By A Correspondent| Opposition MDC Alliance has dismissed claims that South Africa president Cyril Ramaphosa was secretly funding the embattled organisation saying the mischievous reports were part of a grand plot to derail the “people’s movement”.
A few days ago, Zanu PF information director Tafadzwa Mugwadi, made stunning threats that he would drop a “bombshell” and expose the real reason why South Africa’s ruling party, the ANC, had visited Zimbabwe last year.
The ANC delegation met with its sister revolutionary party, Zanu PF amid concerns there was a political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
However, Mugwadi’s threats have been followed by media reports revealing there was a widespread belief in Zanu PF that Ramaphosa was secretly bankrolling the MDC Alliance.
The MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa, has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration of systematically dismantling its operations through the use of the courts, denying it access to political funding, and recalling its councillors and MPs from public office.
However, speaking to NewZimbabwe.com Tuesday, MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson, Clifford Hlatywayo dismissed Zanu PF claims describing them as an attempt to “derail the people’s project”.
“We want the world to know that we are the MDC Alliance led by President Nelson Chamisa. It is a people and mass based organisation which draws financial support from its members and no-one else,” he said.
The deputy spokesperson added his organisation was the country’s most popular political party, financially supported by Zimbabweans both at home and in the Diaspora through monthly and annual subscriptions.
“No other parties or individuals are in the business of funding us but as you know Zanu PF has been working flat out to derail the people’s movement.
“Recently, they took away the constitutionally guaranteed funding under the Political Finance Act and instead gave it to their stooges fronted by Douglas Mwonzora.
“Zanu PF created Mwonzora’s faction in a bid to make sure the money flows back to and within Zanu PF,” he said.
Mwonzora was last December elected as the substantive president of the MDC-T at an elective extraordinary congress.
Ramaphosa has also challenged Mugwadi to reveal his so-called “bombshell” amid reports Zanu PF had strongly rebuked its employee for causing unnecessary political spat with both the South Africa government and the ANC.
A Gweru man allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from the roof trusses of his house after he discovered his wife’s extra-marital affair.
Acting Midlands police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Ethel Mukwende confirmed the incident which occurred on Wednesday last week when Elda Mufudzi Zekama (38) of Mambo high density suburb committed suicide. Asst Insp Mukwende could, however, not shed more light on Zekama’s reasons for committing suicide.
“I can confirm that we are investigating a sudden death where a male adult Elda Mufudzi Zekama was found hanging from a roof truss on 12 January at 10pm at his residence in Mambo. It is suspected that Zekama committed suicide on the night of January 12 and was found the following morning by a neighbour. We are still investigating the matter. We would want to urge the public to always seek counselling or engage significant others whenever they have problems,” she said.
A neighbour who declined to be identified said Zekama committed suicide after discovering his wife’s infidelity. The neighbour said on the fateful day, Zekama returned home from work and found his wife not around. Zekama, the neighbour added, then called his wife intending to ask about her whereabouts and her alleged boyfriend answered the phone.
By A Correspondent- Forty five suspended police officers have approached the High Court seeking an order to be released from Chikurubi Detention Barracks (DB) where they have been committed since January 4.
The officers, through their lawyer Tafadzwa Muvhami, have filed an urgent chamber application citing police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga, Assistant Commissioner (Harare province) Dube and Criminal Investigations Department Sergeant Zaranyika as respondents.
Assistant Inspector Raymond Chidyagwai and 44 other officers were ordered to report for duty on January 4 at Chikurubi Detention Barracks. Upon arrival, the officers were committed to hard labour without a time limit by the respondents as punishment after their recent suspension from the force for various reasons.
Since their arrival, the officers have reportedly been ordered by the respondents to carry out tasks that do not have anything to do with their official duties.
“From January 4, 2021, we have been ordered to carry bricks from one point to the other, sweeping the yard, watering the garden and working in the police fields and our supervisor’s fields, which have nothing to do with our duties.
“We are also ordered to fetch water for our supervisors and weed their gardens for their personal benefit. “The respondents have labelled us bandits and we actually work more than the other members who are committed to serve their sentences at Chikurubi DB,” Chidyagwai’s affidavit reads.
The officers also claim they are being exposed to inhumane punishment and treatment by their superiors. In their application, the officers want the High Court to grant an order that Dube and Zaranyika have no authority to place them on indefinite punishment as no court has convicted them of any wrongdoing.
“The applicants have not been committed to hard labour by any court of law and it appears that the 1st and 2nd respondents have turned themselves into a court of law with unfettered powers,” the officers claim.
The police bosses are yet to respond to the application.
By A Correspondent- Health and Child Care Minister, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has spoken out on the use of moringa and Zumbani to treat Covid-19.
Zumbani and Moringa have become much sought after traditional herbs in the country as people widely believe it can treat Covid-19.
The practice of “kunatira/kufufira (inhaling steam laced with herbs) has been so popular that sellers are making a lot of money selling herbs like Zumbani, Moringa, and Mufandichimuka.
In a press statement, Vice President Chiwenga said;
“Before I conclude my Press Statement, someone asked me whether traditional medicines such as Mufandichimuka, Moringa, Zumbani, and other herbs can be used to treat COVID 19 or substitute drugs for COVID 19?”
“Some Traditional Doctors were said to claiming that their patients recovered after administering herbs. My comment would be that, you might be aware that some modern medicines are actually derived from traditional herbs,” he said.
He urged citizens to rely on scientific backed evidence use of herbs and home remedies in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
“Yes, it is possible that some traditional medicines can be used to treat COVID 19 however, there is a need for scientific researches to be done to ascertain their efficacy. The Ministry of Health and Child Care actually operationalized the Traditional Medicines Department, which is pre-occupied with researches in this area,” he added.
Following the recent surge in Covid-19, VP Chiwenga called on citizens to abide by the lockdown regulations in the face of the worsening Covid-19 crises.
He also urged members of the public to continue to observe guidelines of wearing masks, observing social distance, and sanitization.
A CONSTABLE stationed at Dangamvura Police Station has been arrested on allegations of releasing a suspect he had nabbed for illegally selling beer to members of the public in breach of Covid-19 regulations after demanding a US$30 bribe.
Manicaland police spokesperson, Inspector Luxson Chananda, confirmed the arrest of Mwaruta on January 8.
He is facing criminal abuse of duty charges as defined in Section 174 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
It is alleged that on the day in question, Charles Mwaruta who was on his way to Alpha Police Base at Dangamvura Shopping Centre for his afternoon shift duty met the complainant, Gideon Chamunanga (30) who was selling beer from his Isuzu ELF five-tonne truck and arrested him for selling liquor to unlicensed individuals.
The police officer asked the complainant to drive his truck to Dangamvura Charge Office.
While at the station, the constable informed his superior, Sergeant Stanford Mapete about the arrest and he was duly instructed to record a statement from the complainant which he did.
However, Mwaruta who was in possession of the keys to the truck took Chamunanga to where the vehicle was parked intending to offload the liquor as exhibits, then demanded the bribe.-The Sunday News
Zimbabwe Warriors put on a commendable defensive effort but it was not enough as they succumbed to a morale sapping defeat in their first Group A fixture of the 2020 African Nations Championships (CHAN) against hosts Cameroon this Saturday evening.
Although they struggled to create any meaningful chances the Warriors appeared to have done enough to frustrate the reduced 10 000 fans at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde for long periods of the opening match of the tournament which was played in front of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, CAF’s new honorary president Issa Hayatou and Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.
In the end, the defensive tactics employed by coach Zdravko Logarusic did not yield the desired results as Salomon Banga Bindjeme struck an acrobatic winner in the 72nd minute after Warriors goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda failed to deal with a Serge Andoulo free kick into his box.
Before his error, Sibanda had kept Zimbabwe in the contest with a series of fine saves, although credit must go to the Warriors defensive quartet of Peter Mudhuwa, Talent Chamboko, Ian Nekati and Carlos Mavhurume.
The Warriors who were hamstrung by lack of adequate preparations due to the absence of a competitive league in Zimbabwe since November, 2019 struggled to create any meaningful chances with lone striker Wellington Taderera fighting a lone battle upfront.
Although the Warriors failed to hold on to what would have been a precious point, Logarusic’s side can take confidence as they prepare for further Group A encounters with Mali and Burkina Faso.
FC Platinum have sold one of their star players Perfect Chikwende to Simba Sports Club of Tanzania.
In a statement released on Friday, FC Platinum expressed their gratitude to Chikwende for his services.
“FC Platinum today announces the Transfer of Perfect Chikwende to Simba SC. We would like to thank Perfect Chikwende for his immense contribution at FC Platinum, we wish him all the best in his new journey,’’ read the FC Platinum statement.
Chikwende (27) scored the only goal in FC Platinum’s 1-0 win over Simba in the Caf Champions League second preliminary round fixture played at the National Sports Stadium last month. FC Platinum went in to lose the second leg 4-0 to miss out on qualification for the lucrative group stage of the competition.
With one of their prized possessions gone to Tanzania, FC Platinum have undertaken to continue scouting for players to strengthen their squad in a bid to achieve more at continental level.
“The club will continue scouting for players locally and from other countries to buttress its squad with the aim of reaching the football powerhouse status on the continent,’’ concluded the statement from FC Platinum.
Chikwende joined FC Platinum in 2019 from Bulawayo Chiefs and proved to be a vital player at the Zvishavane based club. He won the 2019 Castle Lager Premier League title with FC Platinum and also landed the Castle Lager Challenge Cup with the three times in a row Zimbabwean champions. Chikwende scored the solitary goal in the 1-0 victory against Caps United at the NSS in December 2019 which handed FC Platinum their third championship in a row- The Sunday News
THE Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) has deployed a squad of wildlife rangers to track and capture a pride of lions behind deadly attacks on livestock in Dande, Mashonaland Central Province.
Four lions, believed to have strayed from a nearby game park, killed 27 goats in Ward 11 Chamapango village last week.
Zimparks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said the carnivores were prowling around the village at night.
“Zimparks rangers are on the ground in Dande to track four problem lions which have killed at least 27 goats in Chamapango village,” said Mr Farawo.
He said the rangers have been directed to either capture the lions before they are translocated to a game reserve or eliminate them.
“To capture and translocate could be expensive, but we will kill the lions in order to protect the villagers.
He said villages should avoid moving outdoors at night.
“Villagers should secure their livestock pens and if they suspect that a dangerous animal is roaming around, they should alert us as quickly as possible”
Last week, panic spread around Beitbridge’s Ward 5 after villagers mistook two cheetahs for lions. Villagers in Goda area located some 26km from Beitbridge town along the Beitbridge-Masvingo highway stopped all farming activities and locked children indoors after the cheetahs were spotted.-The Sunday Mail
By A Correspondent| Amnesty International has called on the Zimbabwean government to drop “malicious” charges against journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and opposition MDC Alliance officials Fadzayi Mahere and Job Sikhala.
The global human rights advocacy group says the trio’s continued detention is “part of a growing crackdown on opposition leaders, human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and other critical voices.”
“It is consistent with the constant harassment and intimidation that we have seen against anyone who demands respect for human rights, transparency, and accountability in Zimbabwe in the recent past,” said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Southern Africa in a statement.
The three are accused of “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State” through social media after allegedly posting that a Harare police officer had fatally struck a nine-month-old baby strapped to its mother’s back with a baton following a viral street video.
Chin’ono was denied bail by a Harare magistrate yesterday citing “overwhelming evidence” against him and charging that he had committed the latest offense while on bail for other infractions.
Sikhala will hear his bail ruling on Friday while Mahere will also be in court for a determination on her challenge against placement on remand.
The defendants argue that Section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, under which they are charged, was nullified by the Constitutional Court in 2014 in a case brought by Zimbabwe Independent journalists.
But prosecutors say the statute is still operational.
“Zimbabwean authorities must stop treating human rights with contempt and start tolerating dissenting views,” Mwananyanda charged, adding that “authorities must immediately and unconditionally release” the three and “drop the malicious charges against them.”
“Authorities must stop using Covid-19 regulations as a pretext for human rights violations and abuses. The government must stop treating dissenters as enemies of the state and allow human rights including the right to freedom of expression to thrive,” she added.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum also demanded the accused’s immediate release, dismissing their charges as “frivolous.”
“Political opposition leaders and human rights defenders are being arrested on frivolous charges and is becoming a recurring anomaly which stands as evidence of weaponization of the criminal justice system to intimidate and threaten perceived voices of dissent,” the Forum said in a statement Friday.
Meanwhile, suspended Harare mayor Jacob Mafume will also be in court Friday for his bail ruling.
The MDC Alliance politician has been languishing in remand prison for two weeks after he was re-arrested and charged with attempting to bribe a key witness in a corruption case.
The late Manicaland Provincial Affair Minister Ellen Gwaradzimba has been declared a national hero and she will be buried at the national heroes acre at a date to be announced, ZBC News reports.
The national broadcaster posted the update on the matter and said:
The late Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba has been declared a national heroine. Zanu PF National Chairperson & Defence Minister Cde Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri conveyed the President’s message to the Gwaradzimba family at their highlands home in Harare.
This came after Zanu PF Manicaland Province wrote to the Politburo urging them to declare Gwaradzimba a national hero yesterday. Gwaradzimba succumbed to COVID-19 at a Harare hospital yesterday. the government is yet to announce the date of her burial-ZBC
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance leader, President Nelson Chamisa has said Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa should stop blaming perceived political rivals for his own blunders.
In a message of encouragement to the nation, President Chamisa said Mr Mnangagwa’s administration has dismally failed to address the escalating problems affecting the nation.
Said President Chamisa:
It cannot be normal when government torments journalists and ordinary citizens.
They think they are correct while everyone else outside their administration is wrong.
They say journalists are wrong, citizens are wrong , South Africa is wrong…
It cannot be normal when children are not going to school because of Coronavirus.They don’t have alternative learning methods.
The blame game will not solve anything, let them admit failure.
It cannot be normal when citizens are being bashed by the police. Zimbabwe will never die, let us not lose hope, lets remain positive.
They are blaming perceived opponents instead of concentrating on resolving problems affecting the nation…
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance vice chairperson Hon Job Sikhala will return to court on February 18 after being denied bail by a Harare magistrate.
Hon Sikhala, MDC Alliance spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere and journalist Hopewell Chin’ono are being persecuted for exposing the Zanu PF regime’s callousness.
The MDC Alliance has condemned the persecution of its members by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s troubled administration.
“They have denied our national spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere bail. She will again, go back to remand prison.
She is not a criminal. Stop using unjust detentions against opponents.
Her Bail ruling will be handed down on Monday 18/01/21 at 11:15hrs in court 11 by magistrate Utahwashe.
Both her arrest and detention is illegal. She must get her freedom unconditionally.
Magistrate Nduna dismissed Hon. Sikhala’s bail application and said he should wait for commencement of trial while in prison custody.
Hon Sikhala will return to court on 18 February 2021,” MDC Alliance said in a statement.
Tinashe Sambiri| Zanu PF stalwart, Oppah Muchinguri- Kashiri says the Chinese people are to blame for experimenting with the deadly Coronavirus.
This follows the death of Minister of State for Manicaland, Ellen Gwaradzimba.
Read Muchunguri-Kashiri’s remarks below:
Washaya mwana wangu washaya meaning she is dead, my daughter is dead. Mwana wangu washaya kani she is gone she is gone.
Takaedza kani takaedza meaning we tried everything we really tried to help her get better. The Lord has laughed at us we tried everything….the children. What about the children? They have killed me (Ellen’s death) has destroyed me. This has destroyed me. I am in pain, so much pain. …. What? drink ginger? I am not sick. I am well. I am not sick. It’s just people that are saying lies. They are lying. I am not sick. I am very well and healthy. They have said that I am sick but it’s not true. They have said that I am sick four times and even suggested that I have died four times. But it’s not true. Ok my children.
I suffered a lot with Ellen. I couldn’t sleep while she was sick. The doctors talked to me everyday, together with the children. She was in pain she was in so much pain. She has let us down today. Hazvina mhosva….. She took everything, all the medication…everything we tried. Vaccine?
No there is no vaccine yet in the country. I will never take the vaccine. I will not take “your” vaccine, I will not take your vaccine unless if it’s developed by our own people, Zimbabweans. If they develop our own vaccine. Why can’t we also develop our own vaccine. Why should we take that which is developed by others? Why can’t we also make our own vaccine? Let’s develop our own.
We are trying our own, we are also trying our own that which we are developing with the help of the Chinese maybe it will be successful maybe it will be successful. I do not know.
Chinotimba. I also heard that he is not well. I also heard that Chinamasa is sick….Chinotimba I heard that he is not well. I heard that he is not too well. But I am well and not sick. I am assisting a lot of people. I am the one helping a lot of people who are not well here in Manicaland. Ana Getty vese I brought them here everyone in Manicaland I am helping them. Bringing them here to help with their treatment. I am looking for resources to help them getting them treated.
It is not possible (to stay at home) I am going to the children. I can’t leave them alone Ellen’s children. I can’t do that. We left together with Ellen, we left their home while going to seek treatment. I left with their sick mother. They (other family members) were all sick but they got better. I can’t leave them. Zimbabweans are dying. This is serious. Covid 19 is serious.
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.
We have to be strong. Indeed we have to be strong Let me attend to the children so that we can organise the funeral. We have managed to take the body to Doves so we need to do the heroes burial. We are liasing with the leaders. We are talking to the party leadership. Please forgive me so that I can start doing the job ….we are taking extra care we are wearing the masks 4 4, face screens, gloves everything.
We are drinking the medicines zinc garlic we are drinking we will not stop. But Covid 19 is killing- it is killing people. Its still a journey. We are protecting our health wearing masks, social distancing everything. Zvakaoma. This is a deadly disease, it is a killer disease. It has wrecked havoc.
These people, who are now at the top at ZBC, they are not doing anything. They are just busy promoting themselves (the top stalwarts at ZBC).
They are not even conscientising the public on the dangers of Covid-19…. On the safety of the president in the wake of Covid- 19…..Vanokanganiswa meaning he is not safe at all.
Our enemies are using the people around him (bodyguards) to spread the virus to our senior leaders. We are even suspecting that. It is well my son. Thank you.
Tinashe Sambiri|Zanu PF Masvingo Provincial Secretary for Information, Ronald Ndava has succumbed to the deadly Coronavirus.
Ndava succumbed to the deadly pandemic at Chiredzi General Hospital on Friday night, according to Zanu PF Masvingo Provincial Commissar, Jevas Masosota.
38 people have succumbed to the deadly virus in Masvingo.
“Ronald Ndava succumbed to the deadly virus last night and burial arrangements are yet to be announced,” a Zanu PF official said.
The late Manicaland Provincial Affair Minister Ellen Gwaradzimba has been declared a national hero and she will be buried at the national heroes acre at a date to be announced, ZBC News reports.
The national broadcaster posted the update on the matter and said:
The late Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba has been declared a national heroine. Zanu PF National Chairperson & Defence Minister Cde Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri conveyed the President’s message to the Gwaradzimba family at their highlands home in Harare.
This came after Zanu PF Manicaland Province wrote to the Politburo urging them to declare Gwaradzimba a national hero yesterday. Gwaradzimba succumbed to COVID-19 at a Harare hospital yesterday. the government is yet to announce the date of her burial-ZBC
MAY YOU ASSIST BRING BACK OUR MISSING MRS SIBONGILE DUBE OF MLOYI AREA IN MBALABALA , MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA APPEALS
16 JANUARY 2021
We are extremely worried and undergoing horrific sleepless nights because of the continued missing of the beloved mother-in-law of Mdc Alliance Namibia Rundu Branch Secretary for Elections.
Our mother(SIBONGILE DUBE) was last seen around the 22nd of December 2020 at her home situated in Mloyi Area in MBALABALA along Zvishavane road from Bulawayo. It is not easy to lose a 60 year old teacher who was contributing a lot in the education sector. Mrs Sibongile Dube is dark in complexion.
As a sure way of offering solidarity to our leader and brother in the national democratic revolution, we are appealing for assistance from all Zimbabweans and non-Zimbabweans under sun to help us recover our mother. The police, the CIOs, CIDs and securocrats are also expected to effectively help to bring back Mrs Sibongile Dube given their investigation antics. For any information that can help us find her, please contact +263775721155/0773569916/772831815 or nearest police station.
We will appreciate any effort to recover our beloved mother-in-law. Thank you in advance!
MAY YOU ASSIST BRING BACK OUR MISSING MRS SIBONGILE DUBE OF MLOYI AREA IN MBALABALA , MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA APPEALS
16 JANUARY 2021
We are extremely worried and undergoing horrific sleepless nights because of the continued missing of the beloved mother-in-law of Mdc Alliance Namibia Rundu Branch Secretary for Elections.
Our mother(SIBONGILE DUBE) was last seen around the 22nd of December 2020 at her home situated in Mloyi Area in MBALABALA along Zvishavane road from Bulawayo. It is not easy to lose a 60 year old teacher who was contributing a lot in the education sector. Mrs Sibongile Dube is dark in complexion.
As a sure way of offering solidarity to our leader and brother in the national democratic revolution, we are appealing for assistance from all Zimbabweans and non-Zimbabweans under sun to help us recover our mother. The police, the CIOs, CIDs and securocrats are also expected to effectively help to bring back Mrs Sibongile Dube given their investigation antics. For any information that can help us find her, please contact +263775721155/0773569916/772831815 or nearest police station.
We will appreciate any effort to recover our beloved mother-in-law. Thank you in advance!
Here is a Press Statement issued by @MoFA_ZW on words attributed to the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs. pic.twitter.com/xFIsK6ITnE
— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) January 16, 2021
Press Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Honourable in Response to the Recording Attributed to the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, Honourable O.P.Z. Muchinguri-Kashiri Blaming the Chinese for Covid-19 Reference is made to a purported telephone conversation between the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, Honourable O.P.Z. Muchinguri-Kashiri and a journalist, Simba Chikanza that is circulating on the social media platforms.
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.
The Government does not hold the Chinese Government responsible for the emergence and spread of the coronavirus that has affected every global citizen. Government appreciates that China has exercised global leadership in efforts to find both the cause and a solution to the pandemic.
Constance Chemwayi (Mrs) Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade 16 January 2021
Zimbabwe international Alec Mudimu has joined Turkish side Ankarapor FC, it has emerged.
The 25-year-old versatile defender, who was on the ranks of Moldovan champions FC Sheriff last season, has now moved to Turkey, where his Warriors teammate and centre-back partner Teenage Hadebe is also based.
Ankarapor however play in the TFF 1, the second tier of Turkish football.
Details of Mudimu’s move are still sketchy but it appears he has already signed for the team.- Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
Manchester United are travelling to Liverpool for a top-of-the-table Premier League clash on Sunday afternoon.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Red Devils go to Anfield as leaders after claiming top spot with a win at Burnley on Tuesday evening. Paul Pogba’s volleyed winner sent us three points above the Merseysiders going into the weekend’s big clash.
With the two most successful teams in England going head-to-head, we’ve rounded up all you need to know ahead ahead of a clash that always showcases the fierce rivalry between the clubs.
The match at Anfield kicks off at 16:30 GMT on Sunday and will be broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports. You can follow all the action on ManUtd.com and in our Official App, where you can also track in-game data via our Match Centre. MUTV will also provide build-up, live radio commentary and post-match reaction, as well as showing full reruns of the game the following day. The Match Day Live programme on MUTV starts at 15:25 GMT.
TEAM NEWS
Victor Lindelof was absent against Burnley on Tuesday evening, having missed the game against Watford in the Emirates FA Cup due to a back injury. The Swedish defender was the only pre-match doubt absent for United, as both Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw, who also missed the Hornets match, were back in the starting line-up at Turf Moor. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will deliver the latest team news during his press conference on Friday.
For Liverpool, Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk remains sidelined with a long-term injury. The same is the case for fellow centre-back Joe Gomez, with Brazilian midfielders Fabinho and Jordan Henderson filling in at centre-back for Jurgen Klopp’s team as doubts persist over Joel Matip’s availability. In addition, Portuguese attacker Diogo Jota will not take part in the match on Sunday due to a knee injury. Spanish midfielder Thiago Alcantara has recently returned to the side, though, after being out of action for an extended period.
FORM GUIDE
As the league position suggests, United have been in great form. In our last 11 Premier League matches, the Reds have won nine and drawn the remaining two. The 20-times champions have not lost a league game since the start of November. If we only take the away games into account, Ole’s men have won seven out of eight Premier League fixtures on the road this season – the most in the division. Our only draw came on Boxing Day, when we drew 2-2 with Leicester City. Hence, United go into the match at Anfield full of confidence.
Liverpool will be looking to regain top spot. Klopp’s side have only won four of the last 10 matches in the league, failing to win in any of their last three fixtures. In their last match, Southampton beat the Merseysiders 1-0, thanks to a solitary goal from former Liverpool striker Danny Ings.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Looking at our overall record against our north-west rivals, it has been fairly close over the years but United certainly edge it in terms of wins. In 232 games between the clubs since 1894, United have come out on top 88 times, whereas Liverpool have won 77. Some 67 matches have ended with honours even.
It is always a tough battle when United and Liverpool go up against each other. In the last 10 meetings, there have been six draws. At Anfield, the hosts have the upper hand in recent seasons, having won two of the last four with two games ending 0-0. United’s last win against Klopp’s side, away from home, came in January 2016, when Wayne Rooney scored a second-half winner with a powerful shot into the roof of the net. Our last triumph over the Merseysiders came in March 2018, as Marcus Rashford scored twice to secure a 2-1 win at the Theatre of Dreams.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Mohamed Salah is the top goalscorer so far in the Premier League with 13 goals to his name and is one of Liverpool’s main threats going forward.
In this fixture last term, the Egypt international scored in injury-time to seal a 2-0 win on the counter-attack as United were looking for a late equaliser. He forms part of a consistent forward line also comprising Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. -Manchesterunited.com
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance leader, President Nelson Chamisa has said Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa should stop blaming perceived political rivals for his own blunders.
In a message of encouragement to the nation, President Chamisa said Mr Mnangagwa’s administration has dismally failed to address the escalating problems affecting the nation.
Said President Chamisa:
It cannot be normal when government torments journalists and ordinary citizens.
They think they are correct while everyone else outside their administration is wrong.
They say journalists are wrong, citizens are wrong , South Africa is wrong…
It cannot be normal when children are not going to school because of Coronavirus.They don’t have alternative learning methods.
The blame game will not solve anything, let them admit failure.
It cannot be normal when citizens are being bashed by the police. Zimbabwe will never die, let us not lose hope, lets remain positive.
They are blaming perceived opponents instead of concentrating on resolving problems affecting the nation…
Emmerson Mnangagwa…plotting to eliminate political foes
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance vice chairperson Hon Job Sikhala will return to court on February 18 after being denied bail by a Harare magistrate.
Hon Sikhala, MDC Alliance spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere and journalist Hopewell Chin’ono are being persecuted for exposing the Zanu PF regime’s callousness.
The MDC Alliance has condemned the persecution of its members by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s troubled administration.
“They have denied our national spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere bail. She will again, go back to remand prison.
She is not a criminal. Stop using unjust detentions against opponents.
Her Bail ruling will be handed down on Monday 18/01/21 at 11:15hrs in court 11 by magistrate Utahwashe.
Both her arrest and detention is illegal. She must get her freedom unconditionally.
Magistrate Nduna dismissed Hon. Sikhala’s bail application and said he should wait for commencement of trial while in prison custody.
Hon Sikhala will return to court on 18 February 2021,” MDC Alliance said in a statement.
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
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Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance vice chairperson Hon Job Sikhala will return to court on February 18 after being denied bail by a Harare magistrate.
Hon Sikhala, MDC Alliance spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere and journalist Hopewell Chin’ono are being persecuted for exposing the Zanu PF regime’s callousness.
The MDC Alliance has condemned the persecution of its members by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s troubled administration.
“They have denied our national spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere bail. She will again, go back to remand prison.
She is not a criminal. Stop using unjust detentions against opponents.
Her Bail ruling will be handed down on Monday 18/01/21 at 11:15hrs in court 11 by magistrate Utahwashe.
Both her arrest and detention is illegal. She must get her freedom unconditionally.
Magistrate Nduna dismissed Hon. Sikhala’s bail application and said he should wait for commencement of trial while in prison custody.
Hon Sikhala will return to court on 18 February 2021,” MDC Alliance said in a statement.
Tinashe Sambiri|Zanu PF Masvingo Provincial Secretary for Information, Ronald Ndava has succumbed to the deadly Coronavirus.
Ndava succumbed to the deadly pandemic at Chiredzi General Hospital on Friday night, according to Zanu PF Masvingo Provincial Commissar, Jevas Masosota.
38 people have succumbed to the deadly virus in Masvingo.
“Ronald Ndava succumbed to the deadly virus last night and burial arrangements are yet to be announced,” a Zanu PF official said.
She spoke out on a range of issues which touch from loopholes at State House, chaos at the national broadcaster, ZBC, which the military daily dearly guards, and what she termed a total collapse of the Ministry Of Health. She also accused China for creating COVID-19 through experiments gone wrong. Below was the interview:
MAY YOU ASSIST BRING BACK OUR MISSING MRS SIBONGILE DUBE OF MLOYI AREA IN MBALABALA , MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA APPEALS
16 JANUARY 2021
We are extremely worried and undergoing horrific sleepless nights because of the continued missing of the beloved mother-in-law of Mdc Alliance Namibia Rundu Branch Secretary for Elections.
Our mother(SIBONGILE DUBE) was last seen around the 22nd of December 2020 at her home situated in Mloyi Area in MBALABALA along Zvishavane road from Bulawayo. It is not easy to lose a 60 year old teacher who was contributing a lot in the education sector. Mrs Sibongile Dube is dark in complexion.
As a sure way of offering solidarity to our leader and brother in the national democratic revolution, we are appealing for assistance from all Zimbabweans and non-Zimbabweans under sun to help us recover our mother. The police, the CIOs, CIDs and securocrats are also expected to effectively help to bring back Mrs Sibongile Dube given their investigation antics. For any information that can help us find her, please contact +263775721155/0773569916/772831815 or nearest police station.
We will appreciate any effort to recover our beloved mother-in-law. Thank you in advance!
By A Correspondent- Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and Chitungwiza Health Department have been forced to cut down their operations after some of their staff members contracted the coronavirus in recent weeks.
The development was announced in a statement that was issued Thursday by Parirenyatwa spokesperson, Linos Dhire, who observed that scaling down operations will greatly affect patients.
Read the statement:
We would like to advise our patients on chemotherapy and the general public that our radiotherapy centre has not been spared the effects of Covid-19.
Some staff members and patients have been infected and this is posing serious risks. Chemotherapy patients are most vulnerable as their immunity may be impaired by their treatment and disease.
In the meantime, hospital authorities are reviewing relevant protocols to safeguard both patients and staff; our doctors are reviewing patients on a case-by-case basis and making appropriate decisions.
Meanwhile, Chitungwiza City Health Department revealed that at least one of its staff members had died while seven have been infected by the deadly virus.
In a Thursday statement, Chitungwiza town clerk, Tonderai Kasu, said:
Even before the onset of the pandemic, Chitungwiza Municipality was short of health professionals. The current circumstances have worsened these shortages of qualified staff.
As a result of the current severe staff shortages, and with immediate effect, Chitungwiza Municipality will be temporarily closing one of its municipal clinics; that is St Mary’s Clinic.
This clinic shall remain open for emergency cases only; all non-emergency cases that would normally be attended to at St Mary’s shall be attended to at Zengeza Clinic for the time being.
This comes when Zimbabwe has been hit by the second wave of the deadly coronavirus pandemic that has since killed over 630 people since March last year.
The announcement is also made amid calls for the government to provide frontline workers with personal protective equipment (PPEs) to shield them from the virus.
By A Correspondent- Exiled former Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Jonathan Moyo has suggested that President Emmerson Mnangagwa knows what happened to journalist and political activist Itai Dzamara who was allegedly kidnapped in 2015.
Dzamara’s whereabouts are still unknown.
Asked by Magamba TV what happened to Itai Dzamara, Jonathan Moyo said:
I appreciate that you and many others find it easier to ask me and find it very difficult to ask Emmerson Mnangagwa…Remember that on the day he (Dzamara) disappeared Emmerson Mnangagwa was acting President.
Back in 2015, Moyo claimed that the opposition knew where Dzamara was adding that he was hiding in Botswana and would one day come out.
Dzamara, in 2014, began his one-man protest movement by sitting in Africa Unity Square calling for then-President Robert Mugabe to relinquish power over maladministration.
Soon others began to join him.
Dzamara was abducted while in a barber where he was getting his beard trimmed. It is reported that five men with a white Nissan twin cab which seemed to be circling the block took him alleging that he was a cattle thief.
Uganda’s President for the past 34 years Yoweri Museveni has reportedly defeated firebrand youthful politician Bobi Wine to become the country’s president for the next 5 years, Aljazeera reports.
According to the publication, Uganda’s election commission declared Museveni the duly elected winner today and said he garnered 5.85 million votes, or 58.64%, while Bobi Wine won 3.48 million votes or 34.83%.
Uganda Election Commission EC chairman Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama. in announcing Museveni as the winner reportedly said:
The electoral commission declares Yoweri Museveni … elected president of the republic of Uganda
Bobi wine yesterday said he was the elected president at a press conference he said he had video evidence of the government rigging elections.
Meanwhile, the EU in Uganda has said it was impressed with the peaceful and organized elections despite reports on social media that armed state agents surrounded Bobi Wine’s house yesterday. The country voted on Thursday amid an internet and social media blockade ordered by Museveni’s government.
Former Energy Minister Advocate Fortune Chasi has said the power cuts the country experienced in the recent past demanded that responsible authorities be hands-on.
He posted on Twitter following a public outcry over power blackouts that had lasted for almost a week in some parts of Harare.
He tweeted:
It was heartening to see people call poor service delivery – especially against ZETDC. It reminded me of my erstwhile mandate & how I used to descend to the ground to find solutions.
Do you remember how I was often ridiculed? How people would say “a whole minister bla bla”. Essentially saying I was doing menial work. A desperate situation demands one to be hands-on! That’s a key way of improving service delivery!
The power utility dismissed claims that the blackouts could have been caused by the inadequacy of power in the country saying Zimbabwe was generating enough power to meet the demand.
Meanwhile, electricity has been restored in some parts of the country while some are still without power.
Production in the country was low last year and might be low again this year if power issues continue unabetted.
By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) wants to switch from manual collection of toll fees to an electronic tolling collection (ETC) method that allows vehicles to pass through a toll gate without requiring any action or stopping by the driver.
In a notice in the Government Gazette yesterday, the road authority requested for expressions of interest for the supply, installation, configuration and commissioning of an ETC solution using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
Zinara currently operates 31 toll gates on the major highways of Zimbabwe. The amount of traffic in recent years has surged due to the increasing number of vehicles. Zinara’s quest to switch to ETC comes on the back of increasing numbers of vehicles on the roads, resulting in problems such as long queues, delays, congestion and fuel wastage.
“The payment methods that are in operation at the toll plazas depend on the network communication systems operated by mobile network operators and the point-of-sale machines from banks and these payment methods have inherent delays and are not capable of coping with the increased traffic volumes.
“The current payment procedure can be slow, which often results in traffic jams at the toll plazas on busy highways. “The above challenges have created a huge negative implication on revenue collection and have created a nightmare for the motoring public,” read part of the notice.
To curtail the challenges, Zinara said the introduction of the ETC system at the tolling points would ease congestion and unnecessary delays.
“ECT will help to automate the collection of toll fees, ensure classification and toll collections are easily reconciled as well as reduce the manual intervention in toll collection,” further read the notice.
Typical methods for collecting tolls are manual collection, automatic toll collection via coin machines, and ETC. Manual toll collection is the simplest form in which a collector operating from a booth collects the money.
ETC is the most complex and the latest method for collecting tolls. Although it has been in use for more than 20 years, it will be new to Zimbabwe. ETC lanes improve the speed and efficiency of traffic flow and save drivers’ time.
An ETC system is capable of electronically charging a toll to an established customer account. The system can determine whether a passing car is registered, automatically charging those vehicles, and alert the local highway patrol about users that are not registered.
If you haven't seen Simba Chikanza on FULL HD VIDEO sitting over lunch with these too govt officials, even on this @ZimEye Twitter handle, several times over the years, go check your birth certificate, you likely no Zimbabwean!
If you haven't seen Simba Chikanza on FULL HD VIDEO sitting over lunch with these POLITBURO members, even on the @ZimEye Twitter handle, several times over the years, go check your birth certificate, you're not a Zimbabwean!
In line with the Zimbabwe Constitution Section 67 (1)(b), 67 (2)(b)(c) and 67(3)(a)(b) that confers Zimbabwean citizens political and electoral rights related to political membership and suffrage, the Patriotic Zimbabweans in Diaspora (PZD) party was birthed.
Hitherto, multitudes of fellow country men and women of all races were either playing peripheral roles in existing political parties or were excluded.
In spite of their obvious substantial intellectual and socioeconomic impact on the nation, they have not been allowed to have a stake in the political destiny of their motherland.
Admittedly, it is a predicament which has been self-imposed and to a great extent accepted by the dormant diaspora.
Considering the foregoing, Zimbabweans living and working abroad have awoken from their slumber and decided to end their observer status and apathetic approach towards the affairs of their country.
Led by the interim president and one of the founders, Lieutenant (Retired) Charles Muchineripi Mutama, the Patriotic Zimbabweans in Diaspora is a political party made up of Zimbabweans living in various countries across the globe.
Its mandate is to ensure that:
– Voting rights are extended to the estimated four million Zimbabweans living abroad;
– A process of radical political and economic reform is initiated by all stakeholders;
– The diaspora participates in all elections;
– Zimbabwe returns to the community of nations;
– Corruption and arrested development are comprehensively dealt with;
All economically marginalised people at home and abroad begin to enjoy their natural wealth and, above all;
– The electoral system is overhauled to meet regional and international standards.
Since the beginning of this new year, the PZD has embarked on an intensive membership drive utilising social media, associations, and clubs in the diaspora in its effort to mobilise and build this young and unique party which is open to all Zimbabweans.
Currently, the majority of the membership is drawn from countries such as South Africa, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom and more recruitment work is being done in Australia and New Zealand.
In Zimbabwe, multimedia resources and personnel have been deployed to introduce the party to the electorate and potential members.
As part of our broader vision, the PZD party is a link between the past and the future.
There is nexus between our revolutionary political agenda and the aspirations of the past anti-colonial and anti-native coloniality leadership.
In a world where political and economic dimensions are changing rapidly, the PZD party is a dynamic Pan-Africanist organisation which will complement the role being played by progressive political parties in Zimbabwe while embracing modern concepts of democracy.
The PZD will forge alliances with indigenous parties or individuals who share a common vision of transferring power to civilian rule through any other means popular with the will of the majority.
Finally, as a party of expatriates and Zimbabweans living abroad, the PZD party will leverage its human capital, international networks and economic resource base to return Zimbabwe to the community of nations and to revive an economy in comatose.
The PZD party embraces international best practices in its governance and as such will make it its mission to cultivate that culture in the current toxic Zimbabwean body politic.
"I just did an interview over the phone with @HEBobiwine. He says he is essentially under house arrest — with no one allowed in or out of his house. He says the government’s intent is to isolate him." ~@eyderp.
By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe’s Minister of Health and Child Care, Vice President Chiwenga has said COVID-19 vaccination is going to be voluntary.
He made the remarks in his COVID-19 update on Friday as some members of the pubic are indecisive on whether to take the vaccine or not. In a statement,
Chiwenga said:
I am also aware that some of our citizens are anxious to get vaccinated. The Government is following the development and dissemination of COVID 19 vaccines by other states, with keen interest.
Despite the observations made that other African, European and Asian countries had started rolling out vaccines, Zimbabwe adopted a measured approach, with experts interrogating all safety concerns.
As soon as all technical and administrative obligations are met, Zimbabweans can expect to be vaccinated. The vaccination is going to be voluntary.
Let me underscore that my Ministry is doing everything possible to ensure that our citizens are safe from possible side effects of some COVID 19 vaccines, currently on the shelf.
Some members of the public are afraid of the side effects of the vaccines while some are even alleging that the vaccine is against their religious beliefs.
By A Correspondent- Health and Child Care Minister, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has spoken out on the use of moringa and Zumbani to treat Covid-19.
Zumbani and Moringa have become much sought after traditional herbs in the country as people widely believe it can treat Covid-19.
The practice of “kunatira/kufufira (inhaling steam laced with herbs) has been so popular that sellers are making a lot of money selling herbs like Zumbani, Moringa, and Mufandichimuka.
In a press statement, Vice President Chiwenga said;
“Before I conclude my Press Statement, someone asked me whether traditional medicines such as Mufandichimuka, Moringa, Zumbani, and other herbs can be used to treat COVID 19 or substitute drugs for COVID 19?”
“Some Traditional Doctors were said to claiming that their patients recovered after administering herbs. My comment would be that, you might be aware that some modern medicines are actually derived from traditional herbs,” he said.
He urged citizens to rely on scientific backed evidence use of herbs and home remedies in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
“Yes, it is possible that some traditional medicines can be used to treat COVID 19 however, there is a need for scientific researches to be done to ascertain their efficacy. The Ministry of Health and Child Care actually operationalized the Traditional Medicines Department, which is pre-occupied with researches in this area,” he added.
Following the recent surge in Covid-19, VP Chiwenga called on citizens to abide by the lockdown regulations in the face of the worsening Covid-19 crises.
He also urged members of the public to continue to observe guidelines of wearing masks, observing social distance, and sanitization.
When the coronavirus pandemic began early in 2020, most Zimbabweans never took it seriously. Many were misled by social media where it was peddled that Corona is only for whites and only comes in winter.
Even though we as a nation experienced some infections they were not soaringly high. This gave a false hope and many people started putting their guards down. Many experts wondered if there would be waves of cases, a pattern seen in other virus pandemics.
But with the relaxation of rules the overall pattern has been one of increasing cases of COVID-19, with a surge in the summer more than it was in Winter. A cruel warning bell was heard in every household. CORONA Virus has shown that it does not respect persons. It has come back with such a venom which was never expected.
Now Zimbabwe has witness and it is still witnessing a high number of coronavirus infections followed by a great number of those succumbing to the infection. The whole world is having a “second wave” of increased cases.
Zimbabwe has been left with more questions about this unseen but cruel pandemic. We are all asking what is the reason of this surge.
Corona is prevented by personal hygiene and the virus can be killed by soap. However it is our attitude towards the virus which determines whether we are able to fight it or not. This pandemic will kill more people and will change our behaviour. Our behaviour has been the major spreader of the virus.
Human behavior is the major factor which spreads the virus. People’s attitude towards the pandemic gives them kick backs which are ever so powerful and cruel that the kick back in a corruption deal. Zimbabweans of all walks differed in their response to the pandemic. Some follow COVID-19 precautions, such as physical distancing, hand-washing and mask-wearing. Others are not as prescriptive in requiring these measures or in restricting certain high risk activities.
Some engaged into parties in clear defiance of rules to break COVID-19. In some cities, towns and communities, public places are closed or practicing limitations (such as how many people are allowed inside at one time); others are operating normally. Some government and community leaders encourage or even mandate mask wearing and physical distancing in public areas. Others say it is a matter of personal choice.
This virus could have been stopped if people had adhered to the restrictions. Many people started politicising the virus until they can not escape the cruel jaws of the virus. People just need to take precautions and they will increase their chances of surviving the virus.
However, the relationship between those precautions and cases of COVID-19 is clear: In areas where fewer people are wearing masks and more are gathering indoors to eat, drink, observe religious practices, celebrate and socialize, even with family, cases are on the rise. Many Christians think that COVID is a test or of faith. They forget even in the time of Jesus people were quarantined and sometimes God gives you ways of defeating the pandemic and in our stupidity we confuse foolishness with the act of faith.
Also, places where people live or work closely together (multigenerational households, long term care facilities, prisons and some types of businesses) have also tended to see more spread of the coronavirus. Coronavirus outbreaks at super spreader” events gatherings of people where one infected person or more transmits the virus to many others — continue to occur.
Some abuse their authority to gather at parties funerals only to infect many people. Zimbabwe has lost two ministers several security officers tens of nurses and doctors all due to CORONA. It is only when one close to you is gone that you realise that Corona is real.
The spike in the Corona virus cases does not reflect the increase in testing. Testing does not give you CORONA. It simply tells you that you are positive or negative. So blaming the testing is like blaming a mirror for showing dirty in your face.
During a surge, the actual number of people getting sick with the coronavirus is increasing. This is so because in addition to positive COVID-19 tests, the number of symptomatic people, hospitalizations and later, deaths, follows the same pattern.
As communities began to relic attending large gatherings, and the authorities reopen bars, restaurants and stores people were understandably eager to be able to go out and resume some of their regular activities. They mistook this reopening as a sign that Corona is gone.
But the number of people infected with the coronavirus was still high in many areas, and transmission of the virus was easily rekindled once people increased their activities and contact with each other. Medical experts urged reopening communities to continue diligent COVID-19 precautions, including physical distancing, hand-washing and mask-wearing, and monitoring for symptoms. Unfortunately, the combination of reopening and lapses in these infection prevention efforts has caused the number of coronavirus infections to rise again. This time it rose with brutal consequences which were never experienced before.
Again as a country we remained closed to information sharing. We allowed many in informed messages on the virus to congest the social media. This gave many people false hope and the result was the second brutal wave.
When a person is exposed to the coronavirus, it can take up to two weeks before they become sick enough to go to the doctor, get tested and have their case counted in the data. It takes even more time for additional people to become ill after being exposed to that person, and so on. Several cycles of infection must occur before a noticeable increase shows in the data that public health officials use to track the pandemic. Many people are resorting to home grown medicine and these are never put in the statistics.
So when one relaxes precautions, the effects of that change will take a month or more to be seen. Of course, surges also depend on the behaviors of people when they start moving around more. If everyone continues to wear masks, wash their hands and practice social distancing, the second wave will not have come at all.
In the beginning of the pandemic, some people wondered: Will the coronavirus go away in the summer? Unfortunately, a substantial spike during the hot summer months in the Zimbabwe made it clear that this was not the case. Other respiratory illnesses, like colds and influenza (flu), are more common in the colder months. Now that fall is here, we are seeing a dramatic increase in COVID-19 across the Zimbabwe.
Doctors, clinics and hospitals are now fighting more COVID-19 surges. People must continue to practice COVID-19 precautions, such as physical distancing, hand-washing and mask-wearing. From Christmas to date every Zimbabwean has seen the virus on their door steps.
With the unavailability of a specific antiviral or a vaccine, non-pharmaceutical interventions could be the benchmark in curbing COVID spread and non-compliance to the latter is the obvious cause of a second wave of Covid-19. Hate them or not the police must enforce the rules for the good the nation. As a country Zimbabwe is being overrun by this pandemic.
The government must start serious censuring the public for the rise and worsening situation of the pandemic. People regardless of their social status must be forced to observe standard operating procedures. We must regret the failure in not taking appropriate steps and decisions which led to the current situation. the infection spread at an alarming speed, albeit the authorities did not address the issue as it should have been done. Many came from South Africa with fake COVID Negative certificates.
It is time now we must stand up and correct our mistakes and save the nation. Lack of a stringent policy and lockdown breaking paved the way for SARS-CoV-2 spread through social, political, religious and regular business activities, transport and tourism. Schools, colleges and universities were re-opened for regular activities across the country. Ultimately, a second wave of the pandemic erupted, according to the authorities. The ground was all set for such a situation in Zimbabwe. The scary part is that circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 will not stop here and it is highly probable that Covid-19 can become a source of persistent infection if the lesson is not learnt.
The New York Post reported that Twenty-three people died in Norway within days of receiving their first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, with 13 of those deaths – all nursing home patients – apparently related to the side effects of the shots, health officials said.
Common reactions to the vaccine, including fever and nausea, “may have contributed to a fatal outcome in some frail patients,” Sigurd Hortemo, chief physician at the Norwegian Medicines Agency, said in a Friday statement.
All 13 were nursing home patients and at least 80 years old. While officials aren’t expressing serious concern, they are adjusting their guidance on who should receive the vaccine.
The news comes just over a week after officials reported the deaths of just two nursing home residents after they received the Pfizer jab.
More than 30,000 people in Norway have received the first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna coronavirus vaccine in the Scandinavian country since late last month, according to official figures.
“We are not alarmed by this,” Steinar Madsen, medical director with the agency, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. “It is quite clear that these vaccines have very little risk, with a small exception for the frailest patients.”
“Doctors must now carefully consider who should be vaccinated,” he added. “Those who are very frail and at the very end of life can be vaccinated after an individual assessment.”
The agency reported Thursday that a total of 29 people had suffered side effects, including the 13 people who died.
Twenty-one women and eight men experienced side effects, officials said.
Besides those who died, nine had serious side effects — including allergic reactions, strong discomfort and severe fever — while seven had less serious ones, including severe pain at the injection site.
In total, more than 57,000 cases and 500 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in Norway, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Health officials noted that around 400 people die each week in the nursing home population.
A Pfizer rep said the pharmaceutical giant is “aware of reported deaths” following the administration of the vaccine in Norway and is working with the Norwegian Medicines Agency “to gather all the relevant information.”
“Norwegian authorities have prioritized the immunization of residents in nursing homes, most of whom are very elderly with underlying medical conditions and some which are terminally ill,” a spokeswoman said in a statement. “[The Norwegian Medicine Agency confirms] the number of incidents so far is not alarming, and in line with expectations.”
“All reported deaths will be thoroughly evaluated by [the agency] to determine if these incidents are related to the vaccine,” she added. “The Norwegian government will also consider adjusting their vaccination instructions to take the patients’ health into more consideration.”
Why would you inteview someone in their Moment of Weakness?- ANSWER: this is a NationalHero who has died, so it's not a private moaning, and the Law is clear. Furthermore, the person being interviewed is a Public person, whose proclamations have caused the death of this Public… https://t.co/sjnHvQd3lPpic.twitter.com/v1Nmk1tuBc
By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum) has expressed concern over what they called an apparent trend of manipulation of the criminal justice system to punish dissent through prolonged and undue pre-trial incarceration.
The rights group also bemoaned the selective targeting of political opposition leaders and human rights defenders.
This came after journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, MDC Alliance vice-chairperson Job Sikhala, and MDC Alliance party spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere were arrested last week and charged for allegedly communicating falsehoods.
They are being charged under section 31(a)(iii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
In a statement yesterday, the Forum said political opposition leaders and human rights defenders are being arrested on frivolous charges as the State has weaponised the criminal justice system to intimidate and threaten perceived voices of dissent.
“The collective incidents of arrests related to political opponents, human rights defenders and other opposition figures on frivolous and vexatious charges are not isolated to these latest arrests,” read part of the statement.
“In November 2020, police officers arrested Jacob Mafume on charges of criminal abuse of office, in addition to subsequent charges of allegedly interfering with a key witness.”
Many activists have been arrested for speaking against the government, in September 2020, Takudzwa Ngadziore was arrested on charges of participating in a public gathering with intent to promote public violence, Youngerson Matete, Prince Gora and Allan Moyo were arrested on similar charges.
“In all these cases, the wrath and retribution of the government is clearly evidenced by the adoption of pre-trial incarceration procedures as a punitive measure.
“A case in point is that of student activist, Allan Moyo, who has been remanded in prison for the past thirty-seven days without a trial.”
“It appears that the government has become fixated with punishing dissenting voices in the country through prolonged pre-trial incarcerations,” the lobby group said.
The Forum said these arrests are seemingly meant to intimidate opposition figures from speaking out and calling for the government to be accountable to its people while government continues to default on its obligations in terms of the Constitution and in terms of international law.
“In terms of sections 58, 59, 60 and 61 the Constitution of Zimbabwe, citizens are entitled and well within their rights to speak out and complain when their freedoms have been infringed upon,” the Forum added.
By A Correspondent- Former Principal Immigration Officer Munyaradzi Mushimbo has approached the High Court seeking to have the Zimbabwe Financial Clearing Association (ZFCA) remove his name from the roll of blacklisted people.
In the application, he cited Portcullis Financial Clearing Bureau (PFCB), an affiliate of ZFCA, as the respondent. Mushimbo was arrested last February on charges of criminal abuse of office after he reportedly facilitated the illegal stay of Chinese nationals in the country but was later found not guilty and acquitted on March 2.
According to the application, Mushimbo is a director at Hedridge Investments, Golden Keyz Mine, Octa Front Consultants as well as Glen Freight Logistics, dealing in freight, mining and logistics.
On December 31, a commercial bank informed Mushimbo that his account had been declined to his dismay as a transfer of RTGS$120 000 had been done only days before.
He attempted to open new accounts with other banks to no avail, leading him to conclude that-PFCB had not removed him from the blacklist, making it impossible for him to trade.
Mushimbo, represented by Tatenda Mushangwe, approached the High Court citing that the tag on Mushimbo was due to a newspaper article and should not even have been placed on him to begin with.
“It is obvious from a cursory look at the circumstances that the tag is intended by the respondent to be ad infinitum. I do not want to delve much into the fact that the tag must not even have been placed in the first place on account of a newspaper article,” the application reads.
“That despite, the listing itself on the mere basis of a newspaper article and with no follow through on the finalisation of the matter fails to convince anyone that the national reasonable man on the proverbial commuter omnibus would consider that conduct to be reasonable.”
He is also claiming that the tag is infringing on his constitutional right as it is hindering him from trading. “I have every reason to say that my constitutional rights are being infringed. I am not persuaded that there is any reasonable justification for such infringements on my rights.”
By A Correspondent- Forty five suspended police officers have approached the High Court seeking an order to be released from Chikurubi Detention Barracks (DB) where they have been committed since January 4.
The officers, through their lawyer Tafadzwa Muvhami, have filed an urgent chamber application citing police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga, Assistant Commissioner (Harare province) Dube and Criminal Investigations Department Sergeant Zaranyika as respondents.
Assistant Inspector Raymond Chidyagwai and 44 other officers were ordered to report for duty on January 4 at Chikurubi Detention Barracks. Upon arrival, the officers were committed to hard labour without a time limit by the respondents as punishment after their recent suspension from the force for various reasons.
Since their arrival, the officers have reportedly been ordered by the respondents to carry out tasks that do not have anything to do with their official duties.
“From January 4, 2021, we have been ordered to carry bricks from one point to the other, sweeping the yard, watering the garden and working in the police fields and our supervisor’s fields, which have nothing to do with our duties.
“We are also ordered to fetch water for our supervisors and weed their gardens for their personal benefit. “The respondents have labelled us bandits and we actually work more than the other members who are committed to serve their sentences at Chikurubi DB,” Chidyagwai’s affidavit reads.
The officers also claim they are being exposed to inhumane punishment and treatment by their superiors. In their application, the officers want the High Court to grant an order that Dube and Zaranyika have no authority to place them on indefinite punishment as no court has convicted them of any wrongdoing.
“The applicants have not been committed to hard labour by any court of law and it appears that the 1st and 2nd respondents have turned themselves into a court of law with unfettered powers,” the officers claim.
The police bosses are yet to respond to the application.-DailyNews
By A Correspondent- Harare City Council town clerk Hosea Chisango yesterday appeared in court on fresh charges of criminal abuse of duty after he allegedly fired a subordinate to cover up investigations on illegal land deals.
He was remanded in custody to Monday, January 18 for his bail application hearing by magistrate Ngoni Nduna.
The State alleges that on December 24, 2020, Chisango unlawfully directed the Public Safety Division through a memorandum to stop reporting to the chamber secretary but to report to him.
The directive was supposed to have been issued out after consultations by council authorities.
The State alleges Chisango designed the new reporting structure so that he gets direct control of that department which was behind the investigation on shoddy land deals within council.
He later issued out another verbal directive to the staff members in the Public Safety Division to ‘stress’ his directive.
On January 13, 2021, Tarisai Chiendambuya, a chief superintendent and head of investigations department was served with a suspension letter by Geoffrey Manyere, acting chief security officer.
Manyere had been appointed to that post by Chisango when incumbent Collen Tongowona was there.
It is alleged Chisango made those decisions to frustrate ongoing investigations on illegal land deals at the City of Harare.
Chisango has another pending matter at the courts of criminal abuse of office.
By A Correspondent- Mukudzei Mudzi, one of the only two surviving members of Dare ReChimurenga has died. The cause of death is not yet known.
Mudzi’s death was announced by Jealousy Mawarire, the spokesperson of the Patriotic Front in his Twitter post this Saturday.
Mawarire said:
Sad to learn that one of the only two surviving members of Dare Rechimurenga, Cde Mukudzei Mudzi is nomore. He passed on in Harare this morning. He, and Rugare Gumbo, were the only surviving members of the esteemed liberation war council known as Dare Rechimurenga. He was 94.
By A Correspondent- Zanu PF Mashonaland Central youth chairperson Lens Farando also known as Ruwizhi Friday succumbed to Covid-19, the ruling party has confirmed.
The development was confirmed by the party’s acting youth league national secretary, Tendai Chirau, who tweeted saying:
Cdes, I have just received shocking news of the death of Cde Ruwizhi our Zanu PF Youth League provincial chairman for Mashonaland Central. I am saddened!
It is reported that Ruwizhu died at his mother’s house in Bindura.
Zimbabwe is experiencing a resurgence of the coronavirus which started towards the end of 2020 third quarter.
As of Friday 15 January 2021, Zimbabwe had 26 109 officially confirmed cases, 15 414 recoveries and 666 deaths.
By A Correspondent- A suspect in last week’s US$2.5 million ZB Bank cash-in-transit robbery died in Zaka on Thursday in a shoot-out with detectives, while three others appeared in court on Friday.
Andrew Chigara was one of the suspects on the run but died at Ndanga District Hospital on Thursday evening from gunshot wounds sustained in the shoot-out at Ndanga Business Centre while he was resisting arrest.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday said detectives tracked Chigara to Ndanga Business Centre in Zaka on Thursday.
Nyathi said:
Upon seeing the detectives at the business centre, the suspect tried to run away resulting in a shoot-out with police. Chigara sustained serious injuries and was taken to Ndanga Hospital where he passed on.
So far, police have arrested 11 out of 15 suspects in the staged robbery and recovered US$690 000 while three more suspects, including the alleged mastermind, are still being sought.
The heist happened at Gwebi Bridge lay-bye on Wednesday 6 January 2021 at 1400 hrs.
Tinashe Sambiri| Zanu PF stalwart, Oppah Muchinguri- Kashiri says the Chinese people are to blame for experimenting with the deadly Coronavirus.
This follows the death of Minister of State for Manicaland, Ellen Gwaradzimba.
Read Muchunguri-Kashiri’s remarks below:
Washaya mwana wangu washaya meaning she is dead, my daughter is dead. Mwana wangu washaya kani she is gone she is gone.
Takaedza kani takaedza meaning we tried everything we really tried to help her get better. The Lord has laughed at us we tried everything….the children. What about the children? They have killed me (Ellen’s death) has destroyed me. This has destroyed me. I am in pain, so much pain. …. What? drink ginger? I am not sick. I am well. I am not sick. It’s just people that are saying lies. They are lying. I am not sick. I am very well and healthy. They have said that I am sick but it’s not true. They have said that I am sick four times and even suggested that I have died four times. But it’s not true. Ok my children.
I suffered a lot with Ellen. I couldn’t sleep while she was sick. The doctors talked to me everyday, together with the children. She was in pain she was in so much pain. She has let us down today. Hazvina mhosva….. She took everything, all the medication…everything we tried. Vaccine?
No there is no vaccine yet in the country. I will never take the vaccine. I will not take “your” vaccine, I will not take your vaccine unless if it’s developed by our own people, Zimbabweans. If they develop our own vaccine. Why can’t we also develop our own vaccine. Why should we take that which is developed by others? Why can’t we also make our own vaccine? Let’s develop our own.
We are trying our own, we are also trying our own that which we are developing with the help of the Chinese maybe it will be successful maybe it will be successful. I do not know.
Chinotimba. I also heard that he is not well. I also heard that Chinamasa is sick….Chinotimba I heard that he is not well. I heard that he is not too well. But I am well and not sick. I am assisting a lot of people. I am the one helping a lot of people who are not well here in Manicaland. Ana Getty vese I brought them here everyone in Manicaland I am helping them. Bringing them here to help with their treatment. I am looking for resources to help them getting them treated.
It is not possible (to stay at home) I am going to the children. I can’t leave them alone Ellen’s children. I can’t do that. We left together with Ellen, we left their home while going to seek treatment. I left with their sick mother. They (other family members) were all sick but they got better. I can’t leave them. Zimbabweans are dying. This is serious. Covid 19 is serious.
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.
We have to be strong. Indeed we have to be strong Let me attend to the children so that we can organise the funeral. We have managed to take the body to Doves so we need to do the heroes burial. We are liasing with the leaders. We are talking to the party leadership. Please forgive me so that I can start doing the job ….we are taking extra care we are wearing the masks 4 4, face screens, gloves everything.
We are drinking the medicines zinc garlic we are drinking we will not stop. But Covid 19 is killing- it is killing people. Its still a journey. We are protecting our health wearing masks, social distancing everything. Zvakaoma. This is a deadly disease, it is a killer disease. It has wrecked havoc.
These people, who are now at the top at ZBC, they are not doing anything. They are just busy promoting themselves (the top stalwarts at ZBC).
They are not even conscientising the public on the dangers of Covid-19…. On the safety of the president in the wake of Covid- 19…..Vanokanganiswa meaning he is not safe at all.
Our enemies are using the people around him (bodyguards) to spread the virus to our senior leaders. We are even suspecting that. It is well my son. Thank you.
By A Correspondent- In an exclusive interview with ZimEye, Oppah Muchinguri revealed that she was well and healthy despite claims by some sections of the media that she was battling Covid-19.
While mourning Zanu Pf heavyweight Ellen Gwaradzimba who succumbed to Covid-19, Muchinguri told ZimEye that she had reservations taking the covid-19 vaccine developed in other nations.
She queried why Zimbabwe was not prioritising developing its own vaccine.
Said Muchinguri, who is the current Defence minister:
“Washaya mwana wangu washaya meaning she is dead, my daughter is dead. Mwana wangu washaya kani she is gone she is gone. Takaedza kani takaedza meaning we tried everything we really tried to help her get better. The Lord has laughed at us we tried everything….the children. What about the children? They have killed me (Ellen’s death) has destroyed me. This has destroyed me. I am in pain, so much pain. ….
What? drink ginger? I am not sick. I am well. I am not sick. It’s just people that are saying lies. They are lying. I am not sick. I am very well and healthy. They have said that I am sick but it’s not true. They have said that I am sick four times and even suggested that I have died four times. But it’s not true.
Ok my children. I suffered a lot with Ellen. I couldn’t sleep while she was sick. The doctors talked to me everyday, together with the children. She was in pain she was in so much pain. She has let us down today. Hazvina mhosva…..
She took everything, all the medication…everything we tried. Vaccine? No there is no vaccine yet in the country. I will never take the vaccine. I will not take “your” vaccine, I will not take your vaccine unless if it’s developed by our own people, Zimbabweans. If they develop our own vaccine. Why can’t we also develop our own vaccine. Why should we take that which is developed by others? Why can’t we also make our own vaccine? Let’s develop our own.
We are trying our own, we are also trying our own that which we are developing with the help of the Chinese maybe it will be successful maybe it will be successful. I do not know.
Chinotimba. I also heard that he is not well. I also heard that Chinamasa is sick….Chinotimba I heard that he is not well. I heard that he is not too well. But I am well and not sick. I am assisting a lot of people. I am the one helping a lot of people who are not well here in Manicaland. Ana Getty vese I brought them here everyone in Manicaland I am helping them. Bringing them here to help with their treatment. I am looking for resources to help them getting them treated.
It is not possible (to stay at home) I am going to the children. I can’t leave them alone Ellen’s children. I can’t do that. We left together with Ellen, we left their home while going to seek treatment. I left with their sick mother. They (other family members) were all sick but they got better. I can’t leave them.
Zimbabweans are dying. This is serious. Covid 19 is serious. 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. We have to be strong. Indeed we have to be strong
Let me attend to the children so that we can organise the funeral. We have managed to take the body to Doves so we need to do the heroes burial. We are liasing with the leaders. We are talking to the party leadership. Please forgive me so that I can start doing the job ….we are taking extra care we are wearing the masks 4 4, face screens, gloves everything. We are drinking the medicines zinc garlic we are drinking we will not stop. But Covid 19 is killing it is killing people. Its still a journey. We are protecting our health wearing masks, social distancing everything. Zvakaoma. This is a deadly disease, it is a killer disease. It has wrecked havoc.
These people, who are now at the top at ZBC, they are not doing anything. They are just busy promoting themselves (the top stalwarts at ZBC). They are not even conscientising the public on the dangers of Covid-19….
On the safety of the president in the wake of Covid- 19…..Vanokanganiswa meaning he is not safe at all. Our enemies are using the people around him (bodyguards) to spread the virus to our senior leaders. We are even suspecting that. It is well my son. Thank you.
Warriors vice-captain Partson Jaure has predicted a tough encounter against Cameroon in the opening match of the CHAN tournament.
The match will be played at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaoundé on Saturday.
Kick-off is at 6 pm CAT.
Jaure told NewsDay: “With or without the supporters, this match was always going to be tough.
“Cameroon are a very good side, and their supporters will push them. We are ready to suffer in this match. It’s our first group match, and it’s very key that we get a positive result.
“We will work hard to get a positive result. We are really motivated for this match.”
The Warriors have never won an opening match at the tournament in all their past appearances.- Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
TWO soldiers reportedly went berserk on Monday and assaulted a police officer who was leading a team that was enforcing lockdown restriction measures in Chipinge.
Milicent Ndebvu (30) and Mike Nyabote (36), who are stationed at 3.3 Infantry Reserve Battalion, were reportedly incensed by the stopping of their merry-making by a team of police officers that was being led by the complainant, Steven Chananda who is stationed at Zimbabwe Republic Police Chipinge Urban.
Ndebvu and Nyabote, who were later arrested, have since appeared before Chipinge magistrate, Mrs Elizabeth Hanzi, facing two counts of assaulting a police officer and obstructing an enforcing officer from performing his duties during national lockdown as defined in Section 11 of the Statutory Instrument 83/20.
They pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody to tomorrow (Saturday) for bail ruling.
Prosecuting, Mr Gift Bikita, said on Monday, January 9, at around 7pm, the complainant, Chananda who was on patrol with Kudzai Mutikizizi, Tarisai Muchemwa, Mercy Jumburu and Rejoice Gwanyanya went to Medium Density Shopping Centre as part of their duties to enforce lockdown restriction measures.
“Chananda and his team noticed a group of people that was braaing, drinking beer and dancing to music which was being played at high volume at Climax Studio. The police officers approached the studio in an endeavour to disperse the crowd as well as arrest the conveners.
“The two soldiers were among the revellers who were partying and they challenged the police officers to release the disc jockey they had arrested,” said Mr Bikita.
Nyabote allegedly hit the complainant six times on the shoulders and stomach with stones.
Ndebvu used a plastic chair to hit the complainant once on the shoulder and once on the back.
“He also grabbed the complainant’s umbrella and struck him with it all over the body. He also ordered the complainant to release the DJ he had handcuffed.
“The accused persons were ordered to go back to their barrack by a lieutenant who had arrived at the scene. The complainant sustained injuries all over the body and had to seek medical attention,” said Mr Bikita.- Manica Post
Manchester United are travelling to Liverpool for a top-of-the-table Premier League clash on Sunday afternoon.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Red Devils go to Anfield as leaders after claiming top spot with a win at Burnley on Tuesday evening. Paul Pogba’s volleyed winner sent us three points above the Merseysiders going into the weekend’s big clash.
With the two most successful teams in England going head-to-head, we’ve rounded up all you need to know ahead ahead of a clash that always showcases the fierce rivalry between the clubs.
The match at Anfield kicks off at 16:30 GMT on Sunday and will be broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports. You can follow all the action on ManUtd.com and in our Official App, where you can also track in-game data via our Match Centre. MUTV will also provide build-up, live radio commentary and post-match reaction, as well as showing full reruns of the game the following day. The Match Day Live programme on MUTV starts at 15:25 GMT.
TEAM NEWS
Victor Lindelof was absent against Burnley on Tuesday evening, having missed the game against Watford in the Emirates FA Cup due to a back injury. The Swedish defender was the only pre-match doubt absent for United, as both Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw, who also missed the Hornets match, were back in the starting line-up at Turf Moor. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will deliver the latest team news during his press conference on Friday.
For Liverpool, Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk remains sidelined with a long-term injury. The same is the case for fellow centre-back Joe Gomez, with Brazilian midfielders Fabinho and Jordan Henderson filling in at centre-back for Jurgen Klopp’s team as doubts persist over Joel Matip’s availability. In addition, Portuguese attacker Diogo Jota will not take part in the match on Sunday due to a knee injury. Spanish midfielder Thiago Alcantara has recently returned to the side, though, after being out of action for an extended period.
FORM GUIDE
As the league position suggests, United have been in great form. In our last 11 Premier League matches, the Reds have won nine and drawn the remaining two. The 20-times champions have not lost a league game since the start of November. If we only take the away games into account, Ole’s men have won seven out of eight Premier League fixtures on the road this season – the most in the division. Our only draw came on Boxing Day, when we drew 2-2 with Leicester City. Hence, United go into the match at Anfield full of confidence.
Liverpool will be looking to regain top spot. Klopp’s side have only won four of the last 10 matches in the league, failing to win in any of their last three fixtures. In their last match, Southampton beat the Merseysiders 1-0, thanks to a solitary goal from former Liverpool striker Danny Ings.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Looking at our overall record against our north-west rivals, it has been fairly close over the years but United certainly edge it in terms of wins. In 232 games between the clubs since 1894, United have come out on top 88 times, whereas Liverpool have won 77. Some 67 matches have ended with honours even.
It is always a tough battle when United and Liverpool go up against each other. In the last 10 meetings, there have been six draws. At Anfield, the hosts have the upper hand in recent seasons, having won two of the last four with two games ending 0-0. United’s last win against Klopp’s side, away from home, came in January 2016, when Wayne Rooney scored a second-half winner with a powerful shot into the roof of the net. Our last triumph over the Merseysiders came in March 2018, as Marcus Rashford scored twice to secure a 2-1 win at the Theatre of Dreams.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Mohamed Salah is the top goalscorer so far in the Premier League with 13 goals to his name and is one of Liverpool’s main threats going forward.
In this fixture last term, the Egypt international scored in injury-time to seal a 2-0 win on the counter-attack as United were looking for a late equaliser. He forms part of a consistent forward line also comprising Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. -Manchesterunited.com
By A Correspondent| The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum) has expressed concern over what they called an apparent trend of manipulation of the criminal justice system to punish dissent through prolonged and undue pre-trial incarceration.
The rights group also bemoaned the selective targeting of political opposition leaders and human rights defenders.
This came after journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, MDC Alliance vice-chairperson Job Sikhala, and MDC Alliance party spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere were arrested last week and charged for allegedly communicating falsehoods.
They are being charged under section 31(a)(iii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
In a statement yesterday, the Forum said political opposition leaders and human rights defenders are being arrested on frivolous charges as the State has weaponised the criminal justice system to intimidate and threaten perceived voices of dissent.
“The collective incidents of arrests related to political opponents, human rights defenders and other opposition figures on frivolous and vexatious charges are not isolated to these latest arrests,” read part of the statement.
“In November 2020, police officers arrested Jacob Mafume on charges of criminal abuse of office, in addition to subsequent charges of allegedly interfering with a key witness.”
Many activists have been arrested for speaking against the government, in September 2020, Takudzwa Ngadziore was arrested on charges of participating in a public gathering with intent to promote public violence, Youngerson Matete, Prince Gora and Allan Moyo were arrested on similar charges.
“In all these cases, the wrath and retribution of the government is clearly evidenced by the adoption of pre-trial incarceration procedures as a punitive measure.
“A case in point is that of student activist, Allan Moyo, who has been remanded in prison for the past thirty-seven days without a trial.”
“It appears that the government has become fixated with punishing dissenting voices in the country through prolonged pre-trial incarcerations,” the lobby group said.
The Forum said these arrests are seemingly meant to intimidate opposition figures from speaking out and calling for the government to be accountable to its people while government continues to default on its obligations in terms of the Constitution and in terms of international law.
“In terms of sections 58, 59, 60 and 61 the Constitution of Zimbabwe, citizens are entitled and well within their rights to speak out and complain when their freedoms have been infringed upon,” the Forum added.
Tinashe Sambiri|Zanu PF Masvingo Provincial Secretary for Information, Ronald Ndava has succumbed to the deadly Coronavirus.
Ndava succumbed to the deadly pandemic at Chiredzi General Hospital on Friday night, according to Zanu PF Masvingo Provincial Commissar, Jevas Masosota.
38 people have succumbed to the deadly virus in Masvingo.
“Ronald Ndava succumbed to the deadly virus last night and burial arrangements are yet to be announced,” a Zanu PF official said.
Following months of inaction due to the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, popular musician Andy Muridzo has revealed that he turned to farming to earn a living.
Muridzo reportedly stated that he is now into pig farming and he spends most of his time at his piggery in Norton.
This was revealed by the musician’s manager Onismo Saini.
“We are now spending much of our time at the plot in Norton where we have a piggery project.
“As we speak right now, we have over 150 pigs and piglets that we are rearing as a way to supplement our dues.
“We have passed a stage where we can rely on live shows only because the environment is not conducive for the that thing.
“As a friend and manager, I will have to advise him to invest in something else rather than waiting for live shows proceeds,” said Muridzo.
Muridzo who recently got engaged according to ZimCelebs is one of the musicians that were affected by the lockdown forcing them to look for alternative sources of income. Another popular musician Jah Prayer last year unveiled his trucking business Military Touch Capital Logistics during one of the country’s lockdowns.
By Jane Mlambo| Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri says she will not take soon to be imported Covid-19 vaccines insisting that she would only accept if it is developed locally.
In an interview with ZimEye, Muchinguri who was mourning the late Manicaland minister Ellen Gwaradzimba who succumbed to Covid-19 yesterday questioned the country’s decision to accept vaccines developed elsewhere.
I” will never take the vaccine. I will not take ‘your’ vaccine, I will not take your vaccine unless if it’s developed by our own people, Zimbabweans.
“If they develop our own vaccine. Why can’t we also develop our own vaccine. Why should we take that which is developed by others? Why can’t we also make our own vaccine? Let’s develop our own.
“We are trying our own, we are also trying our own that which we are developing with the help of the Chinese maybe it will be successful maybe it will be successful. I do not know,” said Muchinguri.
THE late former president Robert Mugabe’s business empire has crumpled amid revelations that Gushungo Dairy Estate is being leased to a company linked to a millionaire businessman.
A once thriving chicken and pig enterprise at the former Zimbabwe’s strongman Zvimba home, has also collapsed.
Details obtained this week indicate that Mugabe’s widow, Grace, is struggling to run the vast estate resulting in the business nosediving to an estimated 20% capacity utilisation.
Mugabe — who ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for 37 years but was removed via a military assisted takeover in November 2017 — left a huge business portfolio mainly in farming with 21 farms, according to a government commissioned land audit.
This is in stark contrast with the one-man-one-farm land policy his administration touted while Mugabe and his family turned into notorious land barons.
In 2015, Grace evicted 80 families who settled at part of the Gushungo Dairy Estate, but ever since the death of her husband things have turned for the worse.
At the core of the late shrewd politicians’ estate is Gushungo Holdings, incorporating Gushungo Dairy Estate, Gushungo Dairy Parlour and Alpha Omega — all located in the 1 200 hectare Foyle Farm in Mazowe — 40km north of Harare.
By Jane Mlambo| The Zimbabwe United Passengers Company (ZUPCO) has hiked urban fares with local buses now charging ZWL$30 from ZWL$16 while commuters will now fork ZWL$60 for 18 seater kombis that previously charged ZWL$32.
In a letter to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, Permanent Finance Secretary George Guvamatanga said the new fares will be effective from Monday the 18th of January.
THE Zimbabwe Republic Police is raking thousands of dollars in fines every day from Covid-19 lockdown violators amid revelations that as many as 2 000 people are being arrested on some days.
The government recently announced a 30-day lockdown with a 6pm to 6am curfew and closure of non-essential businesses in an effort to curb a surge in Covid-19 infections. Zimbabwe has recorded more than 20 000 confirmed cases with the death toll surpassing 500.
Experts worry the increase in Covid-19 confirmed cases could soon overwhelm state-run hospitals, with health professionals complaining that supplies of personal protective equipment are inadequate.
Statistics provided by the ZRP show that as many as 2 000 people are being arrested daily for violating lockdown regulations, generating amounts upwards of ZW$1 million in fines per day.
The fines for lockdown violations range between ZW$300 and ZW$500 and in most instances police demand cash from offenders.
“Meanwhile, police have intensified the enforcement of the Covid-19 lockdown regulations. On 11, January 2021, a total of 2 374 people were arrested throughout the country bringing the total cumulative arrests to 322 214 since the start of the Covid-19 regulations in March 2020,” statistics provided by the ZRP read in part.
Under the new lockdown measures, bars, bottle stores and restaurants are closed, church services are banned, funeral gatherings limited to 30 people while inter-city and inter-provincial travel has been limited to those classified as essential services.
In Bulawayo, the closure of bars and bottle stores has however birthed thriving underground beer markets with licensed liquor stores cited as the main suppliers.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube warned offenders (underground beer markets) faced arrest and prosecution with no option of paying a fine.
“There is no option of paying a fine. You will have to appear in court and they will determine whether you pay a fine, get imprisoned or both,” Ncube warned those operating shebeens and their patrons.
Shebeens are popular in Bulawayo but health experts describe them as Covid-19 hotspots as there is no social distancing, sanitisation of hands and wearing of masks by patrons.
“A lot of shebeen operators are repeat offenders. Also, they and their patrons will be contravening the Covid-19 regulations and the curfew put in place by government,” Ncube added.
Under the Liquor Act, it is an offence to sell beer without a licence.
Meanwhile, acting Mpilo Hospital chief executive officer Solwayo Ngwenya appealed for community behavioural change in the fight against Covid-19 as he warned that supplies of personal protective equipment at the institution are fast depleting.
“We will soon run out of PPE’s and the community behaviour is very critical, it may impact on our running as a hospital,” Ngwenya said.
Reports show that 206 health personnel at Mpilo Hospital have tested positive for Covid-19 since March, 2020.
In a statement, Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) director Itai Rusike noted: “This (depletion of PPEs) would cripple the health delivery system’s ability to continue caring for the sick and putting and an end to the pandemic.”
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 the 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 Mucheiwa 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, it’s very first action in January 1983.
“The very action of Gukurahundi was to abduct, torture and murder people in Tsholotsho, its first area of operation was in Tsholotsho, that pattern 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.
30 people died of Coronavirus on Friday taking the cumulative total of deaths to 666.
In its daily update, Ministry of Health and Child Care reported that a total of 741 tested positive to the pandemic taking the country total 26109 cases
The country also recorded a very high number of people who recovered from the disease.
“700 new recoveries reported: national recovery rate stands at 59% and active cases go up to 10029 today,” reads the update.
Of the 30 people who died yesterday, 10 were from Manicaland only while Harare had eight cases, Bulawayo six with Mat South, Mat North and Mashonaland West recording zero deaths.
Three (3) Bulawayo activists Nyasha Gwadzemba, Nigel Ndlovu, Lilian Kupukani, have been declared not guilty, over the 31 July demonstration. FULL PRINT BELOW-
THE Meteorological Service Department (MSD) has predicted heavy and destructive rains for a seven-day period across the country until Wednesday.
The rains started on Thursday spreading across most parts of the country yesterday.
Since the start of the rainy season in October, rains have caused destruction of property in Bulawayo, Midlands, Matabeleland and other parts of the country while lives have also been lost.
Six people travelling in an Isuzu double cab were swept away at flooded Gweru River Bridge on Sunday. Two bodies were recovered on Monday and four are still missing as the search mission has been called off.
Authorities have urged members of the public to be on high alert as the heavy rains could result in huts and houses collapsing.
In a statement, MSD said the heavy rains could result in flooding.
“Continuous rains are expected countrywide from Thursday 14 through to Wednesday 20 January 2021. The current rainfalls associated with the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, (ITCZ) should persist throughout the week, with localised heavier downpours in excess of 30mm in some places. NB: Soils are saturated thus any excess rains may lead to localised flash flooding and downstream flooding,” reads an MSD statement.
“Members of the public should watch out for collapse of huts/houses and fallen trees/tree branches due to excessive moisture.”
The MSD warned communities living in downstream areas against crossing flooded rivers even when their areas would not have received significant rains.
Earlier in the week, MSD warned that tropical cyclones and serious floods remain a real danger in the second-half of the 2020/21 rainy season while the Civil Protection Authority (CPU) has activated structures to attend to any rain related disasters.
Already, some dams in the country are spilling and rain continues to fall in abundance in a rainy season expected to end in March.
The ground is already saturated with water in most areas, so all rain water immediately becomes run-off and increases the chances of dangerous flash flooding countrywide.
The MSD had predicted normal to above normal rainfall in the 2020/21 rainy season owing to the La Nina climate pattern in Pacific Ocean, with improved rains expected across the Sadc region.
The weather forecaster said the country has recorded more than 300mm of rains so far across most parts of the country, pointing to significant rainfall.
Normally from October to December the country receives subdued rainfall compared to the January to March second-half of the rainy season.
The country in December escaped tropical Cyclone Chalane after the storm downgraded into a weakened tropical depression.
The rains have also resulted in improved inflows at the country’s dams.
The CPU has said the $100 million that Government released in anticipation of Cyclone Chalane would be used for evacuations and other eventualities in case of rain disasters.
The MSD said areas such as Binga received heavy downpours of 83mm on Thursday while more rains are expected across the southern part of the country. “Widespread thunderstorms and morning rains are expected across the country, with localised heavy downpours in excess of 50mm in 24 hours, especially over Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Bulawayo Metropolitan, Midlands and northern areas of Masvingo provinces. These storms may be accompanied by destructive winds,” read a statement from the MSD.
The season so far has been dominated by heavy storms, recording +50mm in 24 hours in several places. In some places such as Mhondoro, Gokwe, Kanyemba, Chishawasha, the rainfall amounts recorded in a period of 24 hours have even exceeded 100mm triggering some flash flooding incidents.
A suspect in the US$2,7 million ZB Bank cash-in-transit heist died in Zaka on Thursday in a shoot-out with detectives, while three others appeared in court yesterday.
So far, police have arrested 11 suspects in the staged robbery and have recovered US$690 000.
Three more suspects are still being sought, including the alleged mastermind.Andew Chigara was one of the suspects on the run, but died at Ndanga District Hospital on Thursday evening from gunshot wounds sustained in the shoot-out at Ndanga Business Centre while he was resisting arrest.
The US$2,7m stolen in what is now seen as a staged robbery was meant for ZB branches in Kadoma, Chinhoyi, Gweru, Zvishavane,Gwanda and Bulawayo.
So far, police have arrested 11 suspects out of the 15 who are wanted for questioning in connection with the case and Chigara’s death means there are just three more suspects still at large.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday said detectives tracked Chigara to Ndanga Business Centre in Zaka on Thursday.
“Upon seeing the detectives at the business centre, the suspect tried to run away resulting in a shoot-out with police. Chigara sustained serious injuries and was taken to Ndanga Hospital where he passed on.”
The latest batch of three of the suspects brought to court were holding over US$133 000 between them plus two cars suspected to have been bought with the loot.
Yesterday, the Harare Magistrates’ Court heard that US$77 800 and a Subaru Forester were recovered from Tozivepi Chirara after police took him for indications during their investigations.
Police also recovered a Toyota Passo from Charles Chirara, who was stationed at 5.3 Infantry Battalion at Battlefields near Kwekwe and US$55 000. A pistol stolen during the robbery was recovered from Terrence Matimba, who was stationed at Parachute Regiment at Inkomo Barracks in Nyabira.
The three appeared before magistrate Mrs Judith Taruvinga, who remanded them in custody to February 17 and told them only the High Court could hear a bail application.
Dennis Madondo, who was arrested in connection of the robbery, remains in police custody after they were allowed to detain him further to pursue their investigations.
Shadreck Njowa, a ZB Bank employee who is suspected to be the mastermind of the heist, is still at large.
On Thursday Gerald Rutizirira (35), Kelvin Musakwa (25), Tendai Zuze (35), Neverson Mwamuka (35), Trymore Chapfika (36) appeared in court in connection with the robbery.
According to the State led by Mrs Linda Gadzikwa, US$96 100 was recovered from Rutizirira, who had also bought a Toyota Hiace. A Toyota Hilux double-cab, which was used in the robbery, was recovered from Rutizirira while it was being painted white from its original red colour.
Mrs Gadzikwa also had it that US$48 000 was recovered from Musakwa, who is brother to Fanuel Musakwa, who was transporting the money from ZB Bank in Harare and has been arrested too along with Nomatter Jonga and Mathew Simango, who were all in charge of the truck and the money and are accused of helping stage the fake robbery.
Zuze was allegedly found in possession of US$35 082 and a Toyota Quantum he bought from the proceeds while Mwamuka led to the recovery of US$74 844 after buying himself a Honda Fit.
Mwamuka also led to the recovery of a Lexus that was used during the said robbery. Chapfika was found with US$38 900, according to the State.
Rutizirira, Musakwa, Zuze Mwamuka and Chapfika were also remanded in custody to February 17.
Zanu PF Masvingo provincial secretary for Information, Ronald Ndava has died of Covid-19. This was confirmed by @ZANUPF_Official Masvingo provincial commissar Jevas Masosota. Ndava died last night at Chiredzi General Hospital, becoming possibly the province's 38th fatality. pic.twitter.com/Rm3aivfiUC
Zanu PF stalwart, Oppah Muchinguri- Kashiri says the Chinese people are to blame for experimenting with the deadly Coronavirus.
This follows the death of Minister of State for Manicaland, Ellen Gwaradzimba.
Read Muchunguri-Kashiri’s remarks below:
Washaya mwana wangu washaya meaning she is dead, my daughter is dead. Mwana wangu washaya kani she is gone she is gone.
Takaedza kani takaedza meaning we tried everything we really tried to help her get better. The Lord has laughed at us we tried everything….the children. What about the children? They have killed me (Ellen’s death) has destroyed me. This has destroyed me. I am in pain, so much pain. …. What? drink ginger? I am not sick. I am well. I am not sick. It’s just people that are saying lies. They are lying. I am not sick. I am very well and healthy. They have said that I am sick but it’s not true. They have said that I am sick four times and even suggested that I have died four times. But it’s not true. Ok my children.
I suffered a lot with Ellen. I couldn’t sleep while she was sick. The doctors talked to me everyday, together with the children. She was in pain she was in so much pain. She has let us down today. Hazvina mhosva….. She took everything, all the medication…everything we tried. Vaccine?
No there is no vaccine yet in the country. I will never take the vaccine. I will not take “your” vaccine, I will not take your vaccine unless if it’s developed by our own people, Zimbabweans. If they develop our own vaccine. Why can’t we also develop our own vaccine. Why should we take that which is developed by others? Why can’t we also make our own vaccine? Let’s develop our own.
We are trying our own, we are also trying our own that which we are developing with the help of the Chinese maybe it will be successful maybe it will be successful. I do not know.
Chinotimba. I also heard that he is not well. I also heard that Chinamasa is sick….Chinotimba I heard that he is not well. I heard that he is not too well. But I am well and not sick. I am assisting a lot of people. I am the one helping a lot of people who are not well here in Manicaland. Ana Getty vese I brought them here everyone in Manicaland I am helping them. Bringing them here to help with their treatment. I am looking for resources to help them getting them treated.
It is not possible (to stay at home) I am going to the children. I can’t leave them alone Ellen’s children. I can’t do that. We left together with Ellen, we left their home while going to seek treatment. I left with their sick mother. They (other family members) were all sick but they got better. I can’t leave them. Zimbabweans are dying. This is serious. Covid 19 is serious.
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.
We have to be strong. Indeed we have to be strong Let me attend to the children so that we can organise the funeral. We have managed to take the body to Doves so we need to do the heroes burial. We are liasing with the leaders. We are talking to the party leadership. Please forgive me so that I can start doing the job ….we are taking extra care we are wearing the masks 4 4, face screens, gloves everything.
We are drinking the medicines zinc garlic we are drinking we will not stop. But Covid 19 is killing- it is killing people. Its still a journey. We are protecting our health wearing masks, social distancing everything. Zvakaoma. This is a deadly disease, it is a killer disease. It has wrecked havoc.
These people, who are now at the top at ZBC, they are not doing anything. They are just busy promoting themselves (the top stalwarts at ZBC).
By A Correspondent| Prominent Harare lawyer, advocate Thabani Mpofu of ‘the fulcrum’ and ‘the pith’ fame has lost his father.
Adv Mpofu is the lawyer of Nelson Chamisa the leader of the opposition MDC.
The reason of Mpofu Snr’s death have not been communicated.
MDC leader Nelson Chamisa released the information via his Twitter.
Said Chamisa, “I have just been informed that Our father, Mr Mpofu, father to our brother, Cde and people’s advocate @adv_fulcrum has passed on. This is a tragic loss. We send our sincere condolences to the Mpofu family. May his soul rest in peace.”
By A Correspondent| Exiled former Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Jonathan Moyo has suggested that President Emmerson Mnangagwa knows what happened to journalist and political activist Itai Dzamara who was allegedly kidnapped in 2015.
Dzamara’s whereabouts are still unknown. Asked by Magamba TV what happened to Itai Dzamara, Jonathan Moyo said:
I appreciate that you and many others find it easier to ask me and find it very difficult to ask Emmerson Mnangagwa…Remember that on the day he (Dzamara) disappeared Emmerson Mnangagwa was acting President.
Back in 2015, Moyo claimed that the opposition knew where Dzamara was adding that he was hiding in Botswana and would one day come out.
Dzamara, in 2014, began his one-man protest movement by sitting in Africa Unity Square calling for then-President Robert Mugabe to relinquish power over maladministration.
Soon others began to join him.
Dzamara was abducted while in a barber where he was getting his beard trimmed. It is reported that five men with a white Nissan twin cab which seemed to be circling the block took him alleging that he was a cattle thief.
MUTARE– Member of Parliament for Makoni central, David Tekeshe who was attacked by a group of hoodlums at the funeral wake of a deceased member, says the MDC Alliance is confirming its violent streak.
This comes after Tekeshe was violently disrupted from giving a condolence speech at the graveside of Energy Madondo’s wife, in Ward 8 Makoni Central constituency last Wednesday by irate supporters for selling out.
Tekeshe described the graveside scenes, captured on a video which has since gone viral, as a sign of political immaturity within the MDC-Alliance camp.
In the video as Tekeshe tries to give a condolence the, an MDC-Alliance member Teddy Chitsere disrespectfully interjected, breaking into a song accusing Tekeshe of selling out by joining Douglas Mwonzora.
Tekeshe won the constituency in the 2018 harmonized elections on a MDC-Alliance ticket.
“This is un-acceptable at all, and l can confirm the incident that there are some members from the MDC-Alliance who disrupted me when l was about to give a speech at a graveside,” he said
“Teddy Chitsere and some few members started singing against me but people did not like this, we cannot use a funeral as a political battle ground, these guys showed political immaturity, we need to mature,” he said.
Ward 8 councilor Munyaradzi Chigwede confirmed the skirmishes.
Madondo who lost his wife (Ellah) was at also at a loss of words claiming that he was not happy with the conduct of the hooligans.
“l am at a loss of words, as you know at most funerals, there are people who are given a chance to give vote of thanks , headman, Chiefs, MP’s no matter from which party , they are given a chance to give vote of thanks.
“When our MP David Tekeshe was about to give his speech, he was disrupted by some hooligans. I don’t know why, they did this I was left concerned with the conduct,” he said.
He said the hooligans were stopped by his brother Japhat Madondo, as he also applauded Pentecostal church ZAOGA for managing the funeral.
“I gave my speech as the councillor and l had no problem at all, but when Makoni MP David Tekeshe was about to give a speech Teddy Chitsere and some members started singing against Tekeshe saying that he was a sell out,” he said.
Madondo is a former MDC-Alliance member but joined the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) after he snubbed by the party ahead of the 2018 harmonized elections.
He reportedly campaigned as a councillor for (NCA) in the 2018 elections.
Concern has been raised over the conditions of service for frontline security personnel who are manning checkpoints to ensure compliance with Covid-19 lockdown regulations.
A survey conducted by this publication observed that at almost all road blocks around the country there are no toilet facilities, tents and other necessary essential services for use by security agents.
A female police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity complained over the non-availability of toilets at roadblocks, a situation she said forces them to use nearby bushes to relieve themselves.
“As female police officers, we have a big challenge at roadblocks as we have no toilets, sometimes we need a private place to change our sanitary pads and this becomes so difficult to do so at the roadblock,” the female officer said.
The situation has been further compounded is the current wet spell which forces security personnel to hide under tree sheds in the process allowing motorists to move around without papers.
Efforts to get a comment from the Ministry of Health and Child Care on measures being put in place to improve hygiene at checkpoints, were fruitless at the time of publishing.
Recently, government announced plans to deploy health workers at roadblocks to screen people passing through the checkpoints in a move that is likely to increase population of officials enforcing compliance.
“We have agreed that law enforcement should be combined with awareness and also screening. There will be some points where we will actually send doctors to screen people in a car to find out if people are clean and clear in terms of the disease, not only papers,” said deputy chairperson of the Ad-Hoc Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Covid-19, Professor Amon Murwira.
Emmerson Mnangagwa has described the passing on of Manicaland Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Ellen Gwaradzimba as a heavy blow to the nation’s thrust of grassroot development.
In a condolence message, Mnangagwa said the said he learnt with great shock and sadness the passing on of Dr Gwaradzimba whom she described as an educationist par excellence whose thirst for development was highly commendable.
“A freedom fighter, long time educationist and passionate advocate for devolved development the late Senator Gwaradzimba will be remembered for her role in wartime educational programmes,
“The country has thus lost a promising cadre who pushed for grassroot development with extraordinary fervency,” said Mnangagwa.
He also described the late’s leadership qualities as admirable especially considering the role she played when Manicaland was hit by the devastating Cyclone Idai.
“Gwaradzimba exhibited admirable leadership qualities when Manicaland was hit Cyclone Idai. At the time of her demise she was working on a masterplan designed to make the whole province less vulnerable to disasters,” he added.
He also urged the Gwaradzimba family and nation at large to take solace in the fact that Dr Gwaradzimba contributed immensely to the history of Zimbabwe.
“On behalf of ZANU PF, Government, my family and my own behalf,I wish to express my deepest condolences to the Gwaradzimba family especially the children of the departed to take solace from her outstanding place in the history of our country both before and after independence,” he said.
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance leader, President Nelson Chamisa has said Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa should stop blaming perceived political rivals for his own blunders.
In a message of encouragement to the nation, President Chamisa said Mr Mnangagwa’s administration has dismally failed to address the escalating problems affecting the nation.
Said President Chamisa:
It cannot be normal when government torments journalists and ordinary citizens.
They think they are correct while everyone else outside their administration is wrong.
They say journalists are wrong, citizens are wrong , South Africa is wrong…
It cannot be normal when children are not going to school because of Coronavirus.They don’t have alternative learning methods.
The blame game will not solve anything, let them admit failure.
It cannot be normal when citizens are being bashed by the police. Zimbabwe will never die, let us not lose hope, lets remain positive.
They are blaming perceived opponents instead of concentrating on resolving problems affecting the nation…
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance leader, President Nelson Chamisa has said Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa should stop blaming perceived political rivals for his own blunders.
In a message of encouragement to the nation, President Chamisa said Mr Mnangagwa’s administration has dismally failed to address the escalating problems affecting the nation.
Said President Chamisa:
It cannot be normal when government torments journalists and ordinary citizens.
They think they are correct while everyone else outside their administration is wrong.
They say journalists are wrong, citizens are wrong , South Africa is wrong…
It cannot be normal when children are not going to school because of Coronavirus.They don’t have alternative learning methods.
The blame game will not solve anything, let them admit failure.
It cannot be normal when citizens are being bashed by the police. Zimbabwe will never die, let us not lose hope, lets remain positive.
They are blaming perceived opponents instead of concentrating on resolving problems affecting the nation…
Tinashe Sambiri| Zanu PF stalwart, Oppah Muchinguri- Kashiri says the Chinese people are to blame for experimenting with the deadly Coronavirus.
This follows the death of Minister of State for Manicaland, Ellen Gwaradzimba.
Read Muchunguri-Kashiri’s remarks below:
Washaya mwana wangu washaya meaning she is dead, my daughter is dead. Mwana wangu washaya kani she is gone she is gone.
Takaedza kani takaedza meaning we tried everything we really tried to help her get better. The Lord has laughed at us we tried everything….the children. What about the children? They have killed me (Ellen’s death) has destroyed me. This has destroyed me. I am in pain, so much pain. …. What? drink ginger? I am not sick. I am well. I am not sick. It’s just people that are saying lies. They are lying. I am not sick. I am very well and healthy. They have said that I am sick but it’s not true. They have said that I am sick four times and even suggested that I have died four times. But it’s not true. Ok my children.
I suffered a lot with Ellen. I couldn’t sleep while she was sick. The doctors talked to me everyday, together with the children. She was in pain she was in so much pain. She has let us down today. Hazvina mhosva….. She took everything, all the medication…everything we tried. Vaccine?
No there is no vaccine yet in the country. I will never take the vaccine. I will not take “your” vaccine, I will not take your vaccine unless if it’s developed by our own people, Zimbabweans. If they develop our own vaccine. Why can’t we also develop our own vaccine. Why should we take that which is developed by others? Why can’t we also make our own vaccine? Let’s develop our own.
We are trying our own, we are also trying our own that which we are developing with the help of the Chinese maybe it will be successful maybe it will be successful. I do not know.
Chinotimba. I also heard that he is not well. I also heard that Chinamasa is sick….Chinotimba I heard that he is not well. I heard that he is not too well. But I am well and not sick. I am assisting a lot of people. I am the one helping a lot of people who are not well here in Manicaland. Ana Getty vese I brought them here everyone in Manicaland I am helping them. Bringing them here to help with their treatment. I am looking for resources to help them getting them treated.
It is not possible (to stay at home) I am going to the children. I can’t leave them alone Ellen’s children. I can’t do that. We left together with Ellen, we left their home while going to seek treatment. I left with their sick mother. They (other family members) were all sick but they got better. I can’t leave them. Zimbabweans are dying. This is serious. Covid 19 is serious.
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.
We have to be strong. Indeed we have to be strong Let me attend to the children so that we can organise the funeral. We have managed to take the body to Doves so we need to do the heroes burial. We are liasing with the leaders. We are talking to the party leadership. Please forgive me so that I can start doing the job ….we are taking extra care we are wearing the masks 4 4, face screens, gloves everything.
We are drinking the medicines zinc garlic we are drinking we will not stop. But Covid 19 is killing- it is killing people. Its still a journey. We are protecting our health wearing masks, social distancing everything. Zvakaoma. This is a deadly disease, it is a killer disease. It has wrecked havoc.
These people, who are now at the top at ZBC, they are not doing anything. They are just busy promoting themselves (the top stalwarts at ZBC).
They are not even conscientising the public on the dangers of Covid-19…. On the safety of the president in the wake of Covid- 19…..Vanokanganiswa meaning he is not safe at all.
Our enemies are using the people around him (bodyguards) to spread the virus to our senior leaders. We are even suspecting that. It is well my son. Thank you.
Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance officials, Hon Job Sikhala (vice chairperson) and Advocate Fadzayi Mahere (national spokesperson) have been denied bail.
The two were arrested for allegedly communicating falsehoods.Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was also arrested for exposing police brutality.
Today Harare Mayor, Jacob Mafume was granted bail.
In a statement, MDC Alliance Secretary for Welfare, Maureen Kademaunga said:
“Jacob Mafume has been granted bail. This brings relief but does not take away the abuse and unfair treatment suffered in the last 32 days behind bars.
A fair trial is a constitutional right that must be respected.”
The situation in the country has reached another level.
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s repression has simply run wild, with civic and political activists as well as journalists and the people’s elected representatives being harassed, abducted or incarcerated with reckless abandon, all for no apparent reason.
As I write, the mayor of Harare Clr Jacob Mafume, journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzai Mahere and vice chairperson Hon. Job Sikhala have been re-arrested for the second time in less than a year and are currently languishing in the country’s prisons on trumped up charges of communicating falsehoods. The irony is that it is Zanu PF itself that has institutionalised falsehoods. It is Zanu PF itself that has become a superspreader of perfidy and unbridled falsehoods as exemplified by its statements alleging growth in the country’s economy and the cheap allegation that victims of State-sanctioned abductions are faking their own abductions. They recently peddled yet another falsehood which has shocked millions on both sides of the Limpopo—the falsehood that President Nelson Chamisa and the MDC Alliance are funded by the ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa.
They have even wheeled out a mere child barely in his puberty, Tafadzwa Mugwadi, to needlessly attack and make unfounded, disrespectful allegations against a revered institution called the ANC. A whole party abusing a child and in the process brazenly violating the cardinal provisions of the country’s laws protecting the rights of children!
The regime has now simply run amok. No one is safe as Mnangagwa’s government takes perfect cover under the lockdown to repress citizens and to engage in a vain but violent attempt to decimate the people’s project called the MDC Alliance. Since last year, a host of pro-democracy activists have seen the inside walls of the country’s dingy prisons as the regime takes advantage of the Covid-19-induced lockdown to escalate its repression of innocent citizens. The lockdown restrictions and the attendant proscription of gatherings are being applied selectively as Zanu PF’s DCC elections and the surrogates’ extraordinary Congress were allowed to proceed. Suffice to say what was extraordinary about the so-called extraordinary Congress was its inquorate credentials even after the regime had supplied this treacherous lot with Zupco buses!
Streetifyng the people’s anger is now more of an imperative than it was a few months ago when Zimbabweans exhorted each other to peacefully and constitutionally express themselves in July 2020. It is now urgent, given the exigency of the moment, for citizens to sreetify their genuine grievances in line with the dictates of the Constitution.
As the United States of America takes strident steps to impeach and force out an incumbent leader who unleashed untold violence against elected representatives as they sat at Capitol Hill to confirm Joe Biden as the elected President of the country, it appears we have our own Donald Trump here in Zimbabwe who has engendered and incited domestic terrorism against the country’s citizens.
Perhaps when this lockdown and its justifiable restrictions are finally over, Zimbabweans must seriously consider streetifying their anger in line with the provisions of the country’s Constitution. One hopes that soon, and very soon, the pandemic will allow us to enjoy our Constitutional rights without any fetter and hindrance, particularly the right to demonstrate and petition this murderous regime. And it is the regime itself that has given the signal for the citizens to loudly and unequivocally pronounce themselves regarding the unfolding situation in the country.
Today, I republish a piece I wrote in July last year urging my fellow citizens to streetify their disgruntlement, an exhortation that has become even more relevant as the economy implodes and human rights situation further deteriorates in Zimbabwe:
TimetosreetifythePeople’sAnger
As the regime frets and quacks in its boots over national murmurs for action on July 31, Zimbabweans must not be threatened out of their Constitutional right to peacefully streetify their anger at a clueless regime that has brought the country to these plumbing depths of penury.
Our only choice now is to seek succour and sanatorium in our sacred right to peacefully express our anger, which right is enshrined in section 59 of a Constitution that we made ourselves and affirmed in a referendum in May 2013.
We have become a nation of grievances. Every sector has a genuine grievance against this lot in government. Nurses, doctors, teachers, the rest of the civil service, journalists, judges, informal traders, villagers, traditional leaders, artisanal miners, farmers, nay every Zimbabwean, is now angry at this repressive and inept lot in government.
The regime has stolen elections; over eight million people are starving; they have stolen Covid-19 funds because they are corrupt while their cluelessness has seen biting poverty pervading the country amid a tough lockdown with no safety nets in this highly informal economy.
In our case, they have even pilfered a people’s party called the MDC Alliance, dubiously recalled the people’s elected MPs and councillors and given our funds to a pliable surrogate personified by Thoko-Zanu Khupe.They have worked very hard to make this nation angry.
We have reached that stage where as a nation we must now oblige their invitation to action. Indeed, the time has now come for every Zimbabwean to streetify their displeasure by going into the streets.
As a nation and as citizens, we have stuck to an orthodox script for far too long by transacting our politics in predictable and captured stadia such as the courts, the media, local government and Parliament, among other constricted platforms. We have tweeted our complaints and grievances adinfinitum , adnauseum . But no one has listened.
At a personal level, I have no problem with innovative 21st century platforms such as twitter and other social media platforms consistent with this brave, digital age. But perhaps we must now de-eliticize this struggle by going back to the basics-to the street language that dictators like Emmerson Mnangagwa perfectly understand. We must dismount from our high horses of elitism, abandon our laptops and resort to the basic language of rooftops and tree-tops to peacefully and Constitutionally make a sonorous call for the respect of citizen rights.
We must now support all calls for the legitimate and constitutional expression by the people. The party to which I belong has expressed its solidarity to any legitimate expression by despondent Zimbabweans, in this our nation where whole families are now surviving on less than US 35 cents a day.
We cannot individually be on twitter when collectively we are all on teeter—-tottering on the brink and struggling for a daily morsel.
We have to do more. We must not simply be cyber-activists, desktop revolutionaries and twitter gendarmes while avoiding the robust route our oppressors fear and that can change our tenuous lived circumstances.
We now need to “Luke” the Beast in the Eye.
If you are not angry enough, just take a peek again into the following abominable experience of the MDC Alliance trio of Joannah Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova. Maybe just maybe, one may get the motivation to join any loud but Constitutional expression by the despondent people of our land:
It is exactly 10:47 hrs on a serene Friday morning and the date is 15 May 2020. An ambulance screeches to an agonizing halt outside Parktown Hospital near Waterfalls, some 15 kilometers south of Harare.
A visibly traumatized female patient, face contorted and hair disheveled, is being helped out. Her face partially covered, the ambulance crew stretchers her out at breathtaking speed into the infirmary to avoid the desperate newshounds jostling for the prized photograph of this ghost-like figure visibly grimacing in pain.
It is clear the unfortunate woman in the ambulance is more desperate than the press corps. While the latter are stampeding for a simple scoop and a headline, the former is barely clinging to dear life!
It turns out the unfortunate woman at the mercy of the clicking cameras is Hon. Joanah Mamombe, the MP for Harare West. She has just had further scans and examinations done by a team of doctors in the city.
But the scary sight before us is starkly different from the affable, bubbly and beautiful legislator that our mortal eyes are accustomed to. Joanah is haggard and looks like an apparition, which is understandable given what she has gone through in the past 24 hours.
Already inside the hospital and wailing in agony are two other dedicated warriors for change, her colleagues Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova. The three MDC cadres were taken from inside a police station, driven to an unknown forest inside a fittingly black Datsun Wish vehicle where they were sexually abused, tortured and dumped some 70 kilometers away.
Theirs is a horrific tale of how they were taken from inside a police station, driven to a forest and taken into a pit where the solemn and despicable script of their predicament began.
Not only were they sexually abused. They had their breasts suckled by Emmerson Mnangagwa’s merchants of terror. Their anal regions were brutally pierced by gun bayonets while they were fed with a ghoulish faecal diet.
Yes, they were made to eat each others’ faeces and to drink each others’ urine by the regime’s morbid securocrats.
Now we are being told they faked all these things, including their own sexual abuse!
Now instead of the perpetrators facing justice, it is the three young women—the victims—who are before the courts!
Welcome to Zimbabwe’s Second Republic.
Indeed, welcome to our “new dispensation”. A dispensation that is shouting engagement but practically doing all it can to disengage from the rest of the civilized world!
With a government that sexually abuses women, including an Honourable Member of Parliament, who else can be accused of inviting the so-called sanctions?
From the pits in some unknown forest where many horrible and despicable things were done to them, they do not even remember much else. All they remember is that after what seemed like eternity, now with their clothes torn, they were dumped in the deathly quiet of the morning at some rural growth point where a sympathizer picked them up.
The place turned out to be the appropriately named Muchapondwa shops in Bindura South in Mashonaland Central province, some 70 kilometers away from the capital.
Muchapondwa is a Shona word which literally means “ youshallbekilled .” This is the place where the three female MDC cadres were found dumped and left for dead by the regime’s merchants of death.
Muchapondwa—the place whose name has a deathly ring to it.
The route they took will never be known, as the Devil’s itinerary is always a closely guarded secret!
We shall never know whether the three brave cadres were taken along the Shamva road, past Denda shops after turning left at Chabwino, via Mupandira and Nyava shopping centers before arriving at Muchapondwa.
We shall never know whether these peddlers of violence chose to go via Mazowe road to Bindura before turning right past Trojan Mine, Manhenga, then Chiveso before dumping their brutalized human cargo at Muchapondwa.
Or whether these merchants of darkness used the more direct route via my beloved Domboshava, past my late mother Pelagia Makumbe’s homestead at Makumbe village, negotiating those dangerous and nervy curves at Cheza before crossing the dry Nyaure river to bundle out their unwilling passengers at Muchapondwa.
Whichever of these three routes they used, what is certain is that it was a route to national shame.
It is an indictment against this illegitimate regime that it could allow State-paid merchants of violence to abuse defenseless women a mere four days after Mothers’ Day; that day when the sanctity of feminine power is celebrated worldwide.
How could any sane person abuse and indignify women, including a revered Member of Parliament, barely 96 hours after the world has celebrated the chastity of women?
Nothing beats this barbarism, which is well beneath the sacred value of humanity— ubuntu .
The police owe this nation an explanation as to how these women were taken out of their custody. The police spokesperson Paul Nyathi had confirmed to a local daily that they had three women in their custody. Hours later, the ZRP tweeted that the women were no longer in their custody.
Someone must tell us what happened between the time of confirmation and the time of denial.
Who could have the temerity to abduct people from inside a police station, unless it was the police themselves who handed over these women to a more insidious State security unit? I am well aware that the police can hand you over to more ruthless goons. Some 13 years ago, I was brutally assaulted and tortured for three continuous days together with several other party colleagues inside the infamous room 93 in the basement of the Law and Order section at Harare Central police station.
Yes, that infamous room at the misnamed Law and Order section where neither law nor order prevails!
Room 93 has visible blood stains on the walls—probably a trick to unsettle you psychologically. And I knew the guys who brutalized us for three continuous days without food and water were definitely not police.
But when the police hand you over and allow you to be taken out of their custody, as happened to the three female cadres, it can only be worse. I have a sneaking feeling that the police tweet announcing that the three were no longer in police custody was a feeble attempt to absolve themselves by letting the world know that the “prisoners” were now being held by a separate, more callous unit of the State. I still have the hunch that the tweet was a Pontius Pilate gesture by the police to wash their hands and absolve themselves from what was to come.
In case something happened to the three women, the police through their tweet might have been absolving themselves of any responsibility.
Yet ED as a person can’t absolve himself. Whether it was the police, the CIO or the army, it’s his government all the same so he must take full responsibility for what happened to these girls.
Listening to the girls’ sordid and horrific tale of abuse and torture is akin to listening to a story of death. Indeed, something inside them has died, judging by the trauma and fear that is still palpable in their eyes to this day. Their lives will never be the same again.
I still have the same feeling after my own traumatic experience as I still can’t stand the sound of banging doors. Any banging door makes me cringe as it is synonymous with the sound of the doors that were banged as a new set of torturers entered the room to show their expertise at dastardly acts. For me, the banging doors that signalled yet another session of torture were banged for three unforgettable days from Wednesday, 28 March to Saturday, 31 March 2007.
It must be said that SADC and Africa have let Zimbabweans down. Maybe these brothers and sisters of ours want first to literally see rivers of flowing blood in the country for them to appreciate that there is a monumental human rights crisis in Zimbabwe. Otherwise what will it take for drastic action to be taken against this deranged man on the citadel of power?
First it was August 1 2018, when this regime’s soldiers callously murdered six people in broad daylight. SADC and Africa maintained the silence of the grave.
Today, one of the widows of the slain six, Suspicious Kumire from Domboshava, is having to do menial jobs at Santa Heights private school, an opportunity given to her by the benevolent principal Mrs Mapfumo to enable her to raise fees for her two children that are enrolled there.
It is always a dispiriting sight to see this widowed mother and the hapless kids that have been orphaned by Mnangagwa’s guns. Yet the scarfed murderer lied to diplomats that his government was owning up to its culpability by looking after the orphans, in line with the recommendations of a Commission that he set up himself. And yet he has not complied with the recommendations and the situation on the ground is that the widows, widowers and orphans from the August 1 2018 violence are suffering,
Still, SADC and Africa have kept loudly quiet.
Then we saw more violence in January 2019 when several more innocent Zimbabweans were killed by State security agents. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, an independent Constitutional Commission, investigated and held the State liable for those murders.
Still, SADC and Africa have kept sonorously quiet.
Yet Article 4(h) of the constitutive Act of the African Union allows the continent to intervene in member States in respect of “ gravecircumstances .”
What more “grave circumstances” is Africa waiting for when three innocent women, including a member of Parliament, are taken from police custody by State security agents, are sexually abused and made to eat their own faeces and drink their urine?
Article 4(o) of the same constitutive Act of the AU calls for the rejection of impunity on the continent. Yet we are seeing the ghastly and abominable version of the same impunity unfolding in Harare.
SADC and the whole of Africa have lost their voice. Not even a whimper of condemnation!
Maybe we are expecting too much from our African leaders. These are the same guys who on 27 June 2014 came up with the Malabo protocol. The protocol, aimed at expanding the remit and mandate of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, contains Article 46 A in which sitting African Heads of State have made themselves immune from any manner of investigation and prosecution while still in office.
The world has equally let us down. By now the International Criminal Court would have pounced on Mnangagwa for gross crimes against humanity, as it has done before when it intervened in countries that are non-State parties to the Rome Statute.
Yet the politics of the referral system, the duplicity of the big powers, the geopolitics of the UN Security Council, including the abuse of the veto power, will mean that the deranged Mnangagwa will be shielded by his known allies in the P5 from prosecution.
ED and his merchants of violence have found convenient succour and a perfect sanatorium in the porous and imperfect international criminal justice system.
Through the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), the world has made a promise to the vulnerable and the violated, a promise that it is failing to fulfill—the promise that the world will not stand by and watch while rogue regimes run amok. Yet people are being killed and abused in Zimbabwe and no one cares a hoot.
We are simply on our own and others have suggested that if this regime has run amok, then maybe we must also run amok.
With his hands dripping in the blood of the country’s citizens, Mnangagwa still bestrides the country like an untouchable Colossus, well aware of the weaknesses of international criminal law. After all, nothing has happened to him, notwithstanding an unchecked and an unparalleled blood-soaked legacy that stretches back to Gukurahundi, if not before.
Covid-19 is real and the casualty figures keep going up. But the repression is also going up and pained by government that has become a danger to its own citizens, others are even suggesting that perhaps it is time for us to ignore this lockdown. Maybe, just maybe, it is time to lock up our courage, buckle ourselves up and confront this regime.
True, there is a pandemic out there but I truly understand the impatience when some of my troubled fellow citizens posit that this regime is a worse virus than Covid-19. They can come to your house and rape your wife or kill your children, even if you are in isolation and you have numerous masks and sanitizers.
No one is safe from this corona government!
Indeed, no mask or sanitizer can protect you from this murderous regime of Emmerson Mnangagwa. Joanna, Cecilia and Netsai had their PPE but they still could not mask themselves from the naked brutality of this despotic regime. Corona or no corona, we are at the mercy of these vampires in government.
You could presume yourselves to be safe from Covid-19 but there is no guarantee you are safe from this scarfed corona virus that is illegitimately holding the levers of the State.
No leader voted by the people can murder, rape and abuse in this horrendous way the same citizenry that elected them into office. This callousness betrays his presence at the helm of the State has nothing to do with the people.
Skeptics have even argued that it may be better to die of Covid-19 in a gathering in the streets than to be plucked away alone to your abuse and to your death from what you may presume to be the safety of your home.
These skeptics are now even arguing that it may be worthwhile dying while in gathering to confront this regime than remaining locked down in your home only to be confronted yourself by this murderous lot.
Does anyone think that these thugs were maintaining social distance when they were abusing these women? A government that rapes and sexually abuses women?
Indeed, Mnangagwa is simply worse than the corona virus.
What happened to these three grave cadres from our own version of Hitler’s Third Reich could happen to you, your sister or your daughter. Pastor Martin Niemoller, a German Lutheran pastor, had this to say about Hitler during the horrific era of the Third Reich:
“ First , theycamefortheSocialists , andIdidnotspeakout — becauseIwasnotasocialist .
So in the same vein, tomorrow, Mnangagwa’s regime may be coming for you. And there may be no one left to speak for you.
This regime has angered everyone. Everyone is suffering except Mnangagwa and his inner circle who are fleecing the country through avarice, unbridled sleaze and corruption.
They have fractured livelihoods. They have decimated the burgeoning informal sector through Murambatsvina 2.
Any action that may take place in this country will have happened at the instigation of no one else but the regime itself.
Their provocative acts have wittingly and unwittingly mobilised all of us to Constitutionally express ourselves.
Only recently, they called the equally suffering police to go for three weeks training in Ntabazinduna and in Shamva as a way of quelling legitimate public expression.
But nothing must stop us. After this justifiable lockdown, which the regime is abusing to terrorise citizens, it may be the time to streetify our grievances. The Constitution allows it!
Future generations will judge us harshly if we remain silent amid these gross human rights abuses. We must do something robust that will enable us to stare history in the face with the pride and conviction that as a people, we boisterously expressed ourselves in a significant way when the moment demanded it.
A MAN from Bulawayo’s high density suburb of Nguboyenja battered his wife for asking him why he had called out another woman’s name while they were having sex.
The court heard that on 08 December last year at around 9PM while Sikhanyisiwe Moyo (28) and Thabo Ngwenya were having a nice time in between the sheets, Thabo pulled a shocker.
As he reached the point of no return Thabo called out an unfamiliar name — “Bridget” — much to the shock of his wife.
Sikhanyisiwe asked why he was calling her Bridget. The court heard that Thabo stood up and went to urinate in a container which had drinking water. Sikhanyisiwe tried to show him the bucket which they use for urinating, but he did not listen to her, the court heard.
The situation spiralled out of control as a discomfited Thabo hurled insults at his wife.
“Akungitshiye wena wule lothuvi, mtwane wule (Please leave me prostitute, daughter of a prostitute).
He strangled her, forcing her to fall on the children who were sleeping on the floor. The court heard that the fuming Thabo told his wife to vacate their matrimonial home while calling their children puppies.
Zimbabweans on Friday circulated the below disturbing picture while suggesting Emmerson Mnangagwa is in danger of contracting COVID-19. Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri told ZimEye in an exclusive interview on Friday she fears for Mnangagwa’s security because of enemies amid the COVID pandemic. The interview beamed on ZimEye.com is below…
OPPAH MUCHINGURI ATTACKS CHINA FOR ALLEGEDLY CREATING COVID, I AM TAKING ZINC BUT PEOPLE ARE DYING ALL OVER https://t.co/iA2uD1mczv
Mnangagwa picture with the late Ellen Gwaradzimba who passed away of COVID Friday morning, as well as the late Agric Minister Perrance Shiri who is said to have also died of COVID-19
It's a simple art of communication with Gen. Tongogara's chick, if it offends you I am sorry, go vent your anger on top of the graves of those who've died as a result of her statements since last year
STATE MEDIA: Beitbridge authorities are investigating a case in which 23 Malawian border jumpers disappeared from Beitbridge main police station while awaiting transportation to Harare pending deportation to their country.
Two of the immigrants are reported to have tested positive for the Covid-19 condition.
The group comprises; Ousmane Austin (27), Yamaya Saidi (26), Sumati Jamali (18), Hake Idrasl (23), Hajira Joe (23), Edward Master (18),
Fatima Mark (27), Musa James (27), Bernard Chimenya (25), Dennis Bwala (18), Gladys shucha (24), Enock Halwa (24), Juiro Ajalu (18),
Frank Mayazi (28), Blessings Wiseman (21), and Witness Mdala (21).
Others include; Erison Lestah (24), Lejabo Mbewe (23), Fulani Witness (30), Adam Musa (22), Mark Musa (20), Madson Mwinjiro (37) and Matola Yusuf (19).
It is reported that two were busted by the police as they sought to illegally leave the country on Monday morning at around 4 AM.
The group had allegedly entered the country illegally and were in transit to South Africa when they were arrested on a footpath near the old border post offices.
A security source said following their arrest they were charged for exit by evasion under the immigration act.
“They were taken to court, where they appeared before Miss Vavariro Nhau who warned, cautioned and released them to immigration authorities for further management.
After which, arrangements were made that they are kept at the main police station pending transportation to Harare. The International
Organisation for Migration (IOM) sponsored their transportation under the regional facility for stranded migrants,” said the source.
The official said when a Zupco bus arrived in Beitbridge on Thursday, it was discovered that all the migrants had absconded.
The police officer commanding Beitbridge, Chief Superintendent Tichaona Nyongo, and the Assistant Regional Immigration officer in charge of Beitbridge, Mr Nqobile Ncube could not be reached for comment.
Last year two Malawian border jumpers who tested positive to Covid19 during profiling and screening at the Beitbridge Quarantine and
Isolation Centre located at the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) hotel escaped from isolation.
One of the escapees was intercepted by security agents as he sought transport to Malawi at the closed Dulivadzimu Long-distance Bus Terminus.
His accomplice could not be found.
The two are part of 41 Malawians who were intercepted by security agents on patrol after skipping the border from South Africa.
The group was intercepted while seeking transport to Malawi at a local truck stop.
After interception they were taken for profiling and screening where seven men and one woman tested positive and were put into isolation.
The woman has a minor child who tested negative and the immigrants were put into isolation pending further PCR tests, while 32 were transferred to Harare pending repatriation to Malawi.
Barcelona have confirmed the final presidential candidates ahead of the crucial election on January 24.
Former club president Joan Laporta, Victor Font and Toni Freixa are the final three candidates.
According to a club statement, Laporta, whose reign lasted from 2003 to 2010, received the most validated signatures while another candidate, Emili Rousaud, withdrew his bid earlier on Thursday during the validation process.
The statement reads: “The Electoral Board met this Thursday at the Auditori 1899 at the Camp Nou to announce the definitive candidates for the FC Barcelona presidential elections scheduled for Sunday 24 January.
“Following validation of the signatures presented, members Joan Laporta, Víctor Font and Toni Freixa have been declared official candidates for the FC Barcelona presidency, pursuant to article 48.5 of the Club Statutes.
“During the validation procedure, member Emili Rousaud announced to the Electoral Board that he was withdrawing his bid to stand for election.”-Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
Emmerson Mnangagwa has described the passing on of Manicaland Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Ellen Gwaradzimba as a heavy blow to the nation’s thrust of grassroot development.
In a condolence message, Mnangagwa said the said he learnt with great shock and sadness the passing on of Dr Gwaradzimba whom she described as an educationist par excellence whose thirst for development was highly commendable.
“A freedom fighter, long time educationist and passionate advocate for devolved development the late Senator Gwaradzimba will be remembered for her role in wartime educational programmes,
“The country has thus lost a promising cadre who pushed for grassroot development with extraordinary fervency,” said Mnangagwa.
The President also described the late’s leadership qualities as admirable especially considering the role she played when Manicaland was hit by the devastating Cyclone Idai.
“Gwaradzimba exhibited admirable leadership qualities when Manicaland was hit Cyclone Idai. At the time of her demise she was working on a masterplan designed to make the whole province less vulnerable to disasters,” he added.
He also urged the Gwaradzimba family and nation at large to take solace in the fact that Dr Gwaradzimba contributed immensely to the history of Zimbabwe.
“On behalf of ZANU PF, Government, my family and my own behalf,I wish to express my deepest condolences to the Gwaradzimba family especially the children of the departed to take solace from her outstanding place in the history of our country both before and after independence,” he said.
