1/The arbitrary arrest of journalist Hopewell Chin’ono & Hon Job Sikhala represents dictatorial rule,severe abuse of power and an wanton attack on the rule of law.Persecution thru prosecution reflects the authoritarian tendencies of this dictatorship.

2/The regime is hell-bent on selective application of the law, with law being weaponised against political opponents and critics.These arrests on spurious charges during a severe pandemic are designed to expose political opponents to hazard.This is sadistic,heartless and abominable.

3/We know these are acts of provocation by the desperate who are taking citizens for granted.The regime mistakes citizens’ calmness for inability to defend themselves. Patience is not infinite.When you push an animal into a corner,with no respite it will have to come thorough you

4/We are a peace-loving people who are guided by the principles of peace and non-violent democratic expression.Young people are rightfully restless. It is become increasingly difficult to stand by while the regime picks and victimize citizens one by one like lambs to the slaughter.

5/We demand a stop to the scourge of arbitrary rule;to political persecution and weaponization of the law all of which are anathema to democratic practice &constitutionalism.We demand the release of all political prisoners. Restraint in the face of such provocation appears finite

6/The image of our country suffers with each arrest.The so-called ‘Second Republic’ has become a Banana Republic. The ill-treatment of opposition is such a disgrace.The regime likes to blame everyone for our country’s woes but it’s the principal author of our problems. No one can take us seriously with this behaviour.

Excellence, Brilliance, Difference

God bless you!

Advocate Nelson Chamisa

Dear Editor

Zimbabwe is in crisis,

COVID-19 is here. We are an informal sector and 90 percent of our workforce live on hand to mouth.

Our government has injected close to ZWL$7 billion to fight this pandemic and my request is to ask for our government to do the last extra ordinary thing and the only thing that can save urban lives.

I am kindly asking the Government of Zimbabwe to provide free electricity of all urbanites as a state of emergency.

The cost for electricity is beyond the reach of an ordinary Zimbabwean and in these times of crisis this is when our listening government has to show concern and care for its citizens and immediately introduce FREE electricity for all Zimbabwean for the next 30 days. I am aware of the electricity bill involved remember this is a matter of life and death. 

COVID is here but hunger and poverty will kill us. Let us save the people of Zimbabwe and Give them Free ZESA for 30 day. 

Regards

Engineer Jacob Kudzayi Mutisi

This morning I started sourcing for PPE for maternity wards in all public hospitals in Zimbabwe. It is sad that women in labour have no where to go if referred from local clinics. Giving birth is national duty & in times of crisis we have to lend a hand. Donate for a cause!

— Linda Tsungirirai Masarira (@lilomatic) January 10, 2021

From the MTHWAKAZI LIBERATION FRONT PRESIDENT CHURCHILL MPIYESIZWE GUDUZA

9 JANUARY, 2021

Greetings to you all!

It is important to underline in addition to the emphasis on the importance of skills development for Mthwakazi which was published last week, that we look forward to fruitful engagements this year with all those whose goal is to liberate the people of Mthwakazi.

As the Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) we remain ready and wish this pandemic could be obliterated soon so that we could have real and fruitful engagements with such organisations. To that end we look forward to meeting with them at a leadership conference in the not distant future.

In the meantime, we shall again distribute our vision to all of them and insist that they provide us with theirs so that the liberation of our people is no longer held back by continuous bickering. We owe it to our people to come up with one voice so that together we can realize the goals of liberation, freedom and justice for all.

Background

Since 1980 until today we have been subjected to genocide and ethnic cleansing in which our people have been raped, women bayonetted alive to kill the babies in their wombs, tortured, brutalized, buried alive in mass graves, thrown alive in disused mine shafts, disappeared, forced to flee into exile, denied any employment and business opportunities, denied health and other lifesaving interventions, robbed of our properties, robbed of our land, made to become squatters in our own cities without access to housing, deprived of opportunities in social, economic and cultural development, prevented from organizing politically and many others. The list goes on and on. We have literally been annihilated through social, economic, political and cultural genocide and strangulation by the Shona hegemony.

What the period from 1980 until today also signifies is the abdication of responsibilities by ZIPRA to liberate and defend the masses. More than anything else ZIPRA failed to bring about the desired change regarding the socio-economic, political and cultural structure prevailing under Rhodesian rule.

But instead, some of the ZIPRA personnel participated with the ZANU-PF regime in dishing out continued slavery, domination, subjugation and humiliation on the people of Mthwakazi. Almost 41 years after the guns fell silent against European colonialism in Rhodesia, those master and servant relations have been exchanged, usurped and taken over by another colonial power in the form of Shona hegemony.

Not even the European colonialists had the capacity to impose such brutal conditions on our people as the Shona hegemony under the ZANU-PF regime has done. We have lost everything, even the rights to sing for our children on their birthdays, let alone at a drinking spot. Congregating with family and friends over any form of celebration has since become a criminal offence, one that has to be cleared by the ZANU-PF regime.

When the Gukurahundi killer brigade was deployed in Mthwakazi, Emerson Mnangagwa uttered these words, “Blessed are they who will follow the path of Government laws, for their days will be increased.

But woe unto those who choose the path of collaboration with dissidents for we will certainly shorten their stay on earth”. His boss Robert Mugabe echoed, “The solution in Matebeleland is a military one. Their grievances are unfounded. The verdict of the voters was cast in 1980. They should have accepted defeat then. The situation in Matebeleland is one which requires change. The people must be reoriented”.

Some of the ZIPRA personnel not only deserted their historic mission of liberating their people by serving in different ranks in the killer ZANU-PF regime. Even in retirement, some of these personnel (who today masquerade as ex-ZIPRA forums) continue to serve their master, the ZANU-PF regime.

There can be no question that what qualified these persons to positions in the Zimbabwe army was precisely, their collaboration with the Gukurahundi vampires in the despicable atrocities, which included rape being used as a tool for promotion, and information not only about the real ex-ZIPRA combatants, but also about all the communities that they trained to liberate, throughout Mthwakazi. They were after all, following Mugabe’s orders, of reorienting the people of Mthwakazi through genocide and ethnic cleansing.

This has been unrelenting and continues today. What ZIPRA fought for was never achieved. It remains a mirage. People continue to live under worst forms of slavery ever experienced anywhere in the world. This has been assisted by the so-called ex-ZIPRA cadres, some of whom not only colluded but participated in the goals of the obliteration of their people.

As genocide and ethnic cleansing was unleashed against their people, with their mothers, sisters, nieces, cousins and grandmothers forcibly humiliated through despicable acts of rape, some of these so-called ex-ZIPRA cadres were being rewarded with ranks of generals, brigadiers, captains, majors, lieutenants and others by Robert Mugabe on the recommendation of none other than, Emerson Mnangagwa. Clearly, in doing so, Mnangagwa increased their days in Zimbabwe.

They must also disclose their roles when the most heinous crimes against humanity were perpetrated by Mugabe and Mnangagwa’s regime against the people of Mthwakazi? Why could they not organize self-defense units to defend the people against those Gukurahundi vampires?

When Dr Joshua Nkomo observed that a country could achieve independence without its people being free, he must have realized that he had been let down by his senior comrades within ZAPU and those who today talk about ZIPRA’s legacy. What did these ZIPRA forums do when Nkomo’s passport was seized under the Law, Order and Maintenance Act (a piece of legislation that had been retained from the Rhodesian regime)?

What did these ZIPRA forums do when the ZANU-PF senior members, who included Shamuyarira organized various parties in various parts of that country, with their followers at which bulls (izinkunzi) were slaughtered in celebration? What did these ZIPRA forums do when Mugabe blessed these parties at one rally in Harare by instructing his followers that it was “time to strike the bushes in your field with your clubs and take the rotten pumpkins out of the patch”?

What did these ZIPRA forums do when Enos Nkala stated that, “Zanu rules this country and anyone who challenges that is a dissident” and should be exterminated? What did these ZIPRA forums do when Mugabe followed with these chilling words, “life will get tough for those who were still unrepentant”?

What did these ZIPRA forums do when Mugabe celebrated the surrender of ZAPU through the so-called unity accord in these words, “The supremacy of ZANU-PF must be asserted because government was born of the party and the party and the people have become one”?

There can be no doubt that Nkomo was sacrificed by these loud mothed so-called ZIPRA forums who had all ganged up against him. In response, he did the right thing, by surrendering, like any general facing defeat would have done, to surrender in order to live to fight again.

The people of Mthwakazi shall forever be grateful to Dr Nkomo for this surrender in 1987, as it saved several thousands of lives. This is an inexcusable fact that unlike the Shona people in that country, the rest were forced to belong to Zimbabwe through violence. Just like Rhodesia which was born from violence, so was Zimbabwe.

Violence has no colour. This means that a state nation, rather than a nation state was born through violence, genocide and ethnic cleansing. There are lessons to be drawn from this painful chapter. The fundamental one, being that even birds are different, although they both share the same air space in which they fly. Human beings too are different, including siblings in one family. All have unique characteristics. Elsewhere in the world, even white people are different, some are French, Russian, English, etc, but they are different in various aspects.

It is only in Africa that African people were banged together in one box by the former European powers who carved the continent into their spheres of influence and domination, when in reality they are different. There can be no question therefore that it is these differences that Mugabe, assisted by the so-called ZIPRA forums today, wanted to forcibly turn everybody through the pain of extinction into becoming Shona.

Well, that project failed in the end, as the surrender by Dr Nkomo assisted the people of Mthwakazi to breathe again. And as such, the Shona people and those of Mthwakazi shall forever remain different, even in the eyes of evolution, yet they will continue to thrive together in this universe in respect, dignity and cooperation, as they must, because of the humanity, not violence that ties them together. From then onwards, the people could at least breathe again, albeit in perpetual uncertainty about the security of their lives. It is in this context therefore, that we need to leave behind anybody who still believes in ZIPRA and Zimbabwe as  water under the bridge.

This is why the struggle for the liberation of the masses must continue in whatever shape or form. In our case we are prosecuting it under the banner of the Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF). We reached this conclusion that a nation-state was not born in Zimbabwe, but only a state-nation which was born through violence.

The Mthwakazi Liberation Front

Let me state categorically, that unlike other movements that claim to be Mthwakazi this or Mthwakazi that, the Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) has no messiah, yesterday, today or tomorrow. It only exists to liberate the people of Mthwakazi.  To that end, the MLF has produced its vision by way of a detailed Draft Constitution for the establishment of a Federal Republic of Mthwakazi.

It is a document that is available and accessible to all those who want to see it. It was drawn on the basis of the belief that each and every one of the Mthwakazi people has a duty to shape their destiny. In this sense it is a document that guides the vision of the MLF.

There are some people who have asked us why Mthwakazi groups have become so disjointed and fragmented, with others coming up from time to time. As the MLF we must put it on record that we have extended our hand of cooperation to such groups for the purposes of engagement and coming with a unified voice for Mthwakazi.

We have done this having recognized that the divergence of views is healthy for any people who are emerging from the experiences that the people of Mthwakazi have gone through or witnessed.  To that end we have continually challenged such groups to a leadership conference in which we could interrogate this question without fear or favor, but they have continued to remain silent on this issue. In 2015, we tried to engage with others at Chitawa Lodge in Botswana, but they refused to sign a joint declaration (the Chitawa Declaration). Since then, we have continued to try to engage but to no avail.

We in the MLF have come to a conclusion that our enemy being Shona hegemony and by extension its representative, the ZANU-PF regime has developed ingenious ways of keeping us divided by sponsoring the emergence of such groups all the time. So, it is our belief that most of them are not genuine Mthwakazi groups, but funded ones whose goal is to divert attention from the real liberation goals by making a lot of hot air noise.

None of these groups have come up with their own visions or mission statements, other than that they want to model their so-called leaders as messiahs just like Joshua Nkomo in ZAPU. They are hellbent on promoting and projecting their leaders as a focus of attention rather than their vision as to what kind of Mthwakazi they want to build. For them, the struggle for Mthwakazi is like a beauty contest.

As such, they have never been original in anything other reacting to instances that they then take over as their own. If for example, there is a fire in one of Mthwakazi localities, they would go there and take over that struggle as their own. How does one leave one’s own neighbourhood which is full of Shona people, and travel several kilometers away to complain about the same people?

If they get arrested on the way, they think that makes them popular. There is no reason of leaving your house burning only to complain about other fires at far away distances.

So, like ZAPU, they have written nothing that can be scrutinized, other than creating a lot of noise. In this case they are not different from certain former ZIPRA cadres who reminisce about being war veterans when they have no rights to anything whatsoever, including the rights to feed their children.

There is no question that such people may have a visible following which makes people believe that there is something that they are doing when in actual reality they are fakes. It is also easy for such groups to receive funding from many of our people because of the rhetoric that they make. Soon, once that cash flow starts drying up, they then send their leaders to borrow money from their supporters and by the time they are seen to be inimical to the dreams of those borrowers, it is too late.

Fundamentally, all these groups are united by one thing, again, just as some former ZIPRA cadres – duplicity.  They preach Mthwakazi, but they want to go and sit in the Zimbabwe parliament as members of that parliament, having sworn allegiance to the Shona hegemony. There is nothing absolutely genuine about these groups.

At best they are pure opportunistic and at worst, extremely dangerous to the plight of the people of Mthwakazi. Yet this is expected, as many of them have since become materialist owners of such products as cars, television sets, radios, cell phones and many others, because of the noise they make about Mthwakazi. If Dr Joshua Nkomo could be hounded and chased for dear life as a member of parliament in Zimbabwe, including his colleagues, notably Njini Ntutha who was killed as a minister, what makes these parties think that sitting in a Zimbabwe parliament would be any different for them and therefore beneficial to the people of Mthwakazi?

Outside the groups that they lead they could not in a million years own those materialistic products such as a smart phone or a car, but this has been made possible by clever manipulation. Generally, people are fallible. They will believe fake politics and conmen more than the real stuff.

We have seen for example, how Donald Trump has lied and through those lies not only achieved power in the highest office in that country. We have also seen how through those lies he has managed to convince several thousands of his followers that he won the election when in reality he lost.

At this juncture, before moving to the way forward, we in the MLF would like to acknowledge most profoundly the role that the 1893 Mthwakazi Human Rights Restoration Movement (MHRRM) has played in assisting the people of Mthwakazi with tangible deliverables, in the form of water especially in Bulawayo.

Their efforts need to be applauded by all and sundry. It may be a drop in the ocean, considering the scale of need, but people benefitted from this assistance, which also extended to many families, with food items, especially those who had lost their loved ones. Recently, we also saw a lecture that was delivered under the auspices of the 1893 MHRRM by one of the scholars from our country, Dr William Jethrow Mpofu. This lecture undoubtedly opened the eyes of many as to why Gugurahundi was inflicted on the people of Mthwakazi.

As mentioned before, the 1893 MHRRM has also been instrumental in partnering in the production of the Loyiko theatre group that has exposed the enormity of the crimes of genocide by the Gukurahundi to many South African and international audiences. Furthermore, they also held many demonstrations against Shona hegemony in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

We believe that many more efforts to push back against the forces of Shona hegemony will continue to be organised by the 1893 MHRRM this year, and as such we shall continue engaging and collaborating with them in all efforts aimed at achieving human rights for all our people in Mthwakazi.

As we engage, we also intend ensuring that the funding mechanism for Mthwakazi and its associated programmes throughout 2021 becomes a reality under the Mthwakazi Sovereign Fund (MSF). This fund will be managed by a board of trustees, drawn from those interested individuals and parties, not necessarily members of the MLF, but people of high reputation and honesty across the board to ensure transparency and accountability.

There can be no messiah running such a fund. We believe in charting our survival through the development and spread of projects across Mthwakazi. Those not familiar with the MSF, please kindly request a copy and we shall make it available to you, for your own interrogation and understanding.

Our dream is also to ensure that the Mthwakazi Academic College, which should serve as an online mechanism accessible to our people at home becomes functional this year. We would ask all those with the necessary skills and knowledge to help shape it into a formidable educational vehicle for our people, second to none.

We have many people with various skills, technicians, IT specialists, engineers, academics, scholars and so on who can help shape its direction and successful implementation for the benefit of our people. In this way, even language specialists in the local languages of Mthwakazi could lend their hand and empower our children wherever they are with the power and knowledge of their languages.

The Mthwakazi Academic College could also serve as a vehicle for supplying second hand and indeed brand-new gadgets, such as computers, printers, paper, smart phones, WIFI and many others to our people in Mthwakazi for use in all their educational efforts. Such help would extend to equipment for teaching of natural science subjects such as biology, chemistry and others.

These are practical steps that we need to implement in 2021, with the MSF being the core institution as a funding vehicle that would ensure the realization of the Mthwakazi dream with all its associated institutions, in the areas of health, education, transportation and many others.

We have also composed the draft National Anthem, which will need your input to make it appeal to all and sundry in Mthwakazi. In the meantime, we would need to have it translated and composed into the different languages of Mthwakazi, Tonga, Nambya, Kalanga, Nguni, Sotho, Venda and others. Thus far we were assisted in translating it from English to Isindebele by one of our scholars in Mthwakazi.

From there we then enlisted the assistance of a music group to compose it and have it recorded. With time we hope to disseminate it far and wide to all hinterlands of Mthwakazi, and would appreciate any assistance in that regard. Ultimately, it must be sung in all languages and in all corners of Mthwakazi.

As we face the future in the coming days, weeks and months of 2021, we call upon the youth (both genders) in particular, to join and help us shape the Mthwakazi Liberation Front into a formidable movement that will speedy up the liberation of our people.

It is the youth after all, who must selflessly take over the strings of leadership and guide us to achieve the goals of liberating our people from all forms of strangulation. It is important to emphasise that the leadership of the Mthwakazi Liberation Front is not for life. Leaders will come and go, but we need selfless individuals who will never, even after consuming any amounts of materialism, fail to remain true to the aspirations of our people.

Our first President, Mr Fidelis Ncube (aka General Nandinandi) laid the foundation for the MLF’s philosophy. We continue to benefit from his esteemed leadership insights and wisdom. I am the second MLF leader, after having served as its policy secretary for some time.

Similarly, there is no reason why the struggle for Mthwakazi under the MLF or any other formation for that matter, cannot be led by our women. As you may be aware, we have one of our leading lights and unwavering voices for Mthwakazi, as our National Chairperson, Mrs Patricia Tshabalala (uMama UmaTshabalala).

We call upon many of our women to join us and strengthen the voices for reason. With such voices, we cannot be tricked by those who rule us by conquest when the time comes for direct engagements that will culminate in the internationally recognized divorce from Zimbabwe.

There will come a time when we shall sit down with our rulers; by that time, we will be on an equitable basis to draw up the terms of our separation, determination of our borders and liabilities, trade, including how each country will access the waters of each river that runs through both countries, as well as hydroelectric power from the Kariba, involving an additional country, Zambia.

These are big undertakings that will require those with the necessary expertise in all the areas of the human spirit of Mthwakazi, in order to avoid being outsmarted by the grandchildren of our colonisers, the Shona hegemony, as ZAPU was outsmarted by the likes of Lord Carrington representing the colonial power Britain.

It must never ever happen again in the lifetime of the people of Mthwakazi to have a Constitution drawn by our colonisers. We need to take our destiny in our hands. This is why, in the MLF, we have a Draft Constitution for the vision of a Federal Republic of Mthwakazi that will be based on linguistics.

We cannot entrust that role to anybody but the people of Mthwakazi. Added to that, we have a logo, in the form of a Flame Lilly (a natural flower which is found in our country) for the Federal Republic of Mthwakazi (FREM). It will change subject to the Will of the people of Mthwakazi.

As we move forward this year in 2021 and beyond, we must vigorously reject any voices about devolution this or devolution that. Why should we accept another form of slavery, subjugation, domination and humiliation dressed up as devolution? The Shona hegemony created the conditions under which we live. We cannot therefore ask the same slave masters to dress our slavery conditions in sheep’s clothing called devolution. That is simple madness. All we want is divorce from this forced marriage. Period.

Not least, we need everyone, irrespective of gender and ethnicity to play their role in liberating Mthwakazi. What is good for Britain to EXIT the European Union, surely must be good also for the people of Mthwakazi to EXIT Zimbabwe. Britain is responsible for our plight.

We need therefore to apply maximum pressure against it, so that they stop ruling us through the proxy of Shona hegemony. It was after all the British colonialists who forcibly incorporated Mthwakazi into a single unitary state with Mashonaland. In years past, precedents have been set with even the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) a superpower at the time crumbled to the will of different nationalities Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, Estonia, and various others).

So too was Yugoslavia which reverted back to different nation states of Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina, and others. Czechoslovakia also separated through a velvet divorce into the Czech and Slovak republics. Similarly, Sudan reverted back to two nation states of Sudan and South Sudan after a long struggle with millions of lives lost. The state of Ambazonia shall also be born from the forced incorporation into Cameroon.

There is therefore nothing unique and without precedent that cannot make the people of Mthwakazi to break away from the cycle of rape, genocide, ethnic cleansing and endemic poverty of Zimbabwe, to found their own independent state as the only viable option based on food security for all, human rights, liberty, freedom, the rule of law and justice. What is of paramount importance is to build Mthwakazi institutions that shall be anchored by just laws enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic, and not those of any individual, men or women.

Once again, happy new year to you all. Let us all continue to abide by the health protocols against this raging pandemic wherever we are, until this killer disease has been defeated. 

I thank you.

Churchill Mpiyesizwe Guduza

NB. Churchill Mpiyesizwe Guduza is also the author of a new book; The Trials and Tribulations of a ZIPRA Soldier, which was published on the 4^th January 2021, by Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group (LRPCIG), in Bamenda, North West Region of Cameroon.

By A Correspondent- A woman who claims to be a nurse at Mater Dei Hospital is set to appear in court for sneaking out of a nightclub without paying for the food and alcohol she consumed.

According to a State outline, Hanna Chirisa (24) ordered food and alcohol at Red Café.

After eating and drinking she sneaked out without paying and went away. The total cost of the food and alcohol she consumed is US$20, 50.

Her luck ran out while she was walking in town on 31 December as an employee of the leisure centre spotted her and dragged her to Central Police Station leading to her arrest.

She was supposed to appear before Tredgold Court magistrate Lenear Khumalo last week, but she failed to turn up on three occasions.

A warrant of arrest has been issued against her.

By A Correspondent- A 22 year old Zupco bus conductor was sexually assaulted while she was walking home alone in the dead of the night after she had alighted from the staff bus.

The rape victim cannot be named for ethical reasons.

A source close to investigations said the Zupco bus conductor disembarked from the staff bus near Thembiso Primary School in Emakhandeni suburb at around 1AM on 31 December 2020.

While she was on her way to her home misfortune struck as a man wearing a balaclava emerged from behind her and grabbed her.

“He grabbed her before warning her to keep quiet or face death, the victim obeyed. He then fondled her breasts while ordering to head into a maize field. When they got into the maize field he ordered her to lie down facing upwards,” said the privy source.

The source went on say the sex offender raped her twice without protection.

After sexually attacking her, the source said, the sex attacker seized her satchel which contained a national identification card, cellphone and made off with it.

The rape victim reported the matter at Luveve police station.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident.

“I can confirm that we are investigating a case of rape and robbery that happened in Emakhandeni high density suburb. We would like to urge members of the public never to walk alone during the night,”he said.

Insp Ncube appealed to anyone who might have information that could lead to the arrest of the accused to contact their nearest police station.

-bmetro

By A Correspondent- The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef), which was accused by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) of being fascist and biased in its reporting, has called for the release of Zimbabwean journalist cum political activist Hopewell Chin’ono and an end to the online abuse of female journalists.

The call comes after that country’s governing party Zanu-PF’s director of information and publicity, Tafadzwa Tuboy Mugwadi, directed “sexist and misogynistic vitriol” at SABC foreign editor Sophie Mokoena.

“Sanef has sadly noted the blatant sexist and misogynistic vitriol directed from Mugwadi to… Mokoena in a bid to intimidate, harass and stop her from doing her job of reporting on Zimbabwe and the continent,” the organisation said.

“Mugwadi seems to have taken it personally that Mokoena asked tough questions about the whereabouts of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa amid the coronavirus crisis in the country.”

Sanef has advised Mugwadi and Zanu-PF to direct any complaints about Mokoena’s reporting to the SABC management and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA).

Attacks on journalists ‘not new’

But the organisation said attacks on female journalists were not new.

“In September 2020, we expressed our serious concern about the vicious online and social media trolling of women journalists and media workers in Zimbabwe. At the time, we cautioned against the tweets by George Charamba, the press secretary in the Office of the President of Zimbabwe and permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information of Zimbabwe, who was behind the attacks on Mokoena and a colleague Peter Ndoro.

“We cautioned that Charamba’s actions – assisted by Nick Mangwana, secretary for information in Zimbabwe – were creating significant professional harm. We asked them to stop,” Sanef said.

‘Relentless harassment’

Sanef has also called for an end to “the relentless intimidation and harassment” of Chin’ono, an award-winning freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker.

Chin’ono was arrested for the third time on Friday after tweeting about an incident in which a child died after allegedly being beaten by a police officer.

“Chin’ono was among many Zimbabweans who tweeted about the incident, demanding answers. In response, the police offered a different version of events in a statement,” Sanef said.

Chin’ono was arrested in July on charges of inciting violent anti-government protests, and again in November on charges of obstructing justice.

“Sanef believes that this hostile environment is a direct attack on freedom of expression,” the organisation said.

EFF once said Sanef was trying to shut down the EFF to campaign for the ruling party. Senior journalists, including SANEF members, have been linked to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s controversial #ThumaMina media WhatsApp group. The group received particular scorn from the EFF, which claimed it was evidence that certain journalists were part of a ‘cabal’ openly supporting the Ramaphosa faction.

By A Correspondent- A Mount Darwin aunt allegedly set a rapist upon her niece on New Year’s Eve and threatened the minor with death if she exposed the crime.

Both the aunt and rapist have since been arrested and appeared before a Bindura magistrate for initial remand.

The aunt, Luckness Nyandangu (20) and the alleged rapist Takudzwa Bamava were remanded in custody to 21 January by magistrate Tendai Chifamba.

Prosecutor Vincent Marunya alleged that on December 31 the duo was watching Nyau dancers till late in Mount Darwin.

They hatched a plan to rape the 13-year-old girl who was sleeping in Nyandangu’s bedroom.

Bamava entered the room and threatened the minor with death if she screamed for help.

He allegedly raped her once, left the room before, the aunt came with further death threats on the complainant if she dared to expose the rape.

The matter came to light on January 6 when the complainant went to her mother’s house in the next village where she divulged the incident.

The mother escorted the victim to file a police report which culminated in the arrest of the accused.

By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe has been red-flagged as one of the world’s 10 worst countries regarding workers’ welfare.

Violations of workers’ rights, including abductions and other forms of violence and threats of harm, are cited.

According to the International Trade Union Confederation’s documentation of violations of workers’ rights, Zimbabwe joined the bad boys’ club including Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Colombia, Egypt, Honduras, Kazakhstan, the Philippines and Turkey where workers’ rights were brazenly violated.

“In the aftermath of the violent attacks against workers during the general strikes organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in October 2018 and January 2019, Zimbabwe continued its crackdown against trade unions,” the report said.

“Twenty-eight ZCTU members still faced criminal charges after their arrest over a year ago. If convicted, they could be sentenced to a mandatory 10-year jail term. ZCTU president Peter Mutasa and general secretary Japhet Moyo, both of whom had been arrested and charged with subversion, were released in February 2019, but they remained under strict release conditions, banned from travelling and forced to check in regularly at the police station.”

The report said Mutasa and Moyo also received anonymous letters with death threats and bullets inside.

“Furthermore, both leaders received anonymous letters containing death threats and bullets. The letters warned them against continuing with the planned strike action on 22 July 2019 and threatened to kill the two and harm their families,” it said.

The letters said: “We have hired mercenaries to deal with you once and for all – unless you stop what you are planning.”

Moyo, the report said, also received further threatening letters, with one of them containing a threat to rape his daughter.

The report also noted the harassment and abduction of the then president of Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, Peter Magombeyi who was kidnapped in 2019 by three unidentified men, and for days his whereabouts were not known.

“Before his kidnapping, he had received a message from an unknown source which contained death threats. For years, Dr Magombeyi has been at the forefront in fighting for better working conditions for all doctors in the country. He was eventually released and left outside Harare.”

“Earlier in the year, on 5 June 2019, Obert Masaraure, the president of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, was abducted at his house,” the report said.

Most violated rights by the named countries, according to the report, included the right to strike which was criminalised.

The right to civil liberties, the report said, was also violated with arbitrary arrests, detention and imprisonment.

The ruling Zanu-PF government has threatened all workers intending to go on strike labelling them opposition allies.

-standard

By A Correspondent- A headmaster at a school in Chipinge District, Manicaland Province, was struck and killed by a bolt of lightning on Thursday afternoon.

William Zvarimwa, the acting head at Rusitu Valley Primary School (Maundwa Primary) was struck while at his goat pen at his homestead under Headman Chivunze in Chief Mutema’s area.

Zvarimwa’s death was confirmed to by Chipinge Rural Ward 9 councillor, Habit Magona.

Meanwhile, Chipinge Civil Protection Unit (CPU) chairperson William Mashava urged residents to stay at safer places indoors and to avoid standing under trees when there is lightning.

He said:

People should avoid standing under trees or being the tallest objects when they are out in the rain.

-MasvingoMirror

This is Chitungwiza Police station…

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By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe has started training health care workers and arranging other logistics for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available under the Covax group.

On Thursday, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) head of vaccines, Kate O’Brien, announced that most African countries will start taking delivery of the vaccine procured under Covax between the end of January and mid-February.

According to WHO, Covax is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries.

Once the vaccine becomes available in Zimbabwe, frontline healthcare workers and the elderly, who are most vulnerable to the virus, will be prioritised. Health and Child Care Deputy Minister John Mangwiro had this to say:

We are arranging logistics for deployment and training healthcare workers in preparation for the rollout.

We have set up a logistics committee that is working on that. In terms of timelines for distribution, we will only have a concrete answer next week (this week).

We are working with speed to ensure that we are ready when we start receiving the vaccine.

However, we are still working on a logistics plan that will include the distribution timelines.

As you can see, a lot of countries are now working on getting the vaccine and we are also doing the same.

Covax aims to secure dosages for 20 per cent of the population in each participating country by the end of the year and Zimbabwe could potentially get up to 3.2 million doses under the first phase for its estimated 16 million people.

By A Correspondent- The mother of jailed Chillspot Records founder and Zimdancehall producer Arnold Kamudyariwa, popularly known as DJ Fantan, said she will not stop crying until authorities release her son.

Speaking in an interview with Standard Style last week, Fantan’s mother, Lorine Akende said the courts made a very unfair judgement considering that her son and his co-accused were first-time offenders.

She said:

They do not have any criminal record and it is Dhama who organised the bash together with the police. I won’t stop crying until they free my son.

Fantan’s grandmother, who requested anonymity, said they were surprised with the custodial sentence imposed on the DJ and his accomplices as they were first-time offenders.

She said:

We did not see it coming because this can’t be a crime that deserves jail sentencing. They were supposed to be slapped with fines and community service.

DJ Fantan, Tafadzwa “DJ Levels” Kadzimwe and Simbarashe “Dhama” Chanachimwe will serve effective six-month jail terms each for violating COVID-19 lockdown regulations after organising a New Year’s Eve bash that was attended by hundreds of people in Mbare.

-standard

By A Correspondent- Shelters for displaced foreign nationals in and around Musina, in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, say they are overwhelmed with requests to take in stranded Zimbabweans.

A significant number of Zimbabweans have been crossing the border into South Africa illegally but cannot return home in the wake of the hard lockdown and are now in need of shelter in the neighbouring country.

A 16-year-old girl who has been a resident at the MG Matsaung Centre located at the Uniting Reformed Church in Nancefield township in Musina, for 6 years, said she doesn’t want to return to Zimbabwe.

Now in Grade 8, the girl walked into South Africa at the age of 10 from Zimbabwe with a group of other minors in search for greener pastures.

She said:

I don’t wish like to go to Zimbabwe, I mean I would go but then I feel at home here. I don’t miss anything. Like since I was a child all I wanted was to go to school but then here I’m going to school, I have nothing to worry about.

… When I grow up I want to be an actress and when I will be an actress, my first earnings I will donate it here to other children because I know that other children the same age as me will be here too so I want to donate them something to make them feel at home like I did.

Meanwhile, Jacob Matakanye from the centre says they have been inundated with requests to take in kids that have been abandoned in recent weeks but cannot take more due to lack of funding.

He said:

We have got a lot of pressure, people request our intervention so that we can take care of kids to come and stay here, but we have got a problem that at present we have a problem with funds and we are afraid if take more children without resources. Again this will cause more problem of not being able to feed them or take care of them.

Shelters for older people have also been turning away stranded foreign nationals.

South Africa is home to millions of Zimbabweans who have escaped the country’s economic challenges caused by decades of massive corruption and mismanagement

By A Correspondent- Civil servants who have tested positive for COVID-19 are being compensated between US$600 and US$1 000 depending on the grade.

Public Service deputy minister Lovemore Matuke on Friday told the Daily News that 1 305 government workers had so far produced the requisite COVID-19 certificates and are therefore eligible for the payments. Matuke said:

All civil servants up to permanent secretaries who have tested positive since last year are being paid anything between US$600 and US$1 000 depending on their grades.

For someone to be eligible for the one-off payment, they must have proof that they were tested and found to be positive.

Those who do not want to state their Covid-19 status cannot be paid because the only way we can prove that indeed someone tested positive are the results of the test.

Matuke further revealed that the Health Ministry has so far recorded 1 000 cases, the Ministry of Agriculture, 90, Home Affairs, 53 cases, and the Finance Ministry, 40.

The Office of the President and Cabinet had so far recorded 33 cases, while Local Government, National Housing, Transport, Information Communication Technology, Foreign Affairs and Public Service ministries had 11, 10, 10, 10, nine and nine cases respectively.

Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the Apex Council, David Dzatsunga, accused the government of falsifying the number of civil servants who have contracted the coronavirus. He said: The first thing is that the government is not being truthful to say only about 1 000 civil servants tested positive for Covid-19.

While we have not yet compiled the total number of our infected members, it is not true to say, for example, that only one official was infected in the ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, when we know colleagues who are either ill right now or have since died of Covid-19.

We are wondering what the government’s motive is in falsifying the numbers.

-dailynews

By A Correspondent- A Beitbridge security guard is in trouble after shooting two women at a shop at Makado business centre.

Ganeth Moyo (52) pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted murder and one of assault when he appeared before Beitbridge regional magistrate stanley Mambanje on Wednesday.

He was remanded out of custody to February 9 for continuation of trial.

Prosecutor Munyonga Kuvarega told the court that on January 1, the complainant, Obester Mhlanga (22), was at Makado business centre and he bought beer with R200 leaving behind R150 change.

After some minutes, he returned to the shop asking for his change. there was a harsh exchange of words between the cashier and Mhlanga.

It is the state case that Moyo intervened, ordering Mhlanga out of the shop. Moyo allegedly produced his service pistol and struck Mhlanga with it on the head.

The court heard that the brawl attracted crowds of people who thronged the shop and Moyo fired shots to disperse the crowd. In the process, Moyo allegedly shot Gladys Sibanda (22), who works at Makado business centre.

Sibanda sustained a gunshot wound on her right thigh. the bullet is said to have further hit Phathitshedzo Muleya (18).

By A Correspondent- Health experts have warned of a continued surge in Covid-19 cases in the country during the coming weeks and called on government to introduce and equip new decentralised treatment centres around the country.

Zimbabwe currently has a few Covid 19 dedicated treatment centres located in big cities and towns and also at big provincial and district hospitals only. This has left a huge number of people requiring hospital attention unable to access the facilities.

The country is experiencing a steep rise in daily new infections as well as deaths, with reports that major health institutions are no longer taking new Covid-19 patients due to shortage of bedding facilities. Several patients have reportedly died at hospitals before being attended.

As of yesterday, the country had 18 765 cases and 446 deaths, with most of the infections and deaths recorded last week. Most of those who died had initially tested negative to the virus, adding to the mystery surrounding the virus.

Cletos Masiya, spokesperson of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association (MDPPZA), said home-based care management was commonly becoming the desperate measure being taken by relatives who could just not let their beloved ones die while they watched.

He said patients were dying before being admitted and some were opting to call their doctors for management at their homes.

“Government is urged to decentralise Covid-19 management from designated centres and set up facilities across the entire county,” he said.

“Government should consider opening up idle medical facilities in other peripheral areas which have not been overwhelmed by coronavirus patients to decongest the full urban facilities.”

Masiya urged government to consider opening up stadia and setting up facilities for possible admission of new patients so that those who are positive of the virus are isolated at government-controlled health institutions, not at home.

Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights secretary Norman Matara said there were isolation beds available across the country in some less populated areas, but intensive care unit (ICU) beds were limited and most patients were failing to access them.

“ICU facilities are mainly in health institutions in major cities such as Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare and Gweru, but hospitals in provincial towns have not been equipped with the same equipment,” he said.

“At private health institutions where ICU beds are available, fees are beyond the reach of majority affordability. People have resorted to calling doctors for attention at their homes. We call for government to urgently avail more ICU facilities,” said Matara.

The doctors also say because the PCR tests that were being done had clinical sensitivity ranging between 70-80% which gave false negative results, people who exhibited symptoms should be immediately treated as Covid-19 positive .

“There is not much difference between the new variant and the old one in terms of disease progression,” Matara said.

“Treatment for the new variant is not different from the old one; neither are there any differences in the symptoms. What is different is the volume of people who are being affected. This new strain is more infective than the old one, hence government should scale up its preventive and precautionary measures.”

He said more nurses were testing positive and succumbing to the new Covid-19 variant because they don’t have adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) although they were frontline workers.

Nurses at some of Zimbabwe’s public hospitals went on strike on Thursday demanding PPE to enable them to do their job safely.-standard

Tagwirei vs Fantan | WHO MUST BE ARRESTED?

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) January 4, 2021

By A Correspondent- A 61 year old male vendor from Makokoba, Bulawayo, died on Wednesday after drinking cheap whisky.

Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the death.

“I can confirm that Sizondo Moyo, a male adult aged 61 from Makokoba, was discovered by a security guard who had reported for duty at a market place, dead on Wednesday and made a report to police who took the body to Mpilo Central Hospital for postmortem,” Ncube said.

Ncube said the police who attended the scene found Moyo’s body with no injuries.

By A Correspondent- This morning a double cab vehicle with an unknown number of passengers was washed away by floods trying to cross submerged Gweru River Bridge on the Matobo Road.

Sub Aqua unit on its way to for retrieval efforts.

Government spokesperson, Nick Mangwana released the information on his Twitter account.

Said Mangwana:

“This morning a double cab vehicle with unknown number of passengers was washed away by floods trying to cross submerged Gweru River Bridge on the Matobo Road. Sub Aqua unit on its way to for retrieval efforts. Let’s be careful and avoid crossing flooded roads, bridges and rivers.”

By A Correspondent | Senator Douglas Mwonzora’s roof is certainly on fire as he accuses his girlfriend of many years of conniving with Thokozani Khupe to get him imprisoned for stealing $6million.

EXPLOSIVE MWONZORA GIRLFRIEND INTERVIEW OVER THE FUTURE OF MDC-T AND THE FRAUD CASE https://t.co/kjPO1EAe7p

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) January 9, 2021

The below WhatsApp chats albeit denied by Senator Douglas Mwonzora on Saturday morning, have been fully confirmed by his girlfriend of many years , Lwazi Sibanda who is at the centre of the conversations, and had personally shared them with MDCT top cadre, Mr Patson Murimoga (full interview streaming on ZimEye.com.)

Mwonzora says WhatsApp leak is fake. We have the LIVE V11. Tune in to https://t.co/RMz9FsvEJW pic.twitter.com/WpJdbhJD8D

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) January 9, 2021

Lwazi Sibanda speaks to ZimEye in a 20 minute long interview (WATCH AND LISTEN IN FULL in the live video streams ABOVE)

[1/7, 8:26 PM] Douglas Mwonzora: So what happened?
[1/7, 8:42 PM] Lwazi Sibanda: ?? Sorry spent the whole day ku mine just arriving home.Murimoga was very angry he didn’t even want to listen to me .He said col hm
[1/7, 8:42 PM] Lwazi Sibanda: You Kno his number
[1/7, 8:43 PM] Douglas Mwonzora: If this continues I am recalling the people behind him. They have started the fight. I have done nothing wrong. I won fairly but people want to continue fighting.
[1/7, 8:57 PM] Douglas Mwonzora: If this is what they are going to do it’s ok.
[1/7, 8:58 PM] Lwazi Sibanda: Give me tyme and tok to him maybe today he was stressed
[1/7, 9:00 PM] Douglas Mwonzora: As you can see people create thier own devil. I consider myself a good man.
[1/7, 9:01 PM] Lwazi Sibanda: Why don’t you col him n tok
[1/7, 9:03 PM] Douglas Mwonzora: I will never do that. What else do you people want me to do?
[1/7, 9:05 PM] Lwazi Sibanda: Well l thought maybe since he asked me kuti mukoma knows my number why didn’t he col me himself t
[1/7, 9:06 PM] Douglas Mwonzora: We are not the same. He is wrong. He did something very wrong. He is continuing. I never stole anything. But it’s ok. I guess I have to fight back. At least I tried.
[1/7, 9:08 PM] Lwazi Sibanda: Let me tok to him again tomorrow
[1/7, 9:08 PM] Douglas Mwonzora: Well it’s now up to you guys
[1/7, 9:09 PM] Lwazi Sibanda: I am not involved in this Murimoga thing.
[1/7, 9:10 PM] Douglas Mwonzora: Your team is involved Lwazi

By A Correspondent- Villagers of  Jeki 1, Centenary were left shell-shocked after a 39-Year-Old man hung himself with a cloth on  Thursday morning after his wife went to fetch water. 

Mashonaland Central spokesperson Inspector Milton Mundembe confirmed the death of Paul Mapondera.

It is alleged that Mapondera retired to bed with his wife Rice Renika (33) at around 8 pm. The following day at around 5.45 am, the wife woke up and went to fetch water from a borehole leaving her husband asleep. 

She returned at around 7 am and discovered her husband’s body  hanging from a roof beam in their bedroom hut.

Renika then informed her mother in-law Ririma Mapondera (79) who then cut off the cloth which was used by the deceased in the suicide. 

She then informed her neighbour Mermoth Ben (50) who filed a police report at Centenary police. 

The police attended the scene and conveyed the corpse to St Albert’s Hospital mortuary for postmortem.
 The police are appealing to the public to seek third part if they are  facing challenges. 

“It is worrisome that at the time the nation is fighting COVID-19, someone chooses to take away his life,” Inspector Mundembe said.

2/2Mayor Mafume has not been convicted of any crime.The law regards him as innocent until proven guilty. He has spent a month in remand prison.Pre-trial incarceration is abuse of law.The Mayor must be treated with dignity that every citizen deserves.Right to life is inalienable!

— nelson chamisa (@nelsonchamisa) January 10, 2021

The weaponisation of the law to target legitimate political opponents has the effect of undermining the rule of law and justice administration #Zimbabwe. It's time that #MayorJacobMafume be released from custody on suitable conditions and be guaranteed fair trial #FreeJacobMafume pic.twitter.com/Zts9JLXlJT

— SouthernDefenders (@SAHRDNetwork) January 9, 2021

Tinashe Sambiri|Zanu PF leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa’s plot to use the deadly Coronavirus to kill his political rivals has been exposed.

Intelligence sources revealed the ploy to ZimEye.com on Saturday.

The secret plan will be executed as follows-1. arrest perceived political rivals 2.deny political rivals bail 3. expose political rivals to Coronavirus while in prison.

Prominent journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and Job Sikhala were arrested for denouncing police brutality.Harare mayor Jacob Mafume is also unwell and there are fears he was deliberately exposed to COVID-19 by the regime.

Before his arrest Hon Sikhala tweeted:
“I am gathering that after my arrest they want to expose me to Covid 19. If anything happens to me let it be known to Zimbabweans that I am Covid free as I speak. A few days ago I warned about the plot by the regime & they really want to arrest me for no apparent reason…

In a statement the MDC Alliance said:
Detained Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume is suffering from fever, chest pains and a headache.
“The situation is bad. He was given antibiotics by prison doctors, but it’s not helping,” his lawyer Tonderai Bhatasara said. “He has changed. He is in pain…now he is visibly sick.”

Mafume is currently in jail on accusations of trying to bribe a key witness in his pending criminal abuse of office case. He has been languishing in prison after he was denied bail by a Harare magistrate.
He was arrested on 14 December 2020.

1/2The Mayor of Harare, Cnlr Jacob Mafume’s health has deteriorated drastically whilst being held in remand prison. The right to health is fundamental for all citizens including even for those in prison. Mayor Mafume deserves proper medical attention by a doctor of his choice.

2/2Mayor Mafume has not been convicted of any crime.The law regards him as innocent until proven guilty. He has spent a month in remand prison.Pre-trial incarceration is abuse of law.The Mayor must be treated with dignity that every citizen deserves.Right to life is inalienable!

THE Zimbabwe senior men’s team resumed training as they intensified preparations for the African Nations Championship, a tournament which starts in Cameroon on Saturday.

A dark cloud was looming over the Warriors after 15 members of those in camp, that is players and the technical team tested positive for the coronavirus. There was however good news when the Zimbabwe Football Association announced that only one out of those 15 individuals returned a positive test, which paved way for the team to resume training at the National Sports Stadium yesterday afternoon. It has been ascertained that the one person who is still to recover from Covid-19 is a player.

Zifa said the whole squad will undergo another test on Tuesday ahead of departure for Cameroon on Wednesday.

“All but one of the 15 members of our Chan team who previously tested positive for Covid-19 have recovered, group training resumes this afternoon (yesterday). Another test will be done on 12 January ahead of departure for Cameroon on 13 January,’’ said Zifa.

Wellington Mpandare, the Warriors team manager said they recently submitted a squad of 33 players to the Confederation of African Football. From that squad, Zimbabwe will choose the 23 to represent the country at the tournament.

Zimbabwe have been drawn in same group with Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Mali. The locally based Warriors square off with the Indomitable Lions in the tournament opener on Saturday.

Warriors squad

Goalkeepers: Ariel Sibanda (Highlanders), Simba Chinani (Dynamos), Nelson Chadya (Ngezi Platinum Stars)

Defenders: Peter Muduwa (Highlanders), Partson Jaure (Dynamos), Tafadzwa Jaravani (Caps United), Ian Nekati (Chicken inn), Qadr Amini (Ngezi Platinum Stars), Carlos Mavhurume (Caps United), Pawell Govere (Golden Eagles), Andrew Mbeba (Highlanders), Talent Chamboko (Manica Diamonds)

Midfielders: Richard Hachiro (Caps United), Ronald Chitiyo (Caps United), Shadreck Nyahwa (Bulawayo Chiefs), Wellington Taderera (Ngezi Platinum Stars), Leeroy Mavunga (Caps United), Tatenda Tavengwa (Harare City), King Nadolo (Dynamos), Denver Mukamba (Ngezi Platinum Stars)

Strikers: Obriel Chirinda (Chicken inn), Tawanda Nyamandwe (Manica Diamonds), Farawo Matare (Bulawayo Chiefs)

On Standby

Defenders: Frank Makarati (Ngezi Platinum Stars), Valentine Musarurwa (Harare City), Munyaradzi Diro-Nyenye (Caps United)

Midfielders: Devon Chafa (Ngezi Platinum), Juan Mutudza (Dynamos), Phineas Bhamusi (Caps United), Ishmael Wadi (CAPS United) Nqobizitha Masuku (Highlanders), Tichaona Chipunza (Chicken Inn)

Strikers: Thomas Chideu (Harare City)

Source-The Sunday News

By A Correspondent| The Professor Lovemore Madhuku led National Constitutional Assembly has vowed to fight for electoral reforms especially the provision that gives a sitting President power to appoint ZEC Chairperson and all commissioners, the party spokesperson Maddock Chivasa has said.

Posting on Facebook, Chivasa said the issue of how ZEC is constituted was now a matter of urgency.

Chivasa said the provision on how ZEC is constituted is undemocratic as it gives a sitting President decides the referee in a game he/she is part of.

“The issue of how ZEC should be constituted in preparation for the next general elections, legally due in 2023,is now a matter of both urgency and ermergency.

“As NCA Party we are strongly against the provision in the Constitution that gives power to a sitting President to appoint ZEC Chairperson and all ZEC Commissioners,” said Chivasa.

He added that as NCA, they were opposed to rituals disguised as elections.

“This provision in the Constitution is undemocratic in that in the current circumstances it gives powers to President Mnangagwa to appoint a ZEC that will oversee an election which he is most likely to contest as a Presidential candidate together with other candidates contesting as Mps and Councillors from his party Zanu PF,” added Chivasa.

He urged Zimbabweans to come together and demand electoral reforms which he said is the only way to guarantee undisputed elections.

“Let us all put our heads together and reject a state of affairs where Zanu pf determines a referee in the same game it is also playing. Elections are not rituals we demand a fair electoral field that is not tilted in favor of the incumbents. A free and fair election is an election where all contestants have equal chances to win those elections,” said Chivasa.

TWO Beitbridge police officers have been arrested for allegedly assaulting an unlawful entry and theft suspect to death, burnt his remains which they then stashed in a sack and hid them in a drainage system to conceal the crime.

The two police officers – Constables Xander Siasayi (33) and Daniel Peyani (32) of Tuli and Zezani police camps were arrested on Friday for the offence they allegedly committed while investigating an unlawful entry and theft case which had occured at Toporo Special Bottle Store in Zezani.

Police spokesperson for Matabeleland South Province Inspector Loveness Mangena confirmed the incident and said investigations were underway.

Insp Mangena further said they were still searching for the missing parts of the victim and trying to find out how and why the body was burnt.

Circumstances according to the police statement are that on 27 December, 2020, at about 8am, the now deceased’s girlfriend, Beatrice Ndou (24), who is employed at Toporo Special Bottle Store, made a report at Swereki Police Base alleging that her boyfriend broke into her workplace and stole cash amounting to 10 140 rand and $200.

Upon receiving the report, Constables Siasayi and Peyani, who were manning the police base, did not record it in the report book.

On the same day at about 7pm, the now deceased was picked up from Toporo Special Bottle Store where he was residing with his girlfriend, Beatrice.

Siasayi and Peyani then escorted him and a co-accused, Godknows Mbedzi, back to Swereki Police Base where they spent the night under police custody. “On the 28th of December 2020 at around 6am while at the police base, the accused persons assaulted the now deceased with a stick on the thighs and buttocks several times interrogating him about the alleged stolen money,” police sources said.

-State Media

THE Government has warned teachers against conducting physical extra lessons as they risk being prosecuted for violating Covid-19 containment regulations, it has been learnt.

The move comes amid uncertainty over the new opening dates, as figures of Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the country with some teachers having resorted to offering extra lesson services to pupils for an extra penny.

In an interview, director of communications in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Mr Taungana Ndoro said teachers were fully aware that the only lessons that had been permitted to date were the ones conducted online.

He said it was therefore mischievous and criminal for anyone to conduct physical classes as this would derail the Government efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are clear when it comes to the issue of extra lessons. We have made it clear that only online lessons have been permitted. Physical lessons, where teachers gather pupils at some location are illegal as there will be no mechanism to monitor adherence to guidelines so that they do not become spreaders of this pandemic.

“Therefore, teachers who are conducting these lessons are liable for prosecution for defying Covid-19 lockdown regulations,” said Mr Ndoro.

Mr Ndoro said measures put forward by the Government were not meant to disadvantage pupils but were to protect them against contracting the Covid-19 virus.

“The reason we are emphasizing on online classes for now is that for physical classes to take place there is a need for the setting up and adherence to set Standard Operating Procedures, which will be monitored by the responsible authorities to ensure that pupils and teachers are not unnecessarily exposed to this pandemic.

“Our call, therefore is for the teachers to be responsible and not be pushed by greed to conduct these physical lessons, while at the same time exposing themselves and their pupils to the pandemic,” said Mr Ndoro.

The Government, early this month deferred the opening of schools to a date to be announced due to the spike in Covid-19 cases. Only examination writing classes were allowed to open just to finish their final exams.

Schools were initially scheduled to reopen on Monday last week for the first term of 2021 closing on March 24.

Several schools recorded an increase in Covid-19 cases among pupils and teachers last term forcing some schools to prematurely close.

Last year, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Cde Monica Mutsvangwa warned teachers offering extra lessons that they were breaking the law and will face the full wrath of the law should they be caught.

“Some teachers are illegally conducting extra lessons in violation of lockdown regulations. Such practices will endanger the lives of the children in question and should be stopped forthwith,” Minister Mutsvangwa was quoted as having said.

-State Media

Tinashe Sambiri|MDC MDC Alliance Secretary General Hon Charlton Hwende has ruled out dialogue with Douglas Mwonzora’s MDC-T.

Hon Hwende also described the withdrawal of former Zanu PF MP, Kudakwashe Bhasikiti from the MDC Alliance as a non-event.

On Thursday Bhasikiti announced his decision to pull out of the MDC Alliance.

Hon Hwende responded:

We have had many MDC’s in the past and that has never confused our people.

Since 1999 we have managed to sustain this struggle and give hope to our people because we have successfully managed to outwit the regime by always electing and following a genuine political leader who can’t be bought by the regime to sell out the struggle. We succeeded with President Morgan Tsvangirai and we will succeed with President Nelson Chamisa.

Our Number one asset is our Leader. Even all other leaders are bought and we remain with him alone and the People Tinosvika Chete. Don’t be disturbed by those who are pushing us to abandon our name MDC Alliance it’s a trap the masses know their Party and they Know that their Leader is Nelson Chamisa. Some are now day dreaming and talking about Unity.

Unity with Progressive Political Parties yes but not with ED and ZanuPF created opposition. “Impoitai zveku Polad…

By A Correspondent- Over 2 000 squatters at Bulawayo’s three slums have resorted to fetching domestic water from sewage ponds and open pits oblivious of the health implications, NewsDay Weekender has learnt.

A survey conducted by the Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights (MIHR) at the three slum settlements – Ngozi Mine, Trenance and Killarney – has exposed the ticking health time bomb.

The illegal settlements accommodate at least 2 200 people.

MIHR last year assisted the Ngozi Mine squatters to petition the Bulawayo City Council for provision of clean water and the petition was signed by over 160 residents and presented to the ward councillor.

But council said it did not recognise them and refused to address their demands.

The MIHR report released on Thursday states that globally, slum dwellers are increasing with the current global population being estimated at one billion up from 883 million in 2003.

“In Africa, south of the Sahara, there are over 72 million slum settlers. The Zimbabwean Census Statistics Office (ZimStat) does not record the slum population separately. This makes it difficult to have authoritative statistics of Zimbabwean slum residents …,” read the report.

In its findings, the organisation says the slum dwellers cannot talk of the quality of water because they do not have water to drink in the first place.

“Access to clean, safe and potable water is a major challenge in all the three settlements as BCC and Umguza RDC are not providing water services to the communities …,” the report read.

MIHR revealed that Ngozi Mine residents survive on collecting water from an pit left open by council after extracting pit sand.

“The open pit water is brown in colour and is likely to be contaminated as it is downhill and closely adjacent to the dumping site. They also go to Montgomery low-density
suburb to collect from the well.

“During the rainy season, they also attempt rainwater harvesting and drinking from the local stream contaminated due to open defecation and eroding dumpsite rubble.”

MIHR stated that in Killarney slum settlement, residents collect water from a regular water burst.

“The residents further explained that at times the water from the burst comes out greenish in colour.

“In Trenance, residents beg from nearby plot-holders with boreholes or water harvesting during the rainy season. The residents said begging for borehole water is becoming difficult during COVID-19 as plot-holders fear being infected.”

MIHR said some of the plot-holders insist that slum residents do manual labour around the home as payment for collecting water.

“Collecting water from burst pipes is not sustainable as the council repairs them. Squatters are also afraid that council rangers may implicate them for damaging the pipes. An average family of six uses 60-80 litres a day for all domestic water needs,” the MIHR report read.

MIHR urged the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency to provide specific statistics of the slum dwellers to enable mobilisation of humanitarian assistance for them.

“Parliamentarians should visit slums to hear their concerns and hold the government accountable for the fundamental rights of slum residents,” MIHR said.

“The government should enact policies that recognise the legitimate human rights and freedoms of slum residents.”

MIHR said slum residents were entitled to legitimate fundamental human rights and freedoms.

Established between the late 1970s and the early 1980s, Bulawayo slum communities have a unique historical background.

Killarney Slum settlement began as a settlement for mine migrants in the late 1970s, housing migrant mine workers from Zambia and Malawi who worked at Sweep Ticket.

Trenance camp was formed by former suburban workers who occupied the privately-owned land and made it their new home.

The settlement is believed to have begun around 1981.

Ngozi Mine settlement inhabitants are people who scrounge the dumpsite in search of dumped materials for resale.

-newsday

Tinashe Sambiri|President Nelson Chamisa has assured the nation that he will not abandon the people’s struggle.

In his letter to the nation, President Chamisa points out that the people of Zimbabwe know the difference between genuine opposition and pretenders.

In the letter, President Chamisa also reveals how he was mentored by MDC founding President and former Prime Minister, Right Honourable Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.

See part of President Chamisa’s letter below:

Fellow Zimbabweans,
When we began this journey 22 years ago, I was a young college student alongside my contemporaries. I was part of a generation of college students that joined veteran trade unionists, powerful women in the women’s movement, war veterans, civic and church leaders, among others, who believed that the way Zimbabwe was being governed needed serious transformation.

We believed that the system over which ZANU PF presided was only serving a minority of elites who occupied vantage positions within and around the state, while most Zimbabweans were condemned to suffering. It was plain that the future was bleak unless progressive Zimbabweans intervened to change the course. That is why we championed the message of change.

Looking back those days seem like a long time ago. A new generation has emerged since that time. Babies born in 1999 are now adults. They have lived their formative years in very difficult circumstances. Times were different back in 1999, but I remember the energy and passion of every cadre as if it were yesterday. The idea that was sown in our hearts and minds has no expiry date.

To be sure, the journey has been gruelling. But I was never under any illusion that it would be easy. We have lost thousands of cadres along the way, including our founding father, Morgan Tsvangirai who departed in February 2018. I was privileged to have a special relationship with him and from him, I learned a lot under his leadership and guidance. The most painful losses have been those suffered at the hands of the state, through violence. We cannot betray the memory of these dearly departed cadres. We must honour their dreams and aspirations for a better Zimbabwe, otherwise, they would have died in vain. This is why I have never veered from the course that was set in 1999.

I look back and realize that I have spent more than half of my life chasing the vision that was designed and shaped by those courageous men and women who gathered in 1999 to form the Movement for Democratic Change. The greatness of the idea has not diminished with time, no. It has been strengthened. Those men and women understood that the fundamental weaknesses at the heart of government needed not only new leaders but also a fresh set of ideas and ways of doing things. We remain committed to that vision.

One of the things that please me a lot is seeing a younger generation coming up and carrying the torch in politics. This is how strong institutions grow and I want to pay special tribute to the young people of Zimbabwe whose political consciousness is growing.

The journey has had seminal moments, some positive, and others negative. Both types have been important learning experiences. Some of these challenges have been read as representing existential threats to the organization, but we overcame them. We survived the loss of our founding father by going on to amass the largest electoral votes in the history of the opposition and had we not been cheated; we would have prevailed.

It is a testament to the strength of the idea, the abiding loyalty of the people to the cause, and the abundance of their political wisdom that the party has withstood severe tests. Even when we have been written off by our doubters, we have shown our mettle and surprised them, disappointing rivals along the way.

Many of you have seen what has happened in the past year. Our rivals have used multiple tricks in the dictators’ handbook, in a calculated and relentless effort to undermine our party. Using apparatuses of the state, and under the cover of what has been described as lawfare, they have robbed us of our legislators, councillors, and funds that were due to us under the law. In a direct subversion of democracy, they have even catapulted into Parliament undeserving individuals whom you as voters rejected in the last election. The assault upon democracy has been vicious, but we are undaunted.

As a party, we know that the purpose of these strategies is not just to undermine us, but it is also intended to obliterate us from the political landscape. ZANU PF has never been comfortable with strong opposition. They aim to build an opposition that they control. This is the sole purpose of the project that they have moulded with our erstwhile colleagues. These were deliberate acts of provocation, designed to lure us into conduct that would justify violent repression during the pandemic. We have remained calm and resolute, not because we are unable to respond, but because we know the game they are playing. We also remain true to our founding principle: we are committed to achieving change through peaceful and non-violent means.

We have remained composed because we are confident that progressive fellow Zimbabweans are solidly behind us. We know this because of all the love, support, and encouragement that they have shown us during these testing times. We trust the gift of discernment that is given to Zimbabweans, which enables them to distinguish between right and wrong. They can tell when a bully is abusing power and they know how to punish this abusive behaviour, which punishment will be exacted through the ballot box.

Significantly, Zimbabweans can tell the difference between genuine opposition that is challenging repression and enablers who are aiding and abetting repression. This is not the first time that the people of Zimbabwe have encountered this situation. During the last days of colonialism, the Smith regime tried to hoodwink people by promoting people like Bishop Abel Muzorewa, ahead of the true nationalists who were fighting repression.

Smith preferred the likes of Muzorewa because they were lackeys who would do his bidding while Muzorewa and others were eager to join the gravy train to serve their interests…

Statement /The MDC Alliance has learnt with great sadness of the passing of Senator Cephas Makuyana Grader. He was the Founding MDC Harare Province Chairperson & MC at the launch of the MDC at Rufaro Stadium. May his soul rest in peace.

MDC Alliance Secretary General confirmed Makuyana’s death saying;

“We have just received sad news on the Passing on of Senator Makuyana a veteran trade unionist and a founding member of the MDC. Go well Chigheredha till we meet again,” said Hwende.

Senator Makuyana, one of the founding members of the MDC in 1999 was the master of ceremony when the party was launched.

At the time of his death, he was working with MDC-T President Douglas Mwonzora and was one of the people who campaigned for the former MDC-T Secretary General to assume the substantive leadership of the group.

MDC Alliance Secretary General, Charlton Hwende has said a prison guard from Chikurubi maximum prison has told him that Harare Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume is seriously ill and requiring urgent medical attention.

Mafume was arrested last year on charges of abuse of office and was denied bail by the Harare Magistrates Court.

He has taken his freedom bid to the High Court and is waiting for a ruling on his bail application.

The last time Mafume appeared in court, he was not feeling well amid claims that he could have contracted the Coronavirus.

“Just been informed by a Prison Guard that our Detained Mayor Jacob Mafume is now seriously ill and requires urgent Medical help. The situation is very bad,” said Hwende.

Chido Mbewu / The United Kingdom embassy in Harare, has raised concern over the arrest of journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, who will spent the weekend in police custody.

“Concerned to hear Hopewell Chin’ono will remain in custody for two more nights following his re-arrest on Friday. We continue to follow this case closely,” the embassy Twitted, Saturday afternoon.

Concerned to hear Hopewell Chin'ono will remain in custody for two more nights following his re-arrest on Friday. We continue to follow this case closely #ActiononReform

— UKinZimbabwe ?? ?? (@UKinZimbabwe) January 9, 2021

SOUTH Africa’s Department of Health in Limpopo province has urged cross-border travellers who used the Beitbridge Port of Entry to access the neighbouring country and Zimbabwe in the last four days to go for self-quarantine.

This follows the detection of a cumilative104 Covid-19 positive cases during screening and testing at Sadc’s busiest port of entry.

An average of 6000 travellers have been using the border daily during the just-ended festive season.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, 15 000 people were using the border and the number would rise to 30 00 daily in peak periods.

Travellers entering South Africa are being screened at the foot of the New Limpopo Bridge, while suspected cases of those entering Zimbabwe are tested at the National Social Security (NSSA) hotel, which is being used as a quarantine, isolation and transit.

The hotel is used to process returnees who arrive by road from Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa.

Currently, there are 55 returnees who came in from South Africa who tested positive for covid-19 and are at the NSSA isolation centre.

-State Media

2 ZRP officers from Beitbridge were reportedly arrested yesterday for murder after they allegedly killed a suspect and chopped off his limps before stashing his remains in a sack and hiding them under a bridge, ZTN News reports.

Xander Siyasayi and Daniel Peyan were arrested yesterday and they are expected to appear in court next week. The pair had reportedly picked the suspect Blessing Nare following the disappearance of some cash from a bottle store and allegedly detained him for 2 days.

On 4 January his mother reportedly reported him missing and it prompted Zezani Police Station Officer in Charge Inspector Marisa to investigate:

On January 5 2021, Inspector Marisa went to Swereki Police Base and was told that (the suspect) had escaped from custody and police details had failed to apprehend him.

It was discovered that no warned and cautioned statement was recorded as per standard operating procedure. There was also no official communication to the Officer-In-Charge regarding the report of unlawful entry and theft; and the suspect’s alleged escape from lawful custody.

A search party, later on, found his remains under the bridge the 2 officers reportedly hid the body:

A member of the search party observed a foul smelling emanating from under the bridge. She checked and discovered a white sack. Criminal Investigation Department (Homicide) detectives attended the scene and found a head and limbs in the sack. The torso was missing. The suspect’s half burnt clothes were also recovered, suggesting his killers had tried to burn him.

In 2020 ZRP officers caused the death of Paul Mukanopa who was fleeing from them when they shot his vehicle and accidentally killed him.

Source- ZTN

Tinashe Sambiri|President Nelson Chamisa has assured the nation that he will not abandon the people’s struggle.

In his letter to the nation, President Chamisa points out that the people of Zimbabwe know the difference between genuine opposition and pretenders.

In the letter, President Chamisa also reveals how he was mentored by MDC founding President and former Prime Minister, Right Honourable Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.

See part of President Chamisa’s letter below:

Fellow Zimbabweans,
When we began this journey 22 years ago, I was a young college student alongside my contemporaries. I was part of a generation of college students that joined veteran trade unionists, powerful women in the women’s movement, war veterans, civic and church leaders, among others, who believed that the way Zimbabwe was being governed needed serious transformation.

We believed that the system over which ZANU PF presided was only serving a minority of elites who occupied vantage positions within and around the state, while most Zimbabweans were condemned to suffering. It was plain that the future was bleak unless progressive Zimbabweans intervened to change the course. That is why we championed the message of change.

Looking back those days seem like a long time ago. A new generation has emerged since that time. Babies born in 1999 are now adults. They have lived their formative years in very difficult circumstances. Times were different back in 1999, but I remember the energy and passion of every cadre as if it were yesterday. The idea that was sown in our hearts and minds has no expiry date.

To be sure, the journey has been gruelling. But I was never under any illusion that it would be easy. We have lost thousands of cadres along the way, including our founding father, Morgan Tsvangirai who departed in February 2018. I was privileged to have a special relationship with him and from him, I learned a lot under his leadership and guidance. The most painful losses have been those suffered at the hands of the state, through violence. We cannot betray the memory of these dearly departed cadres. We must honour their dreams and aspirations for a better Zimbabwe, otherwise, they would have died in vain. This is why I have never veered from the course that was set in 1999.

I look back and realize that I have spent more than half of my life chasing the vision that was designed and shaped by those courageous men and women who gathered in 1999 to form the Movement for Democratic Change. The greatness of the idea has not diminished with time, no. It has been strengthened. Those men and women understood that the fundamental weaknesses at the heart of government needed not only new leaders but also a fresh set of ideas and ways of doing things. We remain committed to that vision.

One of the things that please me a lot is seeing a younger generation coming up and carrying the torch in politics. This is how strong institutions grow and I want to pay special tribute to the young people of Zimbabwe whose political consciousness is growing.

The journey has had seminal moments, some positive, and others negative. Both types have been important learning experiences. Some of these challenges have been read as representing existential threats to the organization, but we overcame them. We survived the loss of our founding father by going on to amass the largest electoral votes in the history of the opposition and had we not been cheated; we would have prevailed.

It is a testament to the strength of the idea, the abiding loyalty of the people to the cause, and the abundance of their political wisdom that the party has withstood severe tests. Even when we have been written off by our doubters, we have shown our mettle and surprised them, disappointing rivals along the way.

Many of you have seen what has happened in the past year. Our rivals have used multiple tricks in the dictators’ handbook, in a calculated and relentless effort to undermine our party. Using apparatuses of the state, and under the cover of what has been described as lawfare, they have robbed us of our legislators, councillors, and funds that were due to us under the law. In a direct subversion of democracy, they have even catapulted into Parliament undeserving individuals whom you as voters rejected in the last election. The assault upon democracy has been vicious, but we are undaunted.

As a party, we know that the purpose of these strategies is not just to undermine us, but it is also intended to obliterate us from the political landscape. ZANU PF has never been comfortable with strong opposition. They aim to build an opposition that they control. This is the sole purpose of the project that they have moulded with our erstwhile colleagues. These were deliberate acts of provocation, designed to lure us into conduct that would justify violent repression during the pandemic. We have remained calm and resolute, not because we are unable to respond, but because we know the game they are playing. We also remain true to our founding principle: we are committed to achieving change through peaceful and non-violent means.

We have remained composed because we are confident that progressive fellow Zimbabweans are solidly behind us. We know this because of all the love, support, and encouragement that they have shown us during these testing times. We trust the gift of discernment that is given to Zimbabweans, which enables them to distinguish between right and wrong. They can tell when a bully is abusing power and they know how to punish this abusive behaviour, which punishment will be exacted through the ballot box.

Significantly, Zimbabweans can tell the difference between genuine opposition that is challenging repression and enablers who are aiding and abetting repression. This is not the first time that the people of Zimbabwe have encountered this situation. During the last days of colonialism, the Smith regime tried to hoodwink people by promoting people like Bishop Abel Muzorewa, ahead of the true nationalists who were fighting repression.

Smith preferred the likes of Muzorewa because they were lackeys who would do his bidding while Muzorewa and others were eager to join the gravy train to serve their interests…

Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s cornered administration has arrested MDC Alliance vice chairperson Hon Job Sikhala again.

Watch video below:

Tinashe Sambiri|Hard-hitting preacher, Bishop Ancelimo Magaya has described attempts by Zanu PF leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to use the chaos in the US to justify the violation of human rights in Zimbabwe as futile and embarrassing.

On Thursday Mr Mnangagwa cried for the removal of sanctions arguing US has no moral ground to “punish” Zimbabwe.

Analysts say the restrictions imposed on Harare target Zanu PF bigwigs, comtrary to claims that Zimbabwe has been slapped with sanctions.

Below is Bishop Magaya statement:

THE DEVELOPMENTS IN USA DEPLORABLE BUT NOT JUSTIFICATION FOR REPRESSIONS IN ZIMBABWE.

I have been following with keeness the reactions from Zimbabwean top politicians to the deplorable developments that have happened in the USA on January the 6th. The media world over is awashed with the story of the storming of the US capitol following Trump’s public address resulting in violence which saw 4 people killed and scores arrested. On the basis of this , President Mnangagwa took to Twitter, stating that USA has no moral ground to punish Zimbabwe through imposition of sanctions. ZBC TV during it’s current affairs broadcasting on the 7th of January went to lengths in presenting different commentators who lampasted and ridiculed the USA for it’s double standard. During 8 pm news hour, the TV station even went to the extent of drawing similarities between Trump and MDCA President Nelson Chamisa, highlighting Chamisa’s claim that Zanu Pf and ZEC had rigged 2018 elections.

Please note the following observations

1. What has happened in the USA is quite deplorable and should be condemned in the strongest of terms. Indeed, storming the US capitol and violently disrupting electoral processes is insurrection and not peaceful protest.
2. The shooting and killing of people by the police should be investigated and justice executed in the same way that we demanded justice for what happened on the 1st of August 2018 in Harare. The police should always use minimal force in dispersing crowds that may be turning violent.
3. It is heartening however to note that the strong institutions in the US preserve the country from degenerating into levels of lawlessness that we have witnessed in Zimbabwe.
4. ZBC TV shamelessly decided to draw similarities between Chamisa and Trump and deliberately avoided the same in what Mugabe and his top aides with the assistance of the military deed after 2018 harmonised elections when they barred the timeous release of election results and unlished violence to reverse MDC Tsvagirai electoral victory. Such disregard of historical facts that are still fresh in people’s minds is not only shocking but could be a strong premonition of what may happen again in future given the non repentance of President Mnangagwa and the ruling ZANU PF.
5. Closely linked to the foregoing, if USA institutions were not strong enough, Trump could have successfully reversed Biden’s victory in the same way that Mugabe and his top aides including the current president did in 2008. Remember President Mnangagwa’s chronical of how he encouraged the former President to proceed forming cabinet regardless of the electoral loss he had suffered.
6. The desperateness with which the pro Zanu Pf commentators were quick to want to prove that their notion of democracy as a concept that should be contextualy defined can be a lesson to US is suspcious. They has been a sense in which the ” chinhu chedu ( entitlement attitude) amoug top Zanu Pf officials may have given them a sense of justification to retain power at all costs. This could be their understanding of democracy. Democracy should be practised within the context of Zanu Pf perpetuation. That is why the military intervened in November 2017. It was not to advance democracy in the context of multi partysm and civil liberties.
7. It is tragic to speak it yet true to say that the developments in the USA may be used to nurture , entrench and justify dictatorship in Zimbabwean governance system and other African countries like what is happening in Uganda.

GOD SAVE ZIMBABWE!

DEPRIVING her family of a chicken meal on Unity Day holiday cost a Chipinge girl (13) her life after she was beaten to death by her father who accused her of negligently losing a US$5 note she had been given to buy the cutlets.

Shadreck Mufuka (44) of Nyamanga Compound, Southdown Estate, sought to conceal the murder by telling the girl’s mother that she died after being attacked by unseen things.

Mufuka has since appeared in court charged with the alleged murder of his daughter, Choice, on December 22.

He was not asked to plead when he appeared before Chipinge magistrate, Mrs Elizabeth Hanzi and was advised to apply for bail at the High Court.

Mufuka was remanded to January 12 for routine remand.

Choice was given the money by her stepmother, Sharon Mungofa, to buy chicken cutlets at the nearby shops, but later returned home empty-handed claiming that she had lost the money.

Appearing for the State, Mr Timothy Katsande, said: “On December 22, Choice was sent by her stepmother with a US$5 note to buy chicken cutlets. She later came back home around 7pm without the chicken cutlets and informed Mungofa that she had lost the money.

“Mungofa informed her husband that Choice had lost the money. An enraged Mufuka locked Choice in the dining room and went outside to get a switch from a peach tree in their backyard. When he came back, he assaulted Choice all over the body with the switch until she became unconscious .”

Mr Katsande said after assaulting the teenager, Mufuka shared the same room with her for the night, while his wife and other child slept in the bedroom.

“When Mufuka woke up the following morning, he noticed that his daughter had died. He informed Mungofa what had happened and the two agreed to inform Choice’s mother, Loveness Matengana,’’ he said.

Matengana was Mufuka’s first wife before they separated.

“Matengana, who remarried, came to Mufuka’s homestead to find out what had happened. She saw Mufuka preparing a coffin in preparation for Choice’s burial.

“Mufuka told Matengana that Choice was beaten to death by unseen forces. Upon viewing her daughter’s body, Mufuka discovered that it was swollen and had bruises all over. Mufuka was evasive on the cause of Choice’s death. Choice’s head was also deformed. The wall in the room where Choice’s body was in was covered with fresh blood. This left Matengana with suspicions that Choice’s head could have been bashed against the wall culminating in her death,” said Mr Katsande.

Matengana made a police report at Chipinge Rural Junction Gate Base leading to Mufuka’s arrest.-Manica Post

Kuda Choto / There could never been a more embarrassing moment and loss of high moral ground on the upholding of human rights and democratic principles, than the last US election, which has left the global superpower shamefully naked to the rest of the world.

• 

The world has watched in shock events unfold in the US, characterised by allegations of vote rigging, missing ballots, stuffing ballot boxes, citizens being killed in political violence, a script that has historically been reserved for struggling poorer countries and their ‘propensity for tyranny’.

Reacted the global watchdog the International Crisis Group, after President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol Hill and disrupted a session that was to certify Joe Bidens victory.

“The U.S. today is a nation where millions are convinced the new president was illegitimately elected, and where too many among those millions are both armed and seemingly willing to resort to extreme measures to ensure their view prevails,” the group said.

“Having spent decades telling other countries that they need to face up to their problems, it is past time for the U.S. to turn its gaze inward. The stakes could hardly be higher.”

A result of the devastating consequences of sanctions, Zimbabwe has been among the countries that have also gleefully pointed out the US double standards and hypocrisy, Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo poured scorn on the outcome of the election, “

“Unprecedented scenes of chaos and politically-motivated violence in Washington’s ‘citadel of democracy’ on 6 January. Provoked by those who refuse to accept electoral defeat. 5 dead. Scores injured. Police clearly under-prepared and overwhelmed.

“Perhaps the moralizing and prescriptive tone towards others might now change somewhat”.

Tinashe Sambiri|The MDC Alliance has remained intact despite being attacked from all directions by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.

President Chamisa also accused Mr Mnangagwa’s administration of plundering State resources while millions are suffering.

Said President Chamisa:
Let us continue to pray that things get better for us and the rest of the world. We want to work with everyone to ensure that we get the vaccines and other support that we need to safeguard our communities.

I know that the lockdown is extremely hard for many people. Ours is now largely an informal economy and when people are stopped from working, they have no means of earning income. If it were up to us, we would have offered more creative ways to support people during this difficult time.

We would also have done more to support our frontline workers in the healthcare sector who are in harm’s way as they carry out an important national duty. The billions that are lost through corruption and patronage can go a long way to support our healthcare sector which was already in bad shape long before the pandemic. Our people are paying the price of high level incompetence over the years.

I wish to conclude by reassuring you that your party, the MDC Alliance, remains solid, undaunted, and emboldened. I would like to thank you for your continued support and encouragement even as we have been attacked from all directions by the regime and its enablers. These enablers will present themselves as the opposition’s opposition. You know that they are not genuinely the alternative. You know that they have relied on the abuse of state institutions to steal from us – your MPs, councillors, money, and party property – and in doing so, they have undermined trust in politics.

But you also know that there are some things that the repressive state and its surrogates can neither command nor steal: your loyalty and support. They cannot force you to support what you disagree with. They cannot command you to divert your loyalties. I am personally humbled by the knowledge that you have trusted us with these precious gifts, and I re-emphasize my commitment to honour and respect them.

Do not be perturbed by the fog they have created because it will soon clear.

Tinashe Sambiri|The MDC Alliance has lost two senior members in as many days.

The two are Provincial Secretary for Welfare(Masvingo) Wilson Boko and founding councillor for ward 23, Waterfalls, Linus Paul Mushonga.

“The MDC Alliance mourns the sad passing of Linus Paul Mushonga who was the MDC Founding Councillor for Ward 23 Waterfalls.

May his soul rest in peace,” the party said in a statement.

“We are saddened by sudden departure of founding councillor of ward 23 Waterfalls Linus Paul Mushonga to be with the Lord.
Hatfiled and entire Mdc Alliance family we have lost a friend,brother,father unshakened loyal cadre.May his soul rest in peace,” MDC Alliance Hatfield Youth Assembly posted on Facebook.

MDC Alliance Masvingo Provincial spokesperson Lee Mahachi described Boko as a dedicated and fearless party member.

Tinashe Sambiri|President Nelson Chamisa has assured the nation that he will not abandon the people’s struggle.

In his letter to the nation, President Chamisa points out that the people of Zimbabwe know the difference between genuine opposition and pretenders.

In the letter, President Chamisa also reveals how he was mentored by MDC founding President and former Prime Minister, Right Honourable Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.

See part of President Chamisa’s letter below:

Fellow Zimbabweans,
When we began this journey 22 years ago, I was a young college student alongside my contemporaries. I was part of a generation of college students that joined veteran trade unionists, powerful women in the women’s movement, war veterans, civic and church leaders, among others, who believed that the way Zimbabwe was being governed needed serious transformation.

We believed that the system over which ZANU PF presided was only serving a minority of elites who occupied vantage positions within and around the state, while most Zimbabweans were condemned to suffering. It was plain that the future was bleak unless progressive Zimbabweans intervened to change the course. That is why we championed the message of change.

Looking back those days seem like a long time ago. A new generation has emerged since that time. Babies born in 1999 are now adults. They have lived their formative years in very difficult circumstances. Times were different back in 1999, but I remember the energy and passion of every cadre as if it were yesterday. The idea that was sown in our hearts and minds has no expiry date.

To be sure, the journey has been gruelling. But I was never under any illusion that it would be easy. We have lost thousands of cadres along the way, including our founding father, Morgan Tsvangirai who departed in February 2018. I was privileged to have a special relationship with him and from him, I learned a lot under his leadership and guidance. The most painful losses have been those suffered at the hands of the state, through violence. We cannot betray the memory of these dearly departed cadres. We must honour their dreams and aspirations for a better Zimbabwe, otherwise, they would have died in vain. This is why I have never veered from the course that was set in 1999.

I look back and realize that I have spent more than half of my life chasing the vision that was designed and shaped by those courageous men and women who gathered in 1999 to form the Movement for Democratic Change. The greatness of the idea has not diminished with time, no. It has been strengthened. Those men and women understood that the fundamental weaknesses at the heart of government needed not only new leaders but also a fresh set of ideas and ways of doing things. We remain committed to that vision.

One of the things that please me a lot is seeing a younger generation coming up and carrying the torch in politics. This is how strong institutions grow and I want to pay special tribute to the young people of Zimbabwe whose political consciousness is growing.

The journey has had seminal moments, some positive, and others negative. Both types have been important learning experiences. Some of these challenges have been read as representing existential threats to the organization, but we overcame them. We survived the loss of our founding father by going on to amass the largest electoral votes in the history of the opposition and had we not been cheated; we would have prevailed.

It is a testament to the strength of the idea, the abiding loyalty of the people to the cause, and the abundance of their political wisdom that the party has withstood severe tests. Even when we have been written off by our doubters, we have shown our mettle and surprised them, disappointing rivals along the way.

Many of you have seen what has happened in the past year. Our rivals have used multiple tricks in the dictators’ handbook, in a calculated and relentless effort to undermine our party. Using apparatuses of the state, and under the cover of what has been described as lawfare, they have robbed us of our legislators, councillors, and funds that were due to us under the law. In a direct subversion of democracy, they have even catapulted into Parliament undeserving individuals whom you as voters rejected in the last election. The assault upon democracy has been vicious, but we are undaunted.

As a party, we know that the purpose of these strategies is not just to undermine us, but it is also intended to obliterate us from the political landscape. ZANU PF has never been comfortable with strong opposition. They aim to build an opposition that they control. This is the sole purpose of the project that they have moulded with our erstwhile colleagues. These were deliberate acts of provocation, designed to lure us into conduct that would justify violent repression during the pandemic. We have remained calm and resolute, not because we are unable to respond, but because we know the game they are playing. We also remain true to our founding principle: we are committed to achieving change through peaceful and non-violent means.

We have remained composed because we are confident that progressive fellow Zimbabweans are solidly behind us. We know this because of all the love, support, and encouragement that they have shown us during these testing times. We trust the gift of discernment that is given to Zimbabweans, which enables them to distinguish between right and wrong. They can tell when a bully is abusing power and they know how to punish this abusive behaviour, which punishment will be exacted through the ballot box.

Significantly, Zimbabweans can tell the difference between genuine opposition that is challenging repression and enablers who are aiding and abetting repression. This is not the first time that the people of Zimbabwe have encountered this situation. During the last days of colonialism, the Smith regime tried to hoodwink people by promoting people like Bishop Abel Muzorewa, ahead of the true nationalists who were fighting repression.

Smith preferred the likes of Muzorewa because they were lackeys who would do his bidding while Muzorewa and others were eager to join the gravy train to serve their interests…

By A Correspondent | The Zengeza MP Job Sikhala has been arrested.

The development comes two days after the MP had predicted the police plot to imprison him over sharing the video of a police officer who killed a child in Second Street, Harare last Monday.

SIKHALA ARRESTED https://t.co/TiNT1GXqSd

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) January 9, 2021

More to follow

WATCH VIDEO- #HopewellChinono arrives at Harare Magistrates Court (vid- credit @blessedmhlanga) pic.twitter.com/6vCkDzDVfI

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) January 9, 2021