Farai Dziva|Heavily armed police details raided MDC Alliance Organising Secretary Amos Chibaya’s house on Friday afternoon.
The police officers did not produce a warrant of arrest.
“As the siege against MDC Alliance leaders and pro-democracy activists continues, armed riot police have stormed the home of MDC Alliance National Organizing Secretary, Amos Chibaya in Mkoba 13.
They did not produce a warrant of arrest,” MDC Alliance said in a statement.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the burial of Perence Shiri President Emmerson Mnangagwa is going ahead with the burial of late Agriculture Minister Perence Shiri after flooding the country with soldiers and police to suppress them telling him that they are suffering under his leadership.
Shiri succumbed to Covid-19 on Wednesday while on his way to hospital. He was declared a National Hero besides leaving behind a history of brutality and murders he executed as the commander of the Gukurahundi soldiers who killed over twenty thousand people in Matabeleland and the Midlands in the mid eighties.
Watch live video of the burial proceedings.
Farai Dziva|MDC Alliance members Fadzayi Mahere (National Spokesperson), three Youth Assembly officials Joana Mamombe, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri have been arrested as Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration intensifies efforts to silence dissenting voices.
Prominent writer and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga was also arrested.
MDC deputy president Tendai Biti condemned the persecution of citizens by the paranoid regime :
“The #amoeba has totally lost it . Indeed Fadzai , Tsitsi and others have been arrested .
So too the #MDCAllianceTrio & their lawyer Obey Shava who were all coming from a hastily arranged trial at the Harare Magistrate Court .Civil rights have now securely been quarantined in Zim.
It appears that the desperate regime is now arresting citizens wily nilyThey appear to have picked up Tsitsi Dangarembgwa,our spokesperson
@advocatemahere andothers .
The right to peacefully demonstrate is is codified in our constitution,” Biti wrote on Twitter.
Nineteen Coronavirus patients risks dying at a Harare medical institution after soldiers blocked an oxygen delivery company to deliver the consignment.
The soldiers are currently doing an operation to block suspected #31July protestors.
The incident was reported by former journalist and National Patriotic Front Spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire who said, “Receiving reports there is a medical facility in Arundel needing urgent oxygen supplies. They have 19 Covid patients, they need bulk medical oxygen,but driver from a supplier (a big reputable company) has been turned back home by soldiers. If these patients pass on, isn’t ED culpable?”
Zimbabwe currently has 3092 confirmed cases, including 924 recoveries and fifty three (53) deaths.
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY
Farai Dziva|Three MDC Alliance Youth Assembly leaders Joana Mamombe, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri have been arrested.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, the three were arrested near Zanu PF HQ.
ZLHR wrote on Twitter :
“@ZLHRLawyers
strongly condemns the arbitrary detention of
@obeyshava
with his clients
@JoanaMamombe
@MarovaNetsai
&
@ceechimbiri2
They were arrested near ZANU PF headquarters on their way to Central police where they are scheduled to report as part of their bail conditions.”
“Detention of our lawyer @obeyshava1
is strongly condemned, he must be released forthwith together with his clients on their way to fulfill their bail conditions.
We also strongly condemn wanton assault of
@ceechimbiri2
by a soldier.”
By Jane Mlambo| Firebrand South African opposition Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julias Malema has slammed the government of Zimbabwe over its move to compensate former white farmers who were displaced during the 2000 land reform exercise saying President Emmerson Mnangagwa had exposed his clueless-ness by dancing to the whims of the whites.
In a strongly worded statement, EFF said the government was misinformed about the causes of the economic crisis in Zimbabwe which he said had to do with deeply embedded cronyism and ineptitude on the part of the state.
“We are of the view that Mnangagwa is either deeply misinformed about the real causes of the crisis in Zimbabwe or is simply catapulting to the pressure from the white supremacist world. Either way, the treasonous act of paying to white settlers money that Zimbabwe does not have will not resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe which is essentially a political crisis resulting from mismanagement, at the centre of which Mnangagwa features prominently,” said EFF.
The vibrant movement further laid into Mnangagwa for betraying former freedom fighters and damaging the legacy of President Robert Mugabe by seeking to please white people by paying them for the Zimbabwean land they were illegally occupying.
“It must be noted that the push for the repossession of the land in Zimbabwe was not initiated by the state. At the time Zimbabwe gained independence, the framework for land reform was premised on a market-led land reform programme whereby the state with the assistance of Britain, was required to purchase land from white landowners for land redistribution purposes,” added Malema.
“Mnangagwa will be remembered as a clueless, ideological amoeba who was prepared to trade off important gains of the struggle in order to be liked by the whites. We deeply condemn this act of betrayal by Mnangagwa, and call on ordinary Zimbabweans to reject this wasteful use of money that should be directed towards building hospitals in Zimbabwe,” added EFF.
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY
By A Correspondent- The vice president of the opposition MDC Alliance, Tendai Biti has claimed that Zimbabwe has been totally shut down as the citizenry has withdrawn in protest against bad governance in the country.
He speaks when reports from the country’s major cities suggest that there is a heavy presence of state security officers in roads leading to central business districts to block the citizenry. Biti posted on Twitter this Friday:
There is a complete shut down of Zim as the citizen withdraws in protest against #corruption, misgovernance & abuse of the rule of law. The illegitimate regime has been stretched with thousands of security agents deployed all over. The people are speaking #peacefully& autocracy panics.
Meanwhile, the permanent secretary in the ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nick Mangwana claims that there is an insignificant change in some towns. He said:
GWANDA UPDATE: Major shopping centres are open but very few people are doing business. Zupco buses are ferrying people into town but they are not full. Residents appear to have chosen safety from Covid19 and peace from potential thuggery.
Some say the citizenry did not throng to the streets as planned in fear of the security forces deployed onto the streets.
Watch the live video loading below and see how the MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere was arrested today while staging a protest in Harare, Friday morning……
Watch the live video loading below and see how the MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere was arrested today while staging a protest in Harare, Friday morning……
Watch the live video loading below and see how the police arrested her and several others…..
Click on the link below and update us on what is happening in your area right now regards the July 31 protests.
Embarked on a socially distanced peaceful protest in our community this morning. It’s important to speak out and take a stand in accordance with the Constitution, Covid19 regulations & morality.
We all wore masks during the protest. We all observed social distancing. It was completely peaceful. Section 59 of the Constitution guarantees the right to demonstrate and present petitions peacefully. We said we would support this citizen-driven action & we kept our word.
We want a free Zimbabwe.??
video loading below
VIDEO LOADING BELOW – PLEASE BE PATIENT AS IT DOWNLOADS
Watch the live loading below….
Members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police attempted to nab Thandekile Moyo the creator of the #ZANUPRmustGo campaign using relatives of ZimLive Editor Mduduzi Mathuthu.
Mathuthu’s close associate Professor Jonathan Moyo said the police asked one of Mathuthu’s relative to lure Thandekile to them.
“Before raiding @Mathuthu’s house, @PoliceZimbabwe in Byo arrested three of Mduduzi’s nephews: Amandlenkosi Mathuthu, Advent Mathuthu & Tawanda Muchehiwa. They forced Tawanda to call and try and lure @Mamoxn to the Police by saying: the flyers are ready, come and see them. Shocking!” Moyo said.
The police have been launching raids on homes belonging to Josphat Ngulube and Mthulisi Hanana who have been ndistibuting flyers with the hashtag.
Mathuthu is currently in hiding. The police are accusing him of possessing subversive equipment used to incite Zimbabweans to engage in an illegal demonstration on Friday.
Friday preliminary reports indicate that the country is generally calm with calls for protests having been suppressed by a heavy police and army presence all round.
Watch video downloading below on situation in Harare this morning.
Zimbabweans had called for nationwide marches on Friday, ostensibly against top-level corruption, in defiance of a government ban.
This had raised the spectre of possible clashes and violence between protestors and security forces.
Police national spokesman assistant commissioner Paul Nyathi told national radio that there were no reports of protests anywhere as of early morning on Friday, and the country was calm and peaceful.
Police and other security forces have been heavily deployed in key areas to enforce the protest ban.
“So far the country is very calm and peaceful, no reports of demonstrations or violence,” Nyathi said.
He added: “We are monitoring the situation cĺosely.”
In banning the protests, the government had expressed fears the marches could endanger the lives of the public by exposing them to the raging Covid-19.
The government had also cited possible violence during the protests as another reason for banning the marches.
Keep us informed on developments in your area by clicking the link below:
By A Correspondent- Fired Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services and Goromonzi West MP, Energy Mutodi, has withdrawn a case which was before a Harare magistrate.
Mutodi filed an affidavit before magistrate Mr Sheunesu Matowa indicating that he had decided to withdraw thefts charges against four men who allegedly stole his designer suits.
The suspected thieves – two brothers Denver and Cosmos Zvomuya, Fidelis Martin Mandaza and Pardon Magombo – were arrested after they allegedly broke into Mutodi’s Borrowdale residence in Harare and stole valuables, including 30 pairs of designer suits.
In withdrawing the case which was before magistrate Matowa, Mutodi said he had decided to withdraw the matter due to personal circumstances.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa fired Mutodi in May after he had used Twitter to mock then hospitalised three female MDC Alliance activists, calling them pr_stitutes who were bashed by their lovers after they demanded to be paid in foreign currency for their services.
Harare West MP Joanah Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova were abducted, tortured and s_xually assaulted after taking part in an anti-government demonstration in Warren Park, Harare.
Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi reacted swiftly to save some children on Anti-Retroviral Therapy after their caretakers were arrested by police on Wednesday in Mount Hampden.
In a move that has proved that some junior officers are ‘overzealous and unrealistic’ of the economic situation affecting food security, Ziyambi said although the caretakers including one Gogo Nhiwatiwa and Portia Rusere were not registered but were feeding scores of vulnerable children including three who are on ART out of their pockets, there was need for a ‘reprieve’.
There are at least 54 of these children who have taken solace at the homestead in Mount Hampden getting free food daily.
The matter was raised at WhatsApp group where Ziyambi is a member.
He was touched by the plea by members that he had to call the police and social welfare officials to get to the bottom of the matter.
Ziyambi castigated junior social welfare officers whom he said overreacted on the matter.
‘The affected children are now in Kadoma where they will be assisted to get their medication. It was overzealous on the part of social welfare officers as police are not to blame. These caring mothers were doing this out of love, using their own resources to feed the children,’ he posted.
He however, called for a truce so that the organization gets registered to continue assisting the vulnerable members of the communities.
Gogo Nhiwatiwa was among the caretakers who were arrested.
The Mount Hampden ‘orphanage’ co-founder Portia Rusere confirmed that they were at Marlborough police station where they had been picked up for questioning.
‘Yes our organization was not registered but we were feeding children as there is need to help them out. Some were coming from their homes and we did this as a move aimed at assisting children who are innocent souls,’ she said.
However, Chegutu Senator Violet Mokwetsi called on the Government to relax registration of such community based organizations.
‘We are facing a crisis and when women do this caring, it is out of genuine love. Few have hidden agendas to raise money, so Government officials must help out to those with a noble cause not to witch-hunt and bring dis-harmony among communities,’ she added.
The minister’s reaction was applauded as ‘caring and realistic on community based situations’ following the appeal on a social media grouping.
EXPLOSIVE details show that the state-owned National Oil and Infrastructure Company (Noic) was advanced by Sakunda Holdings US$17,5 million of a US$22,75 million loan agreement to buy out Lonmin’s 50% stake in the ownership of the strategic Feruka fuel pipeline, leaving the parastatal saddled with a debt, which is now causing all manner of headaches.
The transaction lifts the lid on the murky control, use and management of the money-spinning pipeline, as accusations of state capture mount. Sakunda Holdings is owned by the politically connected tycoon Kuda Tagwirei.
In 2018, Noic assumed total control of the Beira-Harare pipeline after it snapped up Lonmin’s 50% stake in the asset.
The transaction, consummated at a time Zimbabwe was facing a crippling fuel crisis, has now become a major headache for Noic. There are many unanswered questions as to why Noic decided to take the US$22,75 million loan specifically from Sakunda Holdings instead of other players and whether the Tagwirei-run outfit got preferential treatment to use the pipeline.
It also remains to be established whether Sakunda Holdings was paying tariffs for usage of the pipeline from 2018 to date and the nature of gain it accrued from the deal.
As reported by this newspaper on February 20, Sakunda Holdings’ dominant usage of the pipeline, which runs from Beira in Mozambique to Harare, has resulted in 40% under-utilisation of the infrastructure, prejudicing Zimbabwe a staggering US$400 million annually.
The pipeline, which until 2018 was partly owned by Noic and mineral resources group Lonmin, is now wholly controlled by the government through PetroZim Line Limited after it paid US$17,5 million to the conglomerate of the US$22,5 million Sakunda Holdings loan. PetroZim Line Limited, a subsidiary of Noic, now exclusively owns the pipeline, although its usage has largely been dominated by Tagwirei’s Sakunda Holdings.
Tagwirei, who is President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s adviser and Zanu PF benefactor, has vast business interests that straddle the whole economic spectrum ranging from petroleum procurement, banking and mining. In recent times, he has faced accusations of failing to account for US$3 billion his company was allegedly paid by the government to finance the Command Agriculture programme.
Documents seen by the Independent this week show that Noic, which generates billions of dollars annually through levying fuel-procurement companies that use the pipeline, is now indebted to the tune of US$17,5 million, from the loan it received from Sakunda Holdings in a transaction meant to give the parastatal total control of the infrastructure. Noic levies about US$0,06 for every litre of fuel pumped through the pipeline.
The documents also reveal that Noic has since paid ZW$30 million to Sakunda Holdings as cash cover, an amount which the state enterprise will be reimbursed once it settles its debt to Tagwirei’s firm. At the time it paid the cash cover amount, the Zimbabwean dollar was trading at par with the US dollar.
The Independent can report that the US$17,5 million paid by Noic to Lonmin to snap up its 50% shareholding in the ownership of the pipeline was paid directly by Sakunda Holdings via an undisclosed offshore account.
According to correspondence from Noic corporate services director Vivian Mandizvidza dated April 23 addressed to the entity’s board members, the state enterprise sought “authority” to settle US$17,261 million to Sakunda Holdings under the loan arrangement deal that was entered to buy out Lonmin for PetroZim Line Limited.
The letter reads: “On 26 June 2018, Noic and Sakunda Holdings entered into a loan agreement for an amount of US$22,75 million on the back of a sale purchase transaction between Noic and Lonmin Plc in terms of which Noic purchased the 50% shareholding held by Lonmin Plc in PetroZim Line Limited. The conditions of the loans were as follows: Sakunda would pay US$22 750 000 to Lonmin on behalf of Noic.
“The loan agreement provided that Sakunda would disburse the entire amount to an identified offshore account on the loan date subject to fulfilment of conditions precedent. Noic fulfilled the conditions precedent. Sakunda disbursed a total of US$17 261 577, 00 in batches.”
Contacted for comment, Tagwirei did not respond. The Independent sought his clarification on the amount of fuel his company moved through the pipeline from 2018 to date and the amount of money it paid for using the same facility. We also sought his comment on the benefits Sakunda Holdings reaped from Noic after providing it with the loan.
In a transaction preceding Mandizvidza’s letter to Noic board members, Trafigura — one of the world’s largest oil and metal brokers — bought out Sakunda Holdings’ 51% stake in Trafigura Zimbabwe in February, as it moved to stave off mounting Western and local criticism against Tagwirei. As criticism swirled against Tagwirei’s controversial handling of the US$3 billion Command Agriculture funds, the US State Department and Treasury faced pressure from the US Senate to slap sanctions on individuals involved in alleged “public corruption”.
Trafigura held a 49% stake in Trafigura Zimbabwe, with Sakunda Holdings, which operated Puma Energy, holding the controlling stake.
Subsequent events, as shown by documents seen by this newspaper, reveal that Tagwirei’s Sakunda Holdings decided to terminate its agreement with Noic, and demanded to be repaid the principal amount it had loaned to the state enterprise, plus interest of US$1,384,864.The total amount due amounted to US$25,246,592 as at April 30.
“Subsequent engagements with Sakunda resulted in Sakunda invoking the provision of the Loan Agreement relating to termination. Sakunda raised incapacity to proceed with the Agreement due to the changes in the law prohibiting the payment to a local company offshore. Sakunda further gave notice to terminate the Agreement and requested Noic to pay back the loan amount and interest due,” Mandizvidza’s letter to board members reads.
“The effect of this communication was to terminate the loan and make repayment due. At the board meeting held on 26 March 2020, the board authorised management to engage Sakunda with a view to reaching an agreement on the settlement of the amount owed by the company in local currency, at the official exchange rate.”
Noic chief executive Wilfred Matukeni did not respond to questions from the Independent on why the state enterprise received the loan from Sakunda Holdings and the nature of benefit it obtained from the deal. At the time of going to print, he had not responded also on the amount of money Sakunda Holdings paid from 2018 to date for using the pipeline, by way of tariffs.
Energy minister Fortune Chasi also did not respond to questions sent to him, saying he was not in charge of the portfolio at the time. Jorum Gumbo, now minister in charge of Implementation of Government Programmes, presided over the energy portfolio in 2018.
During the subsistence of the agreement, Sakunda Holdings was awarded a US$6,6 million “discount on pumpings” through the pipeline.
As part of plans to settle the multi-million-dollar debt to Sakunda Holdings, Noic proposed to channel US$14,858 million of its funds held by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) from a loan the apex bank borrowed from one of the state enterprise’s “clients”.
“The Company (Noic) currently has US$14,858 million invested with the RBZ. This amount is a loan accessed by the RBZ…to one of the company’s clients in December 2018,” the documents read.
According to Mandizvidza’s letter to the Noic board members, the entity’s management proposed to pay Sakunda Holdings US$14 million in local currency from funds held by RBZ and settle the balance of US$11,246,592 over a period of eight months. The balance attracts 5% interest per annum if it is paid after December 31.
“In the event that the request is approved, we request for authorisation…,”Mandizvidza wrote to Noic board members.
A petroleum industry source close to the Noic-Sakunda Holdings loan deal, has described the transaction as an “incestuous relationship”, arguing that the arrangement prejudiced other players while it gave Tagwirei’s outfit “vast acres of space to monopolise usage of the pipeline”.
“The US$22,75 million loan that Noic got from Sakunda Holdings stinks to high heavens. It just gets to show you how Tagwirei’s company has managed to maintain a tight grip on the usage of the asset. Sadly, the loan has come back to haunt Noic,” a source told the Independent this week
Amid disclosures of the Sakunda Holdings loan to Noic, the government’s plans to construct a second pipeline that runs from Mozambique into Zimbabwe and feeding the whole region with Mogs at a cost of US$400 million has suffered a stillbirth as a result of fierce resistance from powerful cartels with strong political connections. The second pipeline, which was touted to transform Zimbabwe into a regional petroleum hub, was to be built at a cost of US$400 million.
However, government is trying to revive plans to build a second pipeline with an as yet unnamed Mozambican outfit at the same cost.
Trafigura, which until March was Tagwirei’s partner in Trafigura Zimbabwe, moved 717 million litres of fuel through the pipeline in 2016, with volumes soaring to 639 million litres in 2017 and 768 million litres in 2018. In 2019, it pumped 889 million litres into Zimbabwe.
Documents seen by this newspaper in November 2018 showed that Puma, which is partly owned by Trafigura, Sakunda’s partner then, required 4,4 million litres of diesel and 3,6 million litres of petrol to adequately supply the country’s weekly fuel needs. At the height of fuel shortages in 2018, government negotiated for 100 million litres of fuel from Sakunda Holdings, with payment set to be settled over the next 12 months. At that time, Tagwirei’s outfit also committed to supply 1,6 billion litres of fuel over 18 months.
Noic would not disclose to the Independent the amounts of money Sakunda Holdings paid through tariffs levied from using the pipeline.
Zimbabwe, in the throes of a debilitating economic crisis, is reeling under a chronic fuel shortage compounded by underutilisation of the Beira-Harare pipeline.
The Southern African country requires 4,1 million litres of diesel and 3,1 million litres of petrol to satisfy its daily requirements
THREE people yesterday appeared in court facing allegations of staging an illegal demonstration at Boka Auction Floors in Harare demanding the release of fellow Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume who were remanded in custody.
Chin’ono and Ngarivhume were arrested a fortnight ago and have since appeared in court facing allegations of tweeting messages allegedly aimed at inciting people to join illegal demonstrations.
Emmanuel Mukwemu, Trynos Hove and Petronella Sabuwu appeared before magistrate Mrs Victoria Mashamba charged with participating in a public gathering with intent to cause public violence.
Mukwemu, Hove and Sabuwu, through their lawyer Marufu Mandevere, complained that they were denied access to legal representation upon arrest and that Hove was denied a mask upon arrest, exposing him to coronavirus in the process
The three were not asked to plead to the charges and were remanded in custody to August 13 for their routine remand.
Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa, prosecuting, alleges that on Tuesday this week the three teamed up with 17 others who are still at large and decided to stage a demonstration.
The court heard that they went to Boka Auction Floors carrying placards inscribed “31 July independence day, Corruption must go, free our leader Jacob. #31 July, 31 July no turning on back, and Free Zimbabwe, Free Hopewell, Free Corruption”.
After they allegedly staged the illegal demonstration, they then dispersed in different directions.
On Wednesday, police acted on a tip-off after receiving information to the effect that the three were at Mutema Bar in Hopely Zone 5 Shopping Centre, went there and identified Mukwemu from clothes he was wearing on the day of the demonstrations. Hove and Sabuwu were arrested yesterday.
One of the leading global providers of VPN services, TunnelBear has report a 12x spike in connections from Zimbabwe. The spike comes as Zimbabweans rush to install VPN apps ahead of the 31 July protests against government corruption and lack of political reforms in the country.
Said TunnelBear in a tweet this evening:
Zimbabwe must #KeepItOn. TunnelBear has seen nearly a 12x spike in connections in Zimbabwe since protests began. In light of this, we’re giving away 10GB of data for one month to our users in Zimbabwe to support them in this critical time.
A VPN, short for Virtual Private Network, allows internet users to bypass internet restrictions imposed by local authorities. Restrictions such as blocking access to social media and chat apps like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.
No such restrictions have been effected in Zimbabwe yet. However, Zimbabweans are preparing for the possibility.
Other popular VPN providers include Opera browser, NordVN, CyberGhost, Hotspot Shield, 1.1.1.1(by Cloudflare) and ExpressVPN.
There has been talk in the country that a whole internet shutdown might however be imposed. In such a scenario, VPNs will be useless.
A LUSTFUL 46-year-old Banket woman is languishing in remand prison after she was denied bail for allegedly forcing two minor boys to be intimate with her, in two separate incidents.
The accused, Dadirai Fortune Mandisekwe of Aryshire Mine in Banket is now scheduled to stand trial at Chinhoyi Magistrates’ Court where she is facing two counts of aggravated indecent assault.
In the first charge, allegations against the accused, whose marital status remains unknown, are that on an unknown date in April this year, she summoned the 13-year-old complainant into her bedroom.
It was heard the boy entered Mandisekwe’s bedroom and found her lying in bed before she was asked him to join her between the blankets.
When the boy got into bed, he was allegedly asked to undress and he complied.
The woman then started fondling the boy’s manhood, before instructing him to insert it into her genitals which he did, court was told.
In the second count, the prosecution averred that on an unknown date in July this year, a Grade Five boy was feeding chickens at an adjacent homestead when he was called by Mandisekwe.
Using the same modus operandi, the woman lured the boy into her blankets and indecently abused him without his consent.
The sexual molestations were exposed after the boy’s mother suspected her son had been abused.
The boy was taken for medical examination at a local clinic, where he confided in nurses and narrated the ‘sexcapade’, leading to the arrest of Mandisekwe.
Provincial magistrate Lisa Mutendereki remanded the matter to August 6 for trial.
Review Nikisi represented the State.
Soldiers move in to disperse crowds of opposition Movement for Democratic Change supporters outside the party's headquarters in Harare, Zimbabwe, August 1, 2018. EXACTLY two years after soldiers and police gunned down civilians in the immediate aftermath of the 2018 general election, the government has continued brutalising citizens while ironically claiming it is fulfilling recommendations of a commission of inquiry into the horrific killings.
The commission, chaired by former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe, among other recommendations, urged the government to desist from deploying the military in quelling dissent.
It also underscored the need to compensate victims of the shootings and the need to bring perpetrators of the killings to book, but nothing has been done yet in that respect.
Tomorrow, Zimbabwe commemorates the second anniversary of the unprecedented state brutality in which soldiers opened fire against fleeing, unarmed protesters on the streets of central Harare, killing six and injuring 35.
This followed a hotly disputed July 30 2018 presidential election narrowly won by Mnangagwa. Dozens of civilians were also injured while property worth millions of dollars was destroyed.
Following the shootings, Mnangagwa instituted the Motlanthe Commission, which was tasked with probing the circumstances surrounding the killing of civilians, as well as offer recommendations on how the country, recently emerging from the iron-fisted rule of former leader Robert Mugabe, could foster tolerance in the face of growing dissent.
However, Mnangagwa’s edgy government, rattled by recent calls by Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume to stage nationwide protests today against corruption, has swiftly moved in to arrest opposition activists and other critics.
Ngarivhume was arrested, together award-winning journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, last week. They are both behind bars on charges of inciting public violence.
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Several opposition activists, who have endorsed today’s planned protests have gone into hiding with several others missing after the police announced that they were wanted persons.
Sections of the international community as well as civil society organisations have condemned the arrests.
However, in an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent this week, Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi sensationally claimed Mnangagwa’s administration has taken bold strides towards implementing a raft of recommendations passed by the Motlanthe commission.
Among the strides, he cited, the establishment of the discredited Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) which is a grouping of fringe politicians who lost in the last general election that regularly meet with Mnangagwa in a bid to resolve Zimbabwe’s longstanding political and economic crisis and the annulment of a couple of repressive laws.
Polad, which has been criticised for overtly endorsing Mnangagwa’s contested presidency, excludes opposition leader Nelson Chamisa who narrowly lost the disputed 2018 election on an MDC-Alliance ticket. Chamisa has not endorsed Mnangagwa’s victory, and has called for a broad-based national dialogue that is convened by a neutral broker to help end Zimbabwe’s two-decade crisis.
“We set up Polad, we repealed the Access to Information and Privacy Act (Aippa), we engaged families of victims.”
However, Maxwell Tauro, the father of Ignatius Tauro who was shot dead on August 1 2018, told the Independent this week that he had not received any compensation from the government, despite Ziyambi’s claims.
He said: “No one has reached out to us. We have not received any money from government. I once followed up on the docket and they said they will tell us when they need me”.
Alison Charles, whose brother Gavin Dean Charles was also slain by state security agents two years ago, said the government has neither apologised nor compensated the family.
“I am the executer of his estate and his daughter is a beneficiary and we have not received anything,” she said this week.
Ziyambi denied that the victims were shot by state security agents, although the Motlanthe commission clearly found that soldiers committed the heinous crime and should be brought to justice.
He said: “But the commission was also not very conclusive about who actually perpetrated the shootings. The police were still working on that. It is work in progress.
But by and large most of the issues they highlighted were resolved. And those that have not been resolved will be addressed.
“There was a recommendation that we must do an investigation on who perpetrated the shootings. We have not moved because we do not have conclusive evidence because there were conflicting theories.
Some people suggested that they were some people who were shooting from the top of buildings and other people were claiming it was the soldiers. But the soldiers do not have anyone who issued a directive to do that. So we are still investigating.”
Ziyambi warned police would use “proportionate force” if they feel under siege from protesters today.
“If you go about attacking police officers with the intention to kill them, proportionate force will be used proportional to the force needed to defend that police officer’s life,” Ziyambi said.
In yet another foreign currency theft in Bulawayo, a city man lost US$50 000 cash (equivalent of $3,8 million) after thieves broke into his car while he was parked in the city centre on Sunday, conducting other business.
The theft occurred along Samuel Parirenyatwa Street between 14th and 15th avenues and no arrests have been made as yet, with police yesterday saying they were still investigating.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the man parked his Toyota Prado along Samuel Parirenyatwa Road on Sunday, leaving US$50 000 inside the vehicle. When he returned he found the money missing,” he said.
Thefts and robberies of foreign currency have become more frequent in Bulawayo.
Last week, burglars broke into an irrigation company in Bulawayo and made off with US$23 500, R43 200 and $2 500 which was in a safe in one of the offices after disabling alarm systems and the closed-circuit television during the night.
Part of the stolen cash was in a safe, while the other was in a drawer and when police attended the scene, they discovered that the burglars broke one of the windowpanes and cut the burglar bars to gain entry.
Four armed robbers recently snatched US$80 000 in Bulawayo from a man believed to be a gold dealer, while he was in his car outside a city hotel.
The 29-year-old man was in his Toyota Allex near the intersection of Joshua Nkomo Street and 12 Avenue, opposite a hotel when one of the robbers, armed with a pistol, jumped into his vehicle.
The robber was then joined by his three accomplices and the four manhandled the victim demanding the cash. They later drove off in the Toyota with the victim, before dumping him in the city centre.
A driver from a Bulawayo-based hardware company also allegedly lost US$30 000 to thieves while on the way to bank the cash after he stopped at a supermarket in the city centre to buy food, leaving the cash in an envelope on the dashboard.
The driver had been sent by one of the directors of the hardware firm in Belmont. However, police were not convinced that the robber took place and suspected the driver faked it.
State Media
THE Health Services Board (HSB) has slated the month-long industrial action by nurses as illegal saying they rushed to withdraw labour without sufficient notice.
HSB, through the Attorney-General’s Civil Division, said the strike was a threat to people’s constitutional right to health and is likely to cause loss of life and so has approached the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare seeking an order declaring the strike illegal.
Nurses withdrew their labour on June 18 and have not returned to work despite the spike in confirmed Covid-19 cases.
The board, which employs the nurses, is demanding an explanation from the Zimbabwe Nurses Association why their strike should not be declared illegal.
In the papers filed at the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare recently, HSB said the strike was illegal and the nurses were acting in violation of the country’s supreme law.
“The strike is illegal on account of the fact that the workers have embarked on the strike without an attempt to present their grievances or conciliate the dispute. A certificate of no-settlement was not issued as required under Section 93 of the Labour Act.”
The nurses did not give 14 days’ notice as required by the law and just withdrew labour without notice, said the HSB in its submission and the strike puts the nation at serious health risk and it must be called off.
“It is common cause that the health workers are essential service providers and their withdrawal of labour causes unnecessary loss of life,” argues HSB.
However, ZINA secretary-general Mr Enock Dongo said the strike was lawful and it was staged due to incapacitation and fear of exposing nurses to the risk of infection by Covid-19.
“We feel our strike is within the law and it is legal. It was due to genuine incapacitation.”
Besides the pay issue, the nurses want better protective equipment.
“We went on to inform the Government that we are at risk of contracting Covid-19 because there is no personal protective equipment. A number of nurses so far have contracted Covid-19 and that confirms we are at risk and where we feel unsafe, we have to withdraw services until we get protective equipment,” he said.
State Media
A Gweru prophetess, arrested for allegedly sexually molesting a female member of her church, has been granted bail.
Juliet Masakanire (29), the founder and pastor of Pray Deliverance and Testimony Ministries International is alleged to have sexually molested a 32-year-old member of her church.
Masakanire appeared before Gweru magistrate Mr Progress Murandu facing aggravated indecent assault charges.
She was not asked to plead and was granted $1 000 bail to August 28.
Prosecutor, Ms Connie Madzudzu told the court that the complainant whose name has been withheld to protect her identity is a Pray Deliverance and Testimony Ministries International church member.
It is the State’s case that sometime in January, the accused person was looking for accommodation and the complainant offered to accommodate her temporarily.
The duo allegedly used to share the same bed.
The court heard that during the same month, Masakanire in a prophecy said the complainant was going to get married to a husband by the name of Stanley Chinyonga.
Each night since the day of the prophecy, the accused person allegedly started to speak to the complainant in a male voice saying she was Stanley Chinyonga and wanted to marry her.
The court heard that on an unknown date during the month of February, Masakanire allegedly woke up during the night and introduced herself as Stanley Chinyonga and started kissing and caressing the complainant.
The complainant tried to resist but she was overpowered. The accused person allegedly inserted her fingers into her private parts. She did that on four different occasions and threatened her not to tell anyone saying if she did that she would not meet her future husband.
On June 28 the complainant allegedly informed a church mate before the matter was reported to the police leading to the arrest of the accused person.
Own Correspondent
Zimbabwe Thursday recorded 12 new Covid-19 deaths, bringing to 53, the total number of fatalities, the Health Ministry announced in its daily coronavirus update.
“Today (Thursday) we report the results of 12 deaths which occurred from 13 – 20 July 2020 in the community and on admission to casualty departments at Parirenyatwa and Sally Mugabe hospitals after investigations and postmortems were done,” the ministry said.
“These include nine males and two females all from Harare and had respiratory symptoms. The deaths from Midlands province is a male aged 58.
“Two hundred and thirteen tested positive for Covid-19 today. These include 205 local cases and eight returnees from South Africa who are isolated. As at 30 July, Zimbabwe had 3 092 confirmed cases, including 924 recoveries and 53 deaths,” the ministry stated in its update.
By Dewa Mavima
File picture of female prisonersAS Covid-19 cases rise in Zimbabwe, there are major risks to the country’s prisons and detention centres.
These facilities are often unsanitary, overcrowded, and have no running water in cells for detainees to comply with hygiene practices recommended to stem the spread of the disease.
According to the Ministry of Health, as of July 28, Zimbabwe had 2 817 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 40 deaths. And the situation in the country’s prisons and jails could get worse.
Many detainees, like anti-corruption activists Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume, are stuck in congested pretrial detention facilities. Others are arbitrarily detained for simply speaking out or otherwise exercising their rights.
In March, the government acknowledged that Zimbabwe’s prisons, with a capacity for 17 000, had a population of 22 000. Between March and June 2020, the government released 4 208 prisoners under President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s amnesty, but too many remain behind bars to allow for social distancing.
Three lawyers who visited prisons in Harare last week told me that although masks are issued at prisons, many inmates and some wardens do not use them partly due to lack of information on protecting against Covid-19.
They confirmed that at least three staff at Prison Headquarters and the Chikurubi officers’ camp had tested positive for Covid-19.
The United Nations Standard Minimum Rule for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules) states that prisoners should enjoy the same standards of health care available in the community.
Zimbabwean authorities should take immediate steps to provide detainees with adequate medical care and facilities to protect them from Covid-19. Zimbabwe should consider an increased reduction of the prison population through supervised or early release of low-risk detainees including those for release soon, those in pretrial detention for nonviolent and lesser offences, or whose continued detention is similarly unnecessary or unjustified.
The government should publicly disclose plans to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection in its facilities and steps it will take to contain the infection and protect prisoners, staff, and visitors.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, established under the Constitution to, among other things, carry out monitoring and inspection visits to prisons and other places of detention, should intervene to inspect and monitor compliance with Covid-19 measures to protect the health of detainees.
Chris Sambo Details coming in indicate that the former Premier Soccer League chief executive, Chris Sambo succumbed to the deadly Coronavirus on Wednesday.
Sambo died at Parirenyatwa Hospital where he had been admitted after complaining of breathing problems.
“He was admitted at Parirenyatwa hospital after showing symptoms of Covid-19. He tested positive but he seemed to have been recovering well but they don’t know what happened all of a sudden and he passed away on Wednesday evening,” a relative revealed.
Sambo becomes local football’s first known Covid-19 fatality.
State Media
Thokozani Khupe Neither MDC Alliance nor MDC-T can receive any of the $7.5 million political funding under the Political Parties Finance Act until a resolution on the ongoing legal battle over which formation is entitled to the money is settled, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance and the Dr Thokozani Khupe-led MDC-T are embroiled in a vicious legal battle over the control of the opposition MPs and Senators elected in 2018, and thus the $7.5 million to be paid under the Political Parties Finance Act.
MDC Alliance successfully applied for an interim order before Justice Priscilla Munanfati-Manongwe at the High Court in May, to block to the Thokozani Khupe-led MDC-T from receiving the disbursement.
The alliance had sued the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of Finance and Economic Development — who then appealed against the judgment of Justice Munangati-Manongwa at the Supreme Court.
There, a panel comprising Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, Justice Tendai Uchena and Justice Alfas Chitakunye partially allowed the appeal, but with the consent of both parties’ legal counsel blocked both formations from receiving the money until the underlying legal dispute is settled.
Under the Political Parties Finance Act, all parties that poll more than 5 percent of the vote in a general election share the sum budgeted for political parties each year in proportion to their votes. By-election results can alter those proportions.
The critical legal issue is whether the MDC-A was simply an electoral alliance, or a full party in its own right.
If it was just an alliance with the MDC-T as its main partner, then the decision of the Supreme Court earlier this year would have major significance. The Supreme Court then declared Mr Chamisa’s leadership of the MDC-T when the Alliance was formed to be illegitimate and ordered that the 2014 leadership, headed by Dr Khupe, was the legitimate interim leadership by MDC-T rules, but it had to hold an election within three months to choose the leader of the party. That congress, which was scheduled to take place today, was deferred due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
After the Supreme Court ruling, Dr Khupe moved to take control of the opposition, recalling a number of MDC Alliance legislators from Parliament and several councillors sympathising with Mr Chamisa on the basis that these had been the MDC-T’s nominees in the MDC-A line-up.
There are now two contradictory High Court rulings. In her ruling, Justice Munangati-Manongwa acknowledged the MDC Alliance as a political party with capacity to sue and be sued, which is contrary to the findings of another judge of the same court, Justice Tawanda Chitapi, who ruled that MDC Alliance does not legally exist as it is just an electoral pact.
The Supreme Court will now probably have to be asked to make a definitive ruling on the status of the MDC-A and whether those elected under the MDC-A name in 2018 belong to the MDC-A or belong to the underlying formations, including the MDC-T, that came together in the MDC-A.
There could be another legal battle over MDC-T assets that were taken over by the MDC-A on the say so of the then MDC-T executive led by Mr Chamisa, an executive now found to have been improperly formed by the MDC-T’s own rules.
Depending on how the legal battle progresses, several alternatives present themselves. It could be found that the MDC-A is a political party that came second in the 2018 elections, but was not entitled to take over MDC-T assets. Or it could be found that the MDC-A is simply an electoral alliance of several parties that presented a single presidential candidate and a single candidate in each constituency election, but has no control over the successful candidates. There are other options that may come to the attention of judges trying to disentangle the legal minefield.
Melanie Robinson, the British ambassador, has called for restraint from both the state security and citizens in the citizens demonstrations set to take place in major cities today.
Robinson said on Twitter she was concerned by “toughening language on and off social media in Zimbabwe.”
The Zimbabwean goverment and the ruling ZANU PF party have in the last two weeks been using very strong language threatening citizens intending to take part in the demonstrations.
A day ahead of the demonstrations, on Thursday, after midday, downtown Harare was largely empty.
In Gweru and Masvingo, vehicles were being turned away from entering the CBD.
A police statement said no demonstrations would be allowed.
“All security arms of government are on full alert and will deal decisively with any individuals or groups fomenting violence and sending threats or provocative messages through the social media or any other means,” it said.
Robinson tweeted as follows:
Mduduzi MathuthuPolice officers on Thursday raided and ransacked the home of ZimLive editor Mduduzi Mathuthu in Zimbabwe’s second city of Bulawayo reportedly looking for information on subversive materials linked to the 31 July protests.
According to a warrant of search and seizure, the police said they were looking for mobile phones, cameras, computers and any subversive materials that were likely to be used in today’s planned demonstrations, which the law enforcement agents have said are illegal.
The police said they believed Mathuthu was organising and advocating for the demonstrations adding that he was using his mobile phone to encourage people to demonstrate.
Mathuthu was not at his home when the police arrived. The police have since picked up his young sister Nomagugu and detained her at the Bulawayo Central Police station.
MISA Zimbabwe has since deployed lawyer Nqobani Sithole to assist both Mduduzi and his sister.
The raid on Mathuthu’s home follows a similar one at the Harare home of journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, who was arrested on 20 June. Chin’ono is in custody after he was denied bail on charges of inciting public violence in terms of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
A 26-YEAR-OLD miner has been arrested for allegedly raping a 62-year-old woman after she turned down his love proposal.
Proud Ndebele who works at a mine in Sun Yet Sen was not asked to plead when he appeared before Gwanda magistrate, Miss Lerato Nyathi facing a rape charge. He was remanded in custody to August 27 for trial.
Prosecuting, Mr Silent Shoko said Ndebele met the elderly woman while she was on her way home on May 30 and proposed love to her.
“On 30 May at around 6PM the complainant was on her way home from Sun Yet Sen Business Centre in Kezi when she met Ndebele. He proposed love to the complainant and she turned him down. The complainant left the accused person standing along the footpath and she proceeded home,” he said.
“On the same night at around 7PM Ndebele arrived at the complainant’s place of residence and found her cooking in her kitchen hut. He approached the complainant and requested to have sexual intercourse with her but she refused and ordered Ndebele to leave her homestead. This didn’t go down well with Ndebele who then slapped the complainant several times on her face and threatened to kill her if she didn’t give in to his demands.”
Mr Shoko said Ndebele then ordered the complainant to lie down on the kitchen floor and he raped her.
“During the process the complainant tried to fight off the accused person by scratching him on the face but he did not stop and instead burnt the complainant with a piece of firewood,” he said.
After committing the crime, Ndebele fled and the complainant went to inform her neighbour.
The matter was reported to the police leading to the arrest of the accused person. –Chronicle
The ruling ZANU PF party has accused some senior officials of “burning mid-night candle” in an attempt to cause disharmony between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Vice Presidents, Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi.
Reading a statement after a politburo meeting held at the party’s headquarters in Harare on Wednesday, acting national spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa singled out Claveria Chizema for allegedly keeping fliers in her home carrying a message purporting that there was an impending coup in the party.
Said Chinamasa:
The posters had a message that there was a coup coming and had the names of the people who were behind the coup, but these posters had false information.
She failed in her duties as a senior member of the party when she did not report this to the party security or national security and, therefore, she has been suspended to pave way for investigations.
Chizema was suspended from the politburo yesterday because of the fliers.
In the statement, Chinamasa warned party officials reportedly colluding with outsiders to divide the party that they will be dealt with in line with the standing rules of the party’s supreme constitution- NewsDay
SECURITY FORCES ISSUES STERN WARNING ON ILLEGAL DEMONSTRATIONS
The Zimbabwe Republic Police urges members of the public to conduct their day to day and normal activities in a peaceful atmosphere and cooperate with police and other security service members who are maintaining law and order in the country.
All security arms of Government are on full alert and will deal decisively with any individuals or groups fomenting violence and sending threats or provocative messages through the social media or any other means.
We reiterate that no demonstrations will take place in Zimbabwe on 31st July 2020.
Those who decide or disregard the law, particularly National COVID- 19 regulations will have themselves to blame.
Police are aware of various attempts to incite the public through the social media with one group calling itself “31 July Peaceful Demonstrations [3]” threatening to burn a service station in Mvuma on 31st July 2020, and barricade the Harare -Masvingo highway and all roads leading to police stations.
The group is led by a group administrator with the cell number +27653302446 and has 249 group members with some claiming to be in possession of firearms. These will be regarded as terrorists.
The security services are also aware of these groups that they are spreading fake news that the security services are in support of the 31st July 2020, illegal demonstrations.
These are blatant lies, meant to confuse the public, cause alarm and despondency in the security services.
The security services remain resolute in defence of the country’s security and the safety of all Zimbabweans.
The public is also urged to report any incidence of intimidation, incitements or threats to their nearest police station or members of the security forces who are conducting patrols in their local areas.
[NYATHI. P] Assistant Commissioner
Senior Staff Officer (Press, Public and International Relations)
To the Commissioner-General of Police
Police General Headquarters
The ruling ZANU PF party has accused some senior officials of “burning mid-night candle” in an attempt to cause disharmony between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Vice Presidents, Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi.
Reading a statement after a politburo meeting held at the party’s headquarters in Harare on Wednesday, acting national spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa singled out Claveria Chizema for allegedly keeping fliers in her home carrying a message purporting that there was an impending coup in the party.
Said Chinamasa:
The posters had a message that there was a coup coming and had the names of the people who were behind the coup, but these posters had false information.
She failed in her duties as a senior member of the party when she did not report this to the party security or national security and, therefore, she has been suspended to pave way for investigations.
Chizema was suspended from the politburo yesterday because of the fliers.
In the statement, Chinamasa warned party officials reportedly colluding with outsiders to divide the party that they will be dealt with in line with the standing rules of the party’s supreme constitution- NewsDay
ZANU PF yesterday suspended the party’s secretary for Health Cleveria Chizema for further investigation after the security department presented a report on how internal forces are fomenting discord in the party working with some senior officials.
Speaking after the 342nd session of the Politburo in Harare on Wednesday, Zanu PF acting Secretary for Information and Publicity Patrick Chinamasa confirmed Chizema’s suspension after fliers printed by a former youth league official and spreading falsehoods, were found at her home.
“As of now we had only concrete evidence of fliers left at Mai Chizema’s house in March and not removed.
They were not reported to anyone else, or to the security authorities and were found at her house just a few days ago.
“The Politburo was not satisfied with her explanation, so she pleaded innocent and we feel that we cannot investigate this matter scientifically if she remains in office. She was suspended pending full investigations.
The full investigations hopefully will nail the other individuals who have been working with outside forces,” said Chinamasa-The Herald
A Birmingham publication which covers Aston Villa might have given a clue in regards to the future of Zimbabwean midfielder Marvelous Nakamba.
The 26-year-old, started well for the Dean Smith-coached side after making a historic move from Club Brugge last year but lost his place in the team towards the end of the season, paving way for suggestions that the might be shown the exit door.
To make matters worse, the man who oversaw his £11 million transfer, Spanish talent-spotter Jesus Garcia Pitarch, was sacked for “bad transfer decisions”, a move which many felt provided a clear picture on the future of the Hwange-bred midfielder.
However, yesterday’s edition of the Birmingham Live suggested otherwise.
”Only Guilbert has won more tackles than Nakamba, who completed 90 minutes just 10 times in the Premier League.
The Zimbabwean is very much a confidence player while, during Villa’s lowest points at Southampton, Leicester and the like, he was Smith’s most-committed player with Smith making a point of his desire to the downbeat dressing room.
‘Naka’ lost his place during the restart and featured mainly from off the bench late on to help see Villa over the line.
He’s still 26 and, at £11 million, suggests there’s room to grow so we’ll see if he’s up to it this coming campaign,” read part the article which rated the Aston Villa players for the just ended 2019/20 campaign- Soccer 24
VIDEO LOADING BELOW…
By A Correspondent| ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa was left hanging on a thin-thread after the state broadcaster, ZBC on Thursday deleted its video of him battling to explain that the late Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement, Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri tested positive for #Covid-19.
The video shows Mnangagwa addressing mourners at the late Minister’s Borrowdale in Harare, this Thursday, according to ZBC. The development comes at a time when multiple sources inside government revealed they had no clue what killed Shiri. Yesterday, ZANU PF spokesman Patrick Chinamasa said he does not know what befell Shiri, announcing that only a postmortem would tell the truth. There are no postmortems being conducted for COVID victims. The ZBC YouTube account showed the below results: “Video unavailable” which means the broadcaster has deleted it.
The webpage was later updated after about 15 minutes and a new video was uploaded showing Mnangagwa saying: zvino sekutaura kwandaita, hatina kuziva, nekuti paakashaya, panga pasati pabuda pa results ekuti, ane maresults ekuti ane chirwere chacho chamazuva ano kana kuti ahana.
“Saka ma results ndoazouya aya aya. Zvobvira kuti handizivi kuti ndekupi asi akabatiwa ne COVID.
Ndozvinotaura bepa iri.
Saka ma procedure a World Health Organisation ndiwo ototevedza somurairo.
Chiremba vedu havapo, hameno kuti vazosvika here, Dr Chimedza, ndovachatitungamirira vandozoziva kuti zvinofana kuti zvifambiswe sei.
According to a source close to the developments, Shiri did not die of corona virus but food poisoning which he reportedly consumed together with his driver at a rally in Rushinga.
“We are suspecting food poisoning but they are going to pin it on Covid.
“When they came back from Rushinga last week, the driver was complaining of heart burn. On Friday he went to work but Minister Shiri did not go to work. He had already started feeling funny, complaining that he felt like he had heart burn just like the driver”, said a close source who asked for anonymity.
29-07-2020
It is public knowledge that you, our esteemed members of the police force and the army you are earning peanuts.
Let it be known to you that your situation is not natural but a deliberate creation of an evil system that is corrupt.
We know that most of you are young people who joined the uniformed forces for the love of country and to serve your people.
We also understand that besides serving your country, you deserve food on your table for the upkeep of your families.
We want to make it clear that we feel your pain and abuse at the hands of a corrupt regime.
It is against this background that you as young people must stand with the people on 31 July.
Let us speak the same language with the people against corruption and be on the right side of history.
With love and courage.
General Sarkozy
31 July Movement
Farai Dziva|ZimEye has exposed a plot by state security agents to abduct a member of the MDC Alliance Youth Assembly in Kariba.
Members of the MDC Alliance Youth Assembly were also threatened by men brandishing guns.
Watch video below :
Farai Dziva|ZimEye has exposed a plot by state security agents to abduct a member of the MDC Alliance Youth Assembly in Kariba.
Members of the MDC Alliance Youth Assembly were also threatened by men brandishing guns.
Watch video below :
By Dread Reckless
I am very saddened by the death of Rtd Air Marshal Perrence Shiri.
I ask myself why such a wonderful and unique man would die so soon.
I have learnt a lesson. Procrastination is the thief of time. God gave me enough time to punish Perrence Shiri myself but l procrastinated.
I can’t forgive myself that he has died without me having a hand in his death.
I pray to God for a second chance, resurrect him and expose him to my desire to punish him.
It’s a pity that l can’t be allowed to have his body near me, otherwise l would kill him again.
Those who do not know this man-he was at the front line during the Matebeleland massacre crusade that saw 30 000 people plus heading to mass graves Perrence, famed for his hobby of slicing open pregnant women to “stop the birth of more dissidents” thought he was larger than life.
During his lifetime, he enjoyed the protection of both his paymasters, Robert Mugabe and his successor Emerson Mnangangwa.
Unfortunately they failed to protect him from the long arm of death that could grab him as they watched.
My brother Pee, please, come back and give me a chance to kill you myself the way you used to slaughter people in Matebeleland.
Farai Dziva|
Masvingo based preacher, Isaac Makomichi was on Wednesday summoned by the Law and Order Department.
He was accused of “trying to overthrow Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.”
Makomichi was also accused of mobilizing congregants to participate in the July 31 protests.
Makomichi told the media that he was phoned by a man who threatened to send him to the mortuary.
“They once called me in the morning asking for my address.
I became afraid and I contacted my lawyer Advocate Martin Mureri who accompanied me to the Law and Order Department.
When we arrived at their offices they accused me of plotting to remove President Mnangagwa from office.
I was shocked because I have nothing to do with the 31 July protests.
I’m not fighting the government and I think they were misinformed.
Now I’m fearing for my life because the allegations are serious .
I just want the public to know that I have nothing against the government.
I don’t have the capacity to overthrow the government office,” said Makomichi.
Farai Dziva|
Masvingo based preacher, Isaac Makomichi was on Wednesday summoned by the Law and Order Department.
He was accused of “trying to overthrow Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.”
Makomichi was also accused of mobilizing congregants to participate in the July 31 protests.
Makomichi told the media that he was phoned by a man who threatened to send him to the mortuary.
“They once called me in the morning asking for my address.
I became afraid and I contacted my lawyer Advocate Martin Mureri who accompanied me to the Law and Order Department.
When we arrived at their offices they accused me of plotting to remove President Mnangagwa from office.
I was shocked because I have nothing to do with the 31 July protests.
I’m not fighting the government and I think they were misinformed.
Now I’m fearing for my life because the allegations are serious .
I just want the public to know that I have nothing against the government.
I don’t have the capacity to overthrow the government office,” said Makomichi.
Sixty-two (62) cases tested positive for COVID-19.
These include 50 local cases and 12 returnees from South Africa who are isolated.
New recoveries were reported in Bulawayo in Bulawayo Province (275) and Manicaland Province (8).
Today we regret to report one (one) facility death from Manicaland Province.
The death is of a female aged 32.
Today 723 RDT screening tests and 1 971 PCR diagnostic tests were done.
The cumulative number of tests done to date is 126 708 (68 916 RDT and 57 792 PCR).
Since the onset of the COVID019 outbreak on 20 March 2020, the total number of confirmed cases is 2 819, recovered 887, active cases 1 951 and 41 deaths- Ministry of Health and Child Care
Sixty-two (62) cases tested positive for COVID-19.
These include 50 local cases and 12 returnees from South Africa who are isolated.
New recoveries were reported in Bulawayo in Bulawayo Province (275) and Manicaland Province (8).
Today we regret to report one (one) facility death from Manicaland Province.
The death is of a female aged 32.
Today 723 RDT screening tests and 1 971 PCR diagnostic tests were done.
The cumulative number of tests done to date is 126 708 (68 916 RDT and 57 792 PCR).
Since the onset of the COVID019 outbreak on 20 March 2020, the total number of confirmed cases is 2 819, recovered 887, active cases 1 951 and 41 deaths- Ministry of Health and Child Care
The webpage was later updated after about 15 minutes and a new video was uploaded showing Mnangagwa saying: zvino sekutaura kwandaita, hatina kuziva, nekuti paakashaya, panga pasati pabuda pa results ekuti, ane maresults ekuti ane chirwere chacho chamazuva ano kana kuti ahana.
“Saka ma results ndoazouya aya aya. Zvobvira kuti handizivi kuti ndekupi asi akabatiwa ne COVID.
“Ndozvinotaura bepa iri.
By A Correspondent| The state broadcaster, ZBC on Thursday deleted its video of ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa “revealing” that the late Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement, Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri tested positive for #Covid-19.
The video shows Mnangagwa addressing mourners at the late Minister’s Borrowdale in Harare, this Thursday, according to ZBC. The development comes at a time when multiple sources inside government revealed they had no clue what killed Shiri. Yesterday, ZANU PF spokesman Patrick Chinamasa said he does not know what befell Shiri, announcing that only the postmortem would tell the truth. There are no postmortems being conducted for COVID victims. The ZBC YouTube account showed the below results: “Video unavailable” which means the broadcaster has deleted it.
The webpage was later updated after about 15 minutes and a new video was uploaded showing Mnangagwa saying: zvino sekutaura kwandaita, hatina kuziva, nekuti paakashaya, panga pasati pabuda ma results ekuti, ane maresults ekuti ane chirwere chacho chamazuva ano kana kuti ahana.
“Saka ma results ndoazouya aya aya. Zvobvira kuti handizivi kuti ndekupi asi akabatiwa ne COVID.
“Ndozvinotaura bepa iri.
“Saka ma procedure a World Health Organisation ndiwo ototevedza somurairo.
“Chiremba vedu havapo, hameno kuti vazosvika here, Dr Chimedza, ndovachatitungamirira vandozoziva kuti zvinofana kuti zvifambiswe sei.”
According to a source close to the developments, Shiri did not die of corona virus but food poisoning which he reportedly consumed together with his driver at a rally in Rushinga.
“We are suspecting food poisoning but they are going to pin it on Covid.
“When they came back from Rushinga last week, the driver was complaining of heart burn. On Friday he went to work but Minister Shiri did not go to work. He had already started feeling funny, complaining that he felt like he had heart burn just like the driver”, said a close source who asked for anonymity.
By A Correspondent | Zimbabwean-born British boxer Dereck Chisora has urged public personalities and diasporans to heed the call for help by communities in tackling the harrowing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The former Commonwealth boxing champion, made the remarks on this week on the sidelines of donating blankets and various foodstuffs to a children’s charity initiative in Mt Hampden on the outskirts of Harare. The boxer also sourced water donations with bouzers for boyhood suburb Mbare which is affected by acute water shortages.
“Our country is going through a difficult period that has been made worse by the recent global pandemic and the most vulnerable groups have been hit the worst due to being under-priviledged and marginalized. We salute selfless members like Gogo Nhiwatiwa and her team in Mt Hampden as well as other people helping out in different communities, despite their own challenges. It is our duty to look out for each other and we urge other prominent personalities and indeed everyone with capacity to assist in whatever way possible to make life better for our brothers and sisters,” he said, speaking through a representative.
The community based initiative started by Gogo Onai Nhiwatiwa and her five friends in the partially impoverished Beta community of Mt Hampden feeds and takes care of 71 orphaned and vulnerable children, with 51 staying at a shelter.
The Beta community in Mt Hampden is one of the most underdeveloped places in the vicinity of the capital city and is beset by various social and economic challenges. The Gogo Nhiwatiwa project came to public consciousness after a report done by local media triggered a response from various wellwishers including the UK-based pugilist.
The makeshift shelter run by the ladies houses their charges, whose ages range from 9months to 14 years, at rooms which were built by Gogo Nhiwatiwa through a local builder. They hire pots for the feeding program at a cost of US$5 per pot, which is often out of reach for the self-funded initiative.
Among other various needs to execute their work and meet the needs of the children, they also need PPE and sanitary wear for the older children. Assistance with registration as a children’s home and a bigger space for the work is also among the urgent needs of the charity.
“I only want what’s best for the children, I want them to go to school and secure a brighter future. They have nowhere to go and I cannot turn them away even though the numbers keep increasing and I am overwhelmed,” said Gogo Nhiwatiwa, in a recent interview.
After the story broke out, various well-wishers responded to the need and Chisora got alerted of the plight and intervened with the blankets and foodstuffs as biting winter conditions hit the country.
ZAA Foundation is the goodwill arm of the international awards brand and is critical in raising awareness on charity causes and assists through its partners and ZAA Alumni to which Chisora belongs. The Foundation also partners with other organisations and can be contacted through Tatenda Muchopa on +263735812660.
Tsitsi Betha Ndabambi,of the Protection of Adult and Children Trust has also been one of the wellwishers working closely with the initiative and sent out an SOS post on social media for the charity.
“They are in need of assistance and I have compiled a wish list which includes among others, furniture, stove, solar, beds or mattresses, clothes from 2 years old, sanitary pads, food and water containers. Please add more items that I may have omitted, for more information contact me email [email protected] at theProtection of Adult and Children Trust ,” read part of the statement.
Chisora has been doing charity works to various causes in Zimbabwe over the years and is prominent within diaspora circles for participating in home based philanthropy, apart from his sporting and business achievements. He is one of the most charismatic boxers of his generation and is currently ranked in the world top 10 heavyweights by BoxRec and has a fight pending with Oleksandr Usyk, which was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some good news for Zimbabweans which is not something you say often.
Zimbabwe among 11 countries to be allowed entry into Kenya from 1 August
The government of Kenya has announced Zimbabwe as one of 11 countries to be allowed entry into its borders when it reopens to the world form 1 August 2020.
Kenya becomes the first country to officially allow flights from Zimbabwe which is of course exciting news as the skies open up just a bit.
Other countries which will be allowed to operate flights are China, South Korea, Japan, Canada, Ethiopia, Switzerland, Rwanda, Uganda, Namibia, and Morocco.
According to Transport CS James Macharia, agreed protocol dictates that passengers who will arrive with a PCR-based COVID-19 negative certificate and body temperature not exceeding 37.5°C will be exempt from quarantine.
The list will be reviewed on an ongoing basis with more names added to the list as time moves on.
Perence Shiri Just a few minutes after President Emmerson Mnangagwa cleared the air on the cause of the death of Agriculture Minister Perrance Shiri, more confusion has resurfaced.
President Mnangagwa earlier announced that Shiri had died of Covid-19 and was captured by all state media apparatus including the sole television broadcaster the ZBC which provided video evidence of the President speak.
Mnangagwa confirmed this while addressing mourners at the late minister’ s Borrowdale home in Harare Thursday afternoon.
“Now that it is confirmed that Minister Shiri died of Covid 19, we will follow World Health Organisation (WHO) regulations on how the funeral should proceed,” said.
However, the family of late Shiri appears to be knowing more and suspects that he succumbed to food poisoning, not Covid-19.
In earlier and subsequent statements the family said he died after severe vomiting and showed symptoms consistent with food poisoning.
“We have noted social media reports of Covid-19 suspicions. Although we cannot rule that out, what we know for now is that he started vomiting severely and was attended to by doctors who suspected food poisoning,” family spokesperson Benjamin Chikerema told the media.
“He started vomiting and was taken to the doctors who said they suspected he had eaten poisoned food. Around 3 am, he started having difficulties in breathing and died when he was being taken to a Chinese (medical) facility,” he said.
The state broadcaster has since uploaded the video from its site raising confusion and suspicion.
Two doctors and seven nurses at Gwanda Provincial Hospital have tested positive to Covid-19, it has been established.
According to sources at the hospital, a doctor and a nurse tested positive on Monday forcing the hospital authorities to test all the health workers at the hospital.
After the tests, another doctor and six nurses were confirmed to have contracted the virus.
“On Monday they tested all health workers who were duty. This exercise was conducted following two positive cases of one doctor and a nurse,” confirmed a nurse who declined to be named for professional reasons.
Another senior nurse at the hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity said there was panic among the hospital staff.
“It is now scary to go to work because you might never know who has Covid-19 after two of our doctors and seven staff members including nurses tested positive on Tuesday. Results came out yesterday evening and those positive cases are currently on isolation,” said the nurse.
Contacted for a comment, Gwanda Acting Medical Superintendent Dr Blessing Gwarimbo said he iwas on leave and directed this publication to the Matabeleland South Provincial Medical Director Dr Rudo Chikodzere.
Dr Chikodzere said she was in Plumtree and “cannot comment or confirm what is happening at Gwanda hospital.”
Ministry of Health and Child Care permanent secretary, Dr Gilbert Mhlanga declined to comment and referred the matter to acting Health Minister Amon Murwira who was not immediately available.
Police on Tuesday 28 July 2020 arrested a 32 year-old man and charged him with criminal nuisance and incitement after he allegedly denigrated President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Twitter.
Zimbabwe Republic Police members on Tuesday 28 July 2020 arrested George Makonzo who resides in Mwenezi in Masvingo province and charged him with incitement as defined in section 187(1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act alternatively criminal nuisance as defined in section 46(2)(v) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
Prosecutors told Mwenezi Magistrate Honest Musiiwa when Makonzo appeared in court on Wednesday 29 July 2020 that the 32 year-old man used an unknown gadget to post some comments on Twitter on Friday 24 July 2020 saying; “It’s no longer business as usual for E.D, now the whole world knows the true colours of a crocodile we are dealing with.”
Makonzo also reportedly tweeted that; “Hopewell will be remembered for the great job he is doing while those corrupt ones trying to run but they will have nowhere to run to. That day will come.”
The prosecutors charged that by allegedly posting the tweets Makonzo, who was represented by Collen Maboke of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, intended to cause nuisance and disrupt peace and to demonstrate against President Mnangagwa’s government.
On Thursday 30 July 2020, Magistrate Musiiwa set Makonzo free after granting him RTGS$1 000 bail and ordering him to report at a local police station once every fortnight until his matter is finalised. Makonzo returns to court on 27 August 2020 for commencement of his trial.
The webpage was later updated after about 15 minutes and a new video was uploaded showing Mnangagwa saying: zvino sekutaura kwandaita, hatina kuziva, nekuti paakashaya, panga pasati pabuda pa results ekuti, ane maresults ekuti ane chirwere chacho chamazuva ano kana kuti ahana.
“Saka ma results ndoazouya aya aya. Zvobvira kuti handizivi kuti ndekupi asi akabatiwa ne COVID.
“Ndozvinotaura bepa iri.
By A Correspondent| The state broadcaster, ZBC on Thursday deleted its video of ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa “revealing” that the late Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement, Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri tested positive for #Covid-19.
The video shows Mnangagwa addressing mourners at the late Minister’s Borrowdale in Harare, this Thursday, according to ZBC. The development comes at a time when multiple sources inside government revealed they had no clue what killed Shiri. Yesterday, ZANU PF spokesman Patrick Chinamasa said he does not know what befell Shiri, announcing that only the postmortem would tell the truth. There are no postmortems being conducted for COVID victims. The ZBC YouTube account showed the below results: “Video unavailable” which means the broadcaster has deleted it.
The webpage was later updated after about 15 minutes and a new video was uploaded showing Mnangagwa saying: zvino sekutaura kwandaita, hatina kuziva, nekuti paakashaya, panga pasati pabuda ma results ekuti, ane maresults ekuti ane chirwere chacho chamazuva ano kana kuti ahana.
“Saka ma results ndoazouya aya aya. Zvobvira kuti handizivi kuti ndekupi asi akabatiwa ne COVID.
“Ndozvinotaura bepa iri.
“Saka ma procedure a World Health Organisation ndiwo ototevedza somurairo.
“Chiremba vedu havapo, hameno kuti vazosvika here, Dr Chimedza, ndovachatitungamirira vandozoziva kuti zvinofana kuti zvifambiswe sei.”
According to a source close to the developments, Shiri did not die of corona virus but food poisoning which he reportedly consumed together with his driver at a rally in Rushinga.
“We are suspecting food poisoning but they are going to pin it on Covid.
“When they came back from Rushinga last week, the driver was complaining of heart burn. On Friday he went to work but Minister Shiri did not go to work. He had already started feeling funny, complaining that he felt like he had heart burn just like the driver”, said a close source who asked for anonymity.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa British MP and former anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain has urged the British government to extend sanctions against Zimbabwe because of “escalating human rights violations” in the country.
Speaking in the British Parliament on Wednesday, Hain, a former Labour cabinet minister, called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government to impose new sanctions on key Zimbabwean ministers and security chiefs.
“In Zimbabwe, three women have recently been abducted and tortured: opposition MP and former Canon Collins Scholar Joanah Mamombe, together with Netsai Marowa and Cecilia Chepiri,” Hain said.
“On July 20, highly respected journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested and denied bail for supporting an anti-corruption protest and faces 10 years in jail. Opposition leader Jacob Ngarivhume was arrested and youth leader Takunda Madzana abducted and tortured by state security agents on July 26.
“As well as rampant corruption, there is a pattern of ongoing human rights violations under cover of the Covid-19 crackdown. Can the government update its sanctions to cover more Zimbabwe ministers and security chiefs?” he asked.
Hain grew up in South Africa but moved to Britain with his parents in 1966. He played a prominent role in mobilising British opposition to the apartheid government and later became a Labour Party MP and cabinet minister.
His call for stronger sanctions against Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zanu-PF government comes amid rising tensions in that country ahead of a large anti-government protest planned for Friday 31 July.
Ngarivhume and Chin’ono, whose arrests Hain cited as reasons for beefing up sanctions, were both involved in the organisation of the protest. Both have been charged with incitement to commit public violence and denied bail, which prevents them participating in the protest.
Ringisai Chikohomero, a Harare-based researcher for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria said he believed the arrests of Ngarivhume and Chin’ono last week had been a preemptive strike by the government against Friday’s protest.
The nighttime curfew which the government recently introduced, ostensibly to restrict social contact to curb the spread of the coronavirus, was also intended to stifle the July 31 demonstration, he said.
He said the Mnangagwa government was uncertain about its own security in the midst of the pandemic which is hitting Zimbabwe hard because the economy was already in freefall before Covid-19 arrived.
He said there were rumours of discontent in the security forces because of the heightened hardships caused by the pandemic.
This was aggravated by the recent allegations of corruption – which Chin’ono had also reported – involving Mnangagwa’s son Collins in a government contract to supply about R17-million of personal protective equipment to Covid-19.
And another scandal had erupted about suspicious Reserve Bank loans to people around the government but also including opposition leaders.
Many Zimbabweans believed General Philip Valerio Sibanda, commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), was referring to these allegations when he publicly complained that the levels of corruption being displayed by some of the country’s leaders were tantamount to selling out.
“It’s unfortunate that after independence some of us went wayward and started corruptly amassing wealth, but during the war we were taught to share. It’s a value some of us maintain up to today,” Sibanda stated.
Chikohomero said many were seeing this as a warning shot being fired by the military across the bows of the country’s political leadership.
“So, the government is reluctant to have the security forces on the streets on July 31 because no one knows which way that could go,” Chikohomero said.
The government felt it would be better to lock down the country to pre-empt the protests, he said.
DM
LOCAL Covid-19 transmission cases continue to rise in Zimbabwe, a situation that has worried health authorities in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, on Wednesday the country recorded 62 confirmed cases of Covid-19 of which 50 were local transmissions bringing the number of cases contracted locally to 1837 as compared to 1 042 imported cases.
To date the country has recorded a total of 2 879 confirmed case of which 1 951 are active cases.
“62 cases tested positive for Covid-19 today (Wednesday). These include 50 local case and 12 returnees who are in isolation. New recoveries were reported by Bulawayo province (275) and Manicaland province (eight).
“(We regret to report one facility death from Manicaland Province. The death is of a female aged 32. Since the onset of the pandemic on 20 March 2020, the total number of cases is 2879, recovered 887, active cases 1951 and 41 deaths,” reads the update.
Harare and Bulawayo remain the epicentre of the pandemic with 932 and 786 cases recorded cases respectively.
Director-General of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation Isaac Moyo is reported to have attended a special ZANU PF Politburo meeting on Wednesday to expose a faction aligned to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga which is alleged to be plotting to oust President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Online publication ZimLive reported that Moyo turned up with posters allegedly printed ahead of planned anti-government protests on Friday. The posters denounced Mnangagwa while extolling his deputy.
“It was styled like Jonathan Moyo’s ‘Blue Ocean’ presentation in July 2017, when the target then was Mnangagwa. It was quite theatrical but of lesser quality. Placards were presented, allegedly seized from all 10 provinces indicating support for Chiwenga. Moyo told the Politburo the placards were allegedly going to be paraded on July 31,” ZimLive quoted sources.
Zimbabweans are expected to stage mass nationwide protests on Friday the 31st of July.
-Byo24
By A Correspondent| The state broadcaster, ZBC on Thursday deleted its video of ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa “revealing” that the late Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement, Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri tested positive for #Covid-19.
The video shows Mnangagwa addressing mourners at the late Minister’s Borrowdale in Harare, this Thursday, according to ZBC. The development comes at a time when multiple sources inside government revealed they had no clue what killed Shiri. Yesterday, ZANU PF spokesman Patrick Chinamasa said he does not know what befell Shiri, announcing that only the postmortem would tell the truth. There are no postmortems being conducted for COVID victims. The ZBC YouTube account showed the below results: “Video unavailable” which means the broadcaster has deleted it.
The webpage was later updated after about 15 minutes and a new video was uploaded showing Mnangagwa saying: zvino sekutaura kwandaita, hatina kuziva, nekuti paakashaya, panga pasati pabuda pa results ekuti, ane maresults ekuti ane chirwere chacho chamazuva ano kana kuti ahana.
“Saka ma results ndoazouya aya aya. Zvobvira kuti handizivi kuti ndekupi asi akabatiwa ne COVID.
Ndozvinotaura bepa iri.
Saka ma procedure a World Health Organisation ndiwo ototevedza somurairo.
Chiremba vedu havapo, hameno kuti vazosvika here, Dr Chimedza, ndovachatitungamirira vandozoziva kuti zvinofana kuti zvifambiswe sei.
According to a source close to the developments, Shiri did not die of corona virus but food poisoning which he reportedly consumed together with his driver at a rally in Rushinga.
“We are suspecting food poisoning but they are going to pin it on Covid.
“When they came back from Rushinga last week, the driver was complaining of heart burn. On Friday he went to work but Minister Shiri did not go to work. He had already started feeling funny, complaining that he felt like he had heart burn just like the driver”, said a close source who asked for anonymity.
Emmerson Mnangagwa Dear President E.D. Mnangagwa,
Alarmed by the unprecedented challenges to democracy, human rights and governance created by the pandemic, the Election Resource Centre (ERC) nurtured the idea for this open letter.
The aim is to stimulate a national dialogue around key principles safeguarding elections and democracy on the 2-year anniversary of the 2018 Harmonised Elections.
The ERC recognises that this is a very challenging time for the government and people of Zimbabwe, as the country deals with the threats posed by the COVID-19 virus. The government has already taken some important steps, and others may be necessary to protect those at risk. However, the pandemic has seemingly left in its wake the reform agenda that had pillared the “New Dispensation”.
It should be noted and applauded that commendable steps have been taken to repeal the repressive POSA and AIPPA laws which had posed a perpetual threat to the principles underpinning a democratic society and free and fair elections. Such positive steps are key to transforming the credibility of the overall electoral environment. However, the pace at which the reform agenda is taking place, could potentially negate the gains achieved by your administration.
From the advent of your ascension to Presidency in 2017, you gave the basis that would form your leadership, as you stated that your Presidency would be founded on a “New Dispensation”, of which reforms formed the foundation.
In your very first public speech upon your return from enforced exile in November 2017, you assured Zimbabweans that they were “witnessing the beginning of a new unfolding democracy”. Premised on this new democracy was the alignment of existing laws with the constitution and the changing of the electoral culture in Zimbabwe through advocating for the promotion of accountability, credibility and transparency among State Institutions.
The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi, echoed the same sentiments as he promised that all laws would be fully aligned with the constitution by the end of 2019. The government also made an undertaking to amend the Electoral Act by mid-2020, according to Foreign Affairs and International Trade minister Sibusiso Moyo who is the Deputy Chairperson of the Inter-ministerial Task Force on Political and Electoral Reforms. The Minister promised that electoral reforms “will be completed, at the very least, by June 2020, although we aim to complete electoral reforms well before that date”.
However, with two years since the 2018 Harmonised Elections, this promise of expedited reforms is seemingly beyond reach.
The post-2018 election environment has been dominated by non-implementation of key reforms, most of which have been repeatedly raised by election observer groups. A glaring example is that of the Motlanthe Commission where in a rare instance of transparency, the government allowed for an open inquest into the 1 August 2018 shootings of protesters in Harare. However, the Motlanthe Commission recommendations have largely been ignored as the role of the security sector in elections remains a grave cause of concern which impairs the fairness of the electoral environment.
It should be further noted that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has taken a piecemeal approach to the alignment of electoral laws, policies and practice with the Constitution and international best practice. The gradual implementation of reforms has culminated in the bare minimum of recommended reforms being adopted, such as in recent by-elections, the displaying of the voters’ rolls outside polling stations.
The government’s failure to significantly revise key laws or to address the partisan conduct of the state security, traditional leaders and the media undercuts free elections. The repressive nature of the application of COVID-19 regulations has in more recent times impaired the credibility of the electoral environment. The COVID-19 regulations have been used to arrest peaceful protesters and arrest critical media personnel. The lack of reform places a greater burden on state institutions to ensure that their conduct is constitutional outside of existing legislation.
The Zimbabwean government needs to fix all legislation affecting the electoral environment and bring it in line with both the Constitution and with Zimbabwe’s international commitments. The problems we face are precisely premised on the outstanding electoral reform issues that do not comply with either the Constitution or our international law obligations.
We therefore call upon your government to guarantee the full alignment of electoral laws with the constitution, and to further guarantee a practice and policy shift that guarantees accountability, credibility, integrity and transparency to ensure a free and fair electoral environment looking at the 2023 harmonised elections.
President Mnangagwa, there needs to be a shift beyond mere rhetoric and take genuine steps to level the electoral playing field. The following five points focus on tangible steps the Government can take to build on the work they are already doing to make the electoral experience more free, fair, transparent, accountable and inclusive.
Sincerely
Election Resource Centre
Noah ManyikaZimbabweans in the North America Diaspora have been having e-demonstrations in solidarity with their family members and friends back home.
The first was launched on Tuesday, 28 July 2020, a second, the following day, and a third is scheduled to be held on Thursday, 30 July 2020 with each day’s programmes lasting under two hours.
Mass Demonstrations
The staging of mass demonstrations is not new to Zimbabwe nor to Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora. In years past, and because they have a deep-rooted value in protest and
change through community voice, they have staged demonstrations in various cities in Canada, in New York and Washington, D.C. in the United States.
Now, as 31 July draws near, with planned demonstrations in Zimbabwe, many across North America have joined in solidarity.
Between the early 1990s through to about 1998, portions of the population began elevating their voices to have their grievances heard. This “struggle” continued in the 2000s.
More recently, after the 2018 rigged Election results, spontaneous protests took place, as did more street demonstration in January 2019.
Many of these have been led by civil society, nurses, doctors, lawyers, activists, and members of the political opposition against the governance, leadership, and government of the party of former President Robert Mugabe — the Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), now under Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In previous years, university students have, for decades, conducted street demonstrations in the hope of drawing attention to and having their livelihoods bettered. Although often mass demonstrations are viewed negatively by the ruling government, the people of Zimbabwe have once again organized themselves to demonstrate.
On Tuesday, The East Coast District in the North America Province of the MDC-A held the opening e-demonstration in support of the demonstration to be held in Zimbabwe on the 31st of July 2020. The speakers emphasized the need for every Zimbabwean to be involved in the protests to push for a better Zimbabwe.
The event was graced by prominent speakers including Dr. Noah Manyika as well as Dr. Thomas Mapfumo. Representatives from the MDC- A Youth and Women’s Assembly also gave a solidarity message. The word was clear, Zimbabweans will not back down until change happens. The e-demonstration will be held daily until the 30th of July 2020.
On Wednesday, key highlights of the programme included guest speakers — Hon. Job Sikhala and Senator Timveous.
Camaraderie
At many moments throughout the proceeding’s aspirations were shared as were stories, protest chanting, singing, and music —including cries in a segment titled: “Cry My Beloved Country.
Sources close to the organizers, said that they were happy with the attendance and success of the launch, that they were encouraged by the high number of online social viewers reaching more than 19,000.
Specific hashtags were in use; #FreeZimNow, #zanupfmustgo, #July31ZW, and
The e-demonstration organizers Mr. Mada, the Provincial Organizing Secretary and Mr. Mtize the Secretary General called on attendees to invite their family and friends to join the one demonstration planned for Thursday.
The organizers have made joining the demonstrations open to the public wishing to add their voice to the sense of solidarity they feel with their people.
Candy MoloiSouth African actress Candy Moloi has passed away, the SABC reported on Tuesday night.
Moloi is best known for her starring role as Vho-Makhadzi on the SABC2 soap opera Muvhango. Moloi left Muvhango a few years ago after many years as one of the most recognized actors on the popular soapie.
Since the start of the popular soapie Candy has played the conniving and powerful Vho- Makhadzi in the Mukwevho chieftaincy and as the voice of authority to Chief Azwindini, played by Gabriel Temudzani.
Muvhango boss, Duma Ka Ndlovu confirmed the news of Moloi’s death to SABC news. She is also the mother of actress and producer Lerato Zah Moloi. The two both acted for Muvhango together at one stage.
Lerato has recently had a health scare after announcing that she had recovered from the deadly coronavirus that has claimed more than 7000 lives in the country.
The cause of Moloi’s death was not immediately known. This is a developing story.
The ZR Police Thursday issued a stern warning that those who will partake in a planned demonstration tomorrow will have themselves to blame as the government has deployed tight security forces across the country to monitor the situation.
“The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) urges members of the public to conduct their day to day and normal activities in a peaceful atmosphere and cooperate with the police and other security service members who are maintaining law and order in the country.
“All security arms of government are on full alert and will deal decisively with any individuals or groups fomenting violence and sending threats or provocative messages through the social media or any group
“We reiterate that no demonstration will take place on 31 July 2020. Those who decide or disregard the law, particularly National COVID-19 regulations will have themselves to blame reads the statement.
The police said it had intercepted information that there is a group on social media which is encouraging the demonstration.
Read below the full statement by the police.
SECURITY FORCES ISSUES STERN WARNING ON ILLEGAL DEMONSTRATIONS
The Zimbabwe Republic Police urges members of the public to conduct their day to day and normal activities in a peaceful atmosphere and cooperate with police and other security service members who are maintaining law and order in the country.
All security arms of Government are on full alert and will deal decisively with any individuals or groups fomenting violence and sending threats or provocative messages through the social media or any other means.
We reiterate that no demonstrations will take place in Zimbabwe on 31st July 2020. Those who decide or disregard the law, particularly National COVID- 19 regulations will have themselves to blame.
Police are aware of various attempts to incite the public through the social media with one group calling itself “31 July Peaceful Demonstrations [3]” threatening to burn a service station in Mvuma on 31st July 2020, and barricade the Harare -Masvingo highway and all roads leading to police stations.
The group is led by a group administrator with the cell number +27653302446 and has 249 group members with some claiming to be in possession of firearms. These will be regarded as terrorists.
The security services are also aware of these groups that they are spreading fake news that the security services are in support of the 31st July 2020, illegal demonstrations.
These are blatant lies, meant to confuse the public, cause alarm and despondency in the security services.
The security services remain resolute in defence of the country’s security and the safety of all Zimbabweans.
The public is also urged to report any incidence of intimidation, incitements or threats to their nearest police station or members of the security forces who are conducting patrols in their local areas.
[NYATHI. P] Assistant Commissioner
Senior Staff Officer (Press, Public and International Relations)
To the Commissioner-General of Police
Police General Headquarters
*You are frightening lions and lionesses Zimbabwe:
BY Hon Job Wiwa Sikhala
31st July Movement
Today the 30th before even Friday 31st July 2020, the historic day, the power bestowed upon us as the people triumphed. The oppressor was jittery allover chasing after every shadow in the shape of a human being. It was dramatic in every sense that fear of people power was written allover. I passed by Delport and frightened agencies of the oppressor were giving incoherent commands of dzokera kumba. The whole country was on a massive and successful SHUTDOWN. Vincere Caritate dear Zimbabweans. There is no show of human victory more than today. The power you are wielding is frightening them. One press conference after the other with incoherent and confused messages. This must tell you about an oppressor living on borrowed times. Citizens are owners of Zimbabwe not individuals.
Stop looting, end corruption, arrest all looters and culprits of corruption. Fire all those who were involved in the vice. Let all those involved resign and return the loot. If this is not done, tomorrow the 31st is the beginning of a protracted struggle that will end when all our demands are met.
The anti corruption and anti looting crusade will never end until demands of you the powerful CITIZENS are heard. We want a just society. Equal opportunities for all. A society of happiness that respects the rule of law, democracy, good governance and the sanctity of human life and human rights. If this society is not delivered, the struggle will continue. Next time we will not announce. We will just pounce.
I thank you dear Zimbabweans for scoring a huge victory today.
Zimbabwe para todos.
Energy MutodiFormer Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Energy Mutodi has withdrawn the case in which four people were being charged for stealing valuables, including 30 pairs of designer suits from his Borrowdale residence in Harare.
Mutodi filled an affidavit before magistrate Mr Sheunesu Matowa indicating that he had decided to withdraw the matter due to personal circumstances.
Suspected thieves and brothers Denver and Cosmos Zvomuya, Fidelis Martin Mandaza and Pardon Magombo were arrested after being linked to the theft at Mutodi’s house.
The State, led by Mr Owen Safuli, had it that sometime in April this year, Zvomuya and Mandaza went to Mutodi’s place of residence when the caretaker was not at home.
The quartet allegedly broke the dining room window and gained entry into the house. They then stole various items, including Mutodi’s designer suits. Mutodi discovered that some of his suits were missing and went to the police to report the matter.
The Zvomuya brothers and Mandaza were reportedly seen selling some of Mutodi’s suits in Domboshava.
Upon being interviewed, they admitted to stealing Mutodi’s clothes. Some of the clothes were found stashed under the carpet at Denver’s place of residence.
Denver led police to Magombo’s place in Mungate Village where some of the stolen items were recovered.
*You are frightening lions and lionesses Zimbabwe:
BY Hon Job Wiwa Sikhala
31st July Movement
Today the 30th before even Friday 31st July 2020, the historic day, the power bestowed upon us as the people triumphed. The oppressor was jittery allover chasing after every shadow in the shape of a human being. It was dramatic in every sense that fear of people power was written allover. I passed by Delport and frightened agencies of the oppressor were giving incoherent commands of dzokera kumba. The whole country was on a massive and successful SHUTDOWN. Vincere Caritate dear Zimbabweans. There is no show of human victory more than today. The power you are wielding is frightening them. One press conference after the other with incoherent and confused messages. This must tell you about an oppressor living on borrowed times. Citizens are owners of Zimbabwe not individuals.
Stop looting, end corruption, arrest all looters and culprits of corruption. Fire all those who were involved in the vice. Let all those involved resign and return the loot. If this is not done, tomorrow the 31st is the beginning of a protracted struggle that will end when all our demands are met.
The anti corruption and anti looting crusade will never end until demands of you the powerful CITIZENS are heard. We want a just society. Equal opportunities for all. A society of happiness that respects the rule of law, democracy, good governance and the sanctity of human life and human rights. If this society is not delivered, the struggle will continue. Next time we will not announce. We will just pounce.
I thank you dear Zimbabweans for scoring a huge victory today.
Zimbabwe para todos.
Zimbabwe will issue a long term debt in international capital markets to raise US$3.5bn as compensation to former commercial white farmers for the loss of land, 20 years after the government embarked on the fast track land reform programme to resettle locals.
The compensation is for value of improvements, biological assets and land clearing costs for the land which was compulsorily acquired for resettlement.
Government’s failure to compensate former commercial white farmers had been cited as a breach of property rights tearing into shreds President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s commitment to protect investments under his “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra.
According to an agreement signed yesterday at State House, half of the amount (US$1.75bn) as deposit is payable 12 months after signature of the agreement. The balance will be paid in four year installments of US$437,500,000.
“The full amount of the global compensation figure may, however, be paid within 12 months of signature of the agreement if sufficient funds for the purpose are mobilised within this period,” the document reads.
The parties to the agreement will set up a joint resource mobilisation committee to work together with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to raise funds for payment of the global compensation figure.
Yesterday’s agreement was signed by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube (representing Zimbabwe), Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe (CFU) representative John Pascoe, South African Commercial Farmers Alliance (SAFCA) representative Cedric Robert Wilde and Anthony Nield Purkis representing Valuation Consortium (Private) Limited (VALCON).
The CFU represents the interests of commercial farmers operating in Zimbabwe, SACFA the interests of commercial farmers in Matabeleland and Valcon the interests of all commercial farmers registered with them, some of whom are not members of either the CFU or the SACFA.
The compensation of the former commercial white farmers will see Zimbabwe issuing a long term debt instrument of 30 years’ maturity in international capital markets in compliance with the country’s debt management strategy and consistent with its key debt sustainability indicators, the document said.
The land dispute has haunted the government. In 2018, a World Bank-affiliated international appeals court – the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) -dismissed Zimbabwe’s application to annul an award granted to a former commercial white farmer. The ICSID had in July 2015 awarded the Bernhard von Pezold family the return of their property in Manicaland Province plus their full legal costs and interest, or alternatively the Zimbabwean government should pay the family US$195m in damages. In October 2015, Zimbabwe sought the annulment of the award but lost.
The compensation agreement could bring closure to the emotive issue which speaks to property rights. Resettled farmers have struggled to access financing from banks who continue to shun 99-year leases as not bankable, thereby affecting production on the farms.
Economists however said Zimbabwe, which is in arrears with international financial institutions, will struggle to compensate the farmers.
“The government can only compensate the former white commercial farmers if they can get it somewhere else because they are bankrupt,” said Harare-based economist John Robertson.
“Also the money will be subjected to abuse so the foreign government or bank is likely to directly pay the farmers not to pass it through the government as the money will never be seen again.”
Another economist Phineas Kadenge said the signing ceremony came as a surprise for many as the southern African nation battles to contain rising cases of Covid-19 and political tensions.
“I don’t have enough background for the signing ceremony but given the fighting (coronavirus) we are in the timing is a bit misplaced there. We just hope it’s not another signing ceremony which doesn’t bring any results,” Kadenge said.
MDCA SOUTH AFRICA PROVINCE
30 JULY 2020
Notice is hereby given to our MDCA members,the general public and citizens,and members of the media fraternity to the effect that; The Movement for Democratic Change Alliance South Africa Province will be holding demonstrations outside Zimbabwe embassies and consulates tomorrow 31 July 2020 in solidarity with the suffering Zimbabwean citizens under the Zanu PF and Mnangagwa rulership,in the following of our districts.
For more information please contact the *MDCA SA Provincial Organising Secretary,Leader Tangai Marufu on *+27658140201* or the mentioned districts Organising/Communications Secretaries,names and contacts supplied below.
1.MDCA Western Cape district
Organ Godfrey Karuru- +27749388642
Organ Runyararo Mukuku- +27781485582
Infor Don Madziva- +27826810806
2.MDCA Namibia district
Organ Gotosa- +264812084418
Infor Robson Ruhanya- +264813192152
3.MDCA Botswana district
Organ Taurai Mavhoko- +26772171136
Infor Dumisani Dolobo- +26774364627
4.MDCA Zambia district
Organ Clint- +260978494945
MDCA SA Province we fully support the 31st July peaceful demonstration in Zimbabwe.We are very much aware that in some districts we were not given the permission to gather to demonstrate because of the Covid-19 restrictions.
Our members,who can not organise and attend demonstrations are therefore urged to gather in solidarity tonight for night vigils,observing covid-19 social distancing rules.
Inserted on behalf of MDCA South Africa Province,by
Innocent Nsingo
MDCA SA Spokesperson
[email protected]
File Picture of some of the children before they were taken away by the policeReports just received indicate that some of the children from the 46 who were literally abducted by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and the social welfare team from a home in Mt Hampden to a yet to be identified location in Kadoma are living with HIV and are feared to have missed their Antiretroviral (ARVs) dosages.
Kiri Madamombe an activist with Mubatiranwa Trust made the revelation in the audio interview captured below:
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Liz Throssell
Location: Geneva
Date: 24 July 2020
Subject:Zimbabwe
We are concerned at allegations in Zimbabwe, which suggest that the authorities may be using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to clamp down on freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
Among the latest incidents, investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested on 20 July and charged with inciting public violence, after he tweeted his support for nationwide protests against government corruption and worsening economic conditions. Jacob Ngarivhume, an opposition leader who has been calling for the protests on 31 July, was also detained and similarly charged.
Merely calling for a peaceful protest or participating in a peaceful protest are an exercise of recognized human rights.
We are concerned at reports of police using force to disperse and arrest nurses and health workers for infringing lockdown restrictions as they were trying to protest for better salaries and conditions of work.
This pattern of intimidation echoes the events in May when three members of the main opposition party were arbitrarily arrested and detained for taking part in a protest. The women – Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova – alleged that state agents abducted them from the police station, tortured and sexually assaulted them. The women were then formally arrested in June, charged with participating in the protests and faking their abduction. They were recently released on bail.
It is clear that COVID-19 has added greatly to the challenges Zimbabwe faces amid a deteriorating economy and placed a further burden on an already struggling health sector.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa – highlighting an increase of 600 COVID-19 cases in a week to a total of 1,713 – on Tuesday announced a series of measures that he said were necessary to curb the spread of the disease, including a dusk to dawn curfew and the curtailment and suspension of freedoms that, as he put it, Zimbabweans “have always enjoyed.”
While recognizing the Government’s efforts to contain the pandemic, it is important to remind the authorities that any lockdown measures and restrictions should be necessary, proportionate and time-limited, and enforced humanely without resorting to unnecessary or excessive force.
We encourage the Government to engage with civil society and other stakeholders to find sustainable solutions to grievances while ensuring that people’s rights and freedoms are protected in accordance with Zimbabwe’s human rights obligations. These include the responsibility of the State to guarantee economic, social and cultural rights.
END
Concerned by toughening language on and off social media in Zimbabwe this week following calls for protests on Friday. Call for calm and restraint on all sides. –
The bail appeal hearings for journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume have yet again been pushed forward this time to Monday.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), who are representing the duo, posted on Twitter:
Hopewell Chin’ono will spend the weekend “in jail after the High Court postponed the bail appeal hearing to Monday while Transform Zimbabwe leader Ngarivhume will (also) have to spend more time in jail after the hearing of his bail appeal was postponed to Monday to allow the state to file a response to his bail application.
In court, Hopewell’s lawyers insisted that the bail appeal hearing be heard on Friday as his liberty is fundamental but the state argued that it be postponed to Monday as it undertakes to file its response by close of business on Friday.
Chin’ono and Ngarivhume were arrested last week on allegations of inciting public violence.
State Media
Somkhosi Malaba,Former Agribank chief executive, Somkhosi Malaba, has died.
He was 65.
Sources say he passed on peacefully at his home this morning due to kidney failure.
“A great tree has fallen. A great man, genuinely devoted to his country and his profession, Mr Malaba was a unique leader and and accomplished economist. As Agribank CEO, he led the bank’s turnaround initiatives, achieving profitability in 2016. Agribank will be poorer without him, the nation will be poorer without him,” said source close to him who spome on condition of anonymity since they had not been cleared by the family.
It is understood Malaba had valiantly fought kidney problems over 12 years. Acting Agribank CEO Mr Elfas Chimbera could not be immediately reached for comment.
But former Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president and United Refineries Limited CEO Mr Busisa Moyo turned to Twitter and wrote: “Hard to accept he is gone. A fellow president at the Bankers Association. Instrumental in the Lima Debt conversations in 2015-2017. Served with us on PAC (Presidential Advisory Council). Former AgriBank CEO. May the Lord strengthen the family at this time of loss. The memory of you lives!”
Malaba retired as Agribank CEO at the end January this year after 16 years at the helm of the financial institution. He was appointed CEO in May 2004 after serving as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for six years from August 1998 to April 2004.
His appointment as RBZ Deputy Governor came after 16 years of service at different senior levels within the central bank. Malaba is an economist who obtained a Bachelor of Science in Economics degree from the University of Zimbabwe. He furthered his studies in the United Kingdom where he acquired a Masters in Economics from the University of Manchester.
He has also served on secondment to Government as Secretary in the National Economic Planning Commission under the Office of the President and Cabinet from 1996 to 1997. A letter announcing Malaba’s retirement read: “We wish to advise that Somkhosi Mahamba Temba Malaba retired from the position of chief executive officer for the bank effective 31 January 2020.
“Elfas Chimbera, the executive director finance, will be acting as the CEO of Agribank effective February 1, 2020 pending the appointment of a substantive CEO.”
Malaba held many positions throughout his career. He was the vice chair of the Sadc/DFRC board of trustees from 2008 to 2009, Lupane State University council chair since 2007, Institute of Bankers (Zimbabwe) council chair from 2008 to 2014 and Fidelity Printers & Refiners Limited director from 1998 to 2004.
He also sat on the Deposit Protection Scheme board from 1998 to 2004, St Lucia Park board from 2000 to 2004, PTA Bank 1993 to 1995, Zimbabwe Development Bank board 1988 to 1993 and was the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe president from 2014 to 2016.
UN Human Rights Committee publishes interpretation on the right of peaceful assembly
GENEVA (29 July 20201— The UN Human Rights Committee today publish its interpretation on the right of peaceful assembly defining the scope of assembly that applies to both physical meetings and virtual or online gatherings and outlining governments obligations.
The UN Human Rights Committee made up of 18 individual experts who monitor implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) has issued a comprehensive legal guidance, also known as ‘general comment on article 21 of ICCPR about fundamental right of peaceful assembly. The general comment was the first major international instrument that was also drafted online since the experts mete unable to meet in person due to the pandemic.
At a time when recent developments including the COVID•19 pandemic have created unprecedented challenges to the realisation of art. 21 and worldwide protests in support of Black Lives Matter have underlined its importance. the general comment clarifies how the term ‘peaceful assembly shall be understood and sets standards to assist the 173 countries which have ratified ICCPR to fulfil their obligations under the Covenant.
`It is a fundamental human right for individuals to pin a peaceful assembly to express themselves to celebrate or to air grievances Together with other rights retated to political freedom, it constitutes the very foundation of a democratic society in which changes can be pursued through discussion and persuasion, rather than use of force • said Chnstof Heyns the member of the Committee who acted as Rapporteur tot the drafting of the general comment.
Everyone including children foreign nationals, women migrant workers, asylum seekers and refugees can exercise the right of peaceful assembly, which may take many forms in public and in private spaces outdoors indoors and online,’ he added.
The Committee also stated that governments have positive obligations under the Covenant to facilitate peaceful assembles and to protect participants from potential abuse by other members of the public. Governments also have negative duties such as not to prohibit restrict block or disrupt assembles without compelling justification.
“Generalised references to public order or public safety. or an unspecified risk of potential valence are not solid grounds for governments to prohibit peaceful assembles Heyns said Any restriction on participation in peaceful assembles should be based on a drfferentialed or individualized assessment of the conduct of participants Blanket restnctions on partaipatan in peaceful assembles are not appropriate – he explained.
The general comment also provided guidance on a number of current issues including the following assembly participants have the right to wear masks or hoods to cover their face governments should not collect personal data to harass or intimidate participants and Governments also cannot block Internet networks or close down any website because of their roles in organising or soliciting a peaceful assembly
It also stressed the right of Journalists and human rights observers to monitor and document any assembly including violent and unlawful ones.
The full general comment is now available
By A Correspondent| The MDC Alliance renegade, senator Douglas Mwonzora has been turned down by the Zimbabwe Republic Police and blocked from holding his desired extra-ordinary Congress on Thursday.
The ZRP has refused to allow Mwonzora saying in writing there will be a tightened lockdown.
The development comes as the MDC
, “Be kindly advised that due to COVID-19 cases that are on the increase especially local transmissions. It has been found necessary to tighten lockdown regulations to prevent the spread of the pandemic across the country.
“To this end, you are advised not to go ahead with your congress.”
Mwonzora was campaigning to get nominations for him to take over as MDC-T President.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of winning the 2019/20 Golden Shoe were delt a further blow following Juventus’ 0-2 defeat to Cagliari last night.
The 35-year-old, who has scored 31 goals for the champions this season, watched in frustration as Luca Gagliano’s close-range finish and Giovanni Simeone’s thunderbolt secured the win for Cagliari.
Ronaldo is now trailing Lazio’s Ciro Immobile by four goals in the race for the Golden Shoe, an accolade given to the player with most goals in Europe’s top five leagues.
There is still one game still left to play in the 2019/20 Serie A campaign-Soccer 24
