By A Correspondent- 80 people that work at Munhumutapa Building, the building that houses president Mnangagwa’s offices reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.

A source privy to the developments told the publication that, Public Service Commission even sent 85% of its staffers on quarantine after the novel coronavirus hit the government department’s offices in Harare.

The matter came to light in a memo seen by the publication from PSC Secretary Ambassador Jonathan Wutawunashe to other staff members which reads in part:

In view of the continued increase in the number of COVID-19 cases within the civil service, the Commission has been left without a choice but to further reduce the number of essential staff. Reduce the number of essential service staff to 15% of the current members coming to work. Reduce the number of people who use public transport since local community transmission is on the increase

PSC reportedly also sent memos to ministerial heads advising them to reduce the number of workers in their offices and introduce remote working.

Zimbabwe’s COVID-19 cases are 10 cases short of 5000 positive cases since the onset of the virus on 20 March 2020.

-ZimMorningPost

Opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has appeared to deal with growing social media concern that he is failing to lead the nation at a time his leadership is needed.

Posting on Twitter, Chamisa said he is uncompromising on what he believes and is keen to push for change without joining hands with the system as happened in the November 2017 when people desperately helped the military displace the late Robert Mugabe.

“We are uncompromising, principled & relentless for real change. As a People we have seen the worst of our times but we are getting over it soon.We’re focused & on course.True Change is imperative in Zimbabwe.People power triumphs.Strategy is everything! Hatiitiswe tinoita tega!”

By A Correspondent- The President has fired the Energy Minister Fortune Chasi and replaced him with Soda Zhemu.

The matter came to light in a memo that was published by the government which reads in part:

The President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed Hon Soda Zhemu Member of Parliament for Muzarabani North as Minister of Energy and Power Development in place of current Minister Honourable Fortune Chasi.

The latter has been relieved of his ministerial post as his conduct of business had become incompatible with the president’s expectations. The appointment of Hon Zhemu and the removal of advocate Chasi is with remediate effect.

Chasi during his tenure as the minister rehired Sydney Gata who had been fired from ZESA close to a decade ago. Gata was then suspended on corruption charges 9 months after he was hired. A week after he was hired, the president fired the entire ZESA Board. 

Chasi’s dismissal was further confirmed by the Infomation ministry’s secretary Nick Mangwana on Twitter.

Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance has challenged Emmerson Mnangagwa to remove guns from the streets.

This was said by MDC Alliance Secretary for Welfare, Maureen Kademaunga after visiting the party’s jailed councillor Godfrey Kurauone in Masvingo on Friday.

According to MDC Alliance Youth Assembly Secretary for Legal Affairs, Agency Gumbo, Kurauone is complaining of stomach disorders and he is also being denied access to medication.

Prison officers also confiscated his jersey, despite the chilly weather.

Watch video below:

Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance has challenged Emmerson Mnangagwa to remove guns from the streets.

This was said by MDC Alliance Secretary for Welfare, Maureen Kademaunga after visiting the party’s jailed councillor Godfrey Kurauone in Masvingo on Friday.

According to MDC Alliance Youth Assembly Secretary for Legal Affairs, Agency Gumbo, Kurauone is complaining of stomach disorders and he is also being denied access to medication.

Prison officers also confiscated his jersey, despite the chilly weather.

Watch video below:

Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance has challenged Emmerson Mnangagwa to remove guns from the streets.

This was said by MDC Alliance Secretary for Welfare, Maureen Kademaunga after visiting the party’s jailed councillor Godfrey Kurauone in Masvingo on Friday.

According to MDC Alliance Youth Assembly Secretary for Legal Affairs, Agency Gumbo, Kurauone is complaining of stomach disorders and he is also being denied access to medication.

Prison officers also confiscated his jersey, despite the chilly weather.

Watch video below:

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has with immediate effect fired Energy and Power Development Minister Advocate Fortune Chasi and replaced him with little known Soda Zhamu.

Statement from Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda said Chasi’s conduct had become incompatible with Mnangagwa’s expectations.

1. Today, @ZLHRLawyers are appearing in various courts. @gladyshlatywayo, @BitiTendai @KarenyiKore, David Chimhini, Vongai Tome, Lovemore Chinoputsa, represented by Alec Muchadehama appeared at Rottenrow Magistrates and were remanded to 28 August 2020.

2. @namataik_ & @zimudzi_vongai appeared in court on routine remand. They will be back at Rottenrow Court on 14 October 2020. They are represented by Rudo Bere.

3. @obeyshava1 is appearing at the High Court at 1100 hours in the case of ZLHR v JSC. This case challenges the way magistrates are hearing bail applications and the delays caused by the requirement to work from 0800 hours to 15:00 hours.

4. Another case that is set to be heard at the High Court at 11:00 hours is the case of Hopewell Chin’ono & Jacob Ngaruvhume v ZPCS, they are challenging conditions of detention at Chikurubi Maximum prison.

5. ZLHR team is at Rottenrow in case of Hopewell Chin’ono. Of concern is fact that this morning Chin’ono was taken to High Court, instead of Rottenrow Court. Although he requested to call his lawyer to seek clarity he was denied. This detour has delayed his arrival at court.

5.1 Proceedings have now commenced, Beatrice Mtetwa has complained that Chin’ono was transported to wrong court to delay the proceedings. Re-examination of Hopewell Chin’ono on Facebook page posting commences.

5.2 Beatrice Mtetwa submits that application to remove her from case is ‘sui generis’. It has no legal basis, prosecutor relied on ‘obiter’ remarks made by a High Court judge. She refers court to string of cases in matter of Patrick Chinamasa reported as In Re Chinamasa.

5.3 In closing submissions Mabhaudhi says that Beatrice Mtetwa must have taken action against people running the Beatrice Mtetwa and The Rule of Law Facebook page when she realised that they were denigrating the courts.

5.4 Mabhaudhi concludes that Beatrice’s conduct was unethical and unproffessional for failing to take action on information produced under her name denigrating the courts.

5.5 Ruling on application to remove Beatrice Mtetwa from Hopewell’s case will be delivered on 18 August.

According to a WhatsApp message shared by self exiled former cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo from a whistle blower inside President Emmerson Mnangagwa chaired Joint Operation Command (JOC), there is a sinister plot to deal with MDC Alliance vice chairman Job Sikhala, former Zanu PF Youth leader Godfrey Tsenengamu and many other activists who are in hiding over threats of protests against corruption and worsening economic situation in the country.

Moyo warned the mentioned activists to be extra vigilant and avoid using local numbers which can be easily tracked.

More to follow….

Paul Nyathi

Six people died of coronavirus in Zimbabwe yesterday raising the total to 128 while 307 recovered but there were 97 new cases.

The country now has 4 990 cases of whom 1 927 have recovered but there are still 2 935 active cases.

Bulawayo seems to be turning the corner as 735 out of 1 161 cases have recovered. Twenty-four people have died and there are now 382 active cases.

Only 76 people in Harare have recovered, 71 have died and there are still 1 765 active cases making a total of 1 912.

The death toll in Manicaland seems to be high as 13 of the 284 cases have died and 57 have recovered leaving 214 active cases.

Manica Post

A 33-YEAR-OLD Dangamvura woman who produced and shared an offensive WhatsApp message attacking Officer Commanding Mutare Central District, Chief Superintendent Florence Marume, has been slapped with a three months jail term by a Mutare magistrate.

However, Rumbidza Totohwiyo of Area 16 was given the option to pay a $2 200 fine after she pleaded guilty to the offence.

She told the presiding magistrate, Ms Prisca Manhibi, that she acted out of ignorance.

Totohwiyo, who was facing public nuisance charges as defined in Section 46 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, Chapter 9:25, said she was not aware that writing an offensive message and posting it on WhatsApp is a crime.

Public prosecutor, Mr Nyasha Mukonyora said on August 10, Totohwiyo sent the offensive message to a Ward 18 WhatsApp group after Chief Superintedent Marume and her team had raided a shebeen in Nyamauru, Dangamvura.

In the message which was produced in court as an exhibit, Totohwiyo attacked the police boss and said Chief Superintendent Marume’s actions are ‘inhumane’.

Paul Nyathi

THE State was left heavily embarrassed on Thursday after wrongly issuing a warrant of arrest for MDC Alliance Harare West MP, Joanna Mamombe.

On Thursday, Harare magistrate Ngoni Nduna issued an arrest warrant for Mamombe after the State claimed the legislator had failed to turn up for court.

Her lawyer Jeremiah Bamu intervened and the warrant of arrest was cancelled as Mamombe was not supposed to appear in court on the day.

“There is confusion as to which matter because the warrant was issued on the charges of publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the State, a case which was postponed to 26 August last week,” Bamu said.

“The matter was initially set for today (Thursday), then State issued summons for them to appear on 31 July. Obey Shava (lawyer) appeared with them on 31 July and had the matter was postponed to 26 September.

“The State issued summons again and we came back to court on August 4 and the date was corrected from 26 September to 26 August, ” Bamu explained.

Business Times

The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) has cranked pressure on the government demanding to have an increment similarly awarded to security forces.

According to the latest salary increment figures awarded to the army starting in June, lowest-ranked soldier will earn ZWL$8,000 and the highest officer will earn ZWL$18, 000.

ZNLWVA national executive member Andy Mhlanga said the war veterans were eagerly waiting for their monthly wages to be reviewed upwards as they are regarded as a reserve force.

“We know that the uniformed forces have been awarded some salary increment and we also want to be in the same bracket with the service forces,” Mhlanga said.

“We are going to be engaging our parent ministry to consider us in awarding a salary increment as the war veterans’ leadership as a request from our membership.”

He said the veterans of the liberation struggle were still waiting for the Covid-19 allowance of US$75 which was given to the civil service.

The demand for a review of the allowances comes at a time war veterans have come out in the open that ZNLWVA membership was rallying behind President Emmerson Mnangagwa in face of demonstrations that were organised by the opposition MDC and civic society members last year.

Christopher Mutsvangwa chairperson of the war veterans had urged war veterans to come out in full force in support of the members of the defence forces in maintaining order and peace in the event that the demonstrations occur in the country.

War veterans have in the past years been demanding salary increment every time government awards salary increment to civil servants.

In his speech to mark Defence Forces Day on Tuesday, President Mnangagwa said the passing of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Bill into law will address most of the welfare issues of veterans of the liberation struggle.

He said war veterans should take advantage of the “empowerment opportunities availed in all sectors of the economy and the implementation of the devolution policy”.

State Media

Banks must enable civil servants and pensioners to spend their US dollar Covid-19 allowances in shops by ensuring they have foreign currency accounts and the required debit cards.

On their part, retailers must have point of sale (POS) machines that can transfer hard currency between nostro accounts.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development yesterday made it clear that bankers had to brief their customers on the new systems, and ensure that customers could spend their US dollars easily not just with a card but also using electronic platforms.

The ministry attacked those banks that have not yet put in place the systems and hardware that was agreed on, and instead are forcing their civil servant customers to liquidate their allowances in the bank, converting these allowances to local currency at the bankers’ buying rates.

Generally banks pay a little under the auction rate when buying, and a little over when selling, and also pick up a fee when making the conversion.

Retailers, on the other hand, usually offer to convert at the bankers’ buy rates, what they would have to pay their bankers, and pick up the fees themselves, since this is not only a sale, but one that feeds their own nostro account.

At better-organised supermarkets, it is now common to see a short queue of civil servants and civil service pensioners, lucky enough to be with a bank that has issued FCA cards, standing at the special till or desk and swiping for their purchases at what is probably the only FCA card machine.

Following an announcement in June by President Mnangagwa, that the Government was paying off its own bat, while negotiations on permanent pay settlements continue, a flat non-taxable Covid-19 allowance of US$75 a month to civil servants and US$30 a month to Government pensioners, the Government has made good on its pledge and transfers the money to the individual FCA accounts.

There was some delay, as more than 300 000 cards had to be made and issued, but the Government assumed a deal with all banks had been made, only to find that some banks were not living up to their promises.

Now the second batch of allowances is being processed, and the Finance Ministry wants action.

“Treasury is pleased to announce that it is today making a further release of the foreign currency to enable the payment of the US$75 Covid-19 allowance to civil servants as well as the monthly commitment to pensioners of US$30,” said yesterday’s statement.

“However, Treasury notes with concern and disappointment that some regulated banking institutions, in connivance with some major retailers, have conspired to limit or prevent beneficiaries of this scheme from accessing the full foreign currency value of their payments,” read part of the statement.

In the statement, the ministry also dismissed as bad practices by some banks that have not adequately communicated with civil servants and pensioners on the opening of Foreign Currency Accounts as they had agreed with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, and this has left many beneficiaries in the dark about the existence of new bank accounts.

“Some banks have not made any serious and visible efforts to issue suitable cards and deploy relevant and adequate supporting points of transaction equipment to enable the beneficiaries to use the cards to make payments for goods and services using the foreign currency-denominated cards.

“Additionally, electronic platforms for transacting in the USD allowances are either absent or inadequate, or information about this is not available,” read the statement.

As a result of banks failure to provide FCA cards and platforms for transactions civil servants and pensioners are forced to liquidate their cushioning allowances, which is disenfranchising them.

“Government has taken exception to these behaviours, and especially in regard to the fact that in addressing the wage challenges faced across the civil service. Government needs the assistance and cooperation of players in the banking system, who have a duty and obligation to ensure that their actions or omissions do not impose negative shocks on the market.

“It is therefore desirous that working closely with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, banks are strongly encouraged to urgently address the above concerns and immediately upgrade their domestic payments infrastructure as well as providing adequate internet and other banking platforms in light of the increased need for ‘translatability’ of the foreign currency allowances.

“Additionally, banks are encouraged

to immediately make available to the public, and more directly to their individual customers, information about the operation of the nostro accounts that have been operationalised for receiving the Covid-19 allowances. It is critical that the unhealthy information gaps and access issues that presently obtain are urgently addressed,” read the statement.

To guard against the potential misuse of the US-denominated cushion allowances, that come to a combined US$32 million per month for both civil servants and pensioners, the Government decided to secure the money through forms of FCA accounts.

Key considerations that the Government took include the market shocks implied in an increase on its wage bill from 30 percent of annual revenue to 40 percent, but which the Government in present circumstances can afford by adjusting its spending so it can handle the allowances without borrowing.

RT https://t.co/lJ3gJqfR4r

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 14, 2020

ZUPCO chaos as people rush to beat Mnangagwa's 6pm curfew – FILE pic.twitter.com/PuQ2B3ml9N

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 13, 2020

After more than 105,000 people have been arrested in Zimbabwe since March for violating social distancing regulations, Mnangagwa pulls self closer to the Cemetery while committing same offence | ONE WORD FOR HIM pic.twitter.com/hiWSX8mvmQ

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 13, 2020

BREAKING NEWS: The MDC trio Joana, Netsai, Cecilia have been issued with a warrant of arrest this afternoon, Mr Chimbiri has told ZimEye – MORE FOLLOWS pic.twitter.com/zYOe5h8YWY

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 13, 2020

Paul Nyathi

White farmers, who were evicted from their land almost 20 years ago under the ZANU PF government’s chaotic land reform program, are set to benefit from a landmark deal: On average, each of the 3,500 farmers who applied for compensation will receive almost US$1 million.

The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) and government representatives agreed to the US$3.5 billion deal following lengthy negotiations. Half of this sum is expected to be distributed within one year, while the remaining payments will be spread over the following five years.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa hailed the new compensation plan as a “historic in many respects,” while CFU President Andrew Pascoe branded it a “miracle.”

Addressing a post cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the decision was not only a fulfilment of aspirations of Zimbabweans as expressed in the 2013 constitutional referendum, but was on the basis of Zanu PF election manifesto, which it campaigned for and won in 2018 harmonised elections.

“Zanu PF was elected inclusively on the basis of that political undertaking. Let it be also noted that the signing of the Global Compensation Agreement on July 27, 2020, was a fulfilment of the aspirations of the Zimbabwean people as expressed in the referendum of March 16, 2013. In that instance, nearly 95 percent of the population endorsed the new Constitution with the quoted provisions therein,” she said.

She said compensating white former farmers for the improvements that they had put on their farms did not in any way mean that Government was reversing the land reform programme.

“This mischief is purveyed by the loony and extreme right wing circles, just that they camouflage with the mantle of left-wing populism and infantile pan-African radicalism,” she said.

She said Zanu PF was a revolutionary party that fought a non-racial and just struggle for majority rule.

On the economy, Minister Mutsvangwa said the government had introduced a raft of measures to stabilise prices that included the foreign exchange auction system, much to the relief of Zimbabweans.

“The opposition and their foreign handlers, with their varying ignorance and mischief, have been trying to create a psychosis of crisis. On the other side President Mnangagwa has been busy on a positive and rewarding trajectory much to the relief of the people of Zimbabwe. He has signed a raft of astute Statutory Instruments that have since tamed a wild west jungle that was hitherto the monetary and foreign exchange markets,” she said.

Paul Nyathi

Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa has belittled the much talked about meeting between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s envoys saying that the visit was a peer-to-peer engagement between the two Presidents.

Addressing the media in Harare after a cabinet meeting, Minister Mutsvangwa said there had been false claims from several quarters that there was a crisis in Zimbabwe.

“All said, there is no crisis in Zimbabwe that needs external intervention under established international treaties and conventions. It is important that we refute press claims of a crisis in Zimbabwe. ‘Crisis’ in diplomacy has specific and defined circumstances that go beyond day-to-day banter,” she said.

On Monday, President Mnangagwa held a meeting with three envoys from President Ramaphosa who included former South African Minister of Safety and Security Dr Sydney Mufamadi, who was leading the team, the former Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete and former Minister of Public Service and Administration Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi.

“This was at the peer-to-peer level of brotherly Heads of State of two sister nations that enjoy excellent diplomatic bilateral relations. The envoys brought in their message, which was duly delivered to the host President. In return they received a briefing from President ED Mnangagwa. The reciprocal messages are the property of the leaders and it is their prerogative as to how they can be handled or disseminated,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.

She said comments from some figures in the ANC, and irate remarks from South African opposition ranks, should not be taken as the basis of creating perceptions or attributions of a crisis in other nations.

She said in Zimbabwe there is no crisis to talk about but a mere opposition, which lost elections in 2018 but then threatened not to accept elections results that did not declare them as winners.

“The subjective opinions, be they from third party political entities or diplomatic circles, are not the proper guide in the conduct of diplomacy among sovereign and friendly nations,” she said.

Paul Nyathi

Zimbabwe is not on the agenda of the Sadc summit to be held next Monday, neither is it up for discussion at the African Union (AU), since there is no crisis to warrant its placement on anyone’s agenda, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said yesterday.

“It is common knowledge that there is no Zimbabwean issue before the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security. Neither is there any such issue before the Sadc Summit. Definitely there is no such issue before the continental body, the African Union.”

The 40th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and preceding meetings will be held virtually from the 10th to the 17th of August, 2020.

In view of the challenges posed by the COVID 19 Pandemic, the Summit and preceding meetings will be conducted virtually.

The SADC Secretariat has since indicated that the summit will proceed with a reduced agenda, focusing on the hand-over of the SADC Chairperson-ship, and critical Institutional matters.

The Republic of Mozambique will host the virtual meetings as the Incoming Chair of the 16 Member regional economic bloc.

The SADC Summit is responsible for the overall policy direction and control of functions of the community, ultimately making it the policy-making institution of SADC.

The SADC Summit is made up of all SADC Heads of States or Government and is managed on a Troika system that comprises the current SADC Chairperson, the incoming Chairperson and the immediate previous Chairperson.

The Ordinary SADC Summit usually meets once a year around August or September in a Member State of the incoming SADC Chairperson.

Paul Nyathi

The authorof the Facebook page “Beatrice Mtetwa And The Rule Of Law,” Laurie Conway has come out and challenged the Harare Magistrates Court to get her to court to prove she is the brains behind the page.

This comes after Prosecutor Whisper Mabhaudhi Thursday filed an application with Harare Magistrate Ngoni Nduna seeking to bar Beatrice Mtetwa from representing jailed journalist Hopewell Chin’ono accusing Mtetwa of professional misconduct.

The State alleges Mtetwa has been posting Hopewell Chin’ono court case proceedings on the page “Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule of Law” Facebook page.

Mabhaudhi told the court Mtetwa acted unprofessionally by posting on the alleged Facebook Page her client court and detention updates.

Mtetwa told the court that she does not own the Facebook Page established in her name.

“I am not on Facebook. It does not belong to me. It belongs to Laurie Conway who made that documentary,” Mtetwa told journalists later at Harare Magistrate Court Thursday.

Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule of Law is a film documentary by Conway which highlights the importance of the rule of law by focusing on Beatrice Mtetwa legal work in Zimbabwe.

Chin’ono is a co-producer of the documentary was also asked to take the witness stand to explain the origins of the Facebook page.

Conway wrote on the page:

To the Prosecutor in Zimbabwe:

#FREE HOPEWELL, Signed, Lorie Conway, Filmmaker and Journalist

Paul Nyathi

The court hearing journalist Hopewell Chinono’s bail hearing has temporarily stopped proceedings to have a case within the case after the prosecutor presented papers seeking to bar lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa from representing Chin’ono.

The prosecutor is accusing Mtetwa of professional misconduct.

The State alleges Mtetwa has been posting Hopewell Chin’ono court case proceedings on; “Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule of Law” Facebook page, which however is common knowledge that she is not running.

Chin’ono’s bail hearing has since been set aside to attend to the State’s submissions against Mtetwa. Until that application is finalised, the bail hearing will not be proceeding.

Speaking outside the court, Mtetwa told journalists that she does not own the Facebook Page established in her name.

“I am not on Facebook. It does not belong to me. It belongs to Laurie Conway who made that documentary,” Mtetwa told journalists later at Harare Magistrate Court Thursday.

Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule of Law is a film documentary by Conway which highlights the importance of the rule of law by focusing on Beatrice Mtetwa legal work in Zimbabwe.

Chin’ono is a co-producer of the documentary was also asked to take the witness stand to explain the origins of the Facebook page.

He told the court the application by the State to remove Mtetwa as lead legal counsel based on the Facebook page, was targeted at denying him the right to access lawyers of his choice.

“It deliberate calculation to deprive the accused (Chin’ono) a lawyer of his choice. It will be quite outrageous to seek to arrest someone on the basis of information which is on Facebook as anyone can do so in solidarity,” Chin’ono told the court.

Magistrate Ngoni Nduna is expected to make a ruling on the State submissions on Friday.

State Media

THE chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health, Dr Ruth Labode, who tested positive for Covid-19 early this month, has said the healing process for infected patients begins in the mind.

Dr Labode, who is MDC-T’s proportional representation legislator for Matabeleland North Province decided to go for testing after fellow Parliamentarians tested positive last month.

The MP and her husband tested Covid-19 positive on August 3.

She has since urged all people who have tested positive to maintain a positive outlook on life and their healing process and keep the faith.

Dr Labode said she felt she just had to go and get tested for Covid-19 after some of her colleagues tested positive for the virus.

At the time, she felt flu-like symptoms.

An RTD test gave her a negative result, which prompted her to go and seek a PCR test at a private facility.

She made a trip to Mater Dei Hospital and arranged for herself and her husband to get tested at a private laboratory, which guaranteed test results in a short space of time.

Speaking via telephone from her Hillside suburb home, where she is isolating, Dr Labode said her fears were confirmed when she tested positive for the virus on August 3.

The flu-like symptoms she experienced before had made her decide to start self-quarantining before testing.

Dr Labode is one of the many Zimbabweans who have tested negative via the RDT test, only to test positive using the PCR, which is more conclusive.

She said she is isolating with her husband and it is just the two of them, although they got lonely sometimes and wished for the presence of other people, they still enjoyed each other’s company.

Asked if boredom had not yet crept in, since her ‘‘workaholic’’ routine had been disrupted when she was confined home, Dr Labode said she was still very busy as her work allowed her to work remotely.

She is due to retest today and her results will be ready by Monday.

“It’s funny that I have just gotten used to the routine of working from home very fast. I’m actually thinking it is not a very bad arrangement after all. I am busy writing reports and attending virtual meetings. Most of the time is spent in my study, my mind will be very busy so boredom has not really visited. I may have been anxious about what I will be doing at home the whole time, when I started quarantine, but in reality, there’s been so much to do around the house and in my line of work, I have not felt it,” she said.

“I have also been focusing my mind on my health and my husband’s health and staying positive, and with the support of our networks who are just a gadget away, it has been easy to stay connected with the people that matter.”

Speaking of her personal experience, she said she had fear at some point, and had breathing problems although she later learnt to take charge of her mental health so as not to plunge into Covid-19-induced depression.

“I had a lot of fear at some point, and at one time it was late at night and I felt I could no longer breathe. Issues of faith came in and I just woke up to kneel down and pray. I could take all sorts of pills and herbal remedies, but God has to do the rest. I am now well, I am feeling okay, so is my husband but we are just going to go for testing and are hoping for the best,” she said.

She said the family’s pharmacy, which closed down after she and her husband tested positive for the virus, was not yet open as test results for some members of staff were not yet out.

Those whose results were out had tested negative.

“At the pharmacy, we are still not yet open as test results for staff members are still pending and those whose test results have come are not an enough staff complement that we can work with. Results pending are for 11 staff members,” said Dr Labode.

She called for awareness on the role of isolation of Covid-19 patients saying a lot of stigma surrounded isolation.

“I just want people to know and understand that isolation is not a punishment but is one sure way of not transmitting the virus to the next person. People must understand that they must not stigmatise, they must just do as instructed by health personnel and stay safe. When a person has come back and is Covid-19 free, she or he can be treated the same. They are healed,” she said.

Dr Labode urged other legislators to get tested for Covid-19 before Parliament resumes on August 24.

She said enclosed spaces such as Parliament Building are a conducive environment for the spread of Covid-19.

“I want to speak to the Speaker of Parliament, to recommend that there be no Member of Parliament going back to resume duties on the 24th of August without producing a PCR test certificate that shows one has tested negative of Covid-19. We should all carry our certificates and ensure that we protect each other, our families, our communities and the general public. The parliament building due to its set up, is so enclosed and is good ground for mass Covid-19 infections,” she said.

The MP called for the decongestion of Government offices and said even those in the private sector must decongest and have only skeletal staff working at workplaces, which have since been a hotspot for Covid-19 transmissions.

“I support those pushing the motion that Government offices must close. These are abnormal times. We must not deliberately overwhelm our already stretched frontliners by risking getting infected. Those that can work from home must work from home, leaving only the most critical workers reporting physically for work,” she said.

Dr Labode commended the Bulawayo City Rapid Response team for what she described as a sterling job in contact tracing, despite having had tested at a private facility.

Dr Labode said BCC needed its own Covid-19 testing laboratory, saying it would help to speed up the issuance of test results to people, beating the backlog caused by shortage of test kits at public testing labs.

State Media

A driver and an armed guard delivering cash to Mukuru money transfer agency in Gokwe area allegedly snatched US$306 000 in cash on Wednesday and are now on the run, police report.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the two — Desbro Kadzurunga (23) and Leon Kahoka (35), both from Gokwe town — dumped the special van belonging to their employer, Safeguard Security, their uniforms and a firearm near Gokwe Hotel before they vanished.

Gokwe Safeguard office received US$300 000 and R250 000 from the Kwekwe office to be delivered to various Mukuru branches in Gokwe. Kadzurunga and Kahoka were given an additional US$13 000 and R350 000 and were sent out to do the deliveries with a third guard, not identified by police.

While at N Richards Gokwe Mukuru branch, the two sent their colleague in with part of what they were supposed to deliver.

“They were even under-declaring what they were supposed to deliver at N Richards Mukuru and while their colleague was still signing receipts they pretended to be answering calls on their cellphones. They then went out and drove away with the cash amounting to US$306 000 and over R100 000,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.

“We appeal to members of the public who might have information, which could be of help in tracking down and arresting the suspects, to approach the nearest police station,” he said.

Meanwhile, police close to investigations yesterday said the two left all the company uniforms, guns and bullets including R210 000 in the van. But the US dollars were missing.

They said the rands were found in the cash box.

“What is surprising is that they left some of the money in the van, about R210 000,” said the police source.

Safeguard Security company director Mr Nelson Zimunya yesterday declined to comment on the matter.

A GROUP of illegal gold miners on Tuesday invaded Tebekwe Mine in Shurugwi where they reportedly disarmed a security guard before handcuffing and severely assaulting him and his colleague using logs and iron bars.

Police in Shurugwi swiftly moved in and arrested eight suspects, some of whom were reportedly advancing towards the milling plant where they wanted to steal gold.

According to the mine manager, Mr Thamsanqa Maseko, the illegal miners were armed with iron bars and machetes and threatened to harm everyone at the mine.

They ordered the milling plant to stop running and declared that they were taking over the mine.

They were about 50, the majority armed with machetes and iron bars, said Mr Maseko. They went around the mine’s milling plant singing and stressing that they were taking over the mine.

We did not know that there was another group, which had attacked the security guards at the mine entrance.

Mr Maseko said police swiftly responded to their emergency calls and arrived at the scene to find the two security guards, including the one who was in handcuffs, being assaulted.

Upon seeing a police truck, the illegal miners fled in different directions, but police managed to arrest eight of them, he said.

One of the security guards was stabbed in the ear with a sharp object and was taken to Shurugwi District Hospital where he was admitted.

The other security guard who was disarmed and handcuffed was beaten with iron bars all over the body, said Mr Maseko. The handcuffs were later removed at Shurugwi Police Station.

Midlands police spokesperson Inspector Joel Goko confirmed the incident, but said he was still to get full details from officers in Shurugwi- The Herald

TWO illegal gold panners died after a shaft they were working in collapsed and buried them at a mine in West Nicholson.

Matabeleland South provincial police spokesperson Chief Inspector Philisani Ndebele confirmed the incident which occurred on Wednesday at Majoda panning site in West Nicholson at around 4AM.

He said Kenneth Mathuthu (22) and Prosper Mbedzi (age unknown) both from River Block area in Collen Bawn died on the spot.

“I can confirm that we recorded a sudden death case where two illegal gold panners died after a shaft they were working in collapsed.

Kenneth Mathuthu and Prosper Mbedzi were working in a 12-metre-deep shaft at Majoda Panning Site in West Nicholson when the shaft collapsed and buried them underneath.

“The matter was reported to the police who attended the scene and the bodies of the two men were retrieved. They were taken to the Gwanda Provincial Hospital Mortuary,” he said.

Chief Insp Ndebele urged members of the public to desist from engaging in illegal panning activities as they were putting their lives in danger in addition to violating the law.

He said people that wanted to engage in mining activities had to formalise their operations and follow the correct procedures in order to acquire necessary paper work before operating.

“It’s sad that we continue to record a number of mine accidents as a result of llegal mining activities which are rampant in the province. If people want to engage in mining they should formalise their operations.

By engaging in illegal mining they will not only be committing an offence but they will also be putting their lives at risk as they will be operating without necessary equipment and protective clothing.

“Some of these illegal miners operate in the early hours of the morning in order to evade police not knowing that they will be risking their lives,” he said-Chronicle

Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration is desperate to pour cold water on the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter Campaign as international groups continue to denounce violation of human rights in the country.

See report below:

There is no crisis in Zimbabwe of whatever nature and magnitude and calls for foreign intervention to deal with the so called urgent situation were unwarranted, a Cabinet Minister said on Thursday.

In recent weeks, opposition political activists with the support of Western embassies have, through social media, sought to portray Zimbabwe as sliding into a deep human rights crisis which could only be solved through foreign intervention.

Running under social media hash tags such as ZimbabweanLivesMatter, the desperate activists have sought to bring Zimbabwe under international spotlight as part of a larger regime change plot.

The renewed onslaught is also meant to coincide with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government summit due to be held via video conference next week.

Rubbishing the false assertions, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe remained peaceful contrary to claims that all was not well.

“It is important that we refute press claims of a crisis in Zimbabwe,” she said.

“It is common knowledge that there is no Zimbabwean issue before the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security. Neither is there one such issue before the SADC Summit.

Definitely there is no such issue before the continental body, the African Union. All said there is no crisis in Zimbabwe which needs external intervention under established international treaties and conventions.”

Mutsvangwa said the crisis narrative was being perpetuated by the opposition MDC-Alliance which was still bitter over the heavy electoral loss it suffered at the hands of the ruling Zanu PF party in 2018.

“The position of Zimbabwe is that there is a domestic opposition which lost elections in 2018. Prior to voting day it had threatened then declared that it will not accept any result other than that which declared them winners.

Otherwise they were going to ensure that the country is ungovernable. All subsequent events thereafter are a manifestation of this threat.

The subjective opinions be they from third party political entities, diplomatic circles are not the proper guide in the conduct of diplomacy among sovereign and friendly nations,” she said-New Zimbabwe

A DRUNK man from Pumula North suburb in Bulawayo ran to a police station to report his wife for beating him up after he allegedly called her a prostitute.

Narrating the dramatic incident pitting Victor Mahlangu (30) against his wife Sharai Sibanda (29), a family friend who spoke on condition of anonymity said Victor arrived home drunk and spewed derogatory verbal attacks on his wife.

“He came home dead drunk and headed straight to the bedroom where his wife was sleeping and insulted her saying she was a prostitute.

It happened so fast as he grabbed her by the neck and strangled her. But his wife managed to free herself from the tight grip of his hands.

Sharai grabbed his private parts and twisted them causing Victor to fall in agony,” said the family friend.

The family friend said Sharai who was seething with anger turned her drunk hubby into a punching bag with fists.

“She left him bleeding from the nose and mouth,” said the source.
Victor, the source said, crawled from the bedroom to the kitchen and his wife followed him and struck him with a cup on the head.

“She struck him once on the head with a dinner cup and it broke on his head. He then staggered to a police station where he reported the case,” said the source.

Sharai was arrested.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident and advised community members to live in harmony.

“Suspecting each other in a marriage does not help as it foments trouble which could lead to a break-up of the union. However, it is important to develop trust and respect for each other.

Therefore we urge community members to stay in harmony. When a couple faces problems in a marriage they should seek help from pastors or community leaders,“ he said.-B-Metro

Farai Dziva|The persecution and harassment of perceived Zanu PF opponents is a clear reflection of Emmerson Mnangagwa’s shocking level of callousness, the MDC Alliance has said.

Read full statement below:

13-08-2020

The denial of bail today of MDC Alliance Youth Organizer Godfrey Kurauone by Emmerson Mnangagwa’s brutal and corrupt regime is totally unacceptable and barbaric.

This follows hotly after refusals of bail to journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume by the High Court few weeks ago.

It is abundantly clear that Emmerson Mnangagwa’s corrupt regime has since consigned the principles of separation of powers of the three arms of government into dustbins.

What we now have is a domineering Executive that is giving political orders to Judiciary thereby upsetting legal balance.

The influence of the Executive on the Judiciary effectively puts our justice delivery system into a pit latrine.

This is sad chapter in the history of country!

Despite the persecutions by prosecution, we shall not relent in our fight against corruption.

*#ZimbabweanLivesMatter!*
*#KushingaMberi!*

*Stephen Sarkozy Chuma*
_MDC_ _Alliance_ _Youth_ _Assembly_ _National_ _Spokesperson_

VIDEO LOADING BELOW…

Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance Namibia Branch has warned Zanu PF leader, Mr Emmerson Mnangangwa that no single individual can stop the wave of change.

Mnangangwa is desperate to stifle dissenting voices in the country.

See statement below :

MDC Alliance Namibia Branch Cancels Anniversary Celebrations Due To Covid-19

14 AUGUST 2020

MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA RUNDU BRANCH POSTPONES ITS ANNIVERSARY
AS THE COUNTRY RETURNS TO COVID-19 LEVEL THREE (3).

Saturday 16th of August has been set aside for the anniversary celebrations in Rundu, Namibia, unfortunately the country returned to Covid-19 level three(3) and the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance Namibia Rundu branch ( Mdc-A) could not forge ahead with their schedule since gatherings have been downscaled to only 10 people.

This followed a stern announcement by HE President Hage who made it point blank that given the escalating numbers of Covid-19 infections in the country, it was imperative to revert to level 3.

MDC Alliance Namibia Rundu branch was launched on the 10th of August 2019 with the zeal to transform our livelihoods and freedoms in Zimbabwe. After realising that the economic regeneration of a state can’t be divorced from its political regeneration, we pledged as social democrats in Namibia to pile political and diplomatic pressure on the satanic Zanupf morons so that they commence to restore our lost dignity as a people. The anniversary will be celebrated after the level 3 lockdown probably after 16 days.

MDC Alliance Rundu branch will gyrate under the theme: Confronting stinking corruption, looting , arbitrary arrests , torture and gross misgovernance.

Moreso , the celebrations will give us the opportunity to strengthen our resolve to utilise the regional and international symphathy on the heavy-handedness of the thugocratic rogue regime on dissenting voices who are challenging Zanupf looters.

The brave commitment and dedication exhibited by the branch is quite magnificent hence a jovial mood on the faces of genuine revolutionaries becomes inevitable.

We shall continue on the path of participatory democracy since we are an organic political branch ever ready for personal sacrifice towards socio-economic development in our Motherland.

Mdc Alliance Rundu branch shall perennially seek political wisdom from their political dynamo and the only vehicle for real change The People’s President Wamba dia Wamba.

Furthermore, MDC Alliance Namibia Rundu branch is in solidarity with the July 31st Movement prisoners of conscience in the names of our journalist of the year Hopewell Chin’ono, Opposition Leader Jacob Ngaribvumwe, National Youth Organiser Godfrey Kurauone not forgetting our radical and democratic Job Wiwa Sikhala who is on the run only to mention but a few who continue to endure incessant incarceration and torture in the hands of Zanupf terrorists. We say #ZimbabweanLivesMatter , No to corruption and daylight looting , Zanupf terrorists must go as they have dismally failed to revamp our ailing economy.

In a nutshell, through our MDC Alliance Namibia Rundu branch communications department, we shall furnish you on the date after our executive meeting obviously after our level 3 has lapsed. We are craving for the change that delivers.

MDC – Alliance Namibia
Rundu Branch Spokesperson
Robson Ruhanya

Farai Dziva|Another MDC Alliance official has been abducted by state security agents as Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration intensifies persecution of opposition members.

Tamuka Denhere, the party’s Secretary for Security and Defence for Mkoba District was abducted by government agents for unknown reasons.

“MDC Alliance Mkoba District Secretary for Security and Defence, Tamuka Denhere has just been abducted by state agents. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

Please RETWEET for awareness.

We are still unable to establish the whereabouts of Tamuka Denhere who was abducted by suspected state agents yesterday in Mkoba.

We demand his immediate release. Security of every person and freedom are Constitutional rights,” the party said in a statement.

Farai Dziva|MDC Alliance Youth Assembly National Organizer and ward 4, Masvingo Urban Councillor Godfrey Kurauone was on Thursday morning denied bail by High Court Judge Justice Neville Wamambo.

Kurauone is facing three charges- undermining the authority of the President, Criminal Nuisance and Obstruction of Traffic.

Kurauone is unwell and he is being denied access to medication.

Kurauone was denied bail on the basis that he would “continue to commit similar offences.”

His lawyer, Advocate Martin Mureri said the charges have been “cooked up by political rivals in a bid to nail the youthful councillor.”

“The whole thing has been crafted by political foes who are determined to nail the young man.

For instance, Kurauone has not been feeling well for some time and above all he never went to Mashava where the State alleges he incited protests against the government,” said Advocate Mureri.

Farai Dziva|MDC Alliance Youth Assembly National Organizer and ward 4, Masvingo Urban Councillor Godfrey Kurauone was on Thursday morning denied bail by High Court Judge Justice Neville Wamambo.

Kurauone is facing three charges- undermining the authority of the President, Criminal Nuisance and Obstruction of Traffic.

Kurauone is unwell and he is being denied access to medication.

Kurauone was denied bail on the basis that he would “continue to commit similar offences.”

His lawyer, Advocate Martin Mureri said the charges have been “cooked up by political rivals in a bid to nail the youthful councillor.”

“The whole thing has been crafted by political foes who are determined to nail the young man.

For instance, Kurauone has not been feeling well for some time and above all he never went to Mashava where the State alleges he incited protests against the government,” said Advocate Mureri.

Joana Mamombe, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri have been issued with a warrant of arrest.

Mr Henry Chimbiri, Cecilia’s father has confirmed the latest development…

Watch video below :

Joana Mamombe, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri have been issued with a warrant of arrest.

Mr Henry Chimbiri, Cecilia’s father has confirmed the latest development…

Watch video below :

A 59-YEAR-OLD Hwange man has been arrested for rape and indecent assault after he allegedly inserted fingers into his 14-year-old daughter’s privates before raping her claiming he was checking her virginity.

Virginity testing is a cultural practice done by some ethnic groups around the world including Zimbabwe, to determine whether a girl or woman has had sexual intercourse before.

Gender and human rights activists have called for elimination of the practice saying it is a violation of girls and women rights.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the girl, allegedly committed the crimes between July 18 and July 23 when the two were alone in the absence of the girl’s mother who was out of town.

He told his daughter that it was his duty as a parent to check if she was still a virgin or not.

The man allegedly inserted fingers and raped the girl on July 18 before touching privates and caressing her for three consecutive nights between July 20 and July 23 after forcing her to share a bed with him in his bedroom.

The man allegedly threatened his daughter with death if she left the house or told anyone about the abuse.

The girl confided in her visiting grandmother who advised her to write her experiences in a book which they showed the victim’s mother on her return leading to the arrest of the abusive father.

He was charged with three counts of indecent assault, one of aggravated indecent assault and another of rape after a medical report showed that the girl had been sexually violated.

He was not asked plead to the charges when he appeared before Hwange magistrate Ms Barbara Phiri who remanded him in custody to Thursday next week.

Prosecuting, Mr John Chisango Mutyakaviri said the man threatened his daughter with death if she revealed the abuse.

“On 18 July at around 10pm the complainant was sitting on a sofa watching TV when her father told her that he wanted to check if she was still a virgin.

The complainant refused and told him to take her to her grandmother for virginity testing. The accused insisted that he had powers to check her daughter’s virginity,” said the prosecutor.

The man allegedly ordered the girl to remove her panties and pull her skirt upwards.

“The accused then knelt down in front of the complainant and pulled her legs apart.

He inserted his forefinger and the middle finger into the girl’s privates telling her he was checking if she was still a virgin,” said the prosecutor.

The court was told that after removing his fingers, he ordered his daughter to lie on the sofa facing upwards before forcibly pulling her legs apart while threatening to kill her if she made noise.

The girl complied out of fear and he allegedly raped her once. During the forced sex, she complained to her father that he was hurting her.

After raping his daughter, the man allegedly ordered her to go and sleep.-Chronicle

Access to a quality education should be universal.

Yet with less access to the internet and learning materials, COVID-19 related school closures have hit the most vulnerable children hardest.

As schools reopen, UNICEF is calling on governments to double down on learning support for the most marginalized children, especially those living in poverty, from ethnic minority groups, children with disabilities, girls and displaced or refugee children.

Together with partners, we must reimagine a world where every child has an equal opportunity to learn.

Credit: UNICEF

Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre

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There is no crisis in Zimbabwe of whatever nature and magnitude and calls for foreign intervention to deal with the so called urgent situation were unwarranted, a Cabinet Minister said on Thursday.

In recent weeks, Zimbabwe has been sliding into a deep human rights crisis.

Running under social media hash tags such as ZimbabweanLivesMatter, the desperate activists have sought to bring Zimbabwe under international spotlight as part of a larger regime change plot.

The renewed onslaught is also meant to coincide with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government summit due to be held via video conference next week.

Rubbishing the assertions, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe remained peaceful contrary to claims that all was not well.

“It is important that we refute press claims of a crisis in Zimbabwe,” she said.

“It is common knowledge that there is no Zimbabwean issue before the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security. Neither is there one such issue before the SADC Summit. Definitely there is no such issue before the continental body, the African Union. All said there is no crisis in Zimbabwe which needs external intervention under established international treaties and conventions.”

Mutsvangwa said the crisis narrative was being perpetuated by the opposition MDC-Alliance which was still bitter over the heavy electoral loss it suffered at the hands of the ruling Zanu PF party in 2018.

“The position of Zimbabwe is that there is a domestic opposition which lost elections in 2018. Prior to voting day it had threatened then declared that it will not accept any result other than that which declared them winners. Otherwise they were going to ensure that the country is ungovernable. All subsequent events thereafter are a manifestation of this threat. The subjective opinions be they from third party political entities, diplomatic circles are not the proper guide in the conduct of diplomacy among sovereign and friendly nations,” she said.

She said the deployment of special envoys by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in response to the crisis narrative gave the Zimbabwean government an opportunity to clarify matters.

Former South African Minister of Safety and Security Dr Sydney Mufamadi, former Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete and former South African Minister of Public Service and Administration Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi were dispatched to Harare by Ramaphosa early this week to President Emmerson Mnangagwa on a fact finding mission.

“These envoys were sent by His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa to his counterpart, His Excellency, President ED Mnangagwa. This was at the peer to peer level of brotherly Heads of State of two sister nations that enjoy excellent diplomatic bilateral relations. The envoys brought in their message which was duly delivered to the host President. In return they received a briefing from President ED Mnangagwa.

“The reciprocal messages are the property of the respective leaders and it is their prerogative as to how they can be handled or disseminated,” she said.

Mutsvangwa said several other misinformed narratives against the government were also being pushed.

These, she said, included accusations that the government was targeting and arbitrarily arresting opposition activists and ill-treating them.

“Our Justice system is blind to political persuasion, rank, creed, race, social and political networks. Therefore, all prisoners in a certain category are treated in the same manner,” she said.

“Taking into account the Covid-19 context, prisoners have a constitutional right to be protected from public health risks such as the Coronavirus, this may include bringing in measures such as stopping or limiting the number of visitors and external items prisoners can have access to. This is what explains the current control measures being implemented in our all prisons.”

On the false narrative that the government was reversing the gains of the war of liberation by paying compensation to former white farmers, she said the money was being paid in fulfillment of section 295 (1) of the Constitution.

The government agreed to pay the former white farmers $3.5 billion dollars in compensation for improvements made on the land they lost under Zimbabwe’s agrarian reforms.

“I want to debunk any assertions that there is a reversal of the land reform programme. This mischief is purveyed by the loony and extreme right wing circles,” she said.

“Let it be also noted that the signing of the Global Compensation Agreement on the 27th of July 2020, was a fulfillment of the aspirations of the Zimbabwean people as expressed in the referendum of 16 March 2013. In that instance nearly 95 percent of the population endorsed the new Constitution with the quoted provisions therein.”

She added; “ZANU-PF is a revolutionary party that fought a non-racial and just struggle for majority rule. It has not time to indulge in gratuitous racial baiting. Rather it wants all its citizens inclusive of former white commercial farmers to enjoy complete, equal and inclusive rights and freedoms.”

Mutsvangwa called on other countries to respect Zimbabwe’s sovereignty.

“Zimbabwe is a peace loving country which does not interfere in the affairs of other sovereign states and their interactions with their citizens. It therefore desires to be accorded the same courtesy. His Excellency, the President directed our security forces enforcing the lockdown regulations to do so with a “humane face”. Where mistakes or excesses are alleged there is a complaint mechanism in place and we urge aggrieved citizens to utilize it,” she said.

New Ziana

Activists Josphat Ngulube took the time to  speak to SABC from his hiding place in South Africa and explained the circumstances leading to his current situation. Ngulube called on AU President Cryil Ramaphosa to send a proper delegation to Zimbabwe which he says must include a head of state.

His 23-year-old niece was last week abducted, sexually assaulted and badly beaten by men looking for him.

The incident appeared to be an escalation of a wave of arrests and abductions of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s opponents and their families by state security agents.

Noxolo Maphosa was walking to a butchery near Pick n Pay (Hyper) in Bulawayo at about 10AM when she noticed four men walking behind her.

“I called my friend and told her there were men following me. Just as I ended the call, they grabbed me from behind and took my phone. They forced me into a white Izusu pick-up truck,” Maphosa said in a video statement.

She was blindfolded and driven to a house where she was interrogated about the whereabouts of Ngulube, her uncle who was jailed for seven years in 2019 accused of burning a Zanu PF vehicle during fuel price riots in January of that year.

Ngulube is out on bail pending appeal against conviction and sentence.

Watch video downloading below.

ZRP In Gweru reportedly arrested the wife of an MDC Alliance Activist Tamuka Denhere who was abducted last night when she went to ZRP to report the abduction. This was revealed on Twitter by the MDC Alliance Social Welfare Department in a tweet that reads:

Tamuka Denhere’s wife, visited Gweru Central Police Station to file a report in the morning about her husband who was abducted last night in Gweru. Instead of getting help from the police, she was arrested for reporting an abduction. #ZimbabaweanLivesMatter

It is still not clear what Denhere’s wife is being charged with as her party failed to provide more details apart from the circumstances leading to her arrest.

Sponsored: Click here to buy NetOne, Telecel Airtime online using EcoCash

Denhere was abducted last night in Mkoba in Gweru and he was later on dumped at Harare Central Police Station where he is being detained according to the party which said it is clear the abductors are working for the state:

Tamuka Denhere who was abducted by suspected state agents yesterday in Mkoba was dumped at Harare Central Police Station where he is now detained. It is clear that the abductors are working with ZRP. We demand his immediate release. #FreeTamuka.

HARARE Magistrate Ngoni Nduna on Wednesday 12 August 2020 barred media practitioners and the public from covering and following proceedings in a Zimbabwean courtroom in the matter in which freelance journalist Hopewell Chin’ono will testify on the state of conditions at Chikurubi Maximum Prison.

Magistrate Nduna ruled that the evidence that Chin’ono will give in court may jeopardise security at Chikurubi Maximum Prison if journalists and the public are allowed to cover and follow proceedings as the freelance journalist gives his testimony.

The Magistrate’s ruling came after prosecutor Whisper Mabhaudhi filed an application seeking to bar Chin’ono from giving testimony in an open court but in camera.

Although Chin’ono’s lawyers led by Beatrice Mtetwa, Gift Mtisi and Roselyn Hanzi of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, had opposed the state’s application arguing that it is in the public interest for media practitioners to cover proceedings in open court and for the public to be present as they were potential prisoners, Magistrate Nduna ruled otherwise.

Chin’ono had his bail appeal dismissed on Thursday 6 August 2020 by High Court Judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi, who ruled that Magistrate Nduna had not erred nor misdirected himself when he denied him bail in July.

This forced his lawyers to file a fresh freedom bid, which is set to be heard and determined by Magistrate Nduna, based on changed circumstances as the planned date for the anti-government protests had passed and that the freelance journalist was being ill-treated in prison and is at risk of contracting coronavirus as he is not allowed to wear personal protective clothing. Chin’ono was arrested by Zimbabwe Republic Police on Monday 20 July 2020 and charged with incitement to participate in a gathering with intent to promote public violence, breaches of peace or bigotry as defined in section 187(1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act as read with section 37(1)(a)(i) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

The award-winning freelance journalist was also charged with incitement to commit public violence as defined in section 187(1)(a) as read with section 36(1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. Prosecutors alleged that Chin’ono incited people to revolt against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration during some planned anti-government protests called for on 31 July 2020.

Chin’ono, according to prosecutors, allegedly posted various messages on his Twitter account using the handle @daddyhope between May 2020 and July 2020 calling upon Zimbabweans across the country to engage in acts of public violence against the government on 31 July 2020.

The journalist allegedly posted several messages on Twitter which read; “@Ngarivhume and many others have come to put their hands up and said they will lead anti-looting demo on 31 July”, “Zimbabwe will never be free from looters through elections it is just a waste of time” and “If you feel like shouting#zanuPFMustGo and Mnangagwa and his regime has failed, how they will go will be determined by history and yet Mnangagwa refuses change will come by any means.”

Prosecutors alleged that by posting such messages Chin’ono intended to disturb the peace, security or order of the public.

Source: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

The Zimbabwe dollar today fell by $2.09 to average $82.56 against the United States dollar at today’s auction which accommodated both major and small enterprises.

All bids were fully met with major companies getting US$17.98 million and small enterprises being allotted US$789 866.02.

Fifteen bids were rejected in both cases. There were 171 bids for the main auction and 75 for the SME auction.

The highest rate offered was $90 in both auctions but the lowest bid on the main auction was $77.02 while on the SME it was $80.

Raw materials continued to get the bulk of the funds followed by machinery and equipment.

The auction also seems to be having an impact on the Old Mutual Implied Rate which peaked at $141.59 on 2 June and was flat at $122.23 for almost a month when trading on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was suspended.

It fell to $112.93 today.

The OMIR is the difference between the Old Mutual share price in London and Harare ad was allegedly being used to externalise funds.

Major shops which were selling goods in forex using the black market rate are now using the official rate.

State Media

A GROUP of illegal gold miners on Tuesday invaded Tebekwe Mine in Shurugwi where they reportedly disarmed a security guard before handcuffing and severely assaulting him and his colleague using logs and iron bars.

Police in Shurugwi swiftly moved in and arrested eight suspects, some of whom were reportedly advancing towards the milling plant where they wanted to steal gold.

According to the mine manager, Mr Thamsanqa Maseko, the illegal miners were armed with iron bars and machetes and threatened to harm everyone at the mine.

They ordered the milling plant to stop running and declared that they were taking over the mine.

They were about 50, the majority armed with machetes and iron bars, said Mr Maseko. They went around the mine’s milling plant singing and stressing that they were taking over the mine.

We did not know that there was another group, which had attacked the security guards at the mine entrance.

Mr Maseko said police swiftly responded to their emergency calls and arrived at the scene to find the two security guards, including the one who was in handcuffs, being assaulted.

Upon seeing a police truck, the illegal miners fled in different directions, but police managed to arrest eight of them, he said.

One of the security guards was stabbed in the ear with a sharp object and was taken to Shurugwi District Hospital where he was admitted.

The other security guard who was disarmed and handcuffed was beaten with iron bars all over the body, said Mr Maseko. The handcuffs were later removed at Shurugwi Police Station.

Midlands police spokesperson Inspector Joel Goko confirmed the incident, but said he was still to get full details from officers in Shurugwi.

Joana Mamombe, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri have been issued with a warrant of arrest.

Mr Henry Chimbiri, Cecilia’s father has confirmed the latest development…

Watch video below :

Reuters – In the murky story of how a cache of highly explosive ammonium nitrate ended up on the Beirut waterfront, one thing is clear — no one has ever publicly come forward to claim it.

There are many unanswered questions surrounding last week’s huge, deadly blast in the Lebanese capital, but ownership should be among the easiest to resolve.

Clear identification of ownership, especially of a cargo as dangerous as that carried by the Moldovan-flagged Rhosus when it sailed into Beirut seven years ago, is fundamental to shipping, the key to insuring it and settling disputes that often arise.

But Reuters interviews and trawls for documents across 10 countries in search of the original ownership of this 2,750-tonne consignment instead revealed an intricate tale of missing documentation, secrecy and a web of small, obscure companies that span the globe.

“Goods were being transported from one country to another, and they ended up in a third country with nobody owning the goods. Why did they end up here?” said Ghassan Hasbani, a former Lebanese deputy prime minister and opposition figure.

Those linked to the shipment and interviewed by Reuters all denied knowledge of the cargo’s original owner or declined to answer the question. Those who said they didn’t know included the ship’s captain, the Georgian fertilizer maker who produced the cargo and the African firm that ordered it but said it never paid for it.

The official version of the Rhosus’ final journey depicts its voyage as a series of unfortunate events.

Shipping records show the ship loaded ammonium nitrate in Georgia in September 2013 and was meant to deliver it to an explosives maker in Mozambique. But before leaving the Mediterranean, the captain and two crew members say they were instructed by the Russian businessman they regarded as the ship’s de facto owner, Igor Grechushkin, to make an unscheduled stop in Beirut and take on extra cargo.

The Rhosus arrived in Beirut in November but never left, becoming tangled in a legal dispute over unpaid port fees and ship defects. Creditors accused the ship’s legal owner, listed as a Panama-based firm, of abandoning the vessel and the cargo was later unloaded and put in a dockside warehouse, according to official accounts.

The Beirut law firm that acted for creditors, Baroudi & Associates, did not respond to requests to identify the cargo’s original legal owner. Reuters was unable to contact Grechushkin.

The empty ship eventually sank where it was moored in 2018, according to Lebanese customs.

The Rhosus’ final movements are under fresh scrutiny after the ammonium nitrate caught fire inside the warehouse and exploded last week, killing at least 158 people, injuring thousands and leaving 250,000 people homeless.

Among the still-unanswered questions: who paid for the ammonium nitrate and did they ever seek to reclaim the cargo when the Rhosus was impounded? And if not, why not?

The cargo, packaged in large white sacks, was worth around $700,000 at 2013 prices, according to an industry source.

UNINSURED
Reuters inquiries have raised numerous red flags.

Under international maritime conventions and some domestic laws, commercial vessels must have insurance to cover events such as environmental damage, loss of life or injury caused by a sinking, spill or collision. Yet the Rhosus was uninsured, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The ship’s Russian captain, Boris Prokoshev, said by phone from his home in Sochi, Russia, that he had seen an insurance certificate but could not vouch for its authenticity.

Reuters was unable to obtain a copy of the ship’s documents.

The Mozambican firm that ordered the ammonium nitrate, Fábrica de Explosivos Moçambique (FEM), was not the cargo owner at the time because it had agreed to only pay on delivery, according to its spokesman, Antonio Cunha Vaz.

The producer was Georgian fertilizer maker Rustavi Azot LLC, which has since been dissolved. Its owner at the time, businessman Roman Pipia, told Reuters he had lost control of the Rustavi ammonium nitrate plant in 2016. UK court documents show that the firm was forced by a creditor to auction off its assets that year.

The factory is now run by another firm, JSC Rustavi Azot, which also said it could not shed light on the cargo owner, according to the plant’s current first deputy director, Levan Burdiladze.

FEM said it had ordered the shipment through a trading firm, Savaro Ltd, which has registered companies in London and Ukraine but whose website is now offline.

A visit to Savaro Ltd’s listed London address on Monday found a Victorian terraced house, with a locked and barred door, near the fashionable bars of Shoreditch. No one responded to knocks on the door.

Reuters contacted UK-registered Savaro Ltd director Greta Bieliene, a Lithuanian based in Cyprus. She declined to answer questions.

A source familiar with the inner workings of Savaro’s trading business said it sold fertilizer from ex-Soviet Union states to clients in Africa.

Ukraine-based businessman Vladimir Verbonol is listed as director of Savaro in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian corporate data base You Control. Reuters was unable to contact Verbonol for comment.

THE RUSSIAN
As grief and anger over the blast turn to civil unrest in Beirut, there are signs the Lebanese government’s promised investigation has already turned its sights back to the Rhosus and Grechushkin, the man the crew considered as its owner.

A security source said Grechushkin was questioned at his home in Cyprus last Thursday about the cargo. A Cypriot police spokesman said an individual, whom he did not name, had been questioned at the request of Interpol Beirut.

The Rhosus arrived in Beirut in November 2013 with a leak and in generally poor condition, captain Prokoshev said. It had already been beset with problems.

In July 2013, four months before docking in Beirut, the ship was detained for 13 days by port authorities in Seville, Spain, after multiple deficiencies including malfunctioning doors, corrosion on the deck area and deficient auxiliary engines were found, according to shipping data. It resumed sailing after inspection firm Maritime Lloyd issued a cargo ship safety construction certificate, which would have involved a survey of the ship, the data showed.

Teimuraz Kavtaradze, an inspector at Georgia-based Maritime Lloyd, which does not rank among the most prominent and widely-used inspection firms, said he could not confirm whether or not the firm had provided any inspection documents to port officials in Seville. He said he was working for Maritime Lloyd in 2013 but that other staff and the management had since changed.

Seville port officials were not immediately available for comment. Paris MoU, a body of 27 maritime states under whose authority the detention was carried out, confirmed in an email that the vessel was detained and inspected in Seville.

Moldova, where the Rhosus is registered, lists the owner of the ship as Panama-based Briarwood Corp, a certificate of ownership seen by Reuters shows. Reuters was not immediately able to identify Briarwood Corp as a Panamanian registered company. Panama’s maritime authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The ship’s charterer, Teto Shipping Ltd, is based in the Marshall Islands and was dissolved in 2014, according to International Registries, which says it provides shipping registry services to the Marshall Islands.

Igor Zaharia, the director of Moldova’s Naval Agency, said Grechushkin was Teto Shipping’s director.

The Rhosus’ captain passed Reuters an email address that he and the crew had been using for Teto Shipping, but requests for comment to the same address went unanswered. The captain said he regarded Grechushkin and Teto as the same entity.

Additional reporting by Michele Kambas in Nicosia and Limassol, Cyprus; Maria Tsvetkova and Polina Devitt in Moscow, Victoria Waldersee in Lisbon, Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia, Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi, Tom Perry in Beirut, Alexander Tanas in Chisinau, Elida Moreno in Panama City, Guy Faulconbridge and Luke Baker in London, Nathan Allen in Madrid; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Nick Tattersall

The MDC Alliance reports that Tamuka Denhere who was abducted by suspected state agents yesterday in Mkoba, Gweru, was dumped at Harare Central Police Station where he is now detained.

“It is clear that the abductors are working with ZRP. We demand his immediate release,” said the party.

More details to follow…..

Kwekwe Acting Town Clerk Dr Lucia Mnkandla has gone on self-isolation after coming into contact with a person who tested positive for covid-19.

Although she did not test positive during the initial rapid tests, the acting town clerk went on self-quarantine as a precautionary measure while awaiting the PCR results.

Kwekwe Mayor Councillor Angeline Kasipo confirmed that Dr Mnkandla was on self-isolation but was quick to say she was out of danger.

“She went on self-isolation not because she had tested positive but because she had been in contact with someone who was thought to have been positive. But we also later learnt that the person was negative. She had been in contact with her driver who has since been tested and confirmed negative so she is safe,” said Clr Kasipo.

Dr Mnkandla is said to have been in contact with her driver, Mr John Mtingwende.

“It is true that the person who was thought to have been in contact with her has since tested negative. We are however waiting for her results so that we ascertain the situation before we rush and make uninformed decisions,” she said.

The mayor said the decision by Dr Mnkandla to go on self-quarantine was to maximize security and safety of not only herself but also people around her.

“As you know as a local authority we work with a lot of people and as such we decided to go safe. This is not to say anyone has tested positive. We have also tested everyone at the local authority and we are doing so regularly so that we stay safe,” said Cllr Kasipo.

The local authority has since scaled down on staffers who are reporting for duty as a precautionary measure.

Workers are also tested once every week.

Despite inheriting an economy on the brink of collapse in 2018, marked by a 40 percent fiscal deficit from his predecessor the late Cde Robert Mugabe, ZANU PF First Secretary and President Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa has in less than two years erased both the fiscal and current account deficit on the back of strong economic reforms initiated by the New Dispensation, a senior economist has said.

Zimbabwe’s fiscal deficit woes at a high of 40 percent in 2018 were worse off, compared to that of the Greece crisis which was triggered by an 8 percent deficit.

President Mnangagwa’s restoration of macro-economic stability comes in the back of his pledge in The People’s Manifesto 2018 where he promised to restructure the National Budget which he said was skewed towards consumptive expenditures.

The President vowed to dedicate more funding in favour of productivity.

“Thus, the ZANU PF Government’s Fiscal Policy will put emphasis on strong fiscal discipline, accountability and transparency for the restoration of macro-economic stability as well as increased funding for national development projects and programmes,” reads in part The People’s Manifesto 2018.

True, to President Mnangagwa’s servant leadership style anchored on walking his talk, top-notch economists among them MDC founding member Mr Eddie Cross have been charmed by the country’s economic reforms.

In that regard, in an interview with AriseNews Mr Cross, applauded President Mnangagwa for restoring the country’s macro-economic stability as well as attaining both current account and fiscal surpluses in record time.

While conceding the road has been painful, Mr Cross also said that he was confident President Mnangagwa had laid a strong foundation for the economic recovery of the country.
“He (President Mnangagwa) inherited an awful messy from Robert Mugabe. At the time he became a President of the country in 2017 we had 40 percent fiscal deficit in the budget. We were running a very substantial account deficit.

“We had domestic bank balance which was expressed in US dollars of nearly US$23 million completely unsustainable, completely unrealistic. When he came to power he pledged that he would in-fact restore macro-economic stability to Zimbabwe and get the economic fundamentals right and I think he has done that but the process has been very painful.

“If you think that Greece crisis was when they had an 8 percent fiscal deficit but we had a fiscal deficit of 40 percent completely unmanageable. President Mnangagwa fixed that in a matter of weeks after assuming the Presidency in July 2018. He has gone on and in fact, we now have a current account surplus as well as fiscal surplus,” Mr Cross.

Cross said the country was beginning to the reap the benefits of President Mnangagwa’s economic reforms as evidenced by the recovery of the country’s export industry as well as the reduction in the import bill owing to improved local production.

“And I think we are beginning to see the benefit of that (economic reforms). Export industries are growing again, domestic markets which were completely dominated by imported goods are now supplied to about one third of their total stock by local products from about 5 percent, 18 months ago. And I think that the chances are now we are laying the foundation for improved growth and some stability,” said Mr Cross.

Mr Cross also noted that the local currency had also started to stabilise following the introduction of the Foreign Exchange Auction.

“The introduction of the auction seven weeks ago has brought some stability to the foreign exchange market and has strengthened the local currency,” he said.-David Mwanza via By024

Police and municipal police have vowed to continue pouncing on vendors illegally operating in Central Business District of Harare, urging the informal traders to utilize designated places for their business.

In an interview with a local publication, Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said the operation to remove vendors must not be viewed as a crackdown.

“It was made clear by the government that for vendors to operate during this national lockdown period they should be registered and should have permits authorizing them to conduct business lawfully. Some have a tendency to blame the police on everything, even those operating outside the confines of the law,” said Nyathi.

“The law is clear that they should be licensed and our duty is to enforce the law. Our message is clear, people should operate lawfully and they will not have any problems with law enforcement officers,” added Nyathi

This comes after a public outcry from vendors who believe they are being targeted for harassment by security agencies.

Nyathi said vendors are expected to operate within the confines of the law to avoid friction with law enforcement agencies.

Harare City Council spokesperson, Michael Chideme discouraging people against construing their normal policing duties with a crackdown.

“These are normal council policing duties and they should not be confused as suppression. When vendors flood shopping centers people complain that the council has neglected its policing duties and when we execute our duties, they complain again,” said Chideme.

He urged those with complaints against municipal officials to report them to council for investigations.

Economic Freedom Fighters Zimbabwe has announced that they will be demonstrating at Beitbridge Border Post to send a clear message to the Zimbabwean government that human rights abuses that have made international headlines worldwide must stop and the government must find a permanent solution to the dire economic situation in the country.

Read the full statement below.

EFF ZIMBABWE’S POSITION TO THE CONTINUING CRISIS IN THE COUNTRY

On the 10th of August 2020, the EFF Zimbabwe Central Command Team met and passed a resolution

to organize and hold a peaceful demonstration at the Beit Bridge Border Post. The resultant aim is to

blockade the Beit Bridge Border Post and send a clear message to the inhumane and brutal regime in

Zimbabwe that we cannot continue to watch and do nothing whilst our people are brutalized,

starved- women sexually assaulted, political activists arrested and tortured for no reason other than

exercising their constitutional right of freedom of expression.

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The wealth and the welfare of our people has been brazenly stolen by thieves in suits masquerading

as legitimate representatives of the people yet they are a gang of thieves in a captured Zanu Pf party

and government. Consequently the ordinary citizens of our great country, the poor, the old and the

sick, the children and young people, parents and basically the majority of our people now live in

perpetual and humiliating poverty caused upon them by their own government.

We have listened to the distressing cries of our mothers and sisters who have been raped, our

fathers and brothers who have been tortured, our grandparents who experience daily humiliation of

failing to meet their private personal daily needs. We have resolved that our generation must act

now to save Zimbabwe and her people. Our forefathers and our ancestors will punish us harshly if

we do not carry out this generational mandate of freeing our people from this evil tyranny.

We demand that ;

1. The government stops arbitrary arrest of political activists immediately and release all detained political activists and journalists.

2. The government fight corruption by immediately arresting corrupt government officials and those

who looted public funds.

3. The government reverse immediately the US $3.5 billion decision to compensate white settlers for

the land they stole from our forbearers. We reject compensation of beneficiaries of colonialism.

ULTIMATELY we demand that a National Transitional Authority be established forthwith to save the

country from collapse. The National Transitional Authority must be drawn from political, civic

organizations and private sector from the length and breadth of our country. In all clarity, let us

ensure it’s clear and emphatic that #ZanuPFMustGo!!!!!

We call upon all the political formations in Zimbabwe, big or small to set aside narrow party

objectives and to come and stand with the people of Zimbabwe on the 31st of August.

We call upon all civic organizations and labor unions to stand with the majority of our people on the

31st of August.

We call upon the youths to save their country because the future of Zimbabwe lies in their hands.

We call upon those in the security services particularly the army and the police to pose and think

about that mother or sister nursing the brutal injuries after being raped and beaten, we ask them to

think about that child who is hungry, sick and scared because those in government do not care about

their health and welfare.

EFF Zimbabwe will work with all democratic and progressive forces in Zimbabwe to peacefully bring

TOTAL CHANGE to the lives of our people

A Gweru man caught red-handed by municipal undertakers digging up a grave has been sentenced to 210 hours of community service.

Samson Mudzingwa, 44, pleaded pleaded guilty to one count of violating a grave when he appeared before Gweru magistrate, Thomas Gurajena on Tuesday.

Mudzingwa will perform 210 hours of community service in one of the Gweru City Council clinics.

Mudzingwa told the court that he did not intend to cause any harm to the remains of the late James Ncube but wanted to take with him an iron bar as instructed by his sangoma.

The court heard that on July 23 at around 12 noon, Mudzingwa was caught red-handed by a council undertaker, Elliot Mapfumbate (complainant) while digging up a grave at Mtapa Cemetery.

He was digging and breaking concrete blocks of a grave where the remains of Ncube are buried.

Mapfumbate then filed a report at Gweru Central Police leading to the arrest of Mudzingwa.

– New Ziana

Business Times

Opposition political parties in South Africa and Botswana have ratcheted pressure on their countries’ leaders to intervene on growing reports on human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

Civic society activists and opposition party members have over the past few weeks been criticising President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration for its heavy-handedness in quelling dissenting voices.

Zimbabwe is currently under the Covid-19 lockdown and critics say authorities have used the restrictive measures to stifle opposition voices.

A global campaign under the hashtag #ZimbabweLivesMatter has also caught the attention of global leaders and celebrities but Harare insists that the campaign is meant to destabilise the government.

Early this week, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa sent envoys to Harare to be apprised on the country’s socio-political situation.

The envoys met Mnangagwa and its meetings with opposition political parties were cancelled at the eleventh hour. South Africa’s biggest opposition political party, the Democratic Alliance said Ramaphosa has to show leadership in his capacity as the AU chairman by flying to Harare to meet with all the relevant stakeholders and get a balanced picture of the political crisis unfolding in Zimbabwe.

“For far too long, successive ANC governments have stood by as Zanu PF has trampled civil liberties with impunity and disregard for the rule of law.

The ANC has played an enabling role in the Zimbabwe crisis by glossing over state brutality in the country and its mismanagement of the economy,” the DA said in a statement.

“President Ramaphosa faces the first real test in his chairmanship of the AU. He will have to make a choice on whether to stand with the people of Zimbabwe against the tyranny of Zanu PF or continue with the failed policy of ‘quiet diplomacy’.”

Earlier this week, Botswana’s opposition party also raised the red flag over unfolding events in neighbouring Zimbabwe. South Africa and Botswana are home to thousands of Zimbabweans seeking economic and political refuge.

“We further urge civil society in Botswana to rise and mobilise in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe. We urge the unions, clergy, student formations and other pro-democracy NGOs to come up with ways to pile pressure on the ZANU PF regime,” Dumelang Saleshando, leader of the opposition in Botswana’s National Assembly said in a statement.

“To our civil society and NGOs we say silence and inaction is not the answer.

Today it is Zimbabwe, tomorrow it could be Botswana; and would it be proper for others to shrug their shoulders and say it’s a Botswana problem and has nothing to do with us?

“As we raise our voice in indignation, we also wish to state that we also wish to state that we too associate ourselves with the globally trending hashtag #Zimbabwean Lives Matter.”

Before this, Moussa Faki Mahamat, African Union Commission chief had said the commission was following closely political developments in Zimbabwe as the country mounts concerted efforts in response to the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Cognisant of the existing harsh socio-economic situation in the country, the Chairperson urges the Zimbabwe authorities to respond to the pandemic ensuring that the national response is premised on human rights as enshrined in the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The Chairperson is concerned about reports of disproportionate use of force by security forces in enforcing Covid-19 emergency measures. He implores the authorities to exercise restraint in their response to peaceful protests,” he said.

“The Chairperson further encourages the government of Zimbabwe to uphold the rule of law allowing for freedom of the media, freedom of assembly, freedom of association and the right to information.

Violations of these rights are a breach of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.”

Last month, Zimbabwe’s security forces thwarted planned protests by the opposition over corruption in the public service and the deteriorating economic situation.

This year, economic hardship has been exacerbated by drought and the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly twothirds of Zimbabwe’s 14.4 million inhabitants are predicted to face hunger by the end of 2020, according to the UN’s World Food Programme.

In what appeared as a response to the growing pressure from the region, Mnangagwa on Tuesday said Zimbabwe was facing a “wave of aggression manifesting through illegal sanctions, hostile anti-Zimbabwe propaganda mounted on social media platforms and other forms of asymmetrical warfare”.

By Prince Njagu-The year 2020 has been a gloomy one for most Zimbabweans. Abductions, torture and then a global pandemic which has seen even the world’s biggest economies suffer the worst recession in history.

The ZANU PF regime led by Emmerson Mnangagwa has now resorted to using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to silence and oppress Zimbabweans who are standing up against his tyrant government.

Illegitimate arrests and detentions are being used as a weapon to silence the heroes that speak out against the ZANU PF regime.

Activists, journalists and opposition party youth leaders have been put in jail for expressing their disgruntlement against the current administration. The latest case being of Godfrey Kuraone, the MDC Alliance National youth organiser who was arrested when he went to report to the police as was stipulated in his bail terms.

Kuraone has since been denied bail at Masvingo Magistrate court and is being denied proper medical assistance although he is unwell. This does not only go against international statutes but also against the Prisoners Act.

Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono has been one casualty of this mired legal system, as he has been left languishing in prison for speaking against corruption within the ZANU PF administration.

Zimbabweans are being denied all the fundamental human rights; no freedom of expression, no access to basic health services, people are being tortured and abducted. All these are violations of human rights and when you speak against these issues the law or security forces are used.

How can a government claim to be a democracy when the state of affairs in the country are this bad? A democracy allows opposition, freedom of speech, accountability and they do not intervene with the legal system.

The year 2020 kicked off with the abduction of the three MDC youth leaders, Legislator Joanna Mamombe, youth leaders Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova. This was then followed by several mysterious disappearances of other youth leaders who expressed their discontent with the current government.

These three brave warriors were abducted and tortured under police custody, and their crime was standing up for the Zimbabwean masses who have been leaving in anguish during this lockdown.

The vast majority of Zimbabweans are informally employed and when the lockdown was imposed, all these people were left in limbo with no food and no source of income.

These same people are starving, and the ZANU PF government is doing nothing in as far as helping them.

When the three MDC Alliance leaders took to the streets and expressed their dissatisfaction, the ZANU PF government, through the aid of security forces abducted and tortured these brave cadres.

Two more young activists, Namatai Kwekweza and Vongai Zimudzi were arrested after they protested the amendment of the constitution under an indefinite imposed lockdown.

A series of abductions and torture against oppositional party members and activists who criticise the government have been the talk of the year so far.

Hopewell Chin’ono a prominent journalist was arrested and put behind bars for his criticism and exposing the rot in the current government.

The media should be the window through which people see the outside world and it should be there to provide checks and balances on a ruling administration, but it becomes so worrisome when journalists that ask for accountability from office bearers’ are being put in jail for this.

As citizens in a democracy, the government should allow individuals to enjoy the freedom of expression and under no circumstances should these basic rights be suppressed. Citizens should not be victimized for exercising their rights.

All these heroes and heroines of Zimbabwe were unlawfully arrested for exercising their fundamental human rights, and they cannot appeal anywhere as the legal system is also flawed.

In a bid to silence Zimbabweans, the ZANU PF regime, has been victimizing and instilling fear through these detentions and delayed justice.

The Zimbabwean court system has been under the microscope for several years, and this year, it has left many concluding that indeed the judiciary in Zimbabwe is a puppet of ZANU PF.

Chin’onos bail hearing being postponed time and again. Kuraone denied bail 14 days ago by Masvingo Magistrate Patience Madondo and the other three MDC alliance leaders, Legislator Joanna Mamombe, youth leaders Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova now facing fresh charges, regardless of the fact that they have been traumatised and tortured.

The list of these young brave heroes is endless, and for their sacrifices the Zimbabwean people should salute them.

CNN

A sample of frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil has tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, authorities said Thursday, the latest in a series of reports of contaminated imported food products.

The coronavirus was detected Wednesday on a surface sample taken from a batch of chicken wings during screening of imported frozen food in Longgang district of Shenzhen, the municipal government said in a statement. Officials did not name the brand.

Shenzhen health authorities immediately traced and tested people who might have come into contact with the product, and all results came back negative; all related products in stock have been sealed off and tested negative, the statement said.

Authorities are now tracing related products from the same brand that have already been sold, and have disinfected the area where the contaminated chicken wings were stored.

Brazil has so far reported more than 3.1 million coronavirus cases, the second highest in the world after the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.

News of the contaminated chicken wings comes a day after coronavirus was found on the packaging of shrimps imported from Ecuador, another South American country, at a restaurant in eastern Anhui province during a routine inspection, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Since July, there have been seven instances where the virus was detected on the packaging of imported seafood products across the country, from Shandong province on the eastern coast to the municipality of Chongqing in the west, according to state media reports.

These incidents have sparked concerns over the safety of imported foods. Chinese health authorities have repeatedly told the public to be cautious about buying imported meat and seafood. On Chinese social media, some have called for the suspension of all frozen food imports.

By A Correspondent- Economic Freedom Fighters Zimbabwe has announced that they will be demonstrating at Beitbridge Border Post to send a clear message to the Zimbabwean government that human rights abuses that have made international headlines worldwide must stop and the government must find a permanent solution to the dire economic situation in the country.

The statement that announced the party’s decision to demonstrate and blockade the border post also list the party’s demands to the government.

Read the full statement below.

EFF ZIMBABWE’S POSITION TO THE CONTINUING CRISIS IN THE COUNTRY
On the 10th of August 2020, the EFF Zimbabwe Central Command Team met and passed a resolution to organize and hold a peaceful demonstration at the Beit Bridge Border Post. The resultant aim is to blockade the Beit Bridge Border Post and send a clear message to the inhumane and brutal regime in Zimbabwe that we cannot continue to watch and do nothing whilst our people are brutalized, starved- women sexually assaulted, political activists arrested and tortured for no reason other than exercising their constitutional right of freedom of expression.

The wealth and the welfare of our people has been brazenly stolen by thieves in suits masquerading as legitimate representatives of the people yet they are a gang of thieves in a captured Zanu Pf party and government. Consequently the ordinary citizens of our great country, the poor, the old and the sick, the children and young people, parents and basically the majority of our people now live in perpetual and humiliating poverty caused upon them by their own government.

We have listened to the distressing cries of our mothers and sisters who have been raped, our fathers and brothers who have been tortured, our grandparents who experience daily humiliation of failing to meet their private personal daily needs. We have resolved that our generation must act now to save Zimbabwe and her people. Our forefathers and our ancestors will punish us harshly if we do not carry out this generational mandate of freeing our people from this evil tyranny.

We demand that ;
1. The government stops arbitrary arrest of political activists immediately and release all detained political activists and journalists.
2. The government fight corruption by immediately arresting corrupt government officials and those who looted public funds.
3. The government reverse immediately the US $3.5 billion decision to compensate white settlers for the land they stole from our forbearers. We reject compensation of beneficiaries of colonialism.

ULTIMATELY we demand that a National Transitional Authority be established forthwith to save the country from collapse. The National Transitional Authority must be drawn from political, civic organizations and private sector from the length and breadth of our country. In all clarity, let us ensure it’s clear and emphatic that #ZanuPFMustGo!!!!!

We call upon all the political formations in Zimbabwe, big or small to set aside narrow party
objectives and to come and stand with the people of Zimbabwe on the 31st of August.
We call upon all civic organizations and labor unions to stand with the majority of our people on the 31st of August.

We call upon the youths to save their country because the future of Zimbabwe lies in their hands. We call upon those in the security services particularly the army and the police to pose and think about that mother or sister nursing the brutal injuries after being raped and beaten, we ask them to think about that child who is hungry, sick and scared because those in government do not care about their health and welfare.

EFF Zimbabwe will work with all democratic and progressive forces in Zimbabwe to peacefully bring TOTAL CHANGE to the lives of our people

By A Correspondent- One hundred and twenty-seven people have been arrested while 14 vehicles including South African registered commuter omnibuses were impounded in Lupane for breaching curfew and Covid-19 regulations.

Chief Inspector Siphiwe Makonese from ZRP Matebeleland North said: “Zimbabwe Republic Police ZRP in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies on Tuesday night carried out an operation which when on until early Wednesday resulting in the arrest of over 100 people for disregarding curfew and embarking on inner-city travel.”

The operation also resulted in the impounding of 14 vehicles including foreign registered commuter omnibuses which were travelling the Binga-Bulawayo route.

Police spokesperson for Matabeleland North Chief Inspector Siphiwe Makonese reminded the public that inner-city travel remains banned as part of measures to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The blitz carried out by the police and the other security agencies near the Lupane State University saw 14 vehicles including 8 South African registered commuter omnibuses.

The curfew breakers who were at Lupane police station were also reminded that the pandemic calls for a collective effort and responsible behaviour.

Hwange District Medical Officer Dr Fungai Mvura commended the law enforcement agencies for the strict enforcement of Covid-19 regulations.

“Everybody needs to take responsibility and ownership against Covid-19 and do their part to prevent transmitting coronavirus. We are appreciative of the assistance we are getting from the law enforcement agencies,” he says.

The breach of curfew and Covid-19 measures by people travelling from Bulawayo to rural areas in Matebeleland North has put the lives of vulnerable villagers at risk.

Hwange District has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases which are currently at 51. Active cases are currently at 13 with 2 deaths having been recorded in the district since the outbreak of the pandemic.

-statemedia

Farai Dziva|The MDC Alliance Namibia Branch has warned Zanu PF leader, Mr Emmerson Mnangangwa that no single individual can stop the wave of change.

Mnangangwa is desperate to stifle dissenting voices in the country.

See statement below :

MDC Alliance Namibia Branch Cancels Anniversary Celebrations Due To Covid-19

14 AUGUST 2020

MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA RUNDU BRANCH POSTPONES ITS ANNIVERSARY
AS THE COUNTRY RETURNS TO COVID-19 LEVEL THREE (3).

Saturday 16th of August has been set aside for the anniversary celebrations in Rundu, Namibia, unfortunately the country returned to Covid-19 level three(3) and the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance Namibia Rundu branch ( Mdc-A) could not forge ahead with their schedule since gatherings have been downscaled to only 10 people.

This followed a stern announcement by HE President Hage who made it point blank that given the escalating numbers of Covid-19 infections in the country, it was imperative to revert to level 3.

MDC Alliance Namibia Rundu branch was launched on the 10th of August 2019 with the zeal to transform our livelihoods and freedoms in Zimbabwe. After realising that the economic regeneration of a state can’t be divorced from its political regeneration, we pledged as social democrats in Namibia to pile political and diplomatic pressure on the satanic Zanupf morons so that they commence to restore our lost dignity as a people. The anniversary will be celebrated after the level 3 lockdown probably after 16 days.

MDC Alliance Rundu branch will gyrate under the theme: Confronting stinking corruption, looting , arbitrary arrests , torture and gross misgovernance.

Moreso , the celebrations will give us the opportunity to strengthen our resolve to utilise the regional and international symphathy on the heavy-handedness of the thugocratic rogue regime on dissenting voices who are challenging Zanupf looters.

The brave commitment and dedication exhibited by the branch is quite magnificent hence a jovial mood on the faces of genuine revolutionaries becomes inevitable.

We shall continue on the path of participatory democracy since we are an organic political branch ever ready for personal sacrifice towards socio-economic development in our Motherland.

Mdc Alliance Rundu branch shall perennially seek political wisdom from their political dynamo and the only vehicle for real change The People’s President Wamba dia Wamba.

Furthermore, MDC Alliance Namibia Rundu branch is in solidarity with the July 31st Movement prisoners of conscience in the names of our journalist of the year Hopewell Chin’ono, Opposition Leader Jacob Ngaribvumwe, National Youth Organiser Godfrey Kurauone not forgetting our radical and democratic Job Wiwa Sikhala who is on the run only to mention but a few who continue to endure incessant incarceration and torture in the hands of Zanupf terrorists. We say #ZimbabweanLivesMatter , No to corruption and daylight looting , Zanupf terrorists must go as they have dismally failed to revamp our ailing economy.

In a nutshell, through our MDC Alliance Namibia Rundu branch communications department, we shall furnish you on the date after our executive meeting obviously after our level 3 has lapsed. We are craving for the change that delivers.

MDC – Alliance Namibia
Rundu Branch Spokesperson
Robson Ruhanya

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Joana Mamombe, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri have been issued with a warrant of arrest.

Mr Henry Chimbiri, Cecilia’s father has confirmed the latest development…

Watch video below :