State schools can no longer exclude girls who fall pregnant from attending lessons, while teachers will not be allowed to cane pupils, under amendments to the Education Act that became law yesterday, and were described as progressive by educationists.
The Education Act Amendment was passed by Parliament, approved by President Mnangagwa, and has been gazetted.
Under the amendments, “No pupil shall be excluded from school for non-payment of school fees or on the basis of pregnancy.”
During debate in Parliament, the then Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Professor Paul Mavima, said expelling a girl for falling pregnant had a discriminatory effect in circumstances where she would have been impregnated by a colleague who in most cases, would be allowed to proceed with his education.
This was after some legislators argued that allowing a girl who fell pregnant to continue learning had the effect of condoning delinquency among pupils.
The Act will also outlaw corporal punishment as school authorities are now required to draw up a disciplinary policy in accordance with standards set out in regulations prescribed by the minister for the purpose.
In terms of the Act, the regulations and any disciplinary policy shall not permit any treatment which does not respect the human dignity of a pupil.
“Disciplinary measures must be moderate, reasonable and proportionate in the light of the conduct, age, sex, health and circumstances of the pupil concerned and the best interests of the child shall be paramount. Under no circumstance is a teacher allowed to beat a child,” reads the Act.
“No pupil may be suspended from school without first being granted a reasonable opportunity, with the support of his or her parents, to make representations with respect to the proposed suspension.”
Every child shall be entitled to be enrolled at the nearest school and unless such school is fully enrolled.
In the case where the school is fully enrolled, the head of that institution must issue a certificate to that effect to allow the pupil to seek enrolment at alternative places.-The Herald
The ruling ZANU PF has issued a statement following a meeting between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and two Matebeleland organisations – the Matebeleland Collective and Bulawayo City Council councillors over Gukurahundi.
Below is the statement in full.
• Today 22 August 2020, a Government delegation led by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. Cde Dr. E.D Mnangagwa and comprising of Minister of State for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Hon. Judith Ncube. Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Hon. July Moyo. Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Hon. Kazembe Kazembe. Minister of State Security, Hon Owen Ncube. His Worship the Mayor of Bulawayo Metropolitan Province S Mguni, Permanent Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mrs. V. Mabiza, Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Mr. A Nhepera, Acting Registrar General. Mr. Henry Machiri and other senior officials from various Government departments met with the leaders of the Matabeleland Collective and the Councilors of the City of Bulawayo, as part of ongoing efforts to deliberate on issues affecting the region.
• Today we are here to follow up on progress made to date.
• Earlier on His Excellency had discussions with the Mayor of Bulawayo Councilor Solomon Mguni, the Town Clerk Christopher Dube and the City Engineer Sikhangele Zhou.
• The three (3) outlined the challenges they face over the issue of water delivery in the City which includes sewer management.
• This meeting noted that though the issue of water delivery in Bulawayo and its attendant challenges are well known to successive elected City Council Officials and representatives, there has not been a comprehensive plan to address it effectively.
• To that end, he directed that the stakeholders in this issue who include Bulawayo City Council, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement and ZINWA come up with a detailed and comprehensive proposal to solve the water challenges.
• This proposal should outline the major challenges and the proposed solutions thereof, in a format depicting the respective activities, the cost and the overall budget in three (3) phases and this should be brought to His Excellency’s attention as soon as possible in the interest of bringing water to this great City.
• Today’s meeting continued with the spirit of dialogue between the Matabeleland Collective, where the President heard the issues affecting the region and where a progress report on the implementation of agreed resolutions was made,
• Some of the issues discussed include:-
i. The issuance of birth certificates and death certificates to victims of Gukurahundi. ii. Exhumations of victims of Gukurahundi iii. Zambezi Water project iv. Devolution v. Corruption at Rural District Councils vi. Increased participation of women in Government and Parliament; among others.
• The exercise to issue out documentation to victims of Gukurahundi will be rolled out in as soon as the involved parties have agreed on all logistical arrangements.
Team Pachedu has started mobilising funds to finance the medication of local activist Patson Dzamara who was recently diagnosed with cancer of the colon.
We present Team Pachedu’s statement below.
Patson Dzamara a political activist and brother to missing Itai Dzamara was recently diagnosed with Colon Cancer. It is the type of cancer that begins in the large intestine (colon). The colon is the final part of the digestive tract.
Colon cancer typically affects older adults, though it can happen at any age. It usually begins as small, noncancerous (benign) clumps of cells called polyps that form on the inside of the colon. Over time some of these polyps can become colon cancers.
There is however good news as survival rate for Colon cancer is 90% if treatment is started early. Generally, the recovery rate is around 63% according to medical journals. With all of us coming together we can assist our brave soldier Patson Dzamara. The treatment is estimated to cost U$28,000.00 excluding other expenses. Every cent donated will be audited with all supporting documents provided. The funds will enable Patson to seek the best medical treatment preferably outside the country and continue with the struggle for a new Zimbabwe. Every life matters and should be saved.
This is a Team Pachedu initiative for more information feel free to drop us an email [email protected]
By A Correspondent- MDC Alliance national vice-chairperson Job Sikhala, who was arrested on Friday, will spend the weekend behind bars after the court postponed to Monday his the ruling on his application for refusal to be placed on remand.
Sikhala, who is facing charges of inciting the public to stage violent demonstrations on July 31, appeared in court this Saturday.
In opposing Sikhala’s application, the state told the court that they are in possession of video and audio clips that prove that the MDC Alliance official committed a crime.
The state also said inciting people to stage violent street demonstrations violates the country’s constitution after his defence counsel had earlier on argued that the MDC Alliance official was exercising his constitutional right as enshrined in the law of the land.
Pressure Group Chapter 2 Movement has reported Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda to the Special Anti-Corruption Unit over allegations involving a $1 million land scandal which involves ZESA Holdings Pension Fund.
In a letter seen by this publication, the organization said it was making a follow up on the case in which Mudenda and the late Vice President John Landa Nkomo are alleged to have used their political muscle and acquired some commercial stands from Victoria Falls Town Council in 2001.
According to some media reports Mudenda got 3000 hectares and failed to develop the land for more than a decade prompting the town council to summon him with intent of repossession as stipulated by the town authorities by- law.
To avoid losing the land, Mudenda is said to have hatched a plan and approached ZESA Holdings Pension Fund offering to sell the land in question located at Stand Number 1351 Victoria Falls township.
Title deeds on the said piece of land were only done after Zesa had paid Mudenda in 2018.
Online publication Zimmorning Post which covered the story in 2019 reported that documents in their possession showed that the land was valued at 500 000 United States Dollars but Mudenda sold it for twice the market value to ZESA Holdings Pension Fund.
“This publication gleaned copies of the bank transfers dated May 24 2018 where ZESA Holdings Pension Fund paid out $500 000 United States Dollars from its Stanbic Bank account number 9140002086010 into Mudenda’s ZB Bank Limited account.” The paper reported. “The other $500 000 was deposited to Vic Falls town council and Mudenda literally acted as a ‘middle man’ pocketing half a million United States Dollars in the dubious transaction.”
The matter was reported to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission but nothing was done which prompted Chapter 2 Movement to write to the Special Anti-Corruption Unit led by Tabani Mpofu.
The ruling ZANU PF has issued a statement following a meeting between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and two Matebeleland organisations – the Matebeleland Collective and Bulawayo City Council councillors over Gukurahundi. Below is the statement in full.
• Today 22 August 2020, a Government delegation led by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. Cde Dr. E.D Mnangagwa and comprising of Minister of State for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Hon. Judith Ncube. Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Hon. July Moyo. Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Hon. Kazembe Kazembe. Minister of State Security, Hon Owen Ncube. His Worship the Mayor of Bulawayo Metropolitan Province S Mguni, Permanent Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mrs. V. Mabiza, Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Mr. A Nhepera, Acting Registrar General. Mr. Henry Machiri and other senior officials from various Government departments met with the leaders of the Matabeleland Collective and the Councilors of the City of Bulawayo, as part of ongoing efforts to deliberate on issues affecting the region.
• Today we are here to follow up on progress made to date.
• Earlier on His Excellency had discussions with the Mayor of Bulawayo Councilor Solomon Mguni, the Town Clerk Christopher Dube and the City Engineer Sikhangele Zhou.
• The three (3) outlined the challenges they face over the issue of water delivery in the City which includes sewer management.
• This meeting noted that though the issue of water delivery in Bulawayo and its attendant challenges are well known to successive elected City Council Officials and representatives, there has not been a comprehensive plan to address it effectively.
• To that end, he directed that the stakeholders in this issue who include Bulawayo City Council, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement and ZINWA come up with a detailed and comprehensive proposal to solve the water challenges.
• This proposal should outline the major challenges and the proposed solutions thereof, in a format depicting the respective activities, the cost and the overall budget in three (3) phases and this should be brought to His Excellency’s attention as soon as possible in the interest of bringing water to this great City.
• Today’s meeting continued with the spirit of dialogue between the Matabeleland Collective, where the President heard the issues affecting the region and where a progress report on the implementation of agreed resolutions was made,
• Some of the issues discussed include:-
i. The issuance of birth certificates and death certificates to victims of Gukurahundi. ii. Exhumations of victims of Gukurahundi iii. Zambezi Water project iv. Devolution v. Corruption at Rural District Councils vi. Increased participation of women in Government and Parliament; among others.
• The exercise to issue out documentation to victims of Gukurahundi will be rolled out in as soon as the involved parties have agreed on all logistical arrangements.
African Union has suspended Mali for over the coup, they must also suspend Zimbabwe over Mnangagwa's 2017 coup which has continued to this day, 25 people killed & 50 women raped?
ZRP PRESS STATEMENT 22 AUGUST 2020 CLARITY ON THE DEATH OF LAVENDA CHIWAYA IN KAROI
The Zimbabwe Republic Police is conducting investigations into the death of Lavenda Chiwaya in Karoi between the 20th and 21st of August 2020.
The facts are that Lavenda Chiwaya and Munyaradzi Pasipamire approached Tinashe Kanhema (42) who was roasting and selling maize cobs at 1930 hours on 20th August 2020. The duo was given a roasted maize cob to share and went on to buy two x 200ml Challenger Whisky (kranco) which they again shared. At about 2030 hours, Lavenda Chiwaya left his two colleagues after telling them that he was going home.
The body of Lavenda Chiwaya was later found at number 1179 Chikangwe, Karoi. His known residential address is house number 1171 Chikangwe, Karoi which is four houses away from the scene. No struggle marks were observed by police besides the valuables which were retrieved from the body.
The Police are not aware of the alleged abduction or kidnapping as alluded to by some individuals and groups on social media. Full scale investigations are in progress to find out exactly what happened. This entails interviews with friends, colleagues and witnesses who were with Lavenda Chiwaya on the fateful day.
The ZRP dismisses rumours that Chiwaya was kidnapped and murdered by state security agents. The police will continue further investigations in the death and advise of any new findings.
Alcoholics in the drinking circles are being advised to be mindful of their health. They should also take personal responsibility and avoid harmful substances.
Harare Magistrate on Saturday postponed the hearing of an application by Jacob Sikhala which challenges placement on remand.
The matter will be back in court on Monday 11:30 hours.
Sikhala who is the vice-chairperson of the opposition MDC Alliance was arrested on Friday and charged with incitement of public violence after he allegedly rallied the citizenry to participate in anti-government protests.
He appeared before the Magistrate at 1600 pm after waiting for more than 7 hours and his lawyer Advocate Matinenga protested against prosecutors’ conduct for lacking courtesy in treating defence lawyers on delays to the commencement of the matter
Adv Matinenga challenged the state’s application which sought to place Sikhala on remand arguing that the Zengeza West legislator did not commit any offence nor did he incite people to commit illegal activities but was simply exercising his constitutional rights.
Court proceedings ended with the Magistrate postponing the hearing to Monday at 11:30.
Sikhala joins a number of government critics including members of the opposition, human rights defenders and journalists who were arrested for inciting violence after they urged members of the public to participate in anti-government protests that were scheduled for 31 July.
Political activist Jacob Ngarivhume yesterday lost his fresh bid for bail on changed circumstances after the court noted there were no changes on his case since the day when his initial application was dismissed.
Harare regional Magistrate Mr Trynois Utahwashe said Ngarivhume and his followers, including Job Sikhala, who wanted to push for regime change have not yet achieved their objective and are likely to continue breaching regulations that protects public peace and security.
Mr Utahwashe noted that they had turned the event into a movement for purposes of perpetuating their agenda.
Ngarivhume and his sympathisers have since turned the July 31 into a movement.
Mr Utahwashe said the courts were impartial and did not delve into politics.
He said those in politics, including Ngarivhume, should abide by the laws of the country, especially during these times of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ngarivhume was remanded to September 4.
In his fresh bail application, Ngarivhume, through his lawyer Mr Moses Nkomo, told the court that there were changed circumstances since July 31 had passed.
Said Ngarivhume in his application: “Applicant has now approached this honourable court on the basis that 31st July 2020 is past and there were no incidences of violence or disturbances of public order or undermining of public peace and security.”
Ngarivhume argued that the few people who were arrested on the day of the flopped much-hyped demonstrations were granted bail and he should be freed on the same vein.
“It is submitted in casu that circumstances have changed to such an extent that they warrant the release of the accused on bail without compromising the reasons for the initial refusal of the bail application,” said Mr Nkomo.
“Specifically, it is no longer possible for the applicant to call for another demonstration on July 31 2020 as the accused had initially done.
Ngarivhume told the court that he will be wiser and will ensure that he takes appropriate measures that address police’s fears in the event that he wishes to call for another demonstration in future.
He then proposed that he deposits $5 000 and report to the police every Friday as part of his bail conditions.
In opposing the application, State counsel Mr Michael Reza told the court that there were no changed circumstances, as Ngarivhume was determined to continue pursuing his agenda.
“There are no changed circumstances as they have changed the July 31 protests into #JULY31MOVEMENT,” he said.
“The State has watched a video in which his colleague Job Sikhala was encouraging people to join the movement. These are determined people and determined people will take it as a learning curve.
“In other words, he has learnt and the objective of the demonstration of removing the leader of the Government, President Mnangagwa, from office have not been met and they will not stop.”
Two former cabinet ministers have made applied to re-join the ruling Zanu-PFparty, two years after they were expelled, the Midlands provincial chairperson has said.
In an interview, ZANU-PF Midlands chairperson Daniel Mackenzie Ncube confirmed that former Minister of Sports Recreation, Arts and Culture, Makhosini Hlongwane and former Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Tapiwanashe Majaya Matangaidze are among former party members who have re-applied t be re-admitted into Zanu PF.
Hlongwane, a former ZBC reporter. was the legislator for Mberengwa East while the former Premier Soccer League president Matangaidze was the Shurugwi South legislator.
“We have applications from former ministers. We have got applications from Makhosini Hlongwane and Tapiwa Matangaidze. We will be sitting down to make our decision on them.”
“It’s something we should have done about two weeks ago, so we are trying to get a slot so that we can sit down and make the necessary recommendation to headquarters. We are far behind on the issue.
The provincial chairperson said Zanu-PF is a “big tent”, and that people who want to join or re-join the party were most welcome after being vetted.
“But they will have to be properly vetted and most likely they will start at the bottom of the rank,”said Mackenzie Ncube.
“ They will be observed over time to ensure that they are now compliant in everything they do.”
Hlongwane, Matangaidze and five other executive members were expelled from the party ove two years ago after Zanu-PF Midlands provincial executive accused them of misconduct, peddling falsehoods to the party’s leadership and dividing the province.
The other Midlands provincial executive members who were also affected Anastacia Ndhlovu, Lot Mpofu Chihwereva, Tsitsi Zhou, Mercy Mashunye and Tapiwa Njovana.
Thousands have taken to the streets of Mali’s capital to celebrate the coup against Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.
Coup leaders arrested Mr Keïta on Tuesday and forced him to resign, sparking global condemnation.
But Mr Keïta was facing huge street protests before his arrest and many in Mali have welcomed his removal.
Thousands gathered in Bamako’s Independence Square to the sound of vuvuzelas, with many declaring victory over the former president.
“I am overjoyed, we won. We came here to thank all the people of Mali because it is the victory of the people,” Mariam Cissé, an opposition supporter, told the AFP news agency.
“IBK has failed,” said retired soldier Ousmane Diallo, using a common reference to the ousted president by his initials. “The people are victorious.”
However, he cautioned, “the military should not be thinking now that they can stay in power”.
West African leaders have called for Mr Keïta to be reinstated and the UN says all those detained should be freed.
But coup leaders say they are talking to opposition parties about appointing a transitional president, who could be civilian or military.
Sevilla’s love affair with the Europa League lived on after they beat Inter Milan 3-2 in a thrilling final behind closed doors on Friday in Cologne to win the trophy for a record-extending sixth time.
Defender Diego Carlos, wearing a bandage on his leg, struck the decisive goal in the 74th minute with an overhead kick which took a huge deflection off Inter forward Romelu Lukaku.
There was added intrigue as Diego Carlos looked to have denied Lukaku a clear scoring chance when he fouled the Belgian in the fourth minute, with Lukaku dusting himself off to fire Inter into the lead while scoring his 34th goal of the season.
Sevilla soon equalised with a header through Luuk de Jong then the Dutchman struck again with a header to give his side the lead in the 33rd minute, only for Inter defender Diego Godin to also score a header moments later to make it 2-2.
The match was played without any fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.-en.as.com
Bayern Munich great Franz Beckenbauer believes that Paris Saint-Germain will pose his side an immense threat in Sunday’s
Champions League final.
Following an 8-2 win over Barcelona and a 3-0 success over Lyon, the Germans have been billed as favourites to win the competition.
Beckenbauer, who lifted the trophy on three occasions with FCB in the 1970s, believes the clash will be more complicated than any Hansi Flick’s side have faced previously.
“I’ve watched PSG’s games, they’re one heck of a team. I can’t find any weak points in the team and I expect them to vary their playing style,” he explained on the Bundesliga champions’ official website.
“It’ll be the most difficult game of this Champions League season.
I hope that both teams don’t hold back too much, don’t show each other too much respect and play just as refreshingly and with a joie de vivre like they have done up to now. Then we can expect a wonderful final.”
Indeed, he does not believe that the German champions are necessarily favourites.
“It’ll be a match played on equal terms. I’d say it’s 50-50.
Sometimes you need a bit of luck. If Bayern get that, they’ll win the game,” he said.
Beckenbauer has been following Bayern’s progress and has been impressed with what he has seen.
“I watched it on TV and was thrilled, like every other Bayern fan,” he said of the semi-final clash against Lyon.
“They didn’t play like they did against Barcelona, but a performance like that is a one-off.
The game against Lyon was also remarkable because Olympique are also a very strong team.-Goal.com
Farai Dziva|Respected Political analyst, Dr Stephen Chan has warned Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa to stop denigrating Roman Catholic Bishops as he will not win the battle against the clerics.
Mr Mnangagwa attacked Catholic Bishops for “abusing the pulpit”.
Mr Mnangagwa further accused the Catholic Bishops of advancing “a nefarious agenda meant to destabilize the peace in the country.”
However, Dr Chan has warned Mnangagwa to “stop digging while he is a hole.”
” There is a well-known adage: when you realise you’re in a hole, stop digging. To take on the might of the Catholic church is very daring but it runs in the face of another adage: choose the fights you can win.
The Catholic solidarity is widening. There was a time once when President Mugabe worked with Catholic Bishops to end the war in Mozambique.
His 1992 speech in Rome was about dialogue and reconciliation,” Dr Chan wrote on Twitter.
Two police officers have each been slapped with a three-month jail sentence after they were convicted of manhandling a lawyer at the Kwekwe Magistrates court.
Brighton Bvaure (32) and Jasper Nechitima (33) who are based at Kwekwe Central Police Station assaulted Leon Sheunesu Mapfumo employed by Marufu Misi Law Chambers after he tried to enquire about a complainant he was representing.
The cops handcuffed and assaulted Mapfumo before detaining him at Kwekwe Central Police Station accusing him of misconduct and obstructing the course of justice.
Gokwe Magistrate Mr Hillary Ndlovu sentenced the duo to three months in prison with an option of paying $2 000 fine when they appeared before him facing assault charges.
Prosecuting, Mr Tinashe Wazvaremhaka told the court that on April 25 at around 2pm, Mapfumo approached the accused persons at Kwekwe Magistrates courts and enquired about the charge his client, who had been arrested by the accused persons, was facing.
The accused persons referred the complainant to Kwekwe Central Police Station where they had detained Mapfumo’s client.
During the conversation, a misunderstanding arose over the treatment of Mapfumo’s client.
Bvaure then grabbed the complainant by the belt and tripped him to the ground before he locked his arms around his neck.
Nechitima then forcefully handcuffed the complainant’s left arm before he handcuffed the other and detained him at the police station.
He was released the following day after the intervention of other lawyers who quizzed why their colleague had been arrested.-Chronicle
During this year’s World Humanitarian Day, the world honours all humanitarians – many working in their own communities – who are going to extraordinary lengths in extraordinary times to help women, men and children whose lives are upended by crises and the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The dedication, perseverance and self-sacrifice of these real-life heroes represent the best of humanity as they respond to the COVID-19 crisis and the massive increase in humanitarian needs it has triggered.
First responders are often people in need themselves — refugees, members of civil-society organizations and local health workers.
They bring food, shelter, health care, protection and hope to others amid conflict, displacement, disaster and disease.
But humanitarian workers are being tested like never before, struggling with unprecedented movement restrictions and insufficient resources as needs are outpacing funds.
And all too often, they risk their own lives to save the lives of others.
In recent weeks alone, despicable attacks have killed aid workers in Niger and Cameroon, and since the onset of the pandemic, scores of health workers have come under attack across the world.
According to Humanitarian Outcomes’
Aid Worker Security Database , major attacks against humanitarians last year surpassed all previous years on record.
A total of 483 relief workers were attacked, 125 killed, 234 wounded and 124 kidnapped in 277 separate incidents. This is an 18 per cent increase in the number of victims compared to 2018.
This is the eleventh World Humanitarian Day, designated by the UN General Assembly.
It falls on the day of the attack on the UN compound in Baghdad on 19 August 2003, which claimed the lives of 22 people including the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Since then, nearly 5,000 humanitarians have been killed, wounded or abducted, and the 2010-2019 decade experienced a 117 per cent increase in attacks compared to 2000-2009.
A surge in attacks against health workers was recorded in 2019, including strikes against medics in Syria and shootings of Ebola workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Credit:WHO
Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
For more information follow /like our Facebook page :Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
Farai Dziva|Masvingo based NGO, COTRAD, has denounced the persecution of women and youths in politics.
COTRAD, in collaboration with Sabhuku Vharazipi, produced a video clip on harassment and persecution of women and youths in communities.
See statement below:
Community Tolerance Reconciliation and Development (COTRAD) in collaboration with Ziya Cultural Arts Trust produced a video skit which encourages youths and women to peacefully and actively participate in community development, electoral processes.
The Video footage also unpacks COTRAD Community Score Cards and how they are being used to monitor and evaluate community development programmes and the performance of public officials in addressing social service delivery and other community needs.
COTRAD official Kupfuwa Ishmael says the video footage is premised on the assumption that the youth and women remain excluded from local development committees and initiatives.
Where opportunities exist for the youth and women to participate in development, an atmosphere of intimidation discourages them from meaningful engagement.
Further, a disproportionate focus on elections compared to other political and economic interventions has undermined interests in other platforms or opportunities for youth and women participation.
Therefore the video footage seeks to promote the participation of youth and women in all development initiatives in communities where they come from.
We are sad to announce the death of The MDC Alliance Hurungwe Central Chairperson and Karoi Urban Ward 4 Councilor Cllr Lavender Chiwaya who was allegedly abducted by state agents and brutally murdered before being dumped a few metres from his home.
His suspected abduction and murder at the hands of suspected state agents who have been stalking him since last year also comes hot on the heels of yet another foiled abduction of Ward 6 Councilor Cllr Kudakwashe Chigumo who was also abducted by suspected state agents a few weeks ago but was later released after a Robust search party was converned.
It is alleged that his shirt was torn and he was bleeding profusely from the nose and ears signalling that he was heavily assaulted and dumped near his home.
Alderman Chiwaya(34) survived death by a whisker in the 2008 zanu of terror campaigns when he was abducted, tortured and kept in a small room at a zanu militia base in Karoi.
He was later rescued by fearless and militant party cadres who destroyed the base.
The murder of one of the MDC Alliance’s pillars could be an indicator of what awaits the nation ahead as the President declared to *”flush out all bad apples”* and also since he also felt threatened by the existence of the *”true opposition politicians”* whom he declared as *”terrorists”* for demanding for constitutionalism and accountability from the thugs in Government.
Cllr Lavender Chiwaya was first elected as Councillor in 2008 and served his Ward diligently until his heartless and spine chilling murder.
Cllr Chiwaya is survived by his wife and 5 children .Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.
A funeral vigil will be held at *house No 1771 Chikangwe Township.
His body will be taken to Harare for a postmortem tomorrow after the doctors in karoi failed to do so for *unspecified reasons*.
The murder of one of our own does not kill the Revolutionary spirit in us but strengthens our resolve to destroy autocracy and inflames our anger at the petition bourgeois threatening our sole existence.
As we mourn this *”big man”* affectionately known as *”Trump”* we shall not let his dream of a better Zimbabwe die.We shall continue to fight the dictator till Zimbabwe is free from all forms of bondage.Not even murder, incarceration or torture can stop an idea whose time has come.
They can kill all of us but they can never kill the Revolutionary spirit;in our Kore Kore dialect they say *”zvakanyohwa hazvinyohonohwe”*. According to the Scriptures it is written that *”everything has its own time”* and seasons come and go.Yes,this maybe *their season of flushing out bad apples* but they must not forget that *there shall come a season for them to account for their evil actions*.They should remember that *what goes around comes around.
This is surely no time for us to call on Cllr Chiwaya’s spirit to rest in peace.My brother,may you *avenge your spine chilling death and may your murderers never find peace.
Our deepest condolences goes to Mrs Chiwaya and the Chiwaya family, President CHAMISA and the MDC Alliance family in Mash West and across the nation and globe on the tragic loss of one of our illustrious sons.
Zanu PF iParty yemasoja who ursuped a civilian led Party in Nov 2017 & defaulted to High Command Military ZANLA politics of the 1970s ! There is NO political formation that can answer it's current Military construct !
By A Correspondent- The former NewsDay Sports Editor Wellington Toni passed away on Thursday night at Harare Hospital after a long illness.
The veteran sports journalist, who left NewsDay in 2015 after working for the publication for five years, was 44 years old.
Toni’s death was confirmed on Friday by his brother, Christian, saying they were arranging to take his body to Plumtree for burial on a day yet to be advised. Christian said:
He died yesterday (Thursday) night in Harare. He had been unwell for some time. Arrangements are being made for him to be buried at our rural home in Plumtree.
Meanwhile, condolence messages have already started pouring in with the Alpha Media Holdings Editor-in-Chief Wisdom Mdzungairi describing the late as a “fair-minded, impartial journalist whose thought-provoking writing will remain etched in our minds.”
The Sports Writers Association of Zimbabwe (Swaz) also extended condolences to Toni’s “family in Plumtree and to the many friends he made during his lifetime. May his dear soul rest in eternal peace.”
Meanwhile, Southern Sports Journalists Association (Spoja) chairman Muziwethu Hadebe said Toni’s death was a huge loss to sports journalism.
In a heart-rending incident a 19-year-old man allegedly applied petroleum jelly on his cousin’s private parts before he sexually attacked her.
The rape incident that has become a subject of discussion in Gwabalanda suburb happened last week on Wednesday.
A family insider who spoke to B-Metro on condition of anonymity said the young man called the minor into his bedroom and tricked her to lie on the bed facing upwards.
“The minor was watching television with her grandmother when he lured her to his bedroom where he played with her for a few minutes. He then told the minor to lie on the bed facing upwards after which he applied petroleum jelly on her private parts and raped her without protection,” said the family insider.
After the ordeal the 19-year-old warned the minor never to tell anyone about the incident.
“The minor never told anyone,” said the family member.
The source went on to say on 13 August the young man used the same modus operandi to rape the minor. However, he was caught in the act.
“His grandmother fell asleep while watching television with the minor in the living room. The teenager then called the minor to his bedroom, he caressed her and applied petroleum jelly on her private parts after which he raped her. But his time around he was caught in the act by his grandmother who unexpectedly walked in. He jumped off and left the minor half naked on the bed,” said the family member.
The grandmother examined the minor before she reported the matter to a police station.
“The minor revealed that this was the second occasion to be sexually assaulted by her cousin. Thereafter the granny made a police report at Luveve Police Station leading to the arrest of the minor’s cousin,” said the family insider.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident: “We urge community members to be wary of their relatives and always keep a watchful eye on the minors and never sweep any case of rape under the carpet. Rape victims should report to police as soon as possible so that they get medication.”
IN A DRAMATIC incident that left employees and passengers’ shell- shocked a bus driver went berserk and assaulted a Zupco depot manager with fists before he violently pushed him to the ground.
The dramatic incident happened last Sunday at around 2pm at Zupco Khami Road depot in Bulawayo.
According to a source who declined to be named in fear of reprisals, Mehlokazulu Ndlovu (33), a bus driver went to the depot intending to refuel his vehicle.
When he arrived at the depot, he went straight to the manager Blessing Chikowore.
“He asked to refuel his bus but the manager told him that the fuel which was allocated to him should not have been used up as such he was supposed to do more trips which were proportionate to the amount of fuel that was allocated to him the previous day,” said the source.
This did not go down well with Ndlovu as a result a misunderstanding ensued between the two. The source said Ndlovu turned his boss into a punching bag.
“He punched him several times in the face. He bled profusely from the nose.
“The fists were too fast for him as a result he fell down. It had to take the intervention of another employee who restrained the marauding Ndlovu who was all over his manager,” said the source.
The manager, the source said, sustained injuries on the face.
A report was made at Mzilikazi Police Station leading to the arrest of Ndlovu. Chikowore was then rushed to a hospital.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident: “We would like to discourage members of the public to shun resorting to violence in an attempt to solve a misunderstanding. Violence has proved it leads to injury and sometimes loss of an innocent life.
“We therefore implore members of the public to engage third parties like public relations officers, human resources managers or counsellors so as to solve differences that could have arisen in the company,” he said.
Contacted for comment Mehlokazulu’s boss Thandolwenkosi Hlabangana said: “It was unfortunate but we are happy that the matter has been settled.”
Efforts to get a comment from Chikowore were fruitless.
Job Sikhala Latest Court Update- 2. He argues that @JobSikhala did not commit any offence nor did he incite people to commit illegal activities but was simply exercising his constitutional rights #ZimbabweansLivesMatterpic.twitter.com/iRJIsKSigF
By A Correspondent- In a bizarre incident a 63-year-old granny’s home in Maloba line, Sipepa area in Matabeleland North’s Tsholotsho district was mysteriously gutted by fire after she saw mealie-meal being poured from a container by invisible beings suspected to be goblins.
Fielder Gwazaza woke up to find her bedroom hut sprinkled with water leading her to report the matter to village head Solomon Gumpo.
Gumpo attended the scene.
A villager who declined to be named narrated the strange happenings to B- Metro.
“The water which was mixed with some concoction was sprinkled on the floor. Shockingly all this happened when Gwazaza was sleeping with her two grandchildren aged five and nine years and they never heard anything,” said a villager.
The unseen beings went a gear up in terrorising Gwazaza.
The villager said on 30 July Gwazaza woke up to find sadza and cooked beans on the floor.
“She had not cooked sadza the previous night and she had no beans in her homestead but she got the shock of her life when she woke up to find a plate full of sadza and beans placed on the floor. Again she informed the village head,” said the source.
When she thought she had seen it all a mysterious fire erupted from the air while she was sitting under the shade and razed her kitchen hut.
“On 1 August at around 9am while she was sitting under a tree shade a mysterious fire erupted from the air and burnt down the kitchen hut.
“She reported the matter to Gumpo who came and attended the scene,” said the source.
On the same day in the evening, the source said, the strange fire appeared at her homestead and burnt down her bedroom hut.
“The mysterious fire left a trail of destruction at her homestead as it burnt her wardrobe, bed and other property in her bedroom and all the clothes went up in smoke. On the following day she made a report at Sipepa Police Station,” said the source.
The source went on to say on 10 August while Gwazaza was sitting under a shade she saw mealie-meal being poured on the ground.
“It was a strange incident as she saw mealie-meal being poured from a container by invisible beings. In fear she again reported the matter to the village head,” said the source.
The source added: “On 11 August during the night Gwazaza woke up to find her daughter being strangled with a rope. She removed it and informed other villagers who spent the night at her home. At around 4 am one of the villagers noticed that her nine-year-old grandson was being strangled with stockings and they untied the stockings.”
Gumpo confirmed the bizarre incident: “Villagers are shocked and equally surprised about what happened at Gwazaza’s homestead. Villagers asked us as the local leadership to engage a traditional healer to exorcise the homestead and we are in the process of doing that so as to help the family.”
Matabeleland North police spokesperson Chief Inspector Siphiwe Makonese said: “I can confirm that we received a report stating that strange things happened at Gwazaza’s homestead. Now the matter is being handled by the local leadership.”-bmetro
By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary-general Japhet Moyo has expressed concern over the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s move to suspend the payment of salaries via mobile money platforms.
Moyo speaks after the RBZ governor, Dr John Mangudya has said “Agents’ mobile money wallets are abolished with immediate effect,” as they were no longer serving any legitimate purpose.
Mangudya also said going forward, any other bulk payment transactions, such as payment of salaries and wages, should be processed through normal banking channels,” not through mobile money platforms as was the case for the past few years.
Speaking to NewsDay Weekender, Moyo said the Zimbabwean economy is informal, a setup that has resultantly caused many businesses to use mobile money platforms as modes of transactions including the payment of salaries.
He added:
The way we have done our business over a period of time, we have just informalised everything, so it was a bit easier to make the payments in that platform. We need to know now how these businesses are going to be affected, especially the recipients, that is, the majority of the workers who have been getting their salaries through these mobile platforms.
Mobile money platforms were initially suspended after the central bank accused them fuelling money laundering.
By A Correspondent- Exiled former Zimbabwean Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Professor Jonathan Moyo has insinuated that political and electoral reforms in Zimbabwe are useless.
Moyo speaks as the opposition and the international community are calling for the implementation of electoral and political reforms in the country.
Posting on social media this Saturday, Moyo suggested that state security officials are likely to disregard any electoral and political reforms hence the need to for security sector reforms.
He said: Its’ nuts to keep calling for electoral and political reforms in Zimbabwe. The 2013 Constitution ushered in far reaching electoral and political reforms. The Zimbabwe Defence Forces took those reforms to the barracks in Nov 2017, locked them up and threw away the keys. Deal with the ZDF”
Electoral and political reforms are considered to be essential for the enhancement of democracy of any society as they promote inclusion and participation of the citizenry.
Some observers say Zimbabwe’s previously held elections did not meet the minimum requirements of free and fair polls hence uncredible.
In 2019, Nelson Chamisa who leads the opposition MDC Alliance vowed not to participate in the anticipated 2023 elections if electoral reforms recommended by 2018 election observers have not been implemented.
Security sector reform was one of the MDC’s targets since its formation in 1999 but the party seems to have surrendered.
By A Correspondent- ZRP has released statistics that revealed that 16 people were murdered in the space of one week as it expressed concern over the rise in murder cases countrywide.
This was revealed by ZRP National Spokesperson Assitant Commissioner Paul Nyathi who said;
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) notes with concern the upsurge in murder cases during the period extending from 13 to 19 August 2020 where 16 cases were recorded countrywide. It is disturbing that some no longer value the sanctity of life.
During this national lockdown period unnecessary gatherings should be shunned and some of these murders are occurring during illegal beer drinking sprees. Infidelity has also contributed to the number of recorded murder cases for the period under review.
The ZRP urges members of the public not to take the law into their own hands. Members of the public are encouraged to find amicable ways of resolving their differences whenever they fail to find common ground. Traditional leaders, the church, close family members and counselling experts should assist parties in finding common ground whenever there is dispute. The police are also available to assist families in resolving difference.
Assistant Commissioner Nyathi shared a few incidences that led to the 16 deaths in one week and said:
Two women aged 19 and 22 were also killed in matters relating to infidelity.
A 21-year-old man who was found near a tuck-shop was accused of being a thief before he was killed
A man from Tsholotsho killed his father for reprimanding him during a funeral wake after he scolded mourners.-statemedia
BREAKING: Sikhala hearing still to commence – current suggestions are that they are waiting for a prosecutor who is having to travel from Bindura, 80km away. pic.twitter.com/2VmWh08Hn2
By A Correspondent- Businesswoman and Zanu Pf apologist Edith Chibhamu’s ex husband Gift Tsamba has been hauled to court for rape after he forced himself on a 15 year old juvenile.
Tsamba aged 42 of Unit J in Seke Chitungwiza whose business address was cited as Green Span Innovations in South Africa unlawfully and intentionally had sexual intercourse with the minor without her consent.
It is the state’s case that on an unknown date but from 2019 until 3 August 2020, Tsamba raped the female juvenile on several occasions before she opened up to a relative leading to the arrest of the accused on August 5 2020.
The matter was remanded to 1 September 2020 by Chitungwiza Regional Magistrate Arnold Maburo.
By A Correspondent- Police in Mashonaland Central province are hunting for a suspected murderer who killed his pregnant wife with a open object regardless of her being married to another man.
Fidelis Chido (32) of Galloway farm,Mvurwi is on the run after he stabbed Sharon Jone (33) on the abdomen with a sharp object.
Mashonaland Central police spokesperson Inspector Milton Mundembe confirmed the case.
“We are hunting for a murder suspect Chido who allegedly stabbed his eight monhts girlfriend to death in a domestic dispute while her husband was herding cattle at Galloway farm,” Mundembe said.
Allegations are that Chido visited his pregnant girlfriend in the absents of Joseph Farawo (39) husband to the now deceased Jones.
The love birds had an altercation and Chido fatally stabbed Jones before fleeing in blood stained clothes and a blood stained object.
A witness Innocent Muganhu told NewsDay that they tried to chase after the suspect Soo after seeing his blood stained clothes but could not catch him.
“We saw the suspect coming out of Farawo’s house with blood stained clothes and object hence I tried to chase after him but failed to catch up with him,” Farawo said.
“I alerted other neighbours and one neigbiur Gerald Bvunza entered the room and found Jones’s body in a pool of blood.”
The body was taken to Mvurwi hospital mortuary by the police.
Police is appealing for anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of the suspect to report to the nearest police station.
By A Correspondent- In a bid to survive in these tough trying times sex workers have invaded mining areas in Silobela, Midlands province and in Inyathi, Matabeleland North where there are a number of artisanal miners or omakorokoza who are known for being free spenders.
The mining areas are frequented by a number of people who would be selling their products mostly in foreign currency therefore it makes it a fertile ground for their thigh vending business.
Speaking to B- Metro a sex worker from Bulawayo who only identified herself as Thando said she was now able to make ends meet.
“I’m from Bulawayo. I came here some weeks ago because life was tough as I couldn’t afford to buy food. At first when I arrived here I was selling drinks and confectionery as a cover-up. I would engage in sex work in the evening,” she said.
Without mincing her words Thando went on to say she was now in a better space where she could make up to US$10 a day.
“Although I cannot deny that sex work is very competitive here because we are many on a good day I can make between US$5 and US$10 . I charge US$1 or US$ 2 for a short session and US$15 or more for the entire night,” she said.
Due to the influx of sex workers in their area the locals fear the sex workers could infect them with coronavirus.
“Here in rural areas we were leading peaceful lives without fear of this Covid -19 but now we are in fear because we feel these women who come from other areas might infect us with the virus because their work involves body contact. Just imagine if one infects a makorokoza then the whole group of them would be infected consequently the whole community would be infected,” said Thulani Moyo(65).
Silobela legislator Mthokozisi Manoki Mpofu said: “We are worried about these women who have besieged our place because they could infect us with coronavirus. I will engage Chief Malisa to find a way forward.”
A sex worker from Gweru, Thabeth Mapimbiro, said there was easy money in the mining areas.
“There are a lot of mines here in Inyathi as a result omakorokoza always have money. They take you for booze after that they give you money for the entire night. This is unlike in Gweru or Bulawayo where one could hardly make US$5 a week,” said Cynthia Moyo.
Sihle Sibanda who plies her trade at Silobela echoed similar sentiments. However, she said competition was stiff.
“Due to stiff competition I use juju to attract clients. I can make about US$40 a week. This is cool money which even before lockdown I could not make,” she said.
A representative of the sex workers who operate under the banner Sex Panners, Nomathemba Moyo*, said: “We move from one place to another just like gold panners and our membership was at 54 in March. Now we are 65. Some of our members come from Gokwe, Nkayi, Kwekwe, Marondera, Chegutu. We invade any place where there is money. If the area becomes dry we shift to another area.”
District Administrator for Bubi Juma Dube who is also the chair person of the district Covid -19 taskforce expressed worry at the influx of sex workers in the area saying they had since engaged police.
“We are worried about people who come from other places because they will infect our community members with coronavirus. To curb that we have engaged police so as to arrest any person who is seen flouting Covid -19 regulations and seen walking after curfew,” said Dube.
By A Correspondent- The former minister of Sports Recreation, Arts and Culture, Makhosini Hlongwane and former Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Tapiwanashe Majaya Matangaidze are reportedly among former ZANU PF members who have applied to be re-admitted into the governing party.
The development was confirmed by the party’s Midlands chairperson Daniel Mackenzie Ncube who said Zanu-PF is a “big tent”, and that people who want to join or re-join the party were most welcome after being vetted. He told New Ziana:
We have applications from former ministers. We have got applications from Makhosini Hlongwane and Tapiwa Matangaidze. We will be sitting down to make our decision on them.
It’s something we should have done about two weeks ago, so we are trying to get a slot so that we can sit down and make the necessary recommendation to headquarters. We are far behind on the issue.
Ncube added that the duo will be properly vetted and most likely start at the bottom of the rank.
The duo was among five officials who were dismissed from the party over two years ago after Zanu-PF Midlands provincial executive accused them of misconduct, peddling falsehoods to the party’s leadership and dividing the province.
The application for readmission comes ahead of the party’s planned restructuring process.
By A Correspondent- In a dramatic incident a man from Northend suburb was assaulted by his ex-lover after he allegedly denied her permission to see the child.
According to a source, Talent Sibanda (35) has a child with his ex – lover Merjury Moyo (24). Last week on Monday Merjury met Talent walking with his girlfriend and their daughter in Northend suburb. Merjury then allegedly asked to see the daughter but Talent reportedly refused to let her see her.
“She wanted to see her daughter but Talent refused because these two have not been on talking terms for a while as their relationship had gone sour,” said a source who witnessed the drama.
This seems to have not gone down well with Merjury and as a result a misunderstanding ensued between the former lovers.
Merjury reportedly resorted to fists and pummelled him several times on the body, leaving him scurrying for cover.
“He tried to calm her down but she was very angry as she rained fists on him. He bled from the mouth,” said the source.
Merjury did not stop at that, the source said. In a fit of rage she allegedly went for his cellphone and smashed it on the ground. Feeling that she had not done much damage, the fuming Merjury is alleged to have forcefully pulled the car door.
“She wanted to take the child as she forcefully opened the door. Sadly it broke,” said the source.
Talent reported the matter at a police station leading to the arrest of Merjury.
Merjury appeared before Tredgold court magistrate Amanda Moyo.
She pleaded not guilty to assault and was remanded to next week on Monday for commencement of trial.
By A Correspondent- Instead of praying hard for divine intervention after he came up against a difficult time, a pastor of a Pentecostal church in Bulawayo rushed to court and sought a protection order against his wife after she denied him food and use of all household property as punishment for deserting her for 10 years after he allegedly eloped with a girlfriend.
Pastor Joseph Netsai Gakanje of Family of God Church approached the Bulawayo Civil Court seeking to bar his wife, Dorothy Chatira, from causing untold suffering in their marriage as she practically does nothing for him.
He claimed his wife was also denying him access to the bathroom.
To corroborate his claims, he brought to court a small bag with a bath towel and soap saying whenever he wanted to bath, he would go to his relatives or friends.
“I am not given food; I do the laundry and ironing on my own. My wife does not allow me to use the stove, to make tea or warm bath water. I have to go to relatives or friends for a bath and for food and ironing,” complained Pastor Gakanje.
He insisted that he was facing difficulties in looking for a place where he could bath, or even cook as he was not allowed to eat in the house.
“This is the kind of life I am living and I couldn’t bear it any more,” he protested.
He prayed to the court to stop his wife from denying him the use of their matrimonial property.
In her response, a livid Chatira justified her actions with sensational claims that apparently shocked the court.
“He disappeared for 10 years and with a girlfriend. He came back two years ago and whenever he had a girlfriend, he left home. He is also not responsible and I do everything at home.
“Just imagine he is a pastor and he doesn’t support his family. He is the one who is abusing me. Before he came back home, I was very ‘big’ but I have now lost weight because of his abusive behaviour,” fumed Chatira.
She further said her husband was just after tarnishing her image.
Her response, however, didn’t go down well with her husband who quickly sprang to his defence saying her problems were spiritual.
“Yes, it’s true that I’m a pastor. She is, however, lying that I’m neglecting the family as she is the one who just wants to be in charge of everything. Her problem is spiritual and she is moving from one church to another in search of help. Another thing is that when I filed for divorce, she refused to sign the summons,” said Pastor Gakanje.
In a bid to maintain peace between the two estranged parties, presiding magistrate Adelaide Mbeure ordered Chatira not to hinder her husband from using facilities at their matrimonial house in Bulawayo’s Nketa suburb.
By A Correspondent- Opposition MDC Alliance vice national Chairperson Job Sikhala’s Lawyer Jeremiah Bamu who was this morning arrested at Rotten Row Court while waiting to represent his client was released without charge.
Bamu was bundled into a ZRP truck for refusing to vacate the court premises as instructed by police details.
We publish the pictures of Bamu inside the police vehicle below:
By A Correspondent- Norton legislator (independent) Temba Mliswa has claimed that some members of the ousted ZANU PF faction, G40 are keen on rejoining the party.
The remarks are in a leaked audio recording purported to be a recorded phone call between Mliswa and Sakunda Holdings boss Kudakwashe Tagwirei.
Mliswa said:
Kasukuwere called me yesterday and do you know what he said? I wanted to work nemukoma wako (your brother President Emmerson Mnangagwa) Temba but show me who his people are in his Cabinet. He even dumped Chinamasa.
The only people he has are Oppah, Chiwenga and Kembo otherwise the rest (are not his people). Yourself Temba supported Lacoste but none of the current Ministers supported Lacoste. So how do you then appoint people who don’t follow the party policy because the point of appointment is, first of all, they come from the party…It was a good question I could not answer.
The G40 faction that was reportedly being led by the former first lady Grace Mugabe was dismantled when the late former president Robert Mugabe was dislodged from power in 2017.
The majority of the factions’ leadership is in exile in fear of retribution of Mnangagwa for harassing him when he was still the Vice President.
Recently, some of them met with South Africa’s ruling ANC and expressed interest in rejoining ZANU PF.
By A Correspondent- A man from Nemamwa in Masvingo Province who was in the docks on fraud allegations reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself at Masvingo Central Police station.
23-year-old Promise Mberi was found hanging in a police cell on 16 August 2020 after he had been locked up the previous day on allegations of defrauding business owners by purchasing goods using fraudulent EcoCash transactions.
Mberi, who hanged himself on the cell burglar bars using his trousers was picked up by detectives at Nemamwa Growth Point after being he was arrested for allegedly editing old EcoCash messages to make new purchases.
Masvingo provincial ZRP spokesperson Chief Inspector Charity Mazula said they do not have such a case at their offices.
By A Correspondent- MDC-T leader Dr Thokozani Khupe is set to bounce back in Parliament after her name was part of 15 others the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) gazetted yesterday as people nominated by her party to fill in seats in the National Assembly and Senate that fell vacant after the recall of some legislators.
ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba invited voters with objections to lodge them with her office before the nominations are confirmed. A fortnight ago, the electoral body declared the seats vacant after Parliament notified it of a decision by the MDC-T to recall 15 of its legislators.
Dr Khupe is set to take up a seat in the National Assembly, while the MDC-T spokesperson, Mr Kalpani Phugeni, will be in Senate, as their names form part of the list that include former legislators who were gazetted as replacements.
“The public is hereby notified, in terms of section 39 (6) of the Electoral Act (Chapter2:13) that the MDC party has nominated party list members of the National Assembly and the Senate listed in the schedules below to fill in the vacancies in the National Assembly and the Senate that occurred following the recall by the MDC-T of the incumbent on the grounds that they had ceased to be members of that party,” reads the notice published by Justice Chigumba.
“Any voter wishing to object to the nominations of the members may lodge them in writing with the Chief Elections Officer, at Mahachi Quantum Building, corner Kaguvi Street and Jason Moyo Avenue, Harare or post them to Private Bag 7782, Causeway within a period of 14 days from the date of publication of this notice, setting forth the reason(s) for the objection(s).”
Besides Dr Khupe and Mr Phugeni, other names published are Yvonne Winfielda Musarurwa, Lindani Moyo, January Sawuke, Memory Munochinzwa, Lwazi Sibanda, Sipho Mokone, Molly Dorothy Ndlovu, Tamani Moyo, Gertrude Moyo, Piniel Denga, Chief Ndluvu, Nomalanga Khumalo and Teti Chisorochengwe.
Mrs Khumalo was elected Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly in 2008 on an MDC-T ticket, while Mr Denga and Ms Sibanda are former legislators.
Senators elected on the party lists and the extra women Members in the National Assembly elected by proportional representation are chosen by political parties in proportion to the votes received by their candidates in the constituency elections to the National Assembly. If one of these seats falls vacant, the original party nominates the successor.
Those being replaced in the National Assembly are: Thabitha Khumalo, Virginia Zengeya, Anna Myambo, Bacillia Majaya, Machirarwa Mugidho, Francisca Ncube and Nomathemba Ndlovu.
In the Senate, Siphiwe Ncube, Gideon Shoko, Helen Zivira, Keresencia Chabuka, Tapfumaneyi Wunganayi, Herbert Sinampande, Meliwe Phuti and Lilian Timveous will be replaced.
The legislators were recalled in terms of a constitutional provision that declares seats held by members of the party that sponsored them in the last election vacant if the party writes to the Speaker of the National Assembly or to the Senate President to declare that the persons no longer represent that party.
The recall followed a Supreme Court ruling which restored the 2014 status quo in the party following an unconstitutional grab of power by Mr Nelson Chamisa after the death of party founder Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.
The ruling meant that there was no party called the MDC Alliance, which is a pact of several political parties, including the MDC-T which is now controlled by Dr Khupe.
Dr Khupe was the elected vice president at the death of Mr Tsvangirai, and was constitutionally the successor before a congress to chose a substantive leader.
By A Correspondent- ZRP yesterday arrested CAPS United Majority Shareholder and Football administrator Farai Jere together with 2 ZESA employees on fraud charges.
According to the state media, the trio was arrested in connection with the sale of electricity meters using allegedly falsified documents to prejudice Zesa by as much as US$4 million.
ZRP was working with Special Anti-Corruption Unit (SACU) when they arrested the trio yesterday and the arrests were confirmed by SACU head Mr Thabani Mpofu who said:
l can confirm that Farai Jere has been arrested together with two Zesa employees on allegations of fraud. They are appearing in court very soon, but I cannot give further details at the moment.
According to The Herald:
Sources close to the investigation said Jere, reported to head Helcraw Electricals, was involved in the procurement of Zesa meters, and that procurement, which could have cost Zesa up to US$4 million, is the foundation of the allegations. It is also understood that the allegations bring in a trip the three made to Britain, paid for by Zesa, but with nothing delivered.
The trio’s arrest came after the suspension of the ZESA Boss Sydney Gata, as ZACC is probing the graft charges levelled against Gata.
Distressing news about the death of MDC-A councillor Lovender Chiwaya. Must be a credible investigation by authorities into the circumstances of his death & full application of the law. Our thoughts are with his family, friends & colleagues at this time #zimbabweanlivesmater
By Patrick Guramatunhu- The way forward for Zimbabwe demands a complete overhaul of the country’s rotten political system.
Some people have argued that Zanu PF and MDC leaders cannot be trusted to implement the democratic reforms because they are part of the rot. Every time any MDC leader open his/her mouth, one can see why they are indeed part of the rot.
“Biti said the military had raised a number of issues with the late Morgan Tsvangirai after he won the 2008 elections – issues he said never received sufficient attention during the talks which led to the formation of the GNU,” Daily News reported.
“He said some of the concerns raised by the army then were the need for guarantees that a future government would not prosecute them or dispossess them of their land.”
To start with Tendai Biti should explain why he and his MDC friends failed to raise this and many other democratic reform issues during the last GNU. The truth is the MDC leaders had the snouts in the feeding trough and they completely forgot about the reforms.
The reforms of the Police, Army, CIO and Prison Services were on the national agenda during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Security service reforms were no more intractable than any of the other reform issues.
Those in the security services are not the only ones who have benefited from the chaotic and corrupt Zanu PF land redistribution. The need to recover land and put it back into productive use is key to Zimbabwe’s economic recovery. And so land will be recovered from all those who now own the land on that basis in a open and transparent manner. Why should Army or anyone else one seek special treatment and guarantees?
“MDC Alliance vice president Tendai Biti says any meaningful national dialogue that is to take place in the country should involve the military,” reported Daily News.
“Biti said the military were an important factor in Zimbabwean politics and should be involved in any talks aimed at fostering democracy and national stability.”
When Mugabe realised that his Zanu PF regime was failing to deliver the freedom, justice, peace and economic prosperity the party started to lose its public support. Mugabe turned to all manner of undemocratic means to retain Zanu PF’s iron grip on power including the use of brute force. And so he roped in the coercive state institutions the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services to form the shadowy Joint Operation Command (JOC).
Yes Zimbabwe’s security sector has played a major role in Zimbabwe politics, JOC has been the real power behind Zanu PF. It is important to understand that it was Mugabe who invited the Army, Police, etc. and why.
A heathy and functioning democratic Zimbabwe will have no need of JOC and all the security services can revert back to their assigned roles.
We must make up our own mind what it is we want. We cannot say we want a democratic Zimbabwe in which the army is answerable to the civilian government and yet are the ones inviting the army to play a part in civilian politics.
“To foster democracy and national stability, the arm must be involved!” That is what Mugabe did by forming JOC and, as we can now see, it did not foster democracy but dictatorship or national stability but the exact opposite!
What Zimbabwe needs is a clean break with the failed economic policies and the narrow minded political ethos of the past. People like Tendai Biti, Nelson Chamisa, Emmerson Mnangagwa, etc., etc. will never deliver that clean break because they are an integral part of that past. And so instead of implementing the necessary transformative democratic reforms they will be giving excuses for maintain the status quo!
By Wilbert Mukori- “Biti says military role in Zimbabwe politics cannot be wished away!” screamed the headlines in a local publication.
“There must be dialogue that takes care of military concerns. In 2008 after the MDC won the elections, the military sent envoys to talk to Morgan Tsvangirai and they raised six key issues, including concerns about transitional justice,” said Biti according to Daily News.
“They wanted to know if a future government would not prosecute them for crimes they had been made to commit in the past, and we gave them assurance on a transparent programme of transitional justice.”
“Politics must lead the gun; the gun must not rule Zimbabwe!” is an adage that Mugabe himself had repeated several time in the early years. It was Mugabe himself who abandoned the adage when he invited the Army, Police and CIO to commit serious human rights violations notably during Gukurahundi and during elections to consolidate Zanu PF’s iron grip on power. As a reward for doing Zanu PF’s dirty work, Mugabe gave the top brass in the security services a share of the looted wealth.
Mugabe formed the now infamous Joint Operation Command (JOC) amassing the top brass in the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Service plus a select few from Zanu PF headed by Mugabe himself with Mnangagwa as his deputy.
The primary purpose of the junta was to keep political power firmly in the hands of Zanu PF, the public face of the junta. JOC would establish various task forces to ruthlessly crash all Zanu PF’s critics and opponents. The junta will also facilitate and coordinate the wholesale looting of the nation’s resources for the benefit of the ruling elite.
JOC has become a Mafia looting and committing all manner of lawlessness to protect the members’ selfish interests. JOC called November 2017 military coup that toppled Mugabe “Operation Restore Legacy!” because the coup consolidate the Junta’s struggle hold on power. “Chinhu chedu!” (Our thing!) is the buzz word among the junta.
It has been impossible to stamp out corruption because the JOC members are the Godfathers of corruption. They sense of entitlement is so strong and pervasive they have ring fence the Marange and Chiadzwa diamond fields and many other lucrative economic activities as “untouchables”.
There is no doubt they would key posts in the civilian government ring fenced for ex- military personal just as an insurance to guarantee their interests. What JOC must understand is the rotten political system is the root cause of the country economic and political mess. And that for the sake of saving the nation from any more tragic human suffering and deaths; the rotten system must be dismantled.
40 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption, rank lawlessness and barbaric oppression have left the country in economic ruins and with over 30 000 murdered for political gain alone.
34% of Zimbabweans then, according to a 2019 WB report, were living in extreme poverty; i.e. they could not afford one decent meal a day much less other basic necessities such as education for the children and health care. All the other countries in the region has single digit figures living in extreme poverty.
The corona virus outbreak has made life in Zimbabwe hell on earth because the country economic meltdown and collapse health care meant the country was the least prepared to deal with the pandemic. The disruption of the little economic activity going on means the proportion of Zimbabweans now living in extreme poverty has surged way above 34%.
Zimbabwe’s political and economic status quo of the last 40 years has failed the nation and it must change.
Zimbabwe is not the first country in the world to find itself in a situation where the status quo is unsustainable and with those in power fearful of change because they have looted wealth to guard and, worst of all, many skeletons they do not want uncovered. There are no easy answers.
However, what must be stated clearly here and now is that these fears must not be allowed to stand in the way of change because the status quo is unbearable. Every day change is delayed is one more day of heart breaking hardship, God knows how many more lives lost, the deeper the nation will sink into this morose and the harder it will be get out.
Those tasked to overhaul Zimbabwe’s rotten political system, there is no denying it is rotten to the core, must have the vision and courage to reaffirm the common sense adage that politics and not the gun must rule Zimbabwe. The formation of JOC and thus allowing the gun to rule the country by the back door was a fatal mistake that must now be stamped out once and once for all.
The only reason why the army have played and continue to play the dishonourable role as Zanu PF’s partner in the looting and tyrannical oppression; is because of Zimbabwe’s rotten political system that is forcing them to. The irony is the people risked life and limb to elect Tendai Biti and his MDC friends to implement the democratic reforms designed to break Zanu PF’s struggle hold on the military and other state institutions. It is now clear why Biti and company failed to implement even one reform – they never believed they could change anything!
“Military role in Zimbabwe politics cannot be wished away!” You never believed in democratic change!
The “mad dash” to conclude the 2019-20
UEFA Champions League restart officially comes to an end on Sunday.
German giants Bayern Munich face off against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final to see who which squad will get to lift the famous trophy in front of the empty stands at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal.
Both teams faced a rather unprecedented road to get to this point in the competition as the coronavirus pandemic interrupted the normal course of action of two-legged ties. In their place was a series of one-legged ties all set to take place in the country where the final was scheduled to happen.
Stars will be aplenty in Sunday’s final as the attacking duo of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe face off against Bayern’s machine that includes Robert Lewandowski, breakout start Serge Gnabry and a rising star in Alphonso Davies.
So who wins PSG vs. Bayern Munich? And where does all the betting value lie? Visit SportsLine now to find out which side of the PSG vs. Bayern Munich money line has all the value, all from the proprietary European soccer model that’s up an eye-popping 13,800 percent.
Here are five things to know about the match.
1. Paris Saint-Germain are in after years of heartbreak
PSG’s trip to the final is its first ever in club history, and it immediately proceeds their first European semifinal in 25 years. The Parisians were perhaps more known for their ability to choke in the early stages of the tournament.
From 2013-2016, they were stopped in the quarterfinals every year they got to that point in the competition.
The following seasons were even worse as they were eliminated in the Round of 16 three consecutive times. This year’s narrative-changing campaign has landed them in their first European final in their 110th game of the competition, which is the most played by a side before reaching their first final — previous record was Arsenal, which was 90 games from 1971-2006.
2. Bayern finally break through again
While the frustrations haven’t exactly been on the same level as PSG’s, the Bundesliga side has dealt with their own issues in breaking through a certain part of the tournament in recent years. From 2014-2018 they lost four straight semifinal ties.
The year after that stretch, they were knocked out by eventual champions Liverpool. All it took for them to break through after a seven year absence from the final was becoming one of the most dominant European teams in recent memory.
3. Neymar, the facilitator
The Brazilian winger’s recent Champions League performances may have been categorized by his inability to be an effective goal-scorer, but perhaps it’d be better for him to focus on being a facilitator so his missed opportunities don’t rack up on him. His magical back heel assist to Angel Di Maria on Tuesday was the latest example of his talent in helping teammates put the ball in the back of the net.
That Neymar touch
It was his 24th career assist in the Champions League since his debut in the 2013-14 season.
Since that year, no other player has recorded more assists in this competition than the Brazilian star. The next highest is Cristiano Ronaldo with 21, teammate Di Maria with 18 and former teammate Luis Suarez with 16.
4. Lewandowski’s goal scoring is breaking records
When the Bayern Munich striker headed in his team’s third goal against Lyon on Wednesday, it meant a few good things. First, it naturally meant that the match against their opponents was officially put away. Second, it tied a club record with legend Gerd Muller for the most goals in a single season — Muller’s record was set in the 1972-73 season.
On top of that, it tied Lewandowski third all-time with Cristiano Ronaldo for most Champions League goals scored in a single season with 15. The Portuguese star and the Polish striker are the only two players since 1955 to score 15 or more goals in a single European campaign. Should Lewandowski score a double on Sunday, he’ll tie Ronaldo’s single-competition record; a hat trick, and it’s all him.
5. History is not kind for PSG
As previously mentioned, this is the first time Paris Saint-Germain will be in the Champions League final in club history. If history is any indication, they probably won’t be leaving Lisbon with the trophy. The last six first-time Champions League finalists have lost their debut finals appearance.
Tottenham lost to Liverpool in 2019, Chelsea lost to Manchester United in 2008 — though they came the closest as the game went to penalties —
Arsenal lost to Barcelona in 2006, Monaco lost to Porto in 2004, Bayer Leverkusen lost to Real Madrid in 2002 and Valencia also lost to Madrid in 2000. But this situation is not without precedent.
In 1997, Borussia Dortmund defeated Juventus in their first ever Champions League final.-CBSSports
By Wilbert Mukori- Many people have made a big song and dance about how California Senator Kamala Harris “is the first woman of colour to be on the presidential election ticket of a major political party in America!” You know what; they are right, it is an important milestone showing how far women and people of colour have come.
I happily joined in the celebration with a tune of my own and did a double shuffle jig. Dancing is dancing; even if it is dirty dancing!
There have been many hard fought battles to get Kamala Harris on the presidential ticket. One notable battle was the one, 100 years ago this month, culminating in the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States of America’s Constitution.
Passed by US Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted American women the right to vote.
“Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change of the Constitution. Few early supporters lived to see final victory in 1920,” commented a US Government source.
In Zimbabwe the country had universal suffrage when it attained her independence in 1980, before that only the whites had the right to vote. The country has never ever held free, fair and credible elections and so black Zimbabweans are yet to exercise their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country by casting their first free vote.
Before independence the clarion call was “One man! One vote!” It was a compelling and unifying call the oppressed and exploited black majority could not resist and the nation rallied behind Zanu PF, led by the late Robert Mugabe, and PF Zapu led by the late Dr Joshua Nkomo.
However, long before the goal of black majority rule was attain it was already clear that both Zanu PF and PF Zapu had already abandoned ‘One man! One vote!’ in favour of a one-party dictatorship. Each party hoped to emerge the dominant party and attempts to unify the two came to nothing.
In the 1980 elections, which should have been the country’s first democratic elections, Robert Mugabe deployed many of his Zanu PF freedom fighters whose message to the electorate was that if Zanu PF failed to win the elections the civil war would continue. The freedom fighters should have been in the assembly points as agreed. The people voted to end the war; what else could they do!
If anyone thought Zanu PF’s threat to use violence to win the 1980 elections was just political rhetoric, this was settled by the events of the 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi. Zanu PF used the national army to crash Dr Nkomo and PF Zapu. The massacre finally stopped after Dr Nkomo agreed to dissolve his party and join Zanu PF. Mugabe got what he wanted, a de facto one-party dictatorship.
Zanu PF has blatantly rigged the elections and denied the people a meaningful say in the governance of the country for the last 40 years and counting. The party has argued that it was the only party competent to rule and could be trusted to safe guard the independence and sovereignty of Zimbabwe.
Instead of open debate, democratic competition and regime change been seen as healthy and necessary for a free and vibrant democratic nation; Zanu PF banished them as seed of disunity and division. Those seeking regime change were labeled enemies of the state and treated accordingly.
In November 2017 Mnangagwa toppled his former Zanu PF boss, Robert Mugabe, in a military coup. He declared Zimbabwe a “new dispensation, a Second Republic” and promised to root out corruption and to hold free, fair and credible elections. This was a public acknowledgement that the first republic led by Mugabe had failed to honour its promises of delivering economic prosperity and uphold human freedoms and rights, including the right to free elections and even the right to life.
A few dismissed Mnangagwa’s overture with the contempt it rightly deserved, since he had been Mugabe’s chief enforcer all along. Indeed, it was Mnangagwa who had spearheaded the blatant cheating and wanton violence in the 2008 elections to keep Mugabe in power although Zanu PF had lost the elections. Still a number of Zimbabweans wanted to give him a chance!
The first big surprise was that he did nothing to end the wholesale looting of Marange and Chiadzwa diamonds. Next, he did not implement even one token democratic reform to ensure free, fair and credible elections. The promissory note of free and meaningful vote turned out to be just as worthless under the Second Republic as it was during the First Republic!
“It is most unfortunate when men of cloth begin to use the pulpit to advance a nefarious agenda for detractors of our country. Those who want to enter the political realm are welcome to do so,” said Mnangagwa on Tuesday.
“They must come out and form political parties. As Zanu-PF, we are ready for the 2023 elections. We are a people’s party, a party that believes in unity, love, peace and in championing development.
“We fought for the empowerment of our people. Zanu-PF is a party that fought for democracy, upholds constitutionalism and the rule of law. Those that choose otherwise will be exposed and rejected.”
Mnangagwa was responding the growing public unrest over Zanu PF’s failure to revive the country’s collapsed economy, to end rampant corruption and it failure contain corona virus pandemic. In its determined effort to hide its blundering incompetence in the handling of the pandemic the regime has not been testing and tracking the virus; this has allowed the virus to spread far and wide. And to silence criticism and dissent the regime has resorted to the use of violence repression.
America’s 19th Amendment granted women, a segment of society that had been left out until then, the right to vote. That is progress.
Zimbabwe’s independence was supposed to extend the freedoms and rights including the right to vote from the white minority to the black majority. What actually happened is that we all, blacks and whites, got a promissory note promising us all the freedoms and human rights but Zanu PF had no intention to honour any of the promises. That is not progress but regression!
It is very sad indeed that in this day and age we, in Zimbabwe, are still failing to hold free, fair and credible elections. The country is going nowhere until we clear this first base! Zimbabwe’s next elections must be free, fair and credible; that is not too much to ask!
President @edmnangagwa is engaging with members if Matabeleland Collective and other Civic Society Organizations, at Statehouse in Bulawayo. Everyone entering Statehouse today had a PCR test for Covid19 and people got in only after Negative results which came out in minutes. pic.twitter.com/mfq7bw2KFF
By A Correspondent- The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has restricted the payment of salaries and wages through bulk payments and mobile money agents as part of measures to curb illicit transactions.
The move by the RBZ, however, is likely to inconvenience thousands of workers who receive their wages through the bulk payment platforms.
Further, the move to curtail mobile money agents may also put thousands of the over 53 000 workers under the country’s largest mobile money network, EcoCash, out of employment.
The new measures were revealed in the mid-term monetary policy statement released yesterday, wherein, RBZ governor John Mangudya said a forensic audit into mobile money transactions had revealed serious illicit activities.
“Mobile payment operators have been turning a blind eye and have even actively encouraged the abuse of bulk payment wallets for illegal foreign currency transactions, thus earning lucrative transaction fees in the process,” Mangudya said.
“Going forward, bulk payment wallets will be approved by regulatory authorities for limited use, primarily for low-value transactions and humanitarian funds disbursements to vulnerable members of society. Any other bulk payment transactions, such as payment of salaries and wages, should be processed through normal banking channels.”
Mangudya told NewsDay Weekender that due to the informality of the economy, small-to-medium enteprises (SMEs) will be allowed, albeit with regulatory approval, to continue paying their workers through bulk payments.
The governor said large companies will now be required to use normal banking channels.
“We cannot have an organisation like RBZ using a bulk payment line to pay salaries. You see, what was happening was that, if you check some of the transactions through the bulk payment system, they were running into the billions,” Mangudya said.
He said this money was outside the banking sector and as such, made it difficult for them to plan.
The RBZ measures will also affect EcoCash Payroll where subscribers receive salaries through bulk payer transactions.
EcoCash has been the preferred choice to pay unbanked workers. It has 11 million subscribers on its database nationwide.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary-general Japhet Moyo said: “Let me state, our economy is a bit informalised, therefore, a lot of businesses use these platforms as modes of transactions including the payment of salaries.”
“The way we have done our business over a period of time, we have just informalised everything, so it was a bit easier to make the payments in that platform. We need to know now how these businesses are going to be affected, especially the recipients, that is, the majority of the workers who have been getting their salaries through these mobile platforms.”
On mobile money agents, Mangudya said agent wallets were no longer serving any legitimate purpose, but were being used for illegal foreign exchange transactions. “Agents’ mobile money wallets are therefore abolished with immediate effect,” Mangudya said.
“Agents currently holding value in suspended and frozen wallets shall be allowed to liquidate the funds to their bank accounts, upon the Financial Intelligence Unit having satisfied itself of the legitimacy of the source of funds.”
Mangudya said agents handling small transactions would continue, but under strict regulation, to service unbanked people.
“At the end of the day, the agents will need to have proper ‘know-your-customer’,” he said.
Experts say this will curtail mobile operators’ business transactions.
“That is a massive loss. Definitely it’s going to affect the businesses, because they were the face on the ground, the conduits, on how the mobile networks were actually getting their money especially when you look at the amount of agents that we have,” Zimbabwe Information Communication Technologies chairman Jacob Mutisi said.
“A lot of people are going to be out of their jobs.”
According to the RBZ, the forensic audit to assess the integrity, compliance and efficacy of mobile money platforms and transactions in Zimbabwe reportedly unearthed glaring weaknesses in the systems of the mobile payment operators, namely EcoCash, OneMoney, Telecash and Mycash.
Other changes made to the mobile money industry include limiting daily individual transactions to $5 000.
“Individuals shall be allowed to undertake person to person transfers, person to merchant payments for goods and services, settlement of bills and purchase of airtime,” Mangudya said.
In terms of merchants, the RBZ says merchants will not be allowed to make payments from their wallets and that money in merchant wallets shall be liquidated to the merchant’s bank account.
“Mobile money operators shall have systems in place to ensure automatic liquidations from the merchant wallets to the merchant bank accounts,” Mangudya said.
“This measure shall ensure that mobile payment platforms are not used for store of value, but shall be restricted for transacting purposes in furtherance of financial inclusion in the economy.”
The governor also announced that connectivity by all payment service providers is expected to be completed by September 30.
By A Correspondent- Police in Umguza, Matebelaland North province have launched a manhunt for a six-member machete gang that attacked and killed a security guard at Arda Balu Estate before they went off with his .303 service rifle
The incident, according to an internal police memo, occurred on Wednesday.
The police document identified the deceased as Ernest Dube (53) of Plot 7 Helensvale, Umguza.
The report of the murder case was made by Joseph Chimucheka (55) of Arda Balu Estate compound.
“On August 20, the now-deceased was deployed at the Arda Balu Estate main gate in the company of Ashley Manyemba (29), who is also a security guard. The duo commenced night shift duty at 6pm and was armed with a .303 service rifle loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition,” the memo read.
“At about 7:45pm, the now-deceased and Manyemba were seated in the guardroom when they were attacked by about six unknown persons who were armed with machetes and axes. The accused persons first attacked the now-deceased who was carrying the service rifle on his back. They disarmed him and went on to assault him on his hands and head.”
The police document also states that during the attack, Manyemba managed to escape, leaving Dube at the mercy of the gang.
“They assaulted him with an axe on the head and he collapsed. The accused then searched him and stole a Samsung cellphone with NetOne line before escaping,” the memo added.
“After the accused persons had gone, Manyemba managed to walk to Chimucheka’s place where he informed him of what had happened. Chimucheka went to the main gate to investigate and he found Dube lying lifeless in the guardroom. He then went to report at Arda Balu Police Base where an ambulance was summoned and Manyemba was taken to
Mpilo Central Hospital for medical attention.”
The police document states that Dube’s body was taken to the United Bulawayo Hospitals mortuary for post-mortem. Manyemba suffered a deep cut on the back of his head and was admitted to Mpilo Hospital where his condition was said to be stable.
Matabeleland North provincial police spokesperson Inspector Spiwe Makonese yesterday said she had not yet received the report.
“We do not have such a matter here yet,” she said.
Police details indicated that investigations were ongoing and a manhunt has been launched for the suspects who are still at large.
By A Correspondent| Members of the Generation 40 (G40) are making overtures to rejoin the revolutionary party Zanu-PF in the process alienating their chief architect Professor Jonathan Moyo who is in self imposed exile in Kenya.
The revelations are contained in a leaked audio conversation between business tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei and Norton Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa.
In the audio, Mliswa reveals that he has been in touch with G40 members principally Saviour Kasukuwere (former Zanu-PF national political commissar) who had expressed his willingness to rejoin Zanu-PF.
Kasukuwere is in South Africa together with other G40 members Walter Mzembi and Patrick Zhuwawo.
Mliswa said Kasukuwere had told him that he always wanted to work with President Mnangagwa. “Kasukuwere called me yesterday and do you know what he said? I wanted to work nemukoma wako Temba but show me who his people are in his Cabinet. He even dumped Chinamasa. The only people he has are Oppah, Chiwenga and Kembo otherwise the rest (are not his people). Yourself Temba supported Lacoste but none of the current Ministers supported Lacoste. So how do you then appoint people who don’t follow the party policy because the point of appointment is first of all they come from the party…It was a good question I could not answer.”
The overtures by Kasukuwere comes amid reports that other members of the G-40 cabal such as Makhosini Hlongwane and Anastancia Ndlovu had also approached the ruling party seeking readmission.
The group was expelled from the party and recalled from Parliament for usurping executive, legislative and judiciary roles using their proximity to the former First Family.
The latest development leaves Prof Moyo, who has been criticising Government on social media, in the cold.
Media practitioners are experiencing difficulties in finding their way into Harare Magistrates Court to cover the initial appearance of Zengeza West legislator Hon. Sikhala. Pic Credit Phil Jambaya. pic.twitter.com/MWMXAAd5rg
@ZLHRLawyers@bamujm briefly arrested accused of bringing crowds to the Harare magistrates court. Police realised many of the people are in fact journalists. He was later released without charge. Bamu is pictured in the police van. pic.twitter.com/RDi40Lm1l0
By A Correspondent- MDC Alliance national deputy chairperson Job Sikhala Job Sikhala has arrived at the Harare Magistrate Court where is expected to appear before the court.
Sikhala was yesterday arrested in Tynwald, Harare.
The police arrested him on the pretext that they were keen to interview him on allegations of inciting public violence.
The state media reported that National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday said he will provide more details of the arrest in due course.
“Yes, Sikhala was arrested today (yesterday) in Tynwald North where he was in hiding. Remember he was wanted for incitement of public violence.”
Other opposition figures that the Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Law and Order Department has expressed interest in interviewing include Makomborero Haruzivishe, Godfrey Kurauone, Ostallos Siziba, Promise Mkwananzi, Denford Ngadziore, Allan Moyo, Obert Musaraure, Jimmy Kunaka, Peter Mutasa, Robson Chere, Stephen Chuma, and Godfrey Tsenengamu.
Colonel Assimi Goita speaks to the press at the Malian Ministry of Defence in Bamako, Mali, on Wednesday
The military officer who declared himself in charge of Mali after leading a coup that ousted the West African nation’s president this week received training from the United States, according to military officers from both countries.
Colonel Assimi Goita, who emerged on Thursday as the head of the junta in power, worked for years with US Special Operations forces focused on fighting extremism in West Africa. He spoke regularly with US troops and attended US-led training exercises, said the officers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
Mr Goita, who also received training from Germany and France, headed Mali’s special forces unit in the country’s restive central region, where fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State have established a stronghold that has alarmed global leaders.
“By making this intervention, we have put Mali first,” Mr Goita said in a broadcast on Thursday alongside top government officials. “Mali is in a sociopolitical and security crisis. There is no more room for mistakes.”
The US Africa Command and the Defence Department did not immediately respond to questions about the nature of Mr Goita’s training and relationship with US troops.
“The United States strongly condemns the ongoing mutiny and any attempts at a military seizure of power,” Pentagon spokeswoman Nicole Kirschmann said in a statement.
It is not unusual for senior officers in the Malian military – a force of roughly 12,000 meant to protect a population of about 20 million – to receive training from the US and other foreign allies.
“Malian officers are usually involved in several foreign trainings – meaning they may leave for Russia, go to France and then end up part of Flintlock,” a US training exercise in West Africa, said Marc-André Boisvert, a former UN expert who has spent years researching Mali’s military.
Helping the nation’s troops fight rapidly spreading extremism is critical for regional stability, US military officials said. Al-Qaida and Islamic State loyalists have cooperated in West Africa in pushes to dominate the countryside in Mali, a country nearly twice the size of Texas.
“What we’ve seen is not just random acts of violence under a terrorist banner but a deliberate campaign that is trying to bring these various groups under a common cause,” brigadier general Dagvin Anderson, head of the US military’s Special Operations arm in Africa, told the Post in February. “That larger effort then poses a threat to the United States.”
The coup came after months of protests in the capital, Bamako, which brought tens of thousands of Malians into the streets to demand the resignation of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.
Video showed people cheering as mutinous soldiers stormed Bamako on Tuesday and took Keïta, along with several of his top officers, into their custody.
The African Union, the United Nations, France and the United States swiftly condemned the rebellion, urging the coup leaders to release Keïta, whose term was due to end in 2023.
“A politically stable Mali is paramount and crucial to the stability of the sub-region,” Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari tweeted on Thursday.
The protesters, led by an influential imam, Mahmoud Dicko, accused the 75-year-old Keïta of corruption, mismanaging the crumbling economy and allowing extremists to spread in the countryside. The embattled leader resigned on state television Wednesday, saying he wanted to avoid more bloodshed.
Mali’s new rulers, who call themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, said they aim to build a civilian-led transition government and hold a new election.
Mr Goita, the junta’s leader, is a commander of the country’s Autonomous Special Forces Battalion, which is one of the first lines of defence against the extremists.
He had expressed frustration to colleagues about the rising violence in Mali, according to a former US military officer who worked closely with him, sending out videos of torched villages on WhatsApp.
Mr Goita, who is in his early 40s, spent most of his military career in the areas rife with extremists – the northern deserts and the central garrison towns. His spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The number of deaths from terrorism in the country, as well as in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, have skyrocketed in recent years, according to the United Nations, surpassing 4,000 in 2019.
Hundreds of Malian soldiers have died in the fight. They have also faced accusations of killing innocent villagers on the search for extremists, according to Human Rights Watch.
The leader of Mali’s last coup in 2012 – captain Amadou Haya Sanogo – also received military guidance from the US, including professional military education and basic officer training.
“The actions of the mutineers run contrary to everything that is taught in US military schools, where students are exposed to American concepts of the role of a military in a free society,” Hilary F Renner, a spokeswoman for the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, said at the time.
The legal battles by the team of lawyers representing suspended Supreme Court judge Justice Francis Bere to stop the tribunal investigating complaints against him continue, although the tribunal is still sitting, with one of the latest moves being an attempt to change the make-up of the tribunal.
The judge and lawyers walked out of the hearing, protesting the rejection of their request to have one of the panellists, Advocate Takawira Nzombe, recuse himself from the matter because he was allegedly linked to Harare lawyer Mr Itayi Ndudzo, a key witness.
The legal team was not content with a further six month extension of the tribunal, following the expiry of the given four months, and has now filed a High Court application challenging the lifespan of the tribunal inquiring into the fitness of Justice Bere to hold office.
So far, 10 witnesses have testified before the tribunal while two more witnesses are outstanding.
Hearings are continuing on Monday, with the presentation of evidence from these two witnesses.
Permanent Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mrs Virginia Mabhiza, told The Herald yesterday that since the court has ruled that the tribunal was properly constituted, the hearing of evidence started the day the judge’s team walked out.
“Unless the need to call for other evidence arises, the intention is to close the hearing of oral evidence after the testimony of the two outstanding witnesses,” she said.
“Thereafter, the evidence leaders will give their closing address summarising the evidence presented, what they argue as evidence established, and whether or not the proved facts, if any, amount to gross misconduct on the part of the honourable judge.
“Once this is concluded, the commissioners will proceed to consider all the evidence presented before them and compile their findings in a report for presentation to his Excellency the President of Zimbabwe.”
President Mnangagwa set up the tribunal inquiry into the fitness of Justice Bere to hold office after Mr Ndudzo accused him of interference in a civil case involving the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (zinara) and his relatives.
Justice Bere allegedly telephoned Mr Ndudzo, who was representing zinara, asking him to consider settling a civil dispute pitting zinara against Fremus Enterprises.
Justice Bere was serving on both the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court benches when he was suspended in March this year.
The Catholic Lawyers Guild In Zimbabwe has published the following statement in solidarity with renowned lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa who was thrown off Hopewell Chin’ono’s case after the state made the application citing that she scandalised the court.
Read the full statement below:
The Catholic Lawyers Guild in Zimbabwe is a non.partisan association of more than two hundred (200) lawyers working within and outside Zimbabwe, guided in their work by their faith, fundamental provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe as read with relevant international human righ. instruments, and the precepts of Catholic Social Teaching.
Statement of Solidarity Regarding Attorney Beatrice Mtetwa
22 August 2020
1. We, the Catholic Lawyers’ Guild in Zimbabwe, issue this statement in reponse to the ruling by the Harare Magistrates Court in the matter of the State v Hopewell Chin’ono (COB HREP 1226)20). The effect of the ruling handed down on the 18th of August, 2020, is to disqualify the accused person’s defence counsel, Mrs. Beatrice Mtetwa, from representing the accused person in a prosecution already fraught with numerous difficulties.
2. For the record, Mrs. Beatrice Mtetwa is a member of our Guild, and indeed, our colleague. However, our motivation in speaking out is not driven by these factors. Ours is a guild of lawyers, sworn to uphold the law and it is our duty to speak out against injustice wherever we encounter it.
3. We are appalled at the unwarranted curtailement, not only of Mrs. Mtetwa’s fundamental rights as a legal practitioner, but the consequent denial of Mrs. Mtetwa’s client, Mr. Hopewell Chin’ono, of his constitutional right to a legal practitioner of his choice.
4. We must state that our position as conveyed in this statement is guilded by the Constitution of Zimbabwe which provides in section 2 that it “is the supreme law of Zimbabwe and any law, practice, custom or conduct inconsistent with it is invalid to the extent of the inconsistency.” The obligations imposed by this Constitution are binding on every person, natural or juristic, including the State and all executive, legislative and judicial institutions and agencies of government at every level, and must be fulfilled by them.”
5. In our humble view, the disqualification by the Court, of Mrs. Mtetwa as lead counsel in that matter, is directly in conflict with her right as set out in section 64 of the Constitution, “to choose and carry on any profession, trade or occupation”. This is particularly so as Mrs. Mtetwa was actually not tried or found guilty of any misconduct, by the appropriate body charged with regulating the conduct of lawyers, namely, the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ).
6. We acknowledge that in appropriate cases, a court may summarily inquire into and impose appropriate sanction in instances of alleged contempt of court. However, circumstances in which the ruling in issue was made demonstrably fall outside the permitted bounds.
7. What aggravates the unjust treatment of Mrs. Mtetwa is the related denial of her client, Mr. Hopewell Chin’ono’s right to be represented by a legal practitioner of his choice. Mr. Chin’ono’s right is so important that the framers of our Constitution found it necessary to state it in 2 different sections of the Constitution, namely: section 69(4) and 70(1)(d). However, in one fell swoop, M. Chin’ono’s right has been denied, for the alleged transgression of his legal practitioner.
8. We find it necessary to remind the State that in addition to upholding the Constitution of Zimbabwe, it is also obliged to uphold the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers as adopted by the United Nations:
o “All persons are entitled to call upon the assistance of a lawyer of their choice to protect and establish their rights and to defend them in ail stages of criminal proceedings.
o No court or administrative authority before whom the right to counsel is recognized shall refuse to recognize the right of a lawyer to appear before it for his or her client unless that lawyer has been disqualified in accordance with nationd law and practice and in conformity with these principles.
o Lawyers shall enjoy civi/ and penal immunity for re/evant statements made in good faith in written or oral pleadings or in their professionate appearances before a court, tribunal or other legal or administrative authority.
o Lawyers like other citizens are entitled to freedom of expression, belief, association and assembly. in particular, they shall have the right to take part in public discussion of matters conceming the law, the administration of justice and the promotion and protection of human rights and to join or form local, national or international organizations and attend their meetings, without suffering professional restrictions by reason of their lawful action or their membership in a lawful organization. in exercising these rights, lawyers shall always conduct themselves in accordance with the law and the recognized standards and ethics of the legal profession.
0 Charges or complaints made against lawyers in their professional capacity shall be processed expeditiously and fairly under appropriate procedures. Lawyers shall have the right to a fair hearing, including the right to be assisted by a lawyer of their choice.
o Disciplinary proceedings against lawyers shall be brought before an impartial disciplinary committee established by the legal profession, before an independent statutory authority, or before a court, and shall be subject to an independent judicial review..
9. In conclusion, we wish to state that in our view, whatever conduct was the subject of complaint before the Harare Magistrates Court in the matter of State v Hopewell Chin’ono, could be adequately have been dealt with in the ordinary manner by the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ).
10. We pray to Almighty God that through the grace of His son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our rulers in all branches of the State, may always act with probity, and strive to do justice to each and every person living and working in Zimbabwe.
As we so pray, we stand in solidarity with our beloved sister, Beatrice Mtetwa.
CATHOLIC LAWYERS GUILD In Zimbabwe
Friday 21 August 2020
UPDATE – Happening Now: Hon. Sikhala arrives at Harare Magistrates Court escorted by anti riot police & his supporters are in attendance https://t.co/TZDvqzxdmm
OFFICIALS from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works will with immediate effect attend council meetings countrywide to help curb rampant disregard of regulations by local authorities.
All full council and committee meetings will be held in the presence of the Provincial Development Coordinator (PDC) or District Development Coordinator (DDC) or their designated officials.
Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo announced the new development through a circular addressed to mayors and council chairpersons.
The mayors and councillors have been ordered to invite PDC and DDC to all their meetings.
The measures come following a series of corruption cases in local authorities that has seen the arrest of councillors and council technocrats.
Minister Moyo said his decision is meant to safeguard national interests as technocrats in local authorities were deliberately starving councillors of adequate information leading to them making ill-informed decisions on national matters.
“It has come to my attention that there is growing non compliance to the Constitution, the Statute Law and Government policy and circulars by councils and that councillors are not always given all the options available to enable them to make proper decisions.
“In view of this scenario, it has become necessary to monitor meetings of councils more effectively in the interest of transparency, accountability and good governance,” said Min Moyo.
“In view of Section 96 (10) of the Urban Councils Act, I hereby direct, in terms of Section 313 of the same Act that mayors or chairpersons issue a standing invitation to the relevant Provincial Development Coordinator, District Development Coordinator or their designated officer to attend all committees and full council meetings with immediate effect.”
He said Town Clerks and council secretaries must ensure that the agenda for all the meetings is dispatched to the PDC and DDC to enable them to attend.
“This directive is given in the national interest in ensuring that all tiers of Government operate legally and in harmony with each other,” he said.
This comes as Government is implementing devolution of power which would result in local authorities being in charge of resource utilisation within their localities.
FORMER PetroZim Line (PVT) Limited general manager Cathrine Katsande was yesterday jailed for an effective 60 months for fraudulently awarding to a local company, tenders for the supply of equipment worth US$2 million during her tenure.
Katsande (55), who indicated that she would appeal against conviction and sentence, was convicted of six counts of fraud.
Harare magistrate, Mr Lazini Ncube, initially sentenced her to 90 months imprisonment before suspending 30 months of the jail term.
Mr Ncube also fined the company that was awarded the tenders, Keltrade (Pvt) Limited $53 000 for the same offences.
Messrs Tafara Charimbira and Panganayi Chiutsi representing the State, heard that PetroZim Line (Pvt) Limited was incorporated in 1988 by Lonmin and the then National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (noczim) to transport fuel from Mutare through the Feruka pipeline to Msasa in Harare.
According to the company’s tender procedures, goods and services had to be supplied before payment was processed. In exceptional instances, the board finance committee had to first approve payments.
The court heard that on June 24, 2013 Katsande authorised a payment of US$159 925 after Keltrade had submitted a quotation indicating that it had capacity to supply a gearbox for 10 gate valves.
The money was paid before Keltrade supplied the goods.
On September 24 of the same year, she also authorised payment of US$610 640 to Keltrade after it indicated that it had capacity to supply two skid pumps.
Again on December 9, 2013, Katsande advanced US$363 860 after Keltrade presented a quotation indicating that it was able to supply two ethanol centrifugal pumps.
The money was paid before the supply of the pumps.
In February 2015, Katsande also authorised payment of US$91 082 after Keltrade gave her a quotation for the supply of drag resistant spares.
In the same month, Katsande is said to have given permission to payments of various amounts to Keltrade without following laid down procedures.
In March 2015, Katsande was instructed to purchase goods from MIS Solutions, but she disregarded the recommendation and gave the tender to Keltrade.
In an extremely shocking and senseless thinking, the ruling ZANU PF party has declared that MDC Alliance Councillor for Karoi Urban Ward 4, Lovender Chiwaya who was found dead on Friday morning, died after consuming an illicit alcohol brew.
The party aligned online media, ZimReport which specialises in image building for the failing ruling party said Chiwaya was found dead some four houses from his house with a half-eaten roasted maize cob in one hand and a bottle of illicit brew in the other.
The publication further claims that when Chiwaya’s body was found, it had some froth on the mouth, while his boxer shorts were soiled with traces of suspected semen. His trousers’ zipper was still open and a T-Shirt was pulled halfway up his chest.
According to the report here were no visible injuries on his body a contradiction to revelations made by witnesses who saw the bruised body at the scene of the obvious murder.
The MDC Alliance has accused ZANU PF for the murder.
We are sad to announce the death of The MDC Alliance Hurungwe Central Chairperson and Karoi Urban Ward 4 Councilor Cllr Lavender Chiwaya who was allegedly abducted by state agents and brutally murdered before being dumped a few metres from his home.
His suspected abduction and murder on the hands of suspected state agents who have been stalking him since last year also comes hot on the heels of yet another foiled abduction of Ward 6 Councilor Cllr Kudakwashe Chigumo who was also abducted by suspected state agents a few weeks ago but was later released after a Robust search party was converned.
It is alleged that his shirt was torn and he was bleeding profusely from the nose and ears signalling that he was heavily assaulted and dumped near his home.
Alderman Chiwaya(34) survived death by a whisker in the 2008 zanu of terror campaigns when he was abducted, tortured and kept in a small room at a zanu militia base in Karoi.He was later rescued by fearless and militant party cadres who destroyed the base.
The murder of one of the MDC Alliance’s pillars could be an indicator of what awaits the nation ahead as the President declared to *”flush out all bad apples”* and also since he also felt threatened by the existence of the *”true opposition politicians”* whom he declared as *”terrorists”* for demanding for constitutionalism and accountability from the thugs in Government.
Cllr Lavender Chiwaya was first elected as Councillor in 2008 and served his Ward diligently until his heartless and spine chilling murder.
Cllr Chiwaya is survived by his wife and 5 children .Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.
A funeral vigil will be held at *house No 1771 Chikangwe Township.* His body will be taken to Harare for a postmortem tomorrow after the doctors in karoi failed to do so for *unspecified reasons*.
The murder of one of our own does not kill the Revolutionary spirit in us but strengthens our resolve to destroy autocracy and inflames our anger at the petition bourgeois threatening our sole existence.
As we mourn this *”big man”* affectionately known as *”Trump”* we shall not let his dream of a better Zimbabwe die.We shall continue to fight the dictator till Zimbabwe is free from all forms of bondage.Not even murder, incarceration or torture can stop an idea whose time has come.
They can kill all of us but they can never kill the Revolutionary spirit;in our Kore Kore dialect they say *”zvakanyohwa hazvinyohonohwe”*. According to the Scriptures it is written that *”everything has its own time”* and seasons come and go.Yes,this maybe *their season of flushing out bad apples* but they must not forget that *there shall come a season for them to account for their evil actions*.They should remember that *what goes around comes around.*
This is surely no time for us to call on Cllr Chiwaya’s spirit to rest in peace.My brother,may you *avenge your spine chilling death and may your murderers never find peace.*
Our deepest condolences goes to Mrs Chiwaya and the Chiwaya family, President CHAMISA and the MDC Alliance family in Mash West and across the nation and globe on the tragic loss of one of our illustrious sons.
Lindiwe Zulu ANC Secretary for International Relations
Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party and the government will have to agree there is a crisis in the country before South Africa or the ANC can help them resolve it, says Lindiwe Zulu, cabinet minister and head of the ANC’s international relations sub-committee.
As a diplomat, Lindiwe Zulu, now South Africa’s social development minister, led SA’s mediation efforts in Zimbabwe to try to ensure free and fair elections in 2013. On Friday, she said: “It looks like we are back to square one.” Whatever gains SA’s mediation had made in Zimbabwe, have now been reversed.
Zulu was speaking in a webinar by the Brenthurst Foundation, with Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC Alliance) vice president Tendai Bit. Brenthurst director Greg Mills said “Zimbabwe seems to be going down the pan again” in yet another socio-economic crisis which included 1,000% inflation.
“Zimbabwe is demonstrating that the saying, ‘things can’t get any worse’, is fundamentally untrue,” he said.
Mills asked Zulu and Biti if, and how, South Africa could help Zimbabwe resolve its current crisis.
Zulu said the ANC – as a fellow liberation movement to Zanu-PF – and the South African government wanted to be of the greatest possible assistance to Zimbabwe. However, it first needed “buy-in” from Zimbabwe in acknowledging the crisis.
The ruling Zanu-PF has so far steadfastly refused to acknowledge there’s a crisis, and has blamed all the country’s socio-economic and political woes on “malevolent” outside forces such as Western sanctions.
SA President Cyril Ramaphosa recently sent two special envoys – former Cabinet minister Sydney Mufamadi and former Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete – to Zimbabwe to start addressing the crisis. They met President Emmerson Mnangagwa but he stopped them from meeting the opposition MDC or civil society.
Zulu underscored on Friday that Ramaphosa’s envoys had a mandate to meet Zanu-PF “and other political parties”, but she did not say if or when Mufamadi and Mbete would be returning to Zimbabwe to meet the opposition.
Recalling her own experience as one of former president Jacob Zuma’s envoys who tried to get Zimbabwe’s political parties to implement the agreements they had signed in 2013 to ensure a level playing field in the elections, Zulu said this time South Africa, and particularly the ANC, had to do things “a bit differently”.
She said while the ANC must continue to engage its fellow liberation movement, the ANC should also be “honest and frank and straightforward about what is happening. And let our brothers in Zanu-PF also do the same and be honest and frank and straightforward about what is happening”.
Only then would South Africa and the ANC be able to help Zimbabwe deal with the crisis.
South Africa and ANC had to ask “hard” and “painful” questions about what was happening in Zimbabwe. “We cannot ignore the fact that Zimbabweans are crossing the border [into SA] on an almost daily basis. Now our borders are closed but people are still finding a way of crossing.
“There is no way we cannot ask ourselves a very simple question: where is the dignity in all this?”
“Where is the dignity in all the young women I see in the car parks running around chasing people to ask if they can wash their cars? Where is the dignity of people working in restaurants who are teachers or nurses…”
And where, asked Zulu, was the dignity for Zimbabweans having to cross the borders to buy essentials, or concealing their nationality in South Africa or risk being sent back home.
“There is a crisis in Zimbabwe… if there wasn’t a crisis, I wouldn’t be talking about what I have just narrated.”
Zulu said the ANC remained closer to Zanu-PF than any other party in Zimbabwe and would like to see it continue to govern. But the ANC would also recognise any other government which was elected by the people.
She said the governing liberation movements in southern Africa had to monitor each other to ensure they were upholding the ethos, culture and values they had fought for. She said this was not just about getting rid of colonialism and racism, but also uplifting their people socio-economically and protecting their human rights.
Zimbabweans ultimately had to resolve their own crisis and deserved a lot of blame for failing to do so, they could not now resolve it without South African help.
Zulu called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to do things differently in Zimbabwe. The body has consistently ignored the current crisis, which evidently was not discussed at its annual summit this week.
Zulu contrasted this silence from SADC with the public which African Union Commission chairperson Mohamed Faki Moussa made last week, in which he welcomed Ramaphosa – who was chairperson of the AU at the time – sending envoys to Zimbabwe and implicitly criticising the Zimbabwean government for human rights abuses.
This statement was quite different from the AU’s usual approach to Zimbabwe, Zulu said. “It was direct and it spoke to human rights. That gave us a boost… to say we can’t be attacked and told we’re interfering.”
Tendai Biti, who was Finance minister in Zimbabwe’s government of national unity between Zanu-PF and the MDC – mediated in 2008 by then SA president Thabo Mbeki – agreed with Zulu that “we’re back to square zero. We’ve been down the same road time and time again over the last 20 years. The characters change but the script is the same”.
The “script” was still that of a politically illegitimate state which had been taken over by its security forces; of the disputed 2018 elections; of total state capture by the Zanu-PF elite; the total emasculation of state institutions; massive corruption and the looting of state resources; and 95% unemployment and 79% poverty. And, of course, widespread repression.
Zimbabweans had become the true “scatterlings of Africa”, dispersed around the region. “It’s a broken record. Everyone else is sick of it,” Biti said, adding that whenever he spoke to others in the region about his country, he felt their “massive fatigue”.
Biti said that although Zimbabweans ultimately had to resolve their own crisis and deserved a lot of blame for failing to do so, they could not now resolve it without South African help.
He said Zimbabwe was not a foreign policy issue for South Africa – it was a domestic issue, because of the burden it was imposing on this country. He said experts had told him, for example, that 20% of the beds in Soweto’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital were being occupied by Zimbabweans, some of whom were also committing crimes in SA.
He agreed with Zulu that SADC should become more involved, but added that it would only do so if driven by South Africa, which had to take the lead as it was the country most affected by the crisis.
But this time around, negotiations would have to focus on deeper structural reforms and proper implementation of mechanisms to ensure any new deal was sustainable, he said.
The opposition was now calling for a national transitional mechanism, comprising all parties, to govern Zimbabwe and to prepare for new democratic elections.
FORMER Highlanders’ winger Sizabantu Khoza says he is humbled by the massive financial and moral support he has received on behalf of his 12-year-old son Bonginkosi, who is battling with septic arthritis.
Bonginkosi was diagnosed with the ailment in May and underwent an operation, but his condition worsened in the past few weeks.
Septic arthritis is a painful infection in a joint, which can come from germs that travel through the bloodstream from another part of the body. It can also occur when a penetrating injury delivers germs directly to the joint.
He also needed wound dressing every five days, which needed US$10 each time. A huge hospital bill was incurred when the boy was initially admitted, resulting in the family appealing to the public for assistance.
The campaign raised R3 750, US$1 560 and $15 500.
Football administrators, Highlanders’ supporters locally and abroad, ordinary members of the public, social football clubs in the Golden Oldies Social League, former and current players, Bosso players that played alongside Siza in the 1990s all came to Bonginkosi’s assistance.
Bonginkosi is also a key member of the Highlanders’ Under-14 side that won the Zifa Bulawayo Metropolitan Province age group championship.
He is currently admitted at the United Bulawayo Hospitals where doctors have put him on a six-week traction programme.
“I just want to truly humble myself before everyone who landed a helping hand to my son. I can’t mention each and every one by name because they are just too many.
“May the Lord bless you abundantly. My son is on the road to recovery and I am sure soon he will be out of hospital. He is a jovial little man who loves his football and with your kind gestures, I am now confident that the dream remains alive, ngiyabonga bantu bakithi,” said Khoza.
Emmerson Mnangagwa with his predecessor Robert Mugabe during the Gukurahundi era
President Mnangagwa will today meet his captured civil society leaders from Matabeleland in Bulawayo ostensibly to rush a dialogue towards finding “closure: to the emotive Gukurahundi issue.
He arrived in Bulawayo yesterday evening for the meeting, which is scheduled to take place at State House this morning.
Mnangagwa has so far held two meetings with the civil society under the Matabeleland Collective banner in his rushed efforts to try and solve the Gukurahundi issue.
Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services,Nick Mangwana, said Mnangagwa was committed to the finalisation of the Gukurahundi issue, among other developmental issues affecting the Matabeleland region.
“There have been meetings regarding the engagements around Matabeleland Collective such as marginalisation, Gukurahundi and development in this region. This is a third engagement for His Excellency President Mnangagwa and he will give an update on this whole journey and how we are moving forward,” he said.
“However, most of the information will be available tomorrow after the engagement itself.”
Mangwana said despite the Covid-19 induced lockdown, the President saw it fit to travel to Bulawayo to meet relevant stakeholders involved in the discussions.
“This is a follow-up of a programme that has already started and His Excellency does not start something and not see it to its logical conclusion. The issue of Gukurahundi, past marginalisation within this region is an issue which His Excellency is seized with and close to his heart,” he said.
“Even under lockdown, he has decided that we need to continue to follow through to see everything to finality and good end. The President will give a speech tomorrow (today) and all the stakeholders will also be able to talk to the media after the engagement itself.”
Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mrs Virginia Mabhiza, said there has been tremendous progress in the discussions.
She said President Mnangagwa will soon launch a programme for the issuance of birth and death certificates for victims of Gukurahundi.
“The issues are mostly to do with birth and death certificates for victims of Gukurahundi and we are also looking at the issue of exhumations, which is currently being handled by the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission. Our bigger vision is to conduct a launch and His Excellency is going to launch the issuance of births and death certificates in a province of his choice in Matabeleland. We are also looking into the issues of exhumations,” she said.
“We are here as a follow-up to the July meeting and this is basically a follow-up on issues that we have discussed with the civic society based in Bulawayo. This is not about Gukurahundi issues only but other broader developmental issues affecting the region. There is a lot of progress so far around the issues under discussion.”
In his previous meetings, President Mnangagwa has hailed the interaction which he described as the first of its kind in terms of social dialogue.
Speaking on behalf of Matabeleland Collective, Ms Jenni Williams, who is also director of Women of Zimbabwe Arise, said the grouping was working to help citizens look ahead with hope and energy rather than looking backward with sadness.
“We are meeting the President to discuss challenges around our ongoing dialogue, which has been going on for two years now. The Minister of Home Affairs was recently here on the same issues and we have now requested the President to come and engage us so that we are able to deal with some of the issues around the dialogue,” she said.
State schools can no longer exclude girls who fall pregnant from attending lessons, while teachers will not be allowed to cane pupils, under amendments to the Education Act that became law yesterday, and were described as progressive by educationists.
The Education Act Amendment was passed by Parliament, approved by President Mnangagwa, and has been gazetted.
Under the amendments, “No pupil shall be excluded from school for non-payment of school fees or on the basis of pregnancy.”
During debate in Parliament, the then Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Professor Paul Mavima, said expelling a girl for falling pregnant had a discriminatory effect in circumstances where she would have been impregnated by a colleague who in most cases, would be allowed to proceed with his education.
This was after some legislators argued that allowing a girl who fell pregnant to continue learning had the effect of condoning delinquency among pupils.
The Act will also outlaw corporal punishment as school authorities are now required to draw up a disciplinary policy in accordance with standards set out in regulations prescribed by the minister for the purpose.
In terms of the Act, the regulations and any disciplinary policy shall not permit any treatment which does not respect the human dignity of a pupil.
“Disciplinary measures must be moderate, reasonable and proportionate in the light of the conduct, age, sex, health and circumstances of the pupil concerned and the best interests of the child shall be paramount. Under no circumstance is a teacher allowed to beat a child,” reads the Act.
“No pupil may be suspended from school without first being granted a reasonable opportunity, with the support of his or her parents, to make representations with respect to the proposed suspension.”
Every child shall be entitled to be enrolled at the nearest school and unless such school is fully enrolled.
In the case where the school is fully enrolled, the head of that institution must issue a certificate to that effect to allow the pupil to seek enrolment at alternative places.
The amendments to the Act empower the minister to fix school fees, taking into consideration the location and status of a given school.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Cain Mathema yesterday said they were excited that the President had signed the Act.
“The President has just signed the law and we will fully enforce the provisions for the furtherance of education in the country. We believe the Act is a progressive legislation,” said Minister Mathema.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association (zimta) chief executive officer, Dr Sifiso Ndlovu, said they fully supported the provisions of the Act as it was consistent with modern society.
He said corporal punishment engendered a violent society and it was refreshing that it was removed while the outlawing of the exclusion of pregnant pupils helped in the furtherance of the rights of the girl child.
“As zimta, we fully participated in the crafting of that law. Most of what we raised has been included. We abhor the use of corporal punishment because it is an old-fashioned tool of instilling discipline. It has the effect of engendering a violent society. We also support any measure meant to safeguard the interests and rights of the girl child. One such provision is outlawing the exclusion of those that fall pregnant. This is what other societies have embraced and we fully support the provision,” said Dr Ndlovu.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general, Mr Raymond Majongwe, said while the act was going to protect the rights of girls, there were fears that some people could take advantage of that and abuse girls.
“There should have been more consultation on these measures, especially on corporal punishment. Pupils and students may end up abusing drugs knowing they will not be punished,” he said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa continues with his futile exercise to try and clean himself of the ills he executed in the Matabeleland region during the eighties Gukurahundi atrocities by engaging a small section of the region which he has cunningly captured for his benefit.
Mnangagwa will today meet his boot-licking group of civil society leaders from Matabeleland under the name Matabeleland Collective at the Bulawayo State House as part of a follow up to previous meetings that have not produced any results.
Major in Mnangagwa’s agenda is to get to a position where he will drag the grouping to agree with him on what he will term a closure of the highly emotive Gukurahundi issue.
He arrived in Bulawayo on Friday evening for the meeting, which is scheduled to take place at Bulawayo State House on Saturday morning.
Mnangagwa has been warned by the region’s opjnion leaders and other stakeholders that the group he is engaging with is not a comprehensive representation of the region and he is fully aware of how compromised the group is but has opted to continue to dialogue with the group in his divisive efforts.
In his last engagement with the group, Mnangagwa tried to get some legitimacy for the meeting by dragging in chiefs and other traditional leaders but he was left with an egg on his face after all the chiefs in the region boycotted the meeting.
ZimEye.com Is reliably informed that Mnangagwa has yet again tried his move by ordering the Ministry of Local Government to force the Chiefs to attend his latest meeting and reports indicate that he is in for yet another rude awakening as most of the chiefs are reported to have agreed to shun the meeting again.
The Chiefs are reportedly demanding for Mnangagwa to allow for the region to first build a comprehensive regional buy in to his engagements than continue to work with the small group of people most of whom are his known loyalists who are funded through his office.
The Chiefs have also told Mnangagwa to first come forward and confess his personal involvement in the Gukurahundi atrocities and give a public apology before he can begin to try and lead towards a closure of the atrocities.
Mnangagwa was the Minister of State Security at the time of the atrocities that saw over 20 000 people murdered by soldiers under his instructions
Government has engaged the Holy See’s papal Pro-Nuncio to Zimbabwe, Archbishop Marek Zalewski, to establish whether a pastoral letter issued by the Zimbabwe Catholics Bishops Conference (ZCBC) was a reflection of the official attitude of the Holy See towards Harare.
This comes as Government has described the pastoral letter as a gross misrepresentation of the political situation in the country, which it said aligned itself with a recent wave of deliberately misleading media hype portraying a country in crisis.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has made a comprehensive response to the pastoral letter.
He said the Government had tasked Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo to meet the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio Archbishop Zalewski on issues raised by the bishops that cast aspersions on the Government.
Minister Moyo subsequently met Achbishop Zalewski yesterday, but details of the meeting were not made available to the Press by the time of going to print.
In their letter, the bishops said: “It is not clear to us as your bishops that the national leadership that we have has the knowledge, social skill, emotional stability and social orientation to handle the issues we face as a nation.”
In response, Minister Ziyambi said the statement by the bishops “constitutes an outright insult to the person of President Mnangagwa and his entire Government and is couched in a language decidedly unbecoming of an institution such as the Catholic Church.
“Given that the venerable bishops represent the Catholic Church, Government is compelled to directly engage the Vatican to ascertain whether or not such statements reflect the official attitude of the Holy See towards Zimbabwe’s leadership or whether these are merely the views of the various individuals concerned.”
Minister Ziyambi said the bishops did not engage the Government, but instead relied on false information that is peddled on social media with respect to the several allegations they made against the Government.
Since assuming office, said Minister Ziyambi, President Mnangagwa has had an inclusive engagement with all religious groupings and his appointment of church representatives to the Presidential Advisory Council illustrated this open-arms approach to dialogue and engagement.
“Notwithstanding the deliberately provocative and divisive nature of the pastoral letter, the President’s commitment to the path of engagement with all religious communities remains steadfast and solid,” he said.
He said it was not true that the Government was not acting decisively on corruption as several high-profile people, including Cabinet ministers and those close to the President, had been arraigned before criminal courts over graft.
Minister Ziyambi said it was not true that journalist-cum activist Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested for exposing corruption as suggested by the social media and the bishops, but for inciting violence, a quite different charge.
He said several media organisations have reported about allegations of corruption in some State institutions, but none of the journalists have been arrested.
On the State institutions, Minister Ziyambi said it was not true that the courts were captured as the Government has lost a majority of cases it has disputed in courts.
“For instance, in the period between February 1 to May 15, 2020, the High Court in Harare heard a total of 25 cases in which Government was a party to proceedings against various litigants. Of these cases, only six were ruled in favour of Government. The remaining 19 were ruled against Government. For the bishops to suggest that the Judiciary is not independent is demonstrably false and one can only wonder at the motivation behind such misrepresentation,” said Minister Ziyambi.
He said all constitutional commissions were independent because their autonomy was guaranteed by the Constitution.
Minister Ziyambi gave an example of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission that published several reports critical to the Government.
“Although Government has strongly disagreed with these reports, neither the Commission nor any of its members have attracted any adverse consequences,” he said.
On nation building, Minister Ziyambi said Government had gone to extraordinary lengths to create a spirit of peace, unity and cohesion among all Zimbabweans including inviting international organisations to observe elections, establishing the Motlanthe Commission to openly investigate cases of politically motivated violence, and invited all political parties to a dialogue platform called the Political Actors Dialogue.
He said President Mnangagwa established the Presidential Advisory Council where well known Government critic, Pastor Shingi Munyeza, is not only a member but also a Government-appointed director of Zimbabwe Newspapers.
Minister Ziyambi said Bishops must have noted that recently Pastor Munyeza has used his sermons to call for the removal of the Government in a language that could not be described as moderate but there have been no consequences visited against him.
On Gukurahundi, Minister Ziyambi said the President opened dialogue with Matabeleland-based civil society organisations and traditional leaders and called on people to freely discuss what happened without fear of arrest or victimisation.
HUMAN rights lobby groups have rapped President Emmerson Mnangagwa for denying that the country was in a crisis, warning the deepening problems would not self-correct.
In a statement yesterday, the Heads of Civil Society Coalitions (HoCSC), a grouping of civil society coalitions in Zimbabwe, said dismissive responses to citizen concerns by government were worrisome.
“Developments of the last few weeks speak to a deepening crisis that is being casually approached with denialism, arrogance and further violation of human rights by government,” part of the statement read.
“We have in the past few days witnessed denialism and dismissive responses from the government, including in response to concerns raised by the South African government and the African Union Commission.
“The Zimbabwean crisis will not self-correct, and blanket denialism and diversion will simply serve to deepen existing challenges. The government remains duty-bound to ensure the welfare and security of Zimbabweans.”
Zimbabwe has been facing its worst economic crisis and human rights disaster in a decade under Mnangagwa who took over power in a November 2017 coup.
Mnangagwa’s government has vehemently denied that the country is in a crisis after the international community raised red flags over human rights abuses ahead of the July 31 protests.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was early this month forced to dispatch envoys to Harare after a social media campaign under the hashtag #ZimbabweanLivesMatter begun trending highlighting the abuse of human rights by Mnangagwa,
Churches, human rights lobby groups, opposition parties as well as the continental group, African Union pointed that there was a crisis in the country, but Mnangagwa’s government has insisted there is no crisis and attacked Catholic bishops over their pastoral statement flagging human rights abuses in the country.
“The government’s violent and unrestrained response to the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC)’s pastoral letter of 14 August 2020 calling for an end to State-sponsored human rights violations, crackdown on dissent and corruption, induces a sense of shock,” the statement further read.
“One wonders what is untoward about the church calling out abuses, and advancing calls for peace and nation-building through inclusive dialogue. The HoCSC stands in solidarity with the church and ordinary citizens who continue to raise the call to action to solve the man-made crisis we find ourselves in.”
The human rights lobby group also raised concern over the way political prisoners were being treated by government.
“The HoCSC decry the treatment of political prisoners. Accused persons remain innocent until proven guilty, and are entitled to all pre-trial rights in terms of the Constitution.
“This includes the right to bail, the right to legal counsel of one’s choice, right to speedy resolution of legal proceedings including bail proceedings, and the right to humane detention conditions including access to food and social visits.
“The treatment of Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume is extra-constitutional, and is seemingly designed to discourage any form of dissent.”
MDC-T leader Dr Thokozani Khupe is set to bounce back in Parliament after her name was part of 15 others the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) gazetted yesterday as people nominated by her party to fill in seats in the National Assembly and Senate that fell vacant after the recall of some legislators.
ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba invited voters with objections to lodge them with her office before the nominations are confirmed.
A fortnight ago, the electoral body declared the seats vacant after Parliament notified it of a decision by the MDC-T to recall 15 of its legislators.
Dr Khupe is set to take up a seat in the National Assembly, while the MDC-T spokesperson, Mr Kalpani Phugeni, will be in Senate, as their names form part of the list that include former legislators who were gazetted as replacements.
“The public is hereby notified, in terms of section 39 (6) of the Electoral Act (Chapter2:13) that the MDC party has nominated party list members of the National Assembly and the Senate listed in the schedules below to fill in the vacancies in the National Assembly and the Senate that occurred following the recall by the MDC-T of the incumbent on the grounds that they had ceased to be members of that party,” reads the notice published by Justice Chigumba.
“Any voter wishing to object to the nominations of the members may lodge them in writing with the Chief Elections Officer, at Mahachi Quantum Building, corner Kaguvi Street and Jason Moyo Avenue, Harare or post them to Private Bag 7782, Causeway within a period of 14 days from the date of publication of this notice, setting forth the reason(s) for the objection(s).”
Besides Dr Khupe and Mr Phugeni, other names published are Yvonne Winfielda Musarurwa, Lindani Moyo, January Sawuke, Memory Munochinzwa, Lwazi Sibanda, Sipho Mokone, Molly Dorothy Ndlovu, Tamani Moyo, Gertrude Moyo, Piniel Denga, Chief Ndluvu, Nomalanga Khumalo and Teti Chisorochengwe.
Mrs Khumalo was elected Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly in 2008 on an MDC-T ticket, while Mr Denga and Ms Sibanda are former legislators. Senators elected on the party lists and the extra women Members in the National Assembly elected by proportional representation are chosen by political parties in proportion to the votes received by their candidates in the constituency elections to the National Assembly.
If one of these seats falls vacant, the original party nominates the successor.
Those being replaced in the National Assembly are: Thabitha Khumalo, Virginia Zengeya, Anna Myambo, Bacillia Majaya, Machirarwa Mugidho, Francisca Ncube and Nomathemba Ndlovu. In the Senate, Siphiwe Ncube, Gideon Shoko, Helen Zivira, Keresencia Chabuka, Tapfumaneyi Wunganayi, Herbert Sinampande, Meliwe Phuti and Lilian Timveous will be replaced.
The legislators were recalled in terms of a constitutional provision that declares seats held by members of the party that sponsored them in the last election vacant if the party writes to the Speaker of the National Assembly or to the Senate President to declare that the persons no longer represent that party.
The recall followed a Supreme Court ruling which restored the 2014 status quo in the party following an unconstitutional grab of power by Mr Nelson Chamisa after the death of party founder Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.
The ruling meant that there was no party called the MDC Alliance, which is a pact of several political parties, including the MDC-T which is now controlled by Dr Khupe. Dr Khupe was the elected vice president at the death of Mr Tsvangirai, and was constitutionally the successor before a congress to chose a substantive leader.
Firebrand young activist Namatai Kwekweza is set to meet with Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi to reinforce her position against over government’s plans to amend the Constitution adopted in 2013 her organisation WeLead has announced.
Kwekweza wrote a letter to Ziyambi who agreed to meet her and she has requested that the meeting be streamed live to allow other youths an opportunity to participate and speak out.
Kwekweza has been arrested twice while protesting against constitutional amendment Bill number 2 which has been widely condemned as a direct reversal of the gains recorded by the country when it adopted the new charter in 2013.
The MDC Alliance Youth Secretary, Ostallos Siziba has defended his Spokesperson Stephen Chuma also known as Sarkozy against claims that he sold out Zengeza West legislator Job Sikhala to the police resulting in his arrest yesterday.
Posting on Twitter, Siziba said the attack on Sarkozy was malicious and unwarranted as he has been in the trenches fighting against the Zanu PF system.
Sarkozy came under fire yesterday following Sikhala’s arrest with close sources saying he vanished the previous night, never to come back while his mobile phone was unreachable.
She had confessed that she had been killing her family members as vengeance for the livestock that was taken away from her by her siblings more than five decades ago.
Her death, according to her nephew, left some villagers and her relatives relieved as they believed Gogo Nyakwangwa was behind their misfortunes.
Langton Nyakwangwa, one of Gogo Nyakwangwa’s nephews said, “In Shona, we say wafa wanaka (do not speak ill of the dead). But as we are mourning Gogo, we believe her death will bring closure to our misfortunes. She caused untold suffering to us.
“Soon after she surrendered her paraphernalia, we started seeing changes in our lives. While we are emotional, her death has brought light to the Nyakwangwa family.
“I was accused of being a wizard and killing several family members before Gogo Nyakwangwa confessed that she was the one behind it all. I feel very relieved.
Langton said soon after Gogo Nyakwangwa surrendered her paraphernalia, her health started deteriorating.
Gogo Nyakwangwa had demanded four cattle as compensation for her seized livestock. However, she passed away before the Nyakwangwas could deliver them to her.
“Before she died, she told the person who should receive those beasts. We are in the process of delivering them,” said Langton.
Teenage defender Tivonge Rushesha has expressed his gratitude towards Wayne Routledge for the invaluable words of wisdom and encouragement he has received during a breakthrough season with Swansea City.
It has been a campaign to remember for the 17-year-old, who has been with the Swans since under-12 level.
After a solid start to 2019-20 with the under-23s – for whom he has made 17 appearances this term – the Zimbabwean-born full-back made his first-team debut in August’s Carabao Cup clash against Cambridge United at the Liberty.
Rushesha, who became one of the youngest players ever to represent the club at the tender age of just 17 years and 35 days old, accomplished another significant milestone just over four months later; putting pen to paper on his first pro deal with Swansea.
The youngster has also trained with Steve Cooper’s first-team squad at Fairwood on several occasions and is hugely appreciative of the invaluable advice and guidance he has received from one senior player in particular.
“Wayne’s looked after me really well,” he said of 35-year-old Routledge, who has racked up over 250 appearances during nine seasons with the Swans, while he made his senior debut aged 16 at Crystal Palace.
“He’s embraced his role as a senior player very well. You can tell that he genuinely wants to help the younger players.
“It’s not as if he’s forcing it or doing anything he wouldn’t normally. He is just a nice guy.
“He’s told me to keep my head down and that any decision that’s made is based on how I play, so to make sure I control what I can and that I do as well as I can.
“It’s good to have him there. I’ll always be thankful and grateful for any time he helps me out.”
Government has embarked on road rehabilitation projects, with works of varying magnitude taking place in every constituency in line with President Mnangagwa’s vision of creating an upper middle income society by 2030.
President Mnangagwa recently commissioned completed stretches of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway under Phase One of the rehabilitation, upgrading and widening project.
The rehabilitation processes that include patching some tarred roads, improving some of the dust roads, the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) intends to construct tarred roads of at least 200km every year.
Zinara board chairman Engineer Michael Madanha spoke of their targets in improving the road infrastructure in the country.
“To achieve Vision 2030 there is a need to export sufficient goods, which will bring in foreign currency, and we are geared as Zinara to ensure that our road network is up to scratch.
“Almost in every province, every constituency there are road activities that are taking place,” said Engineer Madanha.
“We want to ensure that each province must have at least one or two roads where we are going to resurface or put tar of at least 20km per year.
“So the scale at which we are doing our roads since last year has surpassed any other period since independence. Yes, our roads have gone for a very long-time without due care, and they have deteriorated but we are up to the task,” said Eng Madanha.
By Farai D Hove | Zimbabwe’s most fearless member of parliament, Job Sikhala who was yesterday arrested in Tynwald, Harare, appears in court today.
Hon Sikhala is Zimbabwe’s upstanding free spirit whose parliamentary work is the nation’s last legislative flame.
He has been uncompromisingly calling for an end to corruption and the abusing of the state institutions by ZANU PF.
The development comes two days after the home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe responding to a ZimEye leak, made claims that he is not at all pursuing the MP.
Barely 3 days after the Home Affairs minister claimed that he is not at all after the MP to arrest him, he has gotten him arrested this afternoon, and this tweet is evidence of his denials @ZLHRLawyershttps://t.co/MFH1YfDrW6
At the close of day, the ZRP confirmed Sikhala is in their custody, assisting with investigations in a case in which he is alleged to have been one of the advocates for the flopped July 31 demonstrations.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said he will provide more details of the arrest in due course.
“Yes, Sikhala was arrested today (yesterday) in Tynwald North where he was in hiding. Remember he was wanted for incitement of public violence.” He is expected in court later this morning.
The MDC Alliance also confirmed Sikhala’s arrest on its Twitter handle saying;
“#BREAKING MDC Alliance vice chairman Job Sikhala has been arrested. He is at the police station with his lawyer. Details to follow.”
Party spokesperson, Fadzai Mahere, told the media yesterday that indeed, Sikhala had been nabbed.
HARARE mayor Herbert Gomba has become the latest casualty of the MDC’s mindless bloodletting, after he was removed from office yesterday together with five other councillors, the Daily News reports.
The Glen Norah councillor became the mayor of the capital city in September 2018, after the Harare City Council broke with its previous traditions of looking for a high-profile leader.
He was the 45th mayor of Harare and 12th since 1980, when he assumed office unopposed, following the expiry of Ben Manyenyeni’s tenure.
In a letter announcing the shock recall of Gomba from Town House, the MDC’s interim leadership said he and his colleagues — Hammy Madzingira (Ward 10), Kudzai Kadzombe (Ward 41), Gaudencia Marere (Ward 32), Costa Mande (Ward 24) and Happymore Gotora (Ward 7) — had ceased to be party members.
“We hereby … declare that the following councillors have ceased to belong to the Movement for Democratic Change, which is a member of the Movement for Democratic Alliance which was formed in terms of the constitutive agreement, a copy of which is attached hereto.
“In terms of the agreement seven political parties entered into a pre-election agreement known as the composite political agreement for purposes of contesting the 2018 elections.
“In terms of Clause 2.0 of the agreement, the member parties retained their individual identities. They also chose their own candidates under their respective quotas.
“Our party was the party to which these councillors belonged at the time of the 2018 elections,” MDC secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora said in a letter to the Local Government ministry.
This comes after the Thokozani Khupe-led interim MDC leadership also recalled Bulawayo deputy mayor Tinashe Kambarami, as well as Concillia Mlalazi, Alderman Ernest Rafamoyo, Tinevimbo Maphosa and Norman Hlabani.
Khupe has also recalled 21 MDC Alliance legislators from Parliament.
The MDC has been consumed by its senseless ructions ever since its much-loved founding father Morgan Tsvangirai died from colon cancer in February 2018.
The party’s infighting escalated after the Supreme Court’s judgment earlier this year which upheld last year’s ruling by the High Court that nullified Nelson Chamisa’s ascendancy to the leadership of the country’s biggest opposition party.
Both Chamisa and Khupe have been criticised for failing to heal their rift and focusing on the failures of Zanu PF — whose incompetent handling of the economy has stirred anger among long-suffering Zimbabweans.
Among those who have criticised the two rivals is former MDC chairperson Lovemore Moyo who recently said pointedly that their brawling had “absolutely nothing to do with serving the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe”.
“The fight between the two formations is purely a power struggle. It’s about fighting for the control of the soul of the MDC and president Morgan Tsvangirai’s political legacy.
“More importantly, it’s about who is who in the MDC leadership. Unfortunately, there is no winner in the on-going political fight as the two parties will significantly lose the opposition vote, supporters and credibility.
“Actually, Zanu PF will emerge the biggest winner as it stands from a divided and unco-ordinated opposition come the 2023 general elections.
“Remember, the 2005 MDC split set a wrong precedent that one can disregard the party constitution, regulations and rules and still remain in charge of the party,” Moyo who now leads the United Movement for Devolution (UMD),”
State schools can no longer exclude girls who fall pregnant from attending lessons, while teachers will not be allowed to cane pupils, under amendments to the Education Act that became law yesterday, and were described as progressive by educationists.
The Education Act Amendment was passed by Parliament, approved by President Mnangagwa, and has been gazetted.
Under the amendments, “No pupil shall be excluded from school for non-payment of school fees or on the basis of pregnancy.”
During debate in Parliament, the then Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Professor Paul Mavima, said expelling a girl for falling pregnant had a discriminatory effect in circumstances where she would have been impregnated by a colleague who in most cases, would be allowed to proceed with his education.
This was after some legislators argued that allowing a girl who fell pregnant to continue learning had the effect of condoning delinquency among pupils.
The Act will also outlaw corporal punishment as school authorities are now required to draw up a disciplinary policy in accordance with standards set out in regulations prescribed by the minister for the purpose.
In terms of the Act, the regulations and any disciplinary policy shall not permit any treatment which does not respect the human dignity of a pupil.
“Disciplinary measures must be moderate, reasonable and proportionate in the light of the conduct, age, sex, health and circumstances of the pupil concerned and the best interests of the child shall be paramount. Under no circumstance is a teacher allowed to beat a child,” reads the Act.
“No pupil may be suspended from school without first being granted a reasonable opportunity, with the support of his or her parents, to make representations with respect to the proposed suspension.”
Every child shall be entitled to be enrolled at the nearest school and unless such school is fully enrolled.
In the case where the school is fully enrolled, the head of that institution must issue a certificate to that effect to allow the pupil to seek enrolment at alternative places.-The Herald
Police have arrested businessman and CAPS United boss Farai Jere, and two Zesa employees on charges of fraud involving, it is understood, the sale of electricity meters using allegedly falsified documents to prejudice Zesa by as much as US$4 million.
Jere — who is better known from his soccer persona of Premier Soccer League chairman and CAPS United boss — and the two Zesa staffers were arrested yesterday by the Special Anti-Corruption Unit (SACU), working with other law enforcement agents.
In an interview last night, SACU head Mr Thabani Mpofu confirmed the arrests, but said more details would be availed later.
“l can confirm that Farai Jere has been arrested together with two Zesa employees on allegations of fraud,” he said.
“They are appearing in court very soon, but I cannot give further details at the moment.”
Sources close to the investigation said Jere, reported to head Helcraw Electricals, was involved in the procurement of Zesa meters, and that procurement, which could have cost Zesa up to US$4 million, is the foundation of the allegations.
It is also understood that the allegations bring in a trip the three made to Britain, paid for by Zesa, but with nothing delivered.
The arrests come after the suspension of Zesa executive chairman Dr Sydney Gata and the entire board, by President Mnangagwa on August 6, with the President simultaneously directing the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to institute investigations into allegations levelled against them, and reporting back in four weeks.
The President, who has declared zero-tolerance to the “catch-and-release syndrome”, gave ZACC four weeks to investigate the officials and submit a report.-The Herald
A 41-year-old Mutare man has been slapped with an 18-year jail sentence after being convicted of raping his four-year-old daughter.
The convict will spend the next 15 years behind bars after three years of his 18-year sentence were suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.
The State pleaded with the court for a stiffer penalty arguing that the man had scarred his daughter for life and had to be used as an example to would-be offenders.
Facts are that the 4-year old was raped after being left in her father’s custody while the mother went to Mutare CBD.
The minor’s grandmother discovered that she had been raped on the same day before reporting the matter to the police leading to the man’s arrest.
Two police officers have each been slapped with a three-month jail sentence after they were convicted of manhandling a lawyer at the Kwekwe Magistrates court.
Brighton Bvaure (32) and Jasper Nechitima (33) who are based at Kwekwe Central Police Station assaulted Leon Sheunesu Mapfumo employed by Marufu Misi Law Chambers after he tried to enquire about a complainant he was representing.
The cops handcuffed and assaulted Mapfumo before detaining him at Kwekwe Central Police Station accusing him of misconduct and obstructing the course of justice.
Gokwe Magistrate Mr Hillary Ndlovu sentenced the duo to three months in prison with an option of paying $2 000 fine when they appeared before him facing assault charges.
Prosecuting, Mr Tinashe Wazvaremhaka told the court that on April 25 at around 2pm, Mapfumo approached the accused persons at Kwekwe Magistrates courts and enquired about the charge his client, who had been arrested by the accused persons, was facing.
The accused persons referred the complainant to Kwekwe Central Police Station where they had detained Mapfumo’s client.
During the conversation, a misunderstanding arose over the treatment of Mapfumo’s client.
Bvaure then grabbed the complainant by the belt and tripped him to the ground before he locked his arms around his neck.
Nechitima then forcefully handcuffed the complainant’s left arm before he handcuffed the other and detained him at the police station.
He was released the following day after the intervention of other lawyers who quizzed why their colleague had been arrested.-Chronicle
