By A Correspondent- National Social Security Authority (NSSA) is reportedly seriously mulling making part of their payments to pensioners in USD to cushion pensioners from the rising cost of living, The Zimbabwe Independent Reports.
This was revealed by interim NSSA General Manager Arthur Manase who spoke to the publication and said:
With the recent implementation of reforms that saw the contribution rate increased from 7% to 9% split equally between employer and employee, as well as the increase in the maximum pensionable salary from ZW$700 (US$8,64) to ZW$5 000 (US$61,73) we are now able to effectively deal with the core issue of benefit payouts.
We have already instructed our actuaries to conduct an actuarial valuation to determine the level of benefits that the scheme can afford to pay with implementation of the necessary reforms.
Manase also detailed the benefits NSSA gave out to pensioners and said:
Just in the last year alone, Nssa awarded the following: a discretionary bonus equivalent to a month’s pension to all pensioners in July 2019; reviewed the minimum pension from ZW$80 (US$0,99) to ZW$200 (US$2,47) for Pensions and Other Benefits Scheme and ZW$240 (US$2,96) for Accident Prevention and Workers’ Compensation Scheme in October 2019; a bonus equivalent to a 13th cheque in November 2019 and most recently another discretionary bonus equivalent to a month’s pension in April, May and June 2020.
However, the NSSA payouts to pensioners are still very paltry considering the cost of living in Zimbabwe and the inflation that wiped away pensions and savings these past few months.-ZimIndependent
United States-based goalkeeper Tatenda Mkuruva will be named in the Warriors squad for the AFCON qualifiers double header against Algeria, Soccer24 has established.
The former Dynamos and Cape Town City shot-stopper, who turns out for Michigan Stars in the National Independent Soccer League (NISA), will make a come back to the Warriors squad after a three-year absence.
The last time he was between the sticks for the country’s senior men national soccer team was at AFCON 2017 in Gabon.
Mkuruva, according to a source at ZIFA, is part of the squad, which also includes Baroka’s Elvis Chipepeze.
Warriors coach Zdvravko Logarušić called Mkuruva for the international friendly against Malawi earlier this month but the goalkeeper, just like many other foreign-based players, could not make it.-Soccer 24
The Confederation of the African Football (CAF) has postponed this year’s Champions League final and the semi-final second leg between Egypt’s Zamalek and Raja Casablanca of Morocco.
The postponement of the semi-final fixture follows after an outbreak of coronavirus in the Raja squad which has seen fourteen people infected so far.
The Moroccan giants were set to travel to Cairo this weekend for the second leg in the tie when the health crisis hit their camp. They lead the encounter 1-0, thanks to a home victory in the first leg earlier this month.
The delay has also forced CAF to revise the dates for the final which was initially set to take place on November 6.
The continental football body is yet to announce new dates for the postponed fixtures.
Meanwhile, Al Ahly have already booked their place in the final. -Soccer 24
France-based Zimbabwe Warriors duo of midfielder Marshall Munetsi and striker Tinotenda Kadewere’s availability for the Algeria games might be in doubt following a declaration of a second lockdown in the Western Europe country.
France has experienced a new wave of Covid-19 cases, leaving President Emmanuel Macron with no choice but to put the country in lockdown until at least end of November.
Under the new measures, which will begin today, people will only be allowed to leave their homes for essential work and medical reasons only.
Travelling within France will also be prohibited, though it is still not clear if travelling outside the country is allowed, which will determine whether Munetsi and Kadewere, who are on the ranks of Stade de Reims and Olympique Lyon respectively, will be released for the Algeria double-header slated for next month.
The pair is part of the Warriors squad expected to be announced by coach Zdravko Logarušić any time soon.
Logarušić admitted that the lockdown in France might affect their preparations.
“We had the squad list ready on the 15th of this month. Now because of lockdown in France, we are delaying the announcement. Also, maybe England will go on lockdown so we are not sure if our players can travel or not,” said the Croat.-Soccer 24
Warriors coach Zdravko Logarusic has admitted that the Algeria game will be a difficult one, but the gaffer remains optimistic to come out with a positive result from the tie.
Zimbabwe will travel to North Africa for a Matchday 3, Group H encounter against the Desert Foxes on 12 November before hosting them in Harare in the following round four days later.
The two teams are separated by two points in the group, with Algeria leading with six points after beating Zambia and Botswana in their opening two games.
The two victories are part of the North African’s ongoing unbeaten streak which stretches back to October 2018.
The Warriors are in second place after playing a goalless draw against the Zebras and a 2-0 win over Chipolopolo.
“We always have to be optimistic, all coaches have to be optimistic, but it’s a real challenge, but we are going to give the best of ourselves,” Logarusic told RAI this week.
“However, we remain realistic, and we have to admit that Algeria is the best team in Africa at the moment. It is not easy to say that we are going to beat the best team in Africa or that we are going to do anything.
“But the objective is to give the best of ourselves and see how far we will go knowing that we will face the best team in Africa.”-Soccer 24
Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance(Namibia ) has called for the immediate resignation of Chief Justice Luke Malaba.
According to the opposition party, Malaba’s occupation of the revered office is an insult to the judiciary system.
Read full statement below:
LUKE MALABA IS A ZANUPF POLITICIAN MASQUERADING AS A CHIEF JUSTICE, MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA DISTRICT DEMANDS JUDICIARY INDEPENDENCE!
30 OCTOBER 2020
Mdc Alliance Namibia lauds the illegally suspended Justice Ndewere and the resolute judges who unravelled incontrovertible evidence of the state capture of the judiciary system through an affidavit and a petition undersigned by diverse judges, written to Mr Munangagwa, citing Chief Justice Malaba as the threat to justice in Zimbabwe.
It has been brought to the attention of those who were still doubting the weaponisation of the law by clueless Zanupf to settle political scores.
The grieving judges made it clear that the capture of the courts is not a fabrication or trumped-up story, it is in fact the veracity.
Our Judges are operating with extreme terror and trepidation given the current phobia which exists within the judiciary.
It is imperative for all social democrats to gear up towards earnestly requesting a fresh hearing of 2018 July rigged elections petition without the biased and partisan Malaba.
We also demand new court hearing for the case which robbed Mdc Alliance of its MPs who were unconstitutionally recalled by the Zanupf surrogates exploiting the captured courts.
Mdc Alliance Namibia advocates the enactment of an objective and independent panel to investigate how the Chief Justice routinely interferes with Magistrates and their legal opinions through the Chief Magistrates’ office.
The compromised Malaba must step down together with all tainted and corrupt judges.
Moreover, in the petition, the judges noted that elevation destitute of questioning and evaluation of superior personnel within the Judicial Service Commission implies that complaints fall on deaf ears as high-ranking ineligible officers of court are there to shield their jobs and the brawny or powerful perks that go with their handsome jobs. It is quite pathetic to learn that judges no longer trust their ancillary service providers as they are compelled to conceal their legal opinions for fear of being directed to alter these by the Zanupf official disguised as an officer of the court. Chief justice Malaba was incriminated in the affidavit by Justice Ndewere. He tried in vain to frog-march the patriotic Judge to deny bail to Job SaroWiwa Sikhala, the vibrant Mdc Alliance Vice-Chairperson and Prisca Mupfumira.
Moreso , he was sombrely throwing a monkey wrench in the autonomous Judges on the election petition from the People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa after a historic rigged election in 2018. The fact that the Chief Justice can tell the individualistic judges to change their sagaciousness must be confronted with equal measure. Zanupf must immediately stop their manipulation of the law using partisan judges, as Mdc Alliance Namibia, we advocate for sound judgements that come from commutative and self-governing judges.
Furthermore, the judges also unearthed what the Zanupf Chief Justice calls “judgement by consensus”, a euphemism for dissuading contentious judicial decisions. Basically, the Chief Justice has the final say on the Supreme and Constitutional Court judgements that are released giving him the evil power powers to victimise inferiors. These courts are therefore the Chief Justice’s courts where no judge has the effrontery to disaccord with him for fear of chastisement. There are also multitudinous direct battle royal of interest issues that we see every now and then in the judiciary system. It is this apparent capture of the courts that is being enjoyed by Zanupf surrogates led by Khupe and Mwonzora who decided to surrender the freedom project to Zanupf Satanists. We shall continue to demand an end to the politicisation of our justice system. #JusticeForAll #MalabaMustFall.
They are also the obvious failures where like is not treated with like. A complainant against Justice has been granted permission to discharge and it is clear that Chief Justice sent a personal emmisary to him schooling him on how to respond, this is clear judicial rot that needs imminent confrontation from genuine social democrats who subscribe to Constitutional Democracy. The designated delinquency deposition against Hon Justice Mabhikwa are identical to felony allegations against the Chief Justice when he was a Magistrate. This becomes an undoubted pointer to the historical state capture of the judiciary since independence. Zanupf abuses , butchers, rapes ,abducts and plunders the economy with impunity because they exploit the law to silence voices of dissent.
To sum it up, Mdc Alliance Namibia is demanding the independence of the judiciary to enhance political, economic and social equilibrium before the law. We demand that Zanupf must halt its weaponisation of the law. Malaba must resign now! The Judicial Service Commission must not be manipulated by Zanupf dictators who are desire to eat on behalf of the hungry masses.
Farai Dziva|The Zanu PF administration is using the police to silence MDC Alliance councillor for ward 18, Gilbert Mutubuki who is fighting for the rights of landless residents.
Mutubuki received papers from the police on Friday morning instructing him to appear in court on November 5 for allegedly inciting public violence.
“I have just received summons from Zimbabwe Republic Police Triangle today.
I am being charged with Inciting Public Violence last year in Ward 18, Chitepo Village.
No amount of intimidation will stop people power.
We are going ahead with redistribution of Land from land barons to ordinary citizens.
Let me assure Zanu PF regime that we are going ahead, no turning back,” Mutubuki said in a statement.
MDC Alliance youths and pressure groups have also petitioned the Chiredzi District Administration over the victimization of people living with disabilities by Zanu PF for Chiredzi West Farai Musikavanhu.
Musikavanhu said those living with disabilities should not support the opposition.
“MP Musikavanhu openly insulted people with disabilities.He instructed the Social Welfare to remove people with disabilities who support the MDC Alliance from the list of beneficiaries, ” a government source told ZimEye.com.
By A Correspondent- Law experts yesterday demanded the resignation of Chief Justice Luke Malaba over allegations of interfering with judges in the discharge of their duties, which they said indicate a crisis in the judicial system.
They said Malaba’s antics called into question the independence of the Judiciary and damaged its international standing.
The call follows a damning letter by judges of the three senior benches to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, accusing Malaba of interfering with their duties.
The letter exposed the long held belief that the judicial system had been captured and designed to serve partisan interests.
“Judges have been complaining quietly for years, and so it’s only now coming out because they are fed up. Malaba is a bully. It demonstrates the serious crisis in the third arm of the state,” law expert Alex Magaisa said.
Political analyst Rashweat Mukundu said the letter by the judges was an indictment on the Chief Justice and further damaged the country’s reputation.
“The judges’ letter exposes what has been a public secret over time that the Judiciary is compromised, captured and serves the political and other powerful elites,” Mukundu said.
“If you have the right political connections and resources then the courts are in your pockets. This is a serious indictment of Chief Justice Malaba. It prompts soul searching, but knowing the arrogance within the political elite and the Judiciary, this will be dismissed with contempt.
“What this does is to further damage Zimbabwe’s image and our international standing. No investor or partner wants to engage a country in which the Judiciary, more so, the highest court, interprets the law to suit partisan interests.”
In the letter dated October 26, 2020, the judges signed off as “your long-suffering judges”, indicating their frustration with how Malaba, who also chairs the Judicial Service Commission, was running the Judiciary.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition director Blessing Vava weighed in, saying: “It just shows that the centre is no longer holding, it seems there are too many centres of power within the Mnangagwa administration.
“On the other hand, the statement by the judges confirms our long-held fears that the Judiciary was no longer acting and serving in the interests of justice, but rather serving the interests of certain political figures.”
He said the persecution of opposition and civil society activists using the courts confirmed it.
Opposition parties, civic society and activists have often alleged state capture of the Judiciary, citing the manner in which those perceived to be anti-government are “persecuted” instead of prosecuted.
“Those who have committed the corruption are scot-free, they have not returned a single dollar of the money, they have not been arrested or tried. The US$15 billion is still missing. Those who speak out against corruption are in leg irons and put in Section D, the most dangerous of Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.
The opposition MDC Alliance said the judges’ letter had exposed the State capture of the Judiciary.
“This is what we have been saying,”Clifford Hlatywayo, the MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson said.
“The courts are captured by political elites. Malaba is an appointee of Mnangagwa and he returned the favour by declaring him the President. Zimbabwe is in this legitimacy crisis because of captured Malaba.”
He said the judges had now exposed that they could not breathe.
“However, they are writing to the wrong person. Mnangagwa is the appointing authority who appointed and gives specific assignments to Malaba. The people of Zimbabwe stand with judges. We don’t want a captured Judiciary. Malaba must resign for the sake of professional justice.”
Government has not denied the authenticity of the letter.
Here are seven steps you can take to navigate this wave of information and decide who and what to trust:
Assess the source
Who shared the information with you and where did they get it from? Even if it is friends or family, you still need to vet their source. To check for fake social media accounts, look at how long profiles have been active, their number of followers and their most recent posts. For websites, check the “About Us” and “Contact Us” pages to look for background information and legitimate contact details.
When it comes to images or videos, make it a habit to verify their authenticity.
For images, you can use reverse image search tools provided by Google and TinEye. For videos, you can use Amnesty International’s YouTube DatViewer, which extracts thumbnails that you can enter into reverse image search tools.
Other clues that a source may be unreliable or inaccurate include unprofessional visual design, poor spelling and grammar, or excessive use of all caps or exclamation points.
Go beyond headlines
Headlines may be intentionally sensational or provocative to get high numbers of clicks. Read more than just the headline of an article – go further and look at the entire story. Search more widely than social media for information – look at print sources such as newspapers and magazines, and digital sources such as podcasts and online news sites. Diversifying your sources allows you to get a better picture of what is or is not trustworthy.
Identify the author
Search the author’s name online to see if they are real or credible.
Check the date
When you come across information, ask yourself these questions: Is this a recent story? Is it up to date and relevant to current events? Has a headline, image or statistic been used out of context?
Examine the supporting evidence
Credible stories back up their claims with facts – for example, quotes from experts or links to statistics or studies. Verify that experts are reliable and that links actually support the story
Check your biases
We all have biases, and these factor into how we view what’s happening around us. Evaluate your own biases and why you may have been drawn to a particular headline or story. What is your interpretation of it? Why did you react to it that way? Does it challenge your assumptions or tell you what you want to hear? What did you learn about yourself from your interpretation or reaction?
Turn to fact-checkers
When in doubt, consult trusted fact-checking organizations, such as the International Fact-Checking Network and global news outlets focused on debunking misinformation, including the Associated Press and Reuters.
Information, misinformation and disinformation
Information is what we call things that are accurate to the best of our current knowledge. For instance, COVID-19 stands for coronavirus disease 2019 and is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. One of the difficulties with any new pathogen, like this coronavirus, is that information changes over time as we learn more about the science.
Misinformation, on the other hand, is false information.
Importantly, it is false information that was not created with the intention of hurting others. Misinformation is often started by someone who genuinely wants to understand a topic and cares about keeping other people safe and well. It is then shared by others who feel the same.
Everyone believes they are sharing good information – but unfortunately, they are not. And depending on what is being shared, the misinformation can turn out to be quite harmful.
At the other end of the spectrum is disinformation. Unlike misinformation, this is false information created with the intention of profiting from it or causing harm. That harm could be to a person, a group of people, an organization or even a country. Disinformation generally serves some agenda and can be dangerous. During this pandemic, we are seeing it used to try to erode our trust in each other and in our government and public institutions.
How to navigate misinformation and disinformation
It helps to think of misinformation and disinformation spreading in the same way as viruses. One person might share fake news with their friends and family, and then a handful of them share it with more of their friends and family, and before you know it, potentially harmful or dangerous information is taking over everyone’s newsfeed.
But just as we can protect against COVID-19 with hand washing, physical distancing and masks, we can slow down the spread of misinformation and disinformation by practising some information hygiene. Before sharing something, ask yourself these questions:
How does this make me feel?
Why am I sharing this?
How do I know if it’s true?
Where did it come from?
Whose agenda might I be supporting by sharing it?
If you know something is false, or if it makes you angry, don’t share it to debunk it or make fun of it. That just spreads the misinformation or disinformation further. Learn more about how you can report misinformation online.
Good places to go for reliable information are the websites of your national Ministry of Health or the World Health Organization. Remember, though: information will change as we learn more about the virus.
What WHO is doing
WHO has developed guidance to help individuals, community leaders, governments and the private sector understand some key actions they can take to manage the COVID-19 infodemic.
For instance, WHO has been working closely with more than 50 digital companies and social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitch, Snapchat, Pinterest, Google, Viber, WhatsApp and YouTube, to ensure that science-based health messages from the organization or other official sources appear first when people search for information related to COVID-19. WHO has also partnered with the Government of the United Kingdom on a digital campaign to raise awareness of misinformation around COVID-19 and encourage individuals to report false or misleading content online. In addition, WHO is creating tools to amplify public health messages – including its WHO Health Alert chatbot, available on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Viber – to provide the latest news and information on how individuals can protect themselves and others from COVID-19.
Source: World Health Organization
Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
For more information follow /like our Facebook page :Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
Farai Dziva|MDC Alliance deputy president, Hon Tendai Biti has pointed out that Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa himself is the “godfather of looting.”
Hon Biti was commenting on the arrest of Henrietta Rushwaya for attempting to smuggling six kilograms of gold out of the country.
Hon Biti argued : “The tragedy of Zim is that it is now run by the worst of its lot .
Thorough scumbags with no respect for rules, law and decency They have no values, no morality, no limits,no elasticity.
A vacuous extractive lot that should be seen nowhere near the State Palace A kakistocracy .
The Henrietta Rushwaya case is microcosm of the huge rot that is the commodities sector.Billions are being siphoned off Zim particularly in gold,diamonds,chrome and platinum.
The Godfather of illicit gold dealings is a well known thief masquerading as a leader.He is the Arch-Bishop.”
ANYONE who has been in a relation ship for a reasonable length of time knows arguments can start over the most trivial thing.
For one Bulawayo woman, an innocuous remark that the wind her husband passed “smelled horrible” resulted in a horrible misunderstanding that led her to desert her matrimonial home.
This was heard when the woman, Pamela Sibanda, approached the Bulawayo Civil Court seeking a protection order against her husband Philani Sibanda.
Pamela who has since deserted their matrimonial home in Morningside claimed her husband was in the habit of verbally and physically harassing her.
She said she was now living in fear after her husband swore that she was going to die in his hands.
“Philani Sibanda is my husband and I left him over a month ago as a result of his violent behaviour. A day before I left, he insulted me after I overheard him talking on the phone with another woman, and he then damaged my phone saying it has evidence against him.
“On 4 October 2020 he sent me a threatening message saying I should brace myself for what is coming. He went on to send another message saying all hell will break loose because he has nothing to lose anymore.
“He is constantly threatening me saying I will die in his hands and I do not know what he meant with that. Because of his continuous threats I am now living in fear that he will harm me,” said Pamela.
In response, Philani said trouble started after his wife accused him of being responsible for the “horrible smell” that had engulfed their bedroom.
“I had never insulted her. I only reacted after she started attacking me. On the day in question she alleged the room was smelling because I was ‘puffing’ and she started spraying perfume all over. I only got hold of her hair and asked her if she wants to fight with me.
“I never threatened her or physically abused her. She left home after we had a misunderstanding and she always refers to the past. I however, admit that I sent her a message saying all hell will break loose because she was refusing to come back home,” responded Philani.
In her ruling presiding magistrate Marygold Ndlovu ordered Philani not to threaten his wife in any way.-B-Metro
Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance Youth Assembly will on Saturday hold a rally in Zaka District as part of efforts by the opposition party to strengthen its support base in the rural areas.
The rally will be held in ward 11, Zaka North Constituency.
Senior party officials are expected to address the rally.
“Tomorrow we will be in Zaka North Constituency for our Youth Assembly rally.
We will not say much at this juncture but everything is in place.
Our aim is to strengthen our support base in the rural areas.
We know that Zaka District is a Zanu PF stronghold but we are also building our structures in the area,” an MDC Alliance official told ZimEye.com.
LUKE MALABA IS A ZANUPF POLITICIAN MASQUERADING AS A CHIEF JUSTICE, MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA DISTRICT DEMANDS JUDICIARY INDEPENDENCE!
30 OCTOBER 2020
Mdc Alliance Namibia lauds the illegally suspended Justice Ndewere and the resolute judges who unravelled incontrovertible evidence of the state capture of the judiciary system through an affidavit and a petition undersigned by diverse judges, written to Mr Munangagwa, citing Chief Justice Malaba as the threat to justice in Zimbabwe. It has been brought to the attention of those who were still doubting the weaponisation of the law by clueless Zanupf to settle political scores. The grieving judges made it clear that the capture of the courts is not a fabrication or trumped-up story, it is in fact the veracity.Our Judges are operating with extreme terror and trepidation given the current phobia which exists within the judiciary.
It is imperative for all social democrats to gear up towards earnestly requesting a fresh hearing of 2018 July rigged elections petition without the biased and partisan Malaba.
We also demand new court hearing for the case which robbed Mdc Alliance of its MPs who were unconstitutionally recalled by the Zanupf surrogates exploiting the captured courts.
Mdc Alliance Namibia advocates for the enactment of an objective and independent panel to investigate how the Chief Justice routinely interferes with Magistrates and their legal opinions through the Chief Magistrates’ office. The compromised Malaba must step down together with all tainted and corrupt judges.
Moreover, in the petition, the judges noted that elevation destitute of questioning and evaluation of superior personnel within the Judicial Service Commission implies that complaints fall on deaf ears as high-ranking ineligible officers of court are there to shield their jobs and the brawny or powerful perks that go with their handsome jobs. It is quite pathetic to learn that judges no longer trust their ancillary service providers as they are compelled to conceal their legal opinions for fear of being directed to alter these by the Zanupf official disguised as an officer of the court. Chief justice Malaba was incriminated in the affidavit by Justice Ndewere. He tried in vain to frog-march the patriotic Judge to deny bail to Job SaroWiwa Sikhala, the vibrant Mdc Alliance Vice-Chairperson and Prisca Mupfumira.
Moreso , he was sombrely throwing a monkey wrench in the autonomous Judges on the election petition from the People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa after a historic rigged election in 2018. The fact that the Chief Justice can tell the individualistic judges to change their sagaciousness must be confronted with equal measure. Zanupf must immediately stop their manipulation of the law using partisan judges, as Mdc Alliance Namibia, we advocate for sound judgements that come from commutative and self-governing judges.
Furthermore, the judges also unearthed what the Zanupf Chief Justice calls “judgement by consensus”, a euphemism for dissuading contentious judicial decisions. Basically, the Chief Justice has the final say on the Supreme and Constitutional Court judgements that are released giving him the evil power powers to victimise inferiors. These courts are therefore the Chief Justice’s courts where no judge has the effrontery to disaccord with him for fear of chastisement. There are also multitudinous direct battle royal of interest issues that we see every now and then in the judiciary system. It is this apparent capture of the courts that is being enjoyed by Zanupf surrogates led by Khupe and Mwonzora who decided to surrender the freedom project to Zanupf Satanists. We shall continue to demand an end to the politicisation of our justice system. #JusticeForAll #MalabaMustFall.
They are also the obvious failures where like is not treated with like. A complainant against Justice has been granted permission to discharge and it is clear that Chief Justice sent a personal emmisary to him schooling him on how to respond, this is clear judicial rot that needs imminent confrontation from genuine social democrats who subscribe to Constitutional Democracy. The designated delinquency deposition against Hon Justice Mabhikwa are identical to felony allegations against the Chief Justice when he was a Magistrate. This becomes an undoubted pointer to the historical state capture of the judiciary since independence. Zanupf abuses , butchers, rapes ,abducts and plunders the economy with impunity because they exploit the law to silence voices of dissent.
To sum it up, Mdc Alliance Namibia is demanding the independence of the judiciary to enhance political, economic and social equilibrium before the law. We demand that Zanupf must halt its weaponisation of the law. Malaba must resign now! The Judicial Service Commission must not be manipulated by Zanupf dictators who are desire to eat on behalf of the hungry masses.
By A Correspondent- 10 armed robbers wearing masks reportedly pounced on motorists and robbed them of their belongings in Beitbridge.
This was revealed by ZRP in a statement that revealed that they were looking for the armed robbers.
According to the police:
A motonst driving a Nissan Caravan with one passenger on board found the road blocked with large stones at the 10km peg along the said road and he went out to remove the stones. Ten men wearing face masks and baladawis, armed with pistols and knives attacked them by firing at their vehde. They stole cell-phones, cash and clothes from the duo.
Another motorist arrived at the scene and the robbers also shot at his vehicle, puncturing his front tyres. The motorist drove off, abandoned the vehicle and sought help.
Other motorists arrived and shone their lights on the robbers but they sneaked behind the motorists and opened fire. The motoists fled and left their vehicles, two Toyota Granvias, two Nissan Caravans and an lsuzu Como kombi.
The armed robbers then ransacked the vehicles, stealing cash, groceries and other property yet to be established. They then fled from the scene.
ZRP appealed to members of the public with information that might lead to the arrest of the notorious robbers to come forward and said:
The Zimbabwe Republic Police has launched a manhunt for 10 unknown armed robbers who attacked 8 motorists on 27 October 2020 along Beitbddge — Dite Road around 2200 hours.
Police are appealing to anyone who may have Information pertaining to these dangerous robbers to report at any nearest police station or National Complaints Desk on 0242 703631 or whatsapp 0712800197.
By A Correspondent- Jailed MDC Alliance activist Terrence Manjengwa has been granted ZWL$5000 bail.
As part of his bail conditions, Justice Erica Ndewere ruled that Manjengwa must reside at his given address and not to interfere with state witnesses.
Manjengwa, an MDC Alliance Youth Assembly Glen View North Organizer has been languishing at Harare Remand Prison for more than two months now for attending court in solidarity with MDC Alliance Vice Chairman, Job Sikhala.
watch the live video loading below……
This is a developing story. More details to follow.
By A Correspondent- Jailed MDC Alliance activist Terrence Manjengwa has been granted ZWL$5000 bail.
As part of his bail conditions, Justice Erica Ndewere ruled that Manjengwa must reside at his given address and not to interfere with state witnesses.
Manjengwa, an MDC Alliance Youth Assembly Glen View North Organizer has been languishing at Harare Remand Prison for more than two months now for attending court in solidarity with MDC Alliance Vice Chairman, Job Sikhala.
watch the live video loading below……
This is a developing story. More details to follow.
By A Correspondent- Jailed MDC Alliance activist Terrence Manjengwa has been granted ZWL$5000 bail.
As part of his bail conditions, Justice Erica Ndewere ruled that Manjengwa must reside at his given address and not to interfere with state witnesses.
Manjengwa, an MDC Alliance Youth Assembly Glen View North Organizer has been languishing at Harare Remand Prison for more than two months now for attending court in solidarity with MDC Alliance Vice Chairman, Job Sikhala.
watch the live video loading below……
This is a developing story. More details to follow.
By A Correspondent- A 22 year old woman from Bulawayo’s Makokoba suburb who is supposedly feeling unloved has resorted to beating up her 44-year-old mother while threatening her with murder as punishment for not telling her why her father was absent in her life.
Racheal Nyathi who reportedly keeps asking her mother Puluki Nyathi where her father is, is also reportedly accusing her of being a prostitute and practising witchcraft.
Fearing that her daughter might live true to her threats of murdering her, Nyathi approached the Bulawayo Civil Court and sought a protection order against her.
In her application Puluki said her daughter was also an alcoholic adding that each time she got drunk she shouted at her with vulgar language.
“I am applying for a protection order against my daughter Racheal Nyathi. She is always insulting and beating me up. She is also threatening to kill me.
“She is stealing from me and is also bringing her friends home to drink alcohol. When she is drunk, she then shouts at me using vulgar language, and beats everyone at home including her five-year-old son.
“While shouting at me, she labels me a witch and prostitute. She is also accusing me of killing her father before stating that she will poison me,” complained Puluki.
She begged the court to grant the protection order in her favour saying she was now living in fear of her daughter’s violent behaviour and chilling threats.
In response Racheal didn’t refute her mother’s claims.
She justified her uncouth actions saying:
“I am not disputing any of what she said and I am also not opposed to her application. But my request is that I just want her to tell me where or who my father is,” she tersely said.-BMetro
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s visit to Belarus last year, which was highly publicised as a strategic state visit to seal deals worth US$350 million spanning across various productive sectors of the economy was, according to emerging details, primarily meant to inspect military and intelligence surveillance technology manufactured in the Eastern Europe country, with the possibility of placing orders.
Mnangagwa’s tour to Belarus in January 2019, which came two years after assuming power through a military coup that toppled Robert Mugabe, was at the invitation of President Alexander Lukashenko.
The two leaders reportedly sealed deals covering the mining, agriculture, education and training, and science and technology sectors.
However, during his stay in Belarus, fresh details show, Mnangagwa toured Volat, also known as OJSC MZKT, which manufactures military hardware. It falls under the State Military Industrial Committee.
According to information posted on Volats website (www.volatdefence.com), the climax of Mnangagwa’s visit to Belarus was marked by his tour of the weapons manufacturer’s plant, where he was shown an assortment of military hardware, including tactical vehicles, missile systems and tank transporters.
The Volat website reads:
“As part of an official visit to Belarus on January 16, 2019, President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa visited OJSC MZKT. At the open exhibition area of the enterprise, the latest models of equipment were presented; modern tactical vehicles, tank transporters, chassis for the installation of missile systems, etc.”
At Volat, Mnangagwa also inspected arms and intelligence surveillance technology manufactured by companies that fall under the State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus, commonly known as Goskomvoenprom.
The companies that showcased their armaments to Mnangagwa include Volat, OJSC Peleng, OJSC 558 ARZ, JSC Design Bureau Display and AGAT Control Systems JSC, BelOMO Holding and LLC BSVT-NT.
OJSC Peleng specialises in the production of optomechanical and optoelectronic systems that are used in aerospace opticalelectronic equipment and forensic and security systems.
AGAT Control Systems JSC is a developer of automated defence management systems. It specialises in the production of geo-information systems, including robotic control systems. Currently, about 20 countries are using military goods of AGAT Control Systems JSC.
JSC Design Bureau Display specialises in the development and production of multi-purpose video monitors ranging from 6,4 km to 9,8 km, avionic displays, dedicated computers, micro display devices for harsh operating conditions, as well as remote-controlled weapon systems.
OJSC 558 ARZ, which repairs fighter jets that include Su-22, Su-25, Su-27, Su-30, MiG-29, An-2 aircraft, Mi-8 (Mi-17), Mi24 and Mi-35 also showcased its products to Mnangagwa.
BSVT-New Technologies which produces optical and optical-electronic sights, devices and surveillance systems, simulators and navigation equipment, self-propelled robotic systems, civilian and military small arms, devices for silent shooting for small arms weapons, also exhibited its products during Mnangagwa’s visit.
Also on display from the company were short-range air-to-air guided missiles.
BelOMO Holding is regarded as a leader in optoelectronic instrument engineering. It specialises in the development, design and production of laser, optoelectronic and optomechanical devices and systems.
Also, during the visit, the organisations that are part of the Goskomvoenprom system presented their products: OJSC Peleng, OJSC 558 ARZ, JSC AGAT control systems, JSC Design Bureau Display, Holding BelOMO, LLC BSVT-NT, a post on the Volat website read.
Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri had not responded to questions by this newspaper, asking whether Mnangagwa placed any orders for armaments from Minsk when he visited Belarus in 2019.
As revealed by the Zimbabwe Independent on April 10, Zimbabwe’s military expendi ture, according to the Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute (Sipri) a military intelligence think tank the defence forces spent US$92 million between 2000 and 2006 and a total of US$647 million since the country’s Independence in 1980 to acquire military hardware.
In a report titled Transfer of Major Weapons: Deals with Deliveries or Orders Made From 1995 to 2019, Sipri for the first-time cast light on Harare’s acquisition of arms from Asia and Eastern Europe.
The bulk of the arms were purchased from China, Russia, Bulgaria, Libya and Slovakia.
Mnangagwa’s administration bought 50 000 mortar bombs and 58 500 grenades in June last year.
Government, at that time, also reinforced its arsenal through the acquisition of 3 343 AK47 assault rifles, 2 000 CZ pistols, 500 P1 pistols, 500 Steyr-223 rifles, 500 Uzi submachine guns, 500 Moseberg guns, 500 RPT guns, 300 mortar tubes, 1 500 Tokarev guns, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and 22 943 AK47 magazines.
Zimbabwe also took delivery of 85 refurbished units of large-calibre artillery from South Africa in 2016. It was also active in the arms bazaars of Eastern Europe, where it bought aircraft accessories from Ukraine in 2006. They included 12 units of AL-25 turbofan engines for the K-8 Karakorum aircraft.
Mnangagwa first visited Belarus in 2015, then as Vice President where he met Lukashenko as the two countries committed to boost diplomatic relations.
In September this year, Mnangagwa hosted Belarusian Chief of Presidential Affairs General Colonel Victor Sheiman.-Independent
#BREAKING Harare magistrate Ngoni Nduna grants NPA application to withdraw consent for bail for #HenriettaRushwaya, which defence had argued could not be withdrawn once given. Case will now be joined with alleged accomplices. Bail hearings start today
By A Correspondent- An MDC Alliance senator from the Midlands had to dig deep and summon his athletic skills to survive a bashing after his wife caught him with his baby mama consulting at a prophet’s shrine.
The troubled senator had approached Prophet Black Elisha to sort out his s_exual organ which was ‘taking a nap’ every time he wanted to sleep with his wife.
While the troubled senator was pouring his heart out on how the problem started, his wife shockingly arrived at the shrine.
An insider who saw the whole mini-drama which lasted for almost 10 minutes told B-Metro that the fuming wife charged at her husband who was engrossed in the consultation with the prophet.
“The senator was caught unawares. He panicked when his wife pounced on him. She shouted obscenities at him (husband). He tried to calm her down but his wife would not accept any of his pleas as she bashed him.
“Seeing that things had turned for the worst the senator was left with no choice but to show a clean pair of heels leaving his baby mama at the mercy of the marauding woman who pummelled her,” said the privy source.
The prophet’s aides, the source said, had to intervene to save her from further beating.
“They whisked her away. The senator’s wife left in a huff,” said the source.
The senator grovelled at the B-Metro, begging the publication not to run the story.
“My brother my marriage has been plunged into a sad chapter because someone locked my jewels and I had gone there to unlock it. But unfortunately someone tipped my wife and she caught me there,” he said.
He added:
“Please kindly drop the story my brother because it has a potential of ruining my political reputation and social standing. I can do anything you want, please my brother . . . kindly drop the story.”
Prophet Black Elisha said:
“I cannot comment on what happened. You better phone the concerned senator,” he said before terminating the call.
A source said after B-Metro recently carried a story of an MP who bayed for his girlfriend’s blood after it emerged that she locked him, a number of legislators and political figures lined up to seek the services of the prophet.
The baby mama said:
“We have a child together and we went there to consult for my business and to sort out his manhood which he told me never rises to the occasion whenever he wants to sleep with his wife.
‘I’m bitter because his wife beat me for no reason and I’m not the one who caused problems in their marriage. What she does not know is that her husband confides a lot of things to me and we have been together for seven years,” she said.
The senator’s wife said: “I don’t talk about such matters in the media.” Please leave me alone.”-BMetro
By A Correspondent- Rescuers have reached bodies of the five miners who were trapped at Task Mine in Chegutu when the shaft collapsed on the 8th of September this year.
The development was confirmed by the development Task Mine Syndicate (Pvt) Ltd chairman Mr Masviba who expressed sadness over the loss of the miners.
Masviba said:
We are glad that team efforts have finally paid off. Although we are sad to have lost colleagues, we are happy families will find closure.
Sources who spoke to the media a day after the incident said there were signs of life as they could hear movement underground.
The rescue mission was being hampered by the absence of underground plans and the rescuers needed to do a proper ground survey to carry out the rescue mission-MningZimbabwe
By A Correspondent- A police officer’s photographs kissing his junior officer’s wife leaked and are circulating on social media.
ZRP Support Unit camp is awash with the story that Malunga has been forced to look for alternative accommodation while Gusha is reported to be spending the better part of day out of the residential camp in shame.
Residents posted the photographs on social media identifying the two.
“Hero shura mu camp yeChikurubi. Mukadzi wa Inspector Meza Malunga vanogara mu ZRP Support Unit vakaona mashura mufoni ye murume wavo apo vakasangana ne maphoto emuvakidzani wavo vachitsvodana.
“Mai Evans kana kuti mai Mafunga vakaonekwa maphoto avo vachitsvodana na inspector Meza Malunga izvo zvanyadzisa vagari vemu support unit.
“Kutaura kuno Constable Mafunga vati zvinowanikwa izvi uye mukadzi wavo haana kwaanoenda nekuti inherera izvo zvashamisa vagari vemu camp,” reads the messages circulating along with the two photographs.
Gusha confirmed her shenanigans with Inspector Malunga saying the story is now water under the bridge.
“I do not know who posted the photographs on social media but the truth is that the affair has since stopped and we resolved the matter amicably,” said Gusha.
“I heard that you visited my house over that old story. Munenge mashaya nyaya here zvamunovinga nyaya dzekudhara.
“My haters are the ones circulating those photographs on social media so do not publish that, f*ck you,” said Gusha before hanging the phone.
Constable Mafunga confirmed the story saying he has no comment.
“I am aware of the story but for now I am not at liberty to answer any questions in connection with this,” said Cst Mafunga.
Inspector Malunga refused to entertain H-Metro and impeccable sources disclosed that he has been forced to look for alternative accommodation away from the camp.
ByA Correspondent- Marriages are supposedly made in heaven but when things don’t go well even a spouse’s bladder control problems during sleep can be grounds for divorce.
A woman from Umguzana village in Nyamandlovu area of Umguza district has filed for divorce from her husband claiming she was tired of living with him because he was always bed-wetting.
In a matter yet to be heard at the Bulawayo Customary Court Violet Maphosa stated that she could no longer cope with her husband of 20 years Nkululeko Ndlovu’s habit of drinking almost every day and then wetting the bed.
She said her husband bed-wets several times during the night and when she talks to him about it, he turns violent.
She claimed their bedroom now smelt like a urinal adding that she had now resorted to sleeping in the spare bedroom.
In her suit she stated that her husband’s actions were straining their marriage and that there was no love anymore between her and Ndlovu. Maphosa reiterated that their customary marriage had irretrievably broken down and there were no prospects of a restoration to a normal relationship.
“The marriage relationship between the parties has irretrievably broken down and there are no prospects of restoration of a normal marriage between them for one or more of the following reasons:
“My husband is a drunkard and whenever he drinks, he bed-wets even many more times before morning and when I talk to him about it, he turns violent and starts beating me
“I am sick and tired of living in the same house with him because he drinks almost every day and then wets the bed.
In addition to that, as a couple we have also lost love, affection, trust and respect for each other and as a result I want a divorce,” read her papers in part.
Maphosa stated that her husband’s bed wetting habit made their house stink and that she had tried her best to help him stop it to no avail.
She further claimed that whenever she confronted him about the issue; he became violent and started verbally and physically abusing her.
Maphosa, who wants custody of their three children upon the dissolution of their marriage, wants to have their property, mostly household items and livestock to be shared equally.
Ndlovu’s response is set to be heard when the parties appear in court.-BMetro
By Muckraker | The MDC Alliance Trio are in today Operating in court 14 at the Harare Magistrates Court.
The trio is in court this morning after one of them, Joana Mamombe through their lawyer received late afternoon summons directing Joana to come to court at 0900hrs.
The summons did not show any other details as to why they required Joana urgently in court this morning. The junta seem to have a sinister motive against the young MP.
It is seriously considered that the due process is being muzzled and someone has a vendetta against her. The trio are all in Court to hear what they want to do with their colleague.
Concerned Citizens of sober understanding are called upon to come and see the court drama. The confusion through the abuse of office by the Super litigant prosecutor Michael Reza is getting out of hand. One Day Only One Day.
By A Correspondent- Home Affairs minister, Kazembe Kazembe has paid ZW$199 500 compensation to a Gweru-based student who was illegally arrested and brutally assaulted by police in 2018.
The student, Simon Mandoza hauled government to court demanding compensation for the illegal arrest and assault.
Harare Magistrate Tilda Mazhande ruled in his favour and gave the minister an ultimatum to pay the money or be sentenced to 60 days behind bars.
Mandoza’s lawyers Fiona Iliff and Obey Shava of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) were notified by a legal advisor in Kazembe’s ministry only identified as P. Madziviridze through a letter that payment had been effected.
Reads the letter:
Reference is made to your letter dated October 8 2020 in which you requested the payment of a judgement debt amounting to ZWL$199 500. Please be advised that the payment has been effected and we have hereto attached the proof of payment.
Mandoza had sued Kazembe and ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga after some police officers arrested him while he was standing outside a fast food outlet in Harare CBD.
The officers were carrying out an operation against informal traders in the CBD during the same period. Mandoza was arrested, assaulted before he was taken to Harare Central Police Station where he was finally released without charge.
By A Correspondent- In an unfortunate incident that occurred in Bulawayo on Saturday, a ZUPCO bus crushed a vendor to death after he missed a step and fell while disembarking from the bus at Renkini Bus Terminus.
The vendor Mbongeni Lunga was reportedly selling his wares in a Gutu bound ZUPCO bus at Renkini when he met his unfortunate end.
The incident was confirmed by the family of the deceased who spoke to the publication and said:
We received a call from other vendors around 8am that Mbongeni had been hit by a bus as he was trying to jump out. Mbongeni was selling his foodstuffs in the Zupco bus going to Gutu/ Mupandawana. When the bus was about to leave the terminus, they were told to drop off and he with the other vendors jumped out of a moving bus.
Unfortunately, it is not clear whether he was pushed or not but he fell close to a give way sign post and the bus ran over and crushed him. Mbongeni was the breadwinner staying with his grandmother and sister who are mentally ill and on medication. Everything in this house was being taken care of by him.
ZRP said they are still investigating the accident. The accident came a few short weeks after a ZUPCO bus rammed into 8 cars and injured 10 people including a vendor whose legs had to be amputated after the accident.-statemedia
By Patrick Guramatunhu- “One man! One vote!” was clarion call in the fight for independence. Not after independence and certainly not now!
The very fact that blacks were denied a meaningful say, a free vote, in the governance of the country in white ruled Rhodesia spoke volumes. Some people have compared the denying of blacks the vote to the denial of women or of minors the right to vote.
If one is capable of gross injustice against his own mother, wife, daughter and his own children; how much worse injustice will he dish out to a complete stranger!
So “One man! One vote!” was a rallying call that had an instantaneous appeal to every black person, even the most simple-minded ones. “One man! One vote!” was the only sure way to secure a meaningful say in the governance of one’s country and stopping all the injustice those in power can inflict on those with no political voice.
The tragedy in Zimbabwe was that long before the ordinary people had secured their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country the treacherous and insidious Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies hijacked the revolution to imposed themselves as the country’s new corrupt and tyrannical rulers.
Zimbabwe’s 1980 elections were supposed to be free, fair and credible; they were not. Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies made it clear that if the party did not win the elections, then the civil war would continue.
The people voted to end the war and, once in power, Mugabe and company used their position to undermine the constitution and corrupt state institutions; usurping the people’s freedoms and rights and consolidating the regime’s iron grip on power.
After 40 years of rigging the elections and with the country in total economic meltdown with unemployment a nauseating 90%, basic services such as education and health care all but collapsed, etc.; the ordinary Zimbabweans are, once again, desperate for a meaningful say in the governance of the country. “One man! One vote!” rings with renewed urgency and resonance.
It is most disheartening that Zanu PF leaders continue to turn a deaf ear to the people’s cry for meaningful democratic change. Indeed, the worsening economic situation, has not spared the Zanu PF ruling elite and they are now fighting each other over the ever shrinking national cake like hungry hyenas over the very last scraps of the last carcass.
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWA) and Zanu-PF commissar revealed that war veterans are pushing for automatic slots in party positions and public office positions.
The few party leaders who have managed to hang on to power for the last 40 years are filthy rich; the rest they are as poor as a church mouse. It is little wonder dog fight for office is now a life and death matter.
“We are in the process of selecting candidates to contest in the by elections and DCC and most of the war veterans have said they wanted to be voted to represent the party,” deputy Minister of Defence and Zanu PF commissar Victor Matemadanda said.
“The candidates have to be vetted and approved by the party Politburo and most of the war veterans want an automatic entry into the race as the majority of them have a track record of the party.”
In the past has Zanu PF has relied on war veterans as its foot soldiers to help the party remain in power. The war veterans have done the dirty work of harassing, beating, raping and even the cold-blooded murder of Zanu PF’s political opponents and critics.
The overwhelming majority of war veterans have been elbowed out of the way when it came to benefiting from the party’s 40 years of absolute power. Now they are desperate to get a piece of the action!
Zanu PF thugs, including the party’s foot soldiers the war veterans, are more determined now than ever to retain power at all cost. The talk of meaningful political change and restoring the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote are completely out of the question.
Whilst the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are desperate to see “One man! One vote!” finally honoured and something done to end their suffering. They have the greatest fight on their hands; Zanu PF is more determined than ever never to give the ordinary Zimbabwean the vote. Never ever!
By A Correspondent- There was drama in Tafara, Harare recently when Harare City Council workers were chased away by suspected Zanu Pf stalwarts over stands.
Said a source who witnessed the incident:
“Today in Tafara, City of Harare workers came to be shown their stands. They were however unfortunate because there was a Zanu Pf team which claimed that the land is theirs.
City of Harare workers were chased away by the Zanu Pf stalwarts. They however promised to come back tomorrow.”
The United States said on Thursday there were “serious doubts” about the credibility of Tanzania’s presidential election while the leading opposition candidate urged countries not to recognise the results of a “travesty” of a poll.
The U.S. Embassy in the East African country said there had been “credible allegations of significant election-related fraud and intimidation” in Wednesday’s poll in which voters were electing a president and lawmakers.
The vote was marred by allegations of arrests of candidates and protesters, restrictions on agents of political parties to access polling stations, multiple voting, pre-ticking of ballots and widespread blocking of social media, the U.S. Embassy said.
Elections took place simultaneously both in Tanzania and in the country’s semi-autonomous state of Zanzibar, an Indian Ocean archipelago.
Tundu Lissu, the main challenger to incumbent President John Magufuli, told Reuters the election results – expected within a week – could not be trusted.
Magufuli is seeking a second, five-year term in the poll. Preliminary results announced by the electoral commission showed Magufuli leading against his challengers.
“The results should not be recognised by any country in the world, should not be recognised by the African Union and the Commonwealth,” Lissu told Reuters. He urged the world to take action against “those who perpetrated this travesty”.
In Zanzibar, the CCM presidential candidate, Hussein Mwinyi, was declared the winner after securing 76% of the vote, the Zanzibar Electoral Commission announced. A version of the CCM has held power in Tanzania since independence from Britain in 1961.
Officials at the electoral commission were not immediately available for comment on allegations of irregularities. On Wednesday, the commission denied allegations of fake ballots, saying they were unofficial and unsubstantiated.
Seif Sharif Hamad, the opposition ACT-Wazalendo’s presidential candidate in Zanzibar, and other leaders were arrested, his party said, after he called for protests earlier on Thursday.
An aide to the police commander in Mjini Magharibi where Hamad and others were reportedly arrested said his boss was in a meeting when Reuters sought comment about.
“Detaining opposition leaders is not the act of a government confident in its electoral victory,” U.S. ambassador to Tanzania Donald Wright said in a tweet. “Maalim Seif and his colleagues should be released immediately.” here
Zitto Kabwe, ACT-Wazalendo party leader, said one of his colleagues in Zanzibar was beaten.
“ACT-Wazalendo member of the Central Committee Ismail Jussa Ladhu was badly beaten today by security forces in Zanzibar. He is in hospital. Badly injured but alive,” he said on Twitter.
Lissu, 52, was shot 16 times in 2017 in what remains an unsolved case. He returned from three years in exile in July.
Lissu said his party’s representatives had been prevented from getting into polling stations and that stuffed ballots had been forced into vote boxes.
“This was a mockery of elections, a mockery of democracy,” he said. “We are not accepting anything that has been done, and any results,” he later told reporters.
Government spokesman Hassan Abbasi could not be reached for comment.
Magufuli, 61, is looking to extend the rule of the CCM party. It won the presidency with 58% of votes in 2015 and now holds about three-quarters of parliamentary seats.
While campaigning, Magufuli pledged to boost growth in East Africa’s third-largest economy with infrastructure projects kick-started in his first term.
But the opposition and rights groups have complained that his administration has cracked down on critical voices, closing down media outlets and preventing opposition public rallies.
I am writing this letter to you today, amai because the poetic dictum remains true that memory is a treasure that no one can kill and that death leaves a heartache that no one can heal.
Fifteen years ago to the the day; at exactly 1937hrs on Sunday, 30 October 2005, you were quietly promoted to higher glory as you lay in your brother Chakanetsa Makumbe’s round kitchen hut at Makumbe village in Domboshava. You had just been discharged from the nearby Makumbe District hospital in this hallowed place of your birth. Today, I proffer this special ode to you because memory has always been a fertile site for deep reflections.
I write this epistle to you, amai , because the fond memories of the time God favoured us to be with you are still closeted in the treasured parts of our hearts. Every August, as the nation celebrates its heroes, we make it a point as a family to bring a bouquet flowers to the sacred place where you lie in the soft requiem of death under the wild loquat tree (muzhanje) at your own homestead at Tamborenyoka Village in Domboshava’s Shumba ward , some nine kilometers south of your own maiden village at Makumbe. You may not know it, amai , but when we intered you in the loamy soils in your own compound on Tuesday, 1 November 2005, we buried you beside your husband Ernest who had left us earlier on a stormy Friday night on 31 March, 2000.
You may not know it, amaivaAnymore , but your mother-in-law, gogo _vaAnymore, Martha Tamborenyoka Gombera, has since followed you along this tenuous route to God’s bosom. We also buried her in the same family graveyard and we made sure the order of the graves was such that your dear husband lies between you and his mother, the two women he so dearly loved. Your own mother, gogo_Cecilia Munemo Makumbe has also followed you to the land yonder. You may have bumped into her up there but she was privileged to have lived for well over a hundred years on this earth. We buried her in the field behind that huge mango tree at Makumbe village early July 2018.
Today, I write this epistle to you as I “Luke” the beast of death in the eye to defy the chasm, nay the distance that the spectre of death had presumably imposed between you and us. Yes, I am writing this letter to expose the dismal failure of death in obliterating the cherished memories and the glowing embers of our unstinting love for you that have stubbornly refused to die since that ominous Sunday you left us way back in October 2005.
You were always mediatory and inclusive amai . Your Christian beliefs always ensured you were always the pillar of harmonisation between any feuding parties. They must surely be missing your mediatory services at the Salvation Army Tsatse corps where you worshipped and served as the Home League Secretary till the time of your death. I am reliably told the church has been torn apart by two factions that are currently engaged in mortal combat. I know factionalism in the church was unheard of during your day’s, amai , but it is the in-thing across the churches nowadays, even at our own AFM church, where two factions are now fellowshiping separately throughout the country, one faction in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Politics and factionalism in the church? What an abomination. Well, that may be evidence of the efficacy of the module in my Political Science studies: TheubiquityofPolitics . The ubiquity of politics suggests that politics is found everywhere. Wherever there is human endeavour and wherever there are aspects of power, authority and control, then there is politics. These aspects of power, authority and control are everywhere including in families, at funerals, at burial societies and maybe even in the church. Maybe that is why there is now too much factional politics in the church, including at your very own Salvation Army Tsatse Corps amai .
It was precisely because of your skill and capability to bring a polarised people together that I invited Nelson Chamisa (then MDC Organising Secretary) and Biata Nyampinga (then the Zanu PF Goromonzi West MP) as the two guests of honour when we unveiled your tombstone in August 2012. That gesture was meant to celebrate your legacy of inclusion, togetherness and tolerance. There could have been no better occasion to send the message of tolerance than at the unveiling of your tombstone.
And at that glamorous function, amai , I stood in rapt wonderment, reminiscing over the enveloping motherly care you had given to the seven of us for all our lives. I know you would have been proud of me, had you been there when I led the gathering in singing your favourite hymn; Blessed be the Lord , ForInTheeisRefuge ( IsheMuri Chipotero ). I know you would have been happy if you had peered from spirit-land to listen to me, your second-born son, leading the singing of the hymn that you used to sing with teary eyes when one or more of your children wailed under the spell those demonic attacks, which was often during our tenuous and troubled upbringing. Suffice to say we are still troubled _amai . As I write to you, I am having those terrible nightmares I used to have when I was young, those ones that would leave me trembling while drenched and soaked in hot, searing sweat. I can smell death near me, amai , and I have this eerie feeling I will be joining you soon.
Yes, Soko , I am experiencing those attacks again. But I am not afraid. I am ready to “Luke” the beast of death right into the retina of the eye and to embrace her with both arms of the good Lord feels I must join you up there.
All the seven of us, your children, are now devout Christians amai : Anymore, myself, Edina, Tendekai, Precious, Patience and Ngonidzashe. Some of us are now fellowship under other denominations while others are still holding the torch in the Salvation Army, where you were Home League Secretary at the time of your promotion to higher glory. Precious, now a teacher at Marikopo school in the Seke communal lands, is the Corps Secretary at Marikopo Salvation Army corps while Patience, who teaches at Domboshava primary school here in our rural hood, holds the same post at Mungate corps. Yes, the same Mungate corps where your eldest son, Anymore, began his pastoral vocation as a young Salvation Army pastor way back in 1996.
I am equally proud, Soko , that I have kept my promise to you . By a stroke of fate, I was ushered to the parenthood for all my siblings at a fairly early age. I sent them all to school amai I mean all your children. There are things I failed to do for myself because of that onerous responsibility but I remain proud of my sense of mission. I have just successfully but belatedly completed my second University degree, something I could have done far much earlier but for my responsibilities. But I am happy and proud tell you that the seven of us now have six University degrees between us. I kept the pledge and sent them to school following your teary-eyed plea to me that evening late September 2005 when you told me you were sure you would not hold out much longer. You told me strive to send them all to school. I kept the promise Soko. Precious and I had the honour and privilege of being awarded Book Prizes at University, which we dedicate to you, amai .
Even Ngonidzashe, your last-born son whose health challenges you well knew before you passed on and for whom you wept in between prayers as he grew up, is now a grown up man. He too is now a proud holder of a BSc (Hons) degree in Sociology from the University of Zimbabwe.
You were only two girls, with eight brothers in your family, amai After you and your only sister Auntie Sophia passed on, we thought we would sorely miss the matriarchal care and guidance that every African man continues to require regardless of their age. But no, amai, just stand proud of your nieces who have continued to nurture us, to guide as and to provide the motherly care. Mai Gatawa (auntie Albertina), Mai Chimbwanda (auntie Priscilla) and others have stood tall, firm and unflinching by our side. Yes, we missed and we still miss but we didn’t lack the motherly care and concern, including daily prison visits and food for me for the several months that I spent in the D-class section of a notorious prison on trumped-up charges of banditry and terrorism.
We have not lacked motherly care even in our adult life. For example, during the current Covid-19 pandemic, your name–sake, Auntie Pelagia, felt duty-bound to organise food hampers from her base in London for all of us. Indeed, Soko , they have all ably carried your torch and we have not lacked the motherly guidance that you provided. In sadness and in laughter, at birthday parties and during funerals, these beloved aunties have consistently and competently given us the motherly guidance.
When you were promoted to higher glory in 2005, you left behind five grandchildren. Now they are eleven. This means the majority of them never saw you. The most inquisitive of them all, Lee Anne Tapiwanashe, always asks about gogovepamuzhanje in reference to the wild loquat tree under which we buried you. The muzhanje tree has since been cut and is no longer there but Lee-Anne still refers to this tree because it poignantly and arrogantly defined the burial site in the family compound where you are buried. You too amai were yet another tree that was cut but that had stridently defined who we are today.
Now I hear some of the grandchildren have trooped kwagogo Chimbwanda for the long Covid-19-induced school holiday. Gogo Chimbwanda, auntie Priscilla, is one mummy with a difference who has filled your role with honour and distinction. She is the one who also stays Thammiah, Precious’ eldest daughter whom you never saw. So, varikovanagogo . And they continue to ably carry your torch.
You left us exactly 15 years ago to the day mhamha , just 48 hours after I had left the Daily News to join the MDC on 28 October 2005 as the Director of Information and Publicity. I am still with the MDC _amai . It’s now called the MDC Alliance. I am still fighting this dictatorship amai, the dictatorship that made you cry on Friday 19 January 2001 when they arrested and detained me for criminally defaming Robert Mugabe. The same Robert Mugabe has since followed you up there amai. You will be shocked to know that he was violently stampeded out of power by the soldiers and he even voted for the MDC Alliance in 2018. Wonder of wonders amai, Mugabe even held a press conference on the eve of the last election and told everyone he was not going to vote for Zanu PF.
But now we have a worse leader in the name of one Emmersom Mnangagwa. Remember him? Yes, he mounted a coup, stole the election in 2018 and has a government that is corrupt, rapes women and is just plain clueless when it comes to running the country. Now, even the teachers are on strike amai, including your own daughters Precious and Patience. I know it never used to happen but sisi Patience was even supplementing her measly income by selling eggs and vegetables at Domboshava primary school where she teaches. She is lucky she teaches here in our rural hood because sometimes we bring her maize meal from home, the maize that we grow on that family field that is close to the river Nyaure. Yes, that place near Mr Titus Mvere’s homestead where we would eat cucumbers and in the storm water drain while you tended the family field—light showers of rain washing away our dirty bodies as we played.
The dignity of the teacher has vanished amai . We have even had some female teachers from the nearby Tsatse school pleading with us to use the village anthills to mould bricks and clay plates for sale. Yes, female teachers, moulding bricks for sale!
That’s how far down we have sunk as a nation under this scarfed regime.
On another disturbing note, Domboshava has significantly changed amai. It has largely urbanised. But we have kept the huge hectares of arable family land. At least the 22 villages in Shumba ward three, among them Tamborenyoka village, are still largely very rural. We can still farm, till the land and tend the cattle in the vlei and in the mountains. While elsewhere land has been sold out to desperate land seekers from Harare, we have stubbornly held firm to our treasured land and ensured this area remains our rural home, the land of our forefathers. We have not sold away our treasured land where we buried you and your husband—-this area that has the sacred Dambatsoko mountain where we buried my grandfather and namesake on 10 December 1987. Dambatsoko, the revered mountain where my great grandfather Gombera was interred in a cave sometime around the summer of 1922.
The rest of Domboshava has been sold away, amai , including your maiden village where you hail from. You and your grandfather Makumbe, if you were to wake up today, would get lost among the srrivistes who bought the land sold away by your own brothers, cousins and nephews. Makumbe, your great grandfather whose name began as a nickname given the way he “gathered up” ( kukumba), his 32 wives, among them the beautiful woman called Sone, the princess and daughter of his friend, Chief Masembura. You will recall, amai that Sone was given to your grandfather on top of the whole Domboshava area as payment for assisting chief Masembura in a battle. Makumbe then invited his kinsmen who were still resident around the Chishawasha area to come and settle with him on this land, which became the new cradle of the vaShawasha people, your tribe, the Chinamhoras.
Your own brothers are selling this land amai, including the very area with the decorated granite–stone grave of Makumbe just beneath the mountain. Makumbe, your iconic great grandfather after whom a whole mission school and hospital are named must be turning within those granite stones that make his grave.
Continue to rest in peace amai. But like I said I could be joining you up there soon. I have a strong feeling I am about to come there. The dreams and nightmares I am having nowadays all seem to be exhorting me in that direction. We are all praying about it.
However, I am not afraid, amai . I will “Luke” the Beast of Death in the Eye whenever it shall come.
Yes, I could be joining you soon. Greet dad, the gogos and everyone up there.
ZIMBABWE’s monthly cost of living shot by 4,1% to almost $18 000 in September, escalating fears of deepening poverty levels in a country where over 70% of working age people are unemployed.
The majority of these people have been thrown out of formal jobs by extensive de-industrialisation, which was compounded by firm shutdowns throughout the year as government battled to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cost of living was measured at $17 244 in August and $15 570 in July.
Analysts said yesterday its continued rise presented the biggest challenge to millions of people who now live on State assistance and donations from non-governmental organisations.
According to the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe, over one million people have been thrown out of formal employment this year, adding to about five million more who earn a living through menial jobs.
The Zimbabwe National Statistics agency (ZimStat) measures the total consumption poverty line (TCPL) for a family of five.
“The TCPL for an average of five persons stood at $17 956,87 in September 2020. This means that an average household required that much to purchase food and non-food items for them not to be deemed poor. This represents an increase of 4,1% when compared to the August 2020 figure of $17 244,07,” ZimStat said in a statement on Wednesday.
The latest figure demonstrates how difficult life has become for Zimbabweans ahead of the festive season which starts next month.On average, government workers earn $11 350 per month.
State workers represent the bulk of formally employed people in Zimbabwe.
Economists say these workers cannot pay for the most basic requirements like school fees, healthcare and rentals.Civil servants have been on strike throughout the year demanding a living wage.
But government has dug in, saying it has offered them enough.
ZimStat said the September 2020 food poverty line (FPL) for an average of five persons in Zimbabwe stood at $7 382.This represented an increase of 2,4% when compared to the August 2020 figure of $7 210.
The food poverty line per person stood at $1 476 representing an increase of 2,4% over the August 2020 figure of $1 442
“The food poverty datum line represents the minimum consumption expenditure necessary to ensure that each household member can (if all expenditures were devoted to food) consume a minimum food basket representing 2 100 calories. An individual whose total consumption expenditure does not exceed the food poverty line is deemed to be very poor,” ZimStat said.
“The poverty datum lines vary by province as prices vary from place to place. The TCPL for an average household in September 2020 ranged from $17 410 in Mashonaland Central province to $19 753 in Matabeleland North province. The differences are explained by differences in average prices in the provinces,” ZimStat said.
Zimbabwe, which has the world’s second highest inflation of 659,4%, after Venezuela’s 1 813%, is experiencing its worst economic crisis aggravated by runaway inflation and currency depreciation.
About seven million people are food insecure, according to the United Nations.
BY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA | A mischievous letter purporting to be from the Judges of the High Court made rounds in the social media and a lot of online newspapers. The letter was a pretence of a complaint by the judges against the chief justice Luke Malaba. The whole fiasco made it hard to believe that Judges of the High Court could write such a letter and ignoring the procedures set aside for such a matter. The fact that the letter was an anonymous one casts more doubt on the genuineness of the letter.
The permanent Secretary to the ministry of Justice Mrs Mabhiza was quick to comment thus saying: “We take note of the document that has been circulated on social media and newspapers attacking the Judiciary, the JSC and the Chief Justice in particular. We note that the issues raised in the anonymous document are the same old stories which are being recycled and which have been subject to investigation already.
We do not believe this document was authored by Judges because if it was then we see no reason really why it should be anonymous persons. Honourable Judges have previously made complaints and written petitions to the Chief Justice, the JSC and His Excellency. At no time have they done this anonymously.”
Mrs Mabhiza is making sense in her response to the anonymous letter. One wonders if the author’s of the complaint were really judges. Judges are bound by a strong show of Judicial integrity.
This is a pre-condition to maintaining trust in the judiciary and upholding its independence. Judges are the public face of justice. It is to the courts that citizens and the state turn to make binding legal decisions that can have a great impact on people’s lives. People with such huge responsibility on their shoulders are careful not to lift their skirts in Public.
An independent and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our society. A judge should maintain and enforce high standards of conduct and should personally observe those standards, so that the integrity and independence of the judiciary may be preserved.
Deference to the judgments and rulings of courts depends on public confidence in the integrity and independence of judges. So if judges decide to clean their garments in public then there is no dignity and integrity to talk about. The integrity and independence of judges depend in turn on their acting without fear or favor. Although judges should be independent, they must comply with the law and should be responsible.
The document circulated on social media was the work of the detractors and the leaf should not be found very far from the tree. This is a document had all signs that it was authored by those who are aggrieved by the position and stance taken by the Chief Justice and JSC to fight corruption and hold people including members of the Judiciary accountable. The problem with some judges with issues is that they believe that a judge is a legal revolutionary. They believe that a judge is an anti government agency. The stance which is well supported by the opposition. It cannot be a coincidence that the attack on the Chief Justice and JSC comes immediately after the Chief Justice had caused the investigation of three Judges for various acts of gross incompetence and gross misconduct. This is a carefully orchestrated move that is meant to cow the establishment including the Chief Justice and the JSC from inquiring into acts of misconduct against some senior members of the Judiciary. It is a shame that some people try to preempt the investigations which were instituted into the conduct of some judges.
Mrs Mabhiza commented that “As the Ministry of Justice we are happy with the work that is being done by JSC and we support the stance of the Chief Justice that whilst the Judiciary is independent they must also be accountable.”
Judges must not view themselves as demigods who are beyond reproach.
The action of the few or the individual who penned the letter to the President of Zimbabwe reduced the weight of judgeship. Judges have a responsibility whose Adherence to it helps to maintain public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary.
It is a shame that the judges are resorting to public spats with each other , this is in violation of their Code of conduct and diminishes public confidence in the judiciary and injures our system of government under law.
The idea of pleasing the opposition by attacking the Very core of our beliefs in the rule of law.
Judges are bound by rules of reason. They should function consistently with constitutional requirements, statutes, other court rules and decisional law, and in the context of all relevant circumstances. The Code is to be construed so it does not impinge on the essential independence of judges in making judicial decisions.
So Judges must never reduce themselves as to the extent of fighting in the public domain. A judge should respect and comply with the law and should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. By dragging the whole bench to a public fight the judge undermines his office.
A judge should not allow family, social, political, financial, or other relationships to influence judicial conduct or judgment. A judge should neither lend the prestige of the judicial office to advance the private interests of the judge or others nor convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge.
By dealing with the cases of judges grievances in social media the judge will have acted improperly. An appearance of impropriety occurs when reasonable minds, with knowledge of all the relevant circumstances disclosed by a reasonable inquiry, would conclude that the judge’s honesty, integrity, impartiality, temperament, or fitness to serve as a judge is impaired. Public confidence in the judiciary is eroded by irresponsible or improper conduct by judges. A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety. So trying to extort another judge by spreading the cases on social media the judges would have been impaired to hold the office of the judge. A judge must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny and accept freely and willingly restrictions that might be viewed as burdensome by the ordinary citizen. So crying loud about strict measures applied on them and tough scrutiny regime employed by the Chief justice is indeed a failure in the making.
A judge should be sensitive to possible abuse of the prestige of office. The duties of judicial office take precedence over all other activities. In performing the duties prescribed by law, the judge should adhere to the Adjudicative Responsibilities. A judge should be faithful to, and maintain professional competence in, the law and should not be swayed by partisan interests, public clamor, or fear of criticism.A judge should diligently discharge administrative responsibilities, maintain professional competence in judicial administration, and facilitate the performance of the administrative responsibilities of other judges and court personnel.
While Luke Malaba is being attacked for being strict on other judges those attacking him are forgetting that a judge with supervisory authority over other judges should take reasonable measures to ensure that they perform their duties timely and effectively.
Fighting corruption is a tough call. Since judges exist to accomplish the essential goal of delivering justice to their fellow citizens, a vigorous ethical commitment should constitute a genetic trace of its professional code. On the other hand, an irreprehensible ethical behaviour by the legal professionals, particularly judges, has an essential role in the legitimacy of the judicial system, as necessarily based on a bond of trust with the involved community. Ethics, as Rodolfo Vigo explains, endorses Democracy, since it implies an open debate about professional conducts, besides inspiring magistrates to go far beyond the mere obedience to their functional duties as prescribed by Law. Ethics strengthens and reinforces Judicial Independence by promoting the implementation of a culture of excellence, the ultimate ambition of any judiciary. The Chief Justice Malaba must continue to run the project ‘Judges against Corruption’, a concrete commitment to enhance judicial integrity and to fight corruption, one of the worst scourges of our societies.
State run media group Zimpapers is reportedly operating at its all time low due to alleged poor leadership under group chairman Tommy Sithole.
Sithole (72) is said to have failed to bring dynamism into the company despite a lofty profile as an international administrator and business executive.
In the last reporting period, Zimpapers’ financials showed the company barely scrapping a living with massive losses and poor business performances.
Several newspaper titles have been taken from the street and are now online, with little or no advertising while staff is being laid off.
Newspaper circulation has further plummeted under Sithole, with the major titles such as Herald and Sunday Mail now selling a couple of thousand papers each week – the worst business in years.
Facing a bleak future, a number of journalists and staff have resigned.
Nearly 30 have left the organisation in the past six months, with more expected to wave goodbye to what has been the country’s most stable media stable.
The low morale at the company is blamed on Sithole, described by insiders as interfering and self-imposing, a “feared and unpleasant character with no sound strategy to change the fortunes of the company”.
Sithole was appointed last year as a non-executive chairman. He had the backing of Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa with his appointment endorsed by President Mnangagwa.
“His first goal was to try and wrest power from the CEO, Pikirayi Deketeke,” said a source, adding that the under-fire Zimpapers boss wanted to elevate the group finance officer to assume the role of Chief Operating Officer.
It is understood that Deketeke, who has a frosty relationship with Sithole dating back to the former’s previous tenure as chairman around 2006, has been living in fear.
“He has been rescued by Permanent Secretary, Nick Mangwana who stood his ground when Sithole, with the support of Minister Mutsvangwa, tried to engineer the ouster of PD (Deketeke),” the source said.
Deketeke and Mangwana have reportedly grown closer over the past year.
But Sithole, a former editor at the flagship daily – The Herald – has gone on to try to get a grip on the operations because of what is described as an inordinate sense of entitlement.
According to sources, he has hired his friends and former lackeys Davison Maruziva and Funny Mushava as “consultants” at The Herald.
He also prevented one Gareth Willard from being retired this time last year.
It is also understood that he once sought to bring back Isaac Zulu, another retired contemporary of his, but Zulu turned the offer down.
“Sithole likes to surround himself with spies and lackeys so that he can control everything,” the source said.
“The consultants have been here for a year and we don’t know how much they earn, but there has certainly not been any improvement in the quality of the work.
“Stringers and correspondents have been laid off for lack of money, but Tommy influences the retention of his lackeys. This is something that must be investigated as it constitutes abuse of office and poor corporate governance,” the source said.
It is understood that Sithole does not enjoy good relations within the board, that also includes the likes of Shingi Munyeza and Rejoice Nharaunda.
Several journalists in The Herald newsroom told this publication that the workplace had become chaotic with Sithole’s lackeys taking charge.
“The editor (Hatred Zenenga) is powerless and even diary sessions are chaired by the consultants. The editor will just be there as a sitting duck. The other day he was complaining about mistakes in the paper but these are the guys that are said to be hired for quality control.
“As we speak Funny Mushava is the de facto news editor,” the source said. This follows the removal of Obert Chifamba from the position a month ago.
Zenenga himself is said to be confused, frustrated and unsettled.
“He sees shadows everywhere and accuses people of sabotaging him,” an editor said.
Ironically, Zenenga was elevated to head The Herald from Manica Post due to his close ties to both Minister Mutsvangwa and Sithole.
At the weekend, a senior journalist in the broadcasting division revealed that the company simply had no answer to massive staff exodus, which is coming at a time when there are at least six new players being licensed by Government.
Sunday Mail, once a mass circulating weekly that is now selling a few thousand copies, is also crippled by staff movements and low morale.
Sithole’s mobile was not going through when attempts were made to seek comment from him.
He had also not responded to questions sent to him via WhatsApp.
NICE – A knife-wielding man killed three people at a church in southern France Thursday, practically beheading a 60-year-old woman in what President Emmanuel Macron called an “Islamist terrorist attack.”
The 21-year-old Tunisian migrant, who had a copy of the Koran and three knives with him, shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) when approached by police who shot and seriously wounded him, France’s anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard told a press conference.
In a near half-hour frenzy in the Notre-Dame Basilica in the centre of Nice, the assailant used a knife of 30 centimetres (12 inches) to cut the throat of a 60-year-old woman so deep that he practically beheaded her, said Ricard. She died inside the church.
The body of a man, a 55-year-old church employee, was found nearby inside the basilica, his throat also slit.
Another woman, a 44-year-old who had fled the church to a nearby restaurant, died shortly afterwards from multiple knife wounds.
The victims were “people targeted for the sole reason that they were present in this church at that moment,” said Ricard.
The attack, he added, was a reminder that “the deadly ideology of Islamist terrorism is very much alive”.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi told journalists at the scene the attacker “kept repeating ‘Allahu Akbar’ even while under medication” as he was taken to hospital.
In a bag he had left at the scene, investigators found two unused knives, and the prosecutor said police who shot him had “without any doubt prevented an even higher toll.”
The killings, which occurred ahead of the Catholic holy day of All Saints Day on Sunday, prompted the government to raise the terror alert level to the maximum “emergency” level nationwide.
Churches across France sounded death knells, the traditional bell toll to mark a death, at 3:00 pm.
Security at schools would also be boosted, he said.
“Quite clearly, it is France that is being attacked,” the president added, vowing the country “will not give up on our values”.
France has been the target of widespread anger in the Islamic world after Macron vowed to take the fight to radicals after the October 16 beheading of a history teacher by an extremist for having shown pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a free speech lesson.
But some claim Macron is unfairly targeting France’s estimated five to six million Muslims — the largest community in Europe.
Several Muslim-majority countries have launched campaigns to boycott French products, while protesters burnt the French flag and posters of Macron as demonstrations were held in Syria, Libya, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories.
Macron on Thursday urged people of all religions to unite and not “give in to the spirit of division”.
Daniel Conilh, a 32-year-old waiter at Nice’s Grand Cafe de Lyon, a block from the church, said it was shortly before 9:00 am when “shots were fired and everybody took off running.”
“A woman came in straight from the church and said, ‘Run, run, someone, has been stabbing people’,” he told AFP.
French anti-terror prosecutors are handling the inquiry into charges related to a “terrorist murder”.
France has been on high alert since the January 2015 massacre at the satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo marked the beginning of a wave of jihadist attacks that have killed more than 250 people.
Tensions have heightened since last month when the trial opened for 14 suspected accomplices in that attack.
The paper marked the start of the court proceedings by republishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that infuriated millions of Muslims worldwide — the same caricatures that teacher Samuel Paty used as lesson material.
Days after the trial opened, an 18-year-old man from Pakistan seriously injured two people with a meat cleaver outside Charlie Hebdo’s former offices in Paris.
Twitter later deleted his post.
Thursday also saw a Saudi citizen wound a guard in a knife attack at the French consulate in Jeddah while police in the French city of Lyon said they had arrested an Afghan spotted carrying a knife while trying to board a tram.
French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian proffered “a message of peace to the Muslim world” Thursday, insisting France was a “country of tolerance.”
In Nice, painful memories remain fresh of a jihadist attack during Bastille Day celebrations on July 14, 2016, when a man rammed his truck into a crowded promenade, killing 86 people.
Abdallah Zekri, director-general of the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) denounced Thursday’s attack and urged French Muslims to cancel festivities to mark the Mawlid, or the Prophet’s birthday, which ends Thursday, “in solidarity with the victims and their loved ones.”
The High Court is today expected to hear the application by Justice Erica Ndewere for an interim interdict to halt the setting up of a tribunal by President Mnangagwa to investigate her judicial conduct, pending the determination of the legality of the process followed.
Justice Ndewere approached the court 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, reported for slipshod work and delayed judgments.
She is being accused of conduct inconsistent with a judicial officer.
Fellow judge, Justice Davison Foroma is expected to hear her application brought under a certificate of urgency.
In her papers filed at the High Court on Tuesday, Justice Ndewere claimed the misconduct allegations levied against her were victimisation for refusing to comply with “unlawful orders”.
She cited President Mnangagwa, Chief Justice Luke Malaba, Judge President George Chiweshe, JSC and Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi as respondents.
Through her lawyer Ms Beatrice Mtetwa, Justice Ndewere argued that Chief Justice Malaba instituted disciplinary proceedings against her without complying with the provisions of the Judicial Services Code of Ethics Regulations as read together with the Constitution.
She argued that the complaints against her were raised by the Chief Justice, who then submitted them to himself as the Chief Justice, before they were “improperly and unprocedurally” submitted to the JSC.
Justice Ndewere contends that the JSC prematurely advised 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 the judges.
“The setting up of the tribunal violates the applicant’s right to administrative justice, equality before the law and right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner,” she argued.
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.
“If the tribunal is appointed in such circumstances, I am of the view that the applicant has a reasonable apprehension that it will cause irreparable harm both to the applicant, who will be automatically suspended from her position as a judge and suffer serious reputational damage, and to society as a whole as the abuse of the investigative and disciplinary process will strike fear into the judiciary as a whole and undermine public confidence in the judiciary,” she said.
None of the respondents have yet filed their response to the application.
Justice Ndewere’s suspension from the bench will be automatic by operation of law once the tribunal is put in place.
If the tribunal clears her, she returns to the bench; if the tribunal makes other findings and recommendations she could well lose her post.
The tribunal is not a criminal court, but can report that certain conduct is not consistent with holding judicial office. Justice Ndewere becomes the second judge this year to be probed for conduct that constitutes judicial misconduct, and which calls for a tribunal hearing.
Troubled High Court judge, Justice Erica Ndewere will on Friday finally hand down judgment on a bail appeal filed by Kossam Ncube of ZLHR on behalf of Terrence Manjengwa, who has spent two months in both police and prison custody.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has recommended a tribunal to investigate whether or not Justice Ndewere is fit to hold office after allegedly discovering that she was not clearing her workload in reasonable time and that she had not properly studied the file on a thief’s conviction and sentence when she set aside a jail term.
Justice Ndewere is battling to stop President Mnangagwa from constituting the tribunal the JSC desires.
Through Sawyer & Mkushi Legal Practitioners, Justice Ndewere seeks an order stopping the set up of the tribunal on the basis that if the tribunal is set up she will be automatically suspended, causing her irreparable damage, as well as he belief that “the setting up a tribunal is wrong factually, procedurally and on points of law”.
Justice Ndewere believes she is being victimised.
Manjengwa was arrested by ZRP members outside Harare Magistrates Court and charged with unnecessary movement and possession of dangerous weapons while following proceedings during Zengeza West constituency legislator Hon. Job Sikhala’s court session.
Manjengwa staged a protest together with other MDC Alliance activists at the Harare Regional Magistrates Court demanding the release of Sikhala, who had been arrested and charged with inciting violence in connection with 31st July demonstrations against corruption.
He is currently detained at Harare Remand Prison after being charged with criminal nuisance.
He was denied bail by the magistrates court and is waiting for bail ruling at the High Court.
The bail appeal ruling for #TerrenceManjengwa will be delivered today at 10am by Justice Erica Ndewere at the High Court sitting in Harare.
The only ZANU PF councillor in Kwekwe was on Thursday arrested over violence that took place at the party primary elections a couple of weeks ago.
Councilor Mclean Nyakuchera of ward 6 was charged for public violence over the fiasco that took place at Zanu-PF Kwekwe District offices earlier this month following a misunderstanding within the party allegedly over the primary elections voters roll.
The councillor was arrested by detectives from the Law and Order Department while he was about to go into a council meeting at the city’s civic centre.
He is expected to appear in court today.
In 2018, Nyakuchera was elected the only Zanu-PF Councilor out of fortheen councilors in Kwekwe.
OVER 300 people had, by Wednesday, been arrested in Bulawayo for public drinking, while 15 bar owners were also detained for operating after hours in violation of Covid-19 regulations.
According to regulations, members of the public are allowed to buy beer and drink at home but defiant bars and nightclubs in the city are allowing patrons to drink in the bars until late at night thereby risking spreading the virus.
The arrests, according to police, were made from last week Friday.
Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele said those who were arrested were fined.
“There were over 300 people arrested for public drinking from last week Friday until today (Wednesday). On top of that, we have arrested 15 owners of beerhalls and bottle stores for operating after hours, permitting patrons to drink inside the bottle store and beerhall,” said Asst Insp Msebele.
Ass Insp Msebele urged people and bar owners to adhere to regulations aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19.
“We’d like to urge people and bar owners not to flout Covid-19 regulations. They should operate within the law so that they don’t find themselves on the wrong side of the law,” said Asst Insp Bulawayo’s night life, has of late, since bars and restaurants were given the green light to reopen, come alive, with hordes of people looking for fun.
Outside bottle stores in the city, the story is the same as many people congregate and drink their fill, clearly flouting regulations, oblivious of the dangers of Covid-19.
The city has recorded an increase in new Covid-19 cases and now has the highest number of active cases in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Bulawayo has almost half of the country’s active Covid-19 cases at 123 while the national figure stood at 269 as of Tuesday. The city has recorded 52 deaths.
In council’s weekly top 10 Covid-19 hotspots log sheet, Bulawayo’s city centre is a Covid-19 hotspot with 27 active cases, while Entumbane and Nkulumane lead with three deaths each from Covid-19. The most recent death (one) was on Sunday.
Of the total active Covid-19 cases in Bulawayo, seven are in Mpopoma and three in Entumbane.
Worldwide, the opening of bars and leisure spots has been identified as the root cause of spikes in new infections.
According to NewStatesman newspaper, the United Kingdom’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, informed MPs that the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care in northern England might surpass the April peak — and that one of the main culprits was the hospitality industry.
Whitty showed the MPs unpublished figures that suggested pubs, bars, restaurants and cafés accounted for 30 percent of common exposure settings in England, with the figure rising to 41 percent for those under the age of 30.
EMMERSON Mnangagwa jetted into Bulawayo yesterday and is today expected to preside over the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) 26th graduation ceremony and later on meet chiefs from the Matabeleland region.
Mnangagwa landed in Bulawayo yesterday evening and he was welcomed by Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Ncube, service chiefs, senior Government officials and Zanu-PF leaders in the province.
As part of his programme in the city, he will be at Nust in the morning where the graduation ceremony will be blended. Only those graduating with first class degree classes have been invited to attend the ceremony and the rest will attend virtually as it will be live streamed on the Nust Facebook and YouTube channel.
After the Nust graduation ceremony, Mnangagwa will meet chiefs to discuss issues affecting the Matabeleland region and also tour the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) museum.
Tomorrow, Mnangagwa will be the chief witness at Ntabazinduna Training School during the hand-over take-over ceremony following the retirement of Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi, after 22 years at the helm of the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS).
Rtd Maj-Gen Zimondi will hand over the reins to Deputy Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu, who was promoted to Commissioner-General with effect from 1 November. Dep Comm-Gen Chihobvu has been Acting Commissioner-General since Rtd Maj-Gen Zimondi went on three months pre-retirement leave and his promotion as substantive head will take effect after Comm-Gen Zimondi formally retires.
Bulawayo provincial information officer Ms Miriam Chigonde said Mnangagwa will start with the Nust graduation before moving to other programmes.
“The President is in Bulawayo today (yesterday) and is expected to preside over the Nust graduation ceremony before proceeding to the NRZ where he will conduct a tour. The museum holds the oldest trains that were used during the colonial era,” said Ms Chigonde.
“From there he is expected to meet traditional leaders to continue his engagements on Gukurahundi and the development of the two Matabeleland provinces.”
With regards to the meeting with chiefs, President of the Chiefs Council Chief Charumbira said the engagement will be held at State House.
“From time to time the President meets with chiefs from various regions, you might be aware that he was in Manicaland Province weeks ago, now he is coming to that part of the country. He will be meeting with chiefs from Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces” he said.
Mnangagwa has in the past engaged chiefs from Matabeleland on how Government could best tackle the Gukurahundi issue to come up with permanent solutions.
Nust director of communication and marketing Mr Thabani Mpofu said the blended graduation ceremony will start at 8.30AM.
“This year’s edition of the graduation will be a bit different as we only invited First Class graduands to attend the physical ceremony.
“We have a total of 2 528 graduands and those not invited to attend physically will access the ceremony through our Facebook and YouTube pages, and on ZBCtv,” said Mr Mpofu.
“In the light of the Covid-19 pandemic and in line with WHO guidelines and Government regulations, the 2020 Graduation will mainly be virtual, with selected graduands being capped physically at the Ceremonial Hall.”
He added that selected Master of Science graduands with distinctions from various faculties will also attend the physical graduation ceremony.
Nust has seven faculties which include Applied Sciences, Built Environment, Communication and Information Science; Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology Education.
“All invited graduands must be in full graduation regalia: a gown, cap and hood, and also wear a face mask.
“The rest of the graduands will join online and participate in the graduation from the comfort of their homes. The ceremony will be live-streamed on ZTV.”
?MISSING PERSON ALERT? Jane Masunungure was last seen on the 7th of October at Kadoma Training Institute (KTI ). She is 15 years old If anyone has information please get in touch with the father on+263773899400 /+263 78 506 7511 or report to the nearest police station pic.twitter.com/0oYoT7LcuL
MORE arrests over corruption are imminent at Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and other local authorities following a series of investigations on land allocation and sales by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc).
Recently, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works sent a probe team to Bulawayo to investigate graft allegations, including the unprocedural allocation of stands to councillors and senior council officials.
The drive to clean up local authorities has gathered momentum with high profile arrests.
Early this month, Zacc arrested Bulawayo City Council director of housing and community services, Dictor Khumalo on allegations of criminal abuse of duty as a public officer as defined in the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
Last month Harare town clerk Hosiah Chisango was arrested in connection with the continued unravelling of alleged illegal land deals that have rocked the city, while director of works Zvenyika Chawatama was suspended without pay as allegations of potential disciplinary offences were investigated.
Countrywide, it has also been observed that land sales are benefitting councillors, their families and handlers.
Corruption has been identified as one of the problems affecting the country’s economic growth which eventually leads to debt due to misappropriation of funds and resources.
Zimbabwe scored 24 points out of 100 on the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International.
The index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be.
A country’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) and 100 (very clean).
Zacc descended on the MDC-T run local authority in September after a whistle blower alleged corruption and malpractices in the municipality, particularly issues to do with allocation and sales of council land.
One of the cited cases involves Bulawayo mayor Councillor Solomon Mguni who was allocated a plot in Rangemore to the disgruntlement of many residents.
According to the notice flighted on May 29, the town clerk Christopher Dube revealed that Clr Mguni had been offered a land lease in Rangemore for agricultural purposes on Lot 3 of plot 3 Lower Rangemore.
The lease was for an initial 25-year period while monthly rentals were pegged at $165, subject to review.
Residents argued that the 25-year land lease being offered to Clr Mguni was tantamount to corruption and also accused council officials of abusing privileges and parceling out land to cronies at what they described as ridiculously low rentals.
The anti-graft team was also interested in the application by the mayor to construct duplex flats on stand number 19789 Bulawayo Township, which was eventually turned down by councillors.
Dube as well was being investigated after a proposed allocation of a stand to him ahead of the renewal of his employment contract as the city’s town clerk.
In an interview, Zacc spokesperson Commissioner Makamure said the probing is still ongoing but investigations done so far will result in some officials getting arrested.
“Investigations are continuing in local authorities and we have gone very far in investigating corruption. Arrests are imminent in many local authorities including the Bulawayo City Council,” said Mr Makamure.
“The probing has not yet come to an end and the issues where most officials have been wanting are mostly about land allocation.”
President Mnangagwa is on record saying the Government will continue investigating and clamping down on corruption as it continues to pursue goals to achieve Vision 2030 and removing impediments towards realisation of the objective.
He recently raised concern over the level of corruption in local authorities where public funds are converted to personal use, saying Government will not hesitate to punish councillors.
The President said under the Second Republic there was need to build a legacy of good governance, accountability and transparency for the prosperity of the country.
He added that councillors and council officials were key stakeholders in the country’s economic growth and attainment of Vision 2030 aimed at transforming Zimbabwe’s economy into an upper middle-income status.
PARLIAMENT has approved Victoria Falls’ city status following recommendations by a commission that was set up to assess the town’s capacity.
Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo set the commission three years ago following an application for city status by the municipality.
The commission submitted its report on January 19, 2018 recommending that the municipality was fit to be granted city status.
Minister Moyo tabled the matter in Parliament on Wednesday where he sought the nod for President Mnangagwa to accord the status to the country’s prime tourism town.
MPs commended the development saying Victoria Falls deserved city status as it has what it takes to be a world class destination city.
If granted the status, Victoria Falls will become the first city in Matabeleland North and also the first city based on tourism in the country.
This will cement its prestigious status as the only tourism destination that competes with Cape Town in South Africa in terms of the number of hotels.
Victoria Falls, which boasts of a state-of-the-art airport, is the core of the Victoria Falls Area Tourism Development Plan and recently approved special economic zone (SEZ) corridor which comprises Masuwe Stateland, Batoka City, Mlibizi, Binga Centre, Sijalila, Hwange Hinterland and Gwayi Shangani resort, which all seek to improve tourism in and around Victoria Falls.
Government wants to make Victoria Falls its conferencing capital and plans to build Masue Satellite Town which will have a multi-purpose convention centre and state-of-the-art facilities such as five-star hotels, medical centre, a university, a Zimbabwe Defence Forces camp and sporting facilities among other facilities.
Government also plans to build about 30 000 houses at Masue as part of the Victoria Falls Development Plan.
Last week Government opened the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange which will trade in foreign currency thereby enhancing the town’s attractiveness and also lure investors.
The resort town has hosted many international events such as the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly and conferment of a city status will attract more of such events.
“Following receipt of an application by Victoria Falls Municipality for upgrading to city status, I appointed a commission to investigate the suitability of the council to be elevated to a city status. Upon my receipt of the report from the commission in December 2017, I studied the recommendation contained therein and am now satisfied that the fast growing local authority and tourist epicentre of Zimbabwe should be awarded city status.
“I now move a motion for the adoption of the report so that we can proclaim Victoria Falls Municipality as a city. I therefore call upon Parliament to resolve and recommend to the President to proclaim the municipality as a city and thereby Victoria Falls assume the status of an eminent tourism city in the world,” said Minister Moyo.
Minister Moyo said growth was inevitable for Victoria Falls, which started as a railway station under Livingstone town during the colonial Federation period and achieved town status in 1971.
It was proclaimed a municipality in 1999.
“It is therefore befitting that they progress to the next level,” said Minister Moyo.
He said the Urban Council Act states that Parliament can resolve to request the President to accord city status which will lead to proclamation and gazetting.
Minister Moyo commended Victoria Falls management for keeping updated audited financials and for crafting a robust redevelopment concept aimed at improving infrastructure ahead of granting of city status.
“The city title embolden the impression of credibility and attracts development and potential investment from both local and international investors while simultaneously embracing the element of prestige which is what any local authority envisages. The local authority together with the Ministry have therefore initiated a process of upgrading the municipality to a city status,” added Minister Moyo.
He said Government will make sure that animal corridors, wetlands and river systems in Victoria Falls are preserved.
MPs welcomed the development saying granting Victoria Falls city status to the town was long overdue.
They however implored Government to avoid crowding the existing urban area and disturbing Victoria Falls’ natural habitat which is tourism’s draw card.
Chegutu West MP Cde Dexter Nduna said the development was long overdue adding that Victoria Falls has better facilities than Kadoma city in Mashonaland West.
Hwange West MP Mr Godfrey Dube in whose constituency Victoria Falls is located said the resort town should be allowed to retain part of revenue generated from the tourism activities for development of the new city.
“We are happy and celebrating that Victoria Falls has been given city status. There should be a special arrangement for the Victoria Falls city status as it should not be equated to other cities like Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru because this one is totally different. We are also expecting development which will not disturb what is already there because we know that our visitors come to Victoria Falls because of wildlife and the river,” said Mr Dube.
Hwange East MP Tose Sansole and Binga South MP Joel Gabbuza Gabbuza concurred that while the development was welcome, due attention should be given to keep the town in its pristine state.
The Government has condemned the move by Harare City Council to reinstate senior and middle managers with pending corruption court cases, saying such moves are tantamount to undermining the courts.
Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo on Wednesday said by reinstating the arrested and suspended employees, there was no guarantee that they will not interfere with evidence and or with witnesses since they were among their subordinates.
“If you start bringing people on the same job, will they not mess up with records?” he said.
“How can they not when they are facing jail?
“We are talking about people who have records, who are supervisors and all those under them, how can they not be intimidated?”
Minister Moyo said when there was prima facie evidence that they ought to answer in court, administratively the officials will have done something which the city must be worried about.
“To bring them back when investigations are still going on, what about the paperwork, the intimidation they can bring to the workers who are there,” he said.
Minister Moyo said he had told the city mayor Jacob Mafume that the courts were there to make sure that those who were accused were brought to book.
“So, l leave it to the council, but l am sure that the courts will look very unkind to the situation where there are ongoing investigations and that person is given access to documents,” he said.
Harare Residents Trust director Mr Precious Shumba said senior council officials implicated in corruption should be cleared by the courts and internal disciplinary hearings within the shortest possible time before they could be allowed back at work.
“The magnitude of corruption in the city of Harare needs urgent intervention,” he said.
“Any delay in concluding investigations will jeopardise service provision and take us back to the 2007-2008 levels where there was impunity and high levels of unaccountability in the whole system of council.”
Combined Harare Residents Association director Mrs Loreen Mupasiri-Sani said the reinstatement was not acceptable as it displayed the council’s lack of seriousness in addressing corruption.
Zimbabwe Combined Residents Association (ZICORA) president Mr McSteven Nyabvure said the reinstatement was an attempt to perpetuate corruption.
According to the recent Human Resources and General Purposes committee minutes, the council resolved to recommend the reinstatement of those with flexible bail conditions.
Among those under suspension are town clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango, director of housing and community services Mr Addmore Nhekairo, acting human capital director Mr Matthew Marara.
A number of other city employees have also appeared in court and are on bail.
MARRIAGES are supposedly made in heaven but when things don’t go well even a spouse’s bladder control problems during sleep can be grounds for divorce.
A woman from Umguzana village in Nyamandlovu area of Umguza district has filed for divorce from her husband claiming she was tired of living with him because he was always bed-wetting.
In a matter yet to be heard at the Bulawayo Customary Court Violet Maphosa stated that she could no longer cope with her husband of 20 years Nkululeko Ndlovu’s habit of drinking almost every day and then wetting the bed.
She said her husband bed-wets several times during the night and when she talks to him about it, he turns violent.
She claimed their bedroom now smelt like a urinal adding that she had now resorted to sleeping in the spare bedroom.
In her suit she stated that her husband’s actions were straining their marriage and that there was no love anymore between her and Ndlovu. Maphosa reiterated that their customary marriage had irretrievably broken down and there were no prospects of a restoration to a normal relationship.
“The marriage relationship between the parties has irretrievably broken down and there are no prospects of restoration of a normal marriage between them for one or more of the following reasons:
“My husband is a drunkard and whenever he drinks, he bed-wets even many more times before morning and when I talk to him about it, he turns violent and starts beating me.
“I am sick and tired of living in the same house with him because he drinks almost every day and then wets the bed.
In addition to that, as a couple we have also lost love, affection, trust and respect for each other and as a result I want a divorce,” read her papers in part.
Maphosa stated that her husband’s bed wetting habit made their house stink and that she had tried her best to help him stop it to no avail.
She further claimed that whenever she confronted him about the issue; he became violent and started verbally and physically abusing her.
Maphosa, who wants custody of their three children upon the dissolution of their marriage, wants to have their property, mostly household items and livestock to be shared equally.
Ndlovu’s response is set to be heard when the parties appear in court.-B Metro
OVER 300 people had, by Wednesday, been arrested in Bulawayo for public drinking, while 15 bar owners were also detained for operating after hours in violation of Covid-19 regulations.
According to regulations, members of the public are allowed to buy beer and drink at home but defiant bars and nightclubs in the city are allowing patrons to drink in the bars until late at night thereby risking spreading the virus.
The arrests, according to police, were made from last week Friday.
Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele said those who were arrested were fined.
“There were over 300 people arrested for public drinking from last week Friday until today (Wednesday). On top of that, we have arrested 15 owners of beerhalls and bottle stores for operating after hours, permitting patrons to drink inside the bottle store and beerhall,” said Asst Insp Msebele.
Ass Insp Msebele urged people and bar owners to adhere to regulations aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19.
“We’d like to urge people and bar owners not to flout Covid-19 regulations. They should operate within the law so that they don’t find themselves on the wrong side of the law,” said Asst Insp Bulawayo’s night life, has of late, since bars and restaurants were given the green light to reopen, come alive, with hordes of people looking for fun.
Outside bottle stores in the city, the story is the same as many people congregate and drink their fill, clearly flouting regulations, oblivious of the dangers of Covid-19.
The city has recorded an increase in new Covid-19 cases and now has the highest number of active cases in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Bulawayo has almost half of the country’s active Covid-19 cases at 123 while the national figure stood at 269 as of Tuesday. The city has recorded 52 deaths.
In council’s weekly top 10 Covid-19 hotspots log sheet, Bulawayo’s city centre is a Covid-19 hotspot with 27 active cases, while Entumbane and Nkulumane lead with three deaths each from Covid-19. The most recent death (one) was on Sunday.
Of the total active Covid-19 cases in Bulawayo, seven are in Mpopoma and three in Entumbane.-Chronicle
WARRIORS coach, Zdravko Logarusic, is expected to name his squad today for the back-to-back Afcon qualifiers against the Desert Foxes next month.
It has emerged Queen Park Rangers forward, Macauley Bonne, has ruled himself out of the squad to play in next month’s double header.
It also still remains to be seen if some of the regular stars, like Tino Kadewere, will be allowed to leave their Euro bases after France announced a new nationwide lockdown.
Europe is struggling to contain a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic and more countries are expected to introduce tough measures.
These restrictions could make it difficult for those who live, and work in those countries, to leave, especially for the international football assignments. Wellington Mpandare, the general manager of national teams, yesterday said they had completed the process to secure the release of players from their clubs.
“We dispatched the release letters to all the clubs three weeks ago and we have completed that process,’’ he said.
“We have managed to secure all the players wanted by the technical team.
“The squad announcement should be on tomorrow (today).’’
Zifa want to have the best possible preparations for the team, in the build up to the back-to-back matches against the African champions, which could define the Warriors’ campaign.
The Warriors are second in their group, on four points, with the Algerians early pacesetters, having secured six points, in their opening two matches, against Zambia and Botswana.
Loga, who presided over the friendly against Malawi, is desperate to deliver.
The Croat is believed to have included a number of active players who are plying their trade outside the country.
Zifa have been battling to have the local league return so that, at least, the local troops will have some game time in preparation for the international matches.
There was an uproar when the coach was forced to field some unfit players after they had failed to secure the services of all the foreign-based players.-Chronicle
Police in Mashonaland East have launched a manhunt for a Marondera man who brutally assaulted his 12-year-old son with a switch for leaving the family garden at Rusternburd Farm, unattended.
A switch is a thin branch cut from a tree.
The boy sustained severe injuries, which resemble serious burns on both legs.
Nhamo Katsukunya allegedly went into hiding after he realised that he had left his son in a critical condition.
When The Herald visited Emmanuel Katsukunya at Marondera Provincial Hospital where he is admitted, the boy was writhing in agony as he nursed the wounds.
His mother, Tryness Thomas, cut a distraught figure as she tried to come to terms with the horror attack.
She is failing to buy medication and she is afraid to go home as rumour had it that her husband was threatening to kill her.
“Emmanuel was at our garden when his friend asked to be accompanied to the grazing area to look for lost cattle,” said Ms Thomas.
“Emmanuel agreed and left the garden unattended.
“The father went to check on Emmanuel at the garden and saw that he had left the garden unattended. He then went to the grazing area to look for the boy and when Emmanuel saw his father approaching the grazing area, he knew he was in trouble and immediately returned to the garden.
“Upon arrival, he saw his father waiting for him with 10 switches which he used to brutally assault him.”
Ms Thomas said when her husband told her that he had disciplined Emmanuel, she took it lightly, but later learnt that the boy had been badly injured.
“Emmanuel refused to have dinner that night and went to sleep,” she said.
“The next morning, I discovered that the child could not stand on his feet. When the father commanded him to stand up, he fell on his back.
“My husband realised Emmanuel’s condition was bad and he immediately fled from the scene and went into hiding.”
Ms Thomas said she sought help from local health personnel who then reported the matter to police who failed to locate the father.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the boy had been left almost paralysed.
“If anyone has information that could lead to the arrest of the accused, they should contact the nearest police station,” he said.-The Herald
In an unfortunate incident that occurred in Bulawayo on Saturday, a ZUPCO bus crushed a vendor to death after he missed a step and fell while disembarking from the bus at Renkini Bus Terminus, The Sunday News reports.
The vendor Mbongeni Lunga was reportedly selling his wares in a Gutu bound ZUPCO bus at Renkini when he met his unfortunate end. The incident was confirmed by the family of the deceased who spoke to the publication and said:
We received a call from other vendors around 8am that Mbongeni had been hit by a bus as he was trying to jump out. Mbongeni was selling his foodstuffs in the Zupco bus going to Gutu/ Mupandawana. When the bus was about to leave the terminus, they were told to drop off and he with the other vendors jumped out of a moving bus.
Unfortunately, it is not clear whether he was pushed or not but he fell close to a give way sign post and the bus ran over and crushed him. Mbongeni was the breadwinner staying with his grandmother and sister who are mentally ill and on medication. Everything in this house was being taken care of by him.
ZRP said they are still investigating the accident. The accident came a few short weeks after a ZUPCO bus rammed into 8 cars and injured 10 people including a vendor whose legs had to be amputated after the accident.-The Sunday News
It is no longer aluta continua but loot continua in Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Banana Republic disguised as a Second Republic.
Forget about Mnangagwa’s deceptive and smokescreen anti-corruption body which he said would work closely under the supervision of President’s Office in the fight against corruption.
The arrest of Henrietta Rushwaya at Robert Mugabe Airport in a gold smuggling manoeuvre lays bare the rot inside Mnangagwa’s New Dispensation.
That Rushwaya is a close relative to Deputy Chief of Staff in Mnangagwa’s Cabinet clearly lays bare a well knit corruption syndicate that is run right from the Office of the President.
What of Steven Tserayi, Rushwaya’s accomplice in the looting syndicate?
Tserayi is a member of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), an organization whose members pride themselves as from the President’s Office.
What this entails is that the President’s Office is now the new breeding ground of corruption.
Rushwaya, Tserayi and company are just a tip of the iceberg to the rampant corruption that is brewing right inside the Office of the President.
After all this overwhelming evidence of corruption, should we cry against sanctions as our number one enemy?
Certainly no!
Until there is change of guard in the Office of the President, it is loot continua and never aluta continua against corruption.
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDCAllianceYouthAssemblyNationalSpokesperson
Farai Dziva|MDC Alliance has described the late women’s rights activist and former MP, Hon Fanny Chirisa as a dedicated cadre who spent her energy fighting for democratic change.
“The MDC Alliance is saddened to learn of the passing of prominent women’s rights activist and former MP, Hon Fanny Chirisa.
Hon Chirisa was a member of the MDC Alliance National Executive Committee.
We extend our deepest condolences to her family on this sad loss,” the party said in a statement.
Farai Dziva| Overzealous prison officers stunned all and sundry when they claimed jailed MDC Alliance activist, Terrence Manjengwa is a threat to security.
The prison officers, acting on instructions from Acting Assistant Commissioner General Chikobvu blocked MDC Alliance vice chairperson Job Sikhala from seeing Manjengwa at Harare Remand Prison.
“Dear Zimbabweans, today(Wednesday) I went to Harare Remand prison to see Terrence Manjengwa and the prison authorities through the Acting Commissioner General Chikobvu denied me authority to see him.
I had a 30 minutes meeting with the said Commissioner General but he said Terrence is a threat,” Sikhala said in a brief statement.
Farai Dziva| Overzealous prison officers stunned all and sundry when they claimed jailed MDC Alliance activist, Terrence Manjengwa is a threat to security.
The prison officers, acting on instructions from Acting Assistant Commissioner General Chikobvu blocked MDC Alliance vice chairperson Job Sikhala from seeing Manjengwa at Harare Remand Prison.
“Dear Zimbabweans, today(Wednesday) I went to Harare Remand prison to see Terrence Manjengwa and the prison authorities through the Acting Commissioner General Chikobvu denied me authority to see him.
I had a 30 minutes meeting with the said Commissioner General but he said Terrence is a threat,” Sikhala said in a brief statement.
Henrietta’s co-accused is Steven Tserayi, they were arrested together attempting to smuggle 6kg gold.
He is a senior Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative, and an aide to Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa
Henrietta’s live-in boyfriend is Kumbirai Hodzi, Zimbabwe’s Prosecutor-General
Henrietta’s cousin is Martin Rushwaya, the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry Of Defence…..he is now Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration and Finance in the Office of the President and Cabinet.
Henrietta’s father and Martin’s father are brothers.
If you look closely you can see the owner…
Martin and Emmmerson Mnangagwa’s mothers are sisters
Henrietta’s sister Heliete Rushwaya is the Chief Executive Officer of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC)
Dear Editor. @edmnangagwa is forming as GNU with @DrThoko_Khupe in 2 months' time and now, to push Nelson Chamisa out 'forever,' 2023 elections will be cancelled. The next polls will now be in 2027.
A 22-YEAR-OLD man has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for drugging and raping his friend.
Mbusowenkosi Ncube of Spitzkop Medium Suburb had pleaded not guilty to a charge of rape but was convicted due to overwhelming evidence by Gwanda regional magistrate Mrs Sibonginkosi Mkandla.
He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and four years were suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within the next five years.
Ncube had appeared together with Silenkosi Ndlovu (18) also of Spitzkop Medium Suburb but Ndlovu was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Prosecuting, Mr Khumbulani Nyoni said Ncube and Ndlovu raped the 14-year-old girl on June 28 after she had accompanied Ndlovu to his place of residence.
“On 28 June at around 2PM Ndlovu met the complainant who is his friend and asked her to accompany him to his house so that he could give her a birthday present. She agreed and when they got to his home Ndlovu gave her a 500ml bottle of 7UP drink which is suspected to have been laced with drugs and she blacked out. Ndlovu was later joined by Ncube and they took advantage and raped the complainant before releasing her to go to home,” he said.
“When the complainant got home her mother suspected that she was drunk. She questioned her daughter who narrated what had happened while at Ndlovu’s home. The complainant went to hospital for an examination and it was discovered that she had some fresh bruises on her private parts. The matter was reported to the police resulting in Ncube and Ndlovu’s arrest.”
In his defence, Ndlovu, through his lawyer Mr Themba Khumalo of Mlweli Ndlovu and Partners, said on the day in question he arrived home at around 5PM and found the complainant sleeping in his room with the door locked from the inside. He said the complainant told him that her mother had chased her away as she had arrived home drunk.
“My client didn’t enter the room where the complainant was sleeping. He had this conversation with the complainant through the window as she had locked herself inside. He didn’t at any point come into contact with the complainant or rape her. If the complainant was involved in any sexual activities it surely happened wherever the complainant went after leaving his place of residence,” he said.
In his defence, Ncube also through his lawyer Mr Khumalo said on the day in question the complainant called him using her friend’s phone and asked him to organise some beer for her which she was going to collect in the afternoon. Mr Themba Khumalo said his client never gave the complainant a 500ml 7UP drink.-Chronicle
Information just received indicates that all three journalists and Harare City Council Officials arrested while in a full council meeting have been released with no charge.
Journalists Munashe Chokodza, Takunda Mandura and Blessing Chidhakwa were arrested together with Harare City Councillors and city officials on Thursday afternoon.
This followed an unannounced raid by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Special Anti-Corruption Unit (SACU) in the middle of the full council meeting.
The arrested journalists and councilors were taken to Harare Central police station where they were allegedly not formally charged.
Information. Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana says that the hunt for “imaginary Big Fish” in Henrietta Rushwaya case will bring no results as no so called big fish is involved in the scandal.
Watch Managwana as he responds to questions asked about the headlining scandal.
A South African researcher was killed and two people badly injured in an aircraft crash in Zimbabwe’s Zambezi Valley at the weekend. Another person is missing.
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) plane went missing on Friday afternoon. It was found crashed on Sunday in the Chewore North Safari Area, in the mid-Zambezi Valley.
The Cessna 182 light aircraft, with two South African researchers and two Zimbabweans on board, was conducting aerial surveys for elephants and other large herbivores when it disappeared off the radar.
A search was launched in the mountainous and densely forested area between Chirundu and the Zambezi Valley.
The dead South African was found under the wreckage and the other two survivors — the pilot and a South African scientist — were found in a critical condition in the plane. They were airlifted and admitted at a private hospital in Harare.
The fourth person, a Zimbabwean, is still unaccounted for.
ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo told TimesLIVE it was not yet clear what caused the crash, saying investigations were in progress.
“The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe is still carrying out investigations. The plane was found crashed in Chewore, mid-Zambezi.
“Authorities recovered the body of a South African while another two people were found badly injured. The Air Force of Zimbabwe and authorities in Zambia are helping in the search for the fourth person, who remains missing,” said Farawo.
The ZimParks spokesperson could not yet formally release the names of those involved in the crash.
The Zimbabwe Miners Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya’s gold saga involving 6kg that was seized while allegedly being smuggled to Dubai has sucked in two more Zimbabwe Republic Police bosses, police have revealed.
In a statement this morning, police said they have now arrested six people in connection with the recovered gold worth US$333 000.
“The ZRP confirms that six more suspects have been arrested in connection with the gold smuggling investigation on Henrietta Rushwaya. These are; Ali Mohamad, Gift Karanda, Stephen Chenjerai Tserayi, Raphios Mufandauya, Superintendent Shoko and Det. Chief Inspector Chimhungu,” Police said.
Police said all the suspects are expected to appear in court soon.
Rushwaya, who is seeking bail at the courts, remains in custody following her arrest at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on Monday morning.
A 23-year-old Bulawayo vendor was on Saturday morning crushed to death by a Zupco bus when he missed a step after allegedly being pushed out of the taking off bus by the bus crew.
Sources revealed that Mbongeni Lunga was vending inside the loading bus at the Renkini Bus Terminus when the bus took off and the vendors were bundled out by the crew.
All other vendors reportedly safely jumped out of the bus while Lunga was allegedly pushed out of the bus by the crew.
He allegedly missed a step and fell down before being crashed to death by the bus.
“Mbongeni was selling his foodstuffs in the Zupco bus going to Gutu/ Mupandawana. When the bus was about to leave the terminus, they were told to drop off and he with the other vendors jumped out of a moving bus. Unfortunately, it is not clear whether he was pushed or not but he fell close to a give way sign post and the bus ran over and crushed him,” said a family source.
Efforts to get a comment from the Bulawayo Zupco Depot were not fruitful.
POLICE in Beitbridge have arrested two Bulawayo men for allegedly smuggling into the country seven signal pistols, over 1800 units of Broncleer through an illegal crossing point along the Limpopo river. The duo reportedly entered the country through an illegal crossing point at the spillway at around 4AM on Sunday.
The place is located some 500 metres east of the Alfred Beit Bridge early on Sunday morning. They were also carrying empty cartridges for the pistols, mbanje (dagga) and an assortment of groceries. The suspects, Bekezela Tshongwe (34) and Hloniphani Masuku (36) of Old Magwegwe and Cowdray Park all in Bulawayo.
National Police Spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said further investigations were underway. He said Masuku and Tshongwe had been charged for contravening sections of the Medicine and Allied Substances, Customs and Excise and the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Acts respectively.
“The suspects were spotted by our police details on patrol as they left an illegal crossing point at the Spillway. They were then trailed to Total Service station where they were then arrested,” said Assistant Commissioner Nyathi.
“Masuku and Tshongwe were then taken to the main police station in Beitbridge where a search was conducted on them and the vehicle. It was discovered that they were in possession of 50×36 boxes of Broncleer Cough Syrup, a paper bag of dagga, four Booster Batteries, seven signal pistols, 50×2 boxes of 9mm Pak Steel Blank Cartridges and 10×2 boxes of Pepper Cartridges and other various groceries”.
He said the firearms had been taken for ballistics. The other recovered goods, he added, were taken to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA).
Ass Comm Nyathi said the 50×36 boxes of Broncleer cough syrup and a paper bag of dagga were being held as exhibits. He said the value of the smuggled goods and weight of the dagga was yet to be ascertained.
“We will not take lightly to smuggling which besides affecting revenue collection is also fueling criminal activities along the borders and countrywide. Let me warn the smugglers that their days are numbered,” he said.
By Jane Mlambo| Information Secretary Nick Mangwana has confirmed that a warrant of arrest has been issued against Chitungwiza Mayor Lovemore Maiko and his deputy.
“In other matters, a warrant of arrest has been issued against the Mayor Chitungwiza Town Council and another for the Deputy Mayor,” said Mangwana while posting on Twitter.
This followed the arrested of all remaining City of Harare councillors by the Special Anti-Corruption Unit from President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office.
Riot police who stormed the City of Harare full council meeting on Thursday and arrested councillors bundled three innocent journalists into the arresting trucks.
The three are Munashe Chokodza who is employed by online media 263Chat, Blessing Chidhakwa (Herald) and Takunda Mandura (Open Parly).
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Zimbabwe has condemned the arrest of the three journalists.
Asked for comment on the journalists’ arrests, Information Ministry permanent secretary Nick Mangwana said the scribes were going to be released without charge.
“Any journalist who may have been rounded by the police will be released. Currently, they are just confirming who is a journalist and who is not,” Mangwana said.
The Zimbabwe Miners Federation boss Henrietta Rushwaya was arrested in a movie-style at the Robert Mugabe International Airport on Monday as she attempted to fly out to Dubai with 6kgs of gold without export documents, the Zim Morning Post has heard.
Sources told the Zim Morning Post that Rushwaya arrived at the Airport in the company of two “aides” who played a movie-style technique to make sure she could quickly be cleared without undergoing heavy body searches.
“She was being driven in her car while the aides used their own vehicle,” said the source.
“One of the aides, Steven Tserayi quickly accompanied her into the lobby before proceeding to the passport checkpoint.
“Tserayi also ordered that the CCTV be briefly switched off and within a short period Rushwaya had completed all processes which normally take between 10 to 20 minutes.”
The source said Tserayi then left Rushwaya after making sure she was about to go to the boarding lobby.
It was around the boarding lobby that she was asked by officers from the Military Intelligence what she had in her hand luggage.
The involvement of the military intelligence brings into play another dimension to the whole saga.
The source said Rushwaya tried to call Tserayi back but the aide had already left for State House.
“After noticing that something had gone wrong Tserayi refused to come back to the Airport.”
“He even said he had never set foot at the airport on the day in question.”
“Police then called the Central Intelligence boss Isaac Moyo and explained what had transpired.”
Tserayi was arrested on Wednesday afternoon after his boss notified President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Observers say it is the presence of the two presidential aides that complicates the issue and drags Mnangagwa into the mud.
Whose gold is it?
Since her arrest on Monday, questions have been raised about the owner of the gold Rushwaya was about to smuggle to Dubai.
Upon her arrest, Rushwaya dragged into the saga, Transnational car dealers, Ali Japan 786, after she stated that the gold belonged to them.
Speculation is also rife that Rushwaya could have been a runner for powerful government officials, with some even claiming she is related to Mnangagwa hence the gold could have been from the highest office.
Is Rushwaya related to Mnangagwa?
The Rushwaya family comes from Gutu in Masvingo Province. The Mnangagwas on the other hand, are from Dambudzo village in Mapanzure near Zvishavane in the Midlands province.
Is politics at play?
Some observers have said factional politics could be at play in Zanu PF and Rushwaya can just be a victim of the factional fights playing out in the ruling Zanu PF.
“Rushwaya is close to Mnangagwa and it is common knowledge that factionalism in Zanu PF has reached unprecedented levels.
“Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga are engaged in a vicious fight to control the party ahead of 2023 elections.”
“Factionalism is oiled by sponsors so that a war chest is built well in advance. Rushwaya is most likely helping Mnangagwa build a war chest and this got into the ears of his number two.”
“Just look at how Rushwaya was arrested. Within minutes the news was all over social media giving no time for Mnangagwa to influence her release.”
Power struggles within ZMF
Since inception, there have been power struggles within ZMF which saw Rushwaya winning her presidency after some legal battles. Insiders said ZMF has endured protracted power struggles which resulted in other officials resigning.
“Unfortunately ZMF had three vice Presidents and one of them would have been acting now but all of them resigned,” the source said. “Blessing Hungwe was the first one to resign a few months after the election.
“Engineer Murove resigned next and a Marufu just stopped attending meetings.This shows something was extremely wrong in the organisation. Rushwaya has been accused of railroading her way out.”
Test case for the rule of law
Rushwaya’s proximity to the echelons of power presents a test case for the rule of law in Zimbabwe. Whatever happens, her case will be used to test judiciary independence. This puts whoever is hearing it in a difficult position.
Upon her initial hearing at the courts both the defence team and the State had agreed that Rushwaya be given bail.
However, barely 24 hours later magistrate Ngoni Nduna made a spectacular U-turn and objected to the granting of bail.
All eyes are on Nduna who has also ordered that more investigations be carried out as there is evidence that more people could have been involved in the smuggling racket.
Nduna argues that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had not given compelling reasons why they consented to bail without opposing it.
Below is the full statement by Foreign Affairs Minister Dr SB Moyo
We take note of the debate which took place in the British House of Lords on 27 October and, once again, express our surprise at the level of invasive interest in our internal affairs which persists in the hallowed halls of Westminster Palace.
It is more than 40 years ago that the Union Flag was lowered and yet, it seems, our friends in London still regard Zimbabwe as part of their extended family – requiring constant supervision, correction and even punishment when, in their own assessment, we stray from the path they and others have chosen for us.
Naturally, we are disappointed at the overally negative tone and tenor of the debate and by the uninformed quality of much of the commentary or observation made by those who spoke.
The deliberate attempt to besmirch His Excellency the President, by way of innuendo, with the corruption and smuggling case involving Henrietta Rushwaya, is a new low, even for the noble Lords.
The Government representative in the House echoed London’s now well-known refrain simply dismissing our progress on reform as “inadequate” and dredging-up the usual, invariably unsubstantiated allegations of human-rights abuses and a failure to act on corruption.
We note, as deeply unfortunate, the implied threat of more sanctions from the UK and the assurance given to the Lords that such measures are currently under active consideration in London.
Equally unfortunate is the clear acknowledgement by the British Government that it is actively engaging others – including the African Union, the European Union, the Commonwealth, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and South Africa – with a view to further intensifying pressure upon Zimbabwe.
One would have thought that, by now, a lesson would have been learned. Zimbabwe is a sovereign state. We chart our own course based on our own national interests. We co-operate with our regional partners and indeed with all partners on the basis of mutual respect and understanding.
The openness of the New Dispensation, the sincere willingness to engage and re-engage with all who wish to engage with us is not an open invitation for interference or intrusion into our internal affairs.
Genuine friends and partners do not prescribe or dictate : they guide, advise and assist.
From Government’s perspective, the UK is a respected and important trade, development and investment partner. Notwithstanding our troubled history, the lingering legacy of British colonial rule and the occasional tension within the relationship today, Zimbabwe is determined to forge a productive, mutually-beneficial partnership with the UK. Our assumption, to date, is that that desire is fully reciprocated by the United Kingdom.
Just two weeks ago, we submitted the formal Instrument of Ratification of the Economic Partnership Agreement between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom – which will allow for the continuity of preferential Zimbabwe-UK trade even after Brexit.
There are many other areas of cooperation and collaboration between Zimbabwe and the UK. These are the real building blocks of the relationship we seek to re-establish with our friends in London.
A 20-YEAR-OLD Esigodini man has been arrested for allegedly raping a 47-year-old woman after she turned down his love proposal.
Brian Ndlovu of Tusi Village in Esibomvu area was not asked to plead when he appeared before Gwanda magistrate, Miss Lerato Nyathi facing a rape charge. He was remanded in custody to November 6.
Prosecuting, Miss Ethel Mahachi said Ndlovu met the woman while she was on her way home on June 30 and proposed love to her.
“On 30 June at around 6PM the complainant was on her way home from the business centre when she met Ndlovu. He proposed love to the complainant and she turned him down. The complainant left the accused person standing along the footpath and she proceeded home.
“On the same night at around 9PM Ndlovu arrived at the complainant’s place of residence while she was asleep in her bedroom hut. Ndlovu knocked on the door and when the complainant asked who it was he lied and pretended to be her neighbour who was in need of her help. The woman opened the door and Ndlovu requested to have sexual intercourse with her but she refused and ordered him to leave her homestead. This didn’t go down well with Ndlovu who then slapped the complainant several times on her face and threated to kill her if she didn’t give in to his demands,” he said.
Miss Mahachi said Ndlovu then ordered the complainant to remove her underwear and lie on the bed facing upwards and she complied. He said the accused person then raped the complainant.
Miss Mahachi said after committing the offence the accused person fled from the scene and the complainant rushed to a neighbour’s homestead where she sought refuge.
The matter was reported to the police resulting in the arrest of the accused person.
By Jane Mlambo| Three journalists Munashe Chokodza, Takunda Mandura and Blessing Chidhakwa have been arrested and together with Harare City Councillors and city officials.
This followed an unannounced raid by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Special Anti-Corruption Unit (SACU) in the middle of the full council meeting.
The arrested journalists and councilors have been taken to Harare Central police station though they have not been formally charged.
Harare City Councillors being taken to Harare Central Police Station
By A Correspondent| HOME Affairs Minister Hon. Kezembe Kazembe has evaded serving jail time after his ministry rushed make a timeous payment of RTGS$199 500 as compensation to Simon Mandoza, a Gweru-based student, who was brutalised by some Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) members in 2018.
Hon. Kazembe had been given an ultimatum by Harare Magistrate Tilda Mazhande to pay Mandoza or be sentenced to serve 60 days in prison.
The ultimatum was issued after Hon. Kazembe reneged on complying with a court order compelling him to compensate Mandoza for damages which he suffered when he was assaulted by some law enforcement agents two years ago.
But on Tuesday 27 October 2020, a legal advisor in Hon. Kazembe’s ministry only identified as P Madziviridze advised Mandoza’s lawyers Fiona Iliff and Obey Shava of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) through a letter that payment had been effected and attached a proof of payment confirming the transfer of funds.
Through his lawyers, Mandoza sued Hon. Kazembe and ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga after some police officers arrested the college student on 20 September 2018 while he was standing outside a fast food outlet in Harare’s central business district (CBD), waiting for his brother to pick him up.
Unbeknown to him, some ZRP members were carrying out an operation against alleged informal traders in the CBD at that time. Mandoza was assaulted by ZRP members and then forced to get into the back of a police vehicle.
While in the vehicle, ZRP members poked Mandoza with a truncheon on his shoulder and at the back of his head, threatening him with further assault.
Mandoza was taken to Harare Central Police Station, where he was finally released without a charge being preferred against him.
Mandoza becomes the latest person among dozens of people assisted by ZLHR to successfully sue ZRP members and Cabinet ministers for payment of damages emanating from the misdemeanors of some state and non-state actors, who violate human rights of others under the guise of acting within the realm of the law or purportedly under some state authority.
By bringing up anti-impunity civil claims against perpetrators, ZLHR aims to deter and discourage acts of human rights violations.
Zanu-PF acting spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa again savaged United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols, saying he is pushing a regime change agenda.
He alleged that Nichols was financing some private individuals to push an online anti-Zimbabwe narrative adding that the ambassador was at the forefront of pushing an CIA regime agenda.
Chinamasa said Nichols does not speak like a normal diplomat as he is not seeking to promote good relations.
He added that he felt sorry for Nichols given that he is African American and that he is being used in that manner.
We take note of the debate which took place in the British House of Lords on 27 October and, once again, express our surprise at the level of invasive interest in our internal affairs which persists in the hallowed halls of Westminster Palace.
It is more than 40 years ago that the Union Flag was lowered and yet, it seems, our friends in London still regard Zimbabwe as part of their extended family – requiring constant supervision, correction and even punishment when, in their own assessment, we stray from the path they and others have chosen for us.
Naturally, we are disappointed at the overally negative tone and tenor of the debate and by the uninformed quality of much of the commentary or observation made by those who spoke.
The deliberate attempt to besmirch His Excellency the President, by way of innuendo, with the corruption and smuggling case involving Henrietta Rushwaya, is a new low, even for the noble Lords.
The Government representative in the House echoed London’s now well-known refrain simply dismissing our progress on reform as “inadequate” and dredging-up the usual, invariably unsubstantiated allegations of human-rights abuses and a failure to act on corruption.
We note, as deeply unfortunate, the implied threat of more sanctions from the UK and the assurance given to the Lords that such measures are currently under active consideration in London.
Equally unfortunate is the clear acknowledgement by the British Government that it is actively engaging others – including the African Union, the European Union, the Commonwealth, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and South Africa – with a view to further intensifying pressure upon Zimbabwe.
One would have thought that, by now, a lesson would have been learned. Zimbabwe is a sovereign state. We chart our own course based on our own national interests. We co-operate with our regional partners and indeed with all partners on the basis of mutual respect and understanding.
The openness of the New Dispensation, the sincere willingness to engage and re-engage with all who wish to engage with us is not an open invitation for interference or intrusion into our internal affairs.
Genuine friends and partners do not prescribe or dictate : they guide, advise and assist.
From Government’s perspective, the UK is a respected and important trade, development and investment partner. Notwithstanding our troubled history, the lingering legacy of British colonial rule and the occasional tension within the relationship today, Zimbabwe is determined to forge a productive, mutually-beneficial partnership with the UK. Our assumption, to date, is that that desire is fully reciprocated by the United Kingdom.
Just two weeks ago, we submitted the formal Instrument of Ratification of the Economic Partnership Agreement between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom – which will allow for the continuity of preferential Zimbabwe-UK trade even after Brexit.
There are many other areas of cooperation and collaboration between Zimbabwe and the UK. These are the real building blocks of the relationship we seek to re-establish with our friends in London.
By A Correspondent| The High Court will on Friday finally hand down its judgment on a bail appeal filed by Kossam Ncube of ZLHR on behalf of Terrence Manjengwa, who has spent 56 days in both police and prison custody after he was arrested on 3 September.
Manjengwa was arrested by ZRP members outside Harare Magistrates Court and charged with unnecessary movement and possession of dangerous weapons while following proceedings during Zengeza West constituency legislator Hon. Job Sikhala’s court session.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) which on Monday rushed to vindicate gold smuggling arrested Henrietta Rushwaya has come to its senses and suspended her on allegations of putting the name of the organisation into disrepute.
Rushwaya who was the organisation’s President was suspended following her arrest on Monday at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Harare International Airport while trying to smuggle 6kg of gold to Dubai.
The ZMF management board, which consists members of the national executive, the council and regional representatives convened a meeting on Thursday afternoon in Gweru and suspended Rushwaya.
Announcing the suspension, the ZMF national chairperson Mr Makumba Njenje said Rushwaya’s deputy, Mr Marufu Sithole would be acting president with immediate effect.
ZimEye is reliably informed that the Special Anti-Corruption Unit (SACU) has detained Harare City Council councilors and officials attending today’s full council meeting with the Deputy Mayor Luckson Mukunguma said to have disappeared from his chairing seat to evade arrest.
A number of council officials including Town ClerK, Hosea Chisango, former Mayor Herbert Gomba and Town Planners have been arrested in connection with corruption in the allocation of residential stands. THIS IS A DEVELOPIGN STORY
Zimbabwean striker Nyasha Mushekwi scored twice in Zhejiang Greentown’s 2-4 defeat to Meizhou Hakka in the Chinese League One on Thursday.
The big striker, who was also on target in the previous game against Kunshan on Saturday, opened the scoring for Greentown as early as the 2nd minute of the game.
Lonsana Dombouya restored parity for Hakka seven minutes later before Nigerian striker Chissom put them in front in the 38th minute.
Mushekwi then equalised in first half stoppage time, making it 2-2 for Greentown, who then crumbled in the second half to lose the game 2-4.-Soccer 24
The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) is trying to find ways to reduce the bill for the trip to Algeria for the Group H Afcon qualifier.
The association is set to fork out over US$200,000 for the away game as the team will use a chartered plane since there are no direct flights into the North African country. The cheapest quotation received so far is totalling US$152,000.
Speaking to NewsDay, ZIFA acting vice-president Philemon Machana said they are hoping other stakeholders such as the government will chip in to subsidise the trip.
The football body is also banking on the parents of about 20 students who are stuck in Algeria could take the opportunity of the availability of the chartered plane to return home.
“It’s a very difficult situation because there are no flights to Algeria,” Machana said.
“The option we have is to charter a plane, but then again it is an expensive route because the cheapest quotation for a 40-seater plane is US$152 000.
“So we are exploring options of a bigger plane as there are about 20 students who are in Algeria right now and want to come home.
“So we hope that we can have partners like the government and parents of those children on board to help subsidise the trip. It’s really difficult, but we have an obligation to fulfil the fixture, and we have to find a way and make it happen.”
The Warriors will play Algeria on 12 November in Algiers before hosting the Desert Foxes at National Sports Stadium four days later.-Soccer 24
WORSE THAN GRACE? – Why is Auxillia Mnangagwa forcing all councils to sponsor her personal project, Chambuta Children's Home? pic.twitter.com/MY4JIGFzpH
The Algerian Football Federation (FAF) has confirmed that the Afcon Qualifiers Matchday 3 encounter between Algeria and Zimbabwe, scheduled for November 12 at the July 5 Stadium in Algiers, will take place behind closed doors.
The football body had planned to allow 5,000 fans into the venue, but a recent spike in new COVID-19 cases in the North African country will see the game played without spectators present.
FAF president Kheireddine Zetchi confirmed the development at a press conference on Tuesday.
He said: “At one point, we thought we could allow 5,000 spectators to attend this match, but with the recent rise in COVID-19 contamination cases, we decided that this meeting will ultimately be played behind closed doors.
“We would have liked the fans to be present at the stadium, to support the national team, but in the current climate, our priority is to protect public health. It’s in the best interests of the people that we do this.”
Meanwhile, the second leg in the tie will be played four days later at the National Sports Stadium in Harare. The match will also have no spectators present due to the coronavirus pandemic.-Soccer 24
Harare West legislator Joana Mamombe has been summoned to appear at the Harare Magistrates Court on Friday to “comply with a High Court order” whose terms were not stated on the summons served on her lawyers, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has said.
Mamombe together with MDC Youth Assembly leaders Cecelia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova have been in and out of court for the larger part of this year.
Farai Dziva| Overzealous prison officers stunned all and sundry when they claimed jailed MDC Alliance activist, Terrence Manjengwa is a threat to security.
The prison officers, acting on instructions from Acting Assistant Commissioner General Chikobvu blocked MDC Alliance vice chairperson Job Sikhala from seeing Manjengwa at Harare Remand Prison.
“Dear Zimbabweans, today(Wednesday) I went to Harare Remand prison to see Terrence Manjengwa and the prison authorities through the Acting Commissioner General Chikobvu denied me authority to see him.
I had a 30 minutes meeting with the said Commissioner General but he said Terrence is a threat,” Sikhala said in a brief statement.
IN a major milestone, Bulawayo giants Highlanders have expanded their income generating initiatives by venturing into gold mining after being handed a mining claim in the gold rich area of Inyathi, Bubi District, by the Government.
The venture, a first by any local football club except for those whose owners were already in the lucrative industry like Bulawayo Chiefs and Talen Vision, will likely see an improvement in liquidity terms by Highlanders who are at the present moment relying on the benevolence of its members and other well wishers following the withdrawal of their principal sponsors Netone.
Sources said Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube was the brains behind the gold mining initiative after she reportedly asked why Highlanders were always carrying a begging bowl asking for donations to sustain the club despite its gigantic stature and the club’s ever open door policy when it came to national issues like participating in Independence Cup tournaments, anti sanctions movement as well as in sports tourism, marketing brand Zimbabwe.
Two weeks ago President Mnangagwa launched the Visit Zimbabwe Promotion Campaign, a movement which seeks to leverage on the sports and tourism sectors to market the country as a premier tourist destination.
“Look I know all the parties in this matter wanted this thing to be kept under wraps until all the paperwork was completed but the bottom line is it’s a done deal, umasalu (Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister) really played a big role here, ubengumasalu sibili. She went to the highest office in the land and pleaded on behalf of the club.
A mining claim was then identified in Inyathi with the concurrence of the highest office. I am sure all the paperwork will be signed this week but what I know for certain is that Highlanders officials have been shown the area where they will be mining, coordinates are there,” said a well placed source.
Highlanders chief executive officer Nhlanhla Dube could neither confirm nor deny the latest development, telling this publication that the administration has always been keen to expand its revenue streams for the sustenance of the institution.
“We have a number of income generating projects that as a club we agreed on which are also part of what we agreed on in our strategic plan and I wouldn’t really want to settle on what you have specifically asked about, suffice to say whatever we venture in, when the time comes, shall be made public,” said Dube.-Chronicle
Here are seven steps you can take to navigate this wave of information and decide who and what to trust:
Assess the source
Who shared the information with you and where did they get it from? Even if it is friends or family, you still need to vet their source. To check for fake social media accounts, look at how long profiles have been active, their number of followers and their most recent posts. For websites, check the “About Us” and “Contact Us” pages to look for background information and legitimate contact details.
When it comes to images or videos, make it a habit to verify their authenticity.
For images, you can use reverse image search tools provided by Google and TinEye. For videos, you can use Amnesty International’s YouTube DatViewer, which extracts thumbnails that you can enter into reverse image search tools.
Other clues that a source may be unreliable or inaccurate include unprofessional visual design, poor spelling and grammar, or excessive use of all caps or exclamation points.
Go beyond headlines
Headlines may be intentionally sensational or provocative to get high numbers of clicks. Read more than just the headline of an article – go further and look at the entire story. Search more widely than social media for information – look at print sources such as newspapers and magazines, and digital sources such as podcasts and online news sites. Diversifying your sources allows you to get a better picture of what is or is not trustworthy.
Identify the author
Search the author’s name online to see if they are real or credible.
Check the date
When you come across information, ask yourself these questions: Is this a recent story? Is it up to date and relevant to current events? Has a headline, image or statistic been used out of context?
Examine the supporting evidence
Credible stories back up their claims with facts – for example, quotes from experts or links to statistics or studies. Verify that experts are reliable and that links actually support the story
Check your biases
We all have biases, and these factor into how we view what’s happening around us. Evaluate your own biases and why you may have been drawn to a particular headline or story. What is your interpretation of it? Why did you react to it that way? Does it challenge your assumptions or tell you what you want to hear? What did you learn about yourself from your interpretation or reaction?
Turn to fact-checkers
When in doubt, consult trusted fact-checking organizations, such as the International Fact-Checking Network and global news outlets focused on debunking misinformation, including the Associated Press and Reuters.
Information, misinformation and disinformation
Information is what we call things that are accurate to the best of our current knowledge. For instance, COVID-19 stands for coronavirus disease 2019 and is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. One of the difficulties with any new pathogen, like this coronavirus, is that information changes over time as we learn more about the science.
Misinformation, on the other hand, is false information.
Importantly, it is false information that was not created with the intention of hurting others. Misinformation is often started by someone who genuinely wants to understand a topic and cares about keeping other people safe and well. It is then shared by others who feel the same.
Everyone believes they are sharing good information – but unfortunately, they are not. And depending on what is being shared, the misinformation can turn out to be quite harmful.
At the other end of the spectrum is disinformation. Unlike misinformation, this is false information created with the intention of profiting from it or causing harm. That harm could be to a person, a group of people, an organization or even a country. Disinformation generally serves some agenda and can be dangerous. During this pandemic, we are seeing it used to try to erode our trust in each other and in our government and public institutions.
How to navigate misinformation and disinformation
It helps to think of misinformation and disinformation spreading in the same way as viruses. One person might share fake news with their friends and family, and then a handful of them share it with more of their friends and family, and before you know it, potentially harmful or dangerous information is taking over everyone’s newsfeed.
But just as we can protect against COVID-19 with hand washing, physical distancing and masks, we can slow down the spread of misinformation and disinformation by practising some information hygiene. Before sharing something, ask yourself these questions:
How does this make me feel?
Why am I sharing this?
How do I know if it’s true?
Where did it come from?
Whose agenda might I be supporting by sharing it?
If you know something is false, or if it makes you angry, don’t share it to debunk it or make fun of it. That just spreads the misinformation or disinformation further. Learn more about how you can report misinformation online.
Good places to go for reliable information are the websites of your national Ministry of Health or the World Health Organization. Remember, though: information will change as we learn more about the virus.
What WHO is doing
WHO has developed guidance to help individuals, community leaders, governments and the private sector understand some key actions they can take to manage the COVID-19 infodemic.
For instance, WHO has been working closely with more than 50 digital companies and social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitch, Snapchat, Pinterest, Google, Viber, WhatsApp and YouTube, to ensure that science-based health messages from the organization or other official sources appear first when people search for information related to COVID-19. WHO has also partnered with the Government of the United Kingdom on a digital campaign to raise awareness of misinformation around COVID-19 and encourage individuals to report false or misleading content online. In addition, WHO is creating tools to amplify public health messages – including its WHO Health Alert chatbot, available on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Viber – to provide the latest news and information on how individuals can protect themselves and others from COVID-19.
Source: World Health Organization
Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
For more information follow /like our Facebook page :Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
Farai Dziva| Overzealous prison officers stunned all and sundry when they claimed jailed MDC Alliance activist, Terrence Manjengwa is a threat to security.
The prison officers, acting on instructions from Acting Assistant Commissioner General Chikobvu blocked MDC Alliance vice chairperson Job Sikhala from seeing Manjengwa at Harare Remand Prison.
“Dear Zimbabweans, today(Wednesday) I went to Harare Remand prison to see Terrence Manjengwa and the prison authorities through the Acting Commissioner General Chikobvu denied me authority to see him.
I had a 30 minutes meeting with the said Commissioner General but he said Terrence is a threat,” Sikhala said in a brief statement.
Farai Dziva|Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa is punishing opposition members by making sure that they serve sentence before trial.
In a hard-hitting statement, MDC Alliance spokesperson, Stephen Sarkozy Chuma, condemned the illegal detention of party activist Terrence Manjengwa.
Read full statement below :
Terrence Manjengwa Case: When Sentence Precedes Trial
29-10-2020
Terrence Manjengwa, an MDC Alliance Youth Assembly Glen View North Organizer is languishing at Harare Remand Prison for more than two months now for attending court in solidarity with MDC Alliance Vice Chairman, Job Sikhala.
Terrence’s case is one of many where activists and dissenting voices serve jail sentences without trial.
It is a new wicked tactic by Emmerson Mnangagwa’s corrupt regime to set an example on voices that dare to raise a finger on his ever blundering government.
Serving two months in prison pending trial is worse than a situation of a criminal serving the same for a committed offence.
The new evil scheme is to bundle activists and opposition figures together with notorious criminals in prisons’ D section so as to break their spirits.
This is exactly the same scenario with ZINASU President, Takudzwa Ngadziore.
He had become a pimple in the *ss for ZANU PF interests at Impala Car Rental by his 101 meters demonstration against abductions.
Despite Ngadziore being a mere student leader voicing genuine concerns against abduction of fellow student, Tawanda Muchehiwa, the young man had to rot in prison serving a one month sentence before trial.
Investigative journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono had to go through the same punishment for becoming a sore finger to Mnangagwa’s regime due to his hard hitting corruption expose articles.
While the likes of Terrence Majengwa are serving sentences before trial, real criminals like Obadiah Moyo, Delish Nguwaya and Priscilla Mupfumira are walking scot free due to their proximity to the President’s Office.
Manjengwa and many other political prisoners rotting in prisons dotted around the country deserve justice.
It is time that as citizens we collectively demand our freedoms and justice, for the two are never voluntarily given by the oppressor.
Terrence represents all the young people itching for a just and corrupt free society. We are Terrence and Terrence is us, hence the regime must treat his issue as a matter of urgency.
As youths, we demand for the unconditional release of our fellow comrade.
#IAmTerrence! #WeAreTerrence! #FreeTerrence!
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDCAllianceYouthAssemblyNationalSpokesperson
Farai Dziva|MDC Alliance has described the late women’s rights activist and former MP, Hon Fanny Chirisa as a dedicated cadre who spent her energy fighting for democratic change.
“The MDC Alliance is saddened to learn of the passing of prominent women’s rights activist and former MP, Hon Fanny Chirisa.
Hon Chirisa was a member of the MDC Alliance National Executive Committee.
We extend our deepest condolences to her family on this sad loss,” the party said in a statement.
By A Correspondent| Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) has suspended its president, Henrietta Rushwaya on allegations of putting the name of the organisation into disrepute following her arrest on Monday at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Harare International Airport while trying to smuggle 6kg of gold to Dubai.
The ZMF management board, which consists members of the national executive, the council and regional representatives convened a meeting on Thursday afternoon in Gweru and suspended Rushwaya.
Announcing the suspension, the ZMF national chairperson Mr Makumba Njenje said Rushwaya’s deputy, Mr Marufu Sithole would be acting president with immediate effect.
