Harare Magistrate, Ngoni Nduna has ruled that lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa stands down from representing journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and directs that the Law Society of Zimbabwe should cancel her licence for “scandalising the court”
More to follow…
ZBC dismisses online allegations regarding the recent executive management changes. The changes are driven by recognition that the future is digital & ZBC needs to ensure that our content is innovative and accessible on various platforms and addresses different target audiences.
— ZBC News Online (@ZBCNewsonline) August 17, 2020
By A Correspondent- The government has refuted claims that were made by exiled former cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo that those senior government officials looted a US$1.2 billion loan received by the National Oil and Infrastructure Company (NOIC) from a foreign company, Sotic International.
Responding to Prof Moyo’s claims, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Permanent Secretary George Guvamatanga on Saturday said no such loan agreement was ever signed.
He said:
The information is false. The value of the pipeline is US$300 million. Sotic could only lend money that it would have raised from its bankers unless it had free cash flows.
Which bank would lend you US$1.2 billion against the security of an asset worth US$300 million? One of the critical tenets of lending is the purpose of the loan and the source of repayment.
An international lender would not conduct adequate due diligence and lend a country $1.2 billion which will then be fraudulently diverted.
Prof Moyo claimed that NOIC was forced to mortgage the national oil pipeline to secure the $1.2 billion loan and that former Energy Minister Fortune Chasi was fired last week because of the deal.
-statemedia
International pressure continues to pile on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to respect human rights, with the United States embassy in Harare also raising concern over the matter yesterday.
“Zimbabweans’ rights to freedom of expression, speech and association remain enshrined in their Constitution. Citizens exercising their civil rights, such as Godfrey Kurauone, Hopewell Chin’ono, Jacob Ngarivhume, should have those rights respected,” the US embassy tweeted.
Several civic, Christian and human rights organisations also slammed the State for using hate speech against perceived enemies, among them Catholic priests who recently called government to order.
The government described the Catholic bishops as “genocidal and evil-minded” for calling it out on its increasing human rights violations.
Several human rights and political activists, journalists and opposition political supporters are languishing in remand prison, while others have been arrested, charged and released for alleged subversion.
Over 60 opposition members were abducted and tortured in the run-up to the July 31 protests, while more than 30 are in hiding.
Investigative journalist Chin’ono, who unmasked corruption involving US$60 million after senior government officials issued a tender to Drax International without due process, and opposition leader Ngarivhume are also languishing in prison after being denied bail for allegedly organising the anti-corruption protests.
Kurauone, an MDC Alliance activist and Masvingo councillor, was arrested after reporting to the police on July 31 as part of his bail conditions.
Several local, regional and international organisations and governments have condemned the gross human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
But government has denied that there is a human rights crisis in the country despite evidence of torture, abductions and arrests of innocent citizens who are viewed as enemies of the State.
The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) whose pastoral letter called out the government over the deteriorating human rights situation, was seen as a ploy to “sow seeds of internecine strife as a prelude to civil war and national disintegration” by Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa has gained support from international, regional and local organisations.
-Newsday
Today, at Harare Magistrates Court, Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi will hand down his ruling on an application filed by @ZLHRLawyers representing @adv_fulcrum challenging his placement on remand on charges of obstructing or defeating course of justice.
— ZLHR (@ZLHRLawyers) August 18, 2020
Renowned political scientist Professor Jonathan Moyo says President Emmerson Mnangagwa has no other option but to axe Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa for her statement in response to the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) Pastoral Letter of 14 August 2020.
Mutsvangwa read a statement that was apparently full of hate, scorn and tribal undertones which was chiefly aimed at Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu, and Roman Catholic bishops.
Mutsvangwa said the government “vehemently object to and strongly condemns the Pastoral letter of Archbishop Ndlovu and his coterie of Catholics Bishop prelates”.
She characterised Archbishop Ndlovu as an “errant and evil Bishop” who posited “as the leader of righteous Ndebele minority by fanning the psychosis of tribal victimization”.
Prof Moyo has warned President Mnangagwa that if he fails to fire Mutsvangwa, he would be speeding up his own ouster from power. Moyo posted on Twitter:
“After Monica Mutsvangwa’s unprecedented genocidally and tribally framed diatribe against Archbishop Ndlovu, Ndebeles and Catholic Bishops; Mnangagwa has no option but to fire her or risk expediting his now inevitable ouster!”
Prominent investigative journalist Mduduzi Mathuthu, who is ZimLive editor and has been targeted by authorities for exposing high-level corruption, has also called for Mutsvangwa’s sacking. He said:
“Monica Mutsvangwa must go. She has abdicated her position and allowed her irrational and rabid husband to launch an unprovoked tribal attack on the Ndebele people, using vile language unfit to come from a government mouthpiece. It’s hate speech, it’s ‘evil-minded’.”
-Pindula
The shiny limousines and ramshackle taxis that share Zimbabwe’s roads have one thing in common — both sets are among thousands of vehicles that are smuggled into the country annually, prejudicing the treasury millions of dollars in taxes.
With the local car assembly industry hardly operating, Zimbabweans have been forced to import cars, and figures from the government statistics office ZimStats shows that more than US$5 billion has been spent on vehicle imports since 2009. But some of the cars are brought into the southern African illegally by corrupt importers who undervalue their cars in connivance with clearing agents, law enforcement agents and government officials, according to recent court records. An expert in the sector says Zimbabwe is losing about US$5 million dollars every year to smuggling, under-invoicing of car imports, money which could be used to procure national essentials such as drugs.
“We are struggling economically and in these desperate times, we could be using this money for COVID-19,” said the official from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), who declined to be named.
Zimbabwe is battling to finance its already ailing health sector to deal with coronavirus as local cases continue to rise.
In a letter written in June to the World Bank, IMF and the African Development Bank, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said Zimbabwe needed at least US$200 million to fight the pandemic.
Official statistics show that, on average, 4 000 new and pre-owned vehicles imported from countries such as Japan, Britain and South Africa are cleared for entry through Zimbabwe’s Beitbridge border post every month with Zimra collecting at least US$8,5 million dollars in taxes.
Zimra is currently charging up to 96% duty for used car imports so on average, a modest vehicle attracts import duty of between $2 500 and $5 000.
Beitbridge on Zimbabwe’s border with South Africa, is southern Africa’s biggest inland port.
While Zimra officials were available to discuss details of vehicle smuggling, recent high profile court cases involving a top government official and a businessman give as insight into the magnitude of the problem.
Former Principal Director for State Residences in the Office of the President and Cabinet Douglas Tapfuma was sentenced to four years in prison in June after being convicted on three counts of criminal abuse of office for importing duty-free eight vehicles through the use of forged documents.
Wealthy businessman Genius “Ginimbi” Kadungure, who has a collection of top-of-the-range sports cars, was recently convicted of under-declaring the price of a Bentley Continental GT that he bought in South Africa last year, and paying US$81 000 in import duty instead of nearly $140 000. This scam was a classic case of trade under-invoicing, which is responsible for a substantial proportion of illicit financial flows around the world.
According to US based Global Financial Integrity (GFI), trade misinvoicing cost Zimbabwe US$1 billion over a ten-year period indicating the in adequate detecting systems in the country’s trade systems. The losses result from a form of customs and/tax fraud involving exporters and importers purposefully false reporting the cost and quantity of commodities.
GFI senior economist, Rick Rowden in June this year told NewZimbabwe.com website that, “For Zimbabwe’s trade with all of its global trading partners in US$ terms we identified gaps totalling US$694 million for the year 2017, and an average sum of nearly US$1 billion ($1 010.9 million) over the ten-year period of 2008 -2017.”
GFI says that trade under-invoicing accounts for around 87% of the estimated $70 billion that Africa loses annually through illicit financial flows. Last November, Zimra seized 433 cars that had been imported into Zimbabwe without paying customs and excise duty. At least 74 Zimra officials were arrested and a dozen others dismissed. Zimra did not give details on how the vehicles managed to get into the country without paying tax, but a source at the organisation said there was a criminal syndicate behind the scams: “It’s a syndicate involving the importer, the clearing agents, the tax authority’s employees and car dealers who …manipulate the customs clearance procedures.”
An official with one of the leading Japanese used car exporting companies t said: “Eighty (80) percent of people who buy cars from us request that we undervalue their invoices for duty purposes. We don’t have a problem doing that for them as long as we get our payment. That is one of the reason we have many Zimbabweans buying from us.”
The official — who declined to be named — said they exported at least 3 000 secondhand vehicles to Harare every month while a clearing agent at Beitbridge said they connived with Zimra officials to create fictitious Customs Clearing Certificates (CCC) which they use to release and register vehicles as duly imported. After releasing the vehicles, the syndicate shares the loot from the unpaid duty, according to the agent.
The revenue that Zimbabwe is losing could be going into plugging its acute shortages of fuel and medicines.
Zimbabwe Anti-corruption Commission (Zacc) spokesperson John Makamure confirmed that Zacc had helped Zimra seize some vehicles that were smuggled into the country without paying import duty.
“We do joint operations with Zimra and our duty is to investigate that a person might not have paid duty and we seize the assets,” he said.
-Newsday
My Fellow Zimbabweans
Today we attend our court at Tredgold Courts Bulawayo & Our Trial date has been set to 26 August & We are in Good spirit …#ZimbabweanslivesMatter @ZLHRLawyers @realnigelndlovu @PacheduZW @LynneStactia @khosiez @DougColtart @ZimEye pic.twitter.com/98PKIKbSsD— Dr Nyasha William Gwazemba PhD (@DrNyashaForMP) August 17, 2020
Incarcerated journalist Hopewell Chin’ono is now in Court waiting for Magistrate Nduna to hand down his ruling on state request to have Beatrice Mtetwa of ZLHR to be removed as his lead lawyer.
More to follow….
By A Correspondent- International pressure continues to pile on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to respect human rights, with the United States embassy in Harare also raising concern over the matter yesterday.
“Zimbabweans’ rights to freedom of expression, speech and association remain enshrined in their Constitution. Citizens exercising their civil rights, such as Godfrey Kurauone, Hopewell Chin’ono, Jacob Ngarivhume, should have those rights respected,” the US embassy tweeted.
Several civic, Christian and human rights organisations also slammed the State for using hate speech against perceived enemies, among them Catholic priests who recently called government to order.
The government described the Catholic bishops as “genocidal and evilminded” for calling it out on its increasing human rights violations.
Several human rights and political activists, journalists and opposition political supporters are languishing in remand prison, while others have been arrested, charged and released for alleged subversion.
Over 60 opposition members were abducted and tortured in the run-up to the July 31 protests, while more than 30 are in hiding.
Investigative journalist Chin’ono, who unmasked corruption involving US$60 million after senior government officials issued a tender to Drax International without due process, and opposition leader Ngarivhume are also languishing in prison after being denied bail for allegedly organising the anti-corruption protests.
Kurauone, an MDC Alliance activist and Masvingo councillor, was arrested after reporting to the police on July 31 as part of his bail conditions.
Several local, regional and international organisations and governments have condemned the gross human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
But government has denied that there is a human rights crisis in the country despite evidence of torture, abductions and arrests of innocent citizens who are viewed as enemies of the State.
The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) whose pastoral letter called out the government over the deteriorating human rights situation, was seen as a ploy to “sow seeds of internecine strife as a prelude to civil war and national disintegration” by Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa has gained support from international, regional and local organisations.
The various organisations, in solidarity messages to the bishops, said Mnangagwa’s government must address the human rights issues and acknowledge that there is a crisis in the country which needs to be solved.
Pro-democracy leaders and human rights defenders under the banner Platform for Concerned Citizens (PCC) led by political scientist Ibbo Mandaza, Zimbabwe Peace Project director Jestina Mukoko, author Tsitsi Dangarembga, ex-Finance minister and Mavambo/Kusile/ Dawn party leader Simba Makoni and other human rights defenders who include Tony Reeler, Briggs Bomba, Godfrey Kanyenze and Frances Lovemore, yesterday castigated government for using hate speech against the bishops.
“We take the strongest possible exception to the attack on the ZCBC and in particular the defamatory attacks on the person of its chair, Archbishop Robert C Ndlovu. It can only be described as hate speech,” the PCC statement read.
“This is a scurrilous attack on the Catholic Church, one of the strongest domestic supporters of the people of Zimbabwe, which has maintained this support for decades, both before and after Independence.
“The ZCBC commitment to the people of Zimbabwe cannot be doubted or challenged by anyone, except selfserving hypocrites. Thus we call on all churches, national and regional, to express their support for the ZCBC, to express their distaste of the intolerance shown by Zanu-PF and the government of Zimbabwe to citizens exercising their constitutional rights.”
Recently, Zanu-PF acting spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa lashed out at South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party after its secretary-general Ace Magashule expressed concern over the human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
However, the PCC said the move was “ample evidence that Zanu-PF government was unable to conduct itself as a responsible member of the regional and international communities” because it was now “intolerant to advises, even from esrtwhile comrades”.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) said the ZCBC pastoral letter echoed the groans of the people of Zimbabwe who are suffering the effects of the current crisis.
“As the bishops chronicle the tragic situation in Zimbabwe, they showed solidarity with the poor who have no one to defend them in the current situation and call the society to show compassion. They reminded the government that servant leaders place the interests of their followers ahead of their self-interest and needs,” ZimRights said.
“We are appalled that such a message of peace, solidarity with the poor and call to dialogue has been met with hate and venom from the government of Zimbabwe. The response did not address any issues raised by the bishops.”
The organisation said raised concern over the use of hate speech against the bishops, particularly the ethnic attack on the person, identity and dignity of Ndlovu.
The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) said it was worrying that the government was consistently not taking responsibility for its own failings characterised by corruption, policy inconsistency and failure to unite the nation towards a common vision.
“The denialism that characterises the government of Zimbabwe’s handling of criticism has now become a deeply worrying trend. The blame shifting labelling of critical voices as regime change agents and terrorists smacks of the government’s unwillingness or inability to engage on the basis of ideas as well as robbing citizens of any hope that thing can improve,” ZCC said.
The ZCC said the government response to the ZCBC pastoral letter was overtly emotional and disrespectful for a formal communication, adding that using public media to utter disrespectful communication against the person of Ndlovu does not only present the government as inappropriately deploying State resources, but increases the toxicity already characterising public space.
Opposition Alliance for People’s Agenda (APA) secretary-general Albert Gumbo said:”APA is taken aback, but not surprised, at the reaction of the Government of Zimbabwe to the pastoral letter issued by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference on the current situation in Zimbabwe. For the sake of clarity, and with reference to this particular context, APA would like to point out the following undeniable facts regarding the history of the Catholic Church in the Rhodesia era and independent Zimbabwe.
“During the armed struggle, Zimbabwe benefited from the moral high ground of a just cause as well as the support of a powerful ally in the church. The Catholic Church went as far as providing refuge, in dangerous times, for liberation fighters at its institutions, such as Silveira House.”
MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa also voiced concern and described the diatribe aimed at Catholic bishops as unfortunate and shocking.
“The church, being the moral compass and conscience guardians, must speak truth to power in any society. Government’s vitriol and diatribe aimed at the Zimbabwe Catholic bishops’ position on the current political and economic instability is evidence that Zimbabwe is, indeed, in turmoil,” Chamisa posted on Facebook.
-Newsday
The opposition MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa has written to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) telling them that the Zimbabwean government governance and human rights crisis deserves the regional grouping’s attention.
The statement is issued when the just ended 40th SADC Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government was full of praises to President Mnangagwa for chairing The Organ for Politics, Defence and Security (Organ) in a remarkable way.
Some say SADC has a blind spot for member states, particularly, parties that fought in the liberation struggle, therefore, the regional grouping will not do anything to address the Zimbabwean crisis.
We present MDC Alliance’s statement issued by the party’s Secretary for International Relations Gladys Hlatshwayo in full below.
MDC-ALLIANCE
17 August 2020
ZIMBABWE’S POLITICAL CRISIS DESERVES SADC ATTENTION
We note that the Communique of the just ended 40th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government has omitted the deteriorating governance and legitimacy crisis in Zimbabwe. Whereas the Communique has taken note of the security situations in some countries including Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, we urge regional leaders to equally pay attention to the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe. Under the cover of COVID-19, the Government of Zimbabwe has intensified its crackdown on human rights defenders including journalists, lawyers, labor unions, civic society, the church and the opposition for exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
In response to citizen discontent owing to grand state corruption and plummeting socio-economic standar.. the political elite has abused state institutions to carry out systematic abductions, torture, extra-judicial killings and unlawful arrests. In the short period before and after the July 31 2020 peaceful citizen protests, we have recorded at least 146 cases of human rights violations against our members including 38 abductions. The situation, coupled with the lack of cohesion in government now pose a serious threat to peace and security in Zimbabwe and the SADC region in general.
We reiterate that genuine inclusive national dialogue to agree on a comprehensive reform age. and platform through an agreed neutral facilitator supported by SADC. The African Union and the international community at large remains the only plausible route to extricate Zimbabwe out of its current state.
We urge SADC to urgently intervene in Zimbabwe in line with the SADC Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security in order to maintain regional peace and security.
By A Correspondent- Pomona dumpsite in northern Harare is bellowing smoke and chemical gases across a swathe of northern suburbs since Friday when a faulty power cable ignited the blaze.
The Air Force of Zimbabwe has provided a fire tender to boost the fire fighting teams at the site and a group of residents are active in sourcing equipment, fuel and water to help the fire-fighting teams.
In an interview, chief fire officer Mr Lovemore Mafukidze said the fire started last Friday when an electrical transmission cable fell down and ignited the rubbish.
Mr Mafukidze said, “We still need to improve on other things. We need to have water points around the dumping site so that when these fires start they are tackled at their infancy and also that it would be easier to deal with fires when they start. In this incident, the wind was our worst enemy,” he said.
He also wants rubbish dumped at the site in future covered with soil to avoid such incidents.
A Mt Pleasant resident, Ms Helen Davidson, speaking for a group of residents organising practical assistance said several companies and individuals over the weekend assisted the local authority.
Mashwede Holdings mobilised a tipper truck and 100 litres of diesel and a local fuel company Trek donated 400 litres of diesel.
She said although there was a shortage of machinery and equipment, among other resources, the expectation was that work at the dumpsite was going to take between one to two weeks to get the situation under control.
“We also want water tankers with water so that the fire trucks could fill from these rather than going off to find water. I am fairly certain that I can assure any water-delivery companies that you will be supplied with fuel, if you are able to donate the water.
“The idea would be for the bowsers to be waiting in a safe area of the dumpsite and the fire trucks would then be able to fill up from them, rather than having to trek miles to refill,” she said.
Ms Davidson urged other organisations and individuals to assist as they were expecting approximately 100 people to come and work at the dumpsite at any time.
-statemedia
By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, George Guvamatanga has claimed that the country did not lose any money in the deal with Drax International.
His remarks contradict earlier reports which suggested that the country lost over US$60 million after Drax International supplied medical equipment and personal protective equipment (PPEs) at inflated prices.
He made the remarks while speaking to ZBC on Sunday in a wide-ranging interview which came when the then Health Minister, Obadiah Moyo has since been sacked over the deal.
Guvamatanga claims that when the issue made headlines and dominated social media, it had since been raised in Cabinet by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and corrective measures already being implemented.
Watch the video below for more.
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By A Correspondent- The new Minister of Health, Constantino Chiwenga is yet to meet doctors and nurses to address the challenges plaguing the country’s public health system.
The Zimbabwe Nurses Association said that there had been no attempt to address workers’ demands as yet through formal engagement.
Chiwenga opted to take over the Health and Child Care portfolio following differences with President Emmerson Mnangagwa over the sacked Obadiah Moyo’s successor, it has emerged.
Mnangagwa last week announced that he had appointed Chiwenga the new Health minister, sparking speculation on the motives behind the surprise move that has been described as unconstitutional by some legal experts.
Lawyers say a VP is not allowed to double up as a minister in terms of the constitution.
Insiders told The Standard that Chiwenga wanted Health and Child Care deputy minister John Mangwiro, who is his personal doctor, to take over the ministry, but Mnangagwa did not agree.
After the haggling, the VP is said to have volunteered to take over the portfolio.
Chiwenga is said be among a section in government that were said to be unhappy with the scandals that have rocked the Health ministry related to the procurement of medical equipment to fight Covid-19.
Moyo is on $50 000 bail over abuse of office charges after he was accused of single-handedly awarding a tender to Delish Nguwaya, a close friend of Mnangagwa’s children.
Nguwaya was arrested over a US$60 million drugs procurement scandal.
He was also freed on $50 000 bail by High Court judge, Justice Pisirayi Kwenda, who said the businessman cannot be blamedfor approvals made by government officials.
According to sources, Chiwenga pushed for Moyo’s sacking following his arrest.
Chiwenga, according to sources, feels the corruption in the Health ministry will dent the party’s performance in the 2023 general elections.
Mnangagwa also appointed Air Commodore Jasper Chimedza as Health permanent secretary, replacing Agnes Mahomva, who was moved to the new position of chief coordinator for the country’s response to Covid-19 in May.
“Chiwenga’s first task is to get doctors and nurses back to work and I am sure he is going to do that this coming week,” a well-placed source said.
“He will try to make things work in the Health ministry and all hospitals to function and save lives, reinventing his legacy in the process.”
It was, however, not immediately clear how Chiwenga would get the health workers back at work, but the source said negotiations for government to pay them United States dollar-based salaries were already in progress.
Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba refused to comment on Chiwenga’s appointment, saying: “I am too serious for those kind of conversations.”
A fortnight ago there were reports that Mnangagwa and Chiwenga clashed over an alleged plot against the president in the ruling Zanu-PF.
Some of Chiwenga’s loyalists were accused of being involved in the organisation of the July 31 protests and this led to the suspension of politburo member Cleveria Chizema after posters publicising the demonstrations were allegedly found in her house.
Chizema has denied being involved in the plot and says she suspects the posters were planted by her enemies in the party.
Standard-DailyNews
By A Correspondent- A 32 year old man has been jailed 15 years for raping a sex worker and robbing her of R200 and her cellphone.
Thobani Moyo from Ntabenende area in Esigodini pleaded not guilty to rape and robbery charges but was convicted due to overwhelming evidence by Gwanda regional magistrate, Mrs Sibonginkosi Mkandla.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison of which three years were suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within the next five years.
He will serve an effective 12-year jail sentence. Prosecuting, Mr Khumbulani Nyoni said Moyo met the complainant at Ntabenende Business Centre at around 11PM and offered to pay her for her services and she agreed and they went to his home.
”On 11 March Moyo met the complainant at a bottle store at Ntabenende Business Centre where she was drinking with her friends. He approached the complainant and offered to pay for her services and she agreed and they proceeded to his house.
“The complainant demanded to see the money which Moyo was going to give her first before she could entertain him. Moyo refused and insisted on producing the money after they were done. The complainant refused and threatened to leave if the accused person wasn’t going to show her the money. Moyo then produced a knife and threatened to stab the complainant if she didn’t comply with his orders. He ordered the complainant to remove her clothes and went on to rape her. He further took R200 which the complainant had and her cell phone and ordered her to leave,” he said.
Mr Nyoni said the complainant fled to a neighbouring house where she narrated what the accused person had done to her. The matter was reported to the police resulting in the arrest of the accused person.
In his defence the accused person said he engaged the complainant who is a commercial sex worker for her services. He said when they left the business centre, they had agreed that he would pay her R150 in exchange for her services.
Moyo said after they were done the complainant started demanding R200 as payment.
“I gave her the R150 which we had agreed on but she demanded R200 which I didn’t have. She refused to leave my house insisting that I give her the extra R50 up until I forcibly removed her from my house. When she left, she threatened to fix me and that’s when she went on to fabricate the allegations. I did not rape the complainant as she had consented to sexual intercourse or rob her off her money,” he said.
-statemedia
President Emmerson Mnangagwa will today issue a response to a pastoral letter from the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC). What do you think he will say? #ZimbabweansLivesMatter @MakomboreroH @CdeEffort @cdesetfree @Cde_Ostallos @TendaiChirau @FoxLion2028
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 18, 2020
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa will today issue a comprehensive response to a pastoral letter from the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC), Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana said yesterday.
In a post on micro-blogging platform Twitter, Mr Mangwana said “regarding issues around the pastoral letter by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, President Mnangagwa is going to issue a comprehensive statement tomorrow (today)”.
By A Correspondent- Finance and Economic Development Permanent Secretary, Mr George Guvamatanga, said he made his money working in the private sector for more than 30 years, and rising to chief executive of Barclays Bank Zimbabwe, long before joining the civil service in November 2018.
He was reacting to social media pictures of a family visit to Victoria Falls using a private jet.
The family went on holiday after Mr Guvamatanga and eight of his family members recovered from Covid-19.
After the images went viral, sceptics questioned his capacity to hire a jet.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Guvamatanga said he accumulated his wealth in the private sector and he got a golden handshake when he left Barclays.
“I spent 30 years with Barclays Bank of which 23 of those was as senior executive and 10 years as the chief executive officer. It is known in the market that when I left I was paid a package running into millions of United States dollars.
“It is also important to note that I left after having successfully put together and led a consortium of managers (at Barclays Bank Zimbabwe) that wanted to acquire the bank and had secured funding for that, although Barclays Plc opted for another buyer,” said Mr Guvamatanga.
Barclays Bank sold its majority stake in Barclays Bank Zimbabwe to Malawi’s First Merchant Bank Capital in 2017 although former managers of the bank’s local operations led by Mr Guvamatanga had also bid to buy the shares.
When the bank changed hands, the new owners and Mr Guvamatanga agreed to part ways.
“I also remain a businessman with interests spanning real estate, insurance, retail and distribution and farming, which I established before joining Government. I joined Government from the private sector because I felt my experience would help in how Government is run and make a difference” he said.
Mr Guvamatanga was appointed Permanent Secretary in September 2018, 10 months after leaving Barclays, as part of the Government drive to upgrade State financial systems and controls.
-statemedia
By Patrick Guramatunhu- “The (November 2017) coup has been over taken by events and there has been an election in between, the disputed results notwithstanding.
It is what it is and now we must focus on getting Zimbabweans to have a good and sober look around and re-examine their potential choices for 2023,” said Albert Gumbo. He is the secretary general of Alliance for People’s Agenda (APA) led Dr Nkosana Moyo.
“The elected must govern and if they can’t, they must be voted out at the next election!”
Dr Moyo was one of the 23 presidential candidates in Zimbabwe’s 31st July 2018 harmonised elections. The parliamentary and local elections were an equally hotly contested affairs. Zanu PF went on to win the presidential race and 2/3 majority in parliament, the result was never in doubt as it was clear the party was going to rig the elections and did.
Of course, it is most infuriating that Zimbabwe’s corrupt, incompetent and sell-out opposition politicians continue to refuse to acknowledge a simple historic fact that Zanu PF rigs elections and it is therefore nonsensical to keep talking of the people voting the regime out of office. After 40 years of rigged elections under our belt they still pretend they have no clue what constitutes free, fair and credible elections!
Of course, Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections. The regime deny 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora a chance to register and vote, a very significant number since Mnangagwa claimed victory with 2.4 million votes. There was no free and independent media. But most notable of all, the regime failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, a legal and common sense requirement!
The opposition candidates not only knew that Zanu PF was blatantly rigging the elections but, worst of all, they also knew that by participating in the elections regardless, they would give the process “credibility”.
“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” wrote MDC Alliance senator David Coltart in his book.
“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”
So the opposition gave Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal election process credibility and, by extension, the results the modicum of legitimacy! Zanu PF offered the opposition politicians the few gravy train seats as their reward for participating and giving the regime legitimacy.
Since the rigged 2018 elections Zanu PF has not implemented any democratic reforms and, as we can see, the opposition are gearing to participate in the next elections. And with no reforms in place Zanu PF is certain to rig the elections and we will be back in the situation we are in today and have been for the last 40 years – stuck with the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship.
The settled Zimbabwe election cycle is Zanu PF rigging elections, the opposition paying lip service to demanding reform, no reforms are implemented, the opposition participate giving legitimacy to yet another Zanu PF rigged elections and so back to a new cycle. If we are to break this vicious cycle we must fight on two fronts:
We can be 100% certain that if Zanu PF is in power until 2023, the party will rig the elections. We can also be 100% certain that Zimbabwe’s opposition parties, all 130 of them at the last count, will participate in the flawed and illegal elections. It is incumbent on us to make sure the next elections are free, fair and credible.
“If Zanu PF have failed to govern, vote them out in 2023!” The people have failed to do so these last 40 years precisely because Zanu PF rigs elections. The only reason why the opposition politicians refuse to acknowledging that Zanu PF rigs elections is they are now working in cahoots with the regime!
Finance Secretary George Guvamatanga has claimed that the Zimbabwean government did not lose any money as a result of the corrupt deal between the government and Drax.
The deal which never went to tender involved Drax selling Covid-19 medical equipment at heavily inflated prices. According to Secretary Guvamatanga there was no contract between the government and Drax only an attempt to sign a contract.
Watch video downloading below. Please be patient as the video downloads.
ZIMBABWE ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION COMPANY
HARARE REGION
NOTICE TO OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS
The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) would like to advise its valued customers that there would be a power interruption on Tuesday 18 August 2020 from 0600-1800 hrs for the purpose of carrying out critical maintenance works.
During this maintenance period, electricity will not be available in the following areas: Seke industrial Area, Delat, Surface, DMB, Southern Granite, and parts of Chitungiwa Unit J.
Customers are advised to treat all circuits as live during this period as power may be restored without notice.
The inconvenience caused is sincerely regretted.
Eng. A.N. Gurupira
General Manager-Harare Region
ZBC
THE removal of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the Western world will not only benefit Zimbabwe, but the whole region, outgoing SADC chairperson Tanzanian President, Dr John Magufuli, said on Monday.
Delivering his address at the 40th SADC Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government, virtually hosted by Mozambique the incoming chair, Dr Magufuli praised President Mnangagwa, the outgoing chairperson of the Organ on Politics Defence and Security Cooperation (SADC Troika), for his exemplary leadership.
The virtual meeting, that was attended by 14 Heads of State or Government and two representatives from Mauritius and Comoros, was held under the theme “SADC 40 years Building Peace and Security and Promoting Development and Resilience in the Face of Global challenges”.
President Mnangagwa led a delegation that included ministers and senior Government officials during the virtual meeting attended by Heads of State or Government from Angola, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho. Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Eswatini, Seychelles and Zimbabwe.
Dr Magufuli said one of the achievements during 2019, was the unity displayed by SADC member states, which collectively denounced sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the Western world bringing suffering on the general populace.
The SADC denunciation of the sanctions culminated in the adoption of October 25 as a solidarity day by African states to call for the unconditional lifting of the economic embargoes.
“During the 39th summit, we passed the resolution to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe which were imposed since 2001. In that resolution we approved October 25 of every year to be a special day against sanctions in Zimbabwe where member states will be conducting various activities including preparing dialogues and declarations against the sanctions on Zimbabwe,” he said.
Dr Magufuli said SADC member countries also spoke against sanctions during the United Nations meetings and other international platforms as a way of demonstrating support to Zimbabwe.
He said last year the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe was removed from the sanctions list in a positive sign of what a united region can achieve.
The sanctions, Dr Magufuli said, hurt children and women the most and therefore world nations should join hands in calling for their removal.
“It is my strong belief that our nations will benefit if sanctions on Zimbabwe are lifted. It will offer an invaluable contribution not only to Zimbabwe but to the entire continent. These are some of the achievements we have been able to achieve during the past year,” Dr Magufuli said.
Turning to regional peace, particularly flash points in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Lesotho, Dr Magufuli said President Mnangagwa, as Chairperson of the SADC Troika, worked hard in finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts.
“For the past year, the issue of security continued to reign in our community with some of the conflicts in our area including DRC and Lesotho. It is impressive to say that the Chairperson of SADC Troika, my brother President Emmerson Mnangagwa worked hard through his efforts to seek a permanent solution in the DRC,” he said.
SADC executive secretary, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax also applauded President Mnangagwa for exemplary leadership during the past year.
The summit elected Mozambican President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi as the chairperson of SADC and Malawian President Dr Lazarus Chakwera as the incoming SADC chairperson for 2021, while Botswana president Mokgweetsi Masisi was elected chairperson of Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa elected as the incoming chairperson of the Organ on Politics Defence and Security Co-operation in 2021.
In his acceptance speech President Nyusi said he was going to perform his duties with humility and a high sense of responsibility.
“We commit to fulfil the mission and obligations of SADC and we count on the support of every member state and SADC Troika. We will consult starting from now,” he said.
He saluted the founders of the regional bloc, set up in 1980 as a development of the Frontline States and expanded as more countries in the region became independent or democratic, for their contribution towards the political and economic independence of the region.
The summit approved the SADC vision 2050 which is based on a firm foundation of peace, security and democratic governance and is premised on three interrelated pillars: industrial development and market integration, infrastructure development in support of regional integration and social and human capital development.
The three pillars recognise gender, youth and environment and climate change and risk management important cross cutting components.
Hopefully, next year’s summit will be a face to face meeting if the world manages to decisively deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Press Statement
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) reiterates its position that there is need for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to widely engage with electoral stakeholders on electoral issues. The call comes against the backdrop of the recent gazette of 15 vacancies that arose in the National Assembly and the Senate.
The Network notes that the move to gazette the vacancies by ZEC paves way for the respective political parties to make the necessary replacements. This will ensure that constituencies do not remain without representatives in the Senate and National Assembly. The process of replacing these vacancies does not require by-elections since they are under the PR system.
However, the process of replacing the recalled members of parliament is coming at a time conflicting decisions have been handed down by different Judges of the High Court, in one case a High Court Judge granting a provisional order interdicting the replacement of some recalled proportional representation members of parliament, and in another similar matter a Judge of the High Court dismissing the urgent application. In both instances, we understand that the matters were taken on appeal. In our view, it would have been prudent to await the finalization of the appeals in the Supreme Court before initiating the replacement process.
ZESN has further noted that the PR seats vacancies are not the only vacancies in parliament. The other vacancies that arose in the National Assembly following the expulsion and or recalls of some Members of Parliament can only be filled by National Assembly by-elections as the previous incumbents won the seats through the First – Past – the – Post, that is, Single Member Plurality System.
ZESN takes cognizance of the reasons provided by ZEC for suspending electoral process that require face to face interactions. Nevertheless, ZESN recommends that ZEC should utilize virtual means of consulting with stakeholders such webinars. These enable conversations that can allow for the dispelling speculation and rumors surrounding electoral processes, which presents fertile ground for the peddling of misinformation by electoral stakeholders especially by some sections of the electoral contestants and their parties.
Sustained engagement with stakeholders even under the current lockdown, using social media and other virtual platforms will go a long way to cement trust in the work of ZEC. It will improve understanding by electoral stakeholders of how the electoral calendar has been and will likely be affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN)
Own Correspondent
Prophet Jay Israel who claims to have died and risen again after fasting for over 35 days has made a sensational claim that Emmanuel Makandiwa and his spiritual son Evidence Chari killed and concealed the death a Chinese baby.
The boy’s father is reportedly a worker at the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe.
Watch the video below as the fight over the power of God by these self proclaimed prophets keeps deepening.
https://youtu.be/Vh7Xuvpn0t4
Senator Monica Mutsvangwa
The Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services
Archbishop Robert C Ndlovu
Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Commission
RE: Letter of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop’s Commission and the response by Governement of Zimbabwe through Minister of Information, Publicicty and Boradcasting Services.
As people living in the Diaspora by virtue of not being in our beloved countries of birth albeit in the mother continent, we are compelled to make a comment on the two documents referenced above.
We will start by appreciating the communication from both parties as it stands indicative and informative. In terms of the Zimbabwean constitution and the international bill of rights as expounded in the Unirvesal Declaration of Human Rights, section 60 and 61 of the constitution of Zimbabwe places both writers within their rights. It is the positions they both hold and the institutions they represent and the content of their documents that has invited our comment.
The ZCBC is not a government of the country in Zimbabwe or elsewhere but an institution of faith or worship like any other with significance of comment attributed by the beholder. On the contrary Senator Mutsvangwa’s statement clearly shows that it is the voice of the GoZ. We have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the two communications and therefore will treat them as they purport to be.
To the ZCBC our view is that the letter opines the views of the institution in Zimbabwe as represented by its leadership which they are entitled to and the reference to scripture is of notable considering the institution represented. This indeed is clear cut in our view and commendable to be able to come up and share views representing the people of Zimbabwe affected by the torrid economic conditions in the country, courtesy of whatever one wants to attribute the the causes to. The letter even puts forward 5 bullets representing the claimed five core issues to be addressed in resolving the conundrum. In our view it is not a mere attack or trashing but a request to be engaged in solving what appears to be the problem.
On the extreme hand we have a response, long and seemingly grammatically incoherent inundated with verbosity, one needs a dictionary to try and make sense of it. We must admit that as per the office of the respondent, it appears the sense of communication is lost in these big words. The little that we made out of the letter is that the Minister either responded to hearsay or she failed to understand the letter she was attempting to respond to, or she has her own preconceived ideas she is responding to that she knows the Archbishop for.
The ZCBC in the letter in no way talks of the 31 July 2020 March, the reference to ‘The March is Not Ended’ as taken from the speech at the Funeral of John Robert Lewis, talks of freedom, human rights and civil rights struggles which are not only Zimbabwean. A grade 2 pupil would easily pick that up. The response of the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) in this instance is buffling and upsetting because it seeks to isolate the President of the ZCBC as being devisive and a Ndebele tribalist. The GoZ further likens Gukurahundi to the American Civil War, that cannot be furthest from the truth.
Gukurahundi was not a civil war because there were no warring groups but an intent and contrived agenda to wipe out the Ndebele population (Former President Mugabe acknowledged it as a moment of madness, although not moment but over half a decade of massacre) which stood unarmed attacked by trained specialised murder weapons and forces of the State which bayoneted open pregnant women to reveal the dissident children growing inside. The people of Zimbabwe and Africa cannot continue to be patronised by the GoZ as expressed in this letter to be ridiculed and rubbished and told lies over and over about Gukurahundi. This, renews calls for a genuine attempt at dealing with those atrocities and bringing to book those responsible.
The ZCBC mentioned in passing the Gukurahundi, the GoZ on the other hand to divert attention, decided to single out the Archbishop of Harare and referred to the leadership as a ‘coterie’ meaning a small group, that is devoid of the truth because the thousands of Zimbabweans seen in Zimbabwe and outside Zimbabwe wanting to protest cannot be a small group as they appear to share the sentiments of the ZCBC.
The GoZ acknowledges the economic disintegration in the country but places the blame on sanctions and the social unrest on dark forces and agents of illegal regime change. This clearly shows that the GoZ and the ZCBC both acknowledge that there is a problem in the country but apportion blame on different sources which is the only difference. The GoZ in its response could not have been more disingenuous and disrespectful of the populace (to borrow its term) about labelling the ZCBC as a coterie and representing tribalistic views.
In any case, it is the GoZ trying to single out people to try and tell them to stand separated using the divide and rule principle. Africa must wake up and smell the coffee. The people of Africa are rising up sooner than later as shown by the similarities in their situations, their unite of purpose in fighting what they find unacceptable like government corruption, dictatorships, abuse of law, disregard of the human rights of the ordinary people.
The GoZ brings through its letter the terms righteous Ndebele minority and the sowing of sins of collective guilty on the Shona majority. This analogy from a government is sickening and beyond comprehension and shows the desire of government to rule by divide principles. The Gukurahundi is seen to be a mere dark spot in the nation building of Zimbabwe. Nation building using such a brutal and inhumane act, and the GoZ sounds to brag that the act was an action of nation building.
The failure to take to task the Minister who said these words clearly shows that GoZ stands with her and holds true these sayings and has no intentions of dealing with the gruesome and murderous streak of Gukurahundi and holds it as a joke and laughs scornfully at those seeking recourse and closure from these happenings.
To state that Archbishop Ndlovu admitted that the 31 July 2020 uprising failed shows that the government employs gross incompetence in valuable offices as shown above. How do the Minister interpret statute if she fails such a simple letter and reads what is not there? This begs the question of the qualification of people in government and is an insult to Africa with so many technocrats and graduates. “The March is Not Ended” simply is a term talking about nation building and according to the GoZ fighting dark forces and sanctions which cause the collapse of the economy and according to others not in government fighting corruption, nepotism, patronage politics, human rights violations, and many others.
We are of the view that the GoZ if it needs to be taken seriously will act swiftly by firing the Minister in question and employ a qualified information and broadcasting specialist who will understand diplomacy, nation building, sensitivity and the plight of the people, and this cannot be the Senator in question who sounds exactly what she calls the Archbishop unless this indeed is GoZ position.
Yours faithfully
Dr Vusumuzi Sibanda
ADGN President
Emmerson Mnangagwa rushed to remove Energy minister Fortune Chasi over a string of issues that were allegedly causing a strain between them including factionalism in the ruling party, a report has suggested.
Chasi, who was one of the most popular of ministers in Mnangagwa’s Cabinet, is also said to have been deemed a threat to the first family’s interests which is suffering allegations of gross corruption.
The details are suggested in a report by the weekly Standard newspaper which quotes a source saying Chasi became a suitable replacement of Mnangagwa chosen by the Chiwenga faction.
The article, partly printed below, passes these suggestions however obtaining clues from faceless sources. ZimEye reveals the video of a Mnangagwa loyale, the Presidential advisor, Chris Mutsvangwa who openly fingers Chasi while at the same time saying that the events of the last few days were geared at removing Mnangagwa.
Mutsvangwa said his boss Mnangagwa cannot be corrupt because he set up an anti-corruption commission.
Speaking to the state broadcaster, ZBC, Mutsvangwa said Mnangagwa cannot be accused of corruption because he has fulfilled the constitution by setting up the Zimbabwe anti-corruption commission, ZACC. The organisation is led by Justice Loice Matanda Moyo whose husband, Sibusiso Moyo has been named in a USD1,2 billion scandal allegation that torched storm at the weekend as the reason why Mnangagwa has fired Energy Minister Fortune Chasi.
Her organisation was still to comment on the allegations at the time of writing.
Recently describing the same commission, Mnangagwa personally, and somewhat unwittingly described the organisation as a “new corruption,” which he set up to investigate corruption crimes.
VP Constantino Chiwenga is said to have ordered the brief arrest of Mnangagwa’s daughter, Chido over illegal mining in Mazowe. On another hand, his faction members have dropped dead in the last 3 weeks under mysterious circumstances.
Speaking to the ZBC, Mutsvangwa criticised the 31 July movement which is against corruption. He said,
“Surprisingly those who were behind 31 July didn’t want sanctions they instead invoked The Bogey of corruption, as a reason for people to go into the street and they wanted some how to attach the tag of corruption to the head of state of the country when it is clear that he is the first one who has set up an @ZACConline , as the constitution requires. He has fired ministers including as recently as yesterday because of the tag, because of the stigma of corruption, it has never happened in this country…
“So here is a man who is cleaning the mess, who is moving down the main street, cleaning the sewage, he is now being accused of being the one who is corrupt now that’s where this whole thing was supposed to lead to regime change and removal of the president…” VIDEO:
"Surprisingly those who were behind 31 July didn't want sanctions they instead invoked The Bogey of corruption, as a reason for people to go into the street and they wanted some how to attach the tag of corruption to the head of state of the country …. https://t.co/PJBE7YkERF
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 16, 2020
"when it is clear that he is the first one who has set up an @ZACConline , as the constitution requires. He has fired ministers including as recently as yesterday because of the tag, because of the stigma of corruption, it has never happened in this country…
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 16, 2020
"So here is a man who is cleaning the mess, who is moving down the main street, cleaning the sewage, he is now being accused of being the one who is corrupt now that's where this whole thing was supposed to lead to regime change and removal of the president…"
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 16, 2020
Meanwhile, the Standard article reads:
The Zanu-PF leader announced the shock removal of the former Justice and Transport deputy minister from government on Friday.
According to a statement by chief secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda, Chasi’s “conduct of government business had become incompatible with the president’s expectations.”
He was replaced by the little-known Soda Zhemu, the Zanu-PF MP for Muzarabani in Mashonaland Central province.
Insiders said a Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) report on the chaos at Zesa would be used as an excuse for Chasi’s sacking, but the issues were much deeper.
A week ago, Mnangagwa ordered Zacc to investigate Zesa after suspending the power utility’s executive chairman Sydney Gata and the entire board.
Insiders now say the Zesa issue was a decoy and Gata would be used to implicate Chasi in alleged shady deals.
Insiders said the real issues were that Chasi was being targeted because of suspicions that he had ambitions for higher office.
They said the Mazowe South MP was viewed as an ally of Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga and that he was one of those allegedly plotting against Mnangagwa.
“There is suspicion that the Chiwenga faction considered Chasi as presidential material and in the event the army takes over from Mnangagwa, he could be the new face of Zanu-PF,” the source said.
“Others also considered him a G40 person because he was receiving praise from exiled former G40 hawks.”
A fortnight ago, Mnangagwa and Chiwenga allegedly clashed during a politburo meeting where evidence was allegedly produced that a faction linked to the vice president was plotting against the president.
A politburo member Cleveria Chizema was suspended after posters allegedly promoting the July 31 protests by opposition groups were found at her Harare home.
Chizema was accused of being part of Zanu-PF people that allegedly wanted to use the protests to push for Chiwenga to take over from Mnangagwa.
Zanu-PF sources said Chasi’s sacking was to some extent part of a continuation of a purge that will target those suspected to be involved in the alleged plot.
The Mnangagwa family is also said to have played a big role in the minister’s unceremonious exit.
“Chasi was caught in the crossfire, he has been a victim of family politics and factionalism in Zanu-PF,” the source said.
“Chasi failed to read the politics.”
Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa yesterday refused to comment on Chasi’s dismissal and allegations that Mnangagwa’s family had a role in the minister’s sacking.
“How do I comment on a decision by my principal? You heard it,” Mutsvangwa said.
“It is factual and clear that he was relieved of his duties.
“I am not the one who appointed him so the person, who appointed him relieved him of his duties.”
Factionalism is said to be resurfacing in Zanu-PF over Chiwenga’s alleged ambitions to take over from Mnangagwa ahead of the 2023 elections.
Own Correspondent
The 40th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was held virtually on the 17th August 2020.
Important regional decisions ought to have been made at the 40th ordinary summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Monday. Like whether to send a SADC force into Mozambique to help that country fight and contain a jihadist insurgency in the north. And how to stop the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe from unravelling and spilling over into the region.
The SADC is not good at making big decisions at the best of times. And holding the organisation’s first virtual summit under Covid-19 conditions was not the best of times. Diplomatic sources told Daily Maverick that the governments of the 16 member states had decided beforehand not to discuss sensitive issues – like Mozambique and Zimbabwe – remotely for fear of security breaches.
But even within those severe constraints it was an unilluminating gathering. As usual with such summits, even before Covid-19, most of it took place in camera. Or perhaps, one should say in these strange times, off-camera. But the opening and closing ceremonies were supposed to be open. Yet the transmission was so atrocious that it was almost impossible to hear what anyone said at the opening ceremony.
Either the closing ceremony didn’t happen, or if it did, it wasn’t transmitted. Or not so anyone could pick it up. There was no press conference, which was not surprising. There is no reason – apart perhaps from the likely terrible transmission – why SADC couldn’t have held a virtual press conference. But like some other organisations, SADC had obviously decided to use Covid-19 as a cover for keeping the media and the public safely distant not only from possible infection, but also from any sensitive information.
Mozambique was first referenced in the communique after the summit, obliquely when it said, “Summit received an Assessment Report on emerging Security Threats in the Region, commended the Secretariat for the Detailed Report, and directed the Secretariat to prepare an action plan for its implementation, that will among others, prioritize measures to combat terrorism, violent attacks and cybercrime; and to address adverse effects of climate change.”
More directly, the communique said, “Summit welcomed the decision by the Government of the Republic of Mozambique to bring to the attention of SADC the violent attacks situation in the country, and commended the country for its continued efforts towards combating terrorism and violent attacks.
“Summit expressed SADC solidarity and commitment to support Mozambique in addressing the terrorism and violent attacks, and condemned all acts of terrorism and armed attacks.”
This really took matters no further than the statement after SADC’s Organ on Politics, Defence and Security had met in Harare and also expressed SADC’s “solidarity and commitment” to support Mozambique’s fight against the jihadist insurgency in the north of the country – but without offering specifics.
There was no reference to Zimbabwe at all in Monday’s communique.
Given the solidarity that exists among SADC’s 16 governments, that was not really surprising. Particularly as regional crises are dealt with, in the first place, by the Organ on Political, Defence and Security. The organ’s summit took place on Friday and it was chaired by Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, as Zimbabwe was then chairing the organ. So it’s hardly surprising that Zimbabwe didn’t come up.
Source: Daily Maverick
Read the full communique below:
State Media
A HARARE company that runs an investment scheme offering 50 percent interest within six weeks has shut its offices leaving scores of investors stranded.
Bevern Capital, whose directorship is still unknown, has been operating from Number 12 Lawson Avenue.
According to a notice at the premises, the closure was meant to allow the company to comply with the law.
Part of the notice reads: “Inconveniences caused are sincerely regretted. We would like to advise all our valued clients that we have closed our offices for pay-ins and pay-outs for legal and compliance issues.”
The company assured its clients of reopening soon.
This follows a recent statement by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) that the company had no banking licence as required by the law. The central bank said such investments involving taking money from people required a banking licence, hence the firm was operating illegally.
The central bank stated that another firm, KWD Digital Marketing of 147 Freedom Legacy Road in Gunhill, was also operating in violation of the Banking Act.
RBZ and police last week launched investigations on the two companies and KWD directors reportedly fled to South Africa.
Meanwhile, the police are hunting down the KWD directors with a view to interview them on the legality of the company’s operations.
KWD was offering to double deposits made within four weeks, a promise that is not sustainable in normal business.
HARARE – The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has appointed Alson Mfiri as acting head of news and current affairs, taking over from Gilbert Nyambabvu.
Nyambabvu, who held the high-pressure job for 18 months, is set to become the ZBC’s new director of digital platforms and innovation.
The ZBC did not say what prompted the change, but ZimLive understands Nyambabvu recently ran into trouble after he was summoned and given a rollicking by first lady Auxillia Mnangagwa for suspending a cameraman.
Cameraman Stan Marodza was suspended after causing the broadcasting of a video clip showing President Emmerson Mnangagwa receiving a donation of Covid-19 masks and PPEs from Delish Nguwaya, the country representative of a controversial company – Drax International – which was irregularly awarded tenders worth over US$60 million for medical supplies.
ZBC’s senior editorial team had decided that the clip would not be used, believing they were shielding Mnangagwa from an already raging controversy over how Drax was given tenders. Nguwaya is a business associate of Mnangagwa’s twin sons, Shaun and Collins.
Three days later, however, Marodza allegedly saw an opportunity when most senior editorial gatekeepers were absent and caused the clip to run on the main news.
On June 20, Nick Mangwana, the government spokesman, said on Twitter: “The scam is actually much more intricate than I even imagined. I am informed that after the reporter shelved the story, the scammers got to the cameraman Stan Marodza who managed to get the clip played three days later and then gave the original to Nguwaya for leveraging officials.”
ZBC chiefs were shocked however, on June 23, when Nyambabvu was summoned by the president’s wife who was critical of the original decision not to run the clip, and the subsequent decision to suspend the cameraman.
Marodza appeared before a ZBC internal disciplinary committee last week and was cleared of wrong-doing.
The ZBC head of news job is one of the hardest jobs in journalism. Tightly controlled by the security establishment, ZBC editorial staff have to juggle the competing interests of Zanu PF and government officials – each claiming a stake in the public broadcaster.
“Everyone wants to be on the main 8PM news because they believe the president is watching, they must be seen to be doing something,” a senior ZBC journalist told ZimLive. “Phones ring off the hook during News Hour – well, it had to be extended to an hour and 30 minutes because everyone wants to be on it.”
Mfiri returns to the ZBC from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe where he was recruited by former governor Gideon Gono as his spokesman.
John Mangudya, who succeeded Gono, did not take a shine to Mfiri and sidelined him. He returned to the ZBC earlier this year as director of special projects.
Nyambabvu is also expected to take charge of the ZBC’s long-delayed 24-hour news channel in his new role.
State Media
More than 72 percent of all Zimbabweans who have been confirmed as infected with Covid-19 are now fully recovered, able to resume work, shop and participate in the limited social mixing during the lockdown.
The huge jump yesterday in the number of recovered patients to 3 848, out of the total of 5 308 confirmed cases, came as delayed figures from Harare finally entered the statistics of the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.
The city jumped from 76 recoveries to 1 774 once the recoveries in the city over the past few weeks were included.
There were only 47 new cases yesterday, but three new deaths, on each from Bulawayo, Mashonaland East and Manicaland, to take the cumulative total to 135.
Harare still leads in the number of confirmed cases, with a cumulative total of 2 042, and in the number of deaths, 71.
But it now leads in the number or recoveries. Those 1 774 recoveries are 86 percent of all confirmed city cases. The death toll is 3.4 percent of the confirmed cases. The final 197 city patients are still active and infectious, but hopefully getting better.
Bulawayo has had 1 207 confirmed cases, with 28 deaths, and 873 recoveries while Midlands has 483 confirmed cases so far, but just six deaths and 383 recoveries. Manicaland has 317 cofirmed cses, but 15 deaths and 239 recoveries.
South Africa now has 11 839 deaths from 587 345 confirmed cases, but recoveries are rising to 472 377, about 80 percent of the total with active cases remaining at a little over 100 000.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected Tuesday to issue a statement on the Roman Catholic bishops’ pastoral letter highlighting some social, economic and political issues facing Zimbabwe amid calls for Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa to resign over what some people say are inflammatory tribal remarks.
In a tweet, Information Secretary Nick Mangwana said Mnangagwa is expected to address the pastoral letter, which among other issues, indicated that there are serious human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, arbitrary arrest of state opponents, rampant corruption and other issues directly linked to Mnangagwa’s government.
“Regarding issues around the Pastoral Letter by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, President @edmnangagwa is going to issue a comprehensive statement tomorrow.”
In her response to the pastoral letter, Mutsvangwa said, “With nefarious cynicism to history, Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu is inching to lead the Zimbabwe Catholic congregation into the darkest dungeons of Rwanda-type genocide. The letter seeks the revival and continuation of the perennial vices of division. It has a selective and warp-sided reading of history.
“The errant and evil Bishop has a nauseating mental amnesia of the blight of minority settler rule and its baggage of exploitative racism against the totality of the black majority popular of Zimbabwe. The levity of his mental amnesia is worsened by the fact that he tears off pages of the progressive crusade for justice and democracy that has hitherto been the shining virtue of the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe.”
She also said, “…He wants to posit as the leader of righteous Ndebele minority by fanning the psychosis of tribal victimization.
Concurrently he sows sins of collective guilty on the Shona majority. That way he seeks to numb the spirit of collective national vigilance against the known and proven enemies of the populace of Zimbabwe.
“His transgressions acquire a geopolitical dimensions as the chief priest of the agenda of Regime Change that is the hallmark of the post-imperial major Western powers for the last two decades.”
Archbishop Ndlovu has not responded to Mutsvangwa’s remarks. The pastoral letter has been supported by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Law Society of Zimbabwe and several other non-profit organizations, individuals, opposition parties and ministers of religion.
Some Zimbabweans say the minister should step down, saying she is fanning tribal conflicts in the country.
State Media
NEWLY-appointed ministers, Anxious Jongwe Masuka and Soda Zhemu, yesterday pledged to enhance value addition and institute import substitution to improve the livelihoods of Zimbabweans through increased production and provision of energy in a sustainable way.
Dr Masuka, an agricultural technocrat, took over as Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister following the death of Retired Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri last month, while Cde Zhemu, who is also Muzarabani North legislator, assumes duty as Energy and Power Development Minister, taking over from Cde Fortune Chasi who was relieved of his duties last week.
The two were sworn-in by President Mnangagwa at State House yesterday at a function attended by Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi.
In an interview soon after a closed-door meeting with President Mnangagwa, Dr Masuka said it was high time the country stops importing food, something that could be achieved through increased production.
Dr Masuka said there was need to restore agriculture as the backbone of the economy and anchor of economic transformation through import substitution. His major thrust was to build on the successes already achieved in the sector.
“We are just coming up from a successful winter programme where we had an expanded wheat crop unprecedented in the past few seasons. So we can build on those successes and ensure that we start the preparation for the summer season now. The short-term and immediate objective is to ensure that we have increased production this season but the overall scheme of things is that the broader strategy in pursuit of Vision 2030 is to make agriculture central again to the development of the country.
“There will be focus on food security, import substitution, diversified and expanded exports, value addition and beneficiation employment creation and improvement of rural livelihood in pursuit of that vision,” said Dr Masuka.
“We have hit the ground running. There is no option, people need to eat every day, and we cannot continue to import what we eat.”
Minister Zhemu said his thrust was to push President Mnangagwa’s vision through ensuring that there was sustainable availability of energy, which was central to the development of the economy across all sectors.
“Obviously issues to do with electricity, energy and power are very critical. The President has enunciated the vision where we are looking at adequate and sustainable power generation. Obviously we will have to follow what has been put forward by the President in order to achieve the vision. I know certainly people are interested to know about issues about power because they are key enablers towards the achievement of Vision 2030.
“Talk of agriculture, mining, all the processes that we are looking at as a nation, power is a prerequisite. I will work harder to ensure that the vision is achieved but obviously it is a process,” said Minister Zhemu.
Zimbabwe, under the leadership of President Mnangagwa is pursuing Vision 2030, to be a middle class income with signs already showing that notwithstanding setbacks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic the country will achieve its goals.
Dr Masuka, who has national and regional reputation, has held several research and management posts, mostly at high level, in his career.
He began in the teaching field as a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe in the Department of Biological Sciences as well as at the Zimbabwe College of Forestry.
He has also worked at the Forestry Commission, the Tobacco Research Board where he rose to general manager, and before his appointment he was the chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society.
Dr Masuka has cumulatively sat on over 30 boards and associations, and has been involved in consultancy work to projects in the field of agriculture, forestry, environment, public health and rural development in Zimbabwe, in SADC region and beyond.
He is a founding fellow of the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences in 2004.
Minister Zhemu is expected to bring quality management skills. He is a holder of a Masters’ in Business Administration, and has a certificate in quality management systems.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA Zimbabwe) has expressed concern over “tribally connotative” utterances attributed to Information Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, who attacked head of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu after Catholic bishops issued a blistering pastoral letter, citing human rights abuses and rampant corruption as the major causes of the current social, economic and political crisis in the country. We present below MISA Zimbabwe’s statement issued by chairman Golden Maunganidze.
The tribally connotative remarks attributed to the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Senator Monica Mutsvangwa, following the pastoral letter issued by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC), are not exemplary or helpful when viewed in the context of the constitutional obligations that bind senior government officials.
In her strongly worded response to the pastoral letter, Minister Mutsvangwa singled out and accused Bishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu, ZCBC president, of leading the bishops on the pathway of petty tribalism, narrow regionalism and racial antagonism.
Media should guard against hate language, uphold Constitution
MISA Zimbabwe’s great concern in that regard is informed by the minister’s proximity to the media, more so as it pertains to the public media, which, as is expected with all other media, should guard against being the purveyors of hate language.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe by virtue of its being, the supreme law of the country, binds every person including the State, executive, the legislature, the judiciary and agencies of government to fulfil its obligations.
Section 56, which deals with equality and non-discrimination, stipulates that every person has the right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner on the grounds of their nationality, race, colour, tribe, place of birth, ethnic or social origin, language, class, religious belief, political affiliation, opinion, custom, among others.
In that regard, ministers and government officials, among others, should be exemplary in upholding the supremacy of the Constitution. Equally, the media plays an important role in ensuring that it does not disseminate information that is likely to engender discrimination, hostility or enmity on the basis of one’s tribe or ethnic or social origin.
State actors should use temperate and measured language
The media should always, thus be on high alert and guard against propagating information that has the potential of triggering tribal or ethnic hostility among the citizens of Zimbabwe. While Section 61 of the Constitution provides for freedom of expression and media freedom, it emphasizes that these freedoms exclude, incitement to violence, advocacy of hatred or hate speech and malicious injury to a person’s reputation or dignity.
Public officials, should in that vein, be mindful of statements that have the potential of inflaming hatred or discrimination along racial, tribal or ethnic lines and should always use temperate language in their communication or responses to issues to avert animosity and hostility among citizens.
These issues speak to the core and imperative need to secure the editorial independence of the public media and safeguard it from being abused by public officials as has been of concern over the years.
This will allow the media space to independently weigh the effect of pronouncements by public officials, all political parties and politicians, by subjecting them to due scrutiny and regard as dictated by the ethics of the profession for the sake of national peace and stability critical to socio-economic development and prosperity.
Statements or pronouncements by politicians, regardless of their political affiliations, should thus be subjected to the profession’s rigorous checks and balances as opposed to regurgitating them word for word in their potentially explosive context.
This demands the media be impartial and afford fair opportunity for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinions as highlighted and advised by the Constitution in terms of the enjoyment of the rights to media freedom and freedom of expression.
This is not to say the media or journalists should suppress essential information but should do its utmost to verify and rectify information that has the potential of being harmfully inaccurate. This can be achieved by reporting both sides of the story and the inclusion of as many voices as is possible to assist the public in making informed, but lawful decisions and choices as provided for in the Constitution.
MISA Zimbabwe, therefore, implores, politicians, more so those tasked with communicating government positions to use temperate and measured language while being tolerant of constructive criticism and divergent views.
That is the hallmark of mature politicians and politics which goes a long way in lowering the highly charged socio-economic and political environment, thereby, leaving room for dialogue and engagement on critical national issues.
Golden Maunganidze
MISA Zimbabwe Chairperson
State Media
Air Zimbabwe has rescued 132 citizens that were in China since the Covid-19 lockdown began early this year.
The flight carrying 132 citizens touched down at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport at 8.23am yesterday.
Air Zimbabwe spokesperson Ms Firstme Vitori confirmed the arrival of the B767-200ER.
“We successfully operated a repatriation charter flight for Zimbabwean and South African nationals out of Guangzhou, China, via Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Johannesburg (South Africa) and Harare,” said Ms Vitori.
“The flight, with support from Government, was chartered by Maple Aviation. It was operated by Air Zimbabwe’s B767-200ER ‘Chimanimani’ which touched down at RGM International Airport in Harare at 0823hrs today (yesterday), with 132 Zimbabwean nationals.”
The Air Zimbabwe flight flew out to Guangzhou on Saturday.
Zimbabwean students in China made up the majority of the rescued passengers.
The students had been stuck in China following the Covid-19 lockdown and the subsequent cancellation worldwide of most commercial flights.
Parents paid at least US$1 000 each to bring back the students on the charter.
Air Zimbabwe has been commended for repatriating many Zimbabweans across the world, especially from Asia, despite operating one aircraft, the B767-200ER.
The aircraft has previously developed technical problems and the last flight lasted over a month after the plane developed engine trouble in Bangkok, Thailand.
ZIMBABWE’S POLITICAL CRISIS DESERVES SADC ATTENTION.
We note that the Communique of the just ended 40th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government has omitted the deteriorating governance and legitimacy crisis in Zimbabwe. Whereas the Communique has taken note of the security situations in some countries including Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, we urge regional leaders to equally pay attention to the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe. Under the cover of COVID-19, the Government of Zimbabwe has intensified its crackdown on human rights defenders including journalists, lawyers, labor unions, civic society, the church and the opposition for exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
In response to citizen discontent owing to grand state corruption and plummeting socio-economic standards, the political elite has abused state institutions to carry out systematic abductions, torture, extra-judicial killings and unlawful arrests. In the short period before and after the July 31 2020 peaceful citizen protests, we have recorded at least 146 cases of human rights violations against our members including 38 abductions. This situation, coupled with the lack of cohesion in government now pose a serious threat to peace and security in Zimbabwe and the SADC region in general. We reiterate that genuine inclusive national dialogue to agree on a comprehensive reform agenda and platform through an agreed neutral facilitator supported by SADC, the African Union and the international community at large remains the only plausible route to extricate Zimbabwe out of its current state.
We urge SADC to urgently intervene in Zimbabwe in line with the SADC Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security in order to maintain regional peace and security.
Gladys Kudzaishe Hlatyvvayo Secretary for International Relations
State Media
Finance and Economic Development Permanent Secretary, George Guvamatanga, said he made his money working in the private sector for more than 30 years, and rising to chief executive of Barclays Bank Zimbabwe, long before joining the civil service in November 2018.
He was reacting to social media pictures of a family visit to Victoria Falls using a private jet.
The family went on holiday after Mr Guvamatanga and eight of his family members recovered from Covid-19.
After the images went viral, sceptics questioned his capacity to hire a jet.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Guvamatanga said he accumulated his wealth in the private sector and he got a golden handshake when he left Barclays.
“I spent 30 years with Barclays Bank of which 23 of those was as senior executive and 10 years as the chief executive officer. It is known in the market that when I left I was paid a package running into millions of United States dollars.
“It is also important to note that I left after having successfully put together and led a consortium of managers (at Barclays Bank Zimbabwe) that wanted to acquire the bank and had secured funding for that, although Barclays Plc opted for another buyer,” said Mr Guvamatanga.
Barclays Bank sold its majority stake in Barclays Bank Zimbabwe to Malawi’s First Merchant Bank Capital in 2017 although former managers of the bank’s local operations led by Mr Guvamatanga had also bid to buy the shares.
When the bank changed hands, the new owners and Mr Guvamatanga agreed to part ways.
“I also remain a businessman with interests spanning real estate, insurance, retail and distribution and farming, which I established before joining Government. I joined Government from the private sector because I felt my experience would help in how Government is run and make a difference” he said.
Mr Guvamatanga was appointed Permanent Secretary in September 2018, 10 months after leaving Barclays, as part of the Government drive to upgrade State financial systems and controls.
Breaking: Home Affairs minister, Kazembe Kazembe has vowed to apprehend Job Sikhala in the coming 72 hours. He accused the security Team that was searching for him to be working with him. The Ferret team on the manhunt of Job Sikhala, has since been changed. -more to follow
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 17, 2020
IT’S something that will not make headlines but Marvelous Nakamba finished among the Top Five ball-winning midfielders in the English Premiership last season.
Only Declan Rice, Phillip Billing, N’Golo Kante and Wilfred Ndidi did better than the Zimbabwean among the players who played, at least, 1 500 minutes.
That’s according to defensive data collected by the authoritative sources at Breaking The Lines.
So, in simple terms, Nakamba, for a player in his first season in the Premiership, played very well.
His role is to win the ball and play it out — not gain the headlines.
But, in the post-season breakdown of Aston Villa players, Nakamba is someone who flies under the radar a little bit — despite his general importance to the team.
He didn’t score important goals, he wasn’t a regular starter post-lockdown, and he wasn’t involved in many critical moments.
He’s been linked to a few moves away — but do Villa really want to see the back of Nakamba?
Was it a bad season for Nakamba then?
By no means.
The tough-tackling midfielder emerged as an early star during the tough first portion of the season, and even earned a spot on some highlight reels thanks to a crunching challenge in the League Cup final, against Manchester City.
He’s rather unique in this Villa side as well.
The early stages of the season saw Nakamba singled out as a top performer and crucial to the side.
According to Statsbomb, Villa had given “Nakamba a thankless job, and he’s doing it admirably’’.-The Herald
The government owned Chronicle newspaper reports how ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa began kidnappings back in November 1980.
Mnangagwa is accused of a string of abductions that have happened in the last 5 years.
The report dated 22 November 1980, says:
POLICE are holding some people In Bulawayo and Salisbury for investigation, a Government spokesman announced today. They are being held on the orders of the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa who is in charge of state security. A brief official statement today said: “Some people are being held in Salisbury and Bulawayo for Investigation. They are being held by police special branch on the orders of the Minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office.”
The Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Joshua Nkomo, who is also the leader of ZAPU, said nine top officials of his party had been rounded up. At a news conference at his home in Highfield, Salisbury, Mr Nkomo said seized were: Mr Mark Nziramasanga…the secretary for information and publicity; Mr Sidney Malunga, MP for Matabeleland North; Mr C Z Moyo, the party’s Parliamentary Whip; Mr Richard Ndlcrvu, Mr Dan. Mabusa, Mr Charles Sigangatsha, Mrs Zodwa Sibanda, Mr Fletcher Dulini.
Chronicle: From 22 November 1980 POLICE are holding some people In Bulawayo and Salisbury for investigation, a Government spokesman announced today. They are being held on the orders of the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa… pic.twitter.com/QAJNlW7jLt
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 18, 2020
…..
who is in charge of state security. A brief official statement today said: "Some people are being held in Salisbury and Bulawayo for Investigation. They are being held by police special branch on the orders of the Minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office"…
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 18, 2020
the secretary for information and publicity; Mr Sidney Malunga, MP for Matabeleland North; Mr C Z Moyo, the potrty's Parliamentary Whip; Mr Richard Ndlcrvu, Mr Dan. Mabusa, Mr Charles Sigangatsha, Mrs Zodwa Sibanda, Mr Fletcher Dulini.
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 18, 2020
The ferocity with which Mutsvangwa read government’s response to ZCBC pastoral letter is one of guilty.
The deliberate and desperate attempt to isolate Bishop Ndlovu from the Catholic Church is fore-boarding and therefore worrying.
I pray that God protects him from the anger of a wounded lion.
Some non God fearing kings of Israel responded in the same way to the prophets that spoke Gods mind.
To Bishop Ndlovu, be strengthened in the inner man with might through the Holy Spirit.
Your pastoral letter has done it.
Bishop Ancelimo Magaya
A pastoral letter to the churches and the people of Zimbabwe
Let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (Amos 5:24)
To the churches and people of Zimbabwe,
Grace and peace from the God of life and the Lord Jesus Christ
Christian greetings from the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, and the World Methodist Council.
We have heard the laments of our sisters and brothers in your country and we are deeply concerned about the circumstances by which you are afflicted.
We express our solidarity with all the people of Zimbabwe yearning for the realization of their human rights, for justice, and for physical and economic security in their communities.
We have heard of the deteriorating conditions for women, children, young people and men whose lives and livelihoods are facing increasingly serious threats each day, with approximately half of the entire population facing hunger, staggering unemployment rates, corruption and insecurity, the country is crying out for effective accompaniment.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the economic challenges and seriously affected the already fragile public health and education systems.
The ongoing medical doctor’s strike has caused millions of Zimbabweans – including children and pregnant women – to have no access to essential medical care.
While we understand the gravity of the challenges posed by the pandemic, we also recognize that the root causes of corruption and the longstanding failure to protect human rights lie in failed governance structures.
We condemn the increasing use of force, violence and intimidation against people protesting these failures, targeting particularly those deemed to oppose the current government.
We are particularly concerned about the mistreatment of political activists and other advocates for human rights.
We strongly condemn the sexual abuse and violence against women activists. We find the incarceration of journalists and political leaders unacceptable.
We are encouraged by the ongoing ministry of churches in Zimbabwe to serve the most vulnerable and call on you to keep remembering the ‘least of these’ even as you remain steadfast in your hope in Christ Jesus.
May your voice continue to be raised on behalf of the most vulnerable.
We believe that the God of life calls us into action for justice for the oppressed.
We pledge our solidarity with you as we lift up your cries for justice, dignity, and protection of their human rights.
We shall continue to advocate together with our member churches for this cause.
Sisters and brothers, we assure you of the continued prayers of the global Christian family.
Hold steadfast to the faith that we share, which binds us together in Christian unity, and compels us to seek justice and work for peace.
In solidarity,
Rev. Prof. Dr loan Sauca, WCC Interim General Secretary
Rev. Dr Martin Junge, LWF General Secretary
Rev. Dr Chris Ferguson, WCRC General Secretary
Bishop Ivan M. Abrahams, WMC, General Secretary
At least three Zimbabweans died after being involved in a three-truck pile up at the treacherous Kapiringozi Escarpment along the Chirundu-Kafue Road in Zambia.
The accidents occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning when the driver of one of the trucks lost control of the vehicle as it was descending the mountainous area, rammed into an oncoming truck before hitting a broken down truck, igniting a huge inferno.
An unknown number of people in the trucks were burnt beyond recognition.
Zambian police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Esther Katongo confirmed the accident adding that two Zimbabwean drivers had so far been positively identified.
“Police in Chirundu received a report of a road traffic accident which happened today 16th August, 2020 around 6.40am on Chirundu-Kafue road at Kapiringozi hills involving three trucks.
“Involved in the accident was an unknown motor vehicle driven by an unknown driver with unknown number of passengers who are suspected to have been burnt to ashes,” she said.
One of the deceased drivers was a 25-year-old Zimbabwean who was driving a Volvo truck which had broken down while the other one was driving a truck with suspected Jet A1 fuel which could have ignited the inferno.
“The accident occurred when the unknown driver who was driving the completely burnt truck and was descending the hill lost control due to excessive speed and hit into a FAW Motor vehicle which was carrying suspected Jet1 Fuel. It also hit a stationary Volvo truck which had a break down and all the vehicles caught fire and were completely burnt,” she said.
Police and the fire brigade managed to put out the fire but the number of people who have died in the accident has not yet been established.-The Herald
The state media has reported saying that the the June-July Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) examinations have been completed without a Covid-19 case being reported in centres countrywide.
The examinations went ahead after the Government put in place measures inline with World Health Organisation guidelines to protect candidates and invigilators, the state-owned chronicle reported.
The news release comes however at a time when the military general who took over power from former president Robert Mugabe has assumed authority as the country’s health minister. Analysts say now that he is in power, Constantino Chiwenga will do command reporting, following his modus operandi before and after the coup in the agriculture ministry, an operation he titled, Command Agriculture.
The report says pupils satfor the examinations between 30 June and July 23 under Covid-19 prevention guidelines including wearing of masks, social distancing and temperature tests.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Cain Mathema yesterday said, “We would like to appreciate those who administered the Zimsec June Examinations at the schools in particular the school/centre heads and the invigilators who remained professional and efficient despite the difficult operating environment posed by Covid-19 pandemic.
“Extended gratitude goes to some centres which were not originally examination centres but stood in for schools which were being used as Government quarantine centres. Great applause goes to these centres for swiftly rising to the occasion and ensuring that the examinations were successfully undertaken,” he said.
ZIMBABWE Warriors striker, Prince has passed his medical assessment, which paved way for him to complete his move from Highlanders to Azam in Tanzania.
The player, who arrived in the Tanzanian capital city of Dar es Salaam on Sunday, underwent medical tests on Monday, which Azam confirmed he passed. Dube went on sign a contract and will turn out for Azam when the 2020/21 season starts next month.
“Zimbabwe’s international striker, Prince Dube, has passed medical tests ready to join @azamfc , towards next season,’’ posted Azam on Twitter on Monday.
The Tanzanian club later posted a statement on their social media platforms confirming that they had signed the player.
“Azam FC we are happy to inform you that we have completed the registration of Zimbabwe international attacker, Prince Dube, signing him from Highlanders FC. Dube who is one of Zimbabwe’s dangerous attackers, at the national team of local players, comes to Azam FC to increase power in the attack area,’’ read part of the statement.
The Tanzanians said their Serbian coach Aristica Cioaba, is greatly satisfied with Dube’s ability for all the time they followed him until they decided to sign him.
Dube became the seventh registration at free spending Azam in this registration window for next season, with signings being goalkeeper David Kissu, left defender Emmanuel Charles, Ally Niyonzima, attackers, Awesu Awesu, Ismail Aziz and Ayoub Lyanga.
Azam are looking to close off their registration process by signing another foreign striker.
It is understood that Highlanders will pocket US$50 000 from the deal which has seen then part way their most prized possession.
At Azam, the Warriors striker will link up with fellow Zimbabweans, Bruce Kangwa and Never Tigere.-The Sunday News
August 17, 2020: SafariBookings.com, an online marketplace for African safari tours, recently ran its sixt monthly survey among 344 safari tour operators. The survey’s aim was to acquire a detailed understanding of the impact in the safari industry from the downturn in travel associated with the coronavirus pandemic. The results were in line with the previous five surveys – an overwhelming number of tour operators are suffering from a decline in bookings of at least 75%. This is a horrendous figure for an industry which so many people rely on in East and southern Africa.
As one operator told us, “The impact of the virus is global and has been devastating for many people. Of course, the safari business in Tanzania is no exception. We have seen a decrease of more than 90% in bookings and requests, and we have been closed for more than 4 months now.” And in Uganda one operator simply said, “This pandemic has affected the tourism sector to the extent that since February I have not received any quotes or bookings for safaris.”
For interactive charts and 60 quotes from individual operators, please see the full survey results.
Around 91% of operators said they had lost at least three quarters of the bookings they normally rely upon at this time of year. An extraordinary drop in business with many operators unable to afford to even hire local staff. A Namibian operator summed up the situation in Southern Africa, “In Namibia, South Africa and Botswana, our tourism is suffering badly without our usual international clients. Many places have closed until further notice, many people have lost their jobs. It’s really sad times for tourism.”
Seventy percent of operators who responded to our survey said that cancellations had increased by at least 75% on existing bookings. Less than 4% said it was business as usual. “Covid-19 has affected our business negatively, and caused us to lose some of our staff members as most of our clients have cancelled for this year,” an operator from Namibia told us.
As countries such as Kenya and Tanzania become beacons of hope for the safari industry, restarting international flights, there is also a more positive tone taking its first tentative steps from some tour operators. “There are signs that some recovery will begin, probably in the next month once the border between Tanzania and Kenya opens, and as more flights are starting – we believe that the chances are high that business will improve by at least 50%.”
This operator from Kenya even saw the pandemic as an opportunity for improvement, “The pandemic has definitely affected business in the negative. However, but on the other hand it has caused us to think deeper about our business model, which has resulted in us designing a more strategic model that will be able to remain viable even in a crisis.”
A 32-year old man has been jailed 15 years for raping a sex worker and robbing her of R200 and her cellphone.
Thobani Moyo from Ntabenende area in Esigodini pleaded not guilty to rape and robbery charges but was convicted due to overwhelming evidence by Gwanda regional magistrate, Mrs Sibonginkosi Mkandla.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison of which three years were suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within the next five years.
He will serve an effective 12-year jail sentence.
Prosecuting, Mr Khumbulani Nyoni said Moyo met the complainant at Ntabenende Business Centre at around 11PM and offered to pay her for her services and she agreed and they went to his home.
”On 11 March Moyo met the complainant at a bottle store at Ntabenende Business Centre where she was drinking with her friends. He approached the complainant and offered to pay for her services and she agreed and they proceeded to his house.
“The complainant demanded to see the money which Moyo was going to give her first before she could entertain him. Moyo refused and insisted on producing the money after they were done.
The complainant refused and threatened to leave if the accused person wasn’t going to show her the money. Moyo then produced a knife and threatened to stab the complainant if she didn’t comply with his orders. He ordered the complainant to remove her clothes and went on to rape her. He further took R200 which the complainant had and her cell phone and ordered her to leave,” he said.
Mr Nyoni said the complainant fled to a neighbouring house where she narrated what the accused person had done to her.
The matter was reported to the police resulting in the arrest of the accused person.
In his defence the accused person said he engaged the complainant who is a commercial sex worker for her services. He said when they left the business centre, they had agreed that he would pay her R150 in exchange for her services.
Moyo said after they were done the complainant started demanding R200 as payment.
“I gave her the R150 which we had agreed on but she demanded R200 which I didn’t have. She refused to leave my house insisting that I give her the extra R50 up until I forcibly removed her from my house.
When she left, she threatened to fix me and that’s when she went on to fabricate the allegations. I did not rape the complainant as she had consented to sexual intercourse or rob her off her money,” he said. -Chronicle
South Africa’s Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize has revealed that his country has recorded 132 coronavirus related deaths bringing the total number of deaths to 11 879.
The minister also said that there were 162 more Covid-19 related deaths – 70 from Eastern Cape, 27 from Gauteng, 21 from KwaZulu-Natal, 6 from Free State, 18 from North West and 20 from Western Cape
Mkhize also said the total number of coronavirus cases stood at 587 345 after a 3 692 increase in infections over the past 24 hours. In a Sunday update, he said:
We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health care workers who treated the deceased.
The number of recoveries currently stands at 472 377 which translates to a recovery rate of 80%.
South Africa has the highest number of infections on the African continent and is also among the most affected globally.
The health department claims that over 3.4 million people have been tested for coronavirus since March and in the past 24 hours, just over 22 000 people were tested.
South Africa has prepared over a million graves for coronavirus victims in Gauteng.- IOL News
Farai Dziva|The Zimbabwe Council of Churches has urged Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa to retract attacks on Catholic Bishops with immediate effect.
In a statement on Sunday government accused Archbishop Richard Ndlovu of inciting civil unrest.
See ZCC statement below :
The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC.) read with grave concern, the government response to the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) pastoral letter of the 146 of August 2020 entitled “The March is not Ended”. The government response presented by Mrs Monica Mutsvangwa, the minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, revealed the following worrying signs:
1. Responsibility: While the churches, including the ZCBC, have consistently identified the partial negative contribution of natural disasters and international isolation to government’s economic performance, it has however noted with grave concern that, the Government of Zimbabwe consistently takes no responsibility for its own failings characterized by corruption, policy inconsistencies and above all, failure to unite the nation towards a common vision.
The denialism that characterizes the Government of Zimbabwe’s handling of criticism has now become a deeply worrying trend. The blame-shifting labelling of critical voices as ‘regime change agents, and recently “terrorists” smacks of the government’s unwillingness or inability to engage on the basis of ideas as well as robbing citizens of any hope that things can improve.
2. Personalization: Pastoral letters, including the “The March is not Ended”, are products of prayerful discernment by the college of bishops informed by compassionate listening to the experiences of the congregants.
Singling out the Most Revd Archbishop Richard Ndlovu, can only be viewed as undermining the most asset and character of the church that is its Unity. Our humble interpretation is that this is meant to isolate individuals from a collective discernment proem with the sinister aim of diluting the collective voice of the church. The ZCC takes with exception any efforts to interfere with the unity of the Church for which Jesus prayed for in John 17:21.
3. Courtesy: The government response was overtly too emotional and disrespectful for formal communication. Using public media to utter disrespectful communication against the person of Archbishop Ndlovu does not only present the government as inappropriately deploying the resources of the state, but also increases the toxicity that is already characterizing our public space. if the government had strong objections to the Bishops’ communication, it could have addressed those issues without appearing to be discourteous to the viewers of the only national television station. The government will do well through its public officials to instil positive engagement on the basis of ideas than to use public media to buttress negativity.
4. Unity: The government response to the pastoral letter “The March is not Ended”, also missed its unifying and national orientation but instead appropriated distorted historical links and false comparisons with the Rwandan genocide. While the comparisons arc unfounded and outrageous, they also seem to be intentionally or unintentionally stoking ethnic and tribal divisions which actually resulted in loss of thousands of lives in Matabeleland and Midlands during the Gukurahundi. To frivolously associate the bishops’ statement with such a major deep scar in the history of the nation, is not only insensitive to the existing present pain of those affected by Gukurahundi, but also gives the impression that the government is paying lip-service to national healing and reconciliation.
The government statement could have been worth ignoring if it was only falsifying history, but it cannot be ignored as it appears dismissive of the invaluable work done by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, under the ZCBC, to offer documentation of the atrocities committed by the army during that dark period. The legacy of Gukurahundi still stalks the nation as those past hurts remain unhealed.
His Excellency, President ED Mnangagwa has on several occasions spoken of the need to find healing on these past hurts, yet the government position gives the false impression that the 1987 Unity Accord brought closure to that episode.
3. Courtesy: The government response was overtly too emotional and disrespectful for formal communication.
Using public media to utter disrespectful communication against the person of Archbishop Ndlovu does not only present the government as inappropriately deploying the resources of the state, but also increases the toxicity that is already characterizing our public space.
If the government had strong objections to the Bishops’ communication, it could have addressed those issues without appearing to be discourteous to the viewers of the only national television station.
The government will do well through its public officials to instil positive engagement on the basis of ideas than to use public media to buttress negativity.
4. Unity: The government response to the pastoral letter “The March is not Ended”, also missed its unifying and national orientation but instead appropriated distorted historical links and false comparisons with the Rwandan genocide. While the comparisons arc unfounded and outrageous, they also seem to be intentionally or unintentionally stoking ethnic and tribal divisions which actually resulted in loss of thousands of lives in Matabeleland and Midlands during the Gukurahundi.
To frivolously associate the bishops’ statement with such a major deep scar in the history of the nation, is not only insensitive to the existing present pain of those affected by Gukurahundi, but also gives the impression that the government is paying lip-service to national healing and reconciliation.
The government statement could have been worth ignoring if it was only falsifying history, but it cannot be ignored as it appears dismissive of the invaluable work done by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, under the ZCBC, to offer documentation of the atrocities committed by the army during that dark period. The legacy of Gukurahundi still stalks the nation as those past hurts remain unhealed.
His Excellency, President ED Mnangagwa has on several occasions spoken of the need to find healing on these past hurts, yet the government position gives the false impression that the 1987 Unity Accord brought closure to that episode.
5. History: The ecumenical church’ relationship with the stare has been consistent from colonial Rhodesia to independent Zimbabwe.
The government response presented by Minister Mutsvangwa, seeks to create false discontinuity between the contemporary bishops and the suffering servants of the past.
Such a view misses the importance of continuity of Tradition within Christian theology and practice. The consistency with which the ZCBC and the ecumenical church have pursued justice, peace and unity cannot be forgotten.
Coincidentally, the issues raised by the ‘The March is not Ended” of the 14th of August 2020 are fundamentally similar to calls by Bishop Donal Raymond Lamont in his Open letter to the Rhodesian Government on the 1111i of August 1976. In both cases, the message was well-meaning and consistent with the prophetic traditions of Micah, Amos, Jeremiah, John the Baptist and even our Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who have responded to this salvation history with repentance found life. Those who rejected it suffered destruction, not only in a spiritual sense but also materially.
Calls
6. In light of the issues raised above, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches:
6.1 Seeks to affirm its solidarity with the spirit and intent of the “The March is not Ended” as honest communication aimed at calling the government of Zimbabwe to meaningful and respectful engagement to find solutions to the current pressing issues,
6.2 Seeks to enter into a collective discernment process to understand this government’s preparedness to engage and hence calls for the urgent convening of the National Episcopal Conference of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations to deliberate on the state of the nation and agree on the appropriate ecumenical action
6.3 Calls on all Christians and churches to pray for peace, well-being and courage for Archbishop Ndlovu, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the broad Christian Church in Zimbabwe as they will be demanded to exercise their prophetic and pastoral mandate for the nation.
6.4 Calls on all citizens to remain united across the denominational, ethnic, and political divide realizing that only through active, organized and peaceful citizens’ participation, the nation will be totally transformed.
6.5 Calls upon President ED Mnangagwa to provide leadership by retracting the personal attacks on Archbishop Ndhlovu and the church leaders, but invite the national to an inclusive national dialogue towards a homegrown solution to the challenges that are facing the nation.-Zimbabwe Council Of Churches
Farai Dziva|The Zimbabwe Peace Project has strongly denounced the intimidation of Catholic Bishops by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s troubled administration.
Disgraced Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa accused Archbishop Ndlovu of attempting to cause disharmony in the country.
See ZPP statement below :
ZPP stands with ZCBC
ZPP is deeply concerned with the response by the govt of ZW through the Information minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, to the Pastoral Letter by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop’s Conference (ZCBC) entitled ‘The March has not ended”.
The letter, among other issues, denounced the human rights breaches by government.
Several human rights actors have faced harassment, arbitrary arrests, abduction and torture, particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 induced national lockdown.
The letter also noted how past, unresolved hurts such as Gukurahundi and the current unprecedented corruption levels are contributing to the frustrations of the citizenry.
It is unfortunate that, instead of self introspecting and at least engaging the clergy to deliberate on the issues raised, the government chose to target and launch a tribal attack on the Archbishop, Robert Christopher Ndlovu, accusing him of being evil-minded and misguided.
Such attacks are concerning, particularly in an environment where dissenting voices have n abducted or arrested. All the ZCBC has done is, like every other institution that seeks to see values of democracy being implemented, reach out to the govt with the hope for a better ZW
The hate language and vilification by the government only serve to further increase tensions and are a clear disrespect of Sections 60 and 61 of the Zimbabwe Constitution that provide for Freedom of Conscience and Freedom of Expression respectively.
In the last few weeks, many institutions, among them, the @_AfricanUnion , @UN SG, the chairperson of the African Comm for Human & People’s Rights have voiced concern about the events unfolding in the country. @CyrilRamaphosa has also dispatched envoys to Harare on same issues.
ZPP, whose vision is a Zimbabwe where there is Peace, Justice, Dignity and Development stands in firm solidarity with the ZCBC and all signatories to the Pastoral Letter, who called for the much-needed inclusivity, when they noted that “it feels as though the poor have no one to defend them. They don’t seem to feature on the national agenda. Their cries for an improved health system go unheeded.
Their plea for a transport system that meets their transport blues are met with promises & promises and no action”
“…the only time we see real action is when our leaders are jostling for power, to secure it or to ascend to offices of power…”
It is regrettable that the church, where citizens have always found refuge during turmoil is attacked for calling out govt on widespread corruption, the health delivery that has become a death trap and an economy that has seen the majority of people sink deeper into poverty.
It is important for the govt to be cognisant of their obligation to respect the rights of its citizens & protect them as per Constitution & other instruments that include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We, like ZCBC, simply ask government to do the right thing, return to constitutionalism and uphold the rule of law.
ZPP calls for: The govt to acknowledge that the country is facing a crisis which, if left unattended, threatens to spiral out of control impacting the generality of citizens.
Continued denial of a crisis that is there for all to see is not going to make it disappear.
ZPP further calls for: The government to realise that human rights are neither given at the benevolence of the government nor are they a privilege.
Govt to retract the hate statement and properly engage with the ZCBC, the church at large and all Zimbabweans in dialogue
Lastly, ZPP asks government to stop fanning divisions among citizens through use of hate language
ZLHR CONDEMNS VILIFICATION OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
ZIMBABWE
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) stands in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) and condemns the vilification of Catholic Bishops by government which borders on outright fanning of hate speech.
The vilification of the Catholic Bishops came after the clergymen rebuked government’s ominous transgressions in a Pastoral Letter on the “Current Situation in Zimbabwe” issued on 14 August 2020 in which they raised concerns over human rights violations.
In their Pastoral Letter, the Catholic Bishops highlighted and criticised state-sponsored human rights excesses.
In response to the ZCBC’s Pastoral Letter, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Minister Monica Mutsvangwa in a curse-laden tirade against the Catholic Bishops singled out Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu and also raised some unwarranted tribal sentiments.
There can be no justification of this vilification of the clergymen and this anti-Catholic scorn because for the Bishops, speaking out against transgressions is their moral obligation.
As ZLHR, we are greatly concerned that the intolerance of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government on dissent and criticism is becoming more despicable every passing day and we should realise that it is the manifestation of President Mnangagwa’s and his followers’ fear on the people’s legitimate dissatisfaction from a leader who claimed and promised to be a “listening” President which is equally growing.
We have noted that in 2020 while the vilifiers and the vilified are different, the script is the same.
The incendiary statements by government are aimed at inflicting shame on clergymen and to vilify their struggles that spring from righteous causes.
Section 60 of the Constitution provides for freedom of conscience and states that;
“Every person has the right to freedom of conscience, which includes— (a) freedom of thought, opinion, religion or belief; and (b) freedom to practise and propagate and give expression to their thought, opinion, religion or belief, whether in public or in private and whether alone or together with others.”
In addition section 62 of the Constitution provides that; “Every person has the right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom to seek, receive and communicate ideas and other information.”
Besides domestic laws, government is bound by some regional and international instruments including Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides that; “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” and which does not permit any limitations whatsoever on the freedom of thought and conscience.
As clergymen, the Catholic Bishops must not abdicate their sacred mandate as shepherds to whom the Lord has entrusted his flock and no amount of vilification, intimidation or threats should make them give up their critical role, especially that of giving voice to the voiceless.
Being Bishops or clergymen does not divest them of their civil and political rights to free speech, because they are still citizens of Zimbabwe and have the inalienable right to speak about the government’s shortcomings.
ZLHR urges the Catholic Bishops to have faith and take heart as they have long championed people’s rights and freedoms for several decades.
To the Catholic Bishops, always bear in mind the biblical verse in 1 Peter 5:8, which reads; “Be alert and of sober mind.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
To government, ZLHR calls for the withdrawal of its intemperate and inflammatory statement and urges it to embrace constructive criticism and the principles of good governance.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
ZLHR CONDEMNS VILIFICATION OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
ZIMBABWE
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) stands in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) and condemns the vilification of Catholic Bishops by government which borders on outright fanning of hate speech.
The vilification of the Catholic Bishops came after the clergymen rebuked government’s ominous transgressions in a Pastoral Letter on the “Current Situation in Zimbabwe” issued on 14 August 2020 in which they raised concerns over human rights violations.
In their Pastoral Letter, the Catholic Bishops highlighted and criticised state-sponsored human rights excesses.
In response to the ZCBC’s Pastoral Letter, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Minister Monica Mutsvangwa in a curse-laden tirade against the Catholic Bishops singled out Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu and also raised some unwarranted tribal sentiments.
There can be no justification of this vilification of the clergymen and this anti-Catholic scorn because for the Bishops, speaking out against transgressions is their moral obligation.
As ZLHR, we are greatly concerned that the intolerance of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government on dissent and criticism is becoming more despicable every passing day and we should realise that it is the manifestation of President Mnangagwa’s and his followers’ fear on the people’s legitimate dissatisfaction from a leader who claimed and promised to be a “listening” President which is equally growing.
We have noted that in 2020 while the vilifiers and the vilified are different, the script is the same.
The incendiary statements by government are aimed at inflicting shame on clergymen and to vilify their struggles that spring from righteous causes.
Section 60 of the Constitution provides for freedom of conscience and states that;
“Every person has the right to freedom of conscience, which includes— (a) freedom of thought, opinion, religion or belief; and (b) freedom to practise and propagate and give expression to their thought, opinion, religion or belief, whether in public or in private and whether alone or together with others.”
In addition section 62 of the Constitution provides that; “Every person has the right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom to seek, receive and communicate ideas and other information.”
Besides domestic laws, government is bound by some regional and international instruments including Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides that; “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” and which does not permit any limitations whatsoever on the freedom of thought and conscience.
As clergymen, the Catholic Bishops must not abdicate their sacred mandate as shepherds to whom the Lord has entrusted his flock and no amount of vilification, intimidation or threats should make them give up their critical role, especially that of giving voice to the voiceless.
Being Bishops or clergymen does not divest them of their civil and political rights to free speech, because they are still citizens of Zimbabwe and have the inalienable right to speak about the government’s shortcomings.
ZLHR urges the Catholic Bishops to have faith and take heart as they have long championed people’s rights and freedoms for several decades.
To the Catholic Bishops, always bear in mind the biblical verse in 1 Peter 5:8, which reads; “Be alert and of sober mind.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
To government, ZLHR calls for the withdrawal of its intemperate and inflammatory statement and urges it to embrace constructive criticism and the principles of good governance.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
Farai Dziva|MDC Alliance leader Advocate Nelson Chamisa has described the diatribe aimed at Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop as unfortunate and shocking.
“THE CHURCH, being the moral compass and ‘conscience guardians’, must speak truth to power in any society.
Gvt’s vitriol and diatribe aimed at the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ position on the current political &economic instability is evidence that Zimbabwe is indeed in turmoil,” President Chamisa tweeted.
MDC Alliance National Spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere also tweeted :
“The State is at war with Catholic Bishops, journalists, authors, lawyers, the AU, the ANC, the ZSE, diplomats, civic society, nurses, doctors, Econet, Old Mutual, Chamisa – everybody is an enemy. They can’t look within & see the crisis they’ve created. #ZimbabweanLivesMatter.”
“Every progressive Zimbabwean must condemn the incendiary hate speech against Archbishop Ndlovu aired on
@ZBCNewsonline by the Minister of Information on behalf of
@edmnangagwa
& the State. We demand an apology and withdrawal of the unacceptable remarks. #ZimbabweanLivesMatter,” MDC Alliance posted on Twitter.
Farai Dziva|MDC Alliance leader Advocate Nelson Chamisa has described the diatribe aimed at Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop as unfortunate and shocking.
“THE CHURCH, being the moral compass and ‘conscience guardians’, must speak truth to power in any society.
Gvt’s vitriol and diatribe aimed at the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ position on the current political &economic instability is evidence that Zimbabwe is indeed in turmoil,” President Chamisa tweeted.
MDC Alliance National Spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere also tweeted :
“The State is at war with Catholic Bishops, journalists, authors, lawyers, the AU, the ANC, the ZSE, diplomats, civic society, nurses, doctors, Econet, Old Mutual, Chamisa – everybody is an enemy. They can’t look within & see the crisis they’ve created. #ZimbabweanLivesMatter.”
“Every progressive Zimbabwean must condemn the incendiary hate speech against Archbishop Ndlovu aired on
@ZBCNewsonline by the Minister of Information on behalf of
@edmnangagwa
& the State. We demand an apology and withdrawal of the unacceptable remarks. #ZimbabweanLivesMatter,” MDC Alliance posted on Twitter.
Farai Dziva|President Nelson Chamisa has denounced the persecution of ordinary Zimbabweans by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s “paranoid” administration.
The MDC Alliance leader, quoted by NewsDay bemoaned the deepening political crisis in the country.
“We are uncompromising, principled and relentless for real change. As a people, we have seen the worst of our times but we are getting over it soon.
We are focused and on course. We have seen the worst because our people are homeless, no opportunities, no food, no business; politics is at its worst with extreme and advance human rights abuses.
Children are dying in hospitals, curable diseases are killing people.
People are being beaten up every day and I am receiving reports that people are being pursued as if they are common criminals.
There cannot be a free Zimbabwe when people can’t walk free, having State agents breaking into their homes. It cannot be a free Zimbabwe when belonging to an alternative party attracts detention and arrest.”
President Chamisa also accused Zanu PF of attempting to annihilate genuine opposition.
“They have been fighting us as the MDC Alliance. They are trying to take away the people’s party and its name, the people’s headquarters, the MPs, financial resources allocated to us on account of the voters.
Anything they see they are taking away. They want to take everything, but Zimbabwean lives matter. We are the way to the future, the only. It is not as if we don’t know what we are doing.
What we don’t want is to play a game with predetermined results. We don’t want a question with a predetermined answer.
No one fights a weak opponent. They are resorting to hair raising terror against citizens,” President Chamisa told the publication.
Which Way Forward For the Education System in Zimbabwe
15 August 2020
After the heroic resistance by progressive teacher-unions to the reopening of schools without due consideration of the health, safety and welfare of pupils and teachers, the government now seem to have adopted a wait and see approach over the issue of reopening of schools.
Rather than taking a pro-active role in preparing for reopening of schools, the government in general and Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in particular, have taken a lackadaisical approach to the crucial issue of opening of schools.
As Ptuz we have no regrets for the crucial and national role we played in resisting the reopening of schools. As much as we were blamed by some politicians and yellow unions, history has absolved us.
It is becoming more clearly that chances of opening schools this year are far fetched and remote. But even if schools are to open next year, there is a need for preparation towards that, let alone clarity over the 2020 academic year.
Our humble submission is that this is the time for the Ministry to make meaningful engagement with teacher unions in order to map an agreeable possible way forward. The health, safety and welfare of teachers and pupils remain crucial issues to be addressed before schools can open, yet nothing towards this is seriously considered by the government and line Ministry.
There are no clear plans to assist pupils other than homelitic bellicose and rhetoric of radio and television lessons. While the efficacy of such lessons is certainly undoubted, we wonder how this would become a reality in a country where 75 to 80 percent of areas have no television and radio frequencies.
Our sober reflection is that
the country cannot afford to cancel the 2020 academic year even if schools open in January next year. Rather, pupils must be given an opportunity to learn for two to three months before they can write end of 2020 academic year exams.
This can be followed by a 2021 academic year divided into two-three months learning terms and ensure that by end of 2021 we have rectified learning challenges emanating from COVID-19 related closure of schools.
Any other options could give permanent challenges to the education sector. There are those who argue for the cancellation of 2020 academic year.
This would entail that there would be too many students for ECD and grade 1 classes in 2021 as the current pupils would be joined by other pupils in 2021 thereby posing infrastructural challenges. Such students will create permanent challenges every year, and after Grade 7, will create challenges associated with form 1 enrolment.
It is our hope that the govt will learn from history and avoid the challenges faced during the early 1970s when both standard 5 and standard 6 were integrated and allowed to write end of primary education examinations without creating room for expansion and absorption of such pupils for form 1. Consequently, several pupils found themselves out of school.
It is also worrisome that the government is silent about the recently generated discrepancies between teachers’ salaries and other sectors in government.
With a salary ranging from $3800 to $4200 (inclusive of allowances) all teachers have tested positive to poverty and are always scavenging for food.
It is callous for government to ignore the plight of teachers at a time it is pampering other sectors with less qualifications, years of experience and responsibilities with salaries that are 5 times that of teachers.
Government need to invest in quality public education and restore the purchasing power parity of the salary of teachers that was pegged at US$550 in October 2018.
Anything less than this is unacceptable, degrading and monumental labour injustice.
We have noted with concern how the government has used the moribund Apex Council for firefighting, romance and pulling cotton on the eyes of teachers. We, therefore, urge the government to do the most honourable thing by paying teachers US$550 that government unilaterally culled without teachers’ consent. Only well paid and motivated teachers living in safe environment can be dynamic and innovative even during covid-19 pandemic and find acceptable and safe ways to assist their pupils.
To all teachers, the time to unite and fight for an improvement of salaries and conditions of service is now. The time to see that Apex Council is a liability rather than an asset is now. This is a struggle that need everyone, male and female, tall and short, head and simple teacher. We either have to unite as professionals or else we will perish as fools.
By and large, the current parlous state of the education system is unenviable. Indeed, it is the so-called new dispensation that has allowed the education system to degenerate into the terminal ward. The officials in the Ministry of education lack the vision and power to drive the education system to greater heights particularly during the covid-19 pandemic. The government is indifferent and urinating upon teachers and telling them it’s raining.
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary solutions. As managers of the world’s greatest asset, viz, students, we implore the government to plan for a robust improvement of the education system and pay educators well. Failure to plan is planning to fail.
We will not stand idle by to witness cold and calculated educational vandalism. The time to plan for a credible education system is now.
The time to pay teachers well is now. Teachers are workers too and must never be treated as second class citizens of Zimbabwe. We are in essence a vital cog of societal and national development and deserve best treatment by the state in order to engineer a skills revolution and benchmarks towards Agenda 2030.
Venceremos
Dr Takavafira M. Zhou (Ptuz President)
By Hon Job Wiwa Sikhala
31st July Movement
Isolated from family, friends and acquaintances gave me time and opportunity to deeply reflect and search in heart and soul the meaning of everything that is happens in my life and many other Zimbabweans as well. I was six years old in 1980 and l remember vividly my Uncle, the youngest of my father’s siblings Samuel Sikhala who is my closest friend today of all my family members arguing with my father and my other Uncle. The argument was on why it was right to vote for PF ZAPU and Joshua Nkomo for a new independence leadership of our country as they prepared to go to Pamushana Mission to vote. They agreed all of them including their wives, to vote for PF ZAPU. Although young, l understood what they were conspiring to. As a young boy l was always taken to pungwes of ZANLA forces by one Chidoori who purported to be a Svikiro possessed by the Spirit of Mbuya Nehanda who was given sanctuary by my father at our family farm after he ran away from his Mandivengerei village from Bikita. He claimed that the Smith regime security agencies wanted to kill him for the role he was playing for the liberation struggle. On daily basis ZANLA freedom fighters led by comrades Kasikai, Bonde and others were always camping at our farm as it had mountainous and forest hideouts.
I always witnessed my mother’s chickens eaten daily. On other days, young village boys would be send to neighbouring farms to get chickens and mealie meal to feed the guerrillas. Chidoori would smear the ZANLA combatants with snuff (Bute) after making some growling noises which he said was some form of communication and conveyance of the messages to the ancestors and Spirits above. Chidoori lived 23 kms from the Smith forces that were hounding him from his village in Bikita. For almost 2 years he stayed at our home from 1978 to 1980. For all this long they wouldn’t know where he was. He only went back to his village after independence.
It did not take long for people in independent Zimbabwe to live the same life which Chidoori lived. PF ZAPU supporters everywhere started to be hounded for alleged insurrection. Anyone supporting PF ZAPU was labelled a dissident, terrorists as opponents of the current government are being labelled. This included men and women in villages who only had their hoes and ploughs as their weapons of survival. Dear Zimbabweans, some Zimbabweans of deflated mindset urged on the ZANU PF government to assassinate Joshua Nkomo. They labelled him all sorts of names that are currently being thrown against all opponents of the system.
Dear Zimbabweans, in our sober reflections today many of those who supported the persecution of Joshua Nkomo and his supporters are regretting. The sin of omission and commission haunts all of them to the present day. We lacked unity and persued parochial sectoral and party interests. Our daily preoccupation was obsession with power. The hunting for power superceded the core challenges of our society. We sow evil, division among ourselves and normalised absurdities. We lacked compact unity and voice to say this is wrong and we can not allow it. A wrong is a wrong.
Those who are abducting and killing our kith and kin do not have anything or a decent home they call theirs. They are suffering like all of us when their masters eat in abundance. They kill someone for pittance reward and nothing more. It is common in cursed societies, where someone kills for a dollar.
Never again shall we ever be divided by the rulers for them continue plundering our nation. Today, all Zimbabweans have found their voices. Let the voices continue to echo. From Human Rights organisations to Catholic Bishops, to Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe to every men and women in the streets, professional bodies to everyone. Speak Zimbabwe Speak. Let nothing divide us again as a people. Lets remain resolute.
#Free Hopewell Chin’ono
#Free Jacob Ngarivhume
#Free Godfrey Kurauone
NO to Corruption
NO to Looting
NO to Abductions
NO to Torture
NO to Violence Against the Citizens
NO to All Forms of Human Rights Abuses
#ZimbabweUnited
##ZimbabweansLivesMatter.
Lusaka Times
Zambian President Edgar Lungu has thanked Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa for his help in resolving the border issue between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
President Lungu says Dr. Mnangagwa took personal interest in the matter when he served as chairperson of the SADC Troika on Peace, Politics and Security Cooperation.
President Lungu said this during the 4th SADC Virtual Ordinary Heads of States Summit and Governments hosted by Mozambique.
The Head of State also called for peace in the SADC region.
He said from independence, Zambia has been an advocate of peace and unity in SADC.
And Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji said SADC has ratified the 1989 border treaty between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mr. Malanji said the process of putting up beacons will soon be undertaken.
He said the treaty was born because of the commission which was put in place by former President’s Kenneth Kaunda and Mobutu Sese Seko.
Mr.Malanji said both Zambia and the DRC have shown willingness to provide resources for the exercise.
He told Journalists that the Zambian government has thanked Zimbabwe for presiding on the matter when it served as the chairperson of the SADC Organ Troika on Politics, Defense and Security.
Speaking when updated the media on the outcome of the 40th SADC virtual Heads summit, Mr. Malanji further said the presidents resolved to continue promoting peace and unity in the region.
During today’s summit, Tanzania handed over the Chairpersonship of SADC to Mozambique.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa will on Tuesday issue a “comprehensive” statement on the government’s controversial statement in response to the Pastoral Letter by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference on 14 August 2020.
This was revealed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Ndavaningi Nick Mangwana.
Regarding issues around the Pastoral Letter by the
Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference, President @edmnangagwa is going to issue a comprehensive statement tomorrow.— Nick Mangwana (@nickmangwana) August 17, 2020
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime continues under pressure as the grouping of the country’s oldest churches the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), representing over four million Zimbabweans, has joined the growing list of churches and civil society organisations blasting goverment for poorly responding to the Catholic Bishops Conference letter.
The EFZ also issued a statement in support of a Pastoral Letter on the Current Situation in Zimbabwe by Roman Catholic Bishops last week.
Critics believe that the government went too far in its rebuke of the bishops, especially the kind of language that it used.
Below is the statement by the EFZ:
Solidarity Statement with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference’s Pastoral Letter on the Current Situation in Zimbabwe of 14 August 2020
WE STAND WITH THE TRUTH AS ARTICULATED BY THE CATHOLIG BISHOPS
What is tuth? retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, I find no basis for a charge against him- John 18:38.
1. We the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) encompassing 845 member bodies representing over 4.5 million Christians wish to categorically state that we stand in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop’s Conference (ZCBC).
As it is said “we cannot find any reason to condemn them” because what they articulated is the truth and nothing but the truth.
2. On 14 August 2020, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) published a pastoral letter that “bears witness to the truth” that every ordinary Zimbabwean knows and faces every day.
We stand with the truth that the Catholic Bishops so ably articulated; a truth that affects our people on a daily basis; the truth of a multi-layered crisis of the convergence of economic collapse, deepening poverty, food insecurity, corruption and human rights abuses among many others. “The ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire “; we stand with this truth as depicted in Micah 7:3 and articulated by the Catholic Bishops. We stand with the truth “that the government is focused on things other than national democratic priorities”
3. Only the deceitful or malicious can deny these truths. Like Pontius Pilate, there may be those who cannot or will not see the truth even when it stares them in the face shackled in chains and falsely accused. They would rather call the silence of the oppressed “peace”, the brutality of force “justice” and the abnormality that people struggle with every day as “normal”. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely and when this happens every truth is a lie and a veiled threat and every disagreement a revolt. It is true that “If the eye is evil the whole body should be full of darkness”- Matthew 6:22
4. In our Pastoral Letter issued on the 4″ of August 2020, we stated that Zimbabwe is indeed in a crisis-the crossroads between danger and opportunity. “The arrest of citizens and prohibition of mass action has not dented the momentum of discontent and agitation but instead has caused it to gain regional and international attention through the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter which has gone viral.
Arbitrary arrests, abductions, torture and suppression of people’s anger can only serve to deepen the crisis and take the nation into deeper crisis”.
We further called on the ruling authorities to utilize the window that still exists to turn danger into opportunity by entering into dialogue to address the underlying causes of the current crisis and realize the Zimbabwe we all want.
5. True democracy is not built on threatening and criticizing those who speak up or speak out; it is not in denying inconvenient and unpalatable truth; it is not demonizing those we disagree with. Democracy welcomes the truth.
Democracy is built on the search for truth. Feet and bodies may have been stopped on the 31st of July 2020 but the truth still marches on.
Harsh criticism may be poured out on the Church and its leaders but the truth still marches on. Abductions, torture and incarcerations maybe unleashed on journalists and every voice of dissent but the truth will still march on as it did during the struggle for independence against a more sophisticated and superior force of arms, and State machinery that made every aspirant of freedom a hunted terrorist.
6. The truth may be on the cross today and wrong may be on the throne but on the third day, it will rise again because the truth still marches on.
7. We reiterate the need for an inclusive engagement, dialogue and transformation.
#ZimbabweanLivesMatter #ZimbabweWeWant
BY ORDER OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH ZIMBABWE CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE PASTORAL LETTER OF 14 AUGUST 2020
As the Young Lawyers Association of Zimbabwe, a non-political association made up of members of different religious beliefs, we stand in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference and wholeheartedly agree with the contents of its pastoral letter of 14 August 2020.
Further to the same, we condemn the vitriolic response issued out by the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting as well as the comments made by the Secretary of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting on social media and in the press.
The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference have every right, as representatives of members of the Catholic Church to make statements on behalf of their members, and to advocate for the rights of their members as citizens of Zimbabwe.
We further acknowledge the biblical call on members of the Christian faith to “learn to do good; seek justice and correct oppression” as provided for in Isaiah 1:17.
We stand against the violence, intimidation and threats on the rights of Zimbabweans, and continue to call for the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe to uphold the provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the rule of law.
This includes upholding the rights of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of movement and protecting the rights of accused persons to legal representation of their choice and to free and fair hearings before an impartial court.
As members of the legal profession in Zimbabwe, we will continue to offer our services to those who have been unjustly imprisoned, and those who face threats to their inalienable rights.
As per John Lewis, to whom the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference attributed the heading of their pastoral letter:
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something”.
The right to speak up is enshrined in the supreme law of Zimbabwe, and we call on the Government to respect the same.
#ZimbabweanLivesMatter
Correspondent
Arrested Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume will know his fate on Friday after Harare magistrate Trynos Utahwashe Monday reserved ruling on the politician’s bail application.
Ngarivhume submitted that the state feared if he got released ahead of the protests, he was going to mobilise citizens to participate in a violent demonstration on July 31.
His lawyer, Moses Nkomo,argued the changed circumstances were sufficient to justify his release without compromising the initial refusal of bail.
“The passing of July 31 constitutes changed circumstances as he was denied bail due to the potentiality of demonstrations on the day which has come and gone,” he said.
Nkomo said there were only isolated demonstrations and a few arrests made.
He also submitted the demonstrations were not violent and were made in compliance to Covid-19 regulations on social distancing.
Nkomo also submitted that if granted bail, Ngarivhume was ready to pay $5 000 bail, continue residing at his last given address and report once every Friday at the police.
Prosecuting, Michael Reza challenged bail arguing there were no changed circumstances.
“Your Worship, what has happened is that July 31 has now migrated into a movement which is perpetual. This is no longer about a date,” said Reza.
“The primary objective of the movement is to ensure President Mnangagwa does not live out his ambitions to be a president.”
Reza said in the tweets being cited among the evidence, Ngarivhume said it was no longer about politics but a matter of life and death.
“If it was about politics, they would have waited for the 2023 elections,” he said.
Moses Sigauke a nurse, appeared before Magistrate Zihove for routine remand on charges of incitement after he allegedly recorded a video in July while in detention at Mbare Police Station and posted it on Facebook encouraging nurses to join in demonstrating
Prosecutors alleged that Sigauke posted a message on Facebook which reads; “Ngatingouya tizadze camp tese tiite demo yedu tiri mu camp. Handiti ndimo munonzi muri illegal,” which when loosely translated means; “Let’s all gather at the police station and stage our demonstration.”
By posting such a message, prosecutors charged that Sigauke had incited nurses to gather at Mbare Police Station and demonstrate and cause violence.
For allegedly committing this offence, Sigauke was ordered to pay RTGS$500 in bail money.
ZLHR
After Monica Mutsvangwa's unprecedented genocidally and tribally framed diatribe against Archbishop Ndlovu, Ndebeles and Catholic Bishops; Mnangagwa has no option but to fire her or risk expediting his now inevitable ouster!#FreeZimbabwe #ZanupfMustGo pic.twitter.com/bT9ENFpxqM
— Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) August 17, 2020
Six Harare MDC-Alliance councillors have been arrested for allegedly being involved in land scams as Government intensifies the fight against corruption in local authorities.
Those arrested are reportedly from Harare City Council’s housing committee.
In an interview with state media this morning, the head of Special Anti-Corruption Unit (Sacu) Mr Tabani Mpofu confirmed arrests of the six.
Mr Mpofu said there is tangible evidence linking the six to serious corruption charges.
Harare officials that have been arrested over the past weeks and appeared in court on corruption charges include Mayor Hebert Gomba, the housing director Addmore Nhekairo who is facing a charge of criminal abuse of office, acting human resources director Matthew Marara and principal housing director Edgar Dzehonye.
Some of the co-accused have since appeared in court and are out on bail.
Mnangagwa "has consistently and persistently exhibited traits of disloyalty, disrespect, deceitfulness and unreliability, he is also demonstrated little probity in the execution of his duties" – Govt Spokesperson, Simon Khaya Moyo 7th Nov 2017 – @ZBCNewsonline pic.twitter.com/WcrTwh1Lc1
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 17, 2020
AN unknown number of people have been burnt to ashes in an accident involving three trucks after a driver for one of the trucks lost control due to speed and hit into another Faw Motor vehicle which was carrying suspected Jet1 Fuel.
At least three Zimbabweans if the dead are suspected to be Zimbabweans.
The three-truck pile up happened on Sunday mourning at the treacherous Kapiringozi Escarpment along the Chirundu-Kafue Road in Zambia.
The accidents occurred when the driver of one of the trucks lost control of the vehicle as it was descending the mountainous area, rammed into an oncoming truck before hitting a broken down truck, igniting a huge inferno.
The unknown number of people in the trucks were burnt beyond recognition. Zambian police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Esther Katongo confirmed the accident adding that two Zimbabwean drivers had so far been positively identified.
“Police in Chirundu received a report of a road traffic accident which happened today 16th August, 2020 around 6.40am on Chirundu-Kafue road at Kapiringozi hills involving three trucks.
“Involved in the accident was an unknown motor vehicle driven by an unknown driver with unknown number of passengers who are suspected to have been burnt to ashes,” she said.
One of the deceased drivers was a 25-year-old Zimbabwean who was driving a Volvo truck which had broken down while the other one was driving a truck with suspected Jet A1 fuel which could have ignited the inferno.
“The accident occurred when the unknown driver who was driving the completely burnt truck and was descending the hill lost control due to excessive speed and hit into a FAW Motor vehicle which was carrying suspected Jet1 Fuel. It also hit a stationary Volvo truck which had a break down and all the vehicles caught fire and were completely burnt,” she said.
Police and the fire brigade managed to put out the fire but the number of people who have died in the accident has not yet been established.
Socialite Mukoma Masimba, popularly known as Legend of Facebook, says he was not bewitched by anyone but his condition is controlled by a spirit.
Masimba has left his home and decided to stay on the streets of Melbourne in Australia.
He also confirmed to be having too many drugs with his friends, something he is working on.
This has left many well-wishers and concerned people worried about him with some sourcing for money to assist him.
While some think he has lost his sanity and others say he was bewitched by Sekuru Banda whom he previously challenged to show his powers. He is adamant that its depression and drugs.
He is famed for his shows “Go Deeper” and “Izalo NaMukoma Masimba” and being involved in many Facebook Pages.
Contacted for comment, Sekuru Banda could neither confirm nor deny the ongoing issue.
“Yes it’s Sekuru Banda, tichakufonera soon, asi iri kuda kutobuda mangwana here?” he said before hanging the phone.
H-Metro contacted Mukoma Masimba from his new base who confirmed the situation but denied that it’s Banda who has made his life a ‘misery’.
“This is the spirit of Go Deeper which has put me on the streets.
“I have mixed with many people on social media and I have produced many shows where I share my opinions on my Facebook pages.
“I got possessed whenever I will be sharing my opinions, it’s a spirit, ndinosvikirwa nemudzimu.”
He said Sekuru Banda did not do anything to him but he is going under depression.
“I challenged Banda because he had said he has powers and I challenged him.
“So following this incident, he thinks his powers worked on me and made me in this situation.
“I deny that, he should not take advantage of my situation, I still challenge him and other witch-killers, muZimbabwe hamuna varoyi, ndini ndikudaro,” he said.
He said he left his home to go and stay on the streets.
“The spirit of Go Deeper sent me in the streets and its now three weeks.
“I even went to hospital for check-up, if I am not okay upstairs, how would they leave me to go.
“They only said its depression and there is plenty of food here on the Melbourne streets, there are many blankets.
“I am here in the streets smoking mbanje (marijuana) with my friends, the spirit requires mbanje.
“I am a drug addict, so we will be looking for money to buy mbanje.
“I have left my family and people are surprised to see me in this situation.
“I just told my wife to pack my bag and I told her that I am going to stay in the streets, muroad having madrugs
“And she questioned me, ndikati, mweya weGo Deeper, is inviting me in the streets.
“My wife packed the bag and I left,” he said.
Mukoma Masimba is adamant that Banda has done nothing on him.
“But Sekuru Banda is claiming that I am in the streets because of him after I challenged him.
“I am trying to stop drugs myself not what he is saying that he ‘sorted’ me.
“So this make me to challenge all the witches, witch-killers, sangomas that kana vane mushonga ngavauye apa.
“I am doing this because I have a message to Zimbabweans.
“All l know is l am homeless, drug addict and working on it. Sekuru Banda lied, havana zvavakaita pandiri.
“The only thing is Mukoma uya wenhunzi ndiye wandirikunetsana naye kuhope. Go Deeper na Mukoma Masimba is still challenging Varoyi vese hapana anoroya munhu Zimbabwe yese.
“Sekuru Banda kana murimi give me a Signal… Go Deeper na Mukoma Masimba street baba still challenges Zimbabwe yese hakuna anoroya munhu,” he added.
— HMetro
By Tendai Ruben MbofanaDear
If there is one single conspicuous thing that seriously worries me about SADC (Southern Africa Development Community), more than anything else – it is the apparently fake, insincere, and totally stage-managed nature of the relationship between its countries’ leaders.
Never in all my forty-seven years of existence have I encountered such a grouping, of supposedly ‘comrades’ and ‘brothers and sisters’, which is based on pure deception and fallacy.
As much as I am an only child to my mother and father, but I surely know what it means to be in a family – as I have the most wonderful, supportive, and caring group of cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, in-laws, friends, and of course, my dearest mother, wife and son – who have taught me, over the years, what it truly means to be ‘comrades’ and ‘brothers and sisters’.
The most outstanding lesson that I have learnt from all these great men, women, boys, and girls is that, “those who genuinely love you, will never hesitate to warn you, should you be taking a wrong, and even dangerous, path in life” – in fact, the cardinal rule has been, “those who love you the most, are the ones who readily rebuke you, and correct you, the most – since they want you to succeed and do well – but, those who hate you, and relish the chance to see you fall and fail, will condone and applaud your wrong ways, whilst busy laughing at you behind your back”.
Obviously, there will always be those who criticize and demonize you, just so as to destroy your reputation, and possibly destroy you – but, wisdom and discernment is the key in differentiating the two.
Such is the profound lessons of life, that I wish most us would cherish.
Back to our beloved SADC, and the relationship between its countries’ leaders. Does it not seem a little odd – actually, downright problematic – that these people, who claim to be one united family of ‘comrades’ and ‘brothers and sisters’ never rebuke or correct each other, whenever they embark on a wrong, or even clearly dangerous path?
When was the last time – or, most precisely, when did anyone hear this regional grouping ever chastise a fellow member country’s leaders when they had, for instance, violated the organization’s own charters, protocols, and guidelines, especially on democracy, human and people’s rights, and elections – let along those of the continental AU (African Union), or UN (United Nations)?
Most certainly, the answer is, “Never”.
Are we, then, to assume that this is somehow a grouping of the most righteous, perfect, and holy leaders on the face of the planet – because, quite frankly, we have witnessed members of other regional bodies, such as ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), the EU (European Union), openly condemning, and even taking bold decisive action, against a fellow ‘comrade’ and ‘brother and sister’, who would have transgressed against their statutes, principles, and values?
As a matter of fact, when then Gambia president Yahya Jammeh refused to step down after losing a December 2016 election, ECOWAS resolved to deploy its military to intervene on 19 January 2017, should he stubbornly continue to hold on to power. Fortunately, he soon saw the light, and fled the country.
Would anyone imagine something, even remotely, similar ever occuring in our own southern African community?
In this part of the world, a government can freely brutally butcher its own innocent defenceless citizens – whose only ‘crime’ would have been to cry out to their leaders that they were hungry, or calling them out for their shameless corruption, that would have bankrupted the nation – whilst, the regional body merely watches on, pretending to be doing something about it, without actually doing anything about it.
Most recently – definitely, not for the first time – Zimbabweans have been at the receiving end of their own leaders’ barbaric socio-legal atrocious ‘justice’ – that has been characterized by disproportional attacks on civilians accused of violating COVID-19 lockdowns and curfews (which have already witnessed the deaths of several people); reports of abductions, beatings up, torture, sexual abuses, and arrests on spurious charges of journalists at the forefront of exposing corruption at the very highest echelons of power, lawyers, and human rights, labour, and political activists.
Yet, listening to today’s (17 August 2020) speeches by regional leaders, during the virtual SADC 40th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government, one would be excused for assuming that this was a bunch of amorous teenagers courting each other – as, all that I could hear were meaningless statements, filled with distasteful praises for one another, with scant regard for the relentless and uncalled for sadistic savagery being subjected upon the ordinary people of Zimbabwe.
Most certainly, some would argue that these countries respect so-called ‘protocols’ and ”diplomacy’, and would never engage in ‘megaphone diplomacy’ – meaning that they would never reproach one another in the full glare of the world.
I am sorry, but as far as I am concerned, this is a whole lot of bull! When had the so-called ‘quiet diplomacy’ ever work? When Zimbabweans cried out to the regional group in the early 2000s, when then president Robert Gabriel Mugabe was busy hunting down, and persecuting perceived ‘enemies’ – in other words, opposition supporters – how did this ‘quiet diplomacy’, particularly practised by then South Africa president Thabo Mbeki help us?
Did we not disturbingly witness the horror of hundreds of innocent opposition supporters being butchered between April and June 2008, after Mugabe had lost elections to Morgan Richard Tsvangirai – whilst, Mbeki, with his ‘quiet diplomacy’, deceptively and deviously declared that ‘there was no crisis in Zimbabwe’?
As mentioned before, we are all part of a family, and my own experience of a loving family has been that, whenever I did something untoward, or even absolutely appalling, they would never hesitate to earnestly reprimand me – as this would be a sure show of unquestionable love, and a sincere desire to see me move on the right path in life, and be a better person.
Furthermore, a family that would look aside, whilst their own ‘comrade’ and ‘brother or sister’ damnably brutalizes his own wife and children – either, physically, economically, or emotionally – not only hates his wife and children, but also actually hates their own kith and kin.
Why do I say so? Well, the answer is obvious pertaining the wife and children, as not coming to their defence in the face of such heinous injustices, clearly means that the family does not care what happens to them – however, not rebuking their own, shows that they do not care whatever consequences he may face later, as he may end up in jail, or even maimed or killed by his abused and aggrieved wife, who would have had enough, and can not think of any other way out.
As nations, we have similarly witnessed how most tyrants ended. Who can forget the vicious angry beating up and killing of Libya’s once untouchable strongman Muammar Gaddafi, by his own countrymen and women, on 20 October 2011 – with the subsequent long queues of those wishing to view his dead body, just to be sure that the man who had held them captive in their own motherland, was truly finally dead?
Or, the traumatizing live television broadcast of the hanging of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, on 30 December 2006 – who had considered his fellow compatriots as his own slaves and property? Or, the shooting by firing squad in a stadium packed with relieved citizens, of Romanian tyrant Nicolae Ceausescu on 25 December 1989?
Closer to home, Zimbabweans still have very fresh memories of Mugabe’s most humiliating resignation on 21 November 2017 – after his own right-hand men, and once trusted military (that had mercilessly helped him stay in power, and even accused of being part of the 2008 massacres of opposition supporters), turned against him and toppled him in a coup d’etat.
The story is always the same, and is crystal clear for all who are willing to see – reign of terror never ends well – in fact, any evil never ends well…even though, at some time, the evildoer would have thought him or herself invincible, and on top of the world.
Would that not be very good and worthy advice for any genuinely loving family members to give to their own ‘comrades’ or ‘brothers and sisters’, should they embark on a clearly wrong and dangerous path – as opposed to simply watching, or even defending, someone clearly headed for disaster?
Or, possibly, the family members do not actually love their own, and would relish witnessing their inevitable downfall…
…food for thought!
Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice activist, writer, author, and speaker.
BBC
Crowds of protesters gathered in the Spanish capital on Sunday to voice their opposition the mandatory use of face masks and other measures imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus.
People were pictured chanting slogans and holding placards in Plaza Colón in Madrid’s city centre.
The mandatory use of face masks was initially introduced in May for those travelling on public transport, and was later expanded to the rest of the country.
The protest comes two days after the government introduced a swathe of new restrictions, including a ban on smoking in public.
Spain has seen a surge in new infections since lifting its three-month lockdown in late June. The national death toll stands at more than 28,600 people.
By Tinashe Gumbo
First things first, I would like to categorically state that the Church in Zimbabwe and elsewhere remains an institution of great influence; that society still looks to this important institution for prophetic leadership on political, social and economic issues. The Church has numbers, not even exaggerated numbers but real figures. These numbers are key and strategic for any serious politician. If I were one, I would surely work to attract and not to attack the Church. I am not a Catholic but a Christian, I am a Lutheran, but I belong to an Ecumenical Church in Zimbabwe. I grew up in the Church; I studied the Church in school, worked in the Church for almost a decade and a half. Indeed, I am still in the thick of things where the Church is striving to fulfill its God-given mandate. This background, I value so much and this has forced me at least to say something about the plight of the Church in Zimbabwe at the moment.
The events of the past few days have shown that as a country we have lost respect of the institution of the Church. Following the release of a Pastoral letter to the nation by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) on the 14th of August 2020, the Government of Zimbabwe, or at least individuals in that government chose confrontation ahead of dialogue with the Church. The Minister of Information and Publicity, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa singled out the President of the ZCBC, Bishop Robert Ndlovu and attacked him using very strong unpalatable and unchristian (but the Minister claims to be Christian) words. Yet, the letter had been produced and disseminated by an institution not an individual. Why the Minister attacked the person of Bishop Ndlovu and not the institution still calls for an explanation. Why the Minister opted for an attack and not dialogue, further calls for an explanation. Many who watched the 8 o’ clock news on that fateful night on ZTV were left wondering if the Minister read an official statement or a personal position against the person of Bishop Ndlovu. This development reinforced the fact that the coexistence of religion and government remains a contentious issue in this country. Everyone had hoped that “the Voice of the people would remain the Voice of God”. What happened to this appetizing phrase, no one knows.
The ZCBC letter was examined from political, social and economic vantage points by its genuine audience. It was simply a restatement of the obvious. Everyone knows the state of the country’s economy, politics and social life. Our politics has remained toxic, the economy is exclusive as only a few are benefiting from the country’s cake, the constitution is yet to be fully enjoyed while socially the country is still torn apart by hatred, polarization and lack of a shared national vision. The country’s incapacity to effectively respond to the natural disasters such as Cyclone Idai that wrecked havoc last year and the current COVID-19 pandemic are only symptoms of a huge deep seated challenge in Zimbabwe. This is not a new situation. Some of us have not even enjoyed the fruits of our education. The universities we attended just offloaded us onto a country whose main interest is to fulfill the aspiration of a few. No meaningful employment for our children. No food on the table for our mothers and fathers. We are yet to enjoy our rights as comprehensively covered in Chapter 4 of our constitution. Our health system is down in the context of a deadly pandemic. Abductions, arbitrary arrests of our citizens, withdrawal of our freedoms, fear of our supposedly gun wielding “protectors” and general sense of hopelessness, have characterized our people. When they hoped for help from our neighbors, our neighbors chose “quite diplomacy” and when our people expected dialogue among our leaders, our leaders chose to attack the Clergy. When our people were left with no option but to exercise their right to demonstrate, our people were thrown into jail or forced into the bush. Yet, this is our only country. Zimbabwe belongs to us all.
Going through the ZCBC letter, I saw this sad situation being retold in a biblical way. The Bishops did not say anything more than what an ordinary man or woman experiences in Zimbabwe. They simply restated the obvious. And stating the obvious became a major crime for them. Modise (2018) put it clearly that the Church is one of the inter-societal components that provide society with “blueprints.” If there is a belief that the Church should not be supplying society with “blueprints” it actually means that the Church should stay away from political, social, economic and judicial issues. Staying away from these issues that define humanity will mean abandoning the mission of the Church.
Jonker (1991, in Modise, 2018) argues that:
In abnormal times, when normal political action is made impossible by unjust laws, the banning of political organizations and suspension of democratic processes, the Church will have to step into the void with its political prophesy, to take up the cause of victims of injustice. That is also what the Biblical prophets would have done……… The Church should proclaim God’s demands of justice, fairness and protection of the poor. The Church should also not be afraid to criticize unjust laws and a specific political model.
The history of the Christian Church indicates that it has contrived to live and maintain its witness under very diverse types of governments. For the first three centuries of Christian existence, it was not even a permitted religion in the Roman Empire. Although not continuously persecuted, its influence for good could only be unofficial through the lives and witness of its members. With the “conversion” of the Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, obviously a new scenario emerged with its own list of responsibilities, challenges and at times opportunities for the institution.
In the case of Zimbabwe, the Smith and Mugabe administrations manifested different characteristics towards the Church. I will not labour to remind you how particularly the Catholic Bishops were treated under the two leaders. In the Second Republic, we are told that the Presidium is purely Christian and at least Church Goers (one is from the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe; one is Catholic while the other is Lutheran). A lot is expected from such “Christian” top employees of the country. However, the statement by Senator Mutsvangwa forces the audience to paint the whole Government with the same brush.
It is my held position that indeed, Minister Mutsvangwa attacked the Church in Zimbabwe and not Bishop Ndlovu, not even a single Church but an Ecumenical Church. In that case, by extension, Minister Mutsvangwa has attacked all the Christians in Zimbabwe. The ZCBC is the current Chair of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD), a platform that brings together, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) and the Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches and Zionists in Africa (UDACIZA). The ZHOCD promotes Christian unity among its member ecumenical bodies and fights for equality, socio-economic justice, peace, constitutionalism and good stewardship of the country’s resources.
These days I hear and see the Church responding to the physical and emotional needs of the citizens of Zimbabwe due to COVID-19. Every congregation is finding ways to help those around who need food, assistance with their rent, connecting digitally or some other kind of accompaniment. The Church has further covered up for the gaps that in a normal situation would have been the role of Government. In other words, our Church has done a lot to clothe the naked nation. Otherwise, without the Church, our Government would have been greatly exposed. Thus, one would have expected to hear words of appreciation from the Government officials, not personal attacks targeted at the Clergy. When we expected a praise song from the Minister, we heard tribalistic and divisive utterances against Men of Cloth. This was really unfortunate and I hope the Government will find ways of apologizing to the Church, to Christians and indeed to the people of Zimbabwe. For me, this is more than mere solidarity with Bishop Ndlovu or the Catholics but with the broader Ecumenical Church in Zimbabwe. My firm belief in social, economic and political justice has pushed me to this end.
For everyone’s information, Senator Mutsvangwa has been one of my favorite Ministers of the time. She is eloquent, intelligent and in most cases she had remained smart and professional in her conduct of duty. She had been one of the key figures in the fight against COVID-19. However, the manner in which she handled the ZCBC case has tainted my view on her. I am sorry!
This is a personal opinion from Tinashe Gumbo and should not be in any way taken to represent the views of the various institutions Iam associated with.
*#* *tinashegumbowekumberengwa*
Newly-appointed Ministers Anxious Masuka and Soda Zhemu were sworn in today at State House in Harare and immediately pledged to pursue Vision 2030 that will ensure increased production of food output and energy.
Zhemu, who takes over as Minister of Energy and Power Development came in with immediate bad luck as much of the country experienced some twelve hours blackout.
Speaking after being sworn in, Zhemu ironically said for any development across sectors, there should be adequate power supply.
On the other hand, Dr Masuka who assumes the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Climate and Rural Resettlement said he will make agriculture the backborne of economic development and transformation in line with President Mnangagwa’s vision.
SIX Hurungwe West headmen were unceremoniously relieved of their positions after allegedly refusing to support a Zanu PF preferred candidate, the late Keith Guzah, during the 2015 Hurungwe West by-election.
Member Mutinha, Aleck Munhava, Alton Manjonjo, Morgan Gora, Nobo Mahobo and Taurai Machipisa have now approached the High Court challenging the decision which was taken by Hurungwe West district administrator (now District development co-ordinator (DDC)) to strip them of their positions without a charge.
In his founding affidavit, one of the affected traditional heads Mutinha, who is cited as the first applicant said his ordeal and that of his co-applicants started in 2015 during the election campaign when Guzah was contesting for the same seat with now Norton MP Temba Mliswa.
Mutinha said the then minister of Local Government, Ignatius Chombo, openly accused him and his co-applicants of not supporting the Zanu PF and its preferred candidate and that they were unsuitable to be village leaders.
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“During a campaign rally held on Sunday April 26, 2015 at Nyambuya Primary School Ignatius Chombo, then minister of Local Government, who administered the affairs of traditional leaders, openly accused myself (Mutinha) and my co applicants of not supporting Zanu PF and its preferred candidate, Keith Guzah, and openly announced our unsuitability to be village leaders,” Mutinha said.
“I further aver that during the period extending from April 26, 2015 to May 10, 2015 the first respondent (Chief Nyamhunga (Boniface Chinehasha)) personally invited myself and my co-applicants to his homestead and issued us with verbal dismissal from traditional leadership positions as village heads.”
In the application, Mutinha cited Chief Nyamhunga, DDC, president of the Chief’s Council, Fortune Charumbira and Local Government minister, July Moyo as respondents.
Mutinha said they had made several efforts to seek clarity on the issue, but were later advised by the DDC that their positions had been filled and their cases sealed adding that the benefits and stipends they used to receive had also been scrapped off.
“This whole unhandsome corollary unfolded notwithstanding the settled position of the law with regards to the removal of traditional leaders. I am most aggrieved in that no charge of misconduct was ever levelled against myself nor any of my co-applicants other that our alleged refusal to participate in partisan politics and furthering the fortune of one political party,” Mutinha said.
“No inquiry or investigation was ever instituted. The dismissal of all of us was never justified and no efforts whatsoever were taken to explain the same … I am of the considered view that I am paying a heavy price for obeying the Constitution of Zimbabwe. In refusing to support Keith Guzah, the then Zanu PF candidate and staying out of politics, I aver that I and my colleagues clearly complied with section 281 of the Constitution which provides that traditional leaders should not ‘act in a partisan manner or further the interest of a political party or cause’.”
Mutinha also said, to add insult to injury, their dismissal was never done in terms of the law, adding it “was a brazen act of thuggery in which the law was never used but political muscle”.
“At all the stages of the process leading to our removal from the office of the Headman, we were denied the most basic, the most elementary and most sacrosanct of all the rights, the right to be heard before any decision was taken affecting one’s rights commonly referred to as audi alteram partem rule, a tenet of natural justice which goes back to the beginning of time when God granted Adam the right to make out his defence from committing the cardinal sin before banishing him out from the garden of Eden.”
The matter is pending.
*UK and Ireland MDC Alliance Provincial Spokesperson rescues Godfrey Kuraone from extremely cold prison weather*
Wezhira Munya
15 August 2020
Today, United Kingdom and Ireland MDC Alliance Provincial main wing spokesperson Patricia Chinyoka bought a ” “prison” warm jersey and hat.
Yesterday, MDC Alliance National youth organiser Godfrey Kuraone informed his lawyer Advocate Martin Mureri, Advocate Agency Gumbo and National social welfare secretary Maureen Kademaunga that, Masvingo Remand Prison official have requested him to stop wearing his “outside” jacket whilst in prison.
Consequently, councillor Kuraone had to endure Masvingo Remand Prison coldness. Masvingo experience very cold morning and evening weather temperatures.
As a result UK and Ireland MDC Alliance Provincial Spokesperson Patricia Chinyoka have send money to advocate Martin Mureri to buy a warm jersey and hat with prison colours (red and white).
Leader Chinyoka said, “Our MDC Alliance National youth organiser Godfrey Kuraone is being persecuted for his trust in the leadership of President Nelson Chamisa. He is fighting for the betterment of lives of all Zimbabweans.”
Advocate Martin Mureri said, “I want to thank UK and Ireland MDC Alliance Provincial Spokesperson Patricia Chinyoka for love and support for councillor Kuraone. This Jersey and hat will make him warm. May God bless leader Patricia Chinyoka. ”
Today is the 15th day since councillor Kuraone was imprisoned.
Councillor Godfrey Kuraone’s trial date is on 18th August 2020 at Masvingo Magistrate court.
Kindly see the attached Jersey and hat bought for MDC Alliance National youth organiser Godfrey Kuraone.
Media Statement
The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC.) read with grave concern, the government response to the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) pastoral letter of the 14th ofAugust 2020 entitled “The March is not Ended”. The government response presented by Mrs Monica Mutsvangwa, the minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, revealed the following worrying signs:
1. Responsibility: While the churches, including the ZCBC, have consistently identified the partial negative contribution of natural disasters and international isolation to government’s economic performance, it has however noted with grave concern that, the Government of Zimbabwe consistently takes no responsibility for its own failings characterized by corruption, policy inconsistencies and above all, failure to unite the nation towards a common vision.
The denialism that characterizes the Government of Zimbabwe’s handling of criticism has now become a deeply worrying trend. The blame-shifting labelling of critical voices as ‘regime change agents, and recently “terrorists” smacks of the government’s unwillingness or inability to engage on the basis of ideas as well as robbing citizens of any hope that things can improve.
2. Personalization: Pastoral letters, including the “The March is not Ended”, are products of prayerful discernment by the college of bishops informed by compassionate listening to the experiences of the congregants. Singling out the Most Revd Archbishop Richard Ndlovu, can only be viewed as undermining the most asset and character of the church that is its Unity. Our humble interpretation is that this is meant to isolate individuals from a collective discernment proem with the sinister aim of diluting the collective voice of the church. The ZCC takes with exception any efforts to interfere with the unity of the Church for which Jesus prayed for in John 17:21.
3. Courtesy: The government response was overtly too emotional and disrespectful for formal communication. Using public media to utter disrespectful communication against the person of Archbishop Ndlovu does not only present the government as inappropriately deploying the resources of the state, but also increases the toxicity that is already characterizing our public space. if the government had strong objections to the Bishops’ communication, it could have addressed those issues without appearing to be discourteous to the viewers of the only national television station. The government will do well through its public officials to instil positive engagement on the basis of ideas than to use public media to buttress negativity.
4. Unity: The government response to the pastoral letter “The March is not Ended”, also missed its unifying and national orientation but instead appropriated distorted historical links and false comparisons with the Rwandan genocide. While the comparisons arc unfounded and outrageous, they also seem to be intentionally or unintentionally stoking ethnic and tribal divisions which actually resulted in loss of thousands of lives in Matabeleland and Midlands during the Gukurahundi. To frivolously associate the bishops’ statement with such a major deep scar in the history of the nation, is not only insensitive to the existing present pain of those affected by Gukurahundi but also gives the impression that the government is paying lip-service to national healing and reconciliation.
The government statement could have been worth ignoring if it was only falsifying history, but it cannot be ignored as it appears dismissive of the invaluable work done by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, under the ZCBC, to offer documentation of the atrocities committed by the army during that dark period. The legacy of Gukurahundi still stalks the nation as those past hurts remain unhealed. His Excellency, President ED Mnangagwa has on several occasions spoken of the need to find healing on these past hurts, yet the government position gives the false impression that the 1987 Unity Accord brought closure to that episode.
3. Courtesy: The government response was overtly too emotional and disrespectful for formal communication. Using public media to utter disrespectful communication against the person of Archbishop Ndlovu does not only present the government as inappropriately deploying the resources of the state, but also increases the toxicity that is already characterizing our public space.
if the government had strong objections to the Bishops’ communication, it could have addressed those issues without appearing to be discourteous to the viewers of the only national television station. The government will do well through its public officials to instil positive engagement on the basis of ideas than to use public media to buttress negativity.
4. Unity: The government response to the pastoral letter “The March is not Ended”, also missed its unifying and national orientation but instead appropriated distorted historical links and false comparisons with the Rwandan genocide. While the comparisons arc unfounded and outrageous, they also seem to be intentionally or unintentionally stoking ethnic and tribal divisions which actually resulted in loss of thousands of lives in Matabeleland and Midlands during the Gukurahundi.
To frivolously associate the bishops’ statement with such a major deep scar in the history of the nation, is not only insensitive to the existing present pain of those affected by Gukurahundi, but also gives the impression that the government is paying lip-service to national healing and reconciliation.
The government statement could have been worth ignoring if it was only falsifying history, but it cannot be ignored as it appears dismissive of the invaluable work done by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, under the ZCBC, to offer documentation of the atrocities committed by the army during that dark period. The legacy of Gukurahundi still stalks the nation as those past hurts remain unhealed.
His Excellency, President ED Mnangagwa has on several occasions spoken of the need to find healing on these past hurts, yet the government position gives the false impression that the 1987 Unity Accord brought closure to that episode.
5. History: The ecumenical church’ relationship with the stare has been consistent from colonial Rhodesia to independent Zimbabwe. The government response presented by Minister Mutsvangwa seeks to create false discontinuity between the contemporary bishops and the suffering servants of the past. Such a view misses the importance of continuity of Tradition within Christian theology and practice.
The consistency with which the ZCBC and the ecumenical church have pursued justice, peace and unity cannot be forgotten. Coincidentally, the issues raised by the ‘The March is not Ended” of the 14th of August 2020 are fundamentally similar to calls by Bishop Donal Raymond Lamont in his Open letter to the Rhodesian Government on the 1111i of August 1976. In both cases, the message was well-meaning and consistent with the prophetic traditions of Micah, Amos, Jeremiah, John the Baptist and even our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have responded to this salvation history with repentance found life. Those who rejected it suffered destruction, not only in a spiritual sense but also materially.
Calls
6. In light of the issues raised above, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches:
6.1 Seeks to affirm its solidarity with the spirit and intent of the “The March is not Ended” as honest communication aimed at calling the government of Zimbabwe to meaningful and respectful engagement to find solutions to the current pressing issues,
6.2 Seeks to enter into a collective discernment process to understand this government’s preparedness to engage and hence calls for the urgent convening of the National Episcopal Conference of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations to deliberate on the state of the nation and agree on the appropriate ecumenical action
6.3 Calls on all Christians and churches to pray for peace, well-being and courage for Archbishop Ndlovu, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the broad Christian Church in Zimbabwe as they will be demanded to exercise their prophetic and pastoral mandate for the nation.
6.4 Calls on all citizens to remain united across the denominational, ethnic, and political divide realizing that only through active, organized and peaceful citizens’ participation, the nation will be totally transformed.
6.5 Calls upon President ED Mnangagwa to provide leadership by retracting the personal attacks on Archbishop Ndhlovu and the church leaders, but invite the national to an inclusive national dialogue towards a homegrown solution to the challenges that are facing the nation.
Dec 1979, White Minority ruled Rhodesia was removed from Power by the Black Majority due to govt oppression. The Country was renamed Zimbabwe.
Today Zimbabweans are still being oppressed by a corrupt Black led Govt
Evil is Evil despite the color of skin#ZimbabweanLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/Q0Vbxz2tg7
— Pastor Mark Burns (@pastormarkburns) August 15, 2020
By Kennedy Kaitano- It is not a crime to share rumour about corruption publicly, because some things that may be thought to be allegations will actually be the truth.
Corruption is not something with a laid down process, so it must be attacked whenever there is suspicion, and it is the onus of the falsely accused to clear themselves adequately.
In the case where allegations had been made that former Honourable Fortune Chasi had been fired because he wanted to investigate corrupt deal at the National Oil Infrastructure Company, Honourable Chasi and Mr George Guvamombe have explained that Mr Chasi had never attempted to investigate corruption in the deal that he was not even aware of, and they should be given the benefit of doubt.
However, those in the know should still be allowed to bring up any information they may have, as very often the saying that there is no smoke without fire sometimes proves itself right.
The other key issues that still have to be explained are the alleged relationship between the President and Ms Moline Mayahle and the alleged corruption appointment of Ms Mayahle to the Board of EMA.
These two important issues should equally be explained. I apologise for erroneously stating that Ms Mayahle is a member of the Zesa Board in my previous article on this subject, and I sincerely apologise for that.
It is important to know if Ms Mayahle is qualified to be a member of the EMA Board in the first instance, and secondly what makes her more eligible that the many others who are also qualified for the same position who were not considered.
Members of the public expect that only people who have adequate proved experience should be appointed to positions such as Ms Mayahle was appointed to in 2019, a year after President Mnangagwa was announced by the Zimbabwe Elections Commission as the winner in the country’s presidential elections.
The public is entitled to know the strengths which people who are appointed to public office bring to the role, so the country’s leaders need to justify why Ms Mayahle got appointed. Searching for Moline Mayahle on various search engines doesn’t bring much, apart from the announcement of her appointment in the Herald, her alleged relationship with President Mnangagwa, and one page from the University of Zimbabwe which doesn’t give any detail.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t tell much about her profile, but again we should not rule her out as a potentially capable Board Member, but that has to be explained by the appropriate authorities.
And her alleged relationship with President Mnangagwa is a key issue too. If she is indeed a mother to three of President Mnangagwa’s children as alleged, she should not have been appointed to the EMA Board, regardless of her qualifications for it.
While I am not too familiar with the processes involved in appointing people to the Boards of Government-linked governance boards, I am of the strong opinion that families of sitting presidents should be avoided, especially so when they are not publicly known to be conversant with the subject matter for the Board for which they are appointed.
It will be in the best interest of the nation if President Mnangagwa can explanation her relationship to Ms Moline Mayahle. Transparency is vital.
Cosafa has set the preliminary dates for this year’s edition of the senior men’s Cosafa Cup in South Africa.
The tournament was supposed to take place in May, but it was postponed following the outbreak of the coronavirus. According to information released by the regional body on Monday, the competition is now scheduled to take place during the October FIFA international window.
Zimbabwe will not be able to take part after they were banned. The sanction resulted after the nation failed to honour an agreement to host the 2019 edition of the Cosafa Cup.
The Under-17 and Under-20 Men’s Championships have been set for November and December 2020, respectively, in Mauritius. Both tournaments serve as qualifiers for the continental finals to be staged by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The senior Cosafa Women’s Championship will happen on October 19-31 in Nelson Mandela Bay. There is also a plan to overlap the Women’s Under-17 Championship (October 15-25) with the senior tournament in South Africa.-Soccer 24
17 August 2020
ZDD Press Statement on Catholic Bishops
By Bishop Ancelimo Mgaya- The Zimbabwe Divine Destiny ZDD notes with grave concern the unpalatable and unwelcome remarks by the Zimbabwe government towards the ZCBC statement in which the Church was simply playing its role of speaking truth to power, advising and admonishing national leaders.
Central to the letter were complains against gross human rights violations that are currently being perpetrated against innocent civilians in Zimbabwe. This continues to happen despite the recommendations made by the Mothlante Commission, which unfortunately remain unfulfilled.
The perpetual freefall of the economy, exacerbated by unbridled corruption especially in high offices calls for any right thinking Zimbabwean to castigate the behavior of the state. There is nothing that the ZCBC statement manufactured nor exaggerated. The issues of Gukurahundi are still outstanding. Victims are crying for redress and it cannot be wished away simply because of the 1987 Unity accord.
Truth telling and justice must precede forgiveness and unity. The perpetrators of Gukurahundi are still alive and some are still in power. We therefore buttress the ZCBC position, that the nation is told who did what to who if we are to realize sustainable peace and forgiveness.
ZDD has warned in the past and we reiterate that No government can subsist through intimidation, murder, torture and arbitrary arrests of citizens who hold contrary views which characterizes modern day Zimbabwe. Anyone who holds contrary views to those of the political leadership in office is vilified, harangued and persecuted. Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngaribvume are examples of the myriad uncountable Zimbabweans who are either maimed or wrongfully arrested at the hands of the state.
This is what the church is lamenting and to imagine the ferocity with which the state has responded, is ridiculous. It has no national nuance. It is hedonistic. It is barbaric and cannot move a nation forward.
What was even more alarming was the temerity of the Information Minster Monica Mutsvangwa to quote Bishop Lamont and even attempt to celebrate him when he stood against the brutal regime of Smith as if the present government is any better. The same crime and injustice Lamont stood against is what the church is up against today, surprisingly.
In his own words President Mnangagwa said ‘this catch and release must stop’. ZCBC simply alluded to alarming levels of corruption without the corresponding justice. Hopewell, Ngarivhume and the nation are crying for the same.
We conclude by warning President Mnangagwa’s government that, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall’, (Proverbs 16:18). Ecclessiates 4:13 says, ‘Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive counsel’.
The government of Zimbabwe has demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that no one is important not even God as they have blasphemed times without number but be warned, God is not mocked.
Warriors striker Tino Kadewere has thanked Olympique Lyon for the love they showed his family during and after the funeral of his brother Prince.
Prince Kadewere died in Harare last Wednesday and was laid to rest in Zvimba yesterday.
Before and after their Champions League quarter-final victory over Manchester City, the Lyon players paid tribute to Prince, in form of t-shirts and a message on the stadium screen which read ‘Rest in Heaven Prince Kadewere.’
Tino took to Instagram to express gratitude to the club.-Soccer 24
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has reportedly told the club’s chiefs that he wants to leave this summer after growing frustrated with the current situation.
Barca finished their 2019/20 campaign without a trophy for the first time in over a decade. And following their elimination from the Champions League on Friday, the Argentine threatened to leave at Nou Camp unless there is major restructure at the club.
According to Brazilian sports channel Esporte Interativo, Messi is no longer willing to wait for the change and now wants to leave “immediately”.
The 33-year-old’s contract is set to expire in June 2021 and has a clause of £633m ($829m).
However, Barcelona have refuted the report, and several other Spanish outlets are insisting Messi is yet to decide on his future.-Soccer 24
Bafana Bafana star Percy Tau scored on his Anderlecht debut in their 3-1 win over ten-man Sint Truiden in the Belgian League on Sunday.
The former Mamelodi Sundowns forward is on loan from English Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion.
He netted Anderlecht’s third in stoppage time to get up and running on a high.
Anderlecht’s other goals came from Bogdan Mykhaylichenko and Landry Dimata.
Meanwhile, for Knowledge Musona’s KAS Eupen, the search for their first win of the season continues after they were thumped 0-4 by defending champions Club Brugge.
Musona started for Eupen in the behind the strikers role for the second game in succession.-Soccer 24
Farai Dziva|The Zimbabwe Council of Churches has urged Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa to retract attacks on Catholic Bishops with immediate effect.
In a statement on Sunday government accused Archbishop Richard Ndlovu of inciting civil unrest.
See ZCC statement below :
The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC.) read with grave concern, the government response to the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) pastoral letter of the 146 of August 2020 entitled “The March is not Ended”. The government response presented by Mrs Monica Mutsvangwa, the minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, revealed the following worrying signs:
1. Responsibility: While the churches, including the ZCBC, have consistently identified the partial negative contribution of natural disasters and international isolation to government’s economic performance, it has however noted with grave concern that, the Government of Zimbabwe consistently takes no responsibility for its own failings characterized by corruption, policy inconsistencies and above all, failure to unite the nation towards a common vision.
The denialism that characterizes the Government of Zimbabwe’s handling of criticism has now become a deeply worrying trend. The blame-shifting labelling of critical voices as ‘regime change agents, and recently “terrorists” smacks of the government’s unwillingness or inability to engage on the basis of ideas as well as robbing citizens of any hope that things can improve.
2. Personalization: Pastoral letters, including the “The March is not Ended”, are products of prayerful discernment by the college of bishops informed by compassionate listening to the experiences of the congregants.
Singling out the Most Revd Archbishop Richard Ndlovu, can only be viewed as undermining the most asset and character of the church that is its Unity. Our humble interpretation is that this is meant to isolate individuals from a collective discernment proem with the sinister aim of diluting the collective voice of the church. The ZCC takes with exception any efforts to interfere with the unity of the Church for which Jesus prayed for in John 17:21.
3. Courtesy: The government response was overtly too emotional and disrespectful for formal communication. Using public media to utter disrespectful communication against the person of Archbishop Ndlovu does not only present the government as inappropriately deploying the resources of the state, but also increases the toxicity that is already characterizing our public space. if the government had strong objections to the Bishops’ communication, it could have addressed those issues without appearing to be discourteous to the viewers of the only national television station. The government will do well through its public officials to instil positive engagement on the basis of ideas than to use public media to buttress negativity.
4. Unity: The government response to the pastoral letter “The March is not Ended”, also missed its unifying and national orientation but instead appropriated distorted historical links and false comparisons with the Rwandan genocide. While the comparisons arc unfounded and outrageous, they also seem to be intentionally or unintentionally stoking ethnic and tribal divisions which actually resulted in loss of thousands of lives in Matabeleland and Midlands during the Gukurahundi. To frivolously associate the bishops’ statement with such a major deep scar in the history of the nation, is not only insensitive to the existing present pain of those affected by Gukurahundi, but also gives the impression that the government is paying lip-service to national healing and reconciliation.
The government statement could have been worth ignoring if it was only falsifying history, but it cannot be ignored as it appears dismissive of the invaluable work done by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, under the ZCBC, to offer documentation of the atrocities committed by the army during that dark period. The legacy of Gukurahundi still stalks the nation as those past hurts remain unhealed.
His Excellency, President ED Mnangagwa has on several occasions spoken of the need to find healing on these past hurts, yet the government position gives the false impression that the 1987 Unity Accord brought closure to that episode.
3. Courtesy: The government response was overtly too emotional and disrespectful for formal communication.
Using public media to utter disrespectful communication against the person of Archbishop Ndlovu does not only present the government as inappropriately deploying the resources of the state, but also increases the toxicity that is already characterizing our public space.
If the government had strong objections to the Bishops’ communication, it could have addressed those issues without appearing to be discourteous to the viewers of the only national television station.
The government will do well through its public officials to instil positive engagement on the basis of ideas than to use public media to buttress negativity.
4. Unity: The government response to the pastoral letter “The March is not Ended”, also missed its unifying and national orientation but instead appropriated distorted historical links and false comparisons with the Rwandan genocide. While the comparisons arc unfounded and outrageous, they also seem to be intentionally or unintentionally stoking ethnic and tribal divisions which actually resulted in loss of thousands of lives in Matabeleland and Midlands during the Gukurahundi.
To frivolously associate the bishops’ statement with such a major deep scar in the history of the nation, is not only insensitive to the existing present pain of those affected by Gukurahundi, but also gives the impression that the government is paying lip-service to national healing and reconciliation.
The government statement could have been worth ignoring if it was only falsifying history, but it cannot be ignored as it appears dismissive of the invaluable work done by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, under the ZCBC, to offer documentation of the atrocities committed by the army during that dark period. The legacy of Gukurahundi still stalks the nation as those past hurts remain unhealed.
His Excellency, President ED Mnangagwa has on several occasions spoken of the need to find healing on these past hurts, yet the government position gives the false impression that the 1987 Unity Accord brought closure to that episode.
5. History: The ecumenical church’ relationship with the stare has been consistent from colonial Rhodesia to independent Zimbabwe.
The government response presented by Minister Mutsvangwa, seeks to create false discontinuity between the contemporary bishops and the suffering servants of the past.
Such a view misses the importance of continuity of Tradition within Christian theology and practice. The consistency with which the ZCBC and the ecumenical church have pursued justice, peace and unity cannot be forgotten.
Coincidentally, the issues raised by the ‘The March is not Ended” of the 14th of August 2020 are fundamentally similar to calls by Bishop Donal Raymond Lamont in his Open letter to the Rhodesian Government on the 1111i of August 1976. In both cases, the message was well-meaning and consistent with the prophetic traditions of Micah, Amos, Jeremiah, John the Baptist and even our Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who have responded to this salvation history with repentance found life. Those who rejected it suffered destruction, not only in a spiritual sense but also materially.
Calls
6. In light of the issues raised above, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches:
6.1 Seeks to affirm its solidarity with the spirit and intent of the “The March is not Ended” as honest communication aimed at calling the government of Zimbabwe to meaningful and respectful engagement to find solutions to the current pressing issues,
6.2 Seeks to enter into a collective discernment process to understand this government’s preparedness to engage and hence calls for the urgent convening of the National Episcopal Conference of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations to deliberate on the state of the nation and agree on the appropriate ecumenical action
6.3 Calls on all Christians and churches to pray for peace, well-being and courage for Archbishop Ndlovu, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the broad Christian Church in Zimbabwe as they will be demanded to exercise their prophetic and pastoral mandate for the nation.
6.4 Calls on all citizens to remain united across the denominational, ethnic, and political divide realizing that only through active, organized and peaceful citizens’ participation, the nation will be totally transformed.
6.5 Calls upon President ED Mnangagwa to provide leadership by retracting the personal attacks on Archbishop Ndhlovu and the church leaders, but invite the national to an inclusive national dialogue towards a homegrown solution to the challenges that are facing the nation.-Zimbabwe Council Of Churches
South Africa’s Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize has revealed that his country has recorded 132 coronavirus related deaths bringing the total number of deaths to 11 879.
The minister also said that there were 162 more Covid-19 related deaths – 70 from Eastern Cape, 27 from Gauteng, 21 from KwaZulu-Natal, 6 from Free State, 18 from North West and 20 from Western Cape
Mkhize also said the total number of coronavirus cases stood at 587 345 after a 3 692 increase in infections over the past 24 hours. In a Sunday update, he said:
We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health care workers who treated the deceased.
The number of recoveries currently stands at 472 377 which translates to a recovery rate of 80%.
South Africa has the highest number of infections on the African continent and is also among the most affected globally.
The health department claims that over 3.4 million people have been tested for coronavirus since March and in the past 24 hours, just over 22 000 people were tested.
South Africa has prepared over a million graves for coronavirus victims in Gauteng.- IOL News
MONICA MUTSVANGWA EPITOMISES STATE-SPONSORED VIOLENCE, STINKING CORRUPTION AND LOOTING,MDC ALLIANCE NAMIBIA POSITS.
Mdc Alliance Namibia has the conviction that the presentation of the prisoners of conscience:
Hopewell Chin’ono,Godfrey Kurauone and Jacob Ngaribvumwe in leg-irons is a serious victimisation resembling a thugocratic and authoritarian state administered by a blood-thirsty arrogant regime.
My comprehension of such a repressive measure points to a political crisis that warrants intervention since Kurauone Godfrey the National Youth Organiser in the Mdc Alliance was arrested for singing an anti-Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa song. The other spurious charge was also that he allegedly burnt tyres in Mashava on the 31st July.
Moreso, Hopewell Chin’ono was in leg-irons only for unearthing corruption and looting in Zanupf.
It is quite sickening to hear the Minister of Information and Publicity Monica Mutsvangwa claiming that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe.
The gross mismanagement of public funds apparent in Zanupf leadership has become a humanitarian crisis that guarantees external intervention to deal with the political,social and economic upheavals and vials of wrath in Zimbabwe.
Therefore,those who purport that there is no political crisis are either insane, intoxicated or both.
The arbitrary arrests,torture and abductions of all voices of dissent is a futile attempt to break their resolve to reveal the political and social decay in the fake liberators are incontrovertible evidence to the simmering political crisis in Zimbabwe. It is the politics of habitual denialism in Zanupf leadership in the names of Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, long-mouthed Nick Mangwana and the clueless Monica Mutsvangwa which compels them to lie to the international community.
They continue to hide behind sovereignty when it is crystal clear that state security agents are responsible for the demonisation of our beloved country. Zanupf Satanists abuse human rights by denying the citizenry of their personal freedoms enshrined in the constitution of the country like refusing bail to a revolutionary singer. We want to make it categorically distinct that they can arrest a revolutionary but its a mammoth task the jail the revolution.
Furthermore, when innocent citizens were short on 1 August 2018 where more than 6 people were shot in cold blood, from 14 -24 January 2019,more than 17 nationals were shot and many women and children were raped.
The Mothlante commission was set up to investigate the atrocities, it barely resolved that the soldiers who are supposed to protect the citizens were the ones who butchered them for protesting against rigged elections.
Upto now no perpetrator of rape, abductions,torture and arbitrary arrests has been brought to book. With this level of human butchery, we conclude that there is a colossal political crisis in the country.
In addition, the history of impunity in Zanupf emanated from the late 1970s when the country experienced mysterious deaths of gallant fighters of the liberation struggle.
These included the death of Cde Herbert Chitepo in 1975 on his way from Zambia, Leopold Takawira, Josiah Tongogara and many others. It was carried over to 1983 during the Gukurahundi genocide which claimed more 30 000 Ndebeles in the Matebeleland and Midlands who were put in mass graves and noone was made to account for soldierisation and demonisation of the country. Inhuman late President Mugabe called it a moment of madness without even an apology.
Moreover,the recent obstruction by the Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s autocratic regime to the envoy sent by President Cyril Ramaphosa to meet with the Opposition, civil society and other stakeholders is an effort hide the current crackdown on the social democrats. This was done under the guise of sovereignty and non-interference in the domestic affairs of a country hence it becomes an automatic attempt to conceal the gross abuse of human rights. If there was absolutely nothing to hide, the regime could have allowed the envoy to meet the victims of Zanupf misrule. This kind of stubbornness and political ineptitude must be confronted with equal measure.
Finally,as Mdc Alliance Namibia, we posit that the economic regeneration of a nation can not be divorced from its political regeneration hence the need for personal freedoms, rule of law and putting in place of all constitutional mechanisms.
Zanupf must abandon their habitual denialism and halt blaming dark forces for the political,social and economic casualties they are inflicting on the citizenry who are languishing in abject poverty. Zimbabwe needs political solutions to revamp the economy that is on a tailspin. Our late Icon of Democracy President Morgan Richard Tsvangirai once told them that they could rig the elections but the economy will remain torn and tattered.
#ZimbabweanLivesMatter
#FreeHopewell
#freekurauone
#zanupfmustgoveryfast
#bringbackourbelovedcountry
MDC Alliance Namibia
Rundu branch Spokesperson
Robson Ruhanya
Consuming a healthy diet throughout the life-course helps to prevent malnutrition in all its forms as well as a range of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and conditions.
However, increased production of processed foods, rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles have led to a shift in dietary patterns.
People are now consuming more foods high in energy, fats, free sugars and salt/sodium, and many people do not eat enough fruit, vegetables and other dietary fibre such as whole grains.
The exact make-up of a diversified, balanced and healthy diet will vary depending on individual characteristics (e.g. age, gender, lifestyle and degree of physical activity), cultural context, locally available foods and dietary customs.
However, the basic principles of what constitutes a healthy diet remain the same.
For adults
A healthy diet includes the following:
Fruit, vegetables, legumes (e.g. lentils and beans), nuts and whole grains (e.g. unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat and brown rice).
At least 400 g (i.e. five portions) of fruit and vegetables per day (2) , excluding potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava and other starchy roots.
Less than 10% of total energy intake from free sugars (2, 7) , which is equivalent to 50 g (or about 12 level teaspoons) for a person of healthy body weight consuming about 2000 calories per day, but ideally is less than 5% of total energy intake for additional health benefits (7) . Free sugars are all sugars added to foods or drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.
Less than 30% of total energy intake from fats (1, 2, 3) . Unsaturated fats (found in fish, avocado and nuts, and in sunflower, soybean, canola and olive oils) are preferable to saturated fats (found in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese, ghee and lard) and trans-
fats of all kinds, including both industrially-produced trans- fats (found in baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods, such as frozen pizza, pies, cookies, biscuits, wafers, and cooking oils and spreads) and ruminant trans- fats (found in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals, such as cows, sheep, goats and camels).
It is suggested that the intake of saturated fats be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake and
trans- fats to less than 1% of total energy intake (5) . In particular, industrially-produced trans -fats are not part of a healthy diet and should be avoided (4, 6) .
Less than 5 g of salt (equivalent to about one teaspoon) per day (8).
Salt should be iodized.
For infants and young children
In the first 2 years of a child’s life, optimal nutrition fosters healthy growth and improves cognitive development. It also reduces the risk of becoming overweight or obese and developing NCDs later in life.
Advice on a healthy diet for infants and children is similar to that for adults, but the following elements are also important:
Infants should be breastfed exclusively during the first 6 months of life.
Infants should be breastfed continuously until 2 years of age and beyond.
From 6 months of age, breast milk should be complemented with a variety of adequate, safe and nutrient-dense foods. Salt and sugars should not be added to complementary foods.
Practical advice on maintaining a healthy diet
Fruit and vegetables
Eating at least 400 g, or five portions, of fruit and vegetables per day reduces the risk of NCDs (2) and helps to ensure an adequate daily intake of dietary fibre.
Fruit and vegetable intake can be improved by:
always including vegetables in meals;
eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks;
eating fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season; and
eating a variety of fruit and vegetables.
Fats
Reducing the amount of total fat intake to less than 30% of total energy intake helps to prevent unhealthy weight gain in the adult population (1, 2, 3) .
Also, the risk of developing NCDs is lowered by:
reducing saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake;
reducing trans -fats to less than 1% of total energy intake; and
replacing both saturated fats and
trans- fats with unsaturated fats (2, 3) – in particular, with polyunsaturated fats.
Fat intake, especially saturated fat and industrially-produced trans- fat intake, can be reduced by:
steaming or boiling instead of frying when cooking;
replacing butter, lard and ghee with oils rich in polyunsaturated fats, such as soybean, canola (rapeseed), corn, safflower and sunflower oils;
eating reduced-fat dairy foods and lean meats, or trimming visible fat from meat; and
limiting the consumption of baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods (e.g. doughnuts, cakes, pies, cookies, biscuits and wafers) that contain industrially-produced trans- fats.
Salt, sodium and potassium
Most people consume too much sodium through salt (corresponding to consuming an average of 9–12 g of salt per day) and not enough potassium (less than 3.5 g). High sodium intake and insufficient potassium intake contribute to high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke (8, 11) .
Reducing salt intake to the recommended level of less than 5 g per day could prevent 1.7 million deaths each year (12) .
People are often unaware of the amount of salt they consume. In many countries, most salt comes from processed foods (e.g. ready meals; processed meats such as bacon, ham and salami; cheese; and salty snacks) or from foods consumed frequently in large amounts (e.g. bread). Salt is also added to foods during cooking (e.g. bouillon, stock cubes, soy sauce and fish sauce) or at the point of consumption (e.g. table salt).
Salt intake can be reduced by:
limiting the amount of salt and high-sodium condiments (e.g. soy sauce, fish sauce and bouillon) when cooking and preparing foods;
not having salt or high-sodium sauces on the table;
limiting the consumption of salty snacks; and
choosing products with lower sodium content.
Some food manufacturers are reformulating recipes to reduce the sodium content of their products, and people should be encouraged to check nutrition labels to see how much sodium is in a product before purchasing or consuming it.
Potassium can mitigate the negative effects of elevated sodium consumption on blood pressure. Intake of potassium can be increased by consuming fresh fruit and vegetables.
Sugars
In both adults and children, the intake of free sugars should be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake (2, 7) . A reduction to less than 5% of total energy intake would provide additional health benefits (7) .
Consuming free sugars increases the risk of dental caries (tooth decay).
Excess calories from foods and drinks high in free sugars also contribute to unhealthy weight gain, which can lead to overweight and obesity. Recent evidence also shows that free sugars influence blood pressure and serum lipids, and suggests that a reduction in free sugars intake reduces risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (13) .
Sugars intake can be reduced by:
limiting the consumption of foods and drinks containing high amounts of sugars, such as sugary snacks, candies and sugar-sweetened beverages (i.e. all types of beverages containing free sugars – these include carbonated or non‐carbonated soft drinks, fruit or vegetable juices and drinks, liquid and powder concentrates, flavoured water, energy and sports drinks, ready‐to‐drink tea, ready‐to‐drink coffee and flavoured milk drinks); and
eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks instead of sugary snacks.
Credit:WHO
Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
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ZLHR CONDEMNS VILIFICATION OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
ZIMBABWE
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) stands in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) and condemns the vilification of Catholic Bishops by government which borders on outright fanning of hate speech.
The vilification of the Catholic Bishops came after the clergymen rebuked government’s ominous transgressions in a Pastoral Letter on the “Current Situation in Zimbabwe” issued on 14 August 2020 in which they raised concerns over human rights violations.
In their Pastoral Letter, the Catholic Bishops highlighted and criticised state-sponsored human rights excesses.
In response to the ZCBC’s Pastoral Letter, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Minister Monica Mutsvangwa in a curse-laden tirade against the Catholic Bishops singled out Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu and also raised some unwarranted tribal sentiments.
There can be no justification of this vilification of the clergymen and this anti-Catholic scorn because for the Bishops, speaking out against transgressions is their moral obligation.
As ZLHR, we are greatly concerned that the intolerance of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government on dissent and criticism is becoming more despicable every passing day and we should realise that it is the manifestation of President Mnangagwa’s and his followers’ fear on the people’s legitimate dissatisfaction from a leader who claimed and promised to be a “listening” President which is equally growing.
We have noted that in 2020 while the vilifiers and the vilified are different, the script is the same.
The incendiary statements by government are aimed at inflicting shame on clergymen and to vilify their struggles that spring from righteous causes.
Section 60 of the Constitution provides for freedom of conscience and states that;
“Every person has the right to freedom of conscience, which includes— (a) freedom of thought, opinion, religion or belief; and (b) freedom to practise and propagate and give expression to their thought, opinion, religion or belief, whether in public or in private and whether alone or together with others.”
In addition section 62 of the Constitution provides that; “Every person has the right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom to seek, receive and communicate ideas and other information.”
Besides domestic laws, government is bound by some regional and international instruments including Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides that; “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” and which does not permit any limitations whatsoever on the freedom of thought and conscience.
As clergymen, the Catholic Bishops must not abdicate their sacred mandate as shepherds to whom the Lord has entrusted his flock and no amount of vilification, intimidation or threats should make them give up their critical role, especially that of giving voice to the voiceless.
Being Bishops or clergymen does not divest them of their civil and political rights to free speech, because they are still citizens of Zimbabwe and have the inalienable right to speak about the government’s shortcomings.
ZLHR urges the Catholic Bishops to have faith and take heart as they have long championed people’s rights and freedoms for several decades.
To the Catholic Bishops, always bear in mind the biblical verse in 1 Peter 5:8, which reads; “Be alert and of sober mind.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
To government, ZLHR calls for the withdrawal of its intemperate and inflammatory statement and urges it to embrace constructive criticism and the principles of good governance.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
Farai Dziva|The Zimbabwe Peace Project has strongly denounced the intimidation of Catholic Bishops by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s troubled administration.
Disgraced Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa accused Archbishop Ndlovu of attempting to cause disharmony in the country.
See ZPP statement below :
ZPP stands with ZCBC
ZPP is deeply concerned with the response by the govt of ZW through the Information minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, to the Pastoral Letter by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop’s Conference (ZCBC) entitled ‘The March has not ended”.
The letter, among other issues, denounced the human rights breaches by government.
Several human rights actors have faced harassment, arbitrary arrests, abduction and torture, particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 induced national lockdown.
The letter also noted how past, unresolved hurts such as Gukurahundi and the current unprecedented corruption levels are contributing to the frustrations of the citizenry.
It is unfortunate that, instead of self introspecting and at least engaging the clergy to deliberate on the issues raised, the government chose to target and launch a tribal attack on the Archbishop, Robert Christopher Ndlovu, accusing him of being evil-minded and misguided.
Such attacks are concerning, particularly in an environment where dissenting voices have n abducted or arrested. All the ZCBC has done is, like every other institution that seeks to see values of democracy being implemented, reach out to the govt with the hope for a better ZW
The hate language and vilification by the government only serve to further increase tensions and are a clear disrespect of Sections 60 and 61 of the Zimbabwe Constitution that provide for Freedom of Conscience and Freedom of Expression respectively.
In the last few weeks, many institutions, among them, the @_AfricanUnion , @UN SG, the chairperson of the African Comm for Human & People’s Rights have voiced concern about the events unfolding in the country. @CyrilRamaphosa has also dispatched envoys to Harare on same issues.
ZPP, whose vision is a Zimbabwe where there is Peace, Justice, Dignity and Development stands in firm solidarity with the ZCBC and all signatories to the Pastoral Letter, who called for the much-needed inclusivity, when they noted that “it feels as though the poor have no one to defend them. They don’t seem to feature on the national agenda. Their cries for an improved health system go unheeded.
Their plea for a transport system that meets their transport blues are met with promises & promises and no action”
“…the only time we see real action is when our leaders are jostling for power, to secure it or to ascend to offices of power…”
It is regrettable that the church, where citizens have always found refuge during turmoil is attacked for calling out govt on widespread corruption, the health delivery that has become a death trap and an economy that has seen the majority of people sink deeper into poverty.
It is important for the govt to be cognisant of their obligation to respect the rights of its citizens & protect them as per Constitution & other instruments that include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We, like ZCBC, simply ask government to do the right thing, return to constitutionalism and uphold the rule of law.
ZPP calls for: The govt to acknowledge that the country is facing a crisis which, if left unattended, threatens to spiral out of control impacting the generality of citizens.
Continued denial of a crisis that is there for all to see is not going to make it disappear.
ZPP further calls for: The government to realise that human rights are neither given at the benevolence of the government nor are they a privilege.
Govt to retract the hate statement and properly engage with the ZCBC, the church at large and all Zimbabweans in dialogue
Lastly, ZPP asks government to stop fanning divisions among citizens through use of hate language
United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (UCCZ) cleric, Rev Fredrick Thondhlana and Sungura maestro Tatenda Pinjisi have appealed for God’s intervention as Zimbabwe faces one of its worst economic crisis in a decade.
Listen and Enjoy…
Expelled Zanu-PF youth leader Godfrey Tsenengamu says that the foiled July 31 demo was just a dress rehearsal as there were more protests planned, which could lead to a major uprising.
He says the majority of Zimbabweans are fed up and that President Mnangagwa was increasingly under pressure in Zanu-PF, where some bigwigs were allegedly no longer backing him.
Meanwhile, MDC Alliance vice president Tendai Biti has warned that Zimbabwe’s political and economic crises have now reached a boiling point that could soon lead to a bloodbath as civil strife was imminent.
He said the country needs international help and that the activities if South Africa, African Union and the United Nations Security Council will be key going forward due to rising human rights violations.
Farai Dziva|MDC Alliance leader Advocate Nelson Chamisa has described the diatribe aimed at Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop as unfortunate and shocking.
“THE CHURCH, being the moral compass and ‘conscience guardians’, must speak truth to power in any society.
Gvt’s vitriol and diatribe aimed at the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ position on the current political &economic instability is evidence that Zimbabwe is indeed in turmoil,” President Chamisa tweeted.
MDC Alliance National Spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere also tweeted :
“The State is at war with Catholic Bishops, journalists, authors, lawyers, the AU, the ANC, the ZSE, diplomats, civic society, nurses, doctors, Econet, Old Mutual, Chamisa – everybody is an enemy. They can’t look within & see the crisis they’ve created. #ZimbabweanLivesMatter.”
“Every progressive Zimbabwean must condemn the incendiary hate speech against Archbishop Ndlovu aired on
@ZBCNewsonline by the Minister of Information on behalf of
@edmnangagwa
& the State. We demand an apology and withdrawal of the unacceptable remarks. #ZimbabweanLivesMatter,” MDC Alliance posted on Twitter.
Farai Dziva|MDC Alliance leader Advocate Nelson Chamisa has described the diatribe aimed at Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop as unfortunate and shocking.
“THE CHURCH, being the moral compass and ‘conscience guardians’, must speak truth to power in any society.
Gvt’s vitriol and diatribe aimed at the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ position on the current political &economic instability is evidence that Zimbabwe is indeed in turmoil,” President Chamisa tweeted.
MDC Alliance National Spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere also tweeted :
“The State is at war with Catholic Bishops, journalists, authors, lawyers, the AU, the ANC, the ZSE, diplomats, civic society, nurses, doctors, Econet, Old Mutual, Chamisa – everybody is an enemy. They can’t look within & see the crisis they’ve created. #ZimbabweanLivesMatter.”
“Every progressive Zimbabwean must condemn the incendiary hate speech against Archbishop Ndlovu aired on
@ZBCNewsonline by the Minister of Information on behalf of
@edmnangagwa
& the State. We demand an apology and withdrawal of the unacceptable remarks. #ZimbabweanLivesMatter,” MDC Alliance posted on Twitter.
Transform Zimbabwe leader and Convenor of the 31 July protest, Jacob Ngarivhume’s admission of bail was argued today and the court will give a ruling on Friday 21 August 2020.
More to follow…
Six Harare MDC-Alliance councillors have been arrested for allegedly being involved in land scams as Government intensifies the fight against corruption in local authorities.
The arrests come as President Mnangagwa recently urged the justice system to step up the fight against corruption and bring an end to the “catch-and-release syndrome,” while the arrest of “small and big fish” should become the new normal.
Those arrested are reportedly from Harare City Council’s housing committee. In an interview this morning, the head of Special Anti-Corruption Unit (Sacu) Mr Tabani Mpofu confirmed arrests of the six.
Mr Mpofu said there is tangible evidence linking the six to serious corruption charges. Harare officials that have been arrested over the past weeks and appeared in court on corruption charges include Mayor Hebert Gomba, the housing director Addmore Nhekairo who is facing a charge of criminal abuse of office, acting human resources director Matthew Marara and principal housing director Edgar Dzehonye.
Some of the co-accused have since appeared in court and are out on bail.
-State Media
A Mutare couple is in trouble after marrying off their 15-year-old daughter for $40.
The couple appeared in court yesterday before Mutare magistrate Prisca Manhibi facing charges of pledging a female person as defined in section 94 (1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
A 20-year-old Mutare man (who cannot be named to protect the identity of the minor), to whom the girl had been married off, has already appeared in court facing charges of having se_xual interc0urse with the minor girl.
He admitted guilty, together with his supposed in laws, to the charges and will be sentenced on Monday.
It is the State’s case that on July 29, the 20-year-old man told the minor’s parents that he intended to marry her.
The couple, however, made an arrangement that he pays any lobola amount of his choice before taking their daughter for marriage.
On August 2, 2020, the man brought $40 as per agreement and gave it to the couple, who handed their daughter to the accused.
The matter came to light after neighbors reported to nearest police station, leading to the trio’s arrests.
-Newsday
Below is a statement posted on Instagram by Zimdancehall star Seh Calaz’s wife laying bare their domestic affairs including claims that the Hatipisike hitmaker’s irresponsibility.
Moira Knight
Kutaura privately as adults ndinenge ndichitoda but as you can imagine haana chaanotaurika naye. He is very good at kutiza. I haven’t seen Tawanda since 12th august paaka tiza mumba aka jamba jura hall when i tried to talk to him.
I spent my birthday with his relatives takamumirira so we could discuss the issues but he did not turn up even after being phoned several times. I have been away for a few months, not on holiday but giving birth to my son and unfortunately when i came back ndakaona imba yave sango hence my reason for involving his relatives.
On a serious and concerning note, ndinganzi ndopenga ndo bleacher handi zvare and all yes it’s fine, but at 30 years old munhu wechi rume anofanirwa kunge akura brain. Paya panenge pachinzi ndiri celeb or ndiri Kushoota video or panopostwa ma picture pa instagram munhu achislayer kunge slay queen every 3 hours, kana kwazodoka it would be good to know munhu akuenda kumba kwake after a hard day’s work not kuswera achitenderera mbare yese taking pictures.
But noo, dzapadhuze nekudzingwa kwadzino roja. By now having been in the industry for that long should have built even a small basic house like other artists have done. Kungonzi ndeyako and hapana achakudzinga or kuvunza rent is an achievement. Look at the sofas.
They should have been replaced time ago because munhu anoshanda and has been for years. Zvasiyana nekuti munhu asingaende kubasa. Yes currently theres covid/lockdown but right now as we speak i think pane video irikushootwa for flambo purposes, not for free by the way. Mari that is once again going out and probably not coming back. But mwana haana pekugezera or cot bed. He refurbished his studio kuti mufunge munhu akarongeka. If you see this place muchaona ndiri munhu ari right. Mumba macho hamuna any other picture but madziro aka hangwa, kunamirwa ma pictures ake enlarged and framed.
Ndakanyara when i had to serve hama dza Tawanda food i had to place the plates straight pa floor because table ikutadza kungotengwa kana ye $300 zvayo, I’m sure kumbare dziriko. Handipenge usually kana ndaita courage yeku taura out thats the only way he might hopefully see the seriousness of this situation.
Zanu PF leaders are behaving as if they hold title deeds to a country called Zimbabwe and have in the process become some of the world’s most notorious abusers of human rights, veteran politician Dzikamai Mavhaire has said.
Addressing hundreds of mourners gathered at the burial of MDC founder member, Crispa Musoni in Nyazvidzi, Gutu on Sunday, Mavhaire said most Zanu PF leaders making noise about the liberation struggle were nowhere near the war and identified Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Senator Lovemore Matuke as a culprit.
Matuke is also Zanu PF secretary for security in the politburo.
“Zanu PF refuses people food, harasses, torments and vilifies those who criticise it. Some of its leaders speak like they came from Mozambique literally carrying the country called Zimbabwe on their heads (Saka kana vamwe vachingoita sevakadengezera nyika kuti tisu takauya nayo vatibetserevo nokuti Mwari unoziva. Kune vamwe vakauya madeko, vese vamunoona vanaMatuke vanga vasipo, hapana akanga ariko. Vabvunzei vanga vasiko, ini ndaiveko. Tisataurirwe zvinhu nevanhu vakanga vasiko. Asi Musoni waiveko!).
“They behave like they hold title deeds to the country and in the process they choose who to give welfare food and who not to give food. There is no one with a title deed to Zimbabwe. They label those who disagree with them as sellouts.
“Don’t be told lies. I was there, these noise makers were nowhere near the war. Matuke was nowhere near the war yet today he vets our heroes.
“Musoni who lies in that coffin was there before most of us. He brought food to Nkomo, Mugabe, Zvobgo, myself and many other politicians when we were in prison and he worked for the Red Cross. Therein lies a great unsung hero of both the liberation war and the democratic struggle of Zimbabwe.
“If you see your hero status being determined by a caucus of a few pretenders then you must know that there is something terribly wrong about it. God knows his heroes,” said Mavhaire to applause from the mourners.
Mavhaire said Zimbabweans are being cowards for allowing Zanu PF to refuse deserving people food aid. He said there is no Zanu PF politician who can claim that food aid is coming from his or her mother’s granary.
“Chikafu ichi hachibvi mudura ramai nhingi. The food aid distributed by Government comes from the tax payers’ money. It is your money and why should anyone refuse you food bought by your own money. Youth, where are you when all this is happening?
“As Zimbabweans we are being cowards for allowing this to happen,” said Mavhaire.
Musoni who was one of the founder members of the MDC in 1999 died at a private surgery at Nyika Growth Point in Bikita at 6pm on Friday. He was buried at his farm where MDC supporters from both Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance and Khupe’s MDC T turned up in large numbers.
Prominent politicians present were Mavhaire from the MDC A, Masvingo Mayor Collen Maboke, former MPs Jeffryson Chitando, and Renson Makamure, Oliver Chirume, an emissary from MDC T bigwig Elias Mudzuri.
Musoni’s nephew and war veteran Kudakwashe Mubika fought hard to stop MDC from participating at the funeral but this was in vain as the vociferous party faithfuls would have none of that.
Apart from Mavhaire, Gutu North chairman Philip Mahachi also addressed the mourners.
— Mirror
Women in small-scale mining communities in Bindura, Mashonaland Central have ventured into pr0stitution for survival as the sector has been ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Institute for Young Women`s Development representative Constance Mushayi confirmed many teen mothers in areas such as Foothill and Benridge have resorted to se_x work after they were excluded from government-run social safety net programmes.
“Women in small-scale artisanal mining communities are now engaging into se_x work due to Covid-19 induced poverty. The challenge is that we have more teen mothers who were relying on mining activities but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the sector is under performing.
“The situation has been worsened by the fact that these teen mothers have been excluded from social safety net programmes by the government and they have remained vulnerable to economic woes,” said Mushayi during a virtual meeting convened by Green Governance Zimbabwe Trust (GGZT).
She implored the government to support the women with social safety nets as well as availing relevant information about Covid-19.
“Covid-19 has led to significant loss of income in areas such as Bindura because local business is supported by mining activities. The demolition of the flea markets has also worsened the plight of over 400 families who rely on selling their goods to miners,” said Mushayi.
Due to lack of transport and movement restrictions, she said, most local women have not been able to restock their businesses while those employed in mines have been told to go on forced leave.
“Mines have downsized due to Covid-19 pandemic. Artisanal mining is a major source of employment in Mashonaland Central with women constituting around 30 to 50% of the total workforce.
“Women have primarily been involved in crushing, sluicing, washing, panning, sieving, and sorting and in some occasions, actual mining. Women have been very active in the provision of goods and services at the mining for example food and drinks and sales of artisanal mining equipment such as sieves, flash lights to mention but a few,” Mushayi.
She added Covid-19 had also led to a surge in vices such as domestic violence, corruption and crime in areas such as Shava, Matepatepa and Mazowe.
-Online
ZANU PF Central Committee member Cde Justice Zvandasara is under investigation for allegedly purchasing land earmarked for the construction of party offices in Harare and leasing it to a local bank without permission from the ruling party.
Cde Zvandasara is suspected to have connived with four others to fraudulently buy and lease out 8 000 square meters that had been set aside for party offices in Pomona.
The property, known as Lot 55 Pomona Estate or 8 Campbell Road, Pomona was purchased by a private company, Pebney (Pvt) Ltd, from the City of Harare.
It is alleged that Cde Zvandasara and his accomplices Lameck Taruhwa, George Mashavave and two others purchased the property that was being used as district party offices by Zanu PF Borrowdale District since 1990.
It is understood the party had a right of first refusal over the property.
Cde Zvandasara allegedly went on to lease the land in question to CBZ Bank for US$26 000 which was paid into one Fungai Chiboora’s account.
The case was reported under CR 503/07/2020 — CCD DR55/07 with Cde Zvandasara and his accomplices now facing fraud charges.
National Police Spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the case, but could not give details.
“I can confirm that the matter was reported to police. We we will avail more information once investigations are complete. We are still on the ground doing the necessary enquiries,” he said.
Zanu PF Harare Provincial chairperson Cde Oliver Chidau said the matter was still to be formally brought to his attention.
“The matter is still being handled at district level. As a province, we are still to receive a report pertaining to the matter. I will give a response once I have been formally informed of the matter and we will also handle it from there,” he said.
-State Media
A junior police officer in Plumtree has been arrested for allegedly using social media to incite members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) to defy orders from their superiors to enforce lockdown regulations.
Levias Ngwenya (36), a police constable stationed at Plumtree Police Station allegedly wrote on his Facebook timeline, urging his colleagues in the security service sector to disregard Government directive by allowing people to engage in anti-Government protests.
He accused the Government of “bribing” police and soldiers by offering them a pay rise and US$75 Covid-19 risk allowances so that they descend on protestors.
Ngwenya appeared before Plumtree magistrate Tayengwa Chibanda facing charges of causing disaffection among members of the police force or defence forces as defined in section 30 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
He was released on $500 bail and remanded to July 28 for trial.
Ngwenya was ordered not to access his social media accounts and to continue residing at his given address until the matter is finalised. He was also ordered not to interfere with State witnesses as part of the bail conditions
Prosecuting, Ms Dorothy Kanengoni said on July 8 at about 2.58AM, Ngwenya posted on his Facebook page, alleging that soldiers and police were being used by the Zanu-PF-led Government to turn against the generality of impoverished Zimbabweans.
The post read: “Soldiers and police don’t be fooled and brainwashed with the money, which has little buying power. You should not allow Zanu-PF and Government to use you to attack your fellow brothers and sisters.”
“The reason why police officers and soldiers were given the money is to oil them so that they are able to descend heavily on impoverished civilians who are scheduled to demonstrate on July 31 as it is a divide and rule tactic,” wrote Ngwenya.
Ms Kanengoni said the message was aimed at inciting security forces to revolt against the Government.
“The accused person had no lawful right to induce other members of the ZRP and Zimbabwe Defence Forces to disregard Government directive,” she said.
The court heard that on August 9, Ngwenya using his Facebook account posted: “Zimbabwe police officers and ZNA must wake up and smell the coffee. It is time to embrace change not to fight our fellow citizens. Zanu-PF Government is using you for nothing.”
“What can you achieve with a paltry ZW$10 000 and useless Covid-19 risk allowance of US$75, which is not even accessible in banks. Wake up guys.”
Mr Bruce Masamvu who is being instructed by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights is representing Ngwenya.
-State Media
