By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe’s military splurged vast amounts of money, exceeding US$90 million, on undeclared and opaque transactions to acquire new and refurbished armaments from 2000 to 2016 at a time the country was gripped by a debilitating economic crisis and political turmoil.
New data from international security think-tanks provide a rare glimpse into the spending patterns of the powerful and influential military in a country where even legislators are clueless about how the army budget is structured.
According to the Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute (Sipri) — a military intelligence think-tank — the defence forces spent US$92 million between 2000 and 2006 and a total of US$647 million from the country’s Independence in 1980 to date to acquire military hardware.
The Sipri report, titled Transfer of Major Weapons: Deals with Deliveries or Orders Made From 1995 to 2019, for the first-time sheds light on Harare’s acquisition of arms from Asia and Eastern Europe at a time of economic collapse, while neglecting social service delivery and clocking up massive debt.
Fearing potential mass protests that could be triggered by the deteriorating economy, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration — which came to power through a military coup in 2017 — in June last year bought 50 000 mortar bombs and 58 500 grenades.
At that time, the Independent also revealed that government reinforced its arsenal through the acquisition of 3 343 AK47 assault rifles, 2 000 CZ pistols, 500 P1 pistols, 500 Steyr-223 rifles,500 Uzi submachine
Although Zimbabwe has spent heavily on boosting its arsenal, the country desperately needs a substantial financial bailout package to rescue the troubled economy.
In 2016, the country received 85 refurbished units of “large-calibre artillery” from neighbouring South Africa, the reports from the think-tanks shows.
While it is not standard practice for nations to disclose their armament acquisitions, Zimbabwe’s huge military spending – running into millions of US dollars in that period – is being disclosed for the first time by arms dealers, mostly from Eastern Europe. China, which upgraded its bilateral relations with Zimbabwe to “strategic partnership and cooperation” status in 2018, also sold an array of weaponry to Harare.
During the period when the country was experiencing catastrophic economic turbulence, which saw Zimbabwe’s inflation rising to 1 500% in 2008 before there was relative stability the following year on the back of a power-sharing agreement with the opposition parties, government spent huge amounts of money to fortify Harare’s arsenal.
According to Sipri, Zimbabwe ordered 60 units of M43 (120mm) mortar in 1999 from Bulgaria and took delivery of the shipment in 2000 at a cost of US$1 million.
Notably, the report shows that the United States has not exported arms to Zimbabwe since the country’s independence in 1980.
In that period, Zimbabwe’s economy suffered unprecedented decline, triggered by chaotic land seizures, unbudgeted disbursement of millions of dollars in compensation to veterans of the country’s liberation war and the costly foray into the Democratic Republic of Congo’s civil war.
In 2000, gross domestic product shrunk to a new low, while inflation quickened to 55,22% before peaking at 598,75% in 2003.
According to Sipri, Zimbabwe, isolated by Western governments, paid US$55 million between 2004 and 2006 to China to bolster its military arsenal. It bought a range of fighter aircraft and infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) in 2004 that included 10 units of Type 85 IFVs, five units of Type 89/ZSD 89 armoured personnel carriers and six K-8 Karakorum jet trainer aircraft. The purchases were made in 2004 at a time when the British government refused to sell crucial spare parts to Zimbabwe for the maintenance of Hawk fighter aircraft.
Zimbabwe had last received a shipment of military hardware from the United Kingdom (UK) in 1992 at a cost of US$22 million, Sipri reports.
It has also emerged that in 2000, Harare, battling to contain hyperinflationary pressures, bought six units of a self-propelled armament known as the Stalin Organ in military parlance — technical specifications RM-70 (122mm) — from Slovakia at a cost of US$1 million. A lot of this weaponry was deployed in the DRC to keep the beleaguered Laurent Kabila regime in power.
According to the report, the purchase of a fleet of six K-8 Karakorum jet trainer aircraft from China in 2006 cost Zimbabwe US$21 million.
Three years earlier, Harare had taken delivery of three Mig-230M aircraft for US$15 million from Libya during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, who was later deposed.
According to Sipri, all the countries which sold arms to Zimbabwe declared the transactions, but Harare did not.Sipri also shows that Zimbabwe was active in the arms bazaars of Eastern Europe, where it bought a range of aircraft accessories from Ukraine in 2006. They included 12 units of AL-25 turbofan engines for the K-8 Karakorum aircraft. From 2001 to 2006, Harare shelled out US$17 million to Kiev for military hardware, Sipri reveals.
Before 2000, when Zimbabwe still enjoyed cordial relations with the West, the country purchased six SF.260 jet aircraft from Italy and 23 units of Almat APC (armoured personnel carriers) from France in 1998 and 1996 respectively at a cumulative cost of US$15 million.
In 2000, Harare took delivery of a fleet of six MI-24P combat helicopter gunships from Russia for US$22 million.Sipri’s disclosures follow revelations by the Independent in January that Zimbabwe was on the verge of taking delivery of new fighter jets from Moscow in an arms-for-minerals deal.
Under the murky deal, Zimbabwe would parcel out to Russia vast mineral claims that include lucrative platinum mining rights in exchange for Mig fighter jets.
Zimbabwe and a Russian conglomerate, including state-owned arms manufacturer Rosetec, entered into a joint platinum mining venture in a deal worth US$3 billion. This deal is not part of US$647 million purchases.
In 2014, the Zimbabwe National Army entered into a contract, which is still running, with Boomslang Logistics for the refurbishment of EE9 armoured vehicles, known as Cascavels in military parlance.
Boomslang Logistics, headquartered in Dubai with a presence in Zimbabwe and South Africa, has, according to its website, also sold armaments to Somalia, Senegal and the DRC, among a long list of clients.
At the time of going to print, both Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri and Army spokersperson Overson Mugwisi had not responded to questions sent to them on the vast arsenal acquired, mostly from Eastern Europe between 2000 and 2016.
A separate 2018 report by the International Institute of Strategic Studies titled Military Balance lists Harare’s armaments, including armoured vehicles, fighter jets, air-launched missiles and a paramilitary wing, three years after the military toppled the country’s then long-time leader, the late Robert Mugabe.
The report casts uncertainty on the future role of the military in Zimbabwe’s polity.The think-tank notes: “In an overnight operation, the army secured key operations in Harare and placed President Mugabe under house arrest.
“The future political role of the military was uncertain as of late November, though key officers were given ministerial positions. High inflation and economic problems continue to be potentially destabilising . . .”
Since Zimbabwe’s Independence in 1980, the military has enjoyed significant budgetary support, even as the fragile economy plunged into catastrophic decline due to deep-seated corruption and mismanagement.-Independent
Harare City Council is working on plans to decongest Mbare market by establishing other centres in Budiriro, Dzivarasekwa and Hatcliffe suburbs.
This was revealed by Ward 16 Councillor Denford Ngadziore who also sits in the Informal Market committee of the City of Harare.
Below is Ngadziore’s message to his ward residents…
Dear Ward 16 Residents and Stalkholders
There have been an outcry from residents through social media groups on overcrowding of the only biggest Mbare Green Market during this Covid19 lockdown.
Be advised that they was proposal from the City to completely closed down all Markets. Nevertheless they is a proposal for Council to open additional farmer’s markets in the following areas:
Budiriro 1 Community Centre (to serve Glen View, Budiriro Mufakose and probably Kambuzuma).
Dzivarasekwa- Dzivarasekwa Community Centre (to serve Dzivarasekwa, Kuwadzana, Warren Park and part of Kambuzuma),
Hatcliffe Market and Mabvuku to serve residents in those respective areas.
Another green market will be opened to serve Northern suburbs.
From our Farmers suppliers database we will advise the farmers of the new farmers markets. Mechanisms are to be employed to ensure there is uptake of usage of these new markets.
Selection of the sites will be informed by availability of sanitary facilities, space to ensure social distancing and spatial coverage of the city so that Mbare is decongested. Sanitizers will also be availed at these markets.
This set up has its attendant cost of deploying the requisite infrastructure, personnel (Market Officers, Security, Cleaners and Cashiers) garbage collection which will be weighed with advantages of decentralisation.
The proposal is to operationalise this latest by Sunday. We will keep you updated on progress as unconfirmed reports are saying Harare Minister of State for Provincial Affairs already made a decision to recommend completely ban all markets
Denford Ngadziore Councillor ward 16 Deputy Chairperson Infomal Sector /SMSs Committee City of Harare
By A Correspondent- Opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader, Nelson Chamisa has expressed optimism about the Zimbabwean situation saying that good things are achievable in no time.
Posting on Twitter on Friday, Chamisa said:
Want nothing except a better Zimbabwe for you & me.Thank you for believing & encouraging.I see Bullet trains,Spaghetti roads, Motorways, Skyscrapers,Best hospitals & Schools,Smart agriculture, New cities, New jobs & Wealth in this life. This, we will achieve in no time.#happypeople
His remarks come when Zimbabwe is submerged under a huge economic and humanitarian crisis characterised by inflation, shortage of mealie-meal and fuel as almost all sectors in the country are on their knees.
Chamisa has just repeated the promises in the MDC manifesto that the party pledged to deliver if they get into power.
While some believe that the listed things can be achieved “in no time” as long the incumbent “corrupt” government is out of power, some say that Chamisa is being hyperbolic considering that issues in the country are deeply rooted.
By A Correspondent- Exiled former Cabinet Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo has criticised President Mnangagwa for having “misplaced priorities” during critical times when the country is on lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Moyo posted on Twitter in response to a post by The Herald, a state-run publication and said:
Other presidents announced that govt will support the vulnerable; while well-remunerated health workers who’ve been tested for the #COVID19 will be out in full force, with personal protective equipment, to assist the general public to keep social distancing, get tested & treated!
Below is the tweet by The Herald he was responding to:
Security forces will increase patrols during the Easter holiday which starts tomorrow in order to assist members of the general public in complying with the demands of the ongoing lockdown meant to deal with the spread of COVID19, President Mnangagwa has announced.
President Mnangagwa’s remarks follow an announcement by the Zimbabwe National Army that they, in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) have launched Operation Abasha Corona which is meant to make sure the citizenry adheres to the lockdown regulations.
Meanwhile, some say starvation in the country puts the lockdown in jeopardy hence the need for humanitarian assistance and provision of safety nets to assist the general populace during the lockdown and yonder.
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday assured medical workers in the frontline that the Government will speed up the provision of adequate personal protective equipment (PPEs) and clothing as well as offer them training to ensure their safety in the wake of Covid-19.
In his Easter message last night, the President said Government will continue to scale up and improve the country’s health system in terms of preparedness to handle the Covid-19 threat and consolidating the gains made in keeping Zimbabwe safe from the global pandemic.
“We shall be moving with greater speed to provide the workers in the frontline with all the adequate PPEs and personal protective clothing as well as the requisite training to ensure safety in the wake of the Covid-19 threat,” said President Mnangagwa.
He commended various stakeholders from across the social spectrums who are giving generously towards the fight against Covid-19
“Together we are stronger. Going forward, these bonds and partnerships that are being created among our society must be nurtured and strengthened. We need each other and the answer to this crisis lies in our discipline and unity,” said the President.
He also reiterated his call for Zimbabweans to continue observing lockdown regulations by staying at home and practising good hygiene and observing social distancing to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
President Mnangagwa said security arms will continue to intensify their patrols to ensure compliance and curb the unnecessary movement of both pedestrians and vehicles.
He paid tribute to men and women constituting the essential services and keeping the country functional during the lockdown period.
The President urged the nation to trust in God in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“May Easter also remind us that the seemingly irresolvable human problems are not eternal. There is hope and this situation will not last forever, it will come to pass. Things will go back to normal, but in the meantime, we must be patient and responsible,” said President Mnangagwa.
The President wished the nation a happy Easter holiday.
“On behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe and on my own behalf, I would like to wish all Zimbabweans at home and abroad a joyous Easter filled with blessings, peace, love and hope of a brighter future,” he said.
“As we go through this year’s Easter holiday may we find hope and strength in the words of Jesus Christ in John 16 verse 33, who reminds us that in the world we shall have many tribulations and urges us to have peace, and be of good cheer, for he has overcome the world.
“In the midst of the darkness, may the light of Jesus Christ shine! I once again wish you all a peaceful, blessed, safe and happy Easter holiday. God bless you all, God bless Zimbabwe.”
By A Correspondent- Fists flew after a prominent Masvingo businessman, Taurai Mudzwiti popularly known as ‘ Bucho ‘ was caught having a romp with another man’s fiancee, at a Gweru lodge.
The woman in question was identified as one Anele, who learns at Great Zimbabwe University.
The jilted man, identified as Tatenda Gwatidzo outed Bucho by putting him on social media.
He ranted:
“I also wanted to be married like you but I caught you f***ing my ex fiancee in Gweru at village lodge, Anele Daisy Makhiwa, a student GZU WHO I WAS SENDING TO SCHOOL I WITHOUT PROTECTION, WHAT’S SAD IS U HAVE A BEAUTIFUL WIFE U RUINED IT FOR ME
In a series of video clips which have gone viral on social media, an enraged Gwatidzo drives to the Gweru lodge where the rendezvous is alleged to have taken place.
As he approaches the lodge he starts to narrate what’s going on.
“Iyi imota yaBucho iyi, akarara na Anele mu lodge iyi.
This is Bucho’s car (indicating a black Merc), he’s having a romp with Anele in this lodge.
The clip cuts to Gwatidzo bellowing for Bucho to open the door so they can square off.
” Open this door right now , I caught you having s_ e_x with my girlfriend. What are you still doing inside
There were visible blood spots from the doorway to the porch, indicating that when the initial confrontation happened, there was a physical fight which resulted in injury.
An incensed Gwatidzo, who seemed like he was bleeding stormed to the window and started asking for Anele to come out of hiding.
“Come out now Anele and let’s deal with this. I know you are in there. I tried to reason with you in a rational manner but you treated me like an as**le.
The clearly devastated man continued with his rant asking Bucho to come out or he will be forced to start shooting at the door with his gun. He continued demanding for Anele to come out.
While it’s not known how the whole drama concluded, it is clear that Gwatidzo and Anele went on to part ways.
Meanwhile, Bucho posted a cryptic status on his social media account saying he won’t let all the negative publicity destroy him.-Online
By A Correspondent- The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) is working with local hospitals to repair ventilators that have been defunct for years, machines that are key in handling Covid-19 critically ill patients.
Ventilators are used in the Intensive Care Unit to assist critical patients to breathe. Covid-19 affects the respiratory systems of critical patients and the country has an acute shortage of the machines.
The university, which wants to live to its science and technology billing, has engaged United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) and Mpilo Central Hospital to repair the institutions’ damaged ventilators.
NUST has successfully fixed one of the ventilators at UBH but it has to be certified safe for usage by medical professionals. After independent verification, the university is ready to restore seven others that have not been working for a long time. All eight ventilators are from UBH and it could not be established yesterday how many will come from Mpilo Central Hospital.
NUST’s chairperson and senior lecturer in the Electronic Engineering Department, Dr Busiso Mtunzi said by initiating the repairing of the medical equipment, the university was addressing community challenges while enhancing students’ knowledge.
“There are some machines at the hospital that we are looking at. Some of the machines there have missing components that are supposed to be imported but of course with some machines we have managed to get some components locally. We have put together one machine that is ready for checking and certification by medical professionals,” said Dr Mtunzi.
He said once the ventilator is approved safe for usage, they will finalise on seven other machines that also need fixing.
“If it is tested and approved that it is working well, we will then finish working on the others. But there is the monetary aspect to be considered,” he said.
Dr Mtunzi said technicians at UBH who have experience in handling ventilators have been helping the engineers and students in fixing the machines. He said after completing work at UBH, they will proceed to Mpilo Central Hospital as they have identified some ventilators that also need repairs.
Dr Mtunzi said NUST was committed to fighting Covid-19 and utilise practical technology for a positive change.
“There is positive contribution that is coming from the university not only on the ventilators but NUST is contributing in terms of hand sanitisers and face masks as well as in terms of lab testing which is done at the DNA lab,” said Dr Mtunzi.
UBH clinical director Dr Narcisius Dzvanga said it was premature to celebrate the resuscitation of the ventilators and declined to comment.-StateMedia
By A Correspondent- A Gweru woman (67) is in soup after she reportedly chanted a political slogan and started castigating those opposed to the ruling party after being asked to pray at a funeral.
For chanting a Zanu PF slogan before starting her prayer and going on to criticise those opposed to the ruling Government in her short and emotional prayer at a funeral wake, Gogo Magrette Maphosa of Mkoba 13 Gweru, courted trouble for herself and was suspended from the Methodist Church.
Gogo Maphosa said it was no secret that she was a Zanu PF supporter.
She said she would remain a member of the church and would serve the suspension with no regret.
“I was at a funeral wake in Mkoba when I was asked to give a prayer,” said Gogo Maphosa. “I am a revolutionary and having participated in my own way in the liberation struggle, I use every platform to pray for my party and my leadership, but on the incident, I admit it was wrong for me to chant a political slogan before the mourners.”
Gogo Maphosa said she had since appeared before a disciplinary committee held by church elders, where she was handed a three months suspension.
“I was also banned from putting on the church regalia during the time of suspension and I gladly accepted the suspension because I deserve to be punished for my actions,” she said.
“It was a wrong platform. I am also a God fearing person, so I will abide by my church’s position because I am still a member of the church.”
Gogo Maphosa said she won’t go to other churches during her suspension, but will pray indoors.
“After all, we are on lockdown and people are not being allowed to gather, so am serving my suspension while home, praying at home,” she said.
A Methodist Church elder who only identified himself as Mr Masvinure confirmed the suspension.
He said the church was apolitical and Gogo Maphosa’s actions at the funeral wake were misplaced.-Online
Zhong Nanshan, China’s top respiratory expert, shares his COVID- 19 containment experience with South Korean health experts. The medical discussion happens at the invitation of Chinese Ambassador in South Korea Xing Haiming. South Korea on Friday reported 27 new cases as of the night before, a new low since daily cases peaked at more than 900 in late February, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). #COVID1 9 #coronavirus
…running syndicate of illegal miners mining near the shopping centre.
By Fanuel Chinowaita| It is now three days as the Support Unit in Kurwaisimba, Chimanimani, led by one, Inspector Dhema, continue running a syndicate of more than 200 illegal gold miners, near the shops.
According to a close source in the area who asked for anonymity for fear of victimization, police officers are sharing money with the so called owners of the land.
Officers who are claiming to be the land owners are operating under the leadership of Inspector Matii /Nzama, Dred Matiii, a teacher at Ndima secondary School, and a woman called mai Sasha Saziya.
A close source said, “police are not concerned about Corona which is killing many people, they are only concerned about looking for money.
“The support unit being led by Dhema at Kurwaisimba are doing wonders with more than 200 illegal miners, mining at the shops. It is now the third night doing this.
“These police officers are also allowing a bar called 24, owned by Kernel Kaneta to open for the whole night so that the illegal miners will drink in that bar.
“The owner of the bar is very stubborn.
“After mining, the owners of the land are sharing a lot of money.
Julius Malema led opposition Economic Freedom Fighters of South Africa has welcomed the extension of the lockdown that was imposed in that country to stop the spread of coronavirus.
We present below the party’s statement in full.
ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS STATEMENT ON THE ADDITIONAL 14 DAYS EXTENSION OF THE LOCKDOWN
Thursday. 09 April 2020
The Economic Freedom Fighters welcomes the extension of the Lockdown by an additional 14 days as a measure to contain and subsequently eliminate the spread of COVID-19. We .11 on all the people of South Africa to abide by all the Lockdown regulations until the rapid spread of the virus has been contained and risk of further infections eliminated. We believe that it should only be a scientific and data-based analysis of the spread that should lead to the suspension of the Lockdown.
Whilst we welcome the extension of the lockdown, we are not convinced that the Government has taken adequate measures to mitigate against the economic and subsistence consequences on ordinary people. We call on Government to impose an interest-free payment holiday for three months for all people who cannot afford to make the monthly payments due to the lockdown. The President and COVID-19 Command Council are tip-toeing around the financial services sector and are afraid to provide decisive and clear direction that will insulate our people from the economic jeopardy of further exclusion and repossession of their vehicles, business and houses. This points to the reality that the financial services sector, particularly banks have disproportionate political control of the elected government.
We call on Government to immediately place a moratorium on all forms of repossessions by banks and all creditors. We call for a complete end to evictions from properties and land occupied for residential purposes. We call for a moratorium of lease cancellations of small and medium businesses that had lease agreements with property companies. particularly Malls. We call for a humane system that does not inject further suffering on the lives of the people. We .11 on all local authorities to immediately stop politicizing the distribution of basic services to our communities. No government official or public representative should be allowed to distribute food parcels, personal protective equipments and all other essentials in political party regalia because the war against COVID-19 should not be turned into partisan political football.
We welcome the decision of the Executive and all Premiers of contributing a third of their salaries to the Solidarity Fund which will finance the war against COVID-19. We .11 on all public representatives in all spheres of Govemment and all employed people with adequate disposal income to do the same so that we assemble enough resources to fight the rapid spread whilst still safeguarding South Africa’s fiscal sovereignty. The crisis of COVID-19 should never lead to the South African government asking for loans from rapacious international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, whose loans will come with irrational and often dangerous conditionalities.
As part of our contribution to the fight against COVID-19, all EFF Public Representatives, inclusive of Members of Parliament, Members of Provincial Legislatures, and Councillors will contribute a third of our monthly salaries to the COVID-19 Solidarity Fund. In this regard, the mandatory party levy deducted from our Public Representatives will not be deducted in the period where we will be contributing a third of our salaries to the Solidarity Fund. Our public representatives will continue to closely monitor all spheres of govemment against all forms of corruption and violation of procurement laws and regulations.
The COVID-19 Command Council should scientifically and empirically look into whether voluntary isolation of infected patients is not responsible for the continued spread of the virus even after Lockdown. We are in this war together and should unite all the people of South Afri. in the fight against the rapid spread of COVID-19. The only way we will defeat this pandemic is when we set aside petty political differences and unite behind a common cause.
A soldier threatening Malawians during protests over the disputed election
Malawi’s Electoral Commission (MEC) says it is pushing ahead with voter registration for July’s presidential election re-run, despite a government-ordered suspension because of the coronavirus.
Malawi has so far eight confirmed cases of the virus and one death. Health officials worry people grouped for registration and voting could easily spread the virus but the MEC says only it has the authority to halt the election process.
The MEC says there is no plan to stop voter registration over coronavirus concerns. Spokesman Sangwani Mwafulirwa on Wednesday said there were adequate measures in place to prevent infections in registration centers.
“For example, those that are coming for registration they are observing the social distance. Fortunately, this time around, our biometrical voter registration system is efficient. So, we are not having queues in voter registration centers,” he said.
Mwafulira said all MEC staff wear protective equipment such as face masks and that hand sanitizers, soap, and water are provided for the public.
The MEC last week launched voter re-registration for the July re-run. Health officials criticized going ahead with the election process at a time when they are trying to check the spread of coronavirus.
Heath Minister Jappie Mhango says up to 50,000 Malawians could die from the disease if not enough action is taken to stop the virus.
Mhango, who also chairs a cabinet-level committee on the coronavirus, on Tuesday announced voter registration would be suspended.
“What we are saying is, you can only have an election where people are enjoying good health. We are a government and as a government we have a duty to protect our citizens. Assume tomorrow we are attacked by foreign forces – will you go to register? We are already in a war situation; we are fighting the virus. This is war. You cannot subject your citizens to hazardous situation just because you want an election, for what?” asked Mhango.
However, the MEC argues only it or the courts can halt the election. Opposition parties, whose court case saw last year’s election results overturned in February, have been pushing for the election to go ahead, despite the risk.
United Transformation Movement Party Vice President Saulos Chilima made his argument Wednesday during a televised press conference.
He said the group that was talking about the suspension of the electoral process was lying. That is because the laws of Malawi do not allow them to suspend the registration process, he argued. That is the responsibility of the electoral commission. What I know, said Chilima, is that the exercise is still on and I urge people to go and register.
But health rights groups say allowing voters to gather for registration and polling contradicts key coronavirus prevention measures.
Executive Director for Malawi Health Equity Network George Jobe says the public is getting mixed messages from authorities.
“There have been messages on social distancing to be observed and also [against] gatherings. And at the same time, we saw there was registration. Isn’t that breaking the rules given out? So, the two activities are contradicting and confusing to the general public,” Jobe said.
Malawi’s Constitutional Court nullified last year’s presidential election citing massive irregularities in the re-election of President Peter Mutharika. The court ordered fresh polls by July 3.
If allowed to continue, voter registration would continue until June 7.
The national airliner has imposed an indefinite unpaid leave on some of its workers effective 23 April 2020. In its latest communication, the company did not reveal the number of workers affected.
Below is the official blanket memo-
AIR ZIMBABWE PRIVATE LIMITED STAFF NOTICE STAFF RATIONALISATION
On the 27th of March 2020, the Head of State, His Excellency, President E.D. Mnangagwa announced a 21 day National Lockdown as a preventive measure against the spread ofCOVID19 pandemic. Details of the National Lockdown measures are articulated in Statutory Instrument 83 of 2020. Consequently, the Airline operations have ground to a halt as most of the passenger travel destinations are on lockdown with travel restrictions, implying NIL revenue inflows.
While other revenue initiatives are being pursued, staff remuneration remains one of the largest cost drivers within the Airline and without revenue inflows and external interventions, it will be a challenge to continue funding the salaries. Resultantly, our staff compliment shall be reduced and a skeletal team identified by the Heads of departments will be in place to ensure adhoc operations, airworthiness compliance, safety, security of aircraft and associated equipment within the Airline. Therefore, some of us will be placed on indefinite unpaid leave effective 23 April 2020 until operations normalise. However, April 2020 salaries will be paid to all staff members in full.
This decision has been made after evaluating all the available and possible options. However, the COVID-19 pandemic seemingly appears to have far reaching consequences on the overall economy and our way of living. Nonetheless, we look forward to resuming our normal operations with the deployment of our B 737 and ERJ 145 once they are available and travel restrictions have been lifted.
Lastly, let us be reminded that the National Airline is still under Reconstruction and there is need to ensure that the available scarce resources are channelled towards business continuity.
All communication will be done.
A/Manager Human Resource Date……41.1. Date: Administrator: Date: AIR ZIMBABVÆ (PVT) LTD 0 9 APR 2020 HARARE AIRPORT, HARARE
CHURCHES in Zimbabwe have, in an unprecedented development, this year cancelled their traditional Easter retreats with most religious organisations resorting to live streaming their services during the 21-day lockdown.
The cancellation of Easter church meetings follows a directive by President Mnangagwa banning all gatherings of more than 50 people as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
During the lockdown period, all citizens are required to stay at home, except when seeking health services, buying food, medicines and other essentials as well as to offer critical services.
In separate interviews yesterday, church leaders said the cancellation of public services during the Easter holiday, which starts today, is in compliance with lockdown regulations to combat the spread of the deadly global pandemic, which has so far claimed about 90 000 lives with more than 1,5 million people infected globally.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ) leader for the Western Diocese, Bishop Michael Dube said they have joined other churches worldwide in calling off this year’s Easter meetings due to Covid-19.
“We have a challenge as you know that since the advent of Christianity, this year is a year in which the whole world will fail to conduct Easter during which people would traditionally gather in one geographical space. We have resorted to exploring other avenues such as utilising social media to spread the Word of God, although it will benefit mostly urbanites who have access to modern communication tools unlike those in the rural areas,” he said.
Bishop Dube said they are also encouraging their followers to open WhatsApp groups for the purposes of sharing sermons, scriptures and songs during the Easter holiday. “Some of our congregants have created WhatsApp groups for our members and I believe, it is quite an effective way of spreading the message of salvation as it reaches a wider audience. We have already come up with Easter programmes and there are people who will be coordinating and people are already geared for that,” he said.
“We start with Maundy Thursday, which is the Christian holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter. It commemorates the Washing of the Feet and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the canonical gospels. It is the fifth day of Holy Week, preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday.”
Harvest House International Church leader Bishop Dr Colin Nyathi said they will be running a virtual church for the congregants who will access Easter services via livestreaming.
“We are conducting Good Friday services on livestreaming including Easter Sunday as well as the Holy Communion. On Good Friday we will primarily focus on the Cross and then Sunday on the blood and all this is done via livestreaming. We cancelled our traditional gathering this year in compliance with the Government ban on large gatherings as well as conforming to the lockdown regulations,” he said.
Rev Lot Mateza of the Apostolic Faith Church (Ivangeli) said congregants staying in the same neighbourhood will gather in small groups during Easter. “In addition to livestreaming our services, we are also encouraging our members to gather in small groups or alternatively conduct family worship services in their houses as part of measures to combat the spread of Covid-19. We also urge our members to observe the principle of social distancing and avoid social contacts during services,” he said.
The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church cancelled its services and adopted a lengthy period of long-distance worship with congregants encouraged to turn to digital platforms.
“To promote social distancing and minimise the spread of the virus, members will worship privately in their homes. Necessary support in the form of livestreaming, downloading or printed worship packages and sermons will be availed to members through their pastors in order to facilitate similar worship and study themes for church members until the end of the lockdown.
“Offertory readings will be given out to members through the same channels for their convenience,” the head of the SDA Church in Zimbabwe, Pastor Micah Choga, said in a statement.
In a statement, the Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland Oregon in Southern Africa directed its branches in the region to cancel all public church services and events until further notice.
“We recommend that all our branch churches follow the guidelines issued by the Government. Kindly take advantage of services being posted by our brethren in South Africa and we will also liaise with them to also broadcast local services on YouTube and for those on WhatsApp, audio messages will be sent. Until we can gather again, we recommend that our congregation members join hands in their homes in prayer, and this is an opportunity to engage in family worship time with those in our households,” read the statement.
Pastor Goodwill Shana of Word of Life Church posted on the church’s Facebook page notifying members on the cancellation of services during Easter.
He said the church will reach out to members via live stream on Facebook and other social media platforms. The Catholic Church in Zimbabwe has also indefinitely suspended obligatory Mass and banned some traditional church rituals such as shaking hands and receiving communion with one’s tongue to contain spread of coronavirus.
“All priests should, however, continue to celebrate Mass in their parishes without a congregation on a daily basis. The continuing celebration of Mass ensures that the faithful can be joined in the spiritual communion with the priests of the Church . . . Knowing that the Mass is being celebrated, joining in spiritually in that celebration; watching the livestreaming of the Mass where possible; following its prayers, making an act of spiritual communion: this is how we will share in the sacrifice of Christ in these days,” the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) General-Secretariat said in the statement.
The ZCBC, made up of eight bishops, said congregants can follow church services on live streaming and can pray at home as a family or individuals.
The leader of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) in Southern Africa Reverend Sikhalo Cele said his church will not congregate until the situation normalises.
“We will continue with the shutdown until it is resolved. We will only change our stance when we get new knowledge that is grounded on scientific and empirical evidence,” Reverend Cele said.
The Zion Christian Church (ZCC) said it will host its annual Easter Celebrations as per tradition from small decentralised locations across the world in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and not from its Mbungo pilgrimage.
In a statement, ZCC leader Rev Nehemiah Mutendi said the annual Easter celebrations would go on as planned but not at the Mbungo shrine in Masvingo province.
“Instead, all Easter liturgical and evangelical proceedings will be held at the lowest Church structure level, but with strict observance of the gathering limit of not more than 100 people (which has been reviewed to 50 people) as pronounced by His Excellency Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa,” he said.
“I urge all ZCC members to practice social distancing as advised by the World Health Organisation and called for by the Government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Health and Child Care. While we are impressed and pleased by the preparedness of our Government through the Ministry of Health let’s not be unaware of God’s preparedness in dealing with this smoke and in Isaiah 14 verses 31 and 32.” President Mnangagwa recently announced a nationwide lockdown as the country steps up efforts to confront the deadly Covid-19.
An elderly woman from Gweru is in trouble with her church after she reportedly chanted a political slogan and started castigating those opposed to the ruling party after being asked to pray at a funeral.
For chanting a Zanu PF slogan before starting her prayer and going on to criticise those opposed to the ruling Government in her short and emotional prayer at a funeral wake, Gogo Magrette Maphosa (67) of Mkoba 13 Gweru, courted trouble for herself and was suspended from the Methodist Church.
Gogo Maphosa said it was no secret that she was a Zanu PF supporter.
She said she would remain a member of the church and would serve the suspension with no regret.
“I was at a funeral wake in Mkoba when I was asked to give a prayer,” said Gogo Maphosa. “I am a revolutionary and having participated in my own way in the liberation struggle, I use every platform to pray for my party and my leadership, but on the incident, I admit it was wrong for me to chant a political slogan before the mourners.”
Gogo Maphosa said she had since appeared before a disciplinary committee held by church elders, where she was handed a three months suspension.
“I was also banned from putting on the church regalia during the time of suspension and I gladly accepted the suspension because I deserve to be punished for my actions,” she said.
“It was a wrong platform. I am also a God fearing person, so I will abide by my church’s position because I am still a member of the church.”
Gogo Maphosa said she won’t go to other churches during her suspension, but will pray indoors.
“After all, we are on lockdown and people are not being allowed to gather, so am serving my suspension while home, praying at home,” she said.
A Methodist Church elder who only identified himself as Mr Masvinure confirmed the suspension.
He said the church was apolitical and Gogo Maphosa’s actions at the funeral wake were misplaced.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando
Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando’s decision to cancel a Mutoko granite mining company’s registration certificate has been nullified in a High Court composite judgement dealing with two interrelated applications.
The protracted ownership wrangle involves two mining companies, in which Quarrying Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd sued Southern Granites (Pvt) Ltd on one side and Southern Granites that sued Minister Chitando, Quarrying Enterprises and the Provincial mining director, in the fight over the same mining claim.
Both firms had approached the High Court seeking confirmation of provisional orders that had been separately issued in the long-drawn dispute over ownership of a claim known as Mutuwi in Mutoko. Although the two applications were dealt with in a composite judgement, Justice Christopher Dube-Banda considered and decided each application separately in view of the legal principles applicable and peculiar to each case.
In the first case, Quarrying Enterprises, through its lawyer Advocate Taona Nyamakura, brought an urgent application seeking to bar Southern Granites from extracting the granite stone from the disputed claim. But Justice Dube-Banda threw out the request after the firm failed on a balance of probabilities to prove the right, which is sought to protect.
“My view is that, taking into account the facts of this case, Quarrying Enterprises has not met the requirements of a final interdict,” he said.
Quarrying Enterprises wanted to bar Southern Granites from mining granite from the boundaries of the claim and further from exporting, selling or in any way disposing of the granite whether in its raw form or processed state.
The interdict sought was anchored on allegations that in April 2018, Mashonaland East acting provincial director made a decision that Southern Granites had over pegged on a granite claim Number 26736BM belonging to Quarrying Enterprises. This formed the basis for its application for an interdict against Southern Granites. However, aggrieved by this decision Southern Granite appealed to Minister Chitando, but lost.
This prompted Southern Granite to approach the High Court seeking to review and setting aside of the Minister’s decision in the second case Number HC11561/18.
Mr Sternford Moyo of Scanlen and Holderness argued the matter for Southern Granites. Justice Dube-Banda found that the Quarrying Enterprises’ granite claim had been confiscated along the way and the company failed to prove that the forfeiture was later revoked.
The court also ruled that when Minister Chitando threw out Southern Granites’ appeal, he had information that the claim was forfeited and was not reinstated. In this regard, Justice Dube-Banda found that Minister Chitando’s reasons to disallow the Southern Granites appeal, were inconsistent with the facts.
“The decision of the Minister is irrational and does not pass the rationality test,” ruled the judge. To this end, Justice Dube-Banda quashed Minister Chitando’s decision and discharged Quarrying Enterprises’ application for a final interdict.
Government has said the framework and budget for risk allowance and insurance for health workers managing Covid-19 patients has been agreed on.
Updating journalists on the post-Covid-19 Taskforce daily meeting at State House in Harare last night, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said: “The framework and budget for risk allowance and insurance for health workers managing Covid-19 patients has been agreed on.”
This comes as some frontline health workers were reportedly demoralised and reluctant to put effort in helping Covid-19 patients due to lack of financial incentives.
Minister Mutsvangwa expressed concern over the high number of people violating the regulations.
As at yesterday, 3 251 people had been arrested for violating lockdown measures.
“It is disheartening to note that some citizens are willing to put themselves and those around them at risk by flouting the lockdown regulations,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
“To date 3 251 people have been arrested across the country for violating lockdown measures.”
Minister Mutsvangwa encouraged people to continue practicing the protective and preventative behaviour recommended by health experts.
She said they had received reports from the taskforce’s sub-committees, with Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo presenting strategies for public health intervention and structures.
The strategies, which are at national, local and individual levels, include the matching of resources to existing actions, identification of required infrastructure at national and local levels and filling existing gaps.
Minister Mutsvangwa said each province and district had identified temporary admissions, isolation and treatment units.
“The assessments and mapping of all potential isolation facilities is in progress and is 80 percent complete,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
She said three quarantine centres for returning Zimbabweans and legal residents were ready and functional.
Minister Mutsvangwa said the information and communication sub-committee chaired by her ministry submitted that translation of all material into the 16 official languages was in progress.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care call centre using the toll free number, 2019, was up and running and should deal with clinical issues, while the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services was to run another toll free line to deal with non-clinical matters arising from the Covid-19 pandemic and Government’s preparedness and response plan.
Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo and Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Kazembe Kazembe, who chairs the law and order committee, also made their presentations.
The threat of being infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus did little to deter Botswana’s Members of Parliament – all of whom were quarantined – as the House endorsed a six-month state of emergency declaration.
The state of emergency could see the landlocked diamond-rich country facing an extended and much stricter lockdown and preventative measures against the spread of the deadly virus.
This comes after a 28 day “extreme lockdown” which kicked in last Friday.
A declaration of a state of emergency by President Mokgweetsi Masisi led to a special Parliament sitting that has been underway since Wednesday to get a resolution in support of the declaration.
Parliamentarian exposed to Covid-19
As parliamentarians returned to the House on Thursday following a day of vigorous debates where the opposition was widely opposed to Masisi’s state of emergency, they were met by the news that the number of Covid-19 cases in the country had increased from six to 13.
There were signals of anxiety and undertones of panic among some parliamentarians who wanted the House to be adjourned after it was announced that a nurse who had screened some of them for the virus on Wednesday was now among the country’s new statistics.
Others made it clear that they would rather go straight into quarantine than going back to their families and exposing them to the virus in case they were infected.
The House proceedings were – probably for social distance adherence purposes – held at a hall in the capital Gaborone and not at the Parliament building, but there were questions raised about whether it would lead to further spread of the virus among the lawmakers.
It was subsequently resolved that the House disallow business of the day to deal with the order paper.
In the end, Masisi was the winner having secured Parliamentary endorsement to his state of emergency declaration.
Masisi’s party, Botswana Democratic Party, remains the majority party in the country which makes it easy for them to get things their own way.
On why Botswana needed a six-month state of emergency, Masisi explained during a meeting with political parties on Monday that the country had adopted a “prevention is better than cure” approach in its Covid-19 fight.
“I took advice from health professionals and that is what forms our approach. If we delay acting to combat this virus, the impact on us will be astronomical … our hospitals will not be able to cope,” Masisi said.
“We have no time to wait and see how the pandemic develops.”
He said unlike other countries, Botswana was still lacking in terms of resources, infrastructure and personnel that would be used to tackle the pandemic. Masisi said it was advisable that among choices the country had and “given our level of development and the destruction we have seen Covid-19 causing”, that Bostwana embarks on a “robust preventive strategy”.
“Our best defense shall always be our capacity to prevent; that is just a fact,” he said.
“If you think of beds that might be needed, we have a maximum of up about 150 ICU beds. When a model is developed, it is established that when we are really hit we would need up to 50 000 beds and approximately 2 000 ICU beds,” the president said.
He added that one “highly-trained nurse” would be needed for two ICU beds and a doctor for four ICU beds.
“We would quickly realise that we don’t have the personnel to do that,” Masisi said.
“This ailment spreads faster than the wildfire and that is why we prevention will always be our primary strategy,” he said.
Masisi also said that the Public Health Act was limited in powers in terms of dealing with the virus for a longer period.
He said the director of public health was not empowered to deploy other state resources like the army in times like this.
State of emergency and alleged tender irregularities
While they were aware that numbers would not favour them, opposition parties spent time expressing themselves and explaining their robust opposition to the state of emergency.
United Democratic Front Member of Parliament and leader of the opposition benches, Dumelang Saleshando, said they just had to make their stance clear especially in the proceedings that were carried live on national television and radio as well as on social media platforms.
Saleshando said they were worried that the state of emergency would give Masisi more powers to take decisions unilaterally and that it could also lead to tender irregularities.
He further argued that the army does not need a state of emergency to be deployed as “they would normally around this time of Easter be out there in the streets helping out”.
Saleshando accused Masisi and his party of battling to come up with concrete reasons that qualifies the declared state of emergency and that if the Public Health Act had limited powers, it could have been brought to the House for amendment like had happened with other acts.
Saleshando said the notice of the state of emergency was “suspicious” and not solely aimed at fighting the virus.
He alleged tenders were already awarded to some people with political connections without going through the public tender process.
“The intention is to steal from government,” the opposition leader said.
He was challenged by Botswana’s deputy president, Slumber Tsogwane, to produce evidence for his allegations which he could not.
Meanwhile, Masisi said this week his only intention with the state of emergency was in the best interests of the citizens.
“There cannot be any dictator under our constitution. I used the constitution to come and plead with you, not direct you to endorse the measures I am proposing,” he said.
He said the judiciary and the media would provide the “checks and balances required”.
“I intend using the declaration of the state of emergency solely for the purpose of protecting our people against the decimating potential of the novel Covid-19 virus,” Masisi said.
Meanwhile, a decision was taken for parliamentarians to self-isolate, except for those who felt their homes or options at their disposal were not good for that.
In that case, they would be provided with a place by the state.
Own Correspondent|Botswana is placing its entire cabinet and members of parliament in quarantine after a health worker screening lawmakers for coronavirus was found to be infected with Covid-19.
Screening was conducted on cabinet members and MPs on Wednesday as they arrived at a meeting to discuss a request by President Mokgweetsi Masisi for an extended state of emergency.
All lawmakers, including the president, will go into quarantine from today, Public Health Director Malaki Tshipayagae told lawmakers on Thursday, in comments broadcast on state television.
“You have to quarantine at home if you can or, if that’s not possible, we will find a place for you to be quarantined,” Tshipayagae said. “We will test you on the 14th day and if you are negative, allow you to go out of quarantine.”
Botswana’s confirmed number of coronavirus cases has doubled in the past week to 13. Masisi has called for a six-month state of emergency to confront the pandemic. Botswana’s constitution provides for a 21-day state of emergency, with parliamentary approval required for any longer period.
The RZB has released the following statement announcing that it suspended the operating license for Cash Twenty Four And Crediconnect after they reportedly engaged in prohibited forex activities.
Read the full statement below:
Suspension of Operating Licences of Cash Twenty-Four (Pvt) Ltd (Bureau de Change) and Crediconnect (Pvt) Ltd (Microfinance Institution) for engaging in Illicit Foreign Currency Activities.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (the Bank) wishes to advise the public of the suspension, with immediate effect, of the operating licences of the following institutions, licenced and supervised by the Bank:
(a) Cash Twenty-Four (Private) Limited
(b) Crediconnect (Private) Limited.
Cash-Twenty Four is licensed as a bureau de change in terms of the Exchange Control (Authorized Dealers with Limited Authority) Order, Statutory Instrument 104 of 2015 and Crediconnect is licenced as a credit-only (non-deposit-taking) microfinance institution, under the Microfinance Act [Chapter 24:29).
The Bank is in possession of information showing that the two institutions have been engaging in illicit foreign curre, transactions, which have been adversely affecting the economy.
The suspension of the institutions’ operating licences is with immediate effect, pending further investigations. If found guilty, the institutions will be liable to further regulatory action, which could result in cancellation of licence and / or criminal prosecution.
Guardian|The Zimbabwean government has been taken to court over its failure to provide doctors working on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic with masks.
The Zimbabwe Association for Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) is seeking to compel the authorities urgently to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical practitioners, warning that medics in the country’s troubled health sector will otherwise die.
“There are simply no adequate PPEs for health personnel working at public and private health facilities in the country. We attest to the shortages because we work there,” read the court application, seen by the Guardian.
“If no urgent steps are taken to address the shortcomings, the country will be caught unprepared to handle a possible escalation of the Covid-19 pandemic and many lives will be lost, sadly including the lives of those at the frontline.”
ZADHR said 1,500 staff working in public hospitals require at least three masks daily, a “luxury” that the government is failing to provide.
“Yet it is a necessity if we are to avert the Italian disaster, where a large number of health practitioners got infected through the provision of health services to patients,” the statement said.
Since Zimbabwe recorded its first positive case last month, testing has lagged behind. As of last Thursday, only 316 suspected cases had been tested for Covid-19.
According to the health ministry, Zimbabwe has recorded 10 positive cases, including one death – that of Zororo Makamba, a prominent television journalist. With kits unavailable, neither doctors nor suspected sufferers are being tested. Many cases are being turned away from Wilkins hospital, Harare’s main isolation facility.
The latest move comes after junior doctors and nurses went on strike a fortnight ago in protest over the lack of PPE.
A fortnight ago, Zimbabwe received a donation from the Jack Ma Foundation that included 200,000 tests, 100,000 face masks and 10,000 protective suits, but the equipment is not enough for the country’s health personnel.
Tapiwa Mungofa, treasurer of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, said hospitals had entered emergency mode.
“Only a few doctors, especially those with their own transport and those who reside at the hospitals, are reporting for duty,” Mungofa said.
Zimbabwe’s health sector has been crippled since last year after months of strikes over poor working conditions, with doctors claiming that patients were dying due to lack of medical supplies.
Zimbabwe’s once vibrant health delivery system has collapsed over the past two decades, largely due to an economic crisis. This has raised doubts over the country’s ability to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
In January, doctors ended the months-long strike when billionaire Strive Masiyiwa intervened, offering to pay salaries for more than 2,000 medical personnel for six months.
HEALTH officials have traced 47 people in Bulawayo who got in touch with the 79-year-old man who succumbed to Covid-19 on Saturday, with authorities warning of the possibility of more positive cases being recorded in the city.
Due to old age, the deceased is said to have not travelled much but his contacts live in both Eastern and Western suburbs of Bulawayo.
Among them is a network that includes 13 medical staffers at Mater Dei Hospital, colleagues and workers at Qalisa Retirement Village in Suburbs.
The deceased was cremated on Wednesday at Bulawayo Crematorium at West Park Cemetery after he was posthumously confirmed to have died of Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Health authorities’ say delays in confirming that he had Covid-19 were caused by centralised testing done in Harare, although processes have started to ensure that the National University of Science and Technology (Nust)’s Applied Genetic Testing Centre (AGTC), in connection with Mpilo Central Hospital, conduct local tests.
Contact tracing has also started in Matabeleland North province as he visited Ganda Lodge which is located inside Hwange National Park where he is alleged to have met some tourists between March 14 and 16.
Qalisa Retirement Village where he stayed has been put on lockdown with no one coming in or going out.
In an interview, Bulawayo City Council (BCC) health services director Dr Edwin Sibanda said they were leaving no stone unturned in tracing those he got into contact with, so that they are also tested.
“We have 47 people who are potential contacts and we are still following up on them and samples are being taken for those who fit the criteria,” said Dr Sibanda.
He said there is a huge possibility for Bulawayo to record positive cases linked to the 79-year-old man as has been the scenario with Harare cases.
“This is what happened in Harare where we had case number four or five which also could be traced to case number three. So, we don’t know whether we would have more cases or less. But I think we may pick one or two cases in the process,” said Dr Sibanda.
He said in contact tracing, members of the public need to be honest because critical contacts who may be at risk of contracting and spreading the virus may be left out.
Dr Sibanda said the deceased did not travel to many places upon returning from Hwange but his contacts are the ones who could spread the virus.
“He was an elderly man he needed some assistance. Someone must have done some house chores for him and those people are likely to be contacts. He was in hospital; there were people who nursed him, maybe even bathed or fed him. So, these people are more of contacts than anyone else. We need to know all of them and all of us become honest and tell the truth, hopefully we will catch more people and halt the spread,” said Dr Sibanda.
He said more than ever the public needs to comply with lockdown regulations. Matabeleland North provincial medical officer Dr Purgie Chimbengerengwa said a team is on the ground contact tracing after the old man’s death.
“The team is working on the ground. We will furnish more details. It has been 24 days today after the gentleman left Ganda Lodge. Time lag is thus a challenge in effective contact listing. We will give you details when we have more details. Kindly allow us to follow through our processes,” said Dr Chimbengerengwa.
Hwange District medical officer Dr Fungayi Mvura said the deceased did not meet a lot of people but could not immediately give figures.
She said the district was diligently following up on people who might have been in contact with the deceased.
“The victim was at a lodge at Hwange National Park. He was never in the town. So, we are conducting contact tracing. He was in Hwange more than 21 days ago. So far there is no one with any (Covid-19) symptomic signs,” said Dr Mvura.
She said lodges and hotels in the district have since been closed in line with lockdown measures.
In a statement yesterday, Mater Dei Hospital assured the public that all necessary procedures were taken to ensure that staff and patients were not exposed to Covid-19 in line with national guidelines.
It said prior to handling the first Covid-19 case in Bulawayo, the hospital was working to establish a standalone unit to handle suspected cases.
“The measures include providing suitable personal protective equipment and support for the medical staff who would come to contact with the patients,” read the statement.
“The public may be assured that the appropriate protocols were followed, and that all sanitising procedures have taken place under the auspices of the Government Rapid Reaction Team.”
The hospital said it understands the fear and anxiety the Covid-19 case caused to the people of Bulawayo but assured them that all necessary procedures to prevent the spread of the virus from hospital have been taken.
“The 13 staff members who attended the case are under self-quarantine from work. However, the hospital is reviewing preparedness based on lessons learnt from this unfortunate incidence. The hospital is taking all appropriate measures to protect their valuable staff during this time and PPE is available as required for staff,” read the statement.
State Media|Police were tightening enforcement of lockdown movement rules yesterday following significant increases in the number of people driving into Harare city centre during the second week of the lockdown.
There were also concerns that people were laxer about maintaining social distancing when standing in shop queues or personal interactions.
After high levels of voluntary compliance for both travel and social distancing in the first week, the Harare provincial Joint Operations Command (JOC) has been concerned about growing numbers ignoring or bending the movement rules during the second week, with private vehicle traffic in particular rising fast, hence the tightening of police enforcement and at times placing roadblocks at points where it was impossible to evade them.
And while most shops now control entry to ensure that it is easy to maintain social distancing inside the food shop, the short queues outside are less under control and at times people crowd, cutting the distances between them to less than one metre.
Provincial JOC chair and Minister of State Senator Oliver Chidawu said yesterday he would raise his concerns with the National Covid-19 Taskforce for deliberation to avoid eroding the gains realised during the first week of the lockdown.
In an interview after visiting Wilkins and Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases hospitals, Minister Chidawu expressed reservations over lower compliance levels.
City Health director Dr Prosper Chonzi said the lockdown was meant to ensure applicability of public health dictates to combat Covid-19, chief among them social distancing. Without compliance, the country risked an increase in positive cases which could end up being difficult to contain.
“What informed the lockdown is the mode of transmission of this disease. It is by droplet infection so if somebody coughs or sneezes, then the droplets will land somewhere within a metre. If no one touches that surface to introduce the virus into their body, either by touching their mouth, nose or eyes, then the virus will disintegrate wherever it lands.
“Social distancing is therefore important in that you won’t have people close to each other to pick up the droplets within the metre. Now, if people are crowded, chances are that somebody will pick up that virus and it will propagate the survival of the virus,” said Dr Chonzi.
“If people continue crowding and continue with the business as usual approach, we will not be able to get on top of the situation.”
It was hoped that if the country went for 21 days with people staying at home, the virus’ concentration within communities would be reduced.
“If it is a lockdown, it has to be complete. We had already gone through the first seven days and people were complying. Now we are seeing more cars on the streets, more people and the opening up of places like the markets. We are shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Dr Chonzi.
Experts said lessons from China, which totally locked down the epicentre of the virus, Wuhan City, showed that a complete lockdown was effective in containing Covid-19.
Community Working Group on Health executive director Mr Itai Rusike said although the lockdown measures could appear draconian, they had to be enforced to avoid a catastrophe.
While produce markets were permitted to operate this week, health authorities still want social distancing when people buy food. At some there was enforcement of both hand-washing and social distancing but this is not universal.
There are now illegal vendors in several residential areas also going about their business.
But police in Harare tightened up and intensified vetting of private vehicles approaching Harare’s city centre with rigorous checks that saw motorists and passengers being turned back if they could not show or satisfy officers that they were in an essential service.
The vetting process also extended to passengers in Zupco buses with each traveller compelled to produce valid documentation confirming they were involved in an essential service.
Police commander for Harare province Commissioner Bernard Dumbura personally toured all the province’s check points where he also participated in the screening of private vehicles’ drivers and passengers.
Motorists and passengers whose documentation could not satisfy the police were turned away at the roadblocks visited by The Herald.
At the intersection of Seke Road and Delport Road Comm Dumbura personally joined his traffic officers in vetting motorists and passengers as early as 7am.
Speaking at another check point near Harare Exhibition Park along Samora Machel West, Comm Dumbura said only exempted motorists and passengers who are offering essential services should be allowed into town.
“We are here at this check point and as you can see there is strict vetting of vehicles and people who are going into town. We realised that there are a lot of vehicles now in town. A lot of motorists have been sent back home because they failed to satisfy us that they are involved in an essential service.
Those managing to evade check points to get into the city centre were still being caught. “Some motorists are evading checkpoints to get into town. We are aware of that and our officers have been deployed in the CBD. Several motorists have been arrested today for defying this lockdown directive.
The checkpoint along Samora Machel Avenue East had been moved to a location where it was difficult, considering the rivers and streams in the area, to cut around it. It was noticeable that around half the vehicles approaching the roadblock were upmarket sedans, twin cabs and SUVs coming in from Highlands and Greendale but that these were mostly turned back while commercial vehicles and private vehicles whose drivers had required documentation were quickly allowed through.
In Mutare, traffic was high yesterday as more people got into the CBD to buy basics before the Easter holidays, resulting in longer queues in supermarkets.
Sakubva Musika was a hive of activity as vendors sought to sell perishable fruits and vegetables.
In Kariba, vendors started occupying the legally-open Nyamhunga vegetable market and attracted many residents buying fresh produce.
Municipal police were manning the entrance asking people to wash their hands. There was a lot of movement in both Mahombekombe and Nyamhunga high density suburbs, with police coming in occasionally to disperse crowds.
In Beitbridge, police increased visibility at most business centres where shoppers were failing to observe social distancing.
While the majority stayed home, some illegal vendors were frequenting business centres and suburbs between 6am and 10am.
Traffic remained low at the border where mostly trucks carrying grain were coming in from South Africa.
State Media|MATABELELAND South Province has this year recorded an increase in malaria cases with six deaths reported in Gwanda and Beitbridge districts.
Matabeleland South provincial environmental health officer Mr Notho Dube said 900 malaria cases were recorded throughout the province in the past two months.
He said some communities were attributing the six deaths to Covid-19, which was not true.
Mr Dube said under an ongoing exercise to fight malaria, they had distributed 92 000 mosquito nets in Gwanda and 82 000 in Beitbridge.
“We have noted an upward trend in malaria cases that we have recorded this year as they are overshooting three-fold when compared to last year’s figures.”
“From February up to end of March, we had recorded six malaria-related deaths four of which were recorded in Beitbridge and two in Gwanda South. We recorded a total of 896 cases throughout the province with Beitbridge recording 819 and Gwanda 60.
“These figures are roughly three-fold what we recorded last year.
“Another worrisome development is that this year we recorded malaria cases in districts where we had never recorded any cases before such as Umzingwane where there are nine cases and Mangwe which has one case,” said Mr Dube.
All central and provincial hospitals should immediately be made Covid-19 treatment centres as they have more capacity to handle critically-ill patients than municipal institutions handling isolation infected people, the Zimbabwe Medical Association (ZIMA) has proposed.
ZIMA made the call during an interaction between President Mnangagwa and professionals including lawyers, accountants, engineers, nurses and architects.
The infectious diseases hospitals are, however, designed to isolate infected people so that other sick people are not infected, which is why they were built as separate institutions.
Dr Christopher Samukange, the ZIMA welfare committee chairperson, also called for the amendment of the Public Health Act, which he said dictates that the treatment of a contagious condition shall be vested in the municipalities with their specialised centres.
City of Harare has made Wilkins Infectious Diseases Hospital in Harare the focal point of management for Covid-19 cases.
“The Public Health Act says they must not go to the Central Hospitals, so we need to look at that Act quickly so that we empower the Central Hospitals to deliver the service that will make a difference to the people who contract Covid-19 as an infection and require hospital care,” he said.
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals already has facilities to treat Covid-19 as all its beds have an oxygen delivery point, 13 theatres, a 10-bed High Care Unit, a 10-bed intensive care unit and a secondary set of theatres, which are all set up for ventilation.
Dr Samukange said Zima recommend that Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and United Bulawayo Hospitals in Bulawayo be designated as Covid-19 centres because they are already designed for delivering critical care.
“As much as we want all Central Hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo designated for it we need to decentralise, every provincial hospital should be regarded as Covid-19 treatment centres,” he said.
“First because they are partly on the way there in terms of equipment and medical staff to look after the people and secondly, it also means people don’t have to travel across the country looking for services that are available in Harare or Bulawayo.”
Government has been called upon to scale up testing by identifying areas with high infections and deploying resources accordingly.
He recommended that the Government assist local pharmaceutical companies to produce drugs like chloroquine and azithromycin that some doctors think may help treat Covid-19 although no clinical studies have been completed and there is no definite evidence that the drugs help.
Government has, with immediate effect, directed all local authorities to allow health institutions under their jurisdiction to be used by the Ministry of Health and Child Care for Covid-19 response.
The pandemic has to date killed three people in Zimbabwe.
Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo has since written to local authorities directing them to do a handover\takeover of the institutions with the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
In a letter addressed to all mayors, town council and chairpersons of rural local authorities, Minister Moyo said the decision was reached as a result of the intensity and magnitude posed by Covid-19.
Minister Moyo said while a declaration of State of Disaster is in force, civil protection officers were empowered to take possession or control of any land or other property whatsoever for the purpose of dealing with the situation.
He said following the declaration of the State of Disaster regarding the Covid-19 pandemic by President Mnangagwa, Government is taking all necessary measures to strengthen coordination and response mechanisms at all levels.
“Given the magnitude and intensity posed by Covid-19 pandemic on public health and the economy at large, I am invoking Section 23 of the Civil Protection Act Chapter 10:06 of 1989 to empower all Provincial Development Coordinators to requisition all designated health facilities within their areas of jurisdiction for immediate use by the Ministry of Health and Child Care,” he said.
Minister Moyo said the exercise should be done immediately.
State Media|President Mnangagwa yesterday wished Zimbabweans, both at home and abroad, a happy and peaceful Easter holiday, but hinted that security arms will intensify patrols to ensure compliance with the 21-day national Covid-19 lockdown.
He said this year’s Easter holiday, which starts today, was unique in the sense that no gatherings were allowed as the country observes the lockdown aimed at containing the spread of Covid-19.
In his address on the eve of Good Friday at State House, the President said the difficulties and challenges being faced by the nation would not last forever.
“I am aware that in the past, the Easter holiday season would see most families, friends, as well as worshippers gather together to remember the gift of eternal life given to us by God through the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” said President Mnangagwa.
“Sadly, this will not be possible this holiday, as we continue to observe the essential lockdown we instituted to prevent the spread of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. However, do not despair for the Bible says in Matthew 18 verse 20, where two or three gather, the Lord is present with them.
“I urge us all to continue to stay at home, as well as practising good hygiene and observing social distance.”
The President wished citizens a joyful Easter filled with blessings, peace, love and the hope of a brighter tomorrow.
He said as the nation goes through this year’s Easter holiday, citizens should find hope and strength in the words of Jesus Christ in John 16 verse 33, who reminds people that in the world, there will be many trials tribulations, but called for peace, and to be of good cheer, since He has overcome the world.
“In the midst of the darkness, may the light of Jesus Christ shine,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said people should be further encouraged by the knowledge that Jesus Christ triumphed over death.
The President said as part of efforts to fight the spread of Covid-19, security arms will be intensifying patrols to ensure compliance and to curb the movement of pedestrians and vehicles.
Government plans to continue to scale up and improve its preparedness to handle the Covid-19 threat and consolidate the gains made in keeping the country safe.
President Mnangagwa applauded frontline workers that have dedicated their lives to fighting Covid-19.
“We pay tribute to the many men and women constituting the essential services and are keeping our country functional during this lockdown period. We shall be moving with greater speed to provide the workers in the frontline with all the adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and personal protective clothing as well as the requisite training to ensure their safety in the wake of the Covid-19 threat. In addition, I would like to commend the various stakeholders, from across the social spectrum, who are giving generously towards our fight against Covid-19. Together we are stronger,” he said.
The answer to the Covid-19 crisis, said the President, lay in people’s discipline and unity.
CHURCHES in Zimbabwe have, in an unprecedented development, this year cancelled their traditional Easter retreats with most religious organisations resorting to live streaming their services during the 21-day lockdown.
The cancellation of Easter church meetings follows a directive by President Mnangagwa banning all gatherings of more than 50 people as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
During the lockdown period, all citizens are required to stay at home, except when seeking health services, buying food, medicines and other essentials as well as to offer critical services.
In separate interviews yesterday, church leaders said the cancellation of public services during the Easter holiday, which starts today, is in compliance with lockdown regulations to combat the spread of the deadly global pandemic, which has so far claimed about 90 000 lives with more than 1,5 million people infected globally.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ) leader for the Western Diocese, Bishop Michael Dube said they have joined other churches worldwide in calling off this year’s Easter meetings due to Covid-19.
“We have a challenge as you know that since the advent of Christianity, this year is a year in which the whole world will fail to conduct Easter during which people would traditionally gather in one geographical space.
We have resorted to exploring other avenues such as utilising social media to spread the Word of God, although it will benefit mostly urbanites who have access to modern communication tools unlike those in the rural areas,” he said.
Bishop Dube said they are also encouraging their followers to open WhatsApp groups for the purposes of sharing sermons, scriptures and songs during the Easter holiday.
“Some of our congregants have created WhatsApp groups for our members and I believe, it is quite an effective way of spreading the message of salvation as it reaches a wider audience. We have already come up with Easter programmes and there are people who will be coordinating and people are already geared for that,” he said.-State media
Deputy chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet who is also Presidential spokesperson, Mr George Charamba, dismissed as fake news a statement attributed to President Mnangagwa purporting to direct property owners on rentals.
Mr Charamba said the statement has nothing to do with the President or his Office, and actually passes for criminal conduct.
The fake statement was notifying landlords and land ladies not to collect rent from any Zimbabwean for a period of three months from the day of the 21-day lockdown.-State media
MATABELELAND South Province has this year recorded an increase in malaria cases with six deaths in Gwanda and Beitbridge districts.
In an interview, Matabeleland South provincial environmental health officer, Mr Notho Dube said 900 malaria cases were recorded throughout the province over the past two months.
Mr Dube said some communities were however attributing the six deaths to Covid-19 which was not true.
He said to fight malaria, they had distributed 92 000 mosquito nets in Gwanda and 82 000 in Beitbridge and the exercise was still ongoing.
“We have noted an upward trend in malaria cases that we have recorded this year as they are overshooting three-fold when compared to last year’s figures.
From February up to end of March we had recorded six malaria related deaths of which four were recorded in Beitbridge and two in Gwanda South.
“We recorded a total of 896 cases throughout the Province with Beitbridge recording 819 and Gwanda 60. These figures are roughly three-fold what we recorded last year.
Another worrisome development is that this year we recorded malaria cases in districts where we had never recorded any cases before such as Umzingwane where there are nine cases and Mangwe which has one case,” he said.
Mr Dube said Gwanda South and Beitbridge are malaria prone areas.
“One of the major causes of the increase this year is the persistent rains and flash floods we received in February which created breeding areas for mosquitoes thereby increasing the population of mosquitoes.
In Gwanda most cases have been recorded along Umzingwane River where we have people conducting a number of livelihood activities such as cattle ranching,” he said.-State media
Health officials here have collected specimens from the remains of a deceased Chiredzi woman,to test whether she succumbed to Covid-19 at Chiredzi District Hospital on Tuesday.
The woman-from the sugar cane growing town-died after being admitted at the hospital for severe pneumonia leading to suspicions she had Covid-19.
Results are expected by today.
Provincial Medical DirextiDirector Dr Amadeous Shamu said her remains had not yet been interred.
“We collected samples from her body and sent them to Harare for testing after we classified her as Covid-19 suspect following her admission and subsequent death in hospital from severe pneumonia”he said.
“The symptoms she showed before her passing on(severe pneumonia) made us to treat her as a Covid-19 suspect and we expect results tomorrow(today)afternoon.”
Following the women’s designation as a Covid-19 suspect her burial would be done in accordance with rules applied to those who succumb to the disease.
“She has not yet been buried though under normal circumstances she should have been buried earlier considering that she was a Covid-19 suspect.Our teams delayed to go there(Chiredzi Hospital) to collect samples.
“Now I think they will have to wait for her results to come out before burying her.The results will be out by tomorrow(today)afternoon and she will be buried soon after.”
Dr Shamu rubbished circulating reports that the woman died after nurses at Chiredzi Hospital abandoned her on suspicion she had Covid-19 because of her symptoms upon checking in.
Masvingo is still to record its first Covid-19 case with two previous suspected cases having both tested negative.- State media
By Stephen Chuma Emmerson Mnangagwa is a man living on borrowed time!
Take the ravaging Corona pandemic aside, surely Mnangagwa would have been facing a massive and serious civil unrest by now.
An opportunist of proportions, Mnangagwa saw a window of opportunity in the deadly Corona pandemic and a leeway to elongate his illegitimate stay at Munhumutapa offices.
While the idea of a lockdown in face of the deadly Corona pandemic is not a bad idea altogether, it is crystal clear that the biggest beneficiary thus far is Emmerson Mnangagwa and not the hungry and angry masses who survive from hand to mouth.
Normally the lockdown period is supposed to reduce deleterious effects of the pandemic, but alas in our case it is the opposite.
This is largely because the cartels run government deliberately lacks will to tackle the pandemic.
Talk of testing kits or mere personal protective equipment like masks, Mnangagwa’s regime has dismally failed to provide the basics to combat the spread of the disease.
Of course ZANU PF apologists will be quick to point to Mnangagwa’s unilateral declaration of 21 days lockdown as a control measure but we all know what serious countries world over are doing to ensure that lockdown serve purpose.
Closer home, the South African government makes sure that all its citizenry is well catered for as far as basic human rights fundamentals like food, clean water and access to personal protective clothing is concerned.
Back home, besides untold harassment of poverty stricken masses by the uniformed forces, Mnangagwa’s military dictatorship has virtually done nothing to save and serve the people.
Clearly there is no connection whatsoever between the governors and the governed.
A clear indication that there is lack of social contract between the rulers and the ruled!
Overtly there is no passion for the people by those who stole the mandate from the people.
To think these are the very same people who dished out millions of bandanas, t-shirts, scarfs and zambias during the election season but now fail to provide masks is utterly disgusting!
Outside Covid-19, people are groaning and dying of starvation in this lockdown period.
Citizens have been completely shut out from their only source of livelihood – vending yet this heartless regime offers no alternative for survival.
All we have seen is parasitic ZANU PF district chairpersons capitalizing on people’s misery by creating databases that will be selectively used to distribute aid on partisan lines.
To divert us from our excruciating man made suffering, Mnangagwa goes on to set a very disinteresting Komichi-Khupe Supreme Court drama.
The level of rot and stinking poverty in the ghettos and countryside tells a harrowing story of a people without a government!
Citizens are hungry and angry because of the economic rot presided over by Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa is treading dangerously on a political cliff edge and for now only lockdown can save him.
Winter might be too cold for Mnangagwa.
Surely we cannot go on like this!
We are the people, we are the power!
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDCYouthAssemblyNationalSpokesperson
Farai Dziva|Douglas Mwonzora has claimed he firmly is in charge of Morgan Tsvangirai House and business at the opposition party headquarters will resume after lockdown.
Mwonzora also accused MDC Secretary General Charlton Hwende of “attempting to tamper with party documents.”
Mwonzora, quoted by Daily News said:
“We said Harvest House is under lockdown and that the security was ordered to lock the offices so that no business takes place there.
“It is not like I came with a new set of keys, but that I instructed the security to make sure nobody conducts business there.
“I am aware that Chalton Hwende went to the office to work, but he knows he is acting in contempt and being irresponsible.
“We suspect that he wants to tamper with documents, especially financial records.
“We want to warn against that. “We have a lot of options, but it is not our intention to be prejudicial, but they must never underestimate our resolve.
“We know they were disappointed with the court ruling and we allowed them time to cool off.”
According to the United Nations, Africa has over 10 000 COVID-19 cases, 500+ deaths and over 900 recoveries.
Zimbabwe and South Sudan are among the most vulnerable African countries as over 7.7 million people are food insecure in Zimbabwe according to the UNWFP and the fighting in South Sudan according to the publication.
The UNWFP is appealing for $130 million to feed vulnerable people in Zimbabwe while according to the publication: In an appeal to the authorities to step up efforts to contain the spread of the virus, the Commission on Human Rights in the world’s youngest country warned that 1.5 million people who’ve fled years of violence are at greater risk than ever.
Commission chair Yasmin Sooka said that it was unrealistic to even “talk about strict social distancing” at the moment.
So many displaced persons still live in tents, she said, “often inches apart from one other, and subsisting on rapidly diminishing humanitarian aid”.
They have only limited access to healthcare, water, hygiene and sanitation, food, and adequate housing, with women and children among the worst affected by these shortages, Ms. Sooka explained.
COVID-19 has killed over 76000 people and over 1.2 million people have been infected worldwide while 52 countries in Africa have recorded COVID-19 cases.-The Zimbabwean
Family health director in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Bernard Madzima is now the new National Aids Council (NAC) chief executive officer.
Dr Madzima was appointed yesterday by the Ministry of Health and Child Care in consultation with President Mnangagwa.
He replaces Dr Tapuwa Magure who left the organisation in 2018. Since then, NAC has been operating without a substantive chief executive. Government is yet to appoint a board of directors for NAC, which was dissolved early last year. State Media/Herald
Top Slovakian side MŠK Žilina has become the first football team that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic that is gripping the world.
MSK Zilina which won the Slovakian Super Liga 7 times said in a statement posted on its website:
In the current situation, players with professional contracts could show solidarity, especially to the people who were involved in their training, who provided them with service and conditions.
The players with the highest salaries and those whose contracts were finishing this summer or winter were released.
Our budget for this year is based on revenues we were counting on receiving this summer during the transfer period.
Today, this amount will in all likelihood be close to zero.
The young players, who have shown willingness and solidarity, will have their chances as they have been kept.”
MSK Zilina in 2010 became the Slovakian club to play in the group stages of the Uefa Champions League.-City Press
Top Slovakian side MŠK Žilina has become the first football team that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic that is gripping the world.
MSK Zilina which won the Slovakian Super Liga 7 times said in a statement posted on its website:
In the current situation, players with professional contracts could show solidarity, especially to the people who were involved in their training, who provided them with service and conditions.
The players with the highest salaries and those whose contracts were finishing this summer or winter were released.
Our budget for this year is based on revenues we were counting on receiving this summer during the transfer period.
Today, this amount will in all likelihood be close to zero.
The young players, who have shown willingness and solidarity, will have their chances as they have been kept.”
MSK Zilina in 2010 became the Slovakian club to play in the group stages of the Uefa Champions League.-City Press
THE number of Covid-19 fatalities in Zimbabwe has risen to three after the ninth patient, a 50-year-old Harare man on Wednesday succumbed to the global pandemic at Wilkins Hospital’s ICU.
To date, Zimbabwe has 11 confirmed cases.
The deceased had travelled to the UK and returned home on March 21.
In a statement, the Secretary of Health and Child Care Dr Agnes Mahomva said the deceased had been admitted to Wilkins Hospital after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 with an underlying comorbidity.
“The Ministry however, would like to report that the ninth patient deceased today under admission in the intensive care unit at Wilkins Hospital.
He was a 50 year old male resident of Harare who had travelled to the United Kingdom and returned home in the 21th of March 2020,” she said.
Dr Mahomva said the deceased started exhibiting mild symptoms and alerted the local Covid-19 rapid response team on April 1, which went to assess him at home.
His condition however, deteriorated and the local medical team immediately went to stabilise him.
“On 7 April 2020, he was admitted for critical care and management in ICU at Wilkins Hospital under the care if a specialist physician.
Today, the 8th of April 2020, his condition continued to deteriorate despite management in ICU until he deceased this evening,” said Dr Mahomva.
She said the deceased’s family has since been informed and they are currently working with the family to ensure safe burial of his remains in line with regulations under the Public Health Act.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care through the National Microbiology Reference Laboratory today tested 18 samples and they all tested negative.
Dr Mahomva said the Ministry of Health and Child Care is continuing to be on high alert to the global pandemic, which has so far claimed more than 85 000 lives with more than 1, 4 million people infected globally.
She urged citizens to practice good personal hygiene to prevent the spread of Covid-19.- State media
By A Correspondent- Health officials here have collected specimens from the remains of a deceased Chiredzi woman,to test whether she succumbed to Covid-19 at Chiredzi District Hospital on Tuesday.
The woman-from the sugar cane growing town-died after being admitted at the hospital for severe pneumonia leading to suspicions she had Covid-19. Results are expected by today. Provincial Medical Director Dr Amadeous Shamu said her remains had not yet been interred.
“We collected samples from her body and sent them to Harare for testing after we classified her as Covid-19 suspect following her admission and subsequent death in hospital from severe pneumonia” he said.
“The symptoms she showed before her passing on (severe pneumonia) made us to treat her as a Covid-19 suspect and we expect results tomorrow (today) afternoon.”
Following the women’s designation as a Covid-19 suspect her burial would be done in accordance with rules applied to those who succumb to the disease.
“She has not yet been buried though under normal circumstances she should have been buried earlier considering that she was a Covid-19 suspect.Our teams delayed to go there (Chiredzi Hospital) to collect samples.
“Now I think they will have to wait for her results to come out before burying her.The results will be out by tomorrow (today) afternoon and she will be buried soon after.”
Dr Shamu rubbished circulating reports that the woman died after nurses at Chiredzi Hospital abandoned her on suspicion she had Covid-19 because of her symptoms upon checking in. Masvingo is still to record its first Covid-19 case with two previous suspected cases having both tested negative.-StateMedia
By A Correspondent- Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting Services Energy Mutodi has taken to Twitter to share the COVID-19 Statistics and praise the initiative by the government to lock down the country for 21 days by saying it has crippled COVID-19.
Mutodi further said the suggestion by the MDC leader that the government tests everyone is unwise and said using stratified random sampling would show that the possibility of Zimbabwe being a COVID-19 footing are low.
Mutodi Tweeted:
The lockdown measures instituted by His Excellency President ED Mnangagwa have crippled the Covid-19 virus & prevented it from spreading internally. Current statistics show 73% cases are imported while 27% are contacts of foreign travelers. Mortality stands at 27%.
97% tested cases have come out negative. Compulsory testing in this case as suggested by Nelson Chamisa proves unwise. A stratified random sampling technique ensures tests focus on recent arrivals & their contacts. Probability of a COVID-19 foothold in Zimbabwe is next to zero.
Zimbabwe has recorded 3 COVID-19 deaths and 11 positive cases so far.
THE number of Covid-19 fatalities in Zimbabwe has risen to three after the ninth patient, a 50-year-old Harare man on Wednesday succumbed to the global pandemic at Wilkins Hospital’s ICU.
To date, Zimbabwe has 11 confirmed cases.
The deceased had travelled to the UK and returned home on March 21.
In a statement, the Secretary of Health and Child Care Dr Agnes Mahomva said the deceased had been admitted to Wilkins Hospital after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 with an underlying comorbidity.
“The Ministry however, would like to report that the ninth patient deceased today under admission in the intensive care unit at Wilkins Hospital.
He was a 50 year old male resident of Harare who had travelled to the United Kingdom and returned home in the 21th of March 2020,” she said.
Dr Mahomva said the deceased started exhibiting mild symptoms and alerted the local Covid-19 rapid response team on April 1, which went to assess him at home.
His condition however, deteriorated and the local medical team immediately went to stabilise him.
“On 7 April 2020, he was admitted for critical care and management in ICU at Wilkins Hospital under the care if a specialist physician.
Today, the 8th of April 2020, his condition continued to deteriorate despite management in ICU until he deceased this evening,” said Dr Mahomva.
She said the deceased’s family has since been informed and they are currently working with the family to ensure safe burial of his remains in line with regulations under the Public Health Act.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care through the National Microbiology Reference Laboratory today tested 18 samples and they all tested negative.
Dr Mahomva said the Ministry of Health and Child Care is continuing to be on high alert to the global pandemic, which has so far claimed more than 85 000 lives with more than 1, 4 million people infected globally.
She urged citizens to practice good personal hygiene to prevent the spread of Covid-19.- State media
At midnight tonight, it will be exactly two weeks since our country entered into an unprecedented nation-wide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
During the course of these last two weeks, your lives have been severely disrupted, you have suffered great hardship and endured much uncertainty.
We have closed our borders to the world, our children are not in school, businesses have closed their operations, many have lost their income, and our economy has ground to a halt.
And yet, faced with such daunting challenges, you, the people of South Africa, have responded with remarkable patience and courage.
You have respected the lockdown and largely observed the regulations.
You have accepted the severe restrictions on your movement and many of the daily freedoms that we all take for granted.
You have done so because you have understood the devastating effect that this disease will have on the health and well-being of all South Africans unless we take drastic measures.
You have also understood that we must do everything in our power to prevent the massive loss of life that would occur if we did not act.
For your cooperation, for your commitment and above all for your patience, I wish to thank you personally.
I wish to thank you for reaffirming to each other and to the world that we South Africans are a people who come together and unite at moments of great crisis.
Earlier today I had a most productive meeting with our Premiers about the work they are doing in provinces and districts to stop the spread of the virus.
I also had a discussion with the leaders of all our political parties represented in Parliament, who collectively pledged their support for the efforts that are being made to combat the pandemic.
Through this we are demonstrating that we are able to work together across party lines to confront a common threat.
Since I announced the lockdown just over two weeks ago, the global coronavirus pandemic has worsened.
Two weeks ago, there were 340,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the world.
We now have over 1.5 million confirmed cases worldwide.
Over 90,000 people across the world have died from this disease.
The health systems of many countries have been overwhelmed.
Even the most developed economies in the world have not had the means to treat the many thousands who have fallen ill.
They have struggled to find the medical supplies and personnel necessary to deal with the pandemic.
The devastating effect of this is that many people have died.
The global evidence is overwhelming.
It confirms that our decision to declare a national state of disaster and to institute a nation-wide lockdown was correct and it was timely.
While it is too early to make a definitive analysis of the progression of the disease in South Africa, there is sufficient evidence to show that the lockdown is working.
Since the lockdown came into effect, the rate at which new cases have been identified here in South Africa has slowed significantly.
From 1,170 confirmed cases on the 27th of March, the number of confirmed cases today stands at 1,934.
In the two weeks before the lockdown, the average daily increase in new cases was around 42%.
Since the start of the lockdown, the average daily increase has been around 4%.
While we recognise the need to expand testing to gain a better picture of the infection rate, this represents real progress.
The measures we have taken – such as closing our borders and prohibiting gatherings – as well as the changes that we have each had to make in our own behaviour, have definitely slowed the spread of the virus.
But the struggle against the coronavirus is far from over.
We are only at the beginning of a monumental struggle that demands our every resource and our every effort.
We cannot relax. We cannot be complacent.
In the coming weeks and months, we must massively increase the extent of our response and expand the reach of our interventions.
We are learning both from the experiences of other countries and from the evidence we now have about the development of the pandemic in South Africa.
Both make a clear and compelling case to proceed in a manner that is cautious and properly calibrated.
Simply put, if we end the lockdown too soon or too abruptly, we risk a massive and uncontrollable resurgence of the disease.
We risk reversing the gains we have made over the last few weeks, and rendering meaningless the great sacrifices we have all made.
Fellow South Africans,
This evening, I stand before you to ask you to endure even longer.
I have to ask you to make even greater sacrifices so that our country may survive this crisis and so that tens of thousands of lives may be saved.
After careful consideration of the available evidence, the National Coronavirus Command Council has decided to extend the nation-wide lockdown by a further two weeks beyond the initial 21 days.
This means that most of the existing lockdown measures will remain in force until the end of April.
We will use the coming days to evaluate how we will embark on risk-adjusted measures that can enable a phased recovery of the economy, allowing the return to operation of certain sectors under strictly controlled conditions.
We will also use this time to ramp up our public health interventions.
We did not take this decision to extend the lockdown lightly.
As your President, I am mindful of the great and heavy burden this will impose on you.
I am keenly aware of the impact this will have on our economy.
But I know, as you do, that unless we take these difficult measures now, unless we hold to this course for a little longer, the coronavirus pandemic will engulf, and ultimately consume, our country.
We all want the economy to come back to life, we want people to return to work, we want our children to go back to school, and we all want to be able to move freely again.
But our immediate priority must remain to slow down the spread of the virus and to prevent a massive loss of life.
We must do this while preventing our economy from collapsing and saving our people from hunger.
We are determined to pursue a path that both saves lives and protects livelihoods.
Our strategy is made up of three parts:
Firstly, an intensified public health response to slow down and reduce infections.
Secondly, a comprehensive package of economic support measures to assist businesses and individuals affected by the pandemic.
Thirdly, a programme of increased social support to protect poor and vulnerable households.
As government, together with our many partners, we have used this lockdown period to both refine and intensify our public health strategy to manage the coronavirus.
Our approach is to screen in communities and test people in hospitals, clinics and mobile clinics, to isolate those who are infected, and to care for those who are ill in our health facilities.
We need to do this intensively and systematically.
We have used the last week to develop our screening and testing methodology in various parts of the country.
Over the next two weeks, we will roll out the community screening and testing programme across all provinces, focusing in particular on highly vulnerable communities.
Those who test positive and cannot self-isolate at home will be isolated at special facilities that have been identified and are now being equipped.
At all times, we will observe the human rights of all people.
Let us not discriminate against people who test positive.
To ensure that our strategies are effectively coordinated and to ensure they are informed by comprehensive, real-time data, we have established the COVID-19 Information Centre at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
This world-class centre will keep track of all screening, testing, isolation and hospitalisation throughout the country.
It is already identifying infection hotspots.
It is following the spread and the severity of the disease, and enabling us to move our focus and resources where they are most needed.
We are working with mobile telephony companies and other institutions to locate those people who have tested positive for the virus and those with whom they have been in contact.
As part of the second element of our strategy, we have put in place various measures to provide support to businesses in distress, to workers facing loss of income, to the self-employed and to informal businesses.
Many of these measures are being taken up by both large and small businesses.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund has set aside R40 billion to help employees who will be unable to work, as part of the effort to prevent jobs losses as a result of the lockdown.
To date, it has paid out R356 million.
I would like to applaud all those employers who have continued to pay their workers during this difficult time, as well as those employers who are working with unions and government to assist their employees to access these benefits.
I would like to call on all businesses to continue to pay their suppliers, to the extent that they can, to ensure that those suppliers can also continue to operate and pay their staff and suppliers.
In this respect, I would like to appeal to all large businesses not to resort to force majeure and stop paying their suppliers and rental commitments, as such practice has a domino effect on all other businesses dependent on that chain.
We must do all we can to ensure that the underlying economy continues to function and to focus support on those small businesses that really need them.
The Industrial Development Corporation has set aside R3 billion for the procurement of essential medical supplies.
It has already approved R130 million in funding and expects to approve a further R400 million in the coming week to companies who applied for funding under this special facility.
The Small Enterprise Finance Agency has approved the postponement of loan repayments for a period of 6 months.
The small business debt relief and business growth facilities are currently adjudicating applications for assistance.
There is a total of R500 million available in support.
Government has reprioritised R1.2 billion to provide relief to smallholder farmers and to contribute to the security of food supply.
In addition to these expenditure measures, the Reserve Bank has also lowered interest rates and has taken measures to inject liquidity into the economy.
One of the biggest challenges that all countries in the world are facing is the shortage of medical supplies to fight the coronavirus.
As a country we have had to rely on our own capabilities to supply these goods, but have also had to source supplies from other countries.
In recent weeks, we have seen a massive mobilisation of South African business, labour, academics and government agencies to build the stocks of medical and other equipment needed to fight coronavirus.
We have, for example, established the National Ventilator Project to rapidly mobilise the technical and industrial resources of our country to manufacture non-invasive ventilators, which can be used to support patients afflicted with the disease.
Other projects are focusing on increasing the local manufacture of protective face masks, hand sanitisers and pharmaceutical products which can be used by health care workers and the public at large.
As the third part of our coronavirus response, we have been working to provide basic needs such as water and to maintain the reliability of food supply to the poorest South Africans.
We have also expanded the provision of food parcels and we’ve provided spaza shops with financial support.
To date, government has delivered over 11,000 water storage tanks to communities in need across the country, and many of these have been installed.
In addition, 1,000 water tankers have been provided for the delivery of water.
Several homeless people have been accommodated in 154 shelters.
I am pleased to report that the Solidarity Fund – which was established to mobilise resources from companies, organisations and individuals to combat the coronavirus pandemic – has so far raised around R2.2 billion.
It has already allocated around R1 billion to buy sterile gloves, face shields, surgical masks, test kits and ventilators.
It will also allocate funds for humanitarian relief to vulnerable households, in addition to the R400 million set aside by government for Social Relief of Distress grants.
All of these efforts, while necessary and commendable, will not be sufficient on their own to cushion the poor from the impact of this pandemic.
Nor will they provide the relief that businesses and their employees require.
Additional extraordinary measures will need to be put in place in the coming weeks and months to absorb the sudden loss of income to both businesses and individuals.
We are in a situation that demands swift action and exceptional methods, a situation that demands innovation and the mobilisation of every resource that we have.
Cabinet will be developing a comprehensive package of urgent economic measures to respond both to the immediate crisis and to the severe economic challenges that we must confront in the months ahead.
Further announcements on the next phase of our economic and social support strategy will be made in due course.
An essential part of our response to this emergency is the principle of solidarity.
From across society, companies and individuals have come forward to provide financial and other assistance.
In support of this effort, we have decided that the President, Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers will each take a one-third cut in their salaries for the next three months.
This portion of their salaries will be donated to the Solidarity Fund.
We are calling on other public office bearers and executives of large companies to make a similar gesture and to further increase the reach of this national effort.
In this regard, we welcome the donation of 20,000 cellphones by Vodacom for health workers that will be involved in screening and tracing in communities.
As we have stressed before and we will stress once again, our struggle against the coronavirus requires fundamental changes in behaviour from all of us.
Until we have contained the coronavirus, the same rules remain.
Shaking hands, hugging, sitting close to each other and other forms of physical contact enable this virus to be transmitted, and must be avoided.
We must continue to wash our hands regularly and thoroughly using water and soap or sanitiser.
To stay safe and to keep others safe we must continue to respect whatever restrictions that are placed on our movement and on our daily lives
Over the past two weeks, I have been speaking to other African leaders about a coordinated continental effort to combat the coronavirus and support our people and our economies.
We have established an AU COVID-19 Response Fund to mobilise the resources necessary to support this effort.
We have reached out to world leaders, even as they struggle with the pandemic in their countries, to assist the continent with essential medical supplies and to support a comprehensive stimulus package for Africa.
As we confront this disease in our country, we are part of a great global effort that is bringing humanity together in ways that many never thought possible.
For billions across the world, and for us here in South Africa, the coronavirus pandemic has changed everything.
We can no longer work in the way we have before.
As government, as NGOs, as political parties, as large corporations and small businesses, as financial institutions, as community organisations and as South Africans we will need to adapt to a new reality.
As we emerge from this crisis, our country will need to undergo a process of fundamental reconstruction.
To do so, we will draw on our strengths: our abundant natural resources, our advanced infrastructure, our deep financial markets, our proven capabilities in information and communication technology, and the depth of talent among our people.
We will draw on our proven capacity for innovation and creativity, our ability to come together in a crisis, and our commitment to each other and our common future.
We will learn from global experience and the best scientific evidence, but we will craft a uniquely South African response that uses our own capabilities as a nation.
This weekend is a sacred time for many South Africans.
For many, it will be difficult to spend this time without their friends and family.
I ask that you keep in your thoughts tonight all in our land who are vulnerable, destitute and alone.
I ask that you give what you can to alleviate their burden.
To contribute to the Solidarity Fund in any way you can.
This is a difficult time for us all.
Yet the message of Easter is one we carry in our hearts tonight.
It is the message of hope, of recovery and of rebirth.
As we walk this road together, as we struggle to defeat this pandemic, we remain strong and united and resolved.
Much is being asked of you, far more than should ever be asked.
But we know that this is a matter of survival, and we dare not fail.
We shall recover.
We shall overcome.
May God bless South Africa and protect her people.
I am inspired by knowing that if I sacrifice for a cause and focus on changing mindsets, Zimbabwe might be a better place for all Zimbabweans.
The future of Zimbabwe is in our hands. 2016 saw the rise of social movements which shook the Zanu pf regime and led to the hijacking of the peoples movement.
Eventually Zimbabwe managed to remove Mugabe from power. All activists, opposition parties, the ruling party and people all over Zimbabwe united to remove Mugabe from power and took to the streets wherever they were all over Zimbabwe.
Today, why are we failing to unite to fight against corruption, poverty and neocolonialism? We are failing because most people are greedy, selfish, egocentric and power hungry.
We have more that unites us than to fight personality battles. If political leaders do not want to unite for a cause, I am urging Zimbabweans to find each other and stop being used by political leaders to fight their own egocentric power struggles.
It is time that we focus on rebuilding Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has failed to develop and transform in 40 years whilst China became an economic powerhouse in the past 40 years. We can make Zimbabwe a trillion dollar nation in a few decades, if we all focus on a Zimbabwe Development Agenda.
Bad politics has failed Zimbabweans. We need a paradigm shift of mindset to move from fixating ourselves with politics and propaganda to being more involved in growing Zimbabwe’s economy, creating wealth and equitable distribution of resources.
In the struggle that we have, we are the help that we are looking for? We are the change that we are looking for? No one is coming to save us. We only have ourselves to move Zimbabwe forward and save Zimbabwe.
Let us stop the antagonism and join #ZimbabweAt40 movement which will unite Zimbabweans in their diversity and push development first before politics.
When we are united for development, we can surely make Zimbabwe great again. If we have unity of purpose, we can surely overcome corruption in our country.
Rome was not built in a day and neither will we get the results we desire overnight. The struggle is real and for us to achieve the results we desire, we have to persevere, be tolerant with other, patient, respect each other, have love for one another and stand up for each other.
We should simply sanitize our politics and work as a nation towards creating a conducive economic environment for growth and development. Our way out and forward is our natural resources and human capital
We just have to fight the Americans sponsoring destabilization that could give them grounds to invade.
If our president calls for a national emergency that clamps down on wasteful expenditure, pointless imports of Bugattis and luxuries, punishing currency trading and corruption, if the national emergency forces people to use forex only for production, we can prosper our nation.
I sincerely hope that my fellow countrymen will use the time that we have during the lockdown to come up with development strategies to move Zimbabwe forward.
A ZIMBABWEAN woman is suing government, police officers and soldiers after she was bitten by dogs as the enforcement officers acted outside their mandate when they were enforcing the National Lockdown regulations.
In an urgent chamber application filed at the High Court in Harare on Thursday 9 April 2020, Lucia Masvondo of Karoi in Mashonaland West province and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) asked the High Court to issue an order protecting the 26 year-old woman against the conduct of some Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) members and some Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) officers, who on Friday 3 April 2020 assaulted her as she was cooking food on an open fire outside her house.
The 26 year-old Masvondo said she is worried that as a result of the police and army officers’ conduct, who invaded her home, the security officers may have brought the deadly coronavirus to her home as she does not know where they have been to, where they were coming from or whether or not anyone of them carried the deadly virus.
Masvondo and ZLHR, who listed Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Health and Child Care Minister Obadiah Moyo, Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister July Moyo, Home Affairs Minister Kazembe, Commissioner-General of Police Godwin Matanga, Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe and the National Prosecuting Authority as respondents, argued that the army has no business patrolling the streets and purporting to enforce the National Lockdown regulations and that ZRP members and ZNA officers are not allowed to take the law into their hands and punish people by beating them up and asking them to lie prone on the ground.
The woman protested that the ZRP members and ZNA officers, who also assaulted some people, who reside at her residence using truncheons, were not observing or practicing social distancing guidelines as they were not sitting one-metre apart from each other in a truck in which they were moving around in.
Masvondo and ZLHR also want the High Court to issue an order declaring as unconstitutional the proclamation of the National Lockdown Order by Moyo.
In exercising powers granted to him under the Regulations, Moyo on 28 March 2020 published Statutory Instrument 83 of 2020-the Public Health (COVID-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) (National Lockdown) Order, 2020 declaring a National Lockdown to last 21 days and which commenced on 30 March 2020 and ending on 19 April 2020.
In their application, ZLHR and Masvondo argued that Moyo can only make Statutory Instruments pursuant to powers delegated to him by the Legislature in the parent Act of Parliament. By sub-delegating to himself the powers to make subsidiary legislation through section 8 of the Public Health (COVID-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) Regulations, 2020, S1 77 of 2020, the Health and Child Care Minister had acted ultra vires the Public Health Act and therefore unconstitutionally hence the National Lockdown is null and void. ZLHR and Masvondo argued that the National Lockdown is being enforced following the issuance of an Order that is a nullity.
ZRP members, ZNA officers and some municipal officers, Masvondo and ZLHR said, had committed some acts in the name of enforcing the National Lockdown Order that impinge upon the rights and fundamental freedoms.
In an affidavit accompanying the urgent chamber application, ZLHR Executive Director Roselyn Hanzi said enforcement officers must discharge their mandates according to the law and at all times act within the confines of the law.
Hanzi charged that Moyo failed in his constitutional duty to respect and uphold the Constitution by enacting section 8 of Regulations thereby arrogating to himself the powers to publish certain orders.
Hanzi protested against the confiscation and destruction of some farmers’ produce by law enforcement officers in Mutare early this week, saying such conduct is unlawful as it is not sanctioned by any of the Statutory Instruments that have been promulgated by Moyo.
The human rights lawyer said the National Lockdown regulations do not suggest that fresh farm produce spreads coronavirus and hence the ZRP members’ act of destroying people’s farm produce is criminal and constitutes malicious damage to property.
Hanzi also argued that the ZRP members were breaching the National Lockdown measures by arresting large numbers of people from different households and crowding them in trucks and holding centres, actions which facilitate the passing on of coronavirus by putting them in close proximity of each other without providing them with any forms of protective clothing.
As frontline enforcement officers, ZRP members and municipal officers were putting not only their lives in danger but those of their families and the greater people that they will come into contact with.
Hanzi argued that there are some rights that may not be limited at all as provided in section 86(3), which include the right to human dignity and freedom from torture, or cruel and inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment.
By A Correspondent|Senator Douglas Mwonzora was today asked why he is rising to challenge the legitimacy of his boss, the late Morgan Tsvangirai, the same man he once equated to Jesus Christ in a song’s decision making.
The interview comes a week after the supreme court verdict that ordered the MDC T to conduct an extraordinary congress within 90 days.
Since the verdict announcement, Mwonzora has been preaching support for the verdict that says his nemesis Nelson Chamisa’s appointment by his late boss, Morgan Tsvangirai was illegal.
He was asked: Senator Mwonzora, why’re you busy challenging the legitimacy of a dead man’s actions, Tsvangirai who can’t defend himself anymore, who you yourself once equated to Jesus Christ in a song, and not challenging the legitimacy of ED Mnangagwa who is alive &killing people?
He responded saying (audio) :
Qn: Sn Mwonzora: Why're you busy challenging the legitimacy of a dead man's actions, Tsvangirai who can't defend himself anymore (who you yourself once equated to Jesus Christ in a song), and not challenging the legitimacy of ED Mnangagwa who is alive &killing people? pic.twitter.com/VN1KFFq5B2
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday evening extended the country’s lockdown by two weeks until the end of April to slowdown the spread of the virus and a massive loss of life, but he said there is also a need to protect livelihoods.
Some measures announced include:
The Industrial Development Corporation has set aside R3bn for the procurement of essential medical supplies. The Small Enterprise Finance Agency has suspended loan payments for six months. Government has reprioritised R1.2 billion to provide relief to smallholder farmers and to contribute to the security of food supply. The Solidarity Fund has raised R2.2bn; R1bn will buy sterile gloves, face shields, surgical masks, test kits and ventilators. Cabinet is developing an economic package. The president, deputy president and ministers will take a 1/3rd cut in their salaries, the money will be donated to the Solidarity Fund. African Union COVID-19 Response Fund established to assist the continent. Below is the full message: MESSAGE BY PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA ON COVID-19 PANDEMIC THURSDAY, 9 APRIL 2020
My Fellow South Africans,
At midnight tonight, it will be exactly two weeks since our country entered into an unprecedented nation-wide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
During the course of these last two weeks, your lives have been severely disrupted, you have suffered great hardship and endured much uncertainty.
We have closed our borders to the world, our children are not in school, businesses have closed their operations, many have lost their income, and our economy has ground to a halt.
And yet, faced with such daunting challenges, you, the people of South Africa, have responded with remarkable patience and courage.
You have respected the lockdown and largely observed the regulations.
You have accepted the severe restrictions on your movement and many of the daily freedoms that we all take for granted.
You have done so because you have understood the devastating effect that this disease will have on the health and well-being of all South Africans unless we take drastic measures.
You have also understood that we must do everything in our power to prevent the massive loss of life that would occur if we did not act.
For your cooperation, for your commitment and above all for your patience, I wish to thank you personally.
I wish to thank you for reaffirming to each other and to the world that we South Africans are a people who come together and unite at moments of great crisis.
FOR MORE ON COVID-19 VISIT: https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/
Earlier today I had a most productive meeting with our Premiers about the work they are doing in provinces and districts to stop the spread of the virus.
I also had a discussion with the leaders of all our political parties represented in Parliament, who collectively pledged their support for the efforts that are being made to combat the pandemic.
Through this we are demonstrating that we are able to work together across party lines to confront a common threat.
Since I announced the lockdown just over two weeks ago, the global coronavirus pandemic has worsened.
Two weeks ago, there were 340,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the world.
We now have over 1.5 million confirmed cases worldwide.
Over 90,000 people across the world have died from this disease.
The health systems of many countries have been overwhelmed.
Even the most developed economies in the world have not had the means to treat the many thousands who have fallen ill.
They have struggled to find the medical supplies and personnel necessary to deal with the pandemic.
The devastating effect of this is that many people have died.
The global evidence is overwhelming.
It confirms that our decision to declare a national state of disaster and to institute a nation-wide lockdown was correct and it was timely.
While it is too early to make a definitive analysis of the progression of the disease in South Africa, there is sufficient evidence to show that the lockdown is working.
Since the lockdown came into effect, the rate at which new cases have been identified here in South Africa has slowed significantly.
From 1,170 confirmed cases on the 27th of March, the number of confirmed cases today stands at 1,934.
In the two weeks before the lockdown, the average daily increase in new cases was around 42%.
Since the start of the lockdown, the average daily increase has been around 4%.
While we recognise the need to expand testing to gain a better picture of the infection rate, this represents real progress.
The measures we have taken – such as closing our borders and prohibiting gatherings – as well as the changes that we have each had to make in our own behaviour, have definitely slowed the spread of the virus.
But the struggle against the coronavirus is far from over.
We are only at the beginning of a monumental struggle that demands our every resource and our every effort.
We cannot relax. We cannot be complacent.
In the coming weeks and months, we must massively increase the extent of our response and expand the reach of our interventions.
We are learning both from the experiences of other countries and from the evidence we now have about the development of the pandemic in South Africa.
Both make a clear and compelling case to proceed in a manner that is cautious and properly calibrated.
Simply put, if we end the lockdown too soon or too abruptly, we risk a massive and uncontrollable resurgence of the disease.
We risk reversing the gains we have made over the last few weeks, and rendering meaningless the great sacrifices we have all made.
Fellow South Africans,
This evening, I stand before you to ask you to endure even longer.
I have to ask you to make even greater sacrifices so that our country may survive this crisis and so that tens of thousands of lives may be saved.
After careful consideration of the available evidence, the National Coronavirus Command Council has decided to extend the nation-wide lockdown by a further two weeks beyond the initial 21 days.
This means that most of the existing lockdown measures will remain in force until the end of April.
We will use the coming days to evaluate how we will embark on risk-adjusted measures that can enable a phased recovery of the economy, allowing the return to operation of certain sectors under strictly controlled conditions.
We will also use this time to ramp up our public health interventions.
We did not take this decision to extend the lockdown lightly.
As your President, I am mindful of the great and heavy burden this will impose on you.
I am keenly aware of the impact this will have on our economy.
But I know, as you do, that unless we take these difficult measures now, unless we hold to this course for a little longer, the coronavirus pandemic will engulf, and ultimately consume, our country.
We all want the economy to come back to life, we want people to return to work, we want our children to go back to school, and we all want to be able to move freely again.
But our immediate priority must remain to slow down the spread of the virus and to prevent a massive loss of life.
We must do this while preventing our economy from collapsing and saving our people from hunger.
We are determined to pursue a path that both saves lives and protects livelihoods.
Our strategy is made up of three parts:
– Firstly, an intensified public health response to slow down and reduce infections.
– Secondly, a comprehensive package of economic support measures to assist businesses and individuals affected by the pandemic.
– Thirdly, a programme of increased social support to protect poor and vulnerable households.
As government, together with our many partners, we have used this lockdown period to both refine and intensify our public health strategy to manage the coronavirus.
Our approach is to screen in communities and test people in hospitals, clinics and mobile clinics, to isolate those who are infected, and to care for those who are ill in our health facilities.
We need to do this intensively and systematically.
We have used the last week to develop our screening and testing methodology in various parts of the country.
Over the next two weeks, we will roll out the community screening and testing programme across all provinces, focusing in particular on highly vulnerable communities.
Those who test positive and cannot self-isolate at home will be isolated at special facilities that have been identified and are now being equipped.
At all times, we will observe the human rights of all people.
Let us not discriminate against people who test positive.
To ensure that our strategies are effectively coordinated and to ensure they are informed by comprehensive, real-time data, we have established the COVID-19 Information Centre at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
This world-class centre will keep track of all screening, testing, isolation and hospitalisation throughout the country.
It is already identifying infection hotspots.
It is following the spread and the severity of the disease, and enabling us to move our focus and resources where they are most needed.
We are working with mobile telephony companies and other institutions to locate those people who have tested positive for the virus and those with whom they have been in contact.
As part of the second element of our strategy, we have put in place various measures to provide support to businesses in distress, to workers facing loss of income, to the self-employed and to informal businesses.
Many of these measures are being taken up by both large and small businesses.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund has set aside R40 billion to help employees who will be unable to work, as part of the effort to prevent jobs losses as a result of the lockdown.
To date, it has paid out R356 million.
I would like to applaud all those employers who have continued to pay their workers during this difficult time, as well as those employers who are working with unions and government to assist their employees to access these benefits.
I would like to call on all businesses to continue to pay their suppliers, to the extent that they can, to ensure that those suppliers can also continue to operate and pay their staff and suppliers.
In this respect, I would like to appeal to all large businesses not to resort to force majeure and stop paying their suppliers and rental commitments, as such practice has a domino effect on all other businesses dependent on that chain.
We must do all we can to ensure that the underlying economy continues to function and to focus support on those small businesses that really need them.
The Industrial Development Corporation has set aside R3 billion for the procurement of essential medical supplies.
It has already approved R130 million in funding and expects to approve a further R400 million in the coming week to companies who applied for funding under this special facility.
The Small Enterprise Finance Agency has approved the postponement of loan repayments for a period of 6 months.
The small business debt relief and business growth facilities are currently adjudicating applications for assistance.
There is a total of R500 million available in support.
Government has reprioritised R1.2 billion to provide relief to smallholder farmers and to contribute to the security of food supply.
In addition to these expenditure measures, the Reserve Bank has also lowered interest rates and has taken measures to inject liquidity into the economy.
One of the biggest challenges that all countries in the world are facing is the shortage of medical supplies to fight the coronavirus.
As a country we have had to rely on our own capabilities to supply these goods, but have also had to source supplies from other countries.
In recent weeks, we have seen a massive mobilisation of South African business, labour, academics and government agencies to build the stocks of medical and other equipment needed to fight coronavirus.
We have, for example, established the National Ventilator Project to rapidly mobilise the technical and industrial resources of our country to manufacture non-invasive ventilators, which can be used to support patients afflicted with the disease.
Other projects are focusing on increasing the local manufacture of protective face masks, hand sanitisers and pharmaceutical products which can be used by health care workers and the public at large.
As the third part of our coronavirus response, we have been working to provide basic needs such as water and to maintain the reliability of food supply to the poorest South Africans.
We have also expanded the provision of food parcels and we’ve provided spaza shops with financial support.
To date, government has delivered over 11,000 water storage tanks to communities in need across the country, and many of these have been installed.
In addition, 1,000 water tankers have been provided for the delivery of water.
Several homeless people have been accommodated in 154 shelters.
I am pleased to report that the Solidarity Fund – which was established to mobilise resources from companies, organisations and individuals to combat the coronavirus pandemic – has so far raised around R2.2 billion.
It has already allocated around R1 billion to buy sterile gloves, face shields, surgical masks, test kits and ventilators.
It will also allocate funds for humanitarian relief to vulnerable households, in addition to the R400 million set aside by government for Social Relief of Distress grants.
All of these efforts, while necessary and commendable, will not be sufficient on their own to cushion the poor from the impact of this pandemic.
Nor will they provide the relief that businesses and their employees require.
Additional extraordinary measures will need to be put in place in the coming weeks and months to absorb the sudden loss of income to both businesses and individuals.
We are in a situation that demands swift action and exceptional methods, a situation that demands innovation and the mobilisation of every resource that we have.
Cabinet will be developing a comprehensive package of urgent economic measures to respond both to the immediate crisis and to the severe economic challenges that we must confront in the months ahead.
Further announcements on the next phase of our economic and social support strategy will be made in due course.
An essential part of our response to this emergency is the principle of solidarity.
From across society, companies and individuals have come forward to provide financial and other assistance.
In support of this effort, we have decided that the President, Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers will each take a one-third cut in their salaries for the next three months.
This portion of their salaries will be donated to the Solidarity Fund.
We are calling on other public office bearers and executives of large companies to make a similar gesture and to further increase the reach of this national effort.
In this regard, we welcome the donation of 20,000 cellphones by Vodacom for health workers that will be involved in screening and tracing in communities.
As we have stressed before and we will stress once again, our struggle against the coronavirus requires fundamental changes in behaviour from all of us.
Until we have contained the coronavirus, the same rules remain.
Shaking hands, hugging, sitting close to each other and other forms of physical contact enable this virus to be transmitted, and must be avoided.
We must continue to wash our hands regularly and thoroughly using water and soap or sanitiser.
To stay safe and to keep others safe we must continue to respect whatever restrictions that are placed on our movement and on our daily lives
Over the past two weeks, I have been speaking to other African leaders about a coordinated continental effort to combat the coronavirus and support our people and our economies.
We have established an AU COVID-19 Response Fund to mobilise the resources necessary to support this effort.
We have reached out to world leaders, even as they struggle with the pandemic in their countries, to assist the continent with essential medical supplies and to support a comprehensive stimulus package for Africa.
As we confront this disease in our country, we are part of a great global effort that is bringing humanity together in ways that many never thought possible.
For billions across the world, and for us here in South Africa, the coronavirus pandemic has changed everything.
We can no longer work in the way we have before.
As government, as NGOs, as political parties, as large corporations and small businesses, as financial institutions, as community organisations and as South Africans we will need to adapt to a new reality.
As we emerge from this crisis, our country will need to undergo a process of fundamental reconstruction.
To do so, we will draw on our strengths: our abundant natural resources, our advanced infrastructure, our deep financial markets, our proven capabilities in information and communication technology, and the depth of talent among our people.
We will draw on our proven capacity for innovation and creativity, our ability to come together in a crisis, and our commitment to each other and our common future.
We will learn from global experience and the best scientific evidence, but we will craft a uniquely South African response that uses our own capabilities as a nation.
This weekend is a sacred time for many South Africans.
For many, it will be difficult to spend this time without their friends and family.
I ask that you keep in your thoughts tonight all in our land who are vulnerable, destitute and alone.
I ask that you give what you can to alleviate their burden.
To contribute to the Solidarity Fund in any way you can.
This is a difficult time for us all.
Yet the message of Easter is one we carry in our hearts tonight.
It is the message of hope, of recovery and of rebirth.
As we walk this road together, as we struggle to defeat this pandemic, we remain strong and united and resolved.
Much is being asked of you, far more than should ever be asked.
But we know that this is a matter of survival, and we dare not fail.
We shall recover.
We shall overcome.
May God bless South Africa and protect her people.
Zambian President Edgar Lungu has announced that measures he announced to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 in Zambia will be extended by another two weeks.
In a national address aired on state TV, President Lungu noted that the measures have yielded some level of success although they have taken away livelihoods of some people.
He announced that Zambia has gone a full week without recording any new case of COVID-19.
President Lungu explained that out of the 82 tests conducted over the last 24 Hours, none were found positive.
He said 17 patients were discharged over the past 24 Hours.
By A Correspondent- University of Zimbabwe (UZ) lecturers are up in arms with the institution’s administration for allegedly seeking to scrap several programmes and replacing them unilaterally without consulting the academics.
Following a recent curriculum review process, the UZ administration led by vice chancellor Paul Mapfumo resolved to scrap several programmes such as Sociology from the Faculty of Social Sciences as well as several others from the Faculty of Arts, including Economic History.
But in responses to the resolution dated March 27, 2020, lecturers in the departments of Sociology and Economic History have threatened to take legal action, arguing they risk losing their jobs.
The lecturers argue that the University Act and Ordinance 25/ 43 sub-sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 44 spell out the roles of the faculty and departments in the development of new programmes, yet theirs “were largely ignored and in their place are impositions of new non-social science degrees from the executive who have no certified expertise in ‘our disciplines'”.
The lecturers described the executive’s proposal as an attempt to “decapitate, decimate, annihilate and unprofessionally reorganise” the Sociology department.
They argue that their rejected expert proposals were in line with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s vision 2030 as well as “rational trends within our disciplines and bench-marked with regional and international universities”.
The educators also claimed the supposedly imposed programmes lacked scientific justification and that they hardly meet the minimum requirements of Education 5.0.-DailyNews
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday that the number of COVID-19 cases in Africa has now risen to more than 10,000, claiming more than 500 lives.
#COVID19 cases in #Africa have risen to more than 10,000. Tackling this pandemic requires a decentralised response. Communities must be empowered and get the resources/expertise needed to tackle outbreaks locally. https://t.co/SjX6XrZDt9pic.twitter.com/qRKLb1Nppw
The virus was slow to reach the continent compared to other parts of the world, but infection has grown exponentially in recent weeks and continues to spread, the UN health agency said.
Africa’s first case of new coronavirus was recorded in Egypt on 14 February. Since then a total of 52 African countries have reported cases and “a significant number” have reported cases in multiple provinces.
“COVID-19 has the potential not only to cause thousands of deaths, but to also unleash economic and social devastation”, warned Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
She called for communities to be empowered by local authorities, and for provincial and district levels of government to ensure that they have the resources and expertise to respond to outbreaks.
To help combat the virus, WHO is working with governments across Africa to boost surveillance, testing, isolation, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, together with risk communication and community engagement.
The UN health agency reported that so far that Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Nigeria have expanded national testing to multiple labs, allowing for a decentralized and more efficient system.
Supporting Zimbabwe
At the same time, urgent international support is needed to prevent millions of desperate Zimbabweans from plunging deeper into hunger.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), as COVID-19 takes hold, the country’s already severe climate- and recession-induced hunger crisis is becoming even more profound.
“With most Zimbabweans already struggling to put food on the table, the COVID pandemic risks even wider and deeper desperation”, said Eddie Rowe, WFP’s Country Director.
Cereal production in 2019 was half that of 2018, and less than half the national requirement. Experts predict that the upcoming 2020 harvest will be even poorer.
With unprecedented hyperinflation having pushed the prices of staples out of reach for most Zimbabweans, increasingly desperate families are eating less, selling off precious belongings and going into debt.
Moreover, COVID-19 threatens to exacerbate Zimbabwe’s dire economic and hunger crises, drastically affecting the lives of people in both urban and rural areas.
And while the UN agency supports communities afflicted by “crisis” and “emergency” food insecurity, more funding is needed.
“We must all do our utmost to prevent this tragedy turning into a catastrophe”, he warned.
WFP is appealing for $130 million to sustain an emergency operation through August to prevent millions of the most vulnerable from plummeting even further
COVID-19 spread threatens South Sudan
Confirmation earlier this week that the new coronavirus pandemic has reached South Sudan has prompted UN-appointed human rights experts to renew their call for an end to fighting there.
In an appeal to the authorities to step up efforts to contain the spread of the virus, the Commission on Human Rights in the world’s youngest country warned that 1.5 million people who’ve fled years of violence are at greater risk than ever.
Commission chair Yasmin Sooka said that it was unrealistic to even “talk about strict social distancing” at the moment.
So many displaced persons still live in tents, she said, “often inches apart from one other, and subsisting on rapidly diminishing humanitarian aid”.
They have only limited access to healthcare, water, hygiene and sanitation, food, and adequate housing, with women and children among the worst affected by these shortages, Ms. Sooka explained.
To halt the spread of the virus, the independent experts, which report to the Human Rights Council, urged the new Transitional Government of National Unity to quell intercommunal violence.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that his government is extending the lockdown by a further two weeks as part of efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Addressing South Africans this evening, Ramaphosa said they have agreed to take a one third pay cut for the next three months with the money being channelled towards fighting the pandemic.
Health officials here have collected specimens from the remains of a deceased Chiredzi woman,to test whether she succumbed to Covid-19 at Chiredzi District Hospital on Tuesday.
The woman-from the sugar cane growing town-died after being admitted at the hospital for severe pneumonia leading to suspicions she had Covid-19.
Results are expected by today.
Provincial Medical DirextiDirector Dr Amadeous Shamu said her remains had not yet been interred.
“We collected samples from her body and sent them to Harare for testing after we classified her as Covid-19 suspect following her admission and subsequent death in hospital from severe pneumonia”he said.
“The symptoms she showed before her passing on(severe pneumonia) made us to treat her as a Covid-19 suspect and we expect results tomorrow(today)afternoon.”
Following the women’s designation as a Covid-19 suspect her burial would be done in accordance with rules applied to those who succumb to the disease.
“She has not yet been buried though under normal circumstances she should have been buried earlier considering that she was a Covid-19 suspect.Our teams delayed to go there(Chiredzi Hospital) to collect samples.
“Now I think they will have to wait for her results to come out before burying her.The results will be out by tomorrow(today)afternoon and she will be buried soon after.”
Dr Shamu rubbished circulating reports that the woman died after nurses at Chiredzi Hospital abandoned on suspicion she had Covid-19 because of her symptoms upon checking in.
Masvingo is still to record its first Covid-19 case with two previous suspected cases having both tested negative.
South Africans have done it again, now selling beer in cooking oil bottles. This because of the 21 days lockdown imposed on South Africa. Citizens have to bear 21 days without liquor and cigarettes. Thus far a couple of liquor stores and taverns have been broken into – there have been several videos making rounds on social media.
No liquor sales – at all, including from grocery stores according to the lockdown regulations. South Africans are only permitted to buy basic goods.
A number of arrests have been made for contravening the lockdown regulations. On Saturday, the whole wedding party was arrested in KZN. And thus far over a thousand people have been arrested.
The cooking oil bottled beer was confiscated by the police and have more beers have been confiscated all around the country.
Day 14 of the lockdown and people are in a desperate search for alcohol. Some liquor stores have been selling in closed doors at inflated prices.
By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Republic Police have reported that three men have been arrested after stealing maize weighing more than one tone.
In a report on Thursday, the police said on the 1st of April this year three men employed by a milling company were assigned to collect bulk maize from GMB Aspindale using two trucks.
It said that the trucks were loaded with 11 640kgs and 11 960kgs of maize on the 7th of April and the men left the GMB depot.
They then drove to Kadoma where the maize was re-weighed and it was discovered that the first truck had a shortfall of 780kgs while the second had a shortfall of 820kgs.
The trio, who could not give a satisfactory explanation for the shortfall, were arrested when the matter was brought to the attention of the police.
Police have warned members of the public against stealing as it carries a custodial sentence if one is unfortunate.
Zimbabwe is currently facing a shortage of maize meal and has resorted to sourcing maize from other countries.
South African based Prophet Shepherd Bushiri recently signed an agreement with Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe to assist the country with a supply of maize to avert the impending draught.-Online
The former war of liberation fighters will from the month-end of April be entitled to a combined pension plus allowance of ZWL$4 800.
The Harare based law firm Kanoti and partners last month wrote a letter to the Minister of Defense Oppah Muchinguri, Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube and the Paymaster informing them of the court order.
“Kindly be served here with the copy of the 13 March 2020 judgment in Case No HO 1548/19 for your attention and subsequent actioning in particular payment of the court $2 000 to the applicants on their April 2020 pay date.” The law firm said. “However out of an abundance of caution, we also respectfully remind your esteemed offices that as this $2 000 sum was payable monthly from January 1998 it entails that the 140% adjustments your offices jointly and severally to their wrongful $513 00, or thereabouts, the monthly pension has of law to be effected upon their lawful and now court-ordered $2 000 monthly pensions.”
The letter added that the amount is due from the April pay date.
“In effect, it means from January 2020 when the 140% was factored each war veteran became automatically entitled to an increment of $2 800.00 over and above the $2 000.00 thus giving a total $4 800.00 per month in monthly war veteran pension beginning this coming April 2020 pay date.”
By Stephen Chuma|Emmerson Mnangagwa is a man living on borrowed time!
Take the ravaging Corona pandemic aside, surely Mnangagwa would have been facing a massive and serious civil unrest by now.
An opportunist of proportions, Mnangagwa saw a window of opportunity in the deadly Corona pandemic and a leeway to elongate his illegitimate stay at Munhumutapa offices.
While the idea of a lockdown in face of the deadly Corona pandemic is not a bad idea altogether, it is crystal clear that the biggest beneficiary thus far is Emmerson Mnangagwa and not the hungry and angry masses who survive from hand to mouth.
Normally the lockdown period is supposed to reduce deleterious effects of the pandemic, but alas in our case it is the opposite.
This is largely because the cartels run government deliberately lacks will to tackle the pandemic.
Talk of testing kits or mere personal protective equipment like masks, Mnangagwa’s regime has dismally failed to provide the basics to combat the spread of the disease.
Of course ZANU PF apologists will be quick to point to Mnangagwa’s unilateral declaration of 21 days lockdown as a control measure but we all know what serious countries world over are doing to ensure that lockdown serve purpose.
Closer home, the South African government makes sure that all its citizenry is well catered for as far as basic human rights fundamentals like food, clean water and access to personal protective clothing is concerned.
Back home, besides untold harassment of poverty stricken masses by the uniformed forces, Mnangagwa’s military dictatorship has virtually done nothing to save and serve the people.
Clearly there is no connection whatsoever between the governors and the governed.
A clear indication that there is lack of social contract between the rulers and the ruled!
Overtly there is no passion for the people by those who stole the mandate from the people.
To think these are the very same people who dished out millions of bandanas, t-shirts, scarfs and zambias during the election season but now fail to provide masks is utterly disgusting!
Outside Covid-19, people are groaning and dying of starvation in this lockdown period.
Citizens have been completely shut out from their only source of livelihood – vending yet this heartless regime offers no alternative for survival.
All we have seen is parasitic ZANU PF district chairpersons capitalizing on people’s misery by creating databases that will be selectively used to distribute aid on partisan lines.
To divert us from our excruciating man made suffering, Mnangagwa goes on to set a very disinteresting Komichi-Khupe Supreme Court drama.
The level of rot and stinking poverty in the ghettos and countryside tells a harrowing story of a people without a government!
Citizens are hungry and angry because of the economic rot presided over by Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa is treading dangerously on a political cliff edge and for now only lockdown can save him.
Winter might be too cold for Mnangagwa.
Surely we cannot go on like this!
We are the people, we are the power!
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDCYouthAssemblyNationalSpokesperson
Cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean authorities have introduced a number of measures to limit the spread of the virus, including announcing the closure of all borders to non-residents and a countrywide lockdown as of 30 March, for 21 days. Commercial airlines have suspended all flights in to and out of Zimbabwe. You should consult your airline and travel insurance company immediately to understand what impact this will have for your travel plans. You should ensure you have accommodation for this entire period as some hotels may close at short notice. If you take regular medication, you should ensure you have a sufficient supply See Coronavirus and Return to the UK.
Given the rapidly changing situation in the region, we are temporarily withdrawing a limited number of UK staff and their dependents from our Embassy. The Embassy will continue to carry out essential work including providing 24/7 consular assistance and support to British people in Zimbabwe.
You should avoid any political gatherings or demonstrations. These can be unpredictable, can turn violent without notice and the response from the security forces may be disproportionate. You should exercise a high degree of caution and monitor local media and this travel advice for updates.
Taking photographs of members of police and armed forces personnel and of demonstrations and protests is not permitted. You should avoid political activity, or activities which could be considered political, including political discussions in public places. Ensure you carry identification, so that you can produce it if required to do so by the security forces. See Political situation
Zimbabwe’s economic situation remains unpredictable. As of 24 June 2019, the only legal tender in Zimbabwe is the “Zimbabwe Dollar”. There is a shortage of physical cash and it’s currently not possible to make cash withdrawals using an international bank card. You should check with your tour operator or hotel what payment methods will be accepted. See Money
Zimbabwe is currently experiencing severe electricity shortages resulting in extended periods without power. During blackouts, you should exercise a high degree of caution when driving as traffic lights may not be operational. Water rationing is being experienced in certain parts of the country. Contact your tour operator or hotel for latest updates.
Availability of fuel is sporadic and queues are common. You are advised to check in advance if you can make payment with an international payment card. See Road travel
Tropical Cyclone Idai caused significant flooding and mud slides across many parts of eastern Zimbabwe in March 2019. Whilst the access situation has improved, many roads and bridges in the affected areas are still impassable. Electricity, water, and telecommunications networks have been impacted. If travelling to affected regions, take extra care and follow any advice given by the local authorities. Contact your hotel prior to travel to check that the hotel is still accessible and open.
On 6 September 2018, a cholera outbreak was declared in Harare by the Ministry of Health of Zimbabwe. See Health
There’s a moderate level of crime in Zimbabwe. Remain vigilant, especially after dark, and make sure accommodation and vehicles are secure. See Safety and security
Always carry identity documentation or a copy of your passport. See Local laws and customs
Holiday and business visas are available at the port of entry. Don’t violate the conditions of your visa. See Visas
Dual British-Zimbabwean nationals who travel to Zimbabwe must have a valid travel document to re-enter the United Kingdom. It’s not possible to re-enter the UK using a Zimbabwean passport or emergency travel document without a visa or entry clearance endorsed. See Dual nationals
Air Zimbabwe has been refused permission to operate flights to the EU because the airline has been unable to demonstrate that it complies with international air safety standards. British government employees travelling to and within Zimbabwe have been advised to use carriers that aren’t subject to the EU operating ban. See Air travel
Although there’s no recent history of terrorism in Zimbabwe, attacks can’t be ruled out. See Terrorism
If you’re abroad and you need emergency help from the UK government, contact the nearest British embassy, consulate or high commission.
Take out comprehensive travel and medical insurance before you travel.
According to the United Nations, Africa has over 10 000 COVID-19 cases, 500+ deaths and over 900 recoveries.
Zimbabwe and South Sudan are among the most vulnerable African countries as over 7.7 million people are food insecure in Zimbabwe according to the WFP and the fighting in South Sudan according to the publication.
The UNWFP is appealing for $130 million to feed vulnerable people in Zimbabwe while according to the publication: In an appeal to the authorities to step up efforts to contain the spread of the virus, the Commission on Human Rights in the world’s youngest country warned that 1.5 million people who’ve fled years of violence are at greater risk than ever.
Commission chair Yasmin Sooka said that it was unrealistic to even “talk about strict social distancing” at the moment.
So many displaced persons still live in tents, she said, “often inches apart from one other, and subsisting on rapidly diminishing humanitarian aid”.
They have only limited access to healthcare, water, hygiene and sanitation, food, and adequate housing, with women and children among the worst affected by these shortages, Ms. Sooka explained.
COVID-19 has killed over 76000 people and over 1.2 million people have been infected worldwide while 52 countries in Africa have recorded COVID-19 cases.-The Zimbabwean
One of the pictures doing the rounds on social media
Hailstorms that swept over some parts of Mutasa and Nyanga districts since Tuesday left a trail of destruction to property and infrastructure.
The storms were first reported in Odzi on Tuesday where a whole roof of a two-classroom block at St Francis Matanga Primary School were blown off.
Part of the roof on a girls’ toilet was also blown off.
There was also some damage to roads and trees that were felled by the storm before it moved to Nyanga. Areas surrounding Regina Coeli Mission were hit by the hailstorms from around 3.30pm on Wednesday until the early hours of Thursday.
Civil Protection Unit director, Mr Nathan Nkomo said his office was still to be furnished with finer details of the hailstorm and referred further questions to acting Manicaland Provincial Development Co-ordinator, Mr Edgars Seenza. Mr Seenza said he was waiting for a report from the Nyanga District Development Co-ordinator.
Roman Catholic Diocesan education secretary, Mr Lawrence Chibvuri said the storm damaged two classrooms at Regina Coeli Primary School.
“I received a report that two classrooms were damaged. Part of the roof on one of the classrooms was blown away and there were some structural damages to the office area and the other classroom,” he said.
“At St Francis, the roof of a two-classroom block was also blown off, but the trusses were not affected. We will need to move swiftly to repair these damages before schools open so that we do not disturb lessons.”
Manicaland provincial meteorological officer, Mr Lucas Murambi said Nyanga had received about 15mm of rain before the hailstorm.
“Nyanga is a generally cold area, but in the afternoon temperatures were relatively high and we had convective clouds resulting in thunderstorms. We had very little rain, but there was a lot of hailstones instead. Temperatures decreased causing the hailstones to stick to the ground for a longer period. That is why people woke up to see the piles of hailstones on the ground. They took longer to dissolve since temperatures were still very low,” he said.
He said his office had not yet received detailed reports on the extent of damages caused by the hailstorm.
Images of the hailstorm has since gone viral on the social media with villagers expressing shock, saying they had not witnessed something of that magnitude in the area.
DYNAMOS player Godknows Murwira says the league suspension has worked in his favour.
The Premier Soccer League, which was supposed to begin last month, was suspended due to the Covid-19 after President Mnangagwa’s call to suspend all sporting activities to curb the spread of the virus.
So far Zimbabwe has recorded 11 cases with two deaths. “I’m hoping that l will be okay when the league resumes.
“And l am happy that the suspension has worked in my favour and has given me time to recover from the injury.
“I’m doing everything l can to make sure that l recover quickly,” he said.
He added: “I’m not sure of how long will l be out but l am certain that l won’t take long to recover.
“But l don’t want to strain myself with too much training.
“I’m working on what my body the injury requires.
Yes the injury is a set back but the suspension has worked in my favour.
“And l am doing all l can to make sure that l play when the season resumes because that’s what l was born for.”
The former Ngezi Platinum Star also had his sentiments on the virus and has encouraged people to be safe.
“I urge people to observe the locked down and make sure that they stay at home.
“We have to maintain social distance and be safe.
“If everyone manages to do that then we will all be safe from this virus. And l want to wish everyone who is infected a speed recovery.
“I urge everyone to be cautious and follow the steps so that we will fight this virus together and we will all be safe,” he said.-H-Metro
By Innocent Gonese| Over the last week the people of Zimbabwe have been preoccupied by two main issues: The Corona Virus epidemic and the Supreme Court Judgment in the case of MDC et al vs Elias Mashavira et al handed down on the 31st of March 2020 which has also been dubbed the Corona Judgment.
The mere fact that as Zimbabweans we have been diverted from focusing on a global epidemic speaks volumes about the nature of the judgment and the timing of its delivery.
There is something clearly amiss about the Judiciary choosing to deliver its ruling in a matter reserved several months ago at a time when we are supposed to be grappling with a monumental global crisis and when the Chief Justice himself had indicated that only urgent matters would be handled by the courts otherwise most matters would be postponed.
In analysing this judgment one should not lose sight of the political context and how our Judiciary has handled itself not just in this case but in several others and in particular I will refer to the Constitutional case that Honourable Jessie Majome and I, filed in against Constitutional Amendment no 1, which was heard early last year and whose judgment was handed down on the same day.
Firstly there was an inordinate delay in delivering the judgment. While I am not in agreement with the findings made by the Supreme court in relation to the proceedings in the National Assembly, at least the court accepted our submissions relating to the Senate Proceedings but in its Final Order then gave the Executive a second bite at the cherry by suspending the operation of the Order of invalidity for 180 days to ensure that the order is a virtual brutum fulmen.
Surely having found that the two-thirds threshold was not met in the Senate the amendment should simply have been set aside.
Now turning to the issue at hand, I will start by giving the background as the law does not operate in a vacuum .
It is common cause that since its formation, the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has given The Zanupf regime a run for its money and inspite of various machinations it has remained standing for over 20 years now.
One does not need a very high Intelligent Quotient (IQ) to link the delivery of the judgment at a time when people’s movements are limited and the police presence at Morgan Tsvangirai House as well as Thokozani Khupe’s triumphant tweet and Morgen Komichi’s prepared speech.
All these events point to the sinister involvement of the illegitimate regime and coupled with the subsequent re-emergence of Obert Gutu and his tweets; one sees the unmistakable footprints of Zanupf
Going back to the pertinent case, Elias Mashavira calls himself a District Organizing Secretary from Gokwe who was legally represented by a legal practitioner from Mutare in Manicaland (Ashel Mutungura) and at the Appeal his lawyer was assisted by Sarudzai Chatsanga from Nyanga.
Honourable Senator Mwonzora comes from Nyanga and all this could be a coincidence but the possibility of an indigent litigant who did not even attend at the Supreme Court on the 31st March having mounted such a costly litigation merely to vindicate his rights, where there is little or no tangible benefit to himself stretches credibility too far.
I submit that Elias Mashavira was simply a front and the real Applicant was none other than the person who did not have the courage to bring the case but whose behavior was always suspicious but there will be no prizes for guessing who that is .
I was present in the Supreme Court on the day that the case was argued and all those who are familiar with court proceedings will appreciate that when Counsel are presenting arguments you can read the Court’s mindset and clearly Justices Patel and Garwe appeared to be on point and this emerges from the judgment when it interrogates the issue of mootness and that should then have led the Court to the inescapable conclusion that whatever the other controversial findings of the court there was simply no question of upholding the High Court judgment in terms of the Order given then worse still the one on Appeal.
This is so because you can not unwind the hands of time and go back to the past. The parties have moved in directly opposed directions and their positions are not reconcilable.
Indeed, Khupe has now become an acolyte of the illegitimate regime and even imposing her for one second is a non starter.
Other people who were members of the National Council like Honourable Majome have retired from politics and she is now a ZACC Commissioner, while Honourable James Maridadi is now the Ambassador to Senegal
We also have people like Patrick Chitaka who flirted with People First then Nkosana Moyo before standing as an independent before announcing his retirement and then becoming a commentator and lambasting the MDC Alliance as a terrorist organization, now saying that he is suspending his retirement.
Then you also have the likes of Obert Gutu waxing lyrical about recalling MDC Alliance MPs oblivious of his embarrassing performance as a candidate in Harare East in the 2018 elections.
These are practical considerations which a serious court of law should have thought about before it issued a determination.
Granted some of them were not before the court, but when it took cognisance of the outcome of the 2018 general elections the court must also have been aware of the different paths taken by the parties in particular Khupe’s involvement in POLAD and the politics of resistance persued by Advocate Nelson Chamisa and the MDC Alliance party.
This is not to say that the other findings of the court are legally sound. Far from it as both the court a quo and the Appeal Court failed to interrogate the lengthy delay in challenging the appointment of the Vice Presidents more than two years after the event.
The Application was only made in September 2018 and the lame explanation that he only acted after seing the opinion of Advocate Erick Matinenga is devoid of logic. How did he come across the opinion and in what circumstances?
Any serious court would be expected to interrogate such aspects as ignorantia juris non excusat (ignorance of the law is no excuse).
That should have been fatal to the application.
It was also in the public domain that one Parston Murimoga tried to challenge the appointments in 2016 and no one persued the matter and for someone to resucitate the issue and succeed so long afterwards is a sad indictment on our courts.
The other issues relate to double standards in our judicary when faced with similar facts regarding the exhaustion of domestic remedies in the Kudakwashe Bhasikiti case the court ruled against him but in the recent case they found a way to accommodate Mashavira.This is curious and leads one to conclude that the law is applied selectively to suit predetermined objectives.
Law is not an exact science and courts can come up with a judgment which some people can applaud but it is necessary for Judges to introspect before making such far reaching decisions with equally far reaching consequences.
The adage that Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done is very apt in this case. This will go down as a grave injustice and it will cause serious embarrassment to our courts for many years to come
Did the Court look at the import of ordering an Extraordinary Congress a year after the Ordinary Congress was due? All the terms of the Office Bearers were supposed to expire in October 2019. Is it assumed that the Court has ipso facto extended these terms?
Further, the agenda of the so called Extraordinary Congress is just one; to elect a President and what about the other office bearers?
All these are questions which any serious court should have examined armed with the Constitution they had before them. That they did not is cause for serious concern.
However the most glaring shortcoming is the failure to appreciate that there are no two MDC T’s as claimed by Professor Lovemore Madhuku
The Judges had before them clear submissions that the party which contested under Advocate Nelson Chamisa was the MDC Alliance which subsequently had a Congress in May 2019 before the Appeal Hearing.
This was the clearest evidence that the case was moot and the judgment is not capable of enforcement.
I have heard suggestions that the MDC Alliance family should comply with the Court Ruling and that this would be upholding the Rule of Law.
With respect it is like trying to close the stable door when the horses have already bolted. It is simply not practicable for numerous reasons.
This is why in divorce cases once a marriage has irretrievably broken down no court will Order the parties to reconcile but it will rather deal with the ancillary issues.
In conclusion the judgment delivered by Justice Patel on the 31st March 2020 will be rightly or wrongly seen as a political judgment as it is baffling as to how the esteemed judges failed to appreciate that the final order granted was no longer feasible.
Innocent Gonese Secretary for Legal Affairs MDC Alliance
Shingirai Chirume know by his church activities as Prophet Makandiwa
HARARE – Prominent preacher Emmanuel Makandiwa whose real name is Shingirai Chirume has risked angering health authorities after telling his followers that the novel coronavirus would not kill them.
Zimbabwe is under a 21-day lockdown which started March 30 to help control the spread of the global pandemic, which has so far killed more than 88,300 people worldwide. The restrictions include a ban on church gatherings, which has forced many church leaders to turn to online sermons for their followers.
In a broadcast on Wednesday, Makandiwa told his followers that they would not die – a message which authorities will find unhelpful as it can lead to risk-taking under a false belief of divine immunity.
Claiming that the coronavirus was “spoken many many years ago”, Makandiwa said: “Everyone under the sound of my voice, as long as you can hear me, you’re spared. There’s not even one person listening to me tonight who shall be killed by this disease.
“You will not die because the Son (Jesus) is involved in what we’re doing.”
Makandiwa said he was giving his followers “freedom no medication can offer.”
“You can’t find this freedom in any pharmacy. If you can hear my voice tonight, start praying for others, stop praying for yourself… you’re covered, you’re protected,” he added.
Health authorities worldwide are calling for greater personal hygiene including regular washing of hands with soap or hand sanitisers and avoiding touching the face, as well as shunning crowds. Handshakes are strongly discouraged.
The virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Presently, there are no specific vaccines or treatments for Covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.
Makandiwa will not be the first preacher to get into the cross-hairs of health authorities for misleading followers on the virus.
In Nigeria, there have been calls for the arrest of prominent TV preacher Chris Oyakhilome, known as Pastor Chris, after he repeated a discredited theory that the coronavirus is caused by fifth generation (5G) mobile communication technology.
“Don’t think what is happening right now has to do with a virus. It’s not a virus. The world has chosen to be deceived. As they have been deceived many times before,” Pastor Chris claimed.
“If you still don’t yet know what is going on, know today; it’s not about the coronavirus. This is basically a group of people serving a devilish cause trying to checkmate humanity to hell.
“There’s a movie called ‘Divergent’ from 2014. That’s what the groups that are interested in the New World Order are up to, to put vaccine in your body containing a digital ID, by which you as a human being can be controlled, you cease to be yourself.”
He claimed Nigeria’s federal government locked down Abuja, Lagos and Ogun to install 5G, and not to stop the spread of coronavirus.
“They had already tested 5G in Abuja and now they are digging in Lagos to get it ready. That’s why they locked down Abuja and Lagos so that the 5G can be installed.”
His bizarre conspiracy theory, which has been peddled by others online, has been rejected by other Nigerian preachers and the country’s communications ministry.
“What Oyakhilome has done has the tendency of rolling back the gains made in the fight against Covid-19 and also of derailing efforts at containing the spread of the disease. What he has done can be termed a terrorist act for its capability of leading citizens astray to mass death and certain doom. He should be held to account,” wrote Nigerian journalist Fredrick Nwabufo.
A conspiracy theory that links 5G mobile telecommunications masts to the spread of the novel coronavirus is dangerous fake news and completely false, according to experts.
In Britain and Brazil, masts were torched by people taken in by the conspiracy.
When asked by a reporter about the so called “theory” that 5G telecommunications masts could play a role in the spread of the disease, British Cabinet Officer Minister Michael Gove said: “That is just nonsense, dangerous nonsense as well.”
National Health Service England’s national medical director, Stephen Powis, said the 5G conspiracy idea was fake news with no scientific backing that risked damaging the emergency response to the outbreak.
“The 5G story is complete and utter rubbish, it’s nonsense, it’s the worst kind of fake news,” Powis said. “The reality is that the mobile phone networks are absolutely critical to all of us. Those are also the phone networks that are used by our emergency services and our health workers and I’m absolutely outraged, absolutely disgusted that people would be taking action against the very infrastructure that we need to respond to this health emergency.”
Daily News|AS ANXIETY levels over the deadly coronavirus continue to rise in the country, health experts are cranking up the heat on the government to come clean on its lack of preparedness to deal with the pandemic.
In addition, both medical doctors and human rights groups have told the Daily News that it is time that Zimbabwe asks for urgent international help if the country is to avert “a catastrophe of epic proportions”.
This comes as Zimbabwe has recorded its third death from Covid-19, amid growing fears that the country’s lack of preparedness could lead to an avalanche of infections among ordinary people.
It also comes as the 21-day national lockdown that was imposed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa last month to combat the spread of coronavirus is losing momentum, with more people breaching the regulations.
And now — in the wake of the death of a 79-year-old Bulawayo man who was confirmed to have had coronavirus — both doctors and human rights groups say the country needs to appeal for urgent international assistance to avert disaster.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) said bluntly that the death of the Bulawayo man was a result of the government’s lack of corona preparedness.
“ZADHR is deeply concerned by the continued lack of preparedness in handling severe Covid-19 cases in Zimbabwe.
“Equally, we are extremely worried by the possible exposure of health workers, both in private and public facilities, who are working without PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment).
“We urge health authorities to account for the … management of this case … It took five days (from 2 to 7 April) to get the result of the Covid-19 test, a period which is too long,” ZADHR said.
“The inability to diagnose on time is a clear sign that health professionals attending the deceased were exposed, as they lack essential protective equipment.
“The absence of diagnostic facilities for Covid-19 also brings to question the state of preparedness of centres outside Harare.
“What is the government doing to improve the turn-around time for tests? The patient was treated at a local hospital. Is this an infectious diseases hospital or a Covid-19 designated facility?” ZADHR said further.
“Previously, the minister of Health … assured the nation that the country is ready to deal with Covid-19 cases countrywide. The lack of clarity raises lots of questions.
“The patient was first seen on 23 March and was not advised to self-quarantine or get tested for Covid-19. “ZADHR believes that this case and the continued demise of severe cases of Covid-19 patients mirrors the utter lack of preparedness of the health system,” it added.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) was among those that said yesterday that it was becoming clear that the government was ill-prepared to handle the pandemic, and thus needed to appeal for help to avoid a human catastrophe in the country.
“The government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic should be rights-centred, honest and transparent. Lack of seriousness and propaganda can lead to catastrophic results.
“If the government lacks capacity, it must come out in the open and ask the international community, through the World Health Organisation, to step in and save lives,” HRW director for southern Africa, Dewa Mavhinga, told the Daily News.
The issue of how ill-prepared Zimbabwe has been to deal with Covid-19 was brought to the fore last month following the death of broadcaster Zororo Makamba — after he apparently contracted the lethal virus in the United States of America (USA).
His death and the family’s subsequent exclusive interview with the Daily News touched the hearts of many Zimbabweans and foreigners alike, generating wide debate about the government’s lack of capacity to deal with the disease.
Makamba family spokesperson, Tawanda, highlighted Wilkins Hospital’s lack of capacity to handle coronavirus patients.
“At the end, before he died, Zororo kept telling us that he was alone and scared and that the staff were refusing to help him, to a point where he got up and tried to walk out and they were trying to restrain him.
“I want people to know that the government is lying. Remember at some point I spoke to the president and he was saying that the report he had received about Wilkins from the Health minister was that there is equipment and medicine.
“However, right now they don’t even have water at Wilkins. The doctor we were in contact with here at Wilkins would turn off his phone, yet he was the critical contact person.
“This is such a heart-breaking experience for us and it goes to show the lack of seriousness our government has in dealing with the coronavirus,” Tawanda told the Daily News then.
Last weekend, the government also admitted that it was facing challenges with its coronavirus testing kits, with most of its stocks defective.
“We received some kits which we are not using because we found that they were defective. “We are, therefore, waiting to receive definitive testing kits because some of the rapid results testing kits we have give defective results. “This way, one person can test negative when one is positive, and a positive person can test negative when that is not the case. So, those tests are not reliable,” Health and Child Care minister, Obadiah Moyo told our sister publication the Daily News On Sunday.
“The only reliable testing that is taking place in the country is being carried by the government and not private hospitals.
“As government, we are using the golden standard which is definitive, although this takes five hours for results to show.
“We hope to get more testing kits so that we come up with results early,” Moyo further told the Daily News on Sunday.
Meanwhile, panic has gripped residents of Bulawayo following the death of the 79-year-old man who is said to have been in contact with many people before he fell seriously ill.
Bulawayo City Council medical director, Edwin Sibanda, said they were tracing the family of the deceased, and had so far identified 13 people who came into contact with him.
“We have collected specimens from 13 people, including healthcare workers, from Mater Dei Hospital. “Samples have been collected and sent to Harare. We are now following up on the rest of the family,” Sibanda told the Daily News.
The deceased was expected to be cremated yesterday. Meanwhile, Bulawayo residents and civil society leaders have also appealed to the government to decentralise Covid-19 testing.
They also appealed to the authorities to quickly capacitate Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital, which has been identified as an isolation centre for the region together with Ekusileni Medical Centre.
Authorities say the deceased man died on Saturday after initially presenting himself before a general practitioner on March 23.
“His condition deteriorated during the evening of the day of admission and he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the critical care and management in isolation, under a specialist physician.
“Whilst waiting for the Covid-19 test results, the patient continued to receive intravenous antibiotics and, additionally, he received medical treatment as a clinical case of Covid-19.
“On Saturday the 4th of April, his condition continued to deteriorate despite management in ICU until he died,” the government said.
Farai Dziva|Dean Furman has not received any offer but will leave SuperSport United to return to UK to start a family with his wife, the player’s agent Glyn Binkin has said.
The 31-year old will not renew his contract with Pretoria-based side when it expires at the end of the season.
“No [offers] as yet. He will be returning to the United Kingdom and that would be his first option as his wife is pregnant and both his and her families are based in the United Kingdom so that would be the ideal situation,” Binkin told Goal.
Furman arrived at United in 2015 after leaving English side Doncaster Rovers.
The government has assured the public that it has enough medicines to treat the symptoms of covid-19. This was said by the chairperson of the committee in charge of medicines during the Covid 19 crisis, Dr Sekesayi Nzenza, announces a ZBC news reader, to which the minister then says:
“when we were hit by the covid-19 pandemic that has spread around the whole world, us as Zimbabweans, president Emmerson Mnangagwa put together a task force from the cabinet to lead in the effort to to curb the covid-19 disease. To prevent and treat the disease, we need medicines; So Caps Pharmaceuticals has powers and expertise to produce other medicines, desperately needed to treat covid-19. We have heard from Farirai Mutema, that number 1 drug, capable of reducing the body temperature of a patient, is Paracetamol.
“Paracetamol is being produced right here at Caps Pharmaceuticals.
“Right now as you can see, this is an analgesic.
“we have a lot of paracetamol. We have increased our production. To ensure that the public when they they are now experiencing high temperatures, when they are now being pained, they will no longer be troubled of paracetamol scarcity, because we have paracetamol here at Caps.”
Several Zimbabwean players plying their trade in foreign countries say they embraced pay cuts as a genuine move, which has been prompted by the COVID-19 lockdown which reduced revenue generation.
Most European clubs have suggested pay cuts for players in an attempt to avert the burden on the clubs’ coffers.
Big-names across the world have given up a portion of their salaries, including Barcelona star Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo, to reduce costs at their clubs where there has been no income following to the suspension of league games and international competitions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A survey by Soccer24 revealed that most foreign-based players had embraced the move, as a genuine step to keep their clubs in business.
“For me, it’s something that is difficult for both teams and players but it’s because of the situation, it’s not that teams wanted us to stop (playing) but the situation caused it, so we just have to adjust to it, that’s how life is,” said Myanmar-based defender Victor Kamhuka.
Stade de Reims midfielder Marshal Munetsi said nothing had been discussed to that effect, but he admitted that the situation is difficult for everyone and needed compromise.
ABSA Premiership based players also look set to get pay cuts as clubs take steps that would help them remain afloat financially.-Soccer
DYNAMOS player Godknows Murwira says the league suspension has worked in his favour.
The Premier Soccer League, which was supposed to begin last month, was suspended due to the Covid-19 after President Mnangagwa’s call to suspend all sporting activities to curb the spread of the virus.
So far Zimbabwe has recorded 11 cases with two deaths. “I’m hoping that l will be okay when the league resumes.
“And l am happy that the suspension has worked in my favour and has given me time to recover from the injury.
“I’m doing everything l can to make sure that l recover quickly,” he said.
He added: “I’m not sure of how long will l be out but l am certain that l won’t take long to recover.
“But l don’t want to strain myself with too much training.
“I’m working on what my body the injury requires.
Yes the injury is a set back but the suspension has worked in my favour.
“And l am doing all l can to make sure that l play when the season resumes because that’s what l was born for.”
The former Ngezi Platinum Star also had his sentiments on the virus and has encouraged people to be safe.
“I urge people to observe the locked down and make sure that they stay at home.
“We have to maintain social distance and be safe.
“If everyone manages to do that then we will all be safe from this virus. And l want to wish everyone who is infected a speed recovery.
“I urge everyone to be cautious and follow the steps so that we will fight this virus together and we will all be safe,” he said.-H-Metro
On this day in 1996, Leonard Tazvivinga Dembo, also nicknamed Musoro We Nyoka died.
Born on February 6 1959 in Chivi, Masvingo, the Zimbabwean guitar-band musician and member of the band Barura Express started singing aged 9.
Dembo, whose real name was Kwangwari Gwaindepi’s early childhood is not fully documented.
However, his relatives alleged that he grew up without his father, an experience he later on reflected in his song writing, particularly in such songs as Nhamo Moto and Nhamo Iya ndakura Nayo.
He attended primary school initially in Buhera, and later in Bulawayo, and also in Chembira School, Harare.
However, he allegedly did not attend secondary school. On completing primary school he returned to Bulawayo looking for work.
His singing career
Dembo was interested in singing from as early as nine when he was a shepherd-boy and later when he moved to Bulawayo to look for work soon after the Zimbabwean Independence.
He was largely inspired by the success of such other musicians such as Jonah Moyo and the Chimbetu Brothers.
His music incorporated traditional Shona sayings in his lyrics and his musical style was rhumba-based, played on electric guitars tuned to emulate the characteristic sounds of the mbira.
Dembo seemed to have been interested in love songs. Also known as the King Of Sungura music, due to the lead guitarist skills he had from the creative melodies he churned,
Dembo is still a legend in Zimbabwe as his songs still continue to sell widely and budding musicians find inspiration from his hits.
Farai Dziva|Golden Munandi says his 18-year football career never gave him a fortune and is now selling chocolate sweets to earn a living.
The retired attacking midfielder, 35, played for a number of teams in the top-flight including CAPS United, Black Rhinos, FC Platinum and Triangle, and also featured for Bulawayo Chiefs and Zimbabwe Saints in Division One.
In an interview with Chronicle, Munandi said he regrets that football only gave him fame and friends without fortune.
“For the past 18 years, I enjoyed playing local football. However, I regret that I only got fame and friends from playing the game for 19 local clubs,” he said.
“For the past 18 years, I enjoyed playing local football. I was so nomadic all in search of greener pastures, but here I am, now a former footballer who is selling chocolate sweets which I import from South Africa.”
The former player feels FC Platinum betrayed him when they terminated his contract and didn’t pay him signing-on fees and compensation. He had helped the team gain promotion, but the arrival of Rahman Gumbo saw him fell out of favour.
“With the great work I did for the team since our days in the lower divisions, the treatment that I got from them at the end of the day was a slap in the face,” Munandi added.
Castle Lager Premier Soccer League side Highlanders received a paltry US$8.50 for television rights for the 2019 season from Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), it has emerged.
In 2018, the national broadcaster and the Premier Soccer League signed a deal to flight league games on television and radio, a deal which sees clubs benefiting from it in terms of broadcasting rights.
According to the 2019 inflation-adjusted audited financial statement released by Bosso, the Bulawayo based side got ZW$383, which is about (US$8.50).-Soccer 24
According to the United Nations, Africa has over 10 000 COVID-19 cases, 500+ deaths and over 900 recoveries.
Zimbabwe and South Sudan are among the most vulnerable African countries as over 7.7 million people are food insecure in Zimbabwe according to the UNWFP and the fighting in South Sudan according to the publication.
The UNWFP is appealing for $130 million to feed vulnerable people in Zimbabwe while according to the publication: In an appeal to the authorities to step up efforts to contain the spread of the virus, the Commission on Human Rights in the world’s youngest country warned that 1.5 million people who’ve fled years of violence are at greater risk than ever.
Commission chair Yasmin Sooka said that it was unrealistic to even “talk about strict social distancing” at the moment.
So many displaced persons still live in tents, she said, “often inches apart from one other, and subsisting on rapidly diminishing humanitarian aid”.
They have only limited access to healthcare, water, hygiene and sanitation, food, and adequate housing, with women and children among the worst affected by these shortages, Ms. Sooka explained.
COVID-19 has killed over 76000 people and over 1.2 million people have been infected worldwide while 52 countries in Africa have recorded COVID-19 cases.-The Zimbabwean
Farai Dziva|Opposition party, MDC says health workers are badly exposed to the deadly Coronavirus such that government should implement measures to avert an impending catastrophe.
In a statement MDC health secretary Dr Henry Madzorera said:
” Our health workers are still working without the necessary Personal Protective Equipment, and this is extremely worrisome.
We are now dealing with a full fledged outbreak and we should not wait for mass fatalities to start acting.
Our narrow window of opportunity to prepare is fast running out.
How many health workers were exposed in this particular case?
Why are we hesitant to test suspects? Does government really have testing kits, adequate to meet this threat? We implore government to disclose exactly how many cases they can test now.
Government needs to cry out loud to the corporate sector and to ordinary citizens at large if we have a shortage of test kits. By now we should be doing tests in the provinces, leaving the NMRL to be a confirmation centre, backed up by the regional collaborative laboratory in South Africa.
Emmerson Mnangagwa is a man living on borrowed time!
Take the ravaging Corona pandemic aside, surely Mnangagwa would have been facing a massive and serious civil unrest by now.
An opportunist of proportions, Mnangagwa saw a window of opportunity in the deadly Corona pandemic and a leeway to elongate his illegitimate stay at Munhumutapa offices.
While the idea of a lockdown in face of the deadly Corona pandemic is not a bad idea altogether, it is crystal clear that the biggest beneficiary thus far is Emmerson Mnangagwa and not the hungry and angry masses who survive from hand to mouth.
Normally the lockdown period is supposed to reduce deleterious effects of the pandemic, but alas in our case it is the opposite.
This is largely because the cartels run government deliberately lacks will to tackle the pandemic.
Talk of testing kits or mere personal protective equipment like masks, Mnangagwa’s regime has dismally failed to provide the basics to combat the spread of the disease.
Of course ZANU PF apologists will be quick to point to Mnangagwa’s unilateral declaration of 21 days lockdown as a control measure but we all know what serious countries world over are doing to ensure that lockdown serve purpose.
Closer home, the South African government makes sure that all its citizenry is well catered for as far as basic human rights fundamentals like food, clean water and access to personal protective clothing is concerned.
Back home, besides untold harassment of poverty stricken masses by the uniformed forces, Mnangagwa’s military dictatorship has virtually done nothing to save and serve the people.
Clearly there is no connection whatsoever between the governors and the governed.
A clear indication that there is lack of social contract between the rulers and the ruled!
Overtly there is no passion for the people by those who stole the mandate from the people.
To think these are the very same people who dished out millions of bandanas, t-shirts, scarfs and zambias during the election season but now fail to provide masks is utterly disgusting!
Outside Covid-19, people are groaning and dying of starvation in this lockdown period.
Citizens have been completely shut out from their only source of livelihood – vending yet this heartless regime offers no alternative for survival.
All we have seen is parasitic ZANU PF district chairpersons capitalizing on people’s misery by creating databases that will be selectively used to distribute aid on partisan lines.
To divert us from our excruciating man made suffering, Mnangagwa goes on to set a very disinteresting Komichi-Khupe Supreme Court drama.
The level of rot and stinking poverty in the ghettos and countryside tells a harrowing story of a people without a government!
Citizens are hungry and angry because of the economic rot presided over by Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa is treading dangerously on a political cliff edge and for now only lockdown can save him.
Winter might be too cold for Mnangagwa.
Surely we cannot go on like this!
We are the people, we are the power!
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDCYouthAssemblyNationalSpokesperson
By Stephen Chuma Emmerson Mnangagwa is a man living on borrowed time!
Take the ravaging Corona pandemic aside, surely Mnangagwa would have been facing a massive and serious civil unrest by now.
An opportunist of proportions, Mnangagwa saw a window of opportunity in the deadly Corona pandemic and a leeway to elongate his illegitimate stay at Munhumutapa offices.
While the idea of a lockdown in face of the deadly Corona pandemic is not a bad idea altogether, it is crystal clear that the biggest beneficiary thus far is Emmerson Mnangagwa and not the hungry and angry masses who survive from hand to mouth.
Normally the lockdown period is supposed to reduce deleterious effects of the pandemic, but alas in our case it is the opposite.
This is largely because the cartels run government deliberately lacks will to tackle the pandemic.
Talk of testing kits or mere personal protective equipment like masks, Mnangagwa’s regime has dismally failed to provide the basics to combat the spread of the disease.
Of course ZANU PF apologists will be quick to point to Mnangagwa’s unilateral declaration of 21 days lockdown as a control measure but we all know what serious countries world over are doing to ensure that lockdown serve purpose.
Closer home, the South African government makes sure that all its citizenry is well catered for as far as basic human rights fundamentals like food, clean water and access to personal protective clothing is concerned.
Back home, besides untold harassment of poverty stricken masses by the uniformed forces, Mnangagwa’s military dictatorship has virtually done nothing to save and serve the people.
Clearly there is no connection whatsoever between the governors and the governed.
A clear indication that there is lack of social contract between the rulers and the ruled!
Overtly there is no passion for the people by those who stole the mandate from the people.
To think these are the very same people who dished out millions of bandanas, t-shirts, scarfs and zambias during the election season but now fail to provide masks is utterly disgusting!
Outside Covid-19, people are groaning and dying of starvation in this lockdown period.
Citizens have been completely shut out from their only source of livelihood – vending yet this heartless regime offers no alternative for survival.
All we have seen is parasitic ZANU PF district chairpersons capitalizing on people’s misery by creating databases that will be selectively used to distribute aid on partisan lines.
To divert us from our excruciating man made suffering, Mnangagwa goes on to set a very disinteresting Komichi-Khupe Supreme Court drama.
The level of rot and stinking poverty in the ghettos and countryside tells a harrowing story of a people without a government!
Citizens are hungry and angry because of the economic rot presided over by Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa is treading dangerously on a political cliff edge and for now only lockdown can save him.
Winter might be too cold for Mnangagwa.
Surely we cannot go on like this!
We are the people, we are the power!
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDCYouthAssemblyNationalSpokesperson
Farai Dziva|Douglas Mwonzora has claimed he firmly is in charge of Morgan Tsvangirai House and business at the opposition party headquarters will resume after lockdown.
Mwonzora also accused MDC Secretary General Charlton Hwende of “attempting to tamper with party documents.”
Mwonzora, quoted by Daily News said:
“We said Harvest House is under lockdown and that the security was ordered to lock the offices so that no business takes place there.
It is not like I came with a new set of keys, but that I instructed the security to make sure nobody conducts business there.
I am aware that Chalton Hwende went to the office to work, but he knows he is acting in contempt and being irresponsible.
We suspect that he wants to tamper with documents, especially financial records.
We want to warn against that. We have a lot of options, but it is not our intention to be prejudicial, but they must never underestimate our resolve. We know they were disappointed with the court ruling and we allowed them time to cool off.”
Top Slovakian side MŠK Žilina has become the first football team that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic that is gripping the world.
MSK Zilina which won the Slovakian Super Liga 7 times said in a statement posted on its website:
In the current situation, players with professional contracts could show solidarity, especially to the people who were involved in their training, who provided them with service and conditions.
The players with the highest salaries and those whose contracts were finishing this summer or winter were released.
Our budget for this year is based on revenues we were counting on receiving this summer during the transfer period.
Today, this amount will in all likelihood be close to zero.
The young players, who have shown willingness and solidarity, will have their chances as they have been kept.”
MSK Zilina in 2010 became the Slovakian club to play in the group stages of the Uefa Champions League.-City Press
Kwaita outbreak yeCorona amongst mapostori in Wheathamstead, UK. 2 people have died so far, one is getting buried today. A few others are in hospital. Everything is shrouded in secrecy…No one wants the news published. pic.twitter.com/dMc010yUnb
By Jane Mlambo| Medical doctors today met President Emmerson Mnangagwa and told him to upscale Covid-19 testing amid fears more people could have died of the deadly disease.
The doctors represented by Dr Samukange also told Mnangagwa to establish more testing centres across the country and dump the use of one centre which has seen results taking long to come.
A case in point is the Bulawayo man whose test results only came out three days after his death in a case that exposed the shambolic nature of Zimbabwe’s preparedness to fight the pandemic.
Posting on Twitter, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information Nick Mangwana said the medical doctors also told Mnangagwa to institute rapid testing to ensure results come out early as compared to the current situation
“Dr Samukange speaks to HE President @edmnangagwa on behalf of Senior Doctors. He talked of the need to test more, results to come out early, rapid testing and the decetralisation of testing,” said Mangwana.
By Own Correspondent| The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) has extended the registration period for November 2020 Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations, and will open a window for late entries after the end of the lockdown period.
In a statement yesterday, Zimsec said preparations for both the June and November examinations were on course and no late registration fees would be charged to candidates and centres.
There would be no late registration for the June 2020 examination session with candidates who failed to register being accommodated in the November 2020 examinations.
“Zimsec, like any other institution, is not privy to what will happen after the 21 days of the lockdown, but would like valued stakeholders to know that a window for the registration of candidates for November 2020 examination will be provided when the lockdown is lifted,” it said.
“This provision is in accordance with the Honourable Minister of Primary and Secondary Education’s announcement that all potential candidates will access the 2020 examinations.”
The announcement came after the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) asked the Government to consider suspending all the 2020 examinations until there was a well-informed analysis of the impact of Covid-19.
Zimsec insists the examinations are going ahead with preparations already at an advanced stage.-StateMedia
Health officials here have collected specimens from the remains of a deceased Chiredzi woman,to test whether she succumbed to Covid-19 at Chiredzi District Hospital on Tuesday.
The woman-from the sugar cane growing town-died after being admitted at the hospital for severe pneumonia leading to suspicions she had Covid-19.
Results are expected by today.
Provincial Medical DirextiDirector Dr Amadeous Shamu said her remains had not yet been interred.
“We collected samples from her body and sent them to Harare for testing after we classified her as Covid-19 suspect following her admission and subsequent death in hospital from severe pneumonia”he said.
“The symptoms she showed before her passing on(severe pneumonia) made us to treat her as a Covid-19 suspect and we expect results tomorrow(today)afternoon.”
Following the women’s designation as a Covid-19 suspect her burial would be done in accordance with rules applied to thse who succumb to the disease.
“She has not yet been buried though under normal circumstances she should have been buried earlier considering that she was a Covid-19 suspect.Our teams delayed to go there(Chiredzi Hospital) to collect samples.
“Now I think they will have to wait for her results to come out before burying her.The results will be out by tomorrow(today)afternoon and she will be buried soon after.”
Dr Shamu rubbished circulating reports that the woman died after nurses at Chiredzi Hospital abandoned on suspicion she had Covid-19 because of her symptoms upon checking in.
Masvingo is still to record its first Covid-19 case with two previous suspected cases having both tested negative.
By Innocent Gonese| Over the last week the people of Zimbabwe have been preoccupied by two main issues: The Corona Virus epidemic and the Supreme Court Judgment in the case of MDC et al vs Elias Mashavira et al handed down on the 31st of March 2020 which has also been dubbed the Corona Judgment.
The mere fact that as Zimbabweans we have been diverted from focusing on a global epidemic speaks volumes about the nature of the judgment and the timing of its delivery.
There is something clearly amiss about the Judiciary choosing to deliver its ruling in a matter reserved several months ago at a time when we are supposed to be grappling with a monumental global crisis and when the Chief Justice himself had indicated that only urgent matters would be handled by the courts otherwise most matters would be postponed.
In analysing this judgment one should not lose sight of the political context and how our Judiciary has handled itself not just in this case but in several others and in particular I will refer to the Constitutional case that Honourable Jessie Majome and I, filed in against Constitutional Amendment no 1, which was heard early last year and whose judgment was handed down on the same day.
Firstly there was an inordinate delay in delivering the judgment. While I am not in agreement with the findings made by the Supreme court in relation to the proceedings in the National Assembly, at least the court accepted our submissions relating to the Senate Proceedings but in its Final Order then gave the Executive a second bite at the cherry by suspending the operation of the Order of invalidity for 180 days to ensure that the order is a virtual brutum fulmen.
Surely having found that the two-thirds threshold was not met in the Senate the amendment should simply have been set aside.
Now turning to the issue at hand, I will start by giving the background as the law does not operate in a vacuum .
It is common cause that since its formation, the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has given The Zanupf regime a run for its money and inspite of various machinations it has remained standing for over 20 years now.
One does not need a very high Intelligent Quotient (IQ) to link the delivery of the judgment at a time when people’s movements are limited and the police presence at Morgan Tsvangirai House as well as Thokozani Khupe’s triumphant tweet and Morgen Komichi’s prepared speech.
All these events point to the sinister involvement of the illegitimate regime and coupled with the subsequent re-emergence of Obert Gutu and his tweets; one sees the unmistakable footprints of Zanupf
Going back to the pertinent case, Elias Mashavira calls himself a District Organizing Secretary from Gokwe who was legally represented by a legal practitioner from Mutare in Manicaland (Ashel Mutungura) and at the Appeal his lawyer was assisted by Sarudzai Chatsanga from Nyanga.
Honourable Senator Mwonzora comes from Nyanga and all this could be a coincidence but the possibility of an indigent litigant who did not even attend at the Supreme Court on the 31st March having mounted such a costly litigation merely to vindicate his rights, where there is little or no tangible benefit to himself stretches credibility too far.
I submit that Elias Mashavira was simply a front and the real Applicant was none other than the person who did not have the courage to bring the case but whose behavior was always suspicious but there will be no prizes for guessing who that is .
I was present in the Supreme Court on the day that the case was argued and all those who are familiar with court proceedings will appreciate that when Counsel are presenting arguments you can read the Court’s mindset and clearly Justices Patel and Garwe appeared to be on point and this emerges from the judgment when it interrogates the issue of mootness and that should then have led the Court to the inescapable conclusion that whatever the other controversial findings of the court there was simply no question of upholding the High Court judgment in terms of the Order given then worse still the one on Appeal.
This is so because you can not unwind the hands of time and go back to the past. The parties have moved in directly opposed directions and their positions are not reconcilable.
Indeed, Khupe has now become an acolyte of the illegitimate regime and even imposing her for one second is a non starter.
Other people who were members of the National Council like Honourable Majome have retired from politics and she is now a ZACC Commissioner, while Honourable James Maridadi is now the Ambassador to Senegal
We also have people like Patrick Chitaka who flirted with People First then Nkosana Moyo before standing as an independent before announcing his retirement and then becoming a commentator and lambasting the MDC Alliance as a terrorist organization, now saying that he is suspending his retirement.
Then you also have the likes of Obert Gutu waxing lyrical about recalling MDC Alliance MPs oblivious of his embarrassing performance as a candidate in Harare East in the 2018 elections.
These are practical considerations which a serious court of law should have thought about before it issued a determination.
Granted some of them were not before the court, but when it took cognisance of the outcome of the 2018 general elections the court must also have been aware of the different paths taken by the parties in particular Khupe’s involvement in POLAD and the politics of resistance persued by Advocate Nelson Chamisa and the MDC Alliance party.
This is not to say that the other findings of the court are legally sound. Far from it as both the court a quo and the Appeal Court failed to interrogate the lengthy delay in challenging the appointment of the Vice Presidents more than two years after the event.
The Application was only made in September 2018 and the lame explanation that he only acted after seing the opinion of Advocate Erick Matinenga is devoid of logic. How did he come across the opinion and in what circumstances?
Any serious court would be expected to interrogate such aspects as ignorantia juris non excusat (ignorance of the law is no excuse).
That should have been fatal to the application.
It was also in the public domain that one Parston Murimoga tried to challenge the appointments in 2016 and no one persued the matter and for someone to resucitate the issue and succeed so long afterwards is a sad indictment on our courts.
The other issues relate to double standards in our judicary when faced with similar facts regarding the exhaustion of domestic remedies in the Kudakwashe Bhasikiti case the court ruled against him but in the recent case they found a way to accommodate Mashavira.This is curious and leads one to conclude that the law is applied selectively to suit predetermined objectives.
Law is not an exact science and courts can come up with a judgment which some people can applaud but it is necessary for Judges to introspect before making such far reaching decisions with equally far reaching consequences.
The adage that Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done is very apt in this case. This will go down as a grave injustice and it will cause serious embarrassment to our courts for many years to come
Did the Court look at the import of ordering an Extraordinary Congress a year after the Ordinary Congress was due? All the terms of the Office Bearers were supposed to expire in October 2019. Is it assumed that the Court has ipso facto extended these terms?
Further, the agenda of the so called Extraordinary Congress is just one; to elect a President and what about the other office bearers?
All these are questions which any serious court should have examined armed with the Constitution they had before them. That they did not is cause for serious concern.
However the most glaring shortcoming is the failure to appreciate that there are no two MDC T’s as claimed by Professor Lovemore Madhuku
The Judges had before them clear submissions that the party which contested under Advocate Nelson Chamisa was the MDC Alliance which subsequently had a Congress in May 2019 before the Appeal Hearing.
This was the clearest evidence that the case was moot and the judgment is not capable of enforcement.
I have heard suggestions that the MDC Alliance family should comply with the Court Ruling and that this would be upholding the Rule of Law.
With respect it is like trying to close the stable door when the horses have already bolted. It is simply not practicable for numerous reasons.
This is why in divorce cases once a marriage has irretrievably broken down no court will Order the parties to reconcile but it will rather deal with the ancillary issues.
In conclusion the judgment delivered by Justice Patel on the 31st March 2020 will be rightly or wrongly seen as a political judgment as it is baffling as to how the esteemed judges failed to appreciate that the final order granted was no longer feasible.
Innocent Gonese Secretary for Legal Affairs MDC Alliance
By A Correspondent- Government has been taken to court over its failure to provide doctors working on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic with masks.
The Zimbabwe Association for Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) is seeking to compel the authorities urgently to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical practitioners, warning that medics in the troubled health sector will otherwise die.
“There are simply no adequate PPEs for health personnel working at public and private health facilities in the country. We attest to the shortages because we work there,” read the court application.
“If no urgent steps are taken to address the shortcomings, the country will be caught unprepared to handle a possible escalation of the Covid-19 pandemic and many lives will be lost, sadly including the lives of those at the frontline.”
ZADHR said 1,500 staff working in public hospitals require at least three masks daily, a “luxury” that the government is failing to provide.
“Yet it is a necessity if we are to avert the Italian disaster, where a large number of health practitioners got infected through the provision of health services to patients,” the statement said.
Since Zimbabwe recorded its first positive case last month, testing has lagged behind. As of last Thursday, only 316 suspected cases had been tested for Covid-19.
According to the health ministry, Zimbabwe has recorded 10 positive cases, including one death – that of Zororo Makamba, a prominent television journalist. With kits unavailable, neither doctors nor suspected sufferers are being tested. Many cases are being turned away from Wilkins hospital, Harare’s main isolation facility.
The latest move comes after junior doctors and nurses went on strike a fortnight ago in protest over the lack of PPE.
A fortnight ago, Zimbabwe received a donation from the Jack Ma Foundation that included 200,000 tests, 100,000 face masks and 10,000 protective suits, but the equipment is not enough for the country’s health personnel.
Tapiwa Mungofa, treasurer of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, said hospitals had entered emergency mode.
“Only a few doctors, especially those with their own transport and those who reside at the hospitals, are reporting for duty,” Mungofa said.
Zimbabwe’s health sector has been crippled since last year after months of strikes over poor working conditions, with doctors claiming that patients were dying due to lack of medical supplies.
Zimbabwe’s once vibrant health delivery system has collapsed over the past two decades, largely due to an economic crisis. This has raised doubts over the country’s ability to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
In January, doctors ended the months-long strike when billionaire Strive Masiyiwa intervened, offering to pay salaries for more than 2,000 medical personnel for six months.-online
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has questioned government’s preparedness to fight the deadly COVID-19 after a 79-year-old man from Bulawayo had his test results released three days after his death.
In a statement, the MDC said the Bulawayo man’s death left the nation with more questions than answers regarding the seriousness of government in fighting this deadly pandemic.
Below is the MDC statement issued by Secretary for Health, Dr Henry Madzorera.
Second COVID-19 death in Zimbabwe.
We learnt with great sadness the passing on of case no. 11 of confirmed COVID-19 infection in the city of Bulawayo on the 4th of April 2020. This death gives us more questions than answers regarding our seriousness and preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic. We have the following observations to make:
1. Local transmission of COVID-19 is now a reality in Zimbabwe, and a history of foreign travel to a country with COVID-19 should no longer be an important consideration when deciding who a suspect is, and who should be tested. This case had the cardinal symptoms of COVID-19 infection on 23rd March, namely sore throat, cough and fever. That should have been enough to trigger isolation and a visit by the Rapid Response Team, with samples for testing taken there and then.
2. Admission of the patient into a general ward, and then a general ICU, betrays gross lack of preparedness on the part of government. If this patient was admitted into a specialized isolation facility we expect the Ministry to tell that to the nation in clear terms, because it’s important.
3. Our health workers are still working without the necessary Personal Protective Equipment, and this is extremely worrisome. We are now dealing with a full fledged outbreak and we should not wait for mass fatalities to start acting. Our narrow window of opportunity to prepare is fast running out. How many health workers were exposed in this particular case?
4. Why are we hesitant to test suspects? Does government really have testing kits, adequate to meet this threat? We implore government to disclose exactly how many cases they can test now. Government needs to cry out loud to the corporate sector and to ordinary citizens at large if we have a shortage of test kits. By now we should be doing tests in the provinces, leaving the NMRL to be a confirmation centre, backed up by the regional collaborative laboratory in South Africa.
5. In summary, this case betrays gross unpreparedness for the COVID-19 outbreak, and speed of execution is essential if we are to prevent any further unnecessary loss of life, slow down community spread and protect our valued first responders, the health workers. We urge government to do a thorough audit of case no. 11 and learn all the lessons that can be gleaned from it.
Dr H Madzorera Secretary for Health & Child Welfare MDC-Alliance
On Tuesday 07 April, we woke up to very sad news of the passing of Liveson Ncube, who died of the injuries sustained from the beatings by the members of the ZRP on the 30th of March.
All the dreams the boy had, are now shuttered. It is so sad to note that the first death was recorded out of the brutality of the State security agent and first before the Coronavirus struck.
According to the report we got from a devastated family member, the 25 year old boy was standing just outside the family house in Old Lobengula when the uniformed Zimbabwe and Zanu thugs pounced on him, beating him to a sponge.
Unconscious, he was hurried to IMpilo hospital where he spent one night before he was discharged showing signs of recovering but with a paralysed side of his body and died on his sleep on Monday night.
As MLF, we express our deepest concern over the treatment our people are receiving from the Zimbabwean government. For starters, we view the the imposition of the 21days lock-down on Mthwakazi as one thing equal to exposing the nation to the deadly corona virus itself .
In a sober and frank sense, no sane leader would impose a 21days long lock down on people who are living in dire poverty and hunger. What are the people expected to live on while locked in their homes?
Mthwakazi has the highest poverty rate in Southern African binary state with its citizens surviving on just below $2 per day. The circulation of money is so much limited that in some parts of Mthwakazi, people struggle for months to put together $5.
Putting these two facts into account, it then says the 21days imposed was and remains too much for the ordinary people who survive on hand to mouth kind of life. Instead of them dying of the virus, they will starve to death in their homes or they will be forced to defy the rules of the lock-down and see them being victimised in the same faction Mr Liveson Ncube was.
As a movement, we condemn not the barbaric treatment that our people are exposed to but also the attempts to sentence Mthwakazi to death by starvation.
It is improper that the government would impose a lengthy 21 days lock down just because of less than 5 cases that had been reported for over a week. It is going to be hard for the people to stand hunger in their homes yet the figures given do not show high levels of the outbreak of the virus in the ‘country’.
What we saw the security agents doing on the hungry people and the report of the death of Liveson Ncube is nothing but a reminder of how our loved ones were killed during the Gukurahundi era.
During that time the food embargo was imposed on the people of Mthwakazi and those who tried to go around in search of food, were treated in the very same manner as Mr Ncube.
We believe the oppressive government is capitalising on the outbreak of corona to keep in check the activities of Mthwakazi people. This is witnessed by the words of Minister July Moyo that those who felt corona like symptoms in them should go to Wilkins Hospital in Harare.
Why are Mthwakazi healthcare centres not equipped with the testing equipment yet those in Harare are equipped.
In as much as we wish our people to be safe from the deadly corona virus we warm Zimbabwe to stop harassing and killing our people. We further urge them all (Mthwakazi people) to take all necessary precaution measures and sanitise as much as they can, as that is all that can maybe save them for now as hospitals in our land are under equipped.
In that light, we plead with the traditional leaders to stand up and engage the nation’s spirit mediums and seek protection for the Mthwakazi masses from the pandemic.
By A Correspondent- A top police officer has warned that vehicles parked in Harare’s central business district whose owners have no exemption from the lockdown will be impounded with the owners being charged and prosecuted.
National Police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said only motorists who have been exempted from the lockdown provisions under Statutory Instrument 83 of 2020 will be spared.
The warning followed a notable increase in the volumes of traffic coming into the city centre.
Some vehicles, according to the police, are parked for no valid reason or purpose.
“The security services have noted with concern an increase in the volume of traffic, with some vehicles being parked in the CBD.
“Such vehicles will be impounded with the owners being arrested and prosecuted.
“No movement of vehicles or people will be allowed on the country’s roads except those with exemptions. Those with exemptions should also act responsibly and avoid abusing this privilege,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
Meanwhile, police have urged people to celebrate Easter holiday at home and avoid gatherings during the 21-day-lockdown period.
“The nation is going to commemorate the Easter Holiday from April 10 to 13, 2020 and at the same time observe the Covid-19 safety and health guidelines which were pronounced by the President of Zimbabwe on March 27.
“The ZRP is therefore urging all Zimbabweans to observe the Easter holiday while at home.”-StateMedia
By A Correspondent- Malawi recorded its first Covid-19 death and added three new cases to its tally on Tuesday, bringing its overall number of infections to eight.
According to health minister Jappie Mhango, who also heads the country’s Covid-19 cabinet committee, the deceased was a 51-year-old woman who died in Blantyre on Tuesday morning.
News website, Malawi24 reported that the woman was of Indian origin and had recently returned to Malawi from the United Kingdom.
“She had an underlying medical condition. Our Blantyre District Health Office and Environmental Health Team is assisting with the burial arrangements. As a nation we grieve with the family of the deceased and I urge you all to respect their privacy,” the publication quoted Mhango saying.
Two of the three new cases were recorded in Blantyre, while the other case was from Chikwawa, Malawi24 reported.
One of the patients is a 34-year-old woman who came into contact with the first case victim, who was registered on Monday.
The second patient is a 28-year-old woman who travelled from the United Kingdom to Malawi on March 19.
The third patient is a 30-year-old man who travelled from South Africa to Malawi on March 16.
The coronavirus first surfaced in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
It has since spilled over to other parts of the world, with 1.3 million infections confirmed globally. Over 76 000 deaths have been recorded, and close on 300 000 people have recovered from the virus, according to statistics referencing website Worldometers.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police has warned people and motorists against moving out of their residence during this Easter holiday, saying no movement of people or vehicles will be allowed on the country’s roads except those exempted.
In a statement yesterday, police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said people must observe the lockdown rules pronounced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“The police are urging all Zimbabweans to observe Easter holiday while at home with a view of containing the spread of COVID-19 virus,” he said.
“No movement of vehicles or people will be allowed on the country’s roads, except those with exemptions. Those with exemptions should also act responsibly and avoid abusing the privilege.”
Nyathi said there was a surge of motor vehicles parked in Harare’s central business district, threatening to impound those vehicles and arrest the culprits.
The police said it had so far arrested 2 885 people for violating COVID-19 lockdown rules.
By A Correspondent| One of Zimbabwe’s top sculpture artists, Tom Blomefield, has died.
He was 95.
Blomefield who spent nearly 100 years investing in people, is the founder of the Tengenenge Sculpture Community which is in Guruve.
The cause of death could not be immediately established.
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Below was a statement by his son, Steve.
Greetings everyone I have sad news. Tom Blomefield, my father and one of the main movers of the Zimbabwe sculpture movement peacefully passed away today at 11am today in Holland.
Tom Blomefield
He will be sorely missed by tens of thousands of people whose family members learned art at Tengenenge and fed extended families, and who survived droughts, locust invasions and army worm infestations. Many of the thousands who learned sculpture are scattered throughout the world blessing others through their art works.
He lived a long, happy life serving his community and the nation of Zimbabwe. He spoke two African languages fluently [Chewa and Yao] and learned to coexist within these cultures. He also spoke English, Dutch and German.
