injured him on the arm.
“During the scuffle, a security guard fired a shot and the mine director rushed to the office and brought a gun which he pointed at Masa, before calming down and handing it to the guard,” he said.
In their petition, the workers demanded a timeframe for the supply of personnel protective equipment, since they had none.
They also demanded backdated pay to July 2020.
Other demands included provision of information on pay dates, and that their salaries must be paid in US dollars.
National Union of Mines Quarrying, Iron and Steel Workers of Zimbabwe regional officer Abraham Kavalanjila confirmed the incident.
“We condemn this barbaric act by these employers. The law has to take its course. No one is above the law. We will not allow such behaviour targeted at workers. There must be no racial discrimination, the Labour Act is clear.
“As a union we will work 24 hours a day and seven days a week until this matter is resolved in terms of the law,” Kavalanjila said.
Zhang’s spokesperson Han Le’s phone was not reachable.
Bulawayo Police spokesperson, Inspector Abednicho Ncube referred Southern Eye to national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi who was not picking calls.
— Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe (@ChineseZimbabwe) January 18, 2021
By A Correspondent- The Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe has issued a statement saying it is not fair to hold the entire Chinese community over a 25seconds video published below.
We publish below the developments which led to the above video as published by a local publication, Newsday:
Two mine workers at the Fools Investment Mine in Hope Fountain, which is just outside Bulawayo, were last Saturday assaulted by their Chinese employer after they demanded payment of their outstanding wages.
Their employer, Zhong Yi Zhang allegedly owes workers’ wages backdated to July last year.
Some of the affected workers, who spoke to Southern Eye, but refused to be named, said they feared victimisation.
They alleged that Yi Zhang is abusing them.
“These guys are just beating people; yesterday (Saturday) he (Yi Zhang) assaulted two workers.
“We made a police report at Waterford in Bulawayo, and the Chinese rushed to Hillside Police Station in a bid to block any legal action against them,” one of the mine workers said.
“Two people were assaulted, after several workers gathered to demand their salaries which are outstanding from July last year.
“The workers were asking for a written agreement on how they will recover their outstanding money. Those who were assaulted are Constan Masa and Tatenda Mangena,” he said. As a result of beatings, Mangena is said to have sustained injuries on the arm, while Masa was injured on his private parts.
The workers alleged that the Chinese employer pays them any amount that he deems fit, instead of paying their stipulated wages.
Fools Investment Mine manager Thabani Masuku confirmed the incident, adding that it stemmed from a petition which the workers submitted last Friday.
“They were asking for their money and they had submitted a petition saying their concerns should be looked into by January 31 before they take action on the employer,” Masuku said.
“I took the petition to the director, and he said he will look into it. He later sent away the workers who had gathered.
“The next day (Saturday), he assigned some workers to work, but other employees stopped them from performing the duties, saying they must wait until workers’ grievances are addressed.”
Masuku said the Chinese director then started taking pictures and when the workers asked him why he was doing that a scuffle ensued.
“He attacked the workers with fists and later took a shovel which he used to attack one of the workers and injured him on the arm.
“During the scuffle, a security guard fired a shot and the mine director rushed to the office and brought a gun which he pointed at Masa, before calming down and handing it to the guard,” he said.
In their petition, the workers demanded a timeframe for the supply of personnel protective equipment, since they had none.
They also demanded backdated pay to July 2020.
Other demands included provision of information on pay dates, and that their salaries must be paid in US dollars.
National Union of Mines Quarrying, Iron and Steel Workers of Zimbabwe regional officer Abraham Kavalanjila confirmed the incident.
“We condemn this barbaric act by these employers. The law has to take its course. No one is above the law. We will not allow such behaviour targeted at workers. There must be no racial discrimination, the Labour Act is clear.
“As a union we will work 24 hours a day and seven days a week until this matter is resolved in terms of the law,” Kavalanjila said.
Zhang’s spokesperson Han Le’s phone was not reachable.
Bulawayo Police spokesperson, Inspector Abednicho Ncube referred Southern Eye to national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi who was not picking calls.
By A Correspondent| Informal traders are creeping back into Harare’s central business district (CBD) as they begin to feel the pinch of the 30-day Level 4 lockdown announced by Health Minister, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.
The lockdown was prompted by a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths caused by the second wave of the pandemic.
Only essential services – which include hospitals, law firms, media, funeral parlours, pharmacies and supermarkets have remained open while the rest are supposed to stay home. However, with more than 80 percent of Zimbabwe’s population working in the informal sector, many families were immediately plunged into poverty.
Cornered and desperate, vendors and other informal traders have begun to defy lockdown measures. Nhau went around some popular informal trade areas where Zimbabweans have begun emerging in droves to earn some money in a bid to food on the table.
Linnet Shoko, who sells imported clothes in Mbare told Nhau that there was nothing else she could do to raise funds to feed and clothe her two minor children after her husband passed away a year ago.
“Yes, I am aware of the current lockdown measures but I have no choice as I have to feed and clothe my children. We are playing cat and mouse games with the police trying to avoid arrest while earning a living,” she said.
Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZICEA) secretary-general Wisborn Malaya told Nhau that his organisation was pushing Government to release cushioning allowances promised to its members.
Malaya said without those allowances, their members would be forced to find ways of making ends meet.
“The second wave has really shown that it is a serious disease. We want as many people to keep safe. We continue to send awareness through our different platforms for people to adhere to sanitisation, social distancing and staying at home,” said Malaya.
“On the other hand, we have a huge underlying problem. When Government introduced this lockdown they did not provide cushioning allowances for people to stay at home. So this is the major issue affecting the people who live from hand to mouth. They are going to jiggle around so that they put food on their table.
“This is the big challenge we have as a country and we need that collective approach to encourage Government to speed up the process of cushion allowances. On the 10th of January Government released a statement that they had availed about Z$3.5 billion to take care of the vulnerable including informal traders but so far we have not seen any action regarding that cushioning support. Government must quickly expedite that.”
Malaya added that it seemed as though the informal sector was being unfairly targeted as more businesses continue to open their doors.
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the increasing disregard for Covid-19 protocols by the public was concerning.
Nyathi said despite arresting over 2000 people daily, the public remained arrogant and complacent. He urged the media to complement police efforts by making the public more aware of the deadly effects of the disease.
“We are arresting over 2000 people nationwide per day violating the national lockdown measures but it appears most are not valuing their lives by being arrogant and complacent.
“People are not taking Covid-19 seriously and we will keep on dealing with these lockdown violators. It is not about being arrested that matters, it is about your health and the health of others. May the media chip in by spreading awareness,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s economy has been struggling even way before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in March last year, but the lockdown has brought misery to the common man who is not formerly employed.
By A Correspondent- Former Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Professor Jonathan Moyo says he regrets comments he made during his time as Minister of Information about the disappearance of Itai Dzamara in 2015.
Moyo who is in exile said his comments were informed by a security report that had been presented to Cabinet by then Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi.
Mohadi is reported to have told Cabinet that Dzamara’s disappearance was staged to put pressure on the Zanu-PF government.
Speaking to Q Dube on Magamba TV’s Take Down, Professor Moyo said, “Where is he, I wish I knew where he is, the record will show that when he disappeared in 2015, I was Minister of Information, and in May 2015 in an interview on Hard Talk, I made remarks about him or his whereabouts which were most unfortunate and very regrettable and I expressed my regret while I was still in government in June 2016,” he said.
According to Professor Moyo, Kembo Mohadi as Minister of Home Affairs had given a report in Cabinet on behalf of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Joint Operation Command that the Dzamara issue was meant to pressure the government.
“…their report to us in Cabinet was that Itai had disappeared as an internal job to put pressure on the government and we had to find a way of presenting that view.
“But still when we were in government it became obvious that in fact he had been abducted and had been abducted by the security organs and the question is was it a JOC abduction, or a CIO abduction
“What you and Zimbabweans must know is that there is no crime, serious crime involving a disappearance or murder or abduction that is not resolved in Zimbabwe unless it is done by the security forces.
“The only crimes of that nature that have never been resolved in Zimbabwe have been done by the state and we can count them, right from the days of Gukurahundi, from the Majonga issue, Rashiwe Guzha, Cain Nkala, Jestina Mukoko, all these people up to now.
“What happened to young Tawanda Muchehiwa those crimes that are not resolved of that nature without exception are perpetrated by the state security organs, either one of them or all of them in a joint operation and there is a common pattern about them, the way the abductees go,” he said.
Moyo who is also a critic of the Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime highlighted that his father abducted in the same manner as with the others, before being tortured and killed.
“My own Father was abducted, tortured and murdered when the Gukurahundi 5th Brigade was first deployed, its very first action in January 1983.
“The very action of Gukurahundi were to abduct, torture and murder people in Tsholotsho, its first area of operation was in Tsholotsho, that patten has continued to this day and the people on the ground, the field operatives, the enforcers who were behind those atrocities are the one who are now in charge of the political system and Zimbabweans need to treat these issues with the seriousness they deserve,” he said.
Dzamara who was a critic of the late President Robert Mugabe was reportedly abducted from a barbershop by men believed to be CIOs who were travelling in unmarked twin-cab vehicles.
Despite many campaigns calling for his return, both the regimes of Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa have been reluctant to bring the issue to finality.
By A Correspondent- With just two weeks into the tightened lockdown, locals are already showing signs of fatigue if the clash between media personality MisRed and raunchy dancer, Bev Sibanda today is anything to go by.
What seemed like an innocent tweet by MisRed where she insinuated that Bev Sibanda was not the dancer’s real name, ended up getting really messy as Bev did not take this kindly.
“Ah, so Ray isn’t your actual actual name. It’s like the day I found out that Bev Sibanda isn’t her real name. I’m shook,” tweeted MisRed after realising that comedian, Ray Vines name is actually Melusi Chiripowako.
Bev who has been under the radar mainly due to the lockdown clearly did not like MisRed’s sentiments at all and resurfaced to defend herself. In true Bev style, she came out with all her weapons, mudslinging and body shaming MisRed in the process.
“MisRed, zvikumbo zvinenge chimwana chenzou,” responded Bev with an image of her ID which proved that her birth name is indeed Beverly Sibanda.
Due to a lack of entertainment, people were excited by this clash with some like former minister, Fortune Chasi watering the clash by making it comical.
“MisRed, you were not in my corner during that match. Now look I won,” tweeted Chasi.
MisRed who has become a common victim of such clashes on social media seems to have adapted as she apologised to Bev timely for offending her. Thereafter, she proudly posted an image of her thighs and tweeted: “shout out to all the girls with baby elephant sized thighs”.
Following this clash, it has become apparent that locals are hungry for entertainment and personalities may want to start giving them the desired content because after all, that, according to last year’s happenings, is the only way that one can remain relevant during the lockdown. With little or no controversy, one can easily be forgotten.
Media watchdog, MISA Zimbabwe has filed an urgent High Court application for an order compelling key government ministries, Health under acting President Constantino Chiwenga, and Information, to disseminate information on ongoing Covid-19 testing, isolation and treatment programmes.
By A Correspondent- Alex Magaisa, a former advisor to late former Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has challenged MDC-T chairperson Morgen Komichi to apologise to the MDC Alliance members of Parliament and councillors who were recalled by his party last year before calling for unity.
This comes after Komichi had asked Magaisa and another academic, Pedzsai Ruhanya to “provide solutions for Zimbabwe, not insults” and “to let the youths insult and stone throw”. In response to Komichi Magaisa said:
Senator [Morgen Komichi] my attention has been drawn to your public post [below]. We have worked together well in the past, so the respect is mutual.
However, I have to say it has been much diminished by your conduct last year when you joined in the subversion of the people’s will.
The arrogance and pleasure with which you and your chums wielded the axe against fellow MPs and councillors was a most horrendous and disagreeable sight.
A man does not urinate on the heads of people and then ask them why they are unhappy with him. It was you who threw stones first.
Therefore, Senator, with great respect, you’re not in a position to take the moral high ground as you’re trying to do; playing the humble servant when there’s utter carnage behind you.
You should look at those people – voters, MPs, councillors – in the eye and at least apologise.
When you were axing elected representatives, grabbing money due to the MDC Alliance claiming they were yours and imposing losers like Khupe into Parliament, it was you guys who were insulting not only the voters but democracy itself. You were throwing stones, Senator Komichi.
At the time, we tried to appeal to your conscience. We did. But you would hear none of it.
You were high on borrowed power. Now your fellow representatives are redundant, voters have no representation while some have charlatans that you imposed. Now you play the meek card?
I know you like to quote the scriptures, Senator. When the prodigal son left, squandered his fortune and became desperate it was not the father who went to the son, no.
It was the son who returned and apologised. He did not call his father to come to join him when he had nothing.
I don’t think the lesson is lost on you. The prodigal son does not say, “come here father, let us eat together” when he has nothing in his plate.
If you truly believe in what you say, you know where home is. Return if you wish and show respect to the people you disrespected.
Hello Mukoma Simba. Hide ID am in Zim ndingaurayiwe. I have my real name apa. What I want to say about the demands to delete the interview with Oppah is DON’T DELETE. Iwo pawanotinyepera everyday pa ZBC wanonzi nani Delete? Right now wana Hope wari mujeri for saying the truth. Wajaira to intimidate people. Kuti we all dance to their tune. If you delete mukoma Simba it means you are a Coward and you realise you are wrong. If you stand by the Truth then you will have the interview stand. Musakwatiswe, if anything the interview should be translated into as many languages as possible . Taneta nawo wanhu awa.
Mr @DMwonzora, you cheat on your own wife, you drive around Zimbabwe pleasuring yourself on other women, everyone in the country sees this, and then in 2021 you start accusing me of destroying your marriage, are you saying I am the one who sent those women after you?
Statement by the Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe.
The victim suffered dog bites and as was said, “fed to dogs”
The Chinese Embassy has taken note of a short video circulated by some on social media purportedly showing a fight between a local man and his employers. The Chinese Embassy supports a fair and transparent handling of all violations of law by the Zimbabwean authorities, regardless of whom is involved. It is important that a complete and truthful account of the incident is made available. Trial by some on social media, based on partial information in a video of only 25 seconds, is not helpful. The whole truth of the incident has not been established. It is wrong and dangerous to hold the entire Chinese community responsible for what happens in this unclear incident.
By Tatenda Chimuti | One of the statements caught on the #Gwaradzimbagate audio is quite revealing on what’s going on at ZBC. Muchinguri complained that they’re doing nothing to spread COVID19 awareness, instead they’re busy promoting themselves. (VIDEO)
One wonders, has Oppah Muchinguri brought this issue to Cabinet Meetings? What does Monica Mutsvangwa have to say about this? Being told she’s doing nothing about the pandemic and yet people are dying. What about the former British Mental Health nurse, Nick Mangwana? Why have they not done anything about spreading awareness? Is it enough to just put TV adverts?
As Secretary of Information what improvements have been made since Zororo Makamba passed away around this time last. Nick choses to bully Human Rights activists and exchanging political banter with the opposition.
Hope they got the message. Hey Nick, not everyone is in Twitter. Start spreading awareness. The same way you spread t-shirts and food packages during elections.
Got a surprise visit from the Managing Director for CBZ’s Agro-Yield Mr Walter Chigodora to assess if we have put to good use the inputs we got. Am proud of our crop this season as it is looking very good and is great value for the amount of inputs we have utilised.
ZIMBABWE international Tendayi Darikwa finally tasted competitive league football for the first time in 18 months with a man-of-the-match shift as his new club Wigan Athletic settled for the share of spoils in a six-goal thriller against Rochdale in the English League One on Saturday.
The 29-year-old completed his move from Championship Nottingham Forest last week. However, the Zimbabwean defender was unlucky not to bag maximum points on debut after Wigan Athletic allowed 10-man Rochdale to come back from the dead by conceding a 96th-minute equaliser as the match ended in a 3-3 draw.
Darikwa, who is a key member of the Zimbabwe national team in the current Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, was naturally relieved with his first outing for Wigan.
According to a report from the Nottingham Post, the industrious fullback showed no signs of rustiness on his return to league football despite spending a year-and-a-half on the sidelines due to injury.
UK publication, Wigan Today, gave him a rating of 8/10 and named him as their man-of-the-match.-The Herald
A humongous crocodile caused panic at Chiredzi District Hospital on Monday morning after it was spotted in a storm drain at the health facility.
Acting Chiredzi District Hospital medical superintendent Dr David Tarumbwa confirmed the incident but said the reptile did not attack anyone from the time it was spotted at around 4 AM until it was captured and translocated by a team from Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority(Zimparks). He said:
It was just a crocodile that was seen within the hospital area around 4 am but it did not attack anyone. No one was injured.
The situation was managed very well and the crocodile was taken by Zimparks and deposited in Chiredzi River.
We thank God that the situation was managed bit a crocodile is dangerous even to a beast(cow) what more to a human being.
I think there’s a need to improve security at institutions like hospitals because there is a lot of movement caused by heavy rains that have been falling.
The development was substantiated by Chiredzi District Administrator and Civil Protection Unit chair Lovemore Chisema.
Chisema refuted claims that huge reptile might be the work of juju, saying it could have strayed from a canal because of rising water levels. He said:
Yes, we woke up this morning(Monday) to a scare over a crocodile that was in a storm drain at Chiredzi Hospital but it didn’t attack anyone until it was removed from the place by a team from Zimparks.
The good thing is that authorities at the hospital managed to make sure the crocodile remained at the same place(storm drain) until it was removed by guys from parks who tool it to Chiredzi River about 16km from the hospital.
Heavy rains have been falling here for days and these animals(crocodiles) even also get confused sometimes so maybe it just strayed from a canal because of rising water levels. I don’t think there is more to it.-The Herald
ZIMBABWE international Tendayi Darikwa finally tasted competitive league football for the first time in 18 months with a man-of-the-match shift as his new club Wigan Athletic settled for the share of spoils in a six-goal thriller against Rochdale in the English League One on Saturday.
The 29-year-old completed his move from Championship Nottingham Forest last week. However, the Zimbabwean defender was unlucky not to bag maximum points on debut after Wigan Athletic allowed 10-man Rochdale to come back from the dead by conceding a 96th-minute equaliser as the match ended in a 3-3 draw.
Darikwa, who is a key member of the Zimbabwe national team in the current Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, was naturally relieved with his first outing for Wigan.
According to a report from the Nottingham Post, the industrious fullback showed no signs of rustiness on his return to league football despite spending a year-and-a-half on the sidelines due to injury.
UK publication, Wigan Today, gave him a rating of 8/10 and named him as their man-of-the-match.-The Herald
The Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC A) is deeply concerned by the just-ended fundamentally flawed elections in Uganda.
The elections were marred by human rights abuses and fell short of regional and international standards governing democratic elections including the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
We urge the international community to hold President Yoweri Museveni’s government to account and not to lower the bar for free, fair and democratic elections as doing so encourages dictators across the African continent.
Despite criticising African leaders who subverted democratic processes to remain in power during his early days, President Yoweri Museveni manipulated the country’s Constitution to remove the presidential age limit in order to extend his stay in power as one of Africa’s longest-serving authoritarian leaders.
In the run-up to the January 2021 elections, 54 citizens were killed and dozens of others were arrested following riots that were triggered by the arrest of Presidential Candidate Bobi Wine for allegedly violating Covid 19 regulations whilst internet was shutdown.
Arrests of independent monitors, denial of accreditation to international observer missions and the current house arrest of President Bobi Wine have also seriously and negatively affected the credibility of the elections.
Contrary to the impetus that propelled the struggle for liberation across Africa including the principle of one man one vote’, we have observed a rise in electoral authoritarianism or elections without democracy in countries such as Uganda, Zimbabwe and Tanzania where elections have become rituals for authoritarian consolidation.
In these countries, elections have been punctuated by the weaponization of the law, abuse of state resources and institutions, violence, intimidation, and outright rigging among a menu of electoral manipulation.
We implore the African Union and the international community to unreservedly hold to account countries that do not respect democratic principles and human rights in line with international norms and practises as not doing promotes undemocratic elections and authoritarianism.
A humongous crocodile caused panic at Chiredzi District Hospital on Monday morning after it was spotted in a storm drain at the health facility.
Acting Chiredzi District Hospital medical superintendent Dr David Tarumbwa confirmed the incident but said the reptile did not attack anyone from the time it was spotted at around 4 AM until it was captured and translocated by a team from Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority(Zimparks). He said:
It was just a crocodile that was seen within the hospital area around 4 am but it did not attack anyone. No one was injured.
The situation was managed very well and the crocodile was taken by Zimparks and deposited in Chiredzi River.
We thank God that the situation was managed bit a crocodile is dangerous even to a beast(cow) what more to a human being.
I think there’s a need to improve security at institutions like hospitals because there is a lot of movement caused by heavy rains that have been falling.
The development was substantiated by Chiredzi District Administrator and Civil Protection Unit chair Lovemore Chisema.
Chisema refuted claims that huge reptile might be the work of juju, saying it could have strayed from a canal because of rising water levels. He said:
Yes, we woke up this morning(Monday) to a scare over a crocodile that was in a storm drain at Chiredzi Hospital but it didn’t attack anyone until it was removed from the place by a team from Zimparks.
The good thing is that authorities at the hospital managed to make sure the crocodile remained at the same place(storm drain) until it was removed by guys from parks who tool it to Chiredzi River about 16km from the hospital.
Heavy rains have been falling here for days and these animals(crocodiles) even also get confused sometimes so maybe it just strayed from a canal because of rising water levels. I don’t think there is more to it.-The Herald
Tinashe Sambiri|The MDC Alliance is unrolling a massive recruitment process that will counter Zanu PF’s election rigging tactics.
According to MDC Alliance Secretary General, Hon Charlton Hwende, there is need to come up with ways of preventing ballot stuffing and announcement of fake results.
Said Hon Hwende:
The biggest challenge during an election is ensuring that voters exercise their choice freely after that choice securing that vote by preventing ballot stuffing and announcement of a fake result.
A Comprehensive parallel voter tabulation system and physically securing a polling station with Adquate people to beef up Elections agents is the answer.
With 10 000 polling stations assuming that 10 People can adequately secure a station and monitor even the official party agents because some are bought off by a ruling party you need at 100 000 Elections officials.
This requires money a lot of money and as long as we don’t supplement our vote with a donation to a party of our choice it’s very difficult to prevent rigging on a shoe string budget.
We must mobilize voters and mobilize financial resources as well.
Headache is one of the commonest complaints. The reality is that headaches have caused us to overuse the “over the counter” self medications such as paracetamol, aspirin, Paineeze, cafenol, disprin, anadin etc depending on what your nearest store has in stock. Did you know that paracetamol is one of the drugs that is very toxic to the liver?
PRIMARY HEADACHES:
These are headaches directly emanating from head area.
TENSION headache is the commonest type of primary headache. It feels like one has a tight band tied across the forehead. Can also be described as pressure headache.
SINUS headache is experienced when the sinuses are inflamed/infected.
MIGRAINE headache is usually one sided and preceded by funny strange smells or funny visuals. It has gradual onset. Can be relieved by vomiting.
CLUSTER headache. Always one sided headache and is usually around the eye. The 5th cranial nerve called Trigeminal nerve is involved. Lasts about 3 hours. Typically can present with the dropping of the eyelid, pupil is unable to dilate, some nasal discharge is present and tears run down the cheek.
HORMONAL headache is common in women around their monthly periods due to a drop in the levels of estrogen.
SECONDARY HEADACHES: These headaches are a result of underlying serious medical problems such as systemic conditions like cancer, high blood pressure, flu, meningitis, bleeding in the head, anaemia, brain tumors and inflammation of the temporal artery in the sides of the head.
OTHER CAUSES of headache can be dehydration, lack of sleep, toothache, stress, anxiety, side effects of other medications. Some people can have headache from family planning tablets.
I urge you to think about what could be causing your headache before jumping to take the nearest available painkiller. Always address the cause
Dr AJ 11/01/21
Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
For more information follow /like our Facebook page :Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
Former CAPS United chairman Shephard Bwanya has died.
The ex-football administrator passed on at West End clinic in Harare after suffering a stroke.
The Green Machine announced the news in a statement, saying: “It is with great sadness that we announce the sad death of our former Chairman Mr Shepherd Bwanya.
“We would like to officially express our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
“As a club, we recognise and appreciate with honour Mr Bwanya’s successful time at Caps United Football Club. He was the Chairman of the all-conquering side, The Class of ’96 which took CAPS United to new heights of football excellence after winning our first league title in the post-Independence era.
“We will forever remember and cherish Mr Bwanyas contributions to the successful history of our club.”
CAPS United won the 1996 league title under the leadership of Bwanya. The Harare giants also lifted the BP League Cup, Charity Shield, and the Independence Trophy.-Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
Chibabalest @fortunechasi : "…But I just have a question for you: when you were talking with Mai Muchinguri, while crying, were you really crying or you were just trying to extract information? @schikanza answers: "… I was doing more than crying… " pic.twitter.com/3ghqw597YM
Chibabalest @fortunechasi : "…But I just have a question for you: when you were talking with Mai Muchinguri, while crying, were you really crying or you were just trying to extract information? @schikanza answers: "… I was doing more than crying… " pic.twitter.com/3ghqw597YM
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance National Spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere has been granted bail by a Harare magistrate.
Advocate Mahere was granted RTGS $ 10 000 bail by Magistrate Utahwashe.
“The People’s Spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere was granted RTGS10000 bail by Magistrate Utahwashe. She was ordered to Reside at her given address.
She will report to the police station every Friday and has been ordered to surrender her passport,” MDC Alliance said.
Advocate Mahere is expected to appear in court on February 23.
The MDC Alliance has also indicated that the State is seeking to rekove Harare Mayor, Councillor Jacob Mafume’s bail.
” The mayor of the capital city, Harare, cllr Jacob Mafume has been remanded out of custody to the 23rd of February 2021.
Despite being granted bail by the High Court the State is now seeking to revoke that bail on the same nefarious charges that he interferes with a witness. This allegation the High Court dismissed with contempt. State actions are malicious &vindictive. Cllr Mafume is however in Covid-19 quarantine.”
"the problem that we have is when a person is very powerful in politics they don't want to see him, so as they are saying Chinotimba is sick, with COVID, I am here, I am straight, straight here, no COVID no what. I'm the people's Chinos, those who wish me dead will be 1st to go" pic.twitter.com/59joiPyHRv
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance National Spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere has been granted bail by a Harare magistrate.
Advocate Mahere was granted RTGS $ 10 000 bail by Magistrate Utahwashe.
“The People’s Spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere was granted RTGS10000 bail by Magistrate Utahwashe. She was ordered to Reside at her given address.
She will report to the police station every Friday and has been ordered to surrender her passport,” MDC Alliance said.
Advocate Mahere is expected to appear in court on February 23.
The MDC Alliance has also indicated that the State is seeking to rekove Harare Mayor, Councillor Jacob Mafume’s bail.
” The mayor of the capital city, Harare, cllr Jacob Mafume has been remanded out of custody to the 23rd of February 2021.
Despite being granted bail by the High Court the State is now seeking to revoke that bail on the same nefarious charges that he interferes with a witness. This allegation the High Court dismissed with contempt. State actions are malicious &vindictive. Cllr Mafume is however in Covid-19 quarantine.”
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi got his marching orders in extra time as Barcelona lost the 2020/21 Spanish Super Cup to Athletic Bilbao 3-2.
The Argentine ace was given a red card for the first time in his Barcelona career, in extra time injury for an off the ball incident at the Estadio de la Cartuja.
The dramatic final was decided by an Inaki Williams wonder strike in extra time after the two sides had played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in regulation time.
Antoine Giezmann thrust the Catalans ahead five minutes before the half time break. A goal-bound shot by Messi was blocked but the Frenchman slotted home the rebound.
Bilbao levelled matters barely two minutes later; De Marcos finding the equalizer on the stroke of halt time. 1-1 at the break.
Griezmann got his and Barcelona’s second when he finished off a Jodi Alba pass to make it 2-1 in the 77th minute.
That looked to be the winner, but Bilbao restored parity right at the death, Asier Villalibre finding the all important leveler to send the clash into extra time.
Three minutes after the start of first half extra time, Williams struck for Bilbao to give them a 3-2 lead before Messi was shown a red card late on.-Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
Mesut Ozil is set to undergo his medical at Turkish giants Fenerbahce.
The midfielder is expected to join the club as a free agent after agreeing to terminate his contract with Arsenal with six months remaining.
The 32-year-old, who is the Gunners’ highest earner, has not played since March after being frozen out by manager Mikel Arteta.
In confirming his proposed move, Ozil told NTV, as cited by the Mirror: “I am so happy. I’m a Fenerbahce fan. God wanted me to play football in Fenerbahce. I’m proud.
“I am coming tonight with my family to Istanbul, thank God who gave me the opportunity to represent this club. I will wear the shirt with pride.”-Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
The Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC A) is deeply concerned by the just ended fundamentally flawed elections in Uganda. The elections were marred by human rights abuses and fell short of regional and international standards governing democratic elections including the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
We urge the international community to hold President Yoweri Museveni’s government to account and not to lower the bar for free, fair and democratic elections as doing so encourages dictators across the African continent. Despite critising African leaders who subverted democratic processes to remain in power during his early days, President Yoweri Museveni manipulated the country’s Constitution to remove the presidential age limit in order to extend his stay in power as one of Africa’s longest serving authoritarian leaders.
In the run-up to the January 2021 elections, 54 citizens were killed and dozens others were arrested following riots that were triggered by the arrest of Presidential Candidate Bobi Wine for allegedly violating Covid 19 regulations whilst internet was shutdown.
Arrests of independent monitors, denial of accreditation to international observer missions and the current house arrest of President Bobi Wine have also seriously and negatively affected the credibility of the elections.
Contrary to the impetus that propelled the struggle for liberation across Africa including the principle of ‘one man one vote’, we have observed a rise in electoral authoritarianism or elections without democracy in countries such as Uganda, Zimbabwe and Tanzania where elections have become rituals for authoritarian consolidation.
In these countries, elections have been punctuated by weaponization of the law, abuse of state resources and institutions, violence, intimidation, and outright rigging among a menu of electoral manipulation. We implore the African Union and the international community to unreservedly hold to account countries that do not respect democratic principles and human rights in line with international norms and practises as not doing promotes undemocratic elections and authoritarianism.
The People’s President Adv N Chamisa pays tribute to e late Baba Mpofu senior ( father to the Zimbabwean Top laywer Adv Thabani (Falcrum)Mpofu ‘in Kadoma yesterday…..
Warriors coach Zdravko Logarusic is targeting maximum points against Burkina Faso on Wednesday.
The Warriors suffered a 1-0 loss to Cameroon in their opening match of the African Championship (CHAN) and are currently on the bottom of Group A.
Logarusic is now looking to pick his first points against the Stallions.
“The Burkina Faso game is different altogether,” he said. “We know for certain that even a draw may not be enough at the end judging from where we want to be at the end of the tournament.
“We will adjust obviously. Burkina Faso are not Cameroon. We are all playing away from home and we will punch hard. We need a result and I have told the boys to go at them right from the start.”
Kick-off is at 9 pm Zimbabwean time.- Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
Kuda Mahachi and Onismor Bhasera both started for SuperSport United in their goalless draw with Mamelodi Sundowns in a top-of-the table Tswane derby.
George Chigova was on the bench for Kaitano Tembo’s side, who are now third on the table.
Ovidy Karuru started for Black Leopards in their impressive 2-0 win over Orlando Pirates. For the Buccaneers, Terrence Dzvukamanja came on in the second half.
Neither Khama Billiat nor Willard Katsande featured in Kaizer Chiefs’ 2-1 win over Cape Town City. Billiat is injured while Katsande was not in the squad for unknown reasons.
Elvis Chipezeze was in goal when Baroka lost 0-1 in-form Swallows.
Devine Lunga played well in Golden Arrows’ 1-0 win over TTM, in a game in which Knox Mutizwa returned to the starting line up for the Durban-based side.
Danny Phiri, who recently recovered after a long lay-off, was not in the squad.-Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
The most common symptoms of Covid-19 are: fever, dry cough and fatigue.
Other symptoms that are less common and may affect some patients include: loss of taste or smell; nasal congestion; conjunctivitis (also known as red eyes); sore throat; headache; muscle or joint pain; different types of skin rash; nausea or vomiting; diarrhoea; chills or dizziness. Symptoms of severe Covid-19 disease include: shortness of breath; loss of appetite; confusion; persistent pain or pressure in the chest; and high temperature (above 38 °C). More severe and rare neurological complications such as strokes, brain inflammation, delirium and nerve damage.
People of all ages who experience fever and/or cough associated with difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain or pressure, or loss of speech or movement should seek medical care immediately.
If possible, call your health care provider, hotline (in Zimbabwe the number is 2019) or health facility first, so you can be directed to the right clinic.
What should I do if I have Covid-19 symptoms?
If you have any symptoms suggestive of Covid-19, call your health care provider or Covid-19 hotline for instructions and find out when and where to get a test, stay at home for 14 days away from others and monitor your health. If you have shortness of breath or pain or pressure in the chest, seek medical attention at a health facility immediately.
Call your health care provider or hotline in advance for direction to the right health facility. If you live in an area with malaria or dengue fever, seek medical care if you have a fever. If local guidance recommends visiting a medical centre for testing, assessment or isolation, wear a medical mask while travelling to and from the facility and during medical care.
Also keep at least a one-metre distance from other people and avoid touching surfaces with your hands.
This applies to adults and children.
Are antibiotics effective in preventing or treating Covid-19?
Antibiotics do not work against viruses; they only work on bacterial infections. Covid-19 is caused by a virus, so antibiotics do not work. Antibiotics should not be used as a means of prevention or treatment of Covid-19. In hospitals, physicians will sometimes use antibiotics to prevent or treat secondary bacterial infections which can be a complication of Covid-19 in severely ill patients. They should only be used as directed by a physician to treat a bacterial infection.
Precautionary measures
Stay safe by taking some simple precautions, such as physical distancing, wearing a mask, especially when distancing cannot be maintained, keeping rooms well ventilated, avoiding crowds and close contact, regularly cleaning your hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue — www.who.int
Credit:WHO
Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
For more information follow /like our Facebook page :Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
Tinashe Sambiri|The MDC Alliance is unrolling a massive recruitment process that will counter Zanu PF’s election rigging tactics.
According to MDC Alliance Secretary General, Hon Charlton Hwende, there is need to come up with ways of preventing ballot stuffing and announcement of fake results.
Said Hon Hwende:
The biggest challenge during an election is ensuring that voters exercise their choice freely after that choice securing that vote by preventing ballot stuffing and announcement of a fake result.
A Comprehensive parallel voter tabulation system and physically securing a polling station with Adquate people to beef up Elections agents is the answer.
With 10 000 polling stations assuming that 10 People can adequately secure a station and monitor even the official party agents because some are bought off by a ruling party you need at 100 000 Elections officials.
This requires money a lot of money and as long as we don’t supplement our vote with a donation to a party of our choice it’s very difficult to prevent rigging on a shoe string budget.
We must mobilize voters and mobilize financial resources as well.
The Ppls President Adv N Chamisa pays tribute to the late Baba Mpofu senior ( father to the Zimbabwean Top laywer Adv Thabani (Falcum)Mpofu ‘in Kadoma yesterday…..
Tinashe Sambiri|The MDC Alliance is unrolling a massive recruitment process that will counter Zanu PF’s election rigging tactics.
According to MDC Alliance Secretary General, Hon Charlton Hwende, there is need to come up with ways of preventing ballot stuffing and announcement of fake results.
Said Hon Hwende:
The biggest challenge during an election is ensuring that voters exercise their choice freely after that choice securing that vote by preventing ballot stuffing and announcement of a fake result.
A Comprehensive parallel voter tabulation system and physically securing a polling station with Adquate people to beef up Elections agents is the answer.
With 10 000 polling stations assuming that 10 People can adequately secure a station and monitor even the official party agents because some are bought off by a ruling party you need at 100 000 Elections officials.
This requires money a lot of money and as long as we don’t supplement our vote with a donation to a party of our choice it’s very difficult to prevent rigging on a shoe string budget.
We must mobilize voters and mobilize financial resources as well.
The most common symptoms of Covid-19 are: fever, dry cough and fatigue.
Other symptoms that are less common and may affect some patients include: loss of taste or smell; nasal congestion; conjunctivitis (also known as red eyes); sore throat; headache; muscle or joint pain; different types of skin rash; nausea or vomiting; diarrhoea; chills or dizziness. Symptoms of severe Covid-19 disease include: shortness of breath; loss of appetite; confusion; persistent pain or pressure in the chest; and high temperature (above 38 °C). More severe and rare neurological complications such as strokes, brain inflammation, delirium and nerve damage.
People of all ages who experience fever and/or cough associated with difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain or pressure, or loss of speech or movement should seek medical care immediately.
If possible, call your health care provider, hotline (in Zimbabwe the number is 2019) or health facility first, so you can be directed to the right clinic.
What should I do if I have Covid-19 symptoms?
If you have any symptoms suggestive of Covid-19, call your health care provider or Covid-19 hotline for instructions and find out when and where to get a test, stay at home for 14 days away from others and monitor your health. If you have shortness of breath or pain or pressure in the chest, seek medical attention at a health facility immediately.
Call your health care provider or hotline in advance for direction to the right health facility. If you live in an area with malaria or dengue fever, seek medical care if you have a fever. If local guidance recommends visiting a medical centre for testing, assessment or isolation, wear a medical mask while travelling to and from the facility and during medical care.
Also keep at least a one-metre distance from other people and avoid touching surfaces with your hands.
This applies to adults and children.
Are antibiotics effective in preventing or treating Covid-19?
Antibiotics do not work against viruses; they only work on bacterial infections. Covid-19 is caused by a virus, so antibiotics do not work. Antibiotics should not be used as a means of prevention or treatment of Covid-19. In hospitals, physicians will sometimes use antibiotics to prevent or treat secondary bacterial infections which can be a complication of Covid-19 in severely ill patients. They should only be used as directed by a physician to treat a bacterial infection.
Precautionary measures
Stay safe by taking some simple precautions, such as physical distancing, wearing a mask, especially when distancing cannot be maintained, keeping rooms well ventilated, avoiding crowds and close contact, regularly cleaning your hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue — www.who.int
Credit:WHO
Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
For more information follow /like our Facebook page :Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
Tinashe Sambiri|Following a live video that was recorded by ZimEye.com and numerous complaints from residents on dirty water from taps, Masvingo City Council has issued a statement of apology.
Residents of the city of Masvingo Masvingo were shocked beyond belief at the weekend when they noticed that dirty water was coming from their taps.
ZimEye.com then recorded a live video on the complaints from residents.
The city council has since issued a statement of apology, see below:
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance National Spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere has been granted bail by a Harare magistrate.
Advocate Mahere was granted RTGS $ 10 000 bail by Magistrate Utahwashe.
“The People’s Spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere was granted RTGS10000 bail by Magistrate Utahwashe. She was ordered to Reside at her given address.
She will report to the police station every Friday and has been ordered to surrender her passport,” MDC Alliance said.
Advocate Mahere is expected to appear in court on February 23.
The MDC Alliance has also indicated that the State is seeking to rekove Harare Mayor, Councillor Jacob Mafume’s bail.
” The mayor of the capital city, Harare, cllr Jacob Mafume has been remanded out of custody to the 23rd of February 2021.
Despite being granted bail by the High Court the State is now seeking to revoke that bail on the same nefarious charges that he interferes with a witness. This allegation the High Court dismissed with contempt. State actions are malicious &vindictive. Cllr Mafume is however in Covid-19 quarantine.”
By A Correspondent- The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) has increased prices for its services by more than 10 000 percent with a defensive driving instructors’ course shooting to $24 000 from $190.
The new prices were approved by Government and are coming into effect today.
TSCZ urged all drivers to go for defensive driving lessons to reduce road accidents. TSCZ’s major objective is safety education and training which goes beyond humanising driving.
As part of its driver’s improvement programme, TSCZ offers the internationally recognised defensive driving courses.
TSCZ acting director of operations Mr Ernest Muchena confirmed the development yesterday. He said the old prices were not making any economic sense.
Mr Muchena said defensive driving instructors’ course now costs $24 000 up from $190.
“Basic defensive driving course (a) conducted at the venue of the traffic safety council costs $3 040, (b) conducted at the venue chosen by clients (in-house) costs $3 600, (c) including vision test, road test and psychomotor skills costs $3 840,” he said.
Heavy vehicle driver skills improvement programme now costs $12 000, transport management and fleet control course costs $16 000, driving school instructor course costs $17 600, duplicate driving school instructor certificate costs $1 600, assistant driving school instructors course costs $17 600, duplicate assistant driving school instructors certificate costs$1 600.
“Registration of a driving school now costs $20 000, renewal of registration of driving school costs $10 000, registration of cooperating agency costs $24 000, renewal of registration of a cooperating agency costs $20 000, certification of defensive driving course candidates trained by cooperating agency now costs $400, highway code (including two inserts of traffic signs and questionnaire is now sold for $200, miscellaneous fees, for example reissuing of lost certificates and inspection documents costs $400, course curriculum fees (student handbook) costs $800, student driver workbook costs $400, driving school premises logo costs $3 000,” said Mr Muchena.
He said the new fees and prices were approved by Government adding that the old prices had been there for a very long time and were no longer viable.
“As a State-owned enterprise, we applied to Government for the new prices which were approved. It took some time before they were approved and we know that it will take a very long time before they are reviewed,” said Mr Muchena.
By A Correspondent- Informal traders at the Mbare Magaba Siyaso home industry have reportedly resumed trading in clear defiance of the government’s lockdown regulation, Newsday reports.
The matter came to light during a survey that was conducted by the publication, Vendors that spoke to the publication said they could not stay at home as they starved due to the lockdown and said:
I can’t stay at home while I have nothing to eat. The seven days that I have been at home doing nothing have been tough. It’s better that I play hide and seek with the police and get to put food on the table than face the prospect of watching my family starve – Eliot Magama
Government should have secured funding for the informal traders so that they don’t starve when they are not allowed to conduct their operations. People are dying of COVID-19, but for me, there is no difference. It’s better to die trying, – Onias Mapanga
The government imposed a 30 days lockdown on 2 January to try and curb spreading COVID-19 a move that was challenged by Zimbabwe Informal Sectors Organisation (ZISO) led by its executive director Promise Mkwananzi. The court reserved judgment on the matter
1/9 Dear Hatred Zenenga Editor, @HeraldZimbabwe Hatred, I refer to your scurrilously defamatory story in the @HeraldZimbabwe today (18 January 2021) in which you allege that I face rape accusations. I take your scandalously false allegations seriously!
2/9 Your story alleges that Mrs Sipho Mazibuko claims in a Facebook post that I “RAPED” her 11 years ago. Her attached Facebook post that I’ve seen alleges that I “SEXUALLY ABUSED” her, which I categorically & emphatically deny. You’ve elevated her “sexual abuse” claims to RAPE!
3/9 On 13 January 2021, your @HeraldZimbabwe published a revealing article about Mrs Sipho Mazibuko and her issues that I am attaching herewith, whose contents speak for themselves, as a background to your scurrilously defamatory story published today.
4/9 I note that you shamelessly think you can get some weight to support your scurrilously defamatory story by citing a tweet posted by a ZanuPF youth league member on my Twitter TL. No one needs a rocket scientist to see what’s going on. I thank you for the unintended insight
5/9 While you cited the ZanuPF youth league member, because he invoked the “RAPE” word, you clumsily avoided referring to a tweet posted on Saturday on my Twitter TL by @FriendsEd (FriendsOfMnangagwa); to vainly cover up @edmnangagwa‘s dirty hands in this!
6/9 FRIENDS OF ED CRAP:
*Moyo sexually abused woman at Kwekwe Assembly Point in 1980
*Moyo had homosexual sex with Alum Mpofu
*Moyo impregnated & killed Jackie Madondo
*Moyo sexually abused Yulith Ndlovu
*Moyo sexually abused his late daughter
*Moyo sexually abused Sipho Mazibuko
7/9 You slyly allege that I “left Zimbabwe hurriedly in 2017”. You desperately want to cover up the fact that Emmerson Mnangagwa, who specialises in criminalising his political opponents, sent 25 soldiers with AK47s & grenades to attack me & my family at our home on 15 Nov 2017!
8/9 And Hatred, you refer to a missing @PoliceZimbabwe report. At no time in my life did any @PoliceZimbabwe officer anywhere in Zimbabwe engage me on these false and outrageous allegations. Also I never had any direct or indirect involvement with Mrs Mazibuko’s psychiatric care!
9/9 I empathise with Sipho Mazibuko’s situation. It’s outrageous for you Hatred & your handlers to exploit it this way. For the record, I never spent a second of my life with Sipho Mazibuko alone. Specifically I was not a minister 11 years ago & I never saw nor spoke to her then!
2/9 Your story alleges that Mrs Sipho Mazibuko claims in a Facebook post that I "RAPED" her 11 years ago. Her attached Facebook post that I've seen alleges that I "SEXUALLY ABUSED" her, which I categorically & emphatically deny. You've elevated her "sexual abuse" claims to RAPE! pic.twitter.com/RhjZEiFFIu
3/9 On 13 January 2021, your @HeraldZimbabwe published a revealing article about Mrs Sipho Mazibuko and her issues that I am attaching herewith, whose contents speak for themselves, as a background to your scurrilously defamatory story published today??!https://t.co/sxXk4Rw8aVpic.twitter.com/X60cX1qSy3
4/9 I note that you shamelessly think you can get some weight to support your scurrilously defamatory story by citing a tweet posted by a ZanuPF youth league member on my Twitter TL. No one needs a rocket scientist to see what's going on. I thank you for the unintended insight??! pic.twitter.com/l0KRW4d6wK
5/9 While you cited the ZanuPF youth league member, because he invoked the "RAPE" word, you clumsily avoided referring to a tweet posted on Saturday on my Twitter TL by @FriendsEd (FriendsOfMnangagwa); to vainly cover up @edmnangagwa's dirty hands in this!https://t.co/uhzvFWGuu1pic.twitter.com/6IeaBfv1xg
6/9 FRIENDS OF ED CRAP: *Moyo sexually abused woman at Kwekwe Assembly Point in 1980 *Moyo had homosexual sex with Alum Mpofu *Moyo impregnated & killed Jackie Madondo *Moyo sexually abused Yulith Ndlovu *Moyo sexually abused his late daughter *Moyo sexually abused Sipho Mazibuko
7/9 You slyly allege that I "left Zimbabwe hurriedly in 2017". You desperately want to cover up the fact that Emmerson Mnangagwa, who specialises in criminalising his political opponents, sent 25 soldiers with AK47s & grenades to attack me & my family at our home on 15 Nov 2017! pic.twitter.com/gQ58uBggOW
8/9 And Hatred, you refer to a missing @PoliceZimbabwe report. At no time in my life did any @PoliceZimbabwe officer anywhere in Zimbabwe engage me on these false and outrageous allegations. Also I never had any direct or indirect involvement with Mrs Mazibuko's psychiatric care! pic.twitter.com/PoXZgo3O5G
9/9 I empathise with Sipho Mazibuko's situation. It's outrageous for you Hatred & your handlers to exploit it this way. For the record, I never spent a second of my life with Sipho Mazibuko alone. Specifically I was not a minister 11 years ago & I never saw nor spoke to her then!
MDC Alliance National Spokesperson Adv @advocatemahere has been granted RTGS 10000 bail by magistrate Utahwashe. She was ordered to reside on her given address, report to Avondale police station every Friday and surrender her passport.#ZimbabweanLivesMatterpic.twitter.com/YTMayH5vuP
— Citizens' Coalition for Change (@CCCZimbabwe) January 18, 2021
By A Correspondent- Beitbridge Magistrate Toindepi Zhou last week kailed a Chipinge man Darlington Mangwayana for 5 years for possessing with the intension to sell 24.5 KGS of marijuana(mbanje).
Mangwayana who manained his innocence till sentencing reportedly denied that the mbanje that was found in Beitbridge in a bus from Chipinge on February 7 2020 was his.
However his defence crumbled when the state brought in witnesses from the crew that ferried him to Beitbridge.
According to the publication:
The crew of the bus he boarded, brought in as State witnesses nailed him further when they produced a duplicate of his ticket and that of the luggage he paid for at Checheche.
The serialised tickets showed the person who boarded at Checheche paid for his luggage, being the two bags of mbanje and the bus, and did not carry any other luggage on that day, neither did it pick any other passenger at that bus stop.
On arrival at Dulivhadzimo bus terminus, Mangwayana had hired a taxi to pick his luggage, but noticed plain clothes police closing in and smelt a rat, ordering the driver off at high speed.
He was tracked down and arrested.
Possession of Mbanje is still illegal in this country. However the government has legalised mbanje farming and only authorised farmers can produce Mbanje.
BREAKING: Mayor Mafume ReArrested despite being granted bail.
He has remanded out of custody to the 23rd of February 202. Despite being granted bail by the High Court the State is now seeking to revoke that bail on the same charges alleging he interferes with a witness.
Two Police officers deployed to ZRP Beitbridge rural who were recently arrested for allegedly torturing to death and burning the remains of a suspect they had arrested for an alleged theft, have appeared in court charged with murder.
Xander Siasayi (33) of Tuli Police Station and Daniel Peyani (32) of Zezani Police Station are accused of allegedly hiding the body of Blessing Nare (23) in a drainage.
Nare was being accused of stealing R10 140 and US$200.
They were both not asked to plead when they appeared before Beitbridge resident magistrate, Mr Toyindepi Zhou who remanded them in custody to 15 February.
Prosecuting, Mr Ronald Mugwagwa said on December 20, 2020, at around 8am, the now deceased’s girlfriend, Beatrice Ndou (24), who is employed at Toporo Special Bottle Store, made a report at Swereki Police Base alleging that Nare broke into Toporo Special Bottle Store and stole cash amounting to R10 140 and $200.
Upon receiving the report, Siasayi and Peyani, who were manning the police base, did not record it in the report book.
The court further heard that on the same date around 7pm, Nare was picked from Toporo Special Bottle Store, where he was residing with his girlfriend.
The two cops escorted him and a co-accused, Godknows Mbedzi, back to Swereki Police Base where they spent the night.
The State further alleges that on the following day at around 6am while at the police base, the accused persons assaulted the now deceased with a stick on the thighs and buttocks several times interrogating him about the alleged break-in.
It is also alleged that they assaulted the now decease in the presence of Mbedzi who they later released.
The accused persons then took Nare to Toporo Business Centre in a bid to recover the stolen money.
While at the business centre the accused persons got into the now deceased’s room and assaulted him with a stick on the buttocks several times.
This was allegedly witnessed by his girlfriend and they later escorted him back to Swereki Police Base.
On the same day, at around 8pm, the accused persons were seen at Swereki shops without the now deceased.
MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere was on Monday morning granted bail of $10,000 bail by Harare magistrate Trynos Utahwashe.
She was ordered to reside at her given address, report to a nearby police station every Friday, and surrender her passport.
She was remanded to 23rd of February 2021.
Mahere was last week arrested on allegations of publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the state at a time when Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and MDC Vice Chair Job Sikhala had been charged over the same days earlier. – More to follow…
A Bulawayo man died when a mine shaft he was working in collapsed in Woodville Park on Friday.
MacDonald Mhunga (29) and his colleagues were panning for gold when he got trapped under rubble.
The shaft is 10 metres deep and his colleagues failed to rescue him.
The Fire Brigade was called to the scene and a rescue operation started on the same day at about 4pm but the workers had to stop around 7pm due to bad lighting.
The body was retrieved at about 2pm the following day.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident and urged members of the public to desist from engaging in illegal mining activities.
He said illegal mining is an offence and continues to take many lives in Zimbabwe every year.
Insp Ncube said: “Members of the public should find better ways of making money because in this case the mine was already abandoned which is a clear sign that the authorities had already seen that the shaft was now dangerous.”
MDC T stalwart, Mr Patson Murimoga who first challenged Morgan Tsvangirai in 2016, tells ZimEye concerning Police report against @DMwonzora over missing $6million state funds, ref CR2236/12/2020. INTERVIEW LOADING
By A Correspondent- Chitungwiza town clerk Tonderai Kasu said the municipality has no imminent plans to demolish illegal settlements following a complaint from the Chitungwiza Residents Trust (Chitrest).
This comes after the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights on behalf of Chitrest wrote to the municipality seeking clarity regarding proposed demolitions in the town.
A leaked internal memo stated that the municipality would soon demolish 11 000 properties illegally constructed on wetlands, sewer lines and areas reserved for railway lines.
Meanwhile, people that built houses and businesses on wetlands must expect demolitions after the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) ordered them to vacate the land before it institutes prosecutions or demolitions of the buildings once a new law on preservation of wetlands is gazetted.
Some of the places that could be affected by the mass demolitions are Harare and Chitungwiza.
EMA is mandated through the Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27) section 113 to prosecute anyone found carrying out any activity that is likely to cause degradation of a wetland without authority from the agency.
By A Correspondent- Health experts and stakeholders have warned that home remedies were not a cure for COVID-19, but only relieve symptoms and offer the body a fighting chance against the respiratory virus.
This follows a raging debate which, after widely circulated home remedies for the coronavirus, like steam inhalation and of late traditional snuff (bute), were touted as cures for the virus which has killed just over two million people across the world.
Medical practitioners have also raised concerns over patients that present themselves very late for treatment simply because they would have been using home remedies.
On Saturday, Zimbabwe recorded 17 COVID-19 deaths, 772 new infections for a cumulative total of 26 881.
Yesterday, a local medical doctor angrily took to social media platform Twitter to express her disappointment over a patient she said delayed seeking help and lost his life. He hoped that home remedies would cure him.
“I lost a patient who presented themselves late to the hospital because he was trying home remedies. While it is good to try all these remedies, people should visit the hospital if symptoms are getting worse,” she tweeted.
The chief co-ordinator for the COVID-19 taskforce, Agnes Mahomva, said:
“There are known home remedies that have always been used to manage flu-like symptoms and these are mostly safe, but people need to understand that there is no cure yet for COVID-19. Research is still being carried out on some of the remedies, and so it is wise for the populace to only use what has been proven to be safe.”
Mahomva said it was imperative for people to observe the laid-down preventive measures so that the virus did not spread.
“People are still not wearing their masks and they continue to attend gatherings. It is now a question of taking a personal decision to do the right thing and protect families and others as well.”
Mpilo acting chief executive officer Solwayo Ngwenya said there was need for caution.
“There is no cure for the virus. So people can use any home remedies that they normally use for flu illnesses. But they must not use group steaming or inappropriate means when they are sick — of which they must seek medical advice,” Ngwenya said.
Last week, Vice-President and Health minister Constantino Chiwenga said it was possible that traditional medicines could be used to treat COVID-19.
“Some modern medicines are actually derived from traditional herbs. Yes, it is possible that some traditional medicines can be used to treat COVID-19. However, there is need for scientific researches to be done to ascertain their efficacy,” he said.
Chiwenga said the ministry had operationalised the traditional medicines department, which was preoccupied with research in that area.
Meanwhile, in Eswatini people have been discouraged from using steam inhalation with herbs or flu chemicals as a way to manage COVID-19.
Authorities in the country claimed that such methods were responsible for the super spread of the virus.
“The custom of kufukira (steam inhalation) is strongly discouraged as research provides that it is among the super spreaders of the virus,” the Eswatini government said in a statement.
Recently the African National Congress youth league in Tshwane, South Africa, came under fire for encouraging people to consume alkaline foods and practice steam inhalation to “paralyse” the virus
Fresh in a Box founder Kuda Musasiwa who has been down with COVID-19 is now out of hospital, a family member Chido Musasiwa has said.
Musasiwa tested positive to COVID-19 and went into intensive care unit with his friends and relatives appealing for prayers but it appears he has since recovered and out of danger.
“I am delighted to share that my brother is out of hospital. Its been a difficult time for our family but Kudakwashe Victor Musasiwa is that light at the end of the tunnel. The doctors and nurses were amazing! The power of prayer and faith is never to be doubted,” said Chido.
By A Correspondent- A High Court judge deferred to Friday Thanks Makore’s bail ruling.
Thanks is the alleged brains behind the ritual murder of seven year-old Murewa boy, Tapuwa Makore.
The judgment was initially set for Monday.
Justice Tawanda Chitapi, said his decision will only be ready on the December 18 owing to the influx of matters at the appeals court.
Makore, 56, was seeking bail pending his trial at the magistrate’s court.
According to Makore’s lawyer, the State has no case against his client who should be exonerated from the three other suspects Makore Snr, Tafadzwa Shamba and Maud Hunidzarira.
However, the State alleges that Makore was responsible for plotting the ritual murder before conniving with his little brother Makore Snr and Tafadzwa Shamba and Maud Hunidzarira.
Further allegations are that, Makore offered US$1 500 for the job before allegedly receiving the head and arms of the deceased.
The family of the late Tapiwa Makore who recently demanded DNA results from his collected samples attended the Monday hearing.
"It’s right that all governments want to prioritize vaccinating their own #healthworkers & older people first. But it’s not right that younger, healthier adults in rich countries are vaccinated before health workers & older people in poorer countries"-@DrTedros#EB148#ACTogether
By A Correspondent- Several self-confessed hookers are cashing in on truck drivers who will be queuing to enter the Beitbridge Border Post.
Truckers are taking up to two weeks before they proceed with their journey due to strict monitoring of Covid-19 PCR certificates to confirm if they have been tested for Covid-19.
However, the hookers have taken advantage of the situation where they will be milling around the truckers in queues.
“They will be all over here walking along the trucks looking for potential clients.
“Some will be in the guise of selling some food or wares as they will also be trying to hook up.
“With these long queues imagine for more than 10 kilometers, they will not miss,” said Changamire a herbal vendor.
The women will also be cooking for the drivers.
“You know cooking is a challenge with these drivers, so they normally hire these women to cook for them and sometimes wash their clothes.
“So by virtue of that they end up hooking up,” said one Mike.
A truck driver said the life of driving was not easy.
“You know driving is a challenge when the border is delaying like this.
“You can’t be perfect at times and the temptation is high since these women can approach us and if they see that you have some interest that’s when the whole issue begins.
“Imagine spending weeks at border, it’s a bit tricky.”
A regular hooker said, it’s a way of living and as long they are not stealing from anyone it’s not a crime.
“It’s known everywhere that one has to pay for the services rendered.
“We are here for business but we agree first.
“Some of the services can be cooking but we can end up agreeing to sexual services again.
“So kubatsirana from both angles.”
While another said sex can be done anywhere although they are not seen.
“As long we are not seen, we can do it anywhere, even under the tree, or in trucks or at our lodgings.
“We want money and they want services.”
Another lady of the night added:
“Charges depend on the client but normally R300 for the whole night, but there is room for negotiations.
“R100 can cover for a short moment while services like washing and cooking also depend on what you agree,” she said.
Idhii ndiye anofanira kuita mushe, he shld lead the process of declaring Mudzi a national hero kwete kupa family US$1000 woti endai munoviga mudhara, really? That's how national heroes are treated by a supposed fellow liberation fighter? Tikwanirei! https://t.co/SN9MF8AJ9u
