A third suspect linked to the murder of seven-year-old Murehwa boy Tapiwa Makore (Junior) in September was arrested in Harare over the weekend and appeared in court yesterday.
Moud Hunidzarira (42) was arrested in Budiriro following a tip-off by the public and appeared before a Murehwa magistrate yesterday and was remanded in custody.
It is alleged that when the murder occurred, Hunidzarira was in Murehwa and a few days later was seen by some neighbours in Harare, cleaning an item that had blood.
Eventually the neighbours tipped-off the police, leading to her arrest over the weekend.
National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, yesterday confirmed the arrest and said investigations were still in progress.
“The ZRP has arrested a third suspect in connection with the death of Tapiwa Makore. The suspect, Moud Hunidzarira (42), has since appeared in court,” he said.
“She was arrested after a tip-off. She was seen cleaning an item with blood, believed to be that of the late Tapiwa Makore in Budiriro, and this culminated in her arrest. We are still carrying out investigations.”
Last month, Tapiwa Makore (Senior) aged 57, the other suspect linked to the murder in the company of his herdsman Tafadzwa Shamba was arrested.
He appeared in court and was remanded in custody. Makore is the older brother to the murdered boy’s father.
When he appeared before magistrate Ms Chiedza Gatsi at Murehwa Magistrates Court facing murder charges, prosecutor Ms Paidamoyo Gutu told the court that on September 17 at around midday, Shamba lured the boy from his family garden to the home of Makore (senior), detaining him in the dining room, after giving him food.
It is further alleged that Makore joined other villagers to search for the boy till midnight and around an hour later he and Shamba carried the boy to a secluded area where Makore used a knife to cut off the deceased’s head.
PERMANENT Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana told stakeholders in the media industry that the country is in the right direction in opening up the media space.
Addressing the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) stakeholders annual conference in Harare yesterday, Mr Mangwana said a culture shift is underway to match the New Dispensation’s thrust towards media pluralism.
“The New Dispensation under President Mnangagwa is a beautiful thing. Starting at the beginning of the Second Republic when President Mnangagwa rolled out a session that happens every Tuesday after every Cabinet meeting where the public is informed of what has been discussed, I don’t have a country other than Zimbabwe which has such an arrangement,” he said.
Since the dawn of the Second Republic, media freedoms have flourished, contentious laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) being repealed while the Government is set to licence new players in the broadcasting industry.
“AIPPA was repealed, it is not partially gone, it’s gone, journalism is no longer being criminalised, but I have to admit that there are certain things that are happening that are not supposed to happen in the practice of journalism,” Mr Mangwana said.
He said journalists played a crucial role in the dissemination of information during the lockdown period and thus helped the Government curb the spread of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, a global pandemic that Zimbabwe has been able to tackle successfully more than most countries in the West.
“We can change legislation, we can change everything, but culture takes more time to change. I would love to come to a time when we can snap our fingers and it goes away, but it does not work like that because culture is embedded.
“It will take a lot of time (and) it will take a lot of information building for that to happen, but we are heading in the right direction. You can only make progress if your direction is correct.”
Mr Mangwana called upon media practitioners to be professional when dealing with law enforcement agents and not to be agent provocateurs.
“Let’s work together, let us be professional, let us give people the right of reply. From my point as the Ministry we will walk with you, we will defend our profession”.
Organisations that form MAZ include the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ), Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum (Zinef), Gender and Media Connect (GMC), Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS), the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ), the Media Centre and African Community Publishing Development Trust (ACPDT).
MIDLANDS Provincial Affairs Minister and provincial Covid-19 taskforce chairperson Senator Larry Mavima has gone into self-isolation after testing positive for Covid-19 and is using his infection to remind everyone that the disease exists and that they cannot relax the basic rules of masking, social distancing and sanitising.
Sen Mavima confirmed yesterday he was the latest high-profile person to be infected, but was in a stable condition while isolated at home.
“I can confirm that I have tested positive for Covid-19 and I am in isolation at home, but I would like to quickly inform the entire province and the nation at large that I am not in danger,” he said.
“I am grateful to a wonderful team of local specialist doctors who have been monitoring my situation and hope this is the type of commitment and care given to all victims of the pandemic.”
Sen Mavima said he was asymptomatic.
“I do not have any other symptoms and am actually working from home. I am, however, banking on your prayers and hoping to be back at work even stronger after the mandatory days in isolation,” said Sen Mavima, who sounded to be in very high spirits.
He said Covid-19 has no boundaries and urged people to observe WHO recommended guidelines in the fight against the pandemic.
“The pandemic is real and there is no stigma. What is needed is to follow the recommended safety rules like putting on a mask when in public place, maintaining social distancing and following the doctor’s instructions. I have been told to drink a lot of water and fluids,” he said.
Sen Mavima said the fight against the spread of Covid-19 was still on and urged members of the public not to relax.
“The fight is still on, we should not relax and forget to follow the laid down health and safety precautions,” he said.
He said his contacts, including aides and family members, were also in isolation to avoid the spread of the disease.
The Midlands province have so-far recorded nine Covid-19 related deaths and over 600 infections with the recovery rate pegged at 95 percent.
Tongai Matutu being received into ZANU PF by President Emmerson and his two deputies.
President Mnangagwa yesterday welcomed former MDC-T Masvingo Urban legislator Tongai Matutu to Zanu PF at State House, with the former MP decrying lost time in the political wilderness.
Matutu was welcomed by President Mnangagwa and the two Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, with the President saying he felt elated in welcoming Matutu back “home”.
“He has come to see us and he would like to come back to his original party. We welcome him back home,” said President Mnangagwa.
Briefing journalists after meeting the Presidium, Matutu, a lawyer and former Deputy Minister of Youth during the inclusive Government, described his decision to join Zanu PF as a national calling.
“I am taking this decision quite consciously of what I am doing. Since I left Parliament, I have never slept on an empty stomach or begged anyone to give me food or money for school fees.
“I am making this decision not out of an empty stomach, but out of a national calling. I am by myself, I am actually proud of what I have achieved after I left Parliament,” said Matutu.
The former MP said his coming to Zanu PF could be a harbinger of more MDC officials who would like to join Zanu PF from the ever squabbling opposition.
“At this point in time I am speaking on behalf of myself, but I know there are so many other people who are waiting on the fence.
“Most of the MDC members are biblical lepers caught between a rock and hard place on whether to remain there because ‘we are called MDCs by the other party or if we go there we might be ill-treated on account of us being political activists’.
“I would like to believe that if a sign or signal is given that all is well and they are welcome, I can tell you that by 2023 there will be an amazing number of people who will follow their conscience,” said Matutu.
Matutu said the MDC had lost its purpose as an opposition party and was now a movement in disarray because of constant bickering.
“I believe that there is very little that I can say that is not in the public domain, especially in my former party in its various forms, whether its MDC-T or you call it MDC-Alliance.
“I have taken this decision because I have done a very serious introspection — a reflection of where we are coming from and where we are going and also having considered the amount of time we have lost as a nation and what we want to achieve as a people and especially as politicians.
“I believe for the party (MDC) it has really lost the real purpose of its existence to exercise oversight over the ruling party. It is a party that has plunged into confusion and disarray as far as it has placed the nation into an election mode,” said Matutu.
During his stint as a legislator, he was a member of Parliament’s top decision making body, the Standing Rules and Orders Committee, chairing the Legal and Procedure sub-committee.
In a statement last night, ZANU PF Acting Secretary for Information and Publicity Patrick Chinamasa said the revolutionary party welcomes Matutuwith “joy and in the spirit of comradeship”.
“His decision is a clear indication that ZANU PF is the party of the future with the interests of Zimbabweans at heart,” he said.
In line with party procedure, Matutu will undergo the requisite induction with the Herbert Chitepo School of ideology so that he appreciates national interest, party ideology and value systems.
Arrested Henrietta Rushwaya walking into court with police detectives.
Henrietta Rushwaya, believed to be related to the president, is a prominent figure in the ruling Zanu-PF party and head of the miners’ federation.
Zimbabwe’s first lady and her son have been named as accomplices in a gold smuggling ring along with a woman found to have 14 gold bars in her handbag as she boarded a flight to Dubai.
Auxillia Mnangagwa, 57, and Collins Mnangagwa, 33, were implicated after the arrest of Henrietta Rushwaya, who tried to pass through an airport scanner last Monday with gold worth £280,000.
Ms Rushwaya’s arrest threatens to lift the lid on an elite trafficking cartel that is estimated to cost the bankrupt state millions of pounds every month.
In an interview with police, a colleague who was also held for attempting to interfere in the arrest, claimed that Ms Rushwaya was taking the 6kg haul to the United Arab Emirates on behalf of President Mnangagwa’s wife and son.
Gift Karanda, 44, told detectives that Ms Rushwaya was a courier for Mrs Mnangagwa and her son, a soldier turned businessman.
Ms Rushwaya, 53, believed to be related to the president, is a prominent figure in the ruling Zanu-PF party and head of the miners’ federation.
Published police documents claim that Mr Karanda said the seized gold “belonged to the first lady and Collins, who was supposed to have brought it but had requested Rushwaya to transport it on his behalf”.
In July, the president’s son was linked to a £45 million scandal over coronavirus facemasks and test kits that led to the sacking and arrest of Obadiah Moyo, the health minister. He denied any wrongdoing.
Hopewell Chin’ono, 49, the journalist who helped to expose the corruption, was arrested and held in brutal conditions in prison for five weeks.
Mrs Mnangagwa, the president’s second wife, wrote on Facebook that she and her son had been “falsely implicated . . . and had no dealings nor involvement with Ms Henrietta Rushwaya of any illegal kind”. She added: “I do not engage in illegal, narrow-minded pursuits like gold smuggling.”
Seven people have been arrested in connection with the case, including Stephen Chenjerai Tserayi, one of the president’s intelligence officers, and two senior police officers.
State prosecutors withdrew an initial offer of bail for Ms Rushwaya after evidence of a wider smuggling ring emerged.
She had said that she was flying the gold to Dubai on behalf of a licensed Pakistani dealer but could produce none of the required export papers.
Ms Rushwaya denies the charges, which include offering a $5,000 bribe to the airport officer who found the gold. Court documents said that CCTV cameras were switched off while she passed through security. A full bail hearing begins today.
Mrs Mnangagwa began her career as a secretary in the prime minister’s office before being trained as a spy. She has been married to Mr Mnangagwa, 77, for 34 years and they have three children.
The ZANU PF controlled Zimbabwe Republic Police has moved in to arrest President Nelson Chamisa’s mayor for Chitungwiza for blocking demolition of houses in his town.
According to Chitungwiza Residents Trust (CHITREST), Chitungwiza Mayor Lovemore Maiko has been arrested for directing Council to stop Demolition of alleged illegal Houses and convening special Council meeting without following proper procedures.
A third suspect linked to the murder of seven-year-old Murehwa boy Tapiwa Makore (Junior) in September was arrested in Harare over the weekend and appeared in court yesterday.
Moud Hunidzarira (42) was arrested in Budiriro following a tip-off by the public and appeared before a Murehwa magistrate yesterday and was remanded in custody.
It is alleged that when the murder occurred, Hunidzarira was in Murehwa and a few days later was seen by some neighbours in Harare, cleaning an item that had blood.
Eventually the neighbours tipped-off the police, leading to her arrest over the weekend.
National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, yesterday confirmed the arrest and said investigations were still in progress.
“The ZRP has arrested a third suspect in connection with the death of Tapiwa Makore. The suspect, Moud Hunidzarira (42), has since appeared in court,” he said.
“She was arrested after a tip-off. She was seen cleaning an item with blood, believed to be that of the late Tapiwa Makore in Budiriro, and this culminated in her arrest. We are still carrying out investigations.”
Last month, Tapiwa Makore (Senior) aged 57, the other suspect linked to the murder in the company of his herdsman Tafadzwa Shamba was arrested.
He appeared in court and was remanded in custody. Makore is the older brother to the murdered boy’s father.
When he appeared before magistrate Ms Chiedza Gatsi at Murehwa Magistrates Court facing murder charges, prosecutor Ms Paidamoyo Gutu told the court that on September 17 at around midday, Shamba lured the boy from his family garden to the home of Makore (senior), detaining him in the dining room, after giving him food.
It is further alleged that Makore joined other villagers to search for the boy till midnight and around an hour later he and Shamba carried the boy to a secluded area where Makore used a knife to cut off the deceased’s head.-The Herald
Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Senator Larry Mavima has gone into self-isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Mavima told The Herald in a telephone interview from his home this Monday that he does not have the symptoms of the virus. He said:
I can confirm that I have tested positive to Covid-19 and am self-isolating at home. I would like to quickly inform the entire province and the nation at large that I am not in any immediate danger. I am grateful to a wonderful team of local specialist doctors who have been monitoring my situation. I don’t have any other symptoms.
I am in isolation but in high spirits for there is no stigma to this pandemic as everyone is at risk of contracting it. I am also banking on prayers from all corners.
He joins a growing list of senior government officials and political elites to contract the novel virus. Some of them including the former minister of Agriculture, Perrance Shiri have since died.
Meanwhile, coronavirus cases in the country have been going down in the most recent weeks prompting the government to take steps towards easing lockdown restrictions.-The Herald
Below are the UEFA Champions League Group stage matches for Matchday 3 of 6 scheduled for this week:
Shakhtar Donetsk v Mönchengladbach 1955Lokomotiv Moscow V Atlético Madrid 1955RB Salzburg V Bayern 2200Real Madrid V Inter Milan 2200Man City V Olympiacos 2200Porto v Marseille 2200Atalanta v Liverpool 2200Midtjylland V Ajax 2200Instanbul Başakşehir v Man United Wed 4/11 – 19:55Zenit v Lazio Wed 4/11 – 19:55Barcelona v Dynamo Kyiv Wed 4/11 – 22:00Ferencváros V Juventus Wed 4/11 – 22:00Club Brugge v Dortmund Wed, 4/11 – 22:00Sevilla v Krasnodar Wed, 4/11 – 22:00Chelsea v Rennes Wed, 4/11 – 22:00RB Leipzig v PSG Wed, 4/11 – 22:00- UEFA
The Director-General of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus late Sunday announced that he was going into self-isolation after his contact had tested positive for coronavirus.
Ghebreyesus wrote on Twitter saying he was “well and without symptoms” adding that he will, however, go into self-quarantine in “coming days, in line with WHO protocols, and work from home.”
Following the report about the WHO chief going into quarantine, reports flooded social media claiming that Ghebreyesus had contracted the virus.
The U.N. health agency had to write this Monday dispelling misinformation about Tedros’ self-isolation, writing on Twitter that “contrary to some incorrect reports,” he has not tested positive himself.
It is not known who among Ghebreyesus’ contacts had been infected.
The John Hopkins University says over 46.6 million people have so far been infected by the novel virus while over 1.2 million fatalities linked to the virus have been recorded since the outbreak of the pandemic in December 2019 in China
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Uganda’s veteran president Yoweri Museveni warned that anyone breaking the peace would regret their actions as he formally started his bid for another term in office on Monday.
The 76-year-old, who is Africa’s third-longest ruling head of state, is due to face Bobi Wine, a pop star turned opposition politician, in a February vote.
“I am hearing … some people want to disturb our peace. Whoever tries will regret (it),” the former guerrilla leader said after the Electoral Commission accepted his nomination papers.
“For us we do not joke, we fought to bring peace,” he told reporters in comments broadcast on television.
Supporters have praised Museveni for bringing in investment and bolstering the economy while opponents have accused him of crushing dissent and presiding over widespread graft – charges that he has repeatedly dismissed.
Lawmakers from his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party voted to change the constitution in 2017, deleting a 75-year age cap on presidents that would have barred him from seeking re-election.
Officially he will be running for his fifth term in office – though he ruled for nine years without facing a vote after coming to power in 1986 following a guerrilla war.
Bobi Wine, Museveni’s 38-year-old main challenger, is due to be named as the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party’s presidential candidate on Tuesday.
The musician, who put out a song in the early days of the pandemic encouraging people to wash their hands, has built up a following among Uganda’s younger voters – around 75% of the population is below 30.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, said dozens of police and soldiers stormed his party’s offices in Kamwokya, a suburb of the capital Kampala, in October.
Police and the military have repeatedly dispersed his rallies. Supporters have been using his distinctive red beret as their symbol, but the government last year classified the item as military garb and banned its civilian use.-
Just a day before the release of Terrence Manjengwa, who spend more than 60 days in prison before trial, two other young activists were caged at Harare Remand Prison.
The two, Prince Gora and Young Matate are student leaders and their only crime is demanding answers from Impala Car Rental on why the company aided in abduction of fellow student, Tawanda Muchehiwa.
This is not the first time that Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime has raised a middle finger on the students community for demanding a safe learning environment.
ZINASU President Takudzwa Ngadziore, had to spend more than a month in prison for simply demanding a safe environment where students study without fear of abductions from the regime.
A regime that do not respect students certainly has no respect for academic freedoms and such a regime is doomed!
Universities and tertiary institutions are meant to be a universitas when knew horizons of knowledge are shared and at the center of that is a student.
What this entails is that students’ sphere of influence like homes must be safe from evils like abductions if the country is to reap benefits from academics.
Where abductions and arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of students reigns supreme, disaster looms.
Mnangagwa’s regime has since turned Harare Remand Prison and Chikurubi Maximum Prison into concentration camps for student leaders and political activists.
For Mnangagwa, the rightful place of students is filthy prisons and not university campuses!
It time for the students community and the society at large to demand for an end to persecution by prosecution of students.
If students and youths of the past successfully challenged the evil colonial system in the 1970s, surely this generation can equally do the same against abductions, arbitrary arrests and sentence without trial.
Gora and Matate deserve freedom.
#FreeYoungAndPrince!
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDCAllianceYouthAssemblyNationalSpokesperson
BUHERA – Members of a Buhera family recently set eight vicious dogs on cops who had come to make an arrest.
They then stripped one of the officers naked before forcing him to leave without his clothes and two cellphones. They also severely assaulted the officers with knobkerries.
Constable Fungai Chiminya and Obert Kambewu were assaulted at Hwechuma Village under Chief Nyashanu in Buhera at around 9pm on October 22, 2020.
Two members of the family, Most Hwechuma (20) and Morris Chuma (31) have since been arrested and Most was sentenced to two years in jail by Murambinda magistrate Tapiwa Kuhudzai after being convicted for assaulting police officers.
He was sentenced on Tuesday while Morris who appeared in court on Wednesday is yet to hear his verdict. The two cops and had come to arrest Morris who was wanted on a rape case. Six months of Most’s charges were suspended for five years. Three other accused members of the family are still at large.
Witness Hamudi representing the State said the two cops Chiminya and Kambewu went to Hwechuma Village to arrest Morris wanted in connection with a rape case.
Upon arrival the cops introduced themselves to Morris and tried to apprehend him but he overpowered them and called family members to help him.
Morris, Most and others who are on the run attacked the two cops with stones thereby forcing them to run away. Morris then unleashed eight dogs on cops.
Morris caught up with Kambewu and stripped him of all his clothes down to the underwear.
Hetook away the clothes and two cellphones and let him go naked.
Kambewu sustained bruises on the back, swollen legs and wounds on the legs as a result of dog bites and was having difficulties in walking.
Minya managed to escape and seek refuge in a kitchen at Diana Hwechuma’s homestead.
A report was made to ZRP Murambinda who then attended the scene.
Kambewu’s clothes were recovered dumped at Diana Hwechuma’s homestead.
The two cell phones were recovered from Morris’ bedroom hidden under the blankets.
Two knobkerries which were used to commit the crime were also recovered from the same room.
Morris was arrested on October 28 after a raid by the Police. Source :Masvingo Mirror
Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance has intensified efforts to protect fundamental constitutional rights.
The party has also implored democratic forces to resist attempts by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa to muzzle alternative voices.
Read statement below:
02 NOVEMBER 2020
MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA DISTRICT LAMBASTS THE RECENTLY ACCLAIMED ZANUPF ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS LAW AS A DESPERATE MECHANISM OF DETERRENCE TO SOCIAL DEMOCRATS.
Mdc Alliance Namibia is perturbed by the fact that the Zanupf government continues to trample on the basic fundamental rights of the Zimbabwean citizenry.
Irrespective of the clearly visible provisions of Section 59 of the Constitution of the Motherland which states that, “Every person has the right to demonstrate and present petitions but these rights must be exercised peacefully”.
This is in line with diverse International Human Rights Instruments , including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As social democrats, we appeal to the illegitimate Zanupf government to respect its own constitution and international human rights instruments to which our beloved country is a signatory.
It was mesmerising to witness the regime’s perpetual suffocation of constitutional democracy when the Zimbabwe cabinet recently applauded proposed statute that would make it a crime for activists to make “spurious claims” of human rights violations, hold anti-government protests that could draw international attention or speak with foreign governments empty of state endorsement. The undemocratic development was backed by Monica Mutsvangwa who said President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s cabinet has appreciated the prospective amendments to the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act to criminalise the unauthorised communication or negotiation by denationalised citizens with foreign governments.
Although these proposed alterations to the law are expected to be backed by Zimbabwe’s August House which is monopolised by Mnangagwa’s ruling Zanupf party, Mdc Alliance Namibia goes on to solicit absolute justice in Zimbabwe. We want to encourage the disillusioned despotic regime to tolerate divergent views and expressions fundamental in any constitutional democracy, but in Zimbabwe, where we have no protections, it is vital. This foolish and selfish law has been criticised by both domestic and international Lawyers as well as social democrats in the vicinity.
As a district, we are astonished by Zanupf’s shift from hard-line policy to hard-line law which is completely worrisome in a purported ‘new dispensation’ after the 17 November Coup.
Moreso, while such hard-line and suicidal policies on political opposition are not novel in monocracy, the rigorousness and diameter of the law to enforce such a detrimental policy remains a mammoth task.
Brennan said: it would be a parody of democracy to confer on the people a power to choose their Parliament but to deny the freedom of public discussion from which the people derive their political judgements. In light of this postulation, Mdc Alliance Namibia supposes that the autocratic regime must halt controlling or schooling us on how hungry citizens should express serious national issues since it can greatly inoculate the strength of their political message, if not extinguish its revolutionary impact altogether.
Moreover, as genuine revolutionaries, we are clear that this law raises adverse questions about the contemporary attitudes and commitment to representative and responsible government in the country. Zanupf must be cognisant of the fact that in a society awash with national consciousness, independent individuals must embrace varying-perhaps sensational -avenues and measures to publicise nonconformity and remonstrance to ill-advised government policies. As an “alternative government”, Mdc Alliance is aware of the fact that, although the government has the obligation to regulate actions that undermine the public interest, such austerity legal measures should be tailored and balanced against the constitutional duty to ensure freedom of political expression in the Motherland.
Furthermore, the unceremonious inception of the Zanupf law has just generated fear in social democrats because it gives room to the captured securocrats to escalate the levels of human slaughter or massacre by overambitious Zanupf Satanists. Zimbabwe has seen multiple opposition activists being exterminated and desensitised by police with amnesty.
The police, army and state agencies must refrain from violence , including the exploitation of live ammunition against unarmed innocent civilians. In a democratic dispensation , we urge the Zimbabwe Republic Police , like any other professional police force , to guide and assist the protesters as they peacefully march through the streets anywhere in the country.
The enactment of this apartheid and repressive law is simply meant to entrench authoritarianism.
We shall continue to demand justice and our basic universal freedoms enshrined in the constitution. We advocate for the alignment of the 2013 Constitution before it is amended.
Social democrats have the conviction that it is alignment that comes first before any transformation is done. It is imperative to to remove unconstitutional jargon in our beloved constitution in the country.
In conclusion, Zanupf must ALIGN the 2013 Constitution instead of AMENDING it.
We shall continue to protest and petition the government against arbitrary arrests, abductions, torture and high levels of murder to opposition activists as stipulated in Section 59 of the constitution of Zimbabwe. We are not deterred by Zanupf shenanigans driven by greed and massive looting!
For medicines to work safely, it’s vital to have strong systems in place to report any undesired side effects or “adverse drug reactions“.
The most important aspect of drug safety monitoring is reliable, real-time information. Health-care professionals (physicians, pharmacists, nurses, dentists) are best placed to report suspected adverse reactions as part of patient care. Patients also have a critical role in getting the right information to authorities and should refer to their medical practitioner as soon as they detect unwanted symptoms or reactions. Both health professionals and patients should report these even if they are doubtful about the precise relationship between the given drug and the reaction.
Most adverse reactions are preventable
Many undesired drug reactions may be due to factors independent of the medicine. For example:
incorrect diagnosis of the patient’s medical condition;prescription of an inappropriate drug or incorrect dosage of the appropriate drug;an undetected medical, genetic or allergic condition that may cause a patient reaction;self-medication with prescription medicines;not following instructions for taking the medication;interactions with other drugs (including traditional medicines) and certain foods.
But s risks may also occur because a medicine’s composition and ingredients do not meet required standards, causing them to be ineffective and even hazardous; or because the medicine is counterfeit, with no active ingredients or inappropriate ingredients.
Assessing medicines before and after they reach patients
Before medicines or vaccines are made widely available in countries, they are rigorously tested in patient and healthy volunteers respectively to discover how well they work for a defined disease and how safe they are. But to get a comprehensive picture of a product’s safety, it is important to keep watching how it works once it is widely used in a population.
This requires careful patient monitoring and further scientific data collection by organized local, national and international agencies.
Drug safety during the COVID-19 pandemic
International drug safety monitoring is particularly important during global epidemics such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, and even more so when there are no proven vaccines or medicines for the disease. As new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments become available, health-care professionals and patients will need to be actively engaged in monitoring the effects of these novel products and reporting any potential adverse reaction. By analyzing reported reactions, national medicines authorities can take the necessary measures for safer use of the drugs, scientists can assess the data and, if needed, international networks can be activated to address the problem.
WHO’s role in making medicines safer
WHO promotes global drug safety through its Programme for International Drug Monitoring, which supports countries to develop sound pharmacovigilance policies, organizes hands-on training and workshops, and establishes networks for information sharing.
An important role of the programme is to strengthen national reporting systems and their contribution to VigiBase, the global WHO database for adverse drug reactions, managed by Uppsala Monitoring Centre in Sweden, and to identify possible links between the use of a drug and adverse reactions. When signals of drug safety problems emerge through the database or other sources, WHO and Uppsala Monitoring Centre share new information on serious adverse reactions with all WHO Member States.
A recent key WHO development is the introduction of a mobile application called “Med Safety”, jointly launched in nine countries* with Uppsala Monitoring Centre and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The app enables health-care professionals and patients to report suspected adverse reactions directly to the national authorities’ data base. WHO is preparing to roll out the app in more countries once a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.
Source: World Health Organization
Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
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Farai Dziva|President Nelson Chamisa has denounced the persecution of church leaders by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
President Chamisa said the church should be allowed to play a leading role in praying for the nation without fear of being victimized.
President Chamisa made the remarks at the funeral service for the late MDC Alliance National Executive member, Hon Fani Chirisa at the St Peter’s Anglican Church in Mabelreign, Harare on Sunday.
He described Hon Chirisa as a great unifier.
“We have lost a great unifier and dedicated party cadre. We will remember her noble deeds forever,” said President Chamisa.
“Let me take this opportunity to encourage church leaders to pray for the nation.Church leaders should not be persecuted for doing their work – that is unacceptable.Let the church leaders play a leading role in praying for politicians and the nation,” added President Chamisa.
Farai Dziva|President Nelson Chamisa has denounced the persecution of church leaders by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
President Chamisa said the church should be allowed to play a leading role in praying for the nation without fear of being victimized.
President Chamisa made the remarks at the funeral service for the late MDC Alliance National Executive member, Hon Fani Chirisa at the St Peter’s Anglican Church in Mabelreign, Harare on Sunday.
He described Hon Chirisa as a great unifier.
“We have lost a great unifier and dedicated party cadre. We will remember her noble deeds forever,” said President Chamisa.
“Let me take this opportunity to encourage church leaders to pray for the nation.Church leaders should not be persecuted for doing their work – that is unacceptable.Let the church leaders play a leading role in praying for politicians and the nation,” added President Chamisa.
Own Correspondent| Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa has promulgated Statutory Instrument 261 which stipulates the benefits to be enjoyed by former first ladies.
Analysts argue Mr Mnangagwa is keen to “appease” former First Lady Grace Mugabe following the fallout with his long time boss Robert Mugabe.
The benefits are as follows:
such security personnel as may be determined by the President but not less than two, and to be increased by such number as may be determined by the President whenever, and for such period, as the need arisesone driverone Private Secretaryone aide-de-camp officer or personal assistantoffice accommodation as may be determined by the President
a landline telephone and a cell phoneone computersuch other office facilities, equipment and materials as may be determined by the President
suitable state residential accommodationone domestic employee
one gardener one cook and one waiter
An allowance covering medical contributions of the spouse of the former President
a diplomatic passport
business class air and rail private travel within Zimbabwe, if available up to a maximum of two trips per annum
business class international air private travel up to a maximum of two trips per annumone sedan (Mercedes Benz E300 Series) or one four-wheel-drive station wagon or an equivalent or similar class of motor vehicleone pick-up van such number of motor vehicles as may be determined by the President must be put at the disposal of the security personnel and other staff serving the spouse of a former President
fuel as may be determined by the President from time to time
maintenance of vehicles referred to in paragraph 6(a)which cost of maintenance shall be borne by the Government replacement vehicles every five years
an entertainment allowance as determined by the President from time to timetelephone expenses in respect of the office and official residence of the spouse of the former President
water and electricity exemption in respect of the office and official residence of the former spouse of a former President…
A clinic under Chief Sai in Gokwe South District, Midlands Province, was destroyed by fire on Wednesday living more than 30 000 families stranded.
Reports suggest that a gas leak from a refrigerator at Sai Clinic triggered the inferno which consumed drugs, medical equipment and property worth thousands of dollars.
The villagers are now forced to walk over 100km to the nearest clinic in the hot and dry district.
The incident was confirmed by the Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi. He said:
Police are investigating a fire incident which occurred at Sai Clinic on 28 October.
It is said the fire broke out in the dispensary and spread to other rooms, destroying various properties including drugs.
No one was injured and the cause of the fire is yet to be established.
Meanwhile, Gokwe Civil Protection Unit head Netsai Mushauri said they have dispatched a team to ascertain what really happened and how they can assist.-ZTN
Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga was arrested during an anti-corruption protest
The national South Africa writers association has called on Zimbabwe authorities to stop the harassment of authors, journalists and activists after the arrest of novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga and journalist Hopewell Chin’ono in the past months.
The National Writers Association of South Africa (NWASA) in a statement condemned the arrest of awarding winning author Dangarembga and journalist Chin’ono as well as politician Jacob Ngarivhume for their call against corruption in government.
“The National Writers Association of South Africa notes with deep concern the repression meted out to Tsitsi Dangarembga, including imprisonment, unjust prosecution and continuing repression,” Lebogang Lance Nawa, the secretary general of NWASA said in a statement.
“We condemn this, even as we condemn the attempt to stifle the voices of writers such as Hopewell Chin’ono, activists such as Jacob Ngarivhume and dozens of other ordinary Zimbabweans who are exercising their rights of free speech.”
Chin’ono and Ngarivhume were arrested on charges of inciting public violence and they spent over a month in prison before being freed on bail.
Dangarembga, a nominee for this year’s Booker Prize was arrested and detained for a day for carrying placards in her neighborhood calling for reforms in government.
NWASA applauded Dangarembga “for her stand on human rights, transparency, for accountability and for proper oversight of government practices in relation to its Covid-19 response.”
“This detention of Dangarembga and others was a shameless attempt to avoid scrutiny and accountability. It signifies again the distance between the government of Zimbabwe and its people. We have watched with a sense of outrage the footage of Zimbabwean police beating its citizens,” Nawa said.
He urged the charges against Dangarembga, Chin’ono and other activists to be dropped.
“We are deeply concerned that country appears to be held together by violence and fear. In this context we stand with the people of Zimbabwe just as they stood with us during our fight against apartheid,” Nawa said.
“NWASA believes in Freedom of Expression as a core and fundamental principle. We demand that charges against Tsitsi Dangarembga be dropped. We make the same demands for all others who were jailed, imprisoned and charged for exercising their rights of free speech. We condemn the crackdown on the work of journalists who play a key role throughout the continent allowing the public to be informed of positive actions and rights violations, and to hold leaders and public servants accountable.”
NWASA also denounced Nigeria for using the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) for harassing, torturing, imprisoning innocent people and committing extra-judicial murders.
NWASA called for the full reform of the police system in Nigeria and the arrest and prosecution of SARS officers involved in the infringement of human rights.
“We add our voice to those speaking out against the continued police harassment, arrest, detention and torture of peaceful protesters against police brutality. These protesters are part of building and strengthening a culture of justice, human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and throughout the African continent,” Nawa said.
The writers association urged the South African government to act in condemning the latest repression in Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
Nawa said the South Africa government should consider “to give refuge and home to distressed cultural activists who flee persecution from their countries and seek safety and security within our borders.”
Is something wrong with the name ZANU PF? Is it cursed or its just a party of ruthless, shameless hard core criminals who are after making money?
Two days ago ZANU PF ward councillor invited his business friends to come and “loot” government sourced stock feed from Murowa business centre for resale in Zvishavane town.
The stock feed was sourced by the government and meant for the rural people whose cattle are succumbing to the obtaining drought.
This was a noble idea considering the importance of cattle to the rural folks but this greedy and unsympathetic councillor saw a big gap of making huge bucks.
The government sourced stock feed was retailing at 6 USD cash (no bond no swipe but hard cash USD). 6 USD is equivalent to 600 zimdollars which is a lot of money to the poor povo.
The ward Councillor who is based in Zvishavane town invited his business friends to come and buy this cheap stock feed and transport it back to Zvishavane for resale.
The very same stock feed is now being sold at 16 USD to the very same poor rural folks who were robbed by the stingy greedy and unsympathetic councillor.
Is this the ZANU PF way of doing things? Is this how ZANU PF Councillors cater for the electorate? Is the First Secretary of ZANU PF aware of the shenanigans?
The very same ward Councillor is asking for huge sums of money for drought relief grain and government sourced agricultural inputs. Surprisingly these huge sums of hard cash go un-receipted.
The Councillor’s committee is known for selling looted grain and agricultural inputs. This has been happening ever since this crook councillor came into office and we have complained a million times but it seems he is the law himself.
But one thing for certain, he is tarnishing and de-campaining ZANU PF. Surely its a shame when shameless people rob the very same poor people who voted for them.
POLICE Monday arrested Chitungwiza mayor Lovemore Maiko on criminal abuse of office charges.
Information ministry spokesperson Nick Mangwana confirmed the arrested Monday evening.
“Chitungwiza Mayor Lovemore Maiko has been arrested. He is being charged with abuse of office,” said Mangwana.
The arrest of Maiko follows the on-going police detentions of Harare councillors and senior council officials on charges of illegal selling the municipality’s and state land.
Among those arrested is the former Harare Herbert Gomba and housing director Addmore Nhekairo.
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has congratulated his Tanzanian counterpart John Magufuli for a landslide victory of more than 84 percent of the vote in last week’s election that secured him a second term.
Cde Magufuli’s main opponent, Tundu Lissu, earned 13 percent of the vote, according to the official count.
“Congratulations to (President) Magufuli on his re-election victory as the President of Tanzania. I know that through increased trade and cooperation between our two nations, both of our peoples will prosper”.
ZIMTA IS A PROFFESIONAL TEACHER TRADE UNION EXISTING TO SERVE TEACHERS
The first choice professional trade union for teachers in Zimbabwe, (ZIMTA), takes this opportunity to remind and reassure all professional teachers in Zimbabwe that the necessary groundwork and research needed for teachers to deal decisively with incapacitation is being done. Teachers will continue to be fully represented without fear or favour.
ZIMTA and its leadership thanks all of you who have been taking time to engage on issues of incapacitation and everyone who is taking part in the ongoing discussions about NJNC talks and scenarios and the choices available for teachers.
We hereby urge all of you professional teachers not to be disturbed by the ongoing side shows being put up by rival teacher unions and individuals who spend loads of precious time on social media discussing imaginary meetings, talks, discussions and situations taking place in ZIMTA. Obviously we as the leading professional teacher association in Zimbabwe do not expect much from these briefcase teachers unions, cum political parties whose main agenda is to drag ZIMTA’s professionalism into the mud.
As Bona –Fide members would know, OURS is a professional union, for professional teachers whose main occupation is teaching, not politics or gambling or smear campaigns.
Bona Fide Teachers would also be aware that there is absolutely nothing wrong with engaging the government of the day, with a view to explaining our situation and seeking for win –win scenarios rather than dwelling on adversarial campaigns that might not bring teachers out of their incapacitation dilemma.
ZIMTA is a legend in the game of trade unionism. Not only do we lead in terms of membership, but our ideas and strategies have kept teacher trade unionism alive for the past 80 years in Zimbabwe. We are still here and still leading.
Contrary to what you hear from projects such as Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe(ARTUZ) with an estimated 100 teachers in their data-base and PTUZ which has about 15 percent of TOTAL ZIMTA’s membership, ZIMTA is officially the leading trade union of choice, professionally delivering on teachers’ needs and welfare issues and practical labour matters.
We are aware of the all the hate speech campaigns, lies and misrepresentations about ZIMTA ‘s engagement with the State President, But we are not moved or irked by ARTUZ and Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ)’s machinations or other much insignificant rivals aspiring to get to the ZIMTA level of professionalism and skill, Contrary to their actions , ours is to encourage them to join us , so that we may capacitate them and work with them for the benefit of the Teachers, whom they purport to represent.
Finally, WE CALL on Teachers to remain FOCUSED, remain CALM. WE are here to Represent YOU.
ZIMTA is the Teachers, the Teachers are ZIMTA.
Solidarity Forever! ……ALUTA Continua………ZIMTA FOR LIFE
Ministers from the three African nations, Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia, engaged in week-long talks brokered by the African Union, the European Union and the World Bank.
Ethiopia views the mega-dam project as essential for its electrification and development
The week-long negotiations, being held via videoconference, started on Sunday and include water ministers from the three countries, as well as representatives from the African Union, the European Union and the World Bank.
The latest round of talks came three months after the suspension of dialogue between the African neighbours over the construction of the $4.6bn mega-dam by Ethiopia.
Previous three-way talks failed to reach an agreement on the filling and operation of the vast reservoir behind the 145-metre tall Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Egypt, which depends on the Nile for about 97 per cent of its irrigation and drinking water, sees the dam as an existential threat.
Sudan hopes the dam will help regulate flooding but has also warned that millions of lives would be at “great risk” if Ethiopia unilaterally fills the dam.
Ethiopia, on the other hand, views the project as essential for its electrification and development and insists that the flow of water downstream will not be affected.
“The three sides agreed to continue discussing the issue through a six-member team, including two representatives from each country,” Sudan’s water ministry said in a statement.
The team, it said, will put “a frame of reference” on the role of experts to facilitate the talks, and will submit its report to the water ministers from the three countries by Wednesday.
In July, Addis Ababa declared that it reached its first-year target of filling the mega-dam’s reservoir, which can hold 74 billion cubic metres (2,600 billion cubic feet) of water.
Last month, US President Trump appeared to suggest that Egypt may destroy the mega-dam, remarks that were seen by Ethiopia as inciting a “war”.
“It’s a very dangerous situation because Egypt is not going to be able to live that way… They’ll end up blowing up the dam,” said the US leader.
Egypt and Sudan, however, have long called for a political solution to the dispute, voicing rejection against any unilateral action by Ethiopia.
The Blue Nile, which rises in the Ethiopian highlands, meets the White Nile flowing from East Africa at the Sudanese capital Khartoum to form the River Nile, traditionally considered to be the world’s longest river.
The High Court will this week hear an application by Justice Erica Ndewere, who is seeking to block the setting up of a tribunal to look into her judicial conduct, pending the determination of the legality of the process adopted.
Justice Davison Foroma moved the hearing to Wednesday to allow President Mnangagwa and Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi to file their responses to the application today (Monday) before the parties’ counsel make oral arguments in chambers.
Law officers from the Attorney-General’s Civil Division sought the postponement for them to file opposing papers on behalf of President Mnangagwa and Minister Ziyambi.
Before granting the postponement, Justice Foroma requested that parties file heads of argument. He directed the Civil Division to file opposing papers by Monday and ordered that Justice Ndewere file her heads of argument by morning on Tuesday and all the respondents by 3pm on the same day.
Justice Ndewere is seeking the court’s intervention after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) made recommendations to the President to set up a tribunal to look into the question of whether or not she was fit to hold office after being reported for slipshod work and delayed judgments.
She is facing charges of conduct inconsistent with a judicial officer.
In her urgent application, Justice Ndewere claimed the misconduct allegations leveled against her were victimisation for refusing to comply with “unlawful orders”.
It is Justice Ndewere’s contention that Chief Justice Malaba brought about disciplinary proceedings against her without complying with the provisions of the Judicial Services Code of Ethics Regulations as read together with the Constitution.
She accused the JSC of prematurely advising the President to set up a tribunal to investigate her without first setting up a disciplinary committee comprising of three judges as per the standard disciplinary procedure for judges.
This, she argued, infringes upon her right to administrative justice, equality before the law and right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner.
Justice Ndewere said since the President was in the process of setting up a tribunal to investigate her, if this was not interdicted, her rights would be violated and her dignity impaired.
In addition, the setting up of a tribunal will result in her automatic suspension based on a fatally flawed process, she said.
Justice Ndewere’s suspension from the bench will be automatic by operation of law once the tribunal is put in place.
By A Correspondent- MDC Alliance vice-chairman and spokesperson of the 31st of July Movement, Job Sikhala has dismissed claims that he considered joining the MDC-T led by Thokozani Khupe.
Responding to a request for his comments on allegations made recently by MDC-T national spokesperson Khalipani Phugeni that he has warmed up to joining the judicially created party, Sikhala said:
If you are following what Khalipani Phugeni (MDC-T national spokesperson) said, then you are failing to read his intentions. He was setting me up for recall by claiming an individual in a struggle. Plus, I really don’t know that man. He thinks I care about being recalled. The power is theirs. They are free to use it as and when they want.
Our people look forward to some of us to continue driving the fight against Mnangagwa and his dictatorship, not these sideshows. I think it’s taking me and the people of Zimbabwe for granted. I am not a hater. I smile to everyone, but don’t spite my smile with false claims as it is in my nature.
I remain the vice-chairman of the MDC Alliance and the spokesperson of the broad citizens’ movement, the 31st of July Movement. What I despise is the Zanu PF regime and everything related to it.
I witnessed several splits in the MDC over years. They are no longer interesting adventures for me because they never advanced the goals of our liberation.
Our energy is expended on petty fights and in the same vein, destroys the foundation of our liberty and freedom.-Newsday
The US presidential campaign enters its final day Monday with a last-minute scramble for votes by Donald Trump and Joe Biden, drawing to a close an extraordinary race that has put a pandemic-stricken country on edge.
But while campaigning will halt and voters will have their say on Tuesday, many questions remain over how soon a result will be known due to a flood of mail-in ballots and possible legal challenges.
Those factors, along with an unprecedented convergence of social justice protests, coronavirus precautions and President Trump’s fear-mongering campaign, have led to apprehension over whether unrest could erupt.
Taking no chances, businesses in some cities have boarded up windows, while across the country the harsh political climate has led to fierce debate, in some cases even dividing families.
As proof of how much Americans have been galvanized — and perhaps frightened by the pandemic — a record of more than 93 million people have cast early ballots, including in-person and mailed votes, according to the nonpartisan US Elections Project.
As the hours count down on Monday and with polls showing him behind, Trump will repeat his marathon performance from the previous day with another set of five rallies in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Biden will also be in Pennsylvania — including for a drive-in rally with pop star Lady Gaga — as well as in Cleveland, Ohio.
Seeking to energize Democrats and prevent a 2016-like surprise, Barack Obama will appear in Georgia before holding an election-eve rally in Miami.
‘Talk of the world’ –
On Sunday, Trump and Biden drove home their closing arguments — and the president said his supporters would again shock the world.
In Georgia, wearing his familiar red campaign hat, the 74-year-old Republican said: “It’s going to be the talk of the world.”
Wrapping up a long day, he held a rally that didn’t begin until shortly before midnight in Opa-locka, Florida, a crucial state for him which polls show is a tossup.
Crowds there chanted “fire Fauci” — referring to the widely respected government infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, who has drawn White House anger over his outspokenness on the need to do more to rein in Covid-19.
“Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election,” Trump said in response.
Biden set a very different pace, beginning the day attending Mass with his wife Jill at a Catholic church near their home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Afterward, at a drive-in rally in Philadelphia, the 77-year-old former vice president said: “In two days, we can put an end to a presidency that has divided this nation.”
“It’s time to stand up, take back our democracy,” he said.
Poll warnings –
Nationally, polls have consistently put Biden well ahead, and a RealClearPolitics average of surveys had him up 7.2 percentage points Sunday.
But there have been repeated warnings from both camps that the polls could be wrong — like in 2016.
Trump has held an exhausting string of raucous rallies with crowds pressed together, many of them without masks.
Biden has held far fewer rallies with much more caution — usually socially distanced drive-up gatherings — and has taken care to wear a mask.
That decision has resulted in mockery from Trump, playing down the dangerousness of the virus even though he was hospitalized over it.
The former reality show star and real estate mogul has called for businesses and schools to reopen, talking up signs of an economic recovery though economists say underlying factors are tenuous.
Biden has embraced the criticism and doubled down, repeatedly hammering away at the president’s “almost criminal” handling of the pandemic, saying it had cost tens of thousands of lives.
The virus has been resurgent across the country, with more than 230,000 dead since the start of the pandemic.
‘Steal this election’ –
Fears of tensions on election night and afterward were further stoked by a report that Trump could declare victory prematurely.
The Axios news site reported Sunday that Trump has told confidants he would declare victory Tuesday night if it looks like he’s ahead.
Trump called it a “false report” but repeated his argument that “I don’t think it’s fair that we have to wait for a long period of time after the election.”
He has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that mail-in ballots are open to fraud, warning of “bedlam” if no clear winner emerges quickly.
Asked about the report, Biden said: “The president is not going to steal this election.”
In yet another sign of how tense the race has become, Biden also denounced the alleged harassment of one of his campaign buses by Trump supporters on a Texas highway — an incident the FBI confirmed it was investigating.
Americans have meanwhile been showing up nationwide to cast early ballots.
“The future of our country is at risk,” said 66-year-old Carmen Gomez, who wore a mask as she arrived on the last day of early voting in Florida on Sunday.
By A Correspondent- Three hundred and sixty-six (366) Zimbabweans returning from South Africa are said to be stranded at the Beitbridge Border post after the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) refused to handle them.
The Herald reports that the returnees had already been cleared for re-entry by the Department of Immigration. An unnamed official told the publication that clearance by the immigration department had been completed around 10 pm local time.
The official said:
By 10am, they had all completed immigration formalities and the delays are only at Zimra where they were told that the customs officials were not clearing travellers in buses as yet.
The report was corroborated by one of the returnees only identified as Mai Panashe of Harare who said they were having challenges with Zimra officials.
She said:
We arrived here in the morning and were cleared by the immigration officers. Now our challenge is with Zimra who are saying we should return to South Africa since they are not processing arrivals in buses. This is very unfair. How can they deny us entry into our own country?
Zimbabweans from neighbouring South Afric are returning home after the government indicated last month that Zimbabwean citizens may now return from South Africa via Beitbridge without having to seek authorisation from the Zimbabwean embassy or the South African government.
Borders were closed in March following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.-statemedia
Reports coming through indicate that a Fawcett Security Cash In Transit vehicle was on Monday morning robbed of an indisclosed amount of cash at a CBZ Bank in Bulawayo.
According to the reports, the heavily armed robbers first carjacked a Mercedes Benz in Selbourne Park and used the vehicle to execute the robbery.
The Fawcett armoured vehicled was intercepted inside a sanity lane behind the bank where the cash was meant to be brought through into the bank.
According to the report, he Fawcett guards were outnumbered and outgunned by the thugs who drove away from the scene in the Security Vehicle which they later ransacked and dumped in Ilanda suburb some kilometres away from the bank.
The gang hijacked a pick-up truck after cleaning the Fawcett van and disappeared.
Police are yet to make a statement on the issue.
Cash In Transit robberies are not a common issue in Zimbabwe but a very common occurrence across the border in South Africa.
By A Correspondent- Former MDC legislator for Masvingo Central Tongai Matutu has rejoined the ruling Zanu PF saying the opposition party “in its various forms” has lost direction.
President Mnangagwa said he felt elated in welcoming back “home” Cde Matutu.
He said more people were expected to follow suit as they were fed up by the loss of direction within the MDCs.
The former Youth and Indigenisation deputy Minister and MDC member in 2019 failed to secure a single nomination for the MDC’s Masvingo chairperson post.
He is among MDC members who left the party to form the People’s Democratic Party, then led by Tendai Biti.
Matutu’s departure from MDC comes when the main opposition in the country is arguably at its weakest point due to the leadership crisis that manifested during the last days of its late leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Freeman Mbowe Tanzanian main opposition party leader.
TANZANIAN police have arrested Freeman Mbowe, the leader of the main opposition party Chadema, according to Tundu Lissu, the party’s candidate in last week’s presidential election.
The opposition has demanded a repeat election, citing widespread irregularities, and called for protests against the outcome, which returned President John Magufuli to office with 84% of the vote.
Those arrested with Mbowe include former member of parliament Godbless Lema, the former mayor of Dar es Salaam, Isaya Mwita, and the former mayor of Ubungo municipality, Boniface Jacob.
“I got a message around midnight that they had been taken in,” Lissu told Reuters on Monday.
Mwananchi, a privately-owned daily that publishes in Swahili, quoted Dar es Salaam’s regional police commander Lazaro Mambosasa as saying they had detained Mbowe and other opposition leaders.
The United States has said it was concerned about reports showing “systematic interference in the democratic process”, while Britain said it was “troubled by the reports of violence and heavy-handed policing in the elections”.
MDC-T secretary general, Douglas Mwonzora has urged a rival faction led by Advocate Nelson Chamisa to stop taking advantage and exploiting unemployed youths from high density suburbs to engage in acts of violence.
According to Mwonzora, youths aligned to Chamisa attempted to break into Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House on Sunday evening with their efforts thwarted by an alert MDC-T security team.
Addressing journalists at the party headquarters Monday afternoon, Mwonzora implored the MDC Alliance to engage youths from Borrowdale and other affluent suburbs.
“We are saddened that the MDC Alliance on the orders of G40 are exploiting the desperation of the youths to force them to commit act of violence, lawlessness and anarchy in return of ridiculously low sums of money and cheap labor.
“We urge all the youth to resist all these unlawful engagements. Most of these youths are taken from Mbare, Mufakose and Highfields, we challenge those who are using these youths to engage youths from Borrowdale, Mt Pleasant, Glen Lorne and other suburbs,” said Mwonzora.
He said the MDC-T will not sit back to acts of violence but will use lawful means to thwart any violent conduct from their rivals.
“We are not going to bend down or give in to anarchy, lawlessness and violence from whichever quarter. We will resist the same by all lawful means. Those who want to engage us in violence are trying to engage us in a race to the bottom. We decline that invitation.
“The reason why these acts are being perpetrated is to try and disturb our Extra Ordinary Congress preparations. We are happy to announce that our preparations are at an advanced stage.” he said.
Contacted for comment MDC Alliance deputy national spokesperson Clifford Hlatshwayo dismissed Mwonzora’s allegations saying the Alliance does not have anything to do with what is happening at Harvest House.
“MDC-A has nothing to do with what is happening at MRT House. Mwonzora came in the middle of the night with armed soldiers and took over MDC-A headquarters MRT house and handed it to ZANU PF. MDC A has not set its foot at MRT house.
“We heard Mwonzora and crew looted computers, printers, office furniture, and heavy duty equipment worth thousands of US dollars. We heard they were cooking using firewood and brew beer in MRT house.
“The People of Zimbabwe must not worst their time to listen to a liar who is working with darkness ZANU PF. Let him do what he is doing with Zanu PF, very soon he will cry. His madness will be stopped. He is a kind of a person who loves money and power. But it will backfire very soon. MDC-A has nothing to do with what is happening and happened recently at MRT house.” Hlatshwayo said.
The MDC-T is due to hold its Extra Ordinary Congress during the second week of December.
MDC Alliance lawyers on Monday failed to appear in the Supreme Court today for the much awaited hearing of a challenge of the ruling by High Court judge Justice Chitapi that MDC Alliance is not a legal persona.
“Their absence forced the Supreme Court of Appeal to struck the case which means that the earlier judgement remains.
The High Court Judge had ruled that the MDC-Alliance does not legally exist as a legal person who can sue in court.
The High Court said the only evidence brought before the court showed that MDC-A was an alliance of other political parties.
Although it had been given the status of a political party under the Electoral Act, this did not make it a legal person able to sue and be sued, in the absence of other requirements such as a decision to be a legally incorporated voluntary organisation or another type of body corporate.
The appeal today was supposed to be heard by the Deputy Chief Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza, sitting with Justice Tendai Uchena and Justice Samuel Kudya.
Harare, Zimbabwe, 2 November 2020 – CMG International Media Group has announced Kim Jayde as the host of a series of online interviews with Zimbabwean personalities in an initiative to celebrate Zimbabweans around the globe, sponsored by WorldRemit.
The online interviews will premiere on 5 November, 2020 and will feature South Africa-based Amapiano star ShaSha as Kim Jayde’s first guest. The interviews will be streamed live and exclusively on ZimEye and Zimcelebs media platforms, with the weekly shows running until the end of December 2020.
Kim Jayde
The new online series aims to broaden the horizons of Zimbabweans by showcasing the talents of their fellow countrymen, offering a glimpse into their journeys towards success.
The interviews will air every Thursday on the Facebook and Instagram platforms of Zimcelebs and ZimEye.
In a statement released by CMG, Conrad Mwanza said: “Now is the time to appreciate the movers and shakers in our communities across the globe. Celebrating Global Zimbabweans is a movement to highlight the inspirational Zimbabwean figures making their mark around the world. We are excited to partner with WorldRemit and Kim Jayde in bringing these wonderful stories to the people.”
“We invite everyone to log on and follow the engaging interviews with Kim Jayde on Facebook and Instagram platforms. Viewers can expect a fun, insightful, and altogether entertaining experience as we bring some of our favourite people to you in candid conversations. Zimbabweans are doing amazing things and what better way than to tell the stories by one of our brightest stars, Kim Jayde! In WorldRemit, we have a partner with a global presence and a key player in supporting community stories to ensure that we keep aiming higher.”
WorldRemit is a global payments company that frequently supports initiatives to inspire and empower people.
Pardon Mujakachi, Head of Sub Saharan Africa and Country Director for Zimbabwe at WorldRemit, said “Many Zimbabweans have migrated to countries across the world in a bid to access opportunities and support friends and family at home. They have made great contributions to their host countries and have transferred the same to their home country. As an innovative and forward-thinking organization, we are not oblivious to this. We go beyond providing a platform for money transfers and connect people, amplifying their impacts and showcasing their heartwarming success stories to the world.”
The new online series will feature Kim Jayde hosting various personalities such as ShaSha, Australia-based entrepreneurs The Mango Twins, Canada-based real estate moguls Zeb and Colleen Tsikira (The Tsikiras), rapper and actor Tehn Diamond as well as celebrity reporter Makho Ndlovu, among others.
Former MDC T legislator for Masvingo CentralTongai Matutu who all but joined ZANU PF before the 2018 elections when he was disqualified from contesting party internal elections because of his continued disregard of the party policies today unveiled himself as a ZANU PF member to ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House.
The former legislator was disqualified from contesting the MDC Alliance Masvingo chairmanship on the grounds that he once quit the party then led by late ex-Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai before he re-joined after heeding the MDC founding leader’s call for renegade members to return before his death.
Mr Matutu dumped Tsvangirai’s party and teamed up with Mr Tendai Biti and others to form the People’s Democratic Party.
He rejoined the party before the 2018 harmonised elections and according to his party’s constitution he was barred from holding office for five years for his misdemeanor.
In a rare occurance where an ordinary member joining ZANU PF does so at State House, Matutu told Mnangagwa that he was crossing over to Zanu PF saying the opposition party “in its various forms” has lost direction as it is now wasting precious time bickering among themselves.
Mnangagwa welcomed him together with his two Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi at State House in Harare on Monday afternoon.
President Mnangagwa said he felt elated in welcoming back “home” Matutu.
Briefing journalists, Matutu said he was not joining Zanu PF because he was desperate but he was guided by his conscience and was convinced that his decision was the best choice not only for him but for the nation.
He said more people were expected to follow suit as they were fed up by the loss of direction within the MDCs.
Prince Dube received his prize money over the weekend for winning the Tanzanian Premier League’s Player of the Month award for September.
The Zimbabwean was presented with a Sh1m (US$430) cheque plus an accolade ahead of the Saturday’s 1-1 draw against JKT Tanzania.
The award is his first since his arrival in the league ahead of the 2020/21 season from Highlanders. He featured in four games during the month, scoring three vital goals and provided an assist to help the team maintain a perfect start.
Meanwhile, Azam FC coach Aristica Cioaba also received his award for winning the best coach of the month.-Soccer 24
Is something wrong with the name ZANU PF? Is it cursed or its just a party of ruthless, shameless hard core criminals who are after making money?
Two days ago ZANU PF ward councillor invited his business friends to come and “loot” government sourced stock feed from Murowa business centre for resale in Zvishavane town.
The stock feed was sourced by the government and meant for the rural people whose cattle are succumbing to the obtaining drought.
This was a noble idea considering the importance of cattle to the rural folks but this greedy and unsympathetic councillor saw a big gap of making huge bucks.
The government sourced stock feed was retailing at 6 USD cash (no bond no swipe but hard cash USD). 6 USD is equivalent to 600 zimdollars which is a lot of money to the poor povo.
The ward Councillor who is based in Zvishavane town invited his business friends to come and buy this cheap stock feed and transport it back to Zvishavane for resale.
The very same stock feed is now being sold at 16 USD to the very same poor rural folks who were robbed by the stingy greedy and unsympathetic councillor.
Is this the ZANU PF way of doing things? Is this how ZANU PF Councillors cater for the electorate? Is the First Secretary of ZANU PF aware of the shenanigans?
The very same ward Councillor is asking for huge sums of money for drought relief grain and government sourced agricultural inputs. Surprisingly these huge sums of hard cash go un-receipted.
The Councillor’s committee is known for selling looted grain and agricultural inputs. This has been happening ever since this crook councillor came into office and we have complained a million times but it seems he is the law himself.
But one thing for certain, he is tarnishing and de-campaining ZANU PF. Surely its a shame when shameless people rob the very same poor people who voted for them.
Farai Dziva|President Nelson Chamisa has denounced the persecution of church leaders by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
President Chamisa said the church should be allowed to play a leading role in praying for the nation without fear of being victimized.
President Chamisa made the remarks at the funeral service for the late MDC Alliance National Executive member, Hon Fani Chirisa at the St Peter’s Anglican Church in Mabelreign, Harare on Sunday.
He described Hon Chirisa as a great unifier.
“We have lost a great unifier and dedicated party cadre. We will remember her noble deeds forever,” said President Chamisa.
“Let me take this opportunity to encourage church leaders to pray for the nation.Church leaders should not be persecuted for doing their work – that is unacceptable.Let the church leaders play a leading role in praying for politicians and the nation,” added President Chamisa.
Tottenham coach Jose Mourinho has taken a swipe at Real Madrid after Gareth Ball scored his first goal since his loan switch to London this season.
The striker left Madrid to join Spurs on a season-long loan after a fall out with coach Zinedine Zidane. He scored the winner in Sunday’s 2-1 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Speaking after the match, Mourinho said he can’t wait to see how Real reacted to the goal.
“When I have five minutes, I’m going on Safari (the internet) to the Real Madrid website to see what they say,” said the Spurs boss.
“He knows we care about him and we know he cares about us, the team and the club, Spurs. He’s the perfect fit, he’s very calm, very intelligent, he has good feelings.”
Meanwhile, Mourinho was unhappy with VAR as referee Graham Scott and video official Jon Moss were involved in controversies involving two of the three goals and a penalty appeal.
Mourinho said: ”I prefer to stay away [from VAR]. Probably the referee should go to the press conference and explain.
“He had time to go to the screen, so only he can explain why it is a goal. He is a good ref and a good guy, only he can explain that decision. My view doesn’t matter.”-Soccer 24
By Dorrothy Moyo | In 2017, he was daily tormented by the First Lady leading to his humiliating ouster from government, this time it is a different kind of attack. The former energy minister, Fortune Chasi, who was dramatically removed from the contentious job this year (the second time in 2 years) has written complaining alleging that he has had scary owls sent after him to torment him.
Chasi made the claim in a tweet on Monday apparently pleading with the senders saying “what have I done to get at least 4 owls singing in a choir a few metres from my window?”
In Shona mythology, an owl is a sign of a very bad thing about to happen. The albeit beutiful creature is used by mysticists to associate it with witchcraft and bad luck. Since the days of the fake Nehanda Nyakasikana, the 1890s days witchdoctor, there has never been any proof that the majestic creature has got any spiritual power or association thereof.
Chasi’s possible joke was met with responses from religious people who suggested that he must consider repenting and he will be forgiven.
“Try to be right with God and Declare the all powerful Blood of Jesus Christ. Do not be afraid for no evil can stand when you call on the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen!,” wrote the United democratic Alliance leader Daniel Shumba.
Below were some of the interactions Monday morning.
Belgian winger Eden Hazard scored for Real Madrid for the first time in over a year as the defending LaLiga champions thrashed Huesca 4-1 on Saturday.
The former Chelsea man, who has struggled to settled at Los Blancos due to injuries, returned to the side from a long lay off last week when Zinedine Zidane’s charges drew 2-2 with Borrusia Mönchengladbach in the Champions League.
He was drafted into the starting eleven today and repaid Zidane’s faith by thrusting Madrid ahead five minutes before the half time break with a well-taken left foot strike.
Karim Benzema doubled Real’s advantage in first half stoppage time to ensure a healthy at the break.
Uruguayan midfielder Fede Valverde made it 3-0 just after the restart off a Benzema assist before Huesca’s David Ferreiro pulled one back for the visitors.
Benzema then put the final nail on the Huesca coffin in the 90th minute as Madrid comfortably collected three points.-Soccer 24
Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance Youth Assembly has described Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s hatred of young people as appalling and unacceptable.
In a statement MDC Alliance Youth Assembly spokesperson, Steven Sarkozy Chuma, condemned the detention of political activists by Mr Mnangagwa’s administration.
Read full statement below :
02-11-2020
Just a day before the release of Terrence Manjengwa, who spend more than 60 days in prison before trial, two other young activists were caged at Harare Remand Prison.
The two, Prince Gora and Young Matate are student leaders and their only crime is demanding answers from Impala Car Rental on why the company aided in abduction of fellow student, Tawanda Muchehiwa.
This is not the first time that Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime has raised a middle finger on the students community for demanding a safe learning environment.
ZINASU President Takudzwa Ngadziore, had to spend more than a month in prison for simply demanding a safe environment where students study without fear of abductions from the regime.
A regime that do not respect students certainly has no respect for academic freedoms and such a regime is doomed!
Universities and tertiary institutions are meant to be a universitas when knew horizons of knowledge are shared and at the center of that is a student.
What this entails is that students’ sphere of influence like homes must be safe from evils like abductions if the country is to reap benefits from academics.
Where abductions and arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of students reigns supreme, disaster looms.
Mnangagwa’s regime has since turned Harare Remand Prison and Chikurubi Maximum Prison into concentration camps for student leaders and political activists.
For Mnangagwa, the rightful place of students is filthy prisons and not university campuses!
It time for the students community and the society at large to demand for an end to persecution by prosecution of students.
If students and youths of the past successfully challenged the evil colonial system in the 1970s, surely this generation can equally do the same against abductions, arbitrary arrests and sentence without trial.
Gora and Matate deserve freedom.
#FreeYoungAndPrince!
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDCAllianceYouthAssemblyNationalSpokesperson
By Claire Nyamubarwa| The battle for Zanu PF District Coordinating Committee(DCC) chairmanship for Mazowe turned bloody over the weekend when one member of a rival group was severely assaulted.
The assaulted youth leader Paul Kasvosve has since reported the case which is yet to be tried at the courts but indications are that it will appear today(Monday).
According to reports, a group allegedly working under the instruction of Kazembe Kazembe who is rooting for John Mudzonga ,besieged a joint in Concession assaulting members of a rival group which left Kasvosve badly injured with a broken upper lip and broken teeth.
There are allegations that the youths brazenly told police officers who were investigating the case that they were untouchable as they were taking orders from their boss (Minister of Home Affairs, Kazembe Kazembe)
The case which had suspiciously took time to be tried is set to appear this Monday (today).
“There are worries that the violent incident happened some weeks ago but the police was dragging its feet pointing to suspected interference from the Minister,” claimed one informant who requested anonymity.
It is alleged that Kazembe has vowed that John Mudzonga who is the Mazowe Rural District Council Chairman will be the next Mazowe DCC Chairperson at whatever cost.
Efforts to get a comment from Minister Kazembe were unsuccessful.
Interestingly Kazembe was quoted in a local daily saying there will be a bloodbath if anyone dare challenge his position as Mashonaland Central chairman. His preferred candidate John Mudzonga is his campaign manager.
Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance has intensified efforts to protect fundamental constitutional rights.
The party has also implored democratic forces to resist attempts by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa to muzzle alternative voices.
Read statement below:
02 NOVEMBER 2020
MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA DISTRICT LAMBASTS THE RECENTLY ACCLAIMED ZANUPF ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS LAW AS A DESPERATE MECHANISM OF DETERRENCE TO SOCIAL DEMOCRATS.
Mdc Alliance Namibia is perturbed by the fact that the Zanupf government continues to trample on the basic fundamental rights of the Zimbabwean citizenry.
Irrespective of the clearly visible provisions of Section 59 of the Constitution of the Motherland which states that, “Every person has the right to demonstrate and present petitions but these rights must be exercised peacefully”.
This is in line with diverse International Human Rights Instruments , including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As social democrats, we appeal to the illegitimate Zanupf government to respect its own constitution and international human rights instruments to which our beloved country is a signatory.
It was mesmerising to witness the regime’s perpetual suffocation of constitutional democracy when the Zimbabwe cabinet recently applauded proposed statute that would make it a crime for activists to make “spurious claims” of human rights violations, hold anti-government protests that could draw international attention or speak with foreign governments empty of state endorsement. The undemocratic development was backed by Monica Mutsvangwa who said President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s cabinet has appreciated the prospective amendments to the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act to criminalise the unauthorised communication or negotiation by denationalised citizens with foreign governments.
Although these proposed alterations to the law are expected to be backed by Zimbabwe’s August House which is monopolised by Mnangagwa’s ruling Zanupf party, Mdc Alliance Namibia goes on to solicit absolute justice in Zimbabwe. We want to encourage the disillusioned despotic regime to tolerate divergent views and expressions fundamental in any constitutional democracy, but in Zimbabwe, where we have no protections, it is vital. This foolish and selfish law has been criticised by both domestic and international Lawyers as well as social democrats in the vicinity.
As a district, we are astonished by Zanupf’s shift from hard-line policy to hard-line law which is completely worrisome in a purported ‘new dispensation’ after the 17 November Coup.
Moreso, while such hard-line and suicidal policies on political opposition are not novel in monocracy, the rigorousness and diameter of the law to enforce such a detrimental policy remains a mammoth task.
Brennan said: it would be a parody of democracy to confer on the people a power to choose their Parliament but to deny the freedom of public discussion from which the people derive their political judgements. In light of this postulation, Mdc Alliance Namibia supposes that the autocratic regime must halt controlling or schooling us on how hungry citizens should express serious national issues since it can greatly inoculate the strength of their political message, if not extinguish its revolutionary impact altogether.
Moreover, as genuine revolutionaries, we are clear that this law raises adverse questions about the contemporary attitudes and commitment to representative and responsible government in the country. Zanupf must be cognisant of the fact that in a society awash with national consciousness, independent individuals must embrace varying-perhaps sensational -avenues and measures to publicise nonconformity and remonstrance to ill-advised government policies. As an “alternative government”, Mdc Alliance is aware of the fact that, although the government has the obligation to regulate actions that undermine the public interest, such austerity legal measures should be tailored and balanced against the constitutional duty to ensure freedom of political expression in the Motherland.
Furthermore, the unceremonious inception of the Zanupf law has just generated fear in social democrats because it gives room to the captured securocrats to escalate the levels of human slaughter or massacre by overambitious Zanupf Satanists. Zimbabwe has seen multiple opposition activists being exterminated and desensitised by police with amnesty.
The police, army and state agencies must refrain from violence , including the exploitation of live ammunition against unarmed innocent civilians. In a democratic dispensation , we urge the Zimbabwe Republic Police , like any other professional police force , to guide and assist the protesters as they peacefully march through the streets anywhere in the country.
The enactment of this apartheid and repressive law is simply meant to entrench authoritarianism.
We shall continue to demand justice and our basic universal freedoms enshrined in the constitution. We advocate for the alignment of the 2013 Constitution before it is amended.
Social democrats have the conviction that it is alignment that comes first before any transformation is done. It is imperative to to remove unconstitutional jargon in our beloved constitution in the country.
In conclusion, Zanupf must ALIGN the 2013 Constitution instead of AMENDING it.
We shall continue to protest and petition the government against arbitrary arrests, abductions, torture and high levels of murder to opposition activists as stipulated in Section 59 of the constitution of Zimbabwe. We are not deterred by Zanupf shenanigans driven by greed and massive looting!
By A Correspondent- The battle for Mazowe DCC Chairmanship has reached another level with reports of violence now before the courts.
Zanu PF Concession District youth official Paul Kasvosve was allegedly severely assaulted by a Kazembe Kazembe sponsored terror gang.
It is alleged that Kazembe Kazembe sponsored youths invaded a leisure spot, Al Shabaab style in Concession and brutally assaulted youths linked to a rival camp.
One of the assaulted youths Paul Kasvosve suffered scaring on the upper lip, broken teeth and a Government medical officer classified the injuries as severe.
The matter is set to appear before the courts on Monday 2 November after police reports were made. The assault took place last week and police were dragging their feet on the matter as they feared the wrath of police boss Kazembe Kazembe.
It is alleged that youths told police officers that they can’t touch them as they are protected by their boss. The terror gang has caused havoc in Concession.
The gang which claim to be sponsored by Kazembe Kazembe assaulted Paul Kasvosve and others telling them to stop supporting anyone who challenges John Mudzonga.
John Mudzonga is the Mazowe Rural District Council chairman, he is also Kazembe Kazembe’s campaign manager.
Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe was not reachable for comment on the allegations which will be heard in court today.
For medicines to work safely, it’s vital to have strong systems in place to report any undesired side effects or “adverse drug reactions“.
The most important aspect of drug safety monitoring is reliable, real-time information. Health-care professionals (physicians, pharmacists, nurses, dentists) are best placed to report suspected adverse reactions as part of patient care. Patients also have a critical role in getting the right information to authorities and should refer to their medical practitioner as soon as they detect unwanted symptoms or reactions. Both health professionals and patients should report these even if they are doubtful about the precise relationship between the given drug and the reaction.
Most adverse reactions are preventable
Many undesired drug reactions may be due to factors independent of the medicine. For example:
incorrect diagnosis of the patient’s medical condition;prescription of an inappropriate drug or incorrect dosage of the appropriate drug;an undetected medical, genetic or allergic condition that may cause a patient reaction;self-medication with prescription medicines;not following instructions for taking the medication;interactions with other drugs (including traditional medicines) and certain foods.
But s risks may also occur because a medicine’s composition and ingredients do not meet required standards, causing them to be ineffective and even hazardous; or because the medicine is counterfeit, with no active ingredients or inappropriate ingredients.
Assessing medicines before and after they reach patients
Before medicines or vaccines are made widely available in countries, they are rigorously tested in patient and healthy volunteers respectively to discover how well they work for a defined disease and how safe they are. But to get a comprehensive picture of a product’s safety, it is important to keep watching how it works once it is widely used in a population.
This requires careful patient monitoring and further scientific data collection by organized local, national and international agencies.
Drug safety during the COVID-19 pandemic
International drug safety monitoring is particularly important during global epidemics such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, and even more so when there are no proven vaccines or medicines for the disease. As new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments become available, health-care professionals and patients will need to be actively engaged in monitoring the effects of these novel products and reporting any potential adverse reaction. By analyzing reported reactions, national medicines authorities can take the necessary measures for safer use of the drugs, scientists can assess the data and, if needed, international networks can be activated to address the problem.
WHO’s role in making medicines safer
WHO promotes global drug safety through its Programme for International Drug Monitoring, which supports countries to develop sound pharmacovigilance policies, organizes hands-on training and workshops, and establishes networks for information sharing.
An important role of the programme is to strengthen national reporting systems and their contribution to VigiBase, the global WHO database for adverse drug reactions, managed by Uppsala Monitoring Centre in Sweden, and to identify possible links between the use of a drug and adverse reactions. When signals of drug safety problems emerge through the database or other sources, WHO and Uppsala Monitoring Centre share new information on serious adverse reactions with all WHO Member States.
A recent key WHO development is the introduction of a mobile application called “Med Safety”, jointly launched in nine countries* with Uppsala Monitoring Centre and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The app enables health-care professionals and patients to report suspected adverse reactions directly to the national authorities’ data base. WHO is preparing to roll out the app in more countries once a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.
Source: World Health Organization
Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
For more information follow /like our Facebook page :Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
By Dorrothy Moyo | In 2017, he was daily tormented by the First Lady leading to his humiliating ouster from government, this time it is a different kind of attack. The former energy minister, Fortune Chasi, who was dramatically removed from the contentious job this year (the second time in 2 years) has written complaining alleging that he has had scary owls sent after him to torment him.
Chasi made the claim in a tweet on Monday apparently pleading with the senders saying “what have I done to get at least 4 owls singing in a choir a few metres from my window?”
In Shona mythology, an owl is a sign of a very bad thing about to happen. The albeit beutiful creature is used by mysticists to associate it with witchcraft and bad luck. Since the days of the fake Nehanda Nyakasikana, the 1890s days witchdoctor, there has never been any proof that the majestic creature has got any spiritual power or association thereof.
Chasi’s possible joke was met with responses from religious people who suggested that he must consider repenting and he will be forgiven.
“Try to be right with God and Declare the all powerful Blood of Jesus Christ. Do not be afraid for no evil can stand when you call on the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen!,” wrote the United democratic Alliance leader Daniel Shumba.
Below were some of the interactions Monday morning.
By A Correspondent- Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Senator Larry Mavima has gone into self-isolation after testing positive to Covid-19.
Senator Mavima confirmed the development this morning saying he is now in self isolating at his home while being taken care of by some local specialist doctors. Sen Mavima who is also the Provincial Covid-19 taskforce chairperson, however, said he was out of danger as there were no other symptoms.
“I can confirm that I have tested positive to Covid-19 and am self-isolating at home. I would like to quickly inform the entire province and the nation at large that I am not in any immediate danger. I am grateful to a wonderful team of local specialist doctors who have been monitoring my situation. I don’t have any other symptoms.
“I am in isolation but in high spirits for there is no stigma to this pandemic as everyone is at risk of contracting it. I am also banking on prayers from all corners,” said Sen Mavima who was speaking on a telephone interview from his home.
Just a day before the release of Terrence Manjengwa, who spend more than 60 days in prison before trial, two other young activists were caged at Harare Remand Prison.
The two, Prince Gora and Young Matate are student leaders and their only crime is demanding answers from Impala Car Rental on why the company aided in abduction of fellow student, Tawanda Muchehiwa.
This is not the first time that Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime has raised a middle finger on the students community for demanding a safe learning environment.
ZINASU President Takudzwa Ngadziore, had to spend more than a month in prison for simply demanding a safe environment where students study without fear of abductions from the regime.
A regime that do not respect students certainly has no respect for academic freedoms and such a regime is doomed!
Universities and tertiary institutions are meant to be a universitas when knew horizons of knowledge are shared and at the center of that is a student.
What this entails is that students’ sphere of influence like homes must be safe from evils like abductions if the country is to reap benefits from academics.
Where abductions and arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of students reigns supreme, disaster looms.
Mnangagwa’s regime has since turned Harare Remand Prison and Chikurubi Maximum Prison into concentration camps for student leaders and political activists.
For Mnangagwa, the rightful place of students is filthy prisons and not university campuses!
It time for the students community and the society at large to demand for an end to persecution by prosecution of students.
If students and youths of the past successfully challenged the evil colonial system in the 1970s, surely this generation can equally do the same against abductions, arbitrary arrests and sentence without trial.
Gora and Matate deserve freedom.
#FreeYoungAndPrince!
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDCAllianceYouthAssemblyNationalSpokesperson
Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance has intensified efforts to protect fundamental constitutional rights.
The party has also implored democratic forces to resist attempts by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa to muzzle alternative voices.
Read statement below:
02 NOVEMBER 2020
MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA DISTRICT LAMBASTS THE RECENTLY ACCLAIMED ZANUPF ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS LAW AS A DESPERATE MECHANISM OF DETERRENCE TO SOCIAL DEMOCRATS.
Mdc Alliance Namibia is perturbed by the fact that the Zanupf government continues to trample on the basic fundamental rights of the Zimbabwean citizenry.
Irrespective of the clearly visible provisions of Section 59 of the Constitution of the Motherland which states that, “Every person has the right to demonstrate and present petitions but these rights must be exercised peacefully”.
This is in line with diverse International Human Rights Instruments , including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As social democrats, we appeal to the illegitimate Zanupf government to respect its own constitution and international human rights instruments to which our beloved country is a signatory.
It was mesmerising to witness the regime’s perpetual suffocation of constitutional democracy when the Zimbabwe cabinet recently applauded proposed statute that would make it a crime for activists to make “spurious claims” of human rights violations, hold anti-government protests that could draw international attention or speak with foreign governments empty of state endorsement. The undemocratic development was backed by Monica Mutsvangwa who said President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s cabinet has appreciated the prospective amendments to the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act to criminalise the unauthorised communication or negotiation by denationalised citizens with foreign governments.
Although these proposed alterations to the law are expected to be backed by Zimbabwe’s August House which is monopolised by Mnangagwa’s ruling Zanupf party, Mdc Alliance Namibia goes on to solicit absolute justice in Zimbabwe. We want to encourage the disillusioned despotic regime to tolerate divergent views and expressions fundamental in any constitutional democracy, but in Zimbabwe, where we have no protections, it is vital. This foolish and selfish law has been criticised by both domestic and international Lawyers as well as social democrats in the vicinity.
As a district, we are astonished by Zanupf’s shift from hard-line policy to hard-line law which is completely worrisome in a purported ‘new dispensation’ after the 17 November Coup.
Moreso, while such hard-line and suicidal policies on political opposition are not novel in monocracy, the rigorousness and diameter of the law to enforce such a detrimental policy remains a mammoth task.
Brennan said: it would be a parody of democracy to confer on the people a power to choose their Parliament but to deny the freedom of public discussion from which the people derive their political judgements. In light of this postulation, Mdc Alliance Namibia supposes that the autocratic regime must halt controlling or schooling us on how hungry citizens should express serious national issues since it can greatly inoculate the strength of their political message, if not extinguish its revolutionary impact altogether.
Moreover, as genuine revolutionaries, we are clear that this law raises adverse questions about the contemporary attitudes and commitment to representative and responsible government in the country. Zanupf must be cognisant of the fact that in a society awash with national consciousness, independent individuals must embrace varying-perhaps sensational -avenues and measures to publicise nonconformity and remonstrance to ill-advised government policies. As an “alternative government”, Mdc Alliance is aware of the fact that, although the government has the obligation to regulate actions that undermine the public interest, such austerity legal measures should be tailored and balanced against the constitutional duty to ensure freedom of political expression in the Motherland.
Furthermore, the unceremonious inception of the Zanupf law has just generated fear in social democrats because it gives room to the captured securocrats to escalate the levels of human slaughter or massacre by overambitious Zanupf Satanists. Zimbabwe has seen multiple opposition activists being exterminated and desensitised by police with amnesty.
The police, army and state agencies must refrain from violence , including the exploitation of live ammunition against unarmed innocent civilians. In a democratic dispensation , we urge the Zimbabwe Republic Police , like any other professional police force , to guide and assist the protesters as they peacefully march through the streets anywhere in the country.
The enactment of this apartheid and repressive law is simply meant to entrench authoritarianism.
We shall continue to demand justice and our basic universal freedoms enshrined in the constitution. We advocate for the alignment of the 2013 Constitution before it is amended.
Social democrats have the conviction that it is alignment that comes first before any transformation is done. It is imperative to to remove unconstitutional jargon in our beloved constitution in the country.
In conclusion, Zanupf must ALIGN the 2013 Constitution instead of AMENDING it.
We shall continue to protest and petition the government against arbitrary arrests, abductions, torture and high levels of murder to opposition activists as stipulated in Section 59 of the constitution of Zimbabwe. We are not deterred by Zanupf shenanigans driven by greed and massive looting!
BUHERA – Members of a Buhera family recently set eight vicious dogs on cops who had come to make an arrest.
They then stripped one of the officers naked before forcing him to leave without his clothes and two cellphones. They also severely assaulted the officers with knobkerries.
Constable Fungai Chiminya and Obert Kambewu were assaulted at Hwechuma Village under Chief Nyashanu in Buhera at around 9pm on October 22, 2020.
Two members of the family, Most Hwechuma (20) and Morris Chuma (31) have since been arrested and Most was sentenced to two years in jail by Murambinda magistrate Tapiwa Kuhudzai after being convicted for assaulting police officers.
He was sentenced on Tuesday while Morris who appeared in court on Wednesday is yet to hear his verdict. The two cops and had come to arrest Morris who was wanted on a rape case. Six months of Most’s charges were suspended for five years. Three other accused members of the family are still at large.
Witness Hamudi representing the State said the two cops Chiminya and Kambewu went to Hwechuma Village to arrest Morris wanted in connection with a rape case.
Upon arrival the cops introduced themselves to Morris and tried to apprehend him but he overpowered them and called family members to help him.
Morris, Most and others who are on the run attacked the two cops with stones thereby forcing them to run away. Morris then unleashed eight dogs on cops.
Morris caught up with Kambewu and stripped him of all his clothes down to the underwear.
Hetook away the clothes and two cellphones and let him go naked.
Kambewu sustained bruises on the back, swollen legs and wounds on the legs as a result of dog bites and was having difficulties in walking.
Minya managed to escape and seek refuge in a kitchen at Diana Hwechuma’s homestead.
A report was made to ZRP Murambinda who then attended the scene.
Kambewu’s clothes were recovered dumped at Diana Hwechuma’s homestead.
The two cell phones were recovered from Morris’ bedroom hidden under the blankets.
Two knobkerries which were used to commit the crime were also recovered from the same room.
Morris was arrested on October 28 after a raid by the Police. Source :Masvingo Mirror
By Dorrothy Moyo | In 2017, he was daily tormented by the First Lady leading to his humiliating ouster from government, this time it is a different kind of attack. The former energy minister, Fortune Chasi, who was dramatically removed from the contentious job this year (the second time in 2 years) has written complaining alleging that he has had scary owls sent after him to torment him.
Chasi made the claim in a tweet on Monday apparently pleading with the senders saying “what have I done to get at least 4 owls singing in a choir a few metres from my window?”
In Shona mythology, an owl is a sign of a very bad thing about to happen. The albeit beutiful creature is used by mysticists to associate it with witchcraft and bad luck. Since the days of the fake Nehanda Nyakasikana, the 1890s days witchdoctor, there has never been any proof that the majestic creature has got any spiritual power or association thereof.
Chasi’s possible joke was met with responses from religious people who suggested that he must consider repenting and he will be forgiven.
“Try to be right with God and Declare the all powerful Blood of Jesus Christ. Do not be afraid for no evil can stand when you call on the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen!,” wrote the United democratic Alliance leader Daniel Shumba.
Below were some of the interactions Monday morning.
Farai Dziva|President Nelson Chamisa has denounced the persecution of church leaders by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
President Chamisa said the church should be allowed to play a leading role in praying for the nation without fear of being victimized.
President Chamisa made the remarks at the funeral service for the late MDC Alliance National Executive member, Hon Fani Chirisa at the St Peter’s Anglican Church in Mabelreign, Harare on Sunday.
He described Hon Chirisa as a great unifier.
“We have lost a great unifier and dedicated party cadre. We will remember her noble deeds forever,” said President Chamisa.
“Let me take this opportunity to encourage church leaders to pray for the nation.Church leaders should not be persecuted for doing their work – that is unacceptable.Let the church leaders play a leading role in praying for politicians and the nation,” added President Chamisa.
By A Correspondent- A desperate for love fifty-three-year-old UK based woman was left grasping for straws after a local lover duped her of money she sent despite them having not seen face to face.
Stembiso Chaira lost more than US$1000 to Gilbert Mukoka, 49, of Tafara after the two agreed to construct a house where they would stay at Wazvaremhaka Village in Chivhu.
The WhatsApp relationship started end of May but it was in early Jun that Mukoka won Chaira’s heart after travelling to her rural area, Chivhu.
They agreed to build a house in Chivhu and Mukoka volunteered to manage the project.
“My search to have someone to settle with has emotionally affected me and left me hunting for Mukoka. I gave him my heart unaware that he was after milking me,” said Chaira.
“I connected with him through a love programme on social media and we exchanged contacts and photographs before we started a relationship.
“He indicated to me that he was a builder and we agreed to build a home at my home village.
“I gave him directions and he visited the village together with his son Adoration where they managed to dig a foundation and delivered five bags of cement.
“After that visit, I trusted him and sent money to buy all the building material he wanted according to the quotations he sent to me beginning of June this year.
“He refused to send photographs of the building material he claimed to have bought before blocking my contacts until today.
“Mukoka visited my village together with one of his sons he claimed was a builder who was to help him in the construction of the house.
“We agreed on the house plan and he charged me for the drawing of the plan and hey that was that. He has brought shame to my name in the village,” said Chaira appealing to anyone who may help with information leading to Mukoka’s whereabouts.
However, his son, Adoration confirmed the story to H Metro referring all questions to Mukoka.
“It is true that I work with my father as a builder and we once visited Chaira’s homestead in Chivhu but I am not in a position to explain how the construction was not completed,” said Adoration.
“If my father’s mobile number is not reachable I will inform him about this and he will call you for details about that lady,” said Adoration.
Efforts to get Mukoka’s side of the story were fruitless-
By A Correspondent- Striking teachers have reviewed downwards their salary demands and have now proposed a salary of US$360 monthly or the equivalent in local currency.
They were demanding US$520 initially. This follows a meeting the Zimbabwe Teachers Association had with President Mnangagwa last week.
It also comes as fissures have emerged among the teachers’ unions that Zimta’s meeting with the President was secretive and that the organisation had sold out by reviewing demands without consulting.
In a letter to Public Service minister last week Zimta CE Sifiso Ndlovu recommended that Government pays attention to structural differentiations in grades, qualifications and length of service when reviewing the salaries.
He said sector specific allowances be instituted with immediate effect.
By A Correspondent- A Leaked conversation between two senior Zanu-PF officials in Mashonaland Central province has exposed a rift in the ruling party ahead of the district co-ordinating committee (DCC) elections.
This comes at a time some interested candidates like Energy minister Zhemu Soda, who is also allegedly campaigning for a post in the DCC, has claimed that President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered that he should run uncontested.
Former Muzarabani MP Christopher Chitindi is also reportedly eyeing the Muzarabani district chairmanship.
In the leaked audio, Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial deputy spokesperson Fredrick Nhaka is allegedly engaged in a telephone conversation, where he warned a district political commissar in Bindura against associating with businessman James Makamba, and those whom he said were aligned to the country’s Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.
Makamba is reportedly eyeing the provincial chairperson post and is aligned to Chiwenga.
Nhaka is heard in the audio giving his preferred list of candidates, where he referred to some candidates as ED’s people (Mnangagwa’s people). He also gave another list of party officials whom he said were linked to Chiwenga.
“These people I have mentioned to you are ED’s people. They are fighting the President and are now with Chiwenga. They are working with leadership here and also with Makamba,” Nhaka said in the audio.
He also said he did not want fights just like what happened with former VicePresident Joice Mujuru who alleged led a faction called Gamatox.
Contacted for comment, Soda claimed that people were jealous of his appointment as Energy minister by Mnangagwa, and as a result were cooking up stories about factionalism in Zanu-PF using his name.
“People are just jealous of my appointment and are cooking up stories. There was a fake letter on social media written by misguided members in our district just to soil my name,” Soda said.
Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairperson Kazembe Kazembe said party members should be warned against dropping Mnangagwa and Chiwenga’s names to pursue their personal agendas.
“This narrative that there is a rift in the presidium is both nonsensical and imaginary. That is the language of the enemy. The President and his Vice-Presidents work very well and they will not lose sleep over these artificial enemymade non-existent rifts,” the Home Affairs minister said.
Kazembe also told NewsDay that provincial members, the national consultative assembly, central committee and politburo members should not interfere with DCC elections.
“We have noted with concern that some senior party officials have taken a direct interest in the DCC elections and some are even campaigning for the candidates.
“Aspiring candidates should be allowed to campaign freely and on their own. The party will not hesitate to discipline all those found interfering,” Kazembe said.
He warned that those putting the name of the party ito disrepute will be disciplined. -Newsday
By Douglas Mwonzora| Last night at around 11:30 pm the MDC Alliance youths broke into the regalia shop at the Morgan Tsvangirai House. They tried to gain entry into the main building but were thwarted by our alert internal security personnel.
Police were then called in and 8 of the intruders were arrested. A few days ago these people were ordered to leave our building by the Magistrates Court sitting in Harare. We then took possession of our building.
It is surprising that these youths are being sent to violate a clear order of the court. We have instructed our youths not to fight with these people but to call the police in order to minimize personal injury that will come from fighting.
The MDC Alliance Party has now resorted to sacrificing the youths by inciting them to engage in acts of anarchy and lawlessness.
They take advantage of the poverty of these youths and pay them ridiculously low sums of money and cheap liquor to engage in violence. These youths are drawn from Mbare and similarly poor neighborhoods were poverty is rife.
This is wrong and evil. We appeal to the youths to desist from being abused like this. We have also taken a stance that we are not going to yield to lawlessness and anarchy and we will defend our property using lawful means.
We are happy that our party security have displayed remarkable restraint in the face of gross provocations and abuse. Only a week ago two members of the Security Department were hospitalized after being assaulted by these youths on the orders of the criminal and anarchist elements.
The grand objective of these criminals is to disturb our Congress. However they will not succeed. Together we will win. Victory is Certain.
By Claris Magwenzi | Freelance journalist | The battle for Mazowe DCC Chairmanship has reached another level with reports of violence now before the courts. ZANU PF Concession District youth official Paul Kasvosve was severely assaulted by a Kazembe Kazembe sponsored terror gang.
It is alleged that Kazembe Kazembe sponsored youths invaded a leisure spot, Al Shabaab style in Concession and brutally assaulted youths linked to a rival camp.
One of the assaulted youths Paul Kasvosve suffered scaring on the upper lip, broken teeth and a Government medical officer classified the injuries as severe.
The matter is set to appear before the courts on Monday 2 November after police reports were made. The assault took place last week and police were dragging their feet on the matter as they feared the wrath of police boss Kazembe Kazembe.
It is alleged that youths told police officers that they can’t touch them as they are protected by their boss. The terror gang has caused havoc in Concession. The gang who claim to be sponsored by Kazembe Kazembe assaulted Paul Kasvosve and others telling them to stop supporting anyone who challenges John Mudzonga. John Mudzonga is the Mazowe Rural District Council chairman, he is also Kazembe Kazembe’s campaign manager.
Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe was not reachable for comment on the allegations which will be heard in court today.
Attached below is a medical affidavit from the Government medical officer who examined Paul Kasvosve’s injuries.
By A Correspondent- A 49 year old Bindura man was arraigned before a Bindura regional magistrate Amos Mubhobho yesterday for allegedly raping his daughter-in-law.
Anderson Chabata was not asked to plead to the rape charge and was remanded in custody to November 4.
The state-led by Samson Chamunorwa alleged on October 17 the suspect was left at his homestead with his daughter-in-law and a nine-year-old juvenile while the complainant’s husband went to seek employment somewhere.
Around 8 pm the juvenile fell asleep and the complainant took her to bed.
Upon her return to the dining room, Chabata started caressing the complainant’s buttocks and breasts before raping her once.
Chabata threatened to kill the complainant if she reveals the rape to anyone.
The following day the complainant called her husband and told her about the rape.
The husband came back and accompanied his wife to the police station leading to the arrest of Chabata.
According to Chitungwiza Residents Trust (CHITREST), Chitungwiza Mayor Lovemore Maiko has been arrested for directing Council to stop Demolition of illegal Houses and convening special Council meeting without following proper procedures.
By ACorrespondent- Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Senator Larry Mavima has gone into self-isolation after testing positive to Covid-19.
Senator Mavima confirmed the development this morning saying he is now in self isolating at his home while being taken care of by some local specialist doctors. Sen Mavima who is also the Provincial Covid-19 taskforce chairperson, however, said he was out of danger as there were no other symptoms.
“I can confirm that I have tested positive to Covid-19 and am self-isolating at home. I would like to quickly inform the entire province and the nation at large that I am not in any immediate danger. I am grateful to a wonderful team of local specialist doctors who have been monitoring my situation. I don’t have any other symptoms.
“I am in isolation but in high spirits for there is no stigma to this pandemic as everyone is at risk of contracting it. I am also banking on prayers from all corners,” said Sen Mavima who was speaking on a telephone interview from his home.
Is something wrong with the name ZANU PF? Is it cursed or its just a party of ruthless, shameless hard core criminals who are after making money?
Two days ago ZANU PF ward councillor invited his business friends to come and “loot” government sourced stock feed from Murowa business centre for resale in Zvishavane town.
The stock feed was sourced by the government and meant for the rural people whose cattle are succumbing to the obtaining drought.
This was a noble idea considering the importance of cattle to the rural folks but this greedy and unsympathetic councillor saw a big gap of making huge bucks.
The government sourced stock feed was retailing at 6 USD cash (no bond no swipe but hard cash USD). 6 USD is equivalent to 600 zimdollars which is a lot of money to the poor povo.
The ward Councillor who is based in Zvishavane town invited his business friends to come and buy this cheap stock feed and transport it back to Zvishavane for resale.
The very same stock feed is now being sold at 16 USD to the very same poor rural folks who were robbed by the stingy greedy and unsympathetic councillor.
Is this the ZANU PF way of doing things? Is this how ZANU PF Councillors cater for the electorate? Is the First Secretary of ZANU PF aware of the shenanigans?
The very same ward Councillor is asking for huge sums of money for drought relief grain and government sourced agricultural inputs. Surprisingly these huge sums of hard cash go un-receipted.
The Councillor’s committee is known for selling looted grain and agricultural inputs. This has been happening ever since this crook councillor came into office and we have complained a million times but it seems he is the law himself.
But one thing for certain, he is tarnishing and de-campaining ZANU PF. Surely its a shame when shameless people rob the very same poor people who voted for them.
The refusal by Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) staff at Beitbridge to handle bus passengers yesterday saw 366 Zimbabweans returning from South Africa in 12 buses stranded at Beitbridge Border Post, although they had already been cleared for re-entry by the Department of Immigration.
Government clarified last month that Zimbabweans may now return from South Africa via Beitbridge without having to seek authorisation from the Zimbabwean embassy or the South African government.
South Africa opened 18 of its 35 land borders to passenger traffic on 1 October and Zimbabwe will gradually open its borders to passenger traffic, mainly motorists in private vehicles and pedestrians.
At the moment, only Zimbabweans based in South Africa and those foreigners with valid residents or workers permits are allowed entry into the country, while South Africans and Zimbabweans who are holders of the neighbouring country’s permits are allowed to exit.
By end of the day yesterday, the travellers, mostly women with young children, had become restless, having arrived at the border post at 8am.
According to one border official, the travellers were cleared by the Department of Immigration to enter the country, but hit a brick wall at Zimra.
“By 10am, they had all completed immigration formalities and the delays are only at Zimra where they were told that the customs officials were not clearing travellers in buses as yet,” said the official.
Mai Panashe of Harare said they were having challenges with Zimra officials.
“We arrived here in the morning and were cleared by the immigration officers,” she said. “Now our challenge is with Zimra who are saying we should return to South Africa since they are not processing arrivals in buses. This is very unfair. How can they deny us entry into our own country?”
Most of the travellers said they were returning home after having been stuck in South Africa since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown.
The Assistant Regional Immigration Officer in charge of Beitbridge, Mr Nqobile Ncube was not available for comment yesterday, while Zimra’s head of communications, Mr Francis Chimanda, said he was yet to get full details on the situation obtaining at Beitbridge.
Before the lockdown in April, a total of 600 000 travellers would use Beitbridge monthly in both directions.
The figure is likely to increase after December 1 when more people travel considering that it is a transit port for those from Malawi, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.
Plumtree, Victoria Falls, Chirundu, Nyamapanda and Forbes are some of the borders which will be re-opened in a phased programme next month.
By A Correspondent- A 49 year old Bindura man was arraigned before a Bindura regional magistrate Amos Mubhobho yesterday for allegedly raping his daughter-in-law.
Anderson Chabata was not asked to plead to the rape charge and was remanded in custody to November 4.
The state-led by Samson Chamunorwa alleged on October 17 the suspect was left at his homestead with his daughter-in-law and a nine-year-old juvenile while the complainant’s husband went to seek employment somewhere.
Around 8 pm the juvenile fell asleep and the complainant took her to bed.
Upon her return to the dining room, Chabata started caressing the complainant’s buttocks and breasts before raping her once.
Chabata threatened to kill the complainant if she reveals the rape to anyone.
The following day the complainant called her husband and told her about the rape.
The husband came back and accompanied his wife to the police station leading to the arrest of Chabata.
EXCLUSIVE: Walter Magaya has begun losing his physical properties to victims he defrauded 3 years ago, with the first attachment by the court done last week | DO YOU SYMPATHISE WITH HIM?
How you have fallen from heaven,
You a star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who defeated the nations!
13 But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’ – Isaiah 14:12-14
He used to not only terrorise his victims, he would steal from them, and while some would lose money, more than 15 others would lose their very lives – Walter Magaya’s vile glory has come to an end.
Walter Magaya
By A Correspondent| A Harare elderly woman was ordered to sell her posh flat in the Harare CBD and hand the money to controversial preacher Walter Magaya for a fake property he claimed was under construction in the Westgate area.
The self proclaimed prophet forced the vulnerable elder, who is a pensioner, to trade off her residence for a non existent mansion.
To force his sale through, Magaya had shown her a place where he announced he is building new flats, in Wonderland Estates (after Westgate along Lomagundi road).
This is a scheme first exposed by ZimEye.com three years ago.
ZimEye remains dedicated to expose more of Magaya’s frauds, to give victims a voice so they can recover their money’s.
At one point Magaya had already taken the woman to the fake property “saying this is yours.” She would 3 years later discoverthat it was all fake and the whole piece of land is actually owned by some Chinese businessperson.
At one time during court hearings, the elder’s lawyer tried to obtain restitution from an unfinished property at the estate, only to be told that the so called MAGAYA estate has since been sold off to some undisclosed Chinese businessmen, as the complainant narrates.
“My client was concerned saying she might be killed by MAGAYA’s people. According to her MAGAYA kills those who exposes him,” the lawyer Frank Nyangani tells ZimEye.
“It was MAGAYA who persuaded her saying you can actually sell this flat and invest in this bigger thing,” he adds.
He continues saying, “all along she was scared if the matter is published…”
Mr Nyangani however said she has since changed her mind and now says, “if he kills me let him kill me.”
Magaya had shown her 20 houses.
Magaya’s defence was the elderly had paid USD70,000 and he says this was a deposit; she is supposed to pay USD 140,000 so she must pay him an additional USD70,000 and he will refund her USD70,000 in bond note value.
A writ of execution has since been obtained to attach Magaya’s property.
By A Correspondent- President Mnangagwa has appointed a 13-member steering committee to oversee the implementation of the National Anti Corruption Strategy, which was launched in July.
Members of the committee include ZACC chairwoman Loice Matanda-Moyo, ZEC chairperson Priscilla Chigumba, Public Service Commission chairman Vincent Hungwe, Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda, Commissioner General of the Police Godwin Matanga, Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority Faith Mazani and Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya.
Other members of the committee would be drawn from the Financial Intelligence Unit, NGOs, Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, Chamber of Mines and Consumer Council of Zimbabwe.-dailynews
Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Senator Larry Mavima has gone into self-isolation after testing positive to Covid-19.
Senator Mavima confirmed the development this morning saying he is now in self isolating at his home while being taken care of by some local specialist doctors. Sen Mavima who is also the Provincial Covid-19 taskforce chairperson, however, said he was out of danger as there were no other symptoms.
“I can confirm that I have tested positive to Covid-19 and am self-isolating at home. I would like to quickly inform the entire province and the nation at large that I am not in any immediate danger. I am grateful to a wonderful team of local specialist doctors who have been monitoring my situation. I don’t have any other symptoms.
“I am in isolation but in high spirits for there is no stigma to this pandemic as everyone is at risk of contracting it. I am also banking on prayers from all corners,” said Sen Mavima who was speaking on a telephone interview from his home.
By A Correspondent | A Zimbabwean nurse who is a pastor has passed away in Nottingham.
The mother of two, Anna Chibwana, was also a pastor’s wife. Her husband, Edwin, is a close colleague of Christ Embassy church founder, Chris Oyakhilome.
the late pastor Anna and husband, Ed
They’ve been together running a church in the east Midlands, called The New Creation church.
A family member, a niece described Anna as ‘a loving mother who was always hardworking.’
She passed away following a combined struggle with COVID and colon cancer.
She had colon cancer before and was later diagnosed COVID positive after hospitalisation, a church elder told ZimEye.
A former church media employee described Pastor Anna as a dedicated mother, a hard worker who was working hard to look after her family in the UK and in Zimbabwe. – More to follow…
By A Correspondent- A Leaked conversation between two senior Zanu-PF officials in Mashonaland Central province has exposed a rift in the ruling party ahead of the district co-ordinating committee (DCC) elections.
This comes at a time some interested candidates like Energy minister Zhemu Soda, who is also allegedly campaigning for a post in the DCC, has claimed that President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered that he should run uncontested.
Former Muzarabani MP Christopher Chitindi is also reportedly eyeing the Muzarabani district chairmanship.
In the leaked audio, Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial deputy spokesperson Fredrick Nhaka is allegedly engaged in a telephone conversation, where he warned a district political commissar in Bindura against associating with businessman James Makamba, and those whom he said were aligned to the country’s Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.
Makamba is reportedly eyeing the provincial chairperson post and is aligned to Chiwenga.
Nhaka is heard in the audio giving his preferred list of candidates, where he referred to some candidates as ED’s people (Mnangagwa’s people). He also gave another list of party officials whom he said were linked to Chiwenga.
“These people I have mentioned to you are ED’s people. They are fighting the President and are now with Chiwenga. They are working with leadership here and also with Makamba,” Nhaka said in the audio.
He also said he did not want fights just like what happened with former VicePresident Joice Mujuru who alleged led a faction called Gamatox.
Contacted for comment, Soda claimed that people were jealous of his appointment as Energy minister by Mnangagwa, and as a result were cooking up stories about factionalism in Zanu-PF using his name.
“People are just jealous of my appointment and are cooking up stories. There was a fake letter on social media written by misguided members in our district just to soil my name,” Soda said.
Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairperson Kazembe Kazembe said party members should be warned against dropping Mnangagwa and Chiwenga’s names to pursue their personal agendas.
“This narrative that there is a rift in the presidium is both nonsensical and imaginary. That is the language of the enemy. The President and his Vice-Presidents work very well and they will not lose sleep over these artificial enemymade non-existent rifts,” the Home Affairs minister said.
Kazembe also told NewsDay that provincial members, the national consultative assembly, central committee and politburo members should not interfere with DCC elections.
“We have noted with concern that some senior party officials have taken a direct interest in the DCC elections and some are even campaigning for the candidates.
“Aspiring candidates should be allowed to campaign freely and on their own. The party will not hesitate to discipline all those found interfering,” Kazembe said.
He warned that those putting the name of the party ito disrepute will be disciplined. -Newsday
In Zimbabwe if one uses a threat perceived could deter or discourage an officer from performing duty by use of violence or fear, they are convicted of resisting an executive officer. It is a serious crime.
Auxillia Mnangagwa
ZANU PF leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa’s wife at the weekend threatened a police officer who named her for gold smuggling in the case against former ZIFA boss Henrietta Rushwaya who was last week arrested at RGM airport with a bag full of 6kg uncleared gold.
She said ” I am challenging the Police through their relevant office to issue a statement with regards the utterances by one officer during her arrest that falsely implicated me and my son Collins.”
Below was Auxillia’s full statement.
As first lady my duty is first and foremost to Zimbabwe as a nation. I serve each and every Zimbabwean whole heartedly and selflessly. I serve the interests of my nation and not any individual. I do not engage in illegal narrow minded pursuits like gold smuggling.
I have no dealings nor involvement with Miss Henrietta Rushwaya of any illegal kind. I am challenging the Police through their relevant office to issue a statement with regards the utterances by one officer during her arrest that falsely implicated me and my son Collins.
I am a strong advocate for transparency and honesty and any continued silence by the police can be misconstrued as a cover up. If there is any incriminating evidence against me I challenge the police to present it to the nation without fear or favour. If there be none I also challenge the police to say so.
I will not be dissuaded from working for those who need my help in both rural and urban areas. I will also support totally all anti corruption activities regardless of the many malicious attacks clearly designed to cow me from supporting them. I stand firm on my principles.
It pains me that my son who is hard working and an obedient son, is being attacked for no reason other than being a member of the first family. He is a hard working person and strives to improve himself day by day. As a mother I am proud of his work ethic and encourage him not be affected by malicious rumours.
I am an advocate for peace and love and work hard at helping those who I can. I am greatly aggravated by the continuation of these false stories and claims. However, I remain unshaken and will continue to serve my nation in its entirety to the best of my ability.
By Leonard Koni| A crisis where the government deployed the army, rolled tanks into the streets and killed innocent unarmed civilians at 45°angle and a commission of enquiry instituted but no one is held accountable.
Zimbabwe is such a peaceful country and does not deserve this. We are in a crisis where teachers, doctors are incapacitated to an extent of not carrying out their duties because of poor remunerations thereby killing both the education and healthy system of a country.
A crisis where top government officials sacrifice the few available resources on arbitrary arrests, abductions, torturing and harassment of political activists who speak out and denounce corruption done by the state and incarcerating them on trumped up charges, a very good example is the imprisonment of Hopewell Chin’ono, Joana Mamombe, Jacob Ngarivhume, Ngadziore just to mention a few.
A crisis is when a government allows inflating of prices and corruptly engage a bogus company called Drax International and no one is arrested. A crisis is when a government prioritises buying state of the art range rovers when people have no clean water and fetch it from the grave yards.
The Government of the day should profer some solutions to such challenges.
Corruption is killing the once vibrant Southern African country. Instead of addressing this free-for-all corruption, they make legislation likely to be used against those criticising the rot.
The masses who have become the target enemy have nothing to do with these super powers who have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe.
We have a President of Zimbabwe Minerals Federation Henrietta Rushwaya who was arrested at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport trying to smoothly smuggle six kilograms of gold to Dubai instructed the switching off of the CCTV to allow her free pass.
Such is a crisis in a country were 80% are living under the poverty datum line and the rich are getting richer.
This talk of sanctions is just hiding with a finger. There is a lot happening behind the scenes.
Of course the people know what is happening and cannot only gasp and swallow under a barrage of propaganda and spin from the state media.
The more you beat a small drum, the more it is likely to burst quickly. The more a powerful person repeats a lie the greater its credibility. It’s an age-old truism about the escapism of desperados. We remain stuck in the cemetery of dreams.
At this juncture can we stop talking about sanctions and start putting all corrupt people in jails and keep them in for a while. We need to rebuild Zimbabwe and make it work again.
Corruption is affecting teachers, doctors, nurses and eveyone in our communities.
We have reversed the gains of independence and have installed a mafia cartel of saboteurs who are leaching and pillaging the country siphoning its resources and stashing the loot in foreign banks.
Today its six kilograms and tomorrow it is going to be a tonne. Can we have a report on how much did we accrue from Chiadzwa diamonds? Have Chiadzwa proceeds maintained the country’s economic stability?
The country and its people bear the scars 40 years of economic savagery.
The country has failed to solve the economic equation and instead has the energy to smuggle back AIPPA to gag and twart its own citizens who will speak ill or demonstrate during times of very important summits or meetings.
The government quickly forgets that different countries have embassies and foreign media houses operating within the chambers of information dissemination.
ZANU PF has always missed the point. Its problems are not with the west but they just use that as an excuse to abuse its own people. Cuba had problems with America but it was able to stand the pressure because it rallied its people behind its leadership by making sure that no one complained of being left out.
Who really would care about elections if the government is using the collected tax to build hospitals and schools, roads and infrastructure for the benefit of the people?
There is a great number of people hate those who speak the truth and speak out against injustice and corruption, because they would rather work for a corrupt institution than leave it. And they don’t want you ending the party while they can drink on your tap.
The treatment of people who have been arrested championing for democracy, good governance and fighting corruption in the country has left people asking the credibility and impartially of our judiciary system.
By Mthwakazi- It has always been how Zanu pf’s murderers work to cover their fingerprints in crime scenes which sees Chief Fortune Charumbira heaped with the responsibility to lead the Gukurahundi reburial exercise.
As we have always said that, the much talked about Gukurahundi reburial has nothing to do with healing the survivors of the massacres but everything about setting the perpetrators off the hook, we don’t think Emmerson Mnangagwa himself can give reasons of what exactly qualifies Charumbira to lead the reburial exercise.
Other than Charumbira is a Shona and perfectly positioned to shield him from prosecution, I don’t think Mnangagwa has any reason to justify his choice. It must be remembered that after the outbreak of Entumbane Zipra – Zanla war, a commission headed by a Shona Judge, Enoch Dumbutshena was established by Robert Mugabe to investigate the reasons for the outbreak of the war.
Its findings are unknown until this day. In 1983, the Gukurahundi stormed Mthwakazi/Matabeleland, killing, raping, torturing and maiming hundreds of people. There was a loud outcry of what was happening.
Fearing being exposed, Mugabe together with his henchman, Emmerson Mnangagwa, hatched a plan to dig and cover those carcasses deep underground. Another commision headed by another Shona, Simplisius Chihambakwe was established between 1983 and 84. Its results too went missing until this day.
So as number one suspect in the massacres, Mnangagwa only chose Charumbira to ensure he destroys all the existing evidence of the killings so he can ‘walk’ free. If that is not the case, what are the duties of Charumbira in the reburial exercise and what makes him special to lead it? Are there no Ndebele chiefs who are well versed with the burial cultures of Mthwakazi who could lead that process?
As MLF, we warn Mnangagwa to note that his dirty tricks on Mthwakazi can no longer go unnoticed and it is unfortunate that whether he successfully destroys the evidence of the killings, he cannot rub out of our minds the names of all those who had a hand in the killings. Their day to pay for their sins is coming very fast.
We also urge all Mthwakazi chiefs to keep away from this evil exercise.
ANALYSIS| Donald Trump audibly indicated he won’t go peacefully, Emmerson Mnangagwa lied saying he will step down peacefully, at least Mnangagwa demonstrated some responsibility albeit faking it.
Trump abused court officials, put sanctions on the ICC prosecutor. Mnangagwa set up Motlanthe, even though it was a fake commission. LIVE DISCUSSION AT 3PM HARARE TIME
Is something wrong with the name ZANU PF? Is it cursed or its just a party of ruthless, shameless hard core criminals who are after making money?
Two days ago ZANU PF ward councillor invited his business friends to come and “loot” government sourced stock feed from Murowa business centre for resale in Zvishavane town.
The stock feed was sourced by the government and meant for the rural people whose cattle are succumbing to the obtaining drought.
This was a noble idea considering the importance of cattle to the rural folks but this greedy and unsympathetic councillor saw a big gap of making huge bucks.
The government sourced stock feed was retailing at 6 USD cash (no bond no swipe but hard cash USD). 6 USD is equivalent to 600 zimdollars which is a lot of money to the poor povo.
The ward Councillor who is based in Zvishavane town invited his business friends to come and buy this cheap stock feed and transport it back to Zvishavane for resale.
The very same stock feed is now being sold at 16 USD to the very same poor rural folks who were robbed by the stingy greedy and unsympathetic councillor.
Is this the ZANU PF way of doing things? Is this how ZANU PF Councillors cater for the electorate? Is the First Secretary of ZANU PF aware of the shenanigans?
The very same ward Councillor is asking for huge sums of money for drought relief grain and government sourced agricultural inputs. Surprisingly these huge sums of hard cash go un-receipted.
The Councillor’s committee is known for selling looted grain and agricultural inputs. This has been happening ever since this crook councillor came into office and we have complained a million times but it seems he is the law himself.
But one thing for certain, he is tarnishing and de-campaining ZANU PF. Surely its a shame when shameless people rob the very same poor people who voted for them.
By Mthwakazi- It has always been how Zanu pf’s murderers work to cover their fingerprints in crime scenes which sees Chief Fortune Charumbira heaped with the responsibility to lead the Gukurahundi reburial exercise.
As we have always said that, the much talked about Gukurahundi reburial has nothing to do with healing the survivors of the massacres but everything about setting the perpetrators of the hook, we don’t think Emmerson Mnangagwa himself can give reasons of what exactly qualifies Charumbira to lead the reburial exercise.
Other than Charumbira is a Shona and perfectly positioned to shield him from prosecution, I don’t think Mnangagwa has any reason to justify his choice. It must be remembered that after the outbreak of Entumbane Zipra – Zanla war, a commission headed by a Shona Judge, Enoch Dumbutshena was established by Robert Mugabe to investigate the reasons for the outbreak of the war.
Its findings are unknown until this day. In 1983, the Gukurahundi stormed Mthwakazi/Matabeleland, killing, raping, torturing and maiming hundreds of people. There was a loud outcry of what was happening.
Fearing being exposed, Mugabe together with his henchman, Emmerson Mnangagwa, hatched a plan to dig and cover those carcasses deep underground. Another commision headed by another Shona, Simplisius Chihambakwe was established between 1983 and 84. Its results too went missing until this day.
So as number one suspect in the massacres, Mnangagwa only chose Charumbira to ensure he destroys all the existing evidence of the killings so he can ‘walk’ free. If that is not the case, what are the duties of Charumbira in the reburial exercise and what makes him special to lead it? Are there no Ndebele chiefs who are well versed with the burial cultures of Mthwakazi who could lead that process?
As MLF, we warn Mnangagwa to note that his dirty tricks on Mthwakazi can no longer go unnoticed and it is unfortunate that whether he successfully destroys the evidence of the killings, he cannot rub out of our minds the names of all those who had a hand in the killings. Their day to pay for their sins is coming very fast.
We also urge all Mthwakazi chiefs to keep away from this evil exercise.
A young journo Tafadzwa Nyikadzino has furiously accused senior scribe Hopewell Chin’ono of being scared of asking Norton MP Temba Mliswa questions.
Nyikadzino said Chin’ono is not fair by criticising other journalists for failing to ask certain questions. In his charged statement on video, he said Chin’ono does not attend press conferences just as he also said his battles are only on Twitter. Below was the briefer –
By Jane Mlambo| Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) President Takudzwa Ngadziore has vowed to continue fighting for the rights of students and justice for Bulawayo based Tawanda Muchehiwa saying silence will not guarantee his safety.
Posting on Twitter, Ngadziore who spend close to 40 days at Chikurubi maximum prison following his arrest at Impala Car rental premises said he will not pay attention to those asking him to be silent.
“I’ve heard ludicrous whispers, “If you talk, they will kill you Takudzwa” I’ve Questioned back : Is silence going to save me from Death (?) ONE SOLUTION- REVOLUTION,” vowed Ngadziore.
Since the abduction of Tawanda Muchehiwa in Bulawayo early this year, Ngadziore has continued to make noise in demand for justice.
He was arrested when he first went to Impala car rental premises demanding justice for Muchehiwa, resulting in his arrest. He was granted bail and ordered not to set foot 100 metres from Impala car rental premises.
The controversial Government Information Permanent Secretary, Ndabaningi Mangwana is attending a media Alliance function early Monday morning….video loading below
By Farai D Hove | ANALYSIS | Robert Mugabe is turning in his grave after his employee and the man who once swore he would resign upon his boss’ removal, spokesperson George Charamba on Saturday uploaded a video of himself driving in a road a third narrower and tinier than the ones built by the Ian Smith regime 70 years ago.
Zimbabwe is still to have a 50 km road of the multi lane simple, 70 years after the first dualisations were done by the former Rhodesian state establishment.
Harare roads in 1960s with three lanes aside
Charamba’s boast comes at a time when the government has continued to allow the road parastatal, ZINARA to continue running the national transport infrastructure despite cash leakages that are a result of crony fested management, repeating for 4 decades.
Charamba was ecstatic as he wrote: “mabasa eZANU PF vakomana!!!! Aahhh!!!!! Ichoooooo!!!!” – these are the works of ZANUPF.’
Yes, the road might not one in Harare, but the point remains that 70 years later, rural areas should surely have received road expansions of the 1960 glories, the same way other African countries like South Africa have developed theirs.
Ghana is constructing Africa's second 4-tier interchange, the $94 million Pokuase Interchange. pic.twitter.com/p7StL7wKW5
Take the EB Cloete Interchange, for instance: located within the eThekweni Metro, KwaZulu-Natal, has for years been the South African National Roads Agency Ltd’s (SANRAL) iconic interchange. Constructed in the 1970s, it has provided a full-system interchange for the N2 and N3 National Roads.
An inter city road 80 years ago should be twice that of an inner city 20 years later if there’s been development, especially in a country that’s been the world’s fastest growing crop economy. Comparators can be drawn from countries paired with Rhodesia in the UN 1975 World Book.
Charamba’s boasts also come at a time Zimbabwe has abandoned the complete dualisation of the Beitbridge – Harare, Chirundu highway.
Infor minister Monica Mutsvangwa says Government will now only rehabilitate and widen the highway over the next three years at a cost of $693 million, while dualisation will only take place on some sections of the road. The road will be widened from the current seven metres to 12,5 metres making it at par with the N1 highway in South Africa and the Chirundu-Lusaka Road in Zambia. Sections of the road to be dualised will cost $466 million.
The project will be carried out by local contractors while Government concludes negotiations with Chinese firm Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group Limited (AFECC). Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Joel Biggie Matiza said first phase which is rehabilitation and widening, has already started with mobilisation of equipment. He said some of the equipment is on site and the contractors are working on detours.
“Cabinet received a briefing by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development (Joel Biggie Matiza) on progress in the rehabilitation and dualisation of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway, following the decision by Government to use resources from the Road Fund, while waiting the conclusion of ongoing discussion with AFECC, a Chinese investor on the project,” Minister Mutsvangwa said at the end if 2018.
“It should be noted that the decision to commence work on the rehabilitation and dualisation of the highway using local resources was taken in light of the fact that a lot of time has already been lost on the project and that the lives of the travelling public continued to be at risk along this major highway which joins the North-South Development Corridor in the sub-region.
“In terms of this arrangement, the highway will be upgraded in two phases. Phase one entails the rehabilitation and widening of the existing road from the current seven metres width to Southern Africa Transport and Communications Commission (SATCC) standards of 12,5 meters width, and climbing lanes where necessary. This will bring the road to the same standard as N1 on the South African side and the Chirundu-Lusaka Road on the Zambian side.”
By Reason Wafawarova| There are a number of interesting pointers and talking points about the Gold Smuggling Case involving Henrietta Rushwaya.
The case itself looks ridiculously criminal. No one exports 6 kgs of gold in a hand luggage handbag through regular airline checking points with no export paper trail to show for it, and then goes to court to declare innocence and a desperation to have a hearing to clear their name.
Then there is the implication of one Ali Muhammed as the owner of the gold in question and the deal, and another implication of an unnamed would be recipient in Dubai.
Then there is the implication of two security agents as accomplices to Rushwaya, with one Tserai being a known aide of the President, and also of the First Lady.
Then another person is arrested for allegedly trying to secure the release of Rushwaya by pretending to be a member of the Central Intelligence Organisation and also making claims that the gold in question belonged to the First Lady and her son Collins.
Then the Chief Secretary issues a statement warning “impersonators” to stop the “name dropping” habit where the name of the President or that of his wife or children have been used to act above the law, or to secure impunity.
Then we have the First Lady issuing a statement absolving herself from the gold smuggling case, and impliedly threatening the individual who named her and her son.
In the same statement the First Lady “challenges” the police to issue a public statement either incriminating her or absolving her.
In fact she dares the police to say something public about her and her son, reminding us of how much of a law abiding and transparent citizen she is, totally driven by the philanthropic passion to serve our underprivileged people across the country, and therefore far too busy doing great things for us that she has absolutely no time for petty crimes like smuggling just 6 kilograms of gold.
Here are pertinent questions that needy a speedy answer.
1. On what basis is it assumed the person who implicated the First Lady was fabricating his story?
2. We have not heard that the implicated First Lady and her son Collins have been interviewed by either the investigating officers or the fourth state, the media; or by any other independent persons, or ZACC, or Parliament. Why is that?
3. Is it not part of transparency for these two to be interviewed in the public interest?
4. We are told Collins denied the allegations to his friends. Wouldn’t it be better for him to volunteer his side of the story to the investigators?
5. Being implicated in the case, the First Lady becomes a suspect, or at the very least a person of interest or candidate for questioning.
As such does she hold any locus standi to suggest what the police must do in the course of investigations of this case?
Does she have the moral ground to help the police determine the facts in a case where she is implicated?
Does this amount to interference with the course of justice, or intimidating the institution of policing to influence the outcome of an investigation?
6. Does the ZRP issue public statements on criminal matters at the instigation of subjects of their investigations?
7. This matter is already before the courts, with the implicator charged to face trial. Is it not subjudice to make comments on the matter in regards to what investigators aught to do?
8. What does the President have to say about the internet picture trail that shows him with two of the accused 5, excluding Tserai his aide?
9. The First Lady absolves her adult son as innocent because she says, “He is hardworking.” Do parents declare the innocence of their adult children leading independent lives when they get implicated in alleged criminal matters?
10. Can the comments from the First Lady be misconstrued or construed to suggest shielding her son from possible arrest or questioning?
I am asking these questions not because I believe the First Lady tried to smuggle gold out of the country, nor because I believe she didn’t.
I am asking purely based on due process and the principle that says justice must be seen to be done, especially where high profile personalities are implicated or accused.
I do hope that the police will stand firm on their constitutional oath, and also that those suspected or charged will receive fair treatment and a fair trial where one will occur.
