By A Correspondent- The opposition MDC Alliance youth wing plans to stage rolling protests at the end of the national lockdown period to force President Emmerson Mnangagwa to step down.

Mnangagwa’s departure would pave the way for the formation of a National Transitional Authority that will implement necessary reforms ahead of fresh, credible polls, the opposition youths said.

Speaking during an interview with NewsDay on Sunday, MDC Alliance national youth spokesperson Stephen “Sarkozy” Chuma warned Mnangagwa that he faces the prospect of a long winter. Said Chuma:

As the MDC youth assembly, we said it before and we would like to reiterate that Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is not going to last beyond June of this year.

Not even an extension of the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown will save him from massive public outbursts.

Before lockdown, we said we are taking the battle to Mnangagwa’s doorstep and we really mean what we say.

Certainly, we are going to give the old man a very long winter that will give birth to a leader from (the) people and not the courts.

The MDC Alliance has attempted to hold demonstrations in the past which were either blocked by the courts or crushed by the police.

The government has been using the loathsome Public Order and Security Act (POSA) to block the opposition from holding demonstrations.-Newsday

THE generality of people living on the streets of Bulawayo are totally ignorant of the need to protect themselves against Covid-19, making them vulnerable to the pandemic.

Personal hygiene and social distancing are key elements in terms of combating the spread of the deadly global pandemic, which has so far claimed more than 60 000 people with more than 1 million infected globally.

Zimbabwe has nine confirmed cases and one of them fatal.

A Chronicle news yesterday took to the streets of Bulawayo and observed that street kids and homeless people in general are vulnerable to contracting Covid-19 as they are living in squalid and unhealthy conditions.

The new crew visited Bulawayo’s Centenary Park where some of the homeless people live in a filthy environment. They are susceptible to other diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

They live in makeshift structures situated near a stream overflowing with effluent.

Ms Eunice Saungweme is one of the homeless people who were ordered to vacate the city’s central business district as part of Government measures to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Eunice Saungweme and Grace Moyo

She is now staying in a makeshift structure at Centenary Park.

Despite the risk of contracting diseases, Ms Saungweme seemed unfazed as a tin simmering with isitshwala stood next to her. A few metres away from her makeshift structure is the stream of effluent.

There is a strong stench emanating from an underground conduit that carries off drainage water and human waste.

“We used to stay at a veranda in front of Jet clothing shop at corner Jason Moyo Street and Leopold Takawira Avenue until police came and ordered us to vacate on Monday because of coronavirus. I am now staying here in the park and we use sewer water, which flows through a stream to cook and bath,” she said.

Bernard Kariyesu

“What is coronavirus? I am hearing of it for the first time. All I want is food and nothing else and so this thing of preventing diseases is not applicable to me when my stomach is empty,” he said.

His wife, Ms Grace Moyo chips in: “We were ordered to vacate our spot in the central business district because of coronavirus and we decided to come here.

-State Media

By A Correspondent- A man who was arrested for allegedly failing to self-isolate in Gauteng and instead traveled to Limpopo two weeks ago has recovered from COVID-19 and is seeking legal advice.

Bongani Ngobeni from Nkambako village in N’wamitwa, outside Tzaneen, yesterday denied that he was informed of his status before traveling home, saying “malicious allegations” were made against him.

Ngobeni was forced into quarantine by the Limpopo department of health two weeks ago after it emerged that he had tested positive and traveled to the province.

Ngobeni was tested again last week and the results came back negative on Friday.

Ngobeni yesterday told Sowetan that he was worried that the country now knew him as “a selfish person who is above the law” and said that was not the case.

“I just want to set the record straight that I was never informed of COVID-19 positive results and besides, I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to travel because I was going to be quarantined. I’m still weighing my options, including seeking legal advice to clear my name,” he said.

“I was never arrested because it was my relative who called the department of health and police to meet us at a nearby garage as the clinic was not equipped to deal with the virus test. The police came, but I was not charged for anything,” Ngobeni said.

MEC for health Phophi Ramathuba said Ngobeni’s results came out positive and tracer teams in Gauteng struggled to locate him until he was found in Limpopo.

Ngobeni said since he was informed about his status, he told his family members to stay far away from him and even went to a private clinic.

“I wanted to be sure when I went to the clinic because I did not show any symptoms. I still feel the same way I was before the quarantine,” he said.

Ngobeni told Sowetan that it was only when he had traveled to Limpopo that he
received a call from his employer, telling him that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

“We did our COVID-19 test on March 18 at our workplace and on the 26th, I traveled home in a bakkie, alone. The following day, I got a call from my employer that my results came out positive,” he said.

Ngobeni said his family was very supportive.

“My family has been very supportive. My neighbors as well. Also, I didn’t travel in a taxi when I came back home, I was driving,” he said, dismissing allegations that he may have put the lives of other passengers at risk.

Department of Health spokesperson Neil Shikwambana confirmed that Ngobeni has been discharged.

NPA spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Ndzingi said Ngobeni was not brought to court and the NPA did not have a COVID-19 case in Ritavi.

Shikwambana said the department intends to make Ngobeni an ambassador for COVID-19 in the province, particularly on the importance and the benefits of isolation after testing positive. Ngobeni said he would not comment as he had not been approached by the department on this.

By Dorothy Moyo| The renegade former MDC-T spokesman Obert Guru has failed to publicly support his boss, Thokozani Khupe.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Gutu was caught off guard by reporter Costa Nkomo as he was asked concerning his backing for fellow lawyer Douglas Mwonzora in the place of Khupe.

It is custom tradition that a person declares their candidate of choice months in advance. But Gutu was aloof on supporting Khupe.

The development comes following last week’s Supreme Court verdict that ordered that their small party under Khupe must hold an extra ordinary Congress and elect a new leader in 90 days’ time.

Gutu is a sworn enemy of Khupe having clashed with her, eventually resigning from his post last year.

Gutu was asked, some say you are ruling behind Douglas Mwonzora. He immediately exploded with a loud laugh while saying, “Iwe mfana iwe, uri tsikamutanda here iwe? Hey young man, are you a wizard? LAUGH- All I am saying is whoever wants…” WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW… (credit newzimbabwe.com)

By A Correspondent- MDC top official Douglas Mwonzora has finally spoken out following massive social media speculation that he is keen on the opposition MDC forming a Government of National Unity (GNU) with the ruling Zanu PF party.

Social media has been filled with speculation and allegations that Mwonzora is eyeing the job of Prime Minister when the GNU comes into fruition.

The allegations came after members of the opposition MDC had a spectacular fallout after the Supreme Court ruled that 2018 presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa was not the legitimate leader of the party.

Mwonzora and Morgan Komichi welcomed the judgement but infuriated their erstwhile comrades when they seemed to have advance knowledge of how the court was going to rule. The has resulted in allegations that the two had been conspiring behind the scenes with Zanu PF and President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

However, Mwonzora has categorically denied the claims saying that it was a smear campaign meant to tarnish his good name following the seismic judgement.

In a statement on Sunday, Mwonzora said:

“It has come to my attention that there are WhatsApp chats that have been thrown onto the social media purporting to be coming from me.

“In those chats, an impression is being created that I am in discussions with the government to form a Government of National Unity in which I will be Prime Minister.

“The chats are fake and malicious.

“For the record, my goal is not to be Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.

“My dream is to see a just and prosperous Zimbabwe where people make their political choices freely and without fear. A Zimbabwe free of political acrimony and rancour. The screenshots being circulated are just fake, cheap and malicious. Unintelligently done.

By A Correspondent- A health officer in Chipinge was recently suspended from work after she allegedly divulged confidential information regarding suspected coronavirus cases on social media,

According to reports received, the health officer,  Shungu Masuku, an environmental health officer at the Chipinge town council, sent several messages to a WhatApp group informing the group participants that there were six serious potential cases of Coronavirus (Covid-19) that the local authority was dealing with.

After news found its way to local authorities that Shungu illicitly leaked the information to the public, they immediately suspended her.

It is understood that the suspected Covid-19 cases had recently entered the country from South Africa- which is one of the African countries worst hit by the coronavirus epidemic.

The suspected cases are reported to have shown serious symptoms consistent with respiratory disease. They have since been tested and are awaiting results.

When she was contacted for comment , Masuku could not deny or confirm the development and instead referred the questions to the local authority.

Both the local authority secretary, Susan Dube and chairman Zivanai Nyakuchena professed ignorance over the matter. The publication however understands that the ‘whistleblower’ was suspended for divulging information that she had no authority to speak on.

Sources who spoke to the publication revealed that in mitigation, Masuku, claimed that she sent out the statement because she ‘genuinely’ wanted to warn people to heed Government’s call to stay at home and to adhere to regulations to do with the pandemic.

‘This health officer clearly wanted to help her fellow countrymen and then overlooked the bounds of her work. She must have been moved by the level of complacency among residents over the pandemic and therefore wanted to give them real examples to prickle their conscience.

The statement is powerful in a situation where very little information on patterns and distribution of the pandemic is available,’ said a source.

Below is the statement that Masuku allegedly sent to the WhatsApp group which was obtained by the publication.

‘In Chipinge we are doing six contact cases whose names and addresses were given from our entry points. One is in Medium, one in Gaza and four in low density. Saka lets be on the alert people. Tinogona kunge tinayo Covid 19 muno muChipinge (We may serious have Covid 19 here in Chipinge). Vanhu stay at home ndapota. Dutu parinozopera vamwe vedu vanogona kushaikwa nekusateerera (Please stay at home. We may lose many people here because of this pandemic. Please take heed, don’t lose your life by failing to listen to this message). From EHO Chipinge Town Council.’ said the statement that Masuku sent in the group.-MasvingoMirror

By A Correspondent- Former MDC-T Vice President Obert Gutu has threatened to invoke Section 129 of the Zimbabwe Constitution to recall all opposition members of parliament who will refuse to follow the dictates of the leadership of Thokozani Khupe.

Said Gutu:

“When the provisions of Section 129 (k) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe are activated, there shall be gnashing of teeth. When this happens (and by the way, it’s going to happen soon), then certain quarters will realise that the game has gone to another level. Kumagumo kunenyaya.” 

MDC Alliance MPs and Councillors have been issuing statements pledging loyalty to the leadership of Nelson Chamisa.

Section 129(1)(k) of the Zimbabwe Constitution says:

The seat of a Member of Parliament becomes vacant if the Member has ceased to belong to the political party of which he or she was a member when elected to Parliament and the political party concerned, by written notice to the Speaker or the President of the Senate, as the case may be, has declared that the Member has ceased to belong to it.

However political analyst and Constitutional lawyer Shephard Dube said the firing and recall of an MP is not as simple as What Gutu thought because the party has to follow the internal disciplinary procedure.

“What Gutu is saying sounds as if it’s a very simple thing but if we follow the spirit and the letter you will realize that it is more complex than that,” Dube said.

“The MDC Alliance members contested the elections under MDC Alliance and not under MDC-T. Remember there are people that came from the Welshman Ncube MDC and the PDP who are MPs. So how will Gutu recall them? In any case, there is legal precedence that an MP cannot be recalled if he is wrongly expelled from the party.

“Remember the case of Munyaradzi Kereke and Didymus Mutasa. In an out of court settlement, it was understood that Kereke had been sent a letter of purported dismissal by Mutasa on wrong allegations as Kereke’s dismissal from Zanu PF Party had not followed the Zanu PF constitutional process.

“Accordingly, the speaker of parliament ruled that Kereke remained a Member of the National Assembly, having been elected by the Bikita West Constituency under Zanu PF ticket and that he was a member of the Zanu PF Party.”-Online

By A Correspondent- Health and Child Care Minister Obadiah Moyo said the reason why Zimbabwe has tested less than 400 people for the novel coronavirus is that only those with symptoms are tested.

Zimbabwe’s health authorities’ stance contrasts with some countries were tens of thousands of tests are conducted daily, even for people who are not exhibiting symptoms for COVID-19.

Said Moyo:

There is talk that our figures (of people) who have been tested are low as compared to other countries.

We are testing only those presenting with symptoms synonymous with the coronavirus case definition.

Meanwhile, most countries that have confirmed coronavirus cases consider mass testing to be one of the most effective ways of curbing the spread fo the deadly disease.

Once a person is tested and confirmed positive, they are isolated for 21 days so that the virus is not passed on to other people.

Reports from China also indicate that over 20 per cent of the people who tested positive for the coronavirus did not exhibit any symptoms.-StateMedia

MDC Alliance top official and economist Tapiwa Mashakada has said the MDC-T and MDC-Alliance are two distinct parties that are registered with ZEC and they contested the 2018 General Elections separately each garnering seats in Parliament.

He made the remarks following the Supreme Court ruling that ruled that Nelson Chamisa is an illegitimate leader.

“MDC-T has 3 seats, MDC-A has 79 seats. Both parties held their separate Congresses. MDC-T held theirs in 2018 and MDC Alliance held it’s Congress in Gweru in May 2019. So where is the wrangle?” Mashakada asked.

“The Supreme Court has pronounced it’s judgement and ordered Dr Khupe to hold another Congress which is a second bite of the cherry. In a democracy people are free to pursue their own political affiliations as long people know the difference between MDC-T and MDC-A.”

He said the MDC-A leader is Advocate Nelson Chamisa who was elected at the Gweru Congress.

“The judgement does not order MDC-A or Advocate Chamisa to comply with anything. For MDC-A it is business as usual while for MDC-T it is Congress time – in 3 or 4 months. There is no conflation of the 2 parties which in my view will continue to exist separately as 2 seperate entities,” Mashakada said.

“The Court Judgement did not pronounce itself on Assets therefore the status quo remains. I remain a proud member of the MDC Alliance led by Advocate Nelson Chamisa and it is my inalienable democratic right.”

Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa has vowed that he will personally never take any Coronavirus vaccine giving extremely weird reasons for his stance.

Makandiwa also claims to have seen the Covid 19 coming sometime ago and he is an outspoken individual. Now he has his conspiracy theory on the Covid 19 vaccine, he says the vaccine is harmful to our health. “Him and his family would rather go to jail than to be forced to take the vaccine”. He continues to say the cure has been found but some greedy people are holding it back because they are making money out of this Covid 19.

Government has warned that it will take drastic action against anyone who spreads inaccurate information on the Coronavirus.

Watch video downloading below:

Emmanuel Makandiwa has told all other prophets to stop claiming that they also predicted the coming of the Coronavirus instead insisting that he is the only one to have done so some five years back.

He was conducting his international online sermon on Facebook, Sunday, titled The Church The Cure.

“Do you remember that I said a disease is coming and I said it is coming from the sea,” Makandiwa said.

“I go by what God is saying rather than what men are saying because men are capable of darkening the councils of God.

“Now that the disease is around, most people (Prophets) feel obligated to talk about it.

“Whatever you hear being said by the people, whether they are politicians, scientists, women or men of God, you must understand that talking of the coronavirus is very suicidal.

“Before we had this pandemic, we had an opportunity as men of God to talk about it for us to believe, we should have said something about it before.”

On three occasions, he told his congregants of a demonic spirit from the sea that will go on a rampage killing millions by contaminating the atmosphere.

Added Makandiwa: “I see there is a lot of pressure, certain individuals they feel obligated because they look at the magnitude of this disease, how it has destroyed established structures and systems, money has been lost, time has been wasted, at this point they are saying I should have seen this.

“Hear me child of God, he cannot be coming now telling you concerning the end of something that he did not talk to you about concerning its beginning.

“Have you seen the thing before it started for you to see how it is going to end?

“Somebody who was able to see this before is in a better position to see because that person is strategically positioned, he stands a better chance of seeing how again it is going to end and if I were you, I would believe that person.

“When the disease is about to go, I will know, there is noway that we can have an argument in that area.”

So far, the disease has claimed more than 64 000 and infected over a million worldwide.

Zimbabwe only has nine confirmed cases and one related death.

THE military has been roped in to complement police in enforcing the 21-day lockdown, a strategy that is being implemented by other countries throughout the world to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) had been enforcing the lockdown which has seen nearly 2 000 people being arrested countrywide for defying the stay-at-home order.

Police and soldiers are now jointly manning roadblocks and conducting patrols in suburbs to ensure that the public complies with the lockdown measures.

Defence and War Veterans Affairs Deputy Minister Victor Matemadanda said the deployment of the military was an operational issue which should be embraced as most countries have jointly deployed security forces for improved efficiency.

“At a personal level I don’t get involved in an operational matter. That is for the Joint Operations Command (JOC). But obviously when you see them working together like I have always said, they get involved at the request of the Zimbabwe Republic Police,” said Deputy Minister Matemadanda.

“But anyway, it’s not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe, every other country that has taken (lockdown) measures has deployed the police and the army – all security agents to make sure that this is contained. If the deployment is being done now, I think Zimbabwe was even the last because everywhere else, soldiers are deployed because it is an emergency situation.”

To contain the virus, countries across the globe have implemented lockdowns and the military is playing a crucial part.

As part of lockdown enforcement measures, neighbouring South Africa on March 27 deployed both the army and police to ensure the public complies with the 21-day lockdown.

In Zimbabwe, the lockdown began last week on Monday and during this period people are required to stay at home, with only those providing essential services allowed to report for work. Only those providing essential services such as shops selling food and pharmacies are authorised to open. Travel between cities and provinces has been banned and within towns and cities, only Zupco buses provide public transport.

Movement of people and large gatherings are some of the fastest ways the virus is spread, hence the need for citizens to confine themselves at home.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Sunday took his huge motorcade of heavily armed security details around Harare’s high density suburbs as he took time to check on the compliance to the national lockdown.

Mnangagwa’s tour started in Mabvuku and Tafara. He then proceeded to Kuwadzana before moving to New Marimba, Mufakose, Glen View, Budiriro, Highfield, Glen Norah and Chitungwiza.

He did not leave his vehicle because of the need to maintain social distance and did not address anyone in the residential areas though scores of residents had to come out of their homes into the streets to get sight of the huge motorcade.

The tour revealed that people generally took heed of the lockdown.

Most market stalls were unoccupied and people fetching water from community boreholes did so in an orderly manner, with police and municipal police helping to keep order at the boreholes.

President Mnangagwa commended the people for their discipline.

“We have been to Mabvuku, Tafara, Kuwadzana, Glen View, Budiriro, Highfield, Chitungwiza and so on; I am so amazed by the discipline our people have. Right through, people were in their homes. Those who were out, like in Mabvuku where I saw some people fetching water but with total discipline, were well organised. I am so happy and I think that people actually appreciate the reason why the Government has imposed this lockdown.

“I really appreciate that they heeded the call by Government to keep the social distance.”

Perhaps unaware of the hard hands of the police in enforcing compliance, Mnangagwa applauded Zimbabweans for “exercising self-discipline.”

“In some other countries, police beat up people for them to disperse and I admire and praise our people for the discipline. For the three hours we drove around, I saw very few policemen but people are complying, which is good and I praise our people for the discipline they have shown.

Police have detained hundreds of people for contravening regulations imposed for the 21-day lockdown in Zimbabwe — with a journalist facing up to a year in jail.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) had been enforcing the lockdown which has seen nearly 2 000 people being arrested countrywide for defying the stay-at-home order.

Police and soldiers are now jointly manning roadblocks and conducting patrols in suburbs to ensure that the public complies with the lockdown measures.

“This is also my first lockdown experience and I wanted a direct experience by going around seeing how our people are reacting to the lockdown and what I saw is amazing. I think if this discipline is kept, I am hopeful it will mitigate against the spread of the pandemic.”

President Emmerson Mnangagwa says that government will make an assessment and decide on whether to extend or end the Coronavirus lockdown after the 21 day lockdown.

He acknowledged that there was an economic and social impact that had to be considered.

Speaking after touring many high-density suburbs in Harare and Chitungwiza to see for himself what was happening, he said Government was alive to the economic and social implications of the lockdown, but he would not prejudge that decision.

“I would not want to prejudge our decision. At the end of the 21 days, we are going to review our decision; if we think that it is containable we may go back because it has its economic impact,” he said.

“We have to weigh the possibilities of relaxing or continuing at the end of the 21 days. I cannot say now what is going to happen after, but what I can say is that currently I am happy with the way people have responded. You know we declared a lockdown.

“This is the first time that this country is going through a lockdown, so I felt it was important for me to go around and see how people are taking this measure to be kept at home.”

Government has warned individuals, private organisations and pharmacies that are selling unapproved Covid-19 rapid test kits that do not comply with Ministry of Health and Child Care, and World Health Organisation (WHO) specifications and protocols, saying such tests may produce erroneous results.

Private companies and some pharmacies have been selling unapproved rapid Covid-19 test kits online in Zimbabwe.

Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo said the sale of these unregistered kits was illegal and whoever is involved in such has to stop immediately as all rapid test kits have to be initially evaluated for their specificity and sensitivity by the National Micro Biology Reference Laboratory.

“It has come to our attention that there are a number of individuals, organisations and pharmacies that are selling unregistered coronavirus test kits.

“As Government, we strongly condemn this because these organisations are not following the WHO laid down specifications,” said Dr Moyo.

The minister reiterated that the ministry will follow the WHO protocol of testing those who fall within the case definition of the coronavirus as well as testing those who would have travelled from Covid-19 affected countries and their contacts.

However, individuals who want to confirm their Covid-19 status are not restricted and can be tested at registered healthcare facilities that utilise approved Covid-19 testing systems.

POLICE in Victoria Falls are investigating a case where four junior officers, who were seemingly drunk, allegedly ran amok and assaulted residents leaving two injured and hospitalised on Friday evening.

The beatings left Mr Munyaradzi Sakho (29) who is a former Triangle FC soccer player hospitalised at Victoria Falls Hospital with multiple injuries on the back and face while Mr Stanley Chiwambo (41) was treated and discharged.

The two were beaten at the houses facing Mukali Business Centre at about 8pm on Friday and the four suspected police officers allegedly fled from the scene as residents threatened to beat them up after Mr Sakho had collapsed as a result of the assault.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday confirmed the incident and said investigations were still going on.

“We are investigating with a view to identify the officers involved and find out what transpired.

We want to establish how and why they went to that house because they were not on duty. Correct facts will only come out after the investigations,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.-State media

A ZANU PF official and council chairman for Chikomba District, Israel Dhikinya is reportedly under fire from the party’s leadership in the district for allegedly working with councillors from the opposition MDC.

A letter dated March 24, 2020, has been sent to Joel Biggie Matiza, the party provincial chairperson, copied to the President’s Office and the district development co-ordinator notifying him of the resolution to bar Dhikinya from serving as the council chairman.

Dhikinya is accused of assigning an unnamed MDC Alliance councillor to distribute food to Zanu PF supporters during the official handover of government houses to Cyclone Idai victims in Masasa recently.

It reads in part:
We have resolved in the meeting of the Chikomba Zanu PF leadership that Cde Dhikinya, who is the chairman of the Chikomba Rural District Council, stops to operate as the chairman of the council representing Zanu PF as he is causing damage to the name of the party (sic) .

Dhikinya is also accused of denouncing the party and refusing to give council residential stands to Zanu PF youths for free.

The development was confirmed by ZANU PF provincial member in Chikomba District, Moses Matarutse.-NewsDay

A Chirundu motorist injured two police officers after he attempted to run over them while they were doing patrols to ensure that residents were in compliance with the 21-day national lockdown to control the spread of the COVID-19.

Andrew Matsika allegedly tried to run over Constable Chimberengwa and Constable Chinyandu after the two officers confronted him while he was fixing his car last Thursday.

Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said they were investigating the incident.

He said:
Police are investigating an incident where the suspect tried to run over Constable Chinyandu, who suffered minor injuries, before engaging the reverse gear that saw Constable Chimberengwa suffer head injuries.

He was later ferried to Mutenderi Mission Hospital while Chinyandu was attended at Chirundu clinic.

Residents in the border town have complained that the law enforcement agents were using heavy-handed tactics to keep them at home.

Meanwhile, videos of police officers torturing residents found wandering on the streets during the lockdown have begun to surface online, with one report claiming that drunk officers beat a Victoria resident to a pulp after they found him standing in his yard.- The Standard

POLICE have, as per their recent warning, increased the number of roadblocks in the country – stopping and sending back both motorists and passengers in Zupco buses without a good reason to be on the roads.

This comes as more than 1 500 people have been arrested and made to pay fines for violating the tough measures that were recently introduced by the government, as part of measures aimed at ensuring compliance with the 21-day lockdown imposed by authorities.

In Bulawayo yesterday, hordes of bus passengers without letters of authorisation were forced to drop off at the roadblocks and ordered to return back home.

Similarly, many motorists intending to access the city’s central business district (CBD) were also ordered to go back home if they had no good reason to do so.

The CBD was virtually deserted, as most people complied with the lockdown regulations.

Police also barred people who wanted to buy farm produce at vending stalls, a day after President Emmerson Mnangagwa sanctioned fruit and vegetable trading in the country – following an outcry by rights and labour groups.

In the meantime, and with police enforcing compliance and turning away nonessential service providers from accessing the CBDs of major towns, this has resulted in shortages of basic goods and services in many high density areas.-NehandaRadio

By A Correspondent- A google search of a company called Big Brains did not yield any positive results.

The Big Brains company encountered is an e-learning startup with a different logo to the one on the letterhead below.

It is not clear whether this is genuine new or fake news.

MDC official Morgen Komichi has been accused by a Communications company Big Brains for failing to pay for speech services rendered to him on the 30th of March 2020.  The company said Komichi promised to pay on the 1st of April but he never honoured the promise.

One L. Mujokoro the head of Finance and Accounting said, “We hope that you are happy with our services whose outcome clearly achieves your objectives as outlined in your service requisition form.

“We, however, note with concern that despite your undertaking to effect payment of the said services on or before the 1st of April 2020, you have not paid the same and are now ignoring our calls. Your delay to effect this payment also affect third parties like our assigned staff members whom we pay on commission on a job to job basis.”

Komichi has been given a deadline of 7 April to pay the bill.

“We hope that you will appreciate the sacrifice and risk they took to attend to you during this lockdown period. In the interest of fulfilling our obligations to our commission-based staff, we write to remind that you attend to payment of the said amount before Monday the 7″ of April 2020.”

By A Correspondent- MDC top politicians, Welshman Ncube and Douglas Mwonzora have had ugly exchanges on twitter with the latter accusing the party vice president of plotting a coup against disputed party leader Nelson Chamisa.

The simmering rivalry within the main opposition has been ignited by a recent Supreme Court ruling declaring Chamisa’s rise to the party helm as fraudulent.

The exchanges followed claims by Ncube that party politicians who openly celebrated the Supreme Court ruling had been sold a dummy by the court.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court Tuesday upheld an earlier High Court order for the beleaguered party to revert back to its leadership elected in 2014 and to call for an extra-ordinary elective congress within three months.

Mwonzora and Morgen Komichi, two party leaders who emerged victorious from the cited congress, have openly welcomed the ruling, drawing wide condemnation from the party faithful for alleged treachery.

In a bitter exchange of words on Twitter, Mwonzora questioned whether Ncube was not throwing dust in  Chamisa’s eyes as he allegedly did with former president of the now defunct MDC splinter group Arthur Mutambara.

Ncube was first to lead an MDC revolt back in 2005, which saw the party split into two with the Ncube formation later inviting Mutambara to become its leader. Founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now late, remained with the mainstream MDC.

Ncube, who was secretary general of the splinter group, later took Mutambara’s job at a party congress, something that did not go well with the one-time deputy prime minister who was allowed to cling to his government job by then State President Robert Mugabe.

Charged Mwonzora, “We must equally ask are you (Ncube) not deliberately setting up Nelson Chamisa for failure so that you take over from him in 2024 as you did Mutambara some years back?”

“Given your rebellion against Tsvangirai it becomes a habit does it not? Only time will tell.”

Ncube responded: “We do not need to wait for time to tell, Chamisa is astute, very astute. He does not need me to make informed and strategic choices.

“Speaking for myself, and you can take this to your vault, I will not take over or rather I will not see to take over in 2024 or at any other time.”

Mwonzora finds himself fighting for his political life amid a volley of accusations by angry MDC members he was a party sell-out.

By A Correspondent- NewsDay and Voice of America correspondent Nunurai Jena, 55, was stopped at a police checkpoint in Chinhoyi and initially accused of using an expired press card before the officers charged him of disorderly conduct.

The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) on Thursday condemned the arrest a second journalist during Zimbabwe’s 21-day coronavirus lockdown. On Monday, police arrested and later released Gweru-based freelance journalist Kudzanai Musengi for possessing a 2019 press card.

The information ministry intervened in that incident and explained that journalists were yet to be issued with press cards for 2020, owing to delays by the Zimbabwe Media Commission in gazetting new fees.

Jena was taken to Chinhoyi Magistrates Court after his arrest but the court was closed and is now expected to appear at the same court on Friday. 

ZUJ secretary Foster Dongozi said:

“This is getting ridiculous and out of hand. Journalists have become a significant statistic in Zimbabwe. Let’s fight COVID-19, not journalists.”

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said it had deployed one of its lawyers, Kudzai Choga, to represent the journalist.

In a statement, the lawyers said:

“Jena was charged with contravening section 11(a)(b) of the Public Health (COVID-19), Prevention, Containment and Treatment (National Lockdown) Order, 2020 and with disorderly conduct as defined in section 41(b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act after he was arrested while recording video footage of some police officers who were manning a checkpoint set up long the Chinhoyi-Chegutu highway in Mashonaland West province.

“Zimbabwe Republic Police members who arrested Jena claimed that he insulted some police officers who were manning the checkpoint by accusing them of being corrupt and thus hindered and obstructed them from carrying out their duties, including refusing to comply with their orders.

“ZRP claimed that Jena recorded video footage of them checking on and educating some pedestrians and motorists about the carriage and movement of people as stipulated in regulations gazetted by the government early this week to contain the spread of coronavirus, and without the consent of police officers.

“Jena was first quizzed for using a 2019 media accreditation card before the law enforcement agents backed down as its use is still valid.”

By A Correspondent- Former Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Godfrey Gandawa has urged opposition Members of parliament to resign from the August house and leave ZANU PF to fail on its own.

Said Gandawa on Sunday:

“Continuing to participate in corrupted processes only serves to legitimise an oppressive system. Resources permitting, opposition MPs should resign and allow the regime to go it alone. Only when we remove the futile hope offered by the system can we emerge with something new.”

By A Correspondent- The Deputy Minister of Information, Energy Mutodi has said that Zimbabwean music icon, Thomas “Mukanya” Mapfumo’s political choices are affected by his old age.

Posting on Twitter, Mutodi a former rhumba musician said:

Good music does not translate to good politics. I like Dr Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo’s music. He is excellent but he gets lost when it comes to politics. After witnessing the war & singing in support of the struggle, Mukanya is losing it all because of age.

Mukanya started Chimurenga music before independence. The music genre was a symbol for the struggle against injustice as it assumed a distinct and threatening presence in war-torn Rhodesia.

Mapfumo used music to ridicule the colonial regime, denounce poverty while advocating for freedom. When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980, Mapfumo turned his attention to looming corruption, grinding poverty, and the decaying rule of law by the Robert Mugabe administration.

His music, as in Rhodesia, was censored upon his release of the “Corruption” album in independent Zimbabwe forcing him to relocate to the USA in 2000 where continued with his music.

Mapfumo who briefly returned to Zimbabwe after the demise of the late Mugabe is also a staunch critic of President Mnangagwa’s administration.

By A Correspondent- Munyaradzi Sakho (29) said he was dragged from his yard and thoroughly beaten by four drunk police officers around 8 pm on Friday.

The former Triangle FC soccer player is now hospitalised at Victoria Falls Hospital after he sustained multiple injuries on the back and face.

Another victim of the brutal attack, Stanley Chiwambo (41), was also injured but was treated and discharged.

Struggling to speak from his hospital bed, Sakho told Sunday News that he was beaten by the police officers after he failed to tell them of his neighbour’s whereabouts.

He said:

I closed the butchery where I work and went to submit the day’s cash to the owner. I had just got home when they suddenly pounced on me when I was at the veranda.

I couldn’t even understand what they wanted because they asked for our neighbour and when I said I didn’t know his whereabouts they started beating me up and dragged me out of the yard.

Meanwhile, residents who live close to Mukali Business Centre where the assaults took place said the four policemen had been on duty patrolling in the suburbs during the day and were still in uniform when they allegedly committed the offence.

After committing the offence, the police officers fled from the scene when residents threatened to beat them up after Sakho had collapsed as a result of the assault.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said investigations were being conducted to ascertain what really transpired.-StateMedia

By A Correspondent- People’s Party youths have called on government to establish an independent investigations directorate to redress police brutalities against civilians.

The youths alleged that the brutalities by the police goes unnoticed hence the force continued perpetuating these injustices.

Said the youths:

“As People’s Party Youths, we call upon the government to establish an Independent Police Investigations Directorate to deal with the brutalities by ZRP. These officers go rogue unattended and its a crisis in communities.”

By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he is impressed by how Zimbabweans are adhering to the lockdown regulations.

Mnangagwa spoke to the media after he had a drive-through tour of Mabvuku, Tafara, Kuwadzana, Mufakose, Budiriro, Glen View, Zengeza and Chitungwiza on Sunday to see how people are coping with the lockdown which is set to last for three weeks.

Said Mnangagwa, “Wishing a blessed Sunday to my brothers and sisters in lockdown. I am proud of the way you have responded to this challenging situation, with discipline, commitment, and spirit. The road is long, but we are on the right path. Stay strong and keep it up. Together, we shall overcome!”

Presidential  Spokesperson George Chamba said Mnangagwa wanted to see for himself how Zimbabweans were living during this period.

“The President was highly impressed by the level of self-discipline throughout the suburbs, with movements limited to securing necessities like water, medical services, and food. This unscheduled drive-through, caught everyone by surprise, including yours truly who scrambled out of bed to .catch up with the impromptu tour. This allowed the President to meet society in its spontaneous, unorganized form in order to gauge what really goes on behind protestations of compliance. Happily, Zimbabweans did not disappoint.

“Even on communal water points, joint ZRP and municipal police manned and organized communities for order and social distancing. It became clearer that the water supply situation in our cities and towns need urgent attention.”

Charamba added that the communities were happy to see the President visiting them.

“Communities really appreciated the fact of a leadership mindful of the need to show empathy and first-hand appreciation of how families are coping. The whistle trip became the only appropriate mode and approach in the wake of the severe lockdown during which crowds and crowding are disallowed.

Without discounting other possibilities, the President intimated that would keep reviewing the situation for appropriate adjustments and responses, bearing in mind the lockdown levies enormous social and economic costs on society.

MDC Alliance secretary-general Chalton Hwende has dismissed MDC-T acting president Thokozani Khupe’s claims that she is part of the Alliance.

Hwende asserted that Khupe refused to meet the then MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai when he invited her for meetings in 2017 because she was angry with the trade unionist because of his decision to form the MDC Alliance.

When Pres Tsvangirai was sick he tried to have meetings with Khupe as someone that he had worked with for a long time.

But She hated MT’s decision to form the MDC Alliance so much that she refused to come and see him only to appear at the Funeral claiming to be the Chief Mourner.

The Sunday Mail of 6 August 2017 reported that Khupe and other top officials did not attend the launch of the MDC Alliance the previous day following an earlier confrontation with Tsvangirai over the alliance.

According to the report, Khupe accused Tsvangirai of dictatorial tendencies after he reportedly signed the pact without the blessings of his comrades.

Meanwhile, Khupe has since declared that she is part of the MDC Alliance and will seek to find out how funds allocated to the party under the Political Parties Finance Act were used.

The MDC Alliance consisted of the MDC-T then led by Tsvangirai and later Chamisa, Transform Zimbabwe, Professor Welshman Ncube’s MDC, Zimbabwe People First, the Multi-Racial Christian Democratic Party, People’s Democratic Party, and Zanu Ndonga.

Standard|FLAMBOYANT businessman Frank Buyanga has demanded “remote” meetings with his former girlfriend to discuss their child’s welfare, saying he fears meeting her in person will expose him to the coronavirus.

Buyanga is embroiled in nasty court battles with Chantelle Muteswa over the custody of their child.

The millionaire businessman left Zimbabwe with his son ahead of a court hearing that was scheduled for last week. Muteswa accused him of snatching the boy from her at a shopping centre in Harare.

Buyanga now wants a conference call via Skype to discuss the custody of the boy, a letter from his lawyers sent to Muteswa’s lawyers has revealed.

He argued that it was impossible for him and the boy to have face-to-face meetings with Muteswa due to the deadly coronavirus.

“We are instructed on behalf of Frank Sadiqi Buyanga in relation to the custody matter involving his son and Chantelle Muteswa,” Buyanga’s lawyer, Waller Pollins Goldstein, wrote.

“In light of the current Covid-19 situation and your client having been sentenced to prison for contempt of court, it is clearly unsafe for her to have face-to-face access to her child.

“We, therefore, propose to have remote meetings going forward.

“Please advise us of your times and conveniences in order to arrange a skype meeting with the child.”

Buyanga said he was concerned about an alleged false press release issued by Muteswa insinuating that he kidnapped his son.

The flamboyant businessman said he was considering relocating to the United Kingdom and was weighing options to move the child custody battle to courts in that country.

High Court judge Justice Happius Zhou recently delivered a landmark ruling on custody for children born out of wedlock after granting Buyanga and Muteswa joint guardianship of their child.

Previously Zimbabwe’s common law only granted sole guardianship to mothers for children born out of wedlock.

Last week Buyanga wrote a letter to the Judicial Service Commission complaining about one of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s sons Collins’ alleged interference in the case between him and Muteswa.

He claimed Collins was in direct contact with High Court judge Justice Jacob Manzunzu, who is handling the case. Buyanga said the president’s son was linked to Muteswa

CHIPINGE – A Chipinge Town Council Environmental Health Officer (EHO) has been suspended for warning residents on a WhatssApp group of six serious potential cases of Corona Virus that the local authority is dealing with.

The Mirror is reliably informed that Shungu Masuku was suspended on Wednesday after she told residents to take Covid 19 seriously because there were cases of people who had entered Chipinge from South Africa and they had serious symptoms of Covid 19.

It is understood that the results of the six samples sent to Harare for tests are not yet known.

Masuku referred questions to her superiors at the local authority when asked for a comment.

Both the local authority secretary, Susan Dube and chairman Zivanai Nyakuchena professed ignorance over the matter.

The Mirror however understands that Masuku was suspended for divulging information that she had no authority to speak on.

Sources said, it is her defence that she sent out the statement because she ‘genuinely’ wanted to warn people to hid Government’s call to stay at home and to adhere to regulations to do with the pandemic.

The Mirror has seen the statement that Masuku sent on the group below.

“In Chipinge we are doing six contact cases whose names and addresses were given from our entry points. One is in Medium, one in Gaza and four in low density. Saka lets be on the alert people. Tinogona kunge tinayo Covid 19 muno muChipinge (We may serious have Covid 19 here in Chipinge). Vanhu stay at home ndapota. Dutu parinozopera vamwe vedu vanogona kushaikwa nekusateerera (Please stay at home. We may lose many people here because of this pandemic. Please take hid, don’t lose your life by failing to listen to this message). From EHO Chipinge Town Council.”

“This health officer clearly wanted to help her fellow countrymen and then overlooked the bounds of her work. She must have been moved by the level of complacency among residents over the pandemic and therefore wanted to give them real examples to prickle their conscience. The statement is powerful in a situation where very little information on patterns and distribution of the pandemic is available,” said a source.

• MasvingoMirror

Villagers from Buvuma area of Gwanda South have reported that three people have died in the area allegedly due to malaria, according to a local health centre.

Terrified villagers who spoke to ZimEye.com in confidence indicated that the three people were part of eight people in the area who have exhibited rare signs of a malaria infection leaving them believing that the deaths could have been Coronavirus cases.

The area is highly infested with cross border workers from South Africa and Botswana.

This is a developing story more details to follow …….

MDC top politicians, Welshman Ncube and Douglas Mwonzora have had ugly exchanges on twitter with the latter accusing the party vice president of plotting a coup against disputed party leader Nelson Chamisa.

The simmering rivalry within the main opposition has been ignited by a recent Supreme Court ruling declaring Chamisa’s rise to the party helm as fraudulent.

Mwonzora claimed Ncube was intentionally leading Chamisa astray so he could snatch his boss’s job at their party’s next congress in 2024.

The exchanges followed claims by Ncube that party politicians who openly celebrated the Supreme Court ruling had been sold a dummy by the court.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court Tuesday upheld an earlier High Court order for the beleaguered party to revert back to its leadership elected in 2014 and to call for an extra-ordinary elective congress within three months.

Mwonzora and Morgen Komichi, two party leaders who emerged victorious from the cited congress, have openly welcomed the ruling, drawing wide condemnation from the party faithful for alleged treachery.

In a bitter exchange of words on Twitter, Mwonzora questioned whether Ncube was not throwing dust in  Chamisa’s eyes as he allegedly did with former president of the now defunct MDC splinter group Arthur Mutambara.

Ncube was first to lead an MDC revolt back in 2005, which saw the party split into two with the Ncube formation later inviting Mutambara to become its leader. Founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now late, remained with the mainstream MDC.

Ncube, who was secretary general of the splinter group, later took Mutambara’s job at a party congress, something that did not go well with the one-time deputy prime minister who was allowed to cling to his government job by then State President Robert Mugabe.

Charged Mwonzora, “We must equally ask are you (Ncube) not deliberately setting up Nelson Chamisa for failure so that you take over from him in 2024 as you did Mutambara some years back?”

“Given your rebellion against Tsvangirai it becomes a habit does it not? Only time will tell.”

Ncube responded: “We do not need to wait for time to tell, Chamisa is astute, very astute. He does not need me to make informed and strategic choices.

“Speaking for myself, and you can take this to your vault, I will not take over or rather I will not see to take over in 2024 or at any other time.”

Mwonzora finds himself fighting for his political life amid a volley of accusations by angry MDC members he was a party sell-out.

A ZANU PF official and council chairman for Chikomba District, Israel Dhikinya is reportedly under fire from the party’s leadership in the district for allegedly working with councillors from the opposition MDC.

A letter dated March 24, 2020, has been sent to Joel Biggie Matiza, the party provincial chairperson, copied to the President’s Office and the district development co-ordinator notifying him of the resolution to bar Dhikinya from serving as the council chairman.

Dhikinya is accused of assigning an unnamed MDC Alliance councillor to distribute food to Zanu PF supporters during the official handover of government houses to Cyclone Idai victims in Masasa recently.

It reads in part:
We have resolved in the meeting of the Chikomba Zanu PF leadership that Cde Dhikinya, who is the chairman of the Chikomba Rural District Council, stops to operate as the chairman of the council representing Zanu PF as he is causing damage to the name of the party (sic) .

Dhikinya is also accused of denouncing the party and refusing to give council residential stands to Zanu PF youths for free.

The development was confirmed by ZANU PF provincial member in Chikomba District, Moses Matarutse.-NewsDay

A Chirundu motorist injured two police officers after he attempted to run over them while they were doing patrols to ensure that residents were in compliance with the 21-day national lockdown to control the spread of the COVID-19.

Andrew Matsika allegedly tried to run over Constable Chimberengwa and Constable Chinyandu after the two officers confronted him while he was fixing his car last Thursday.

Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said they were investigating the incident.

He said:
Police are investigating an incident where the suspect tried to run over Constable Chinyandu, who suffered minor injuries, before engaging the reverse gear that saw Constable Chimberengwa suffer head injuries.

He was later ferried to Mutenderi Mission Hospital while Chinyandu was attended at Chirundu clinic.

Residents in the border town have complained that the law enforcement agents were using heavy-handed tactics to keep them at home.

Meanwhile, videos of police officers torturing residents found wandering on the streets during the lockdown have begun to surface online, with one report claiming that drunk officers beat a Victoria resident to a pulp after they found him standing in his yard.- The Standard

THE Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has assured the nation that the June and November Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations will go ahead as scheduled.

In a statement Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Ambassador Cain Mathema said there were no changes save for a few measures that have been put in place to ensure smooth registration in preparation for the examinations.

“In this regard I would like to inform the nation that as a result of the nationwide lockdown which was announced by His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa the following measures have been put in place.

“ZIMSEC has provided and electronic platform for the submission of candidates entry data and a proof of payment for the 2020 June and November examination” he said.

Minister Cain Mathema

As a means of easing communication during the nationwide lockdown, a call center has been set up at ZIMSEC head office to support heads of examination centres when they encounter problems in uploading entry data, he said.

Ambassador Mathema said candidates have also been advised not to physically visit their examination centers to verify their individual registration data as those will be done using statements of entry.

Heads of examination centres who fail to access the online platform must phone ZIMSEC call centres between 8 and 4pm for assistance.

-State Media

CHIPINGE – A Chipinge Town Council Environmental Health Officer (EHO) has been suspended for warning residents on a WhatssApp group of six serious potential cases of Corona Virus that the local authority is dealing with.

The Mirror is reliably informed that Shungu Masuku was suspended on Wednesday after she told residents to take Covid 19 seriously because there were cases of people who had entered Chipinge from South Africa and they had serious symptoms of Covid 19.

It is understood that the results of the six samples sent to Harare for tests are not yet known.Masuku referred questions to her superiors at the local authority when asked for a comment.Both the local authority secretary, Susan Dube and chairman Zivanai Nyakuchena professed ignorance over the matter.The Mirror however understands that Masuku was suspended for divulging information that she had no authority to speak on.Sources said, it is her defence that she sent out the statement because she ‘genuinely’ wanted to warn people to hid Government’s call to stay at home and to adhere to regulations to do with the pandemic.

The Mirror has seen the statement that Masuku sent on the group below.

“In Chipinge we are doing six contact cases whose names and addresses were given from our entry points. One is in Medium, one in Gaza and four in low density. Saka lets be on the alert people. Tinogona kunge tinayo Covid 19 muno muChipinge (We may serious have Covid 19 here in Chipinge). Vanhu stay at home ndapota. Dutu parinozopera vamwe vedu vanogona kushaikwa nekusateerera (Please stay at home. We may lose many people here because of this pandemic. Please take hid, don’t lose your life by failing to listen to this message). From EHO Chipinge Town Council.”

“This health officer clearly wanted to help her fellow countrymen and then overlooked the bounds of her work.

She must have been moved by the level of complacency among residents over the pandemic and therefore wanted to give them real examples to prickle their conscience. The statement is powerful in a situation where very little information on patterns and distribution of the pandemic is available,” said a source.

-Masvingo Mirror

THE Beautiful Bulawayo Trust, a committee formed to spearhead the fight against coronavirus (Covid-19) in the city has been given one week to set up a testing and isolation centre after it emerged yesterday that Bulawayo has no such facility.

Thorngrove Infectious Disease Hospital which had been earmarked to cater for Covid-19 cases in the city is still undergoing renovations and in the event of a reported case in the city, the patient has to be transferred to Harare for isolation.

The revelations were made by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Cde July Moyo at a Press conference after a meeting between a delegation from the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Covid-19 and members of the Trust last night.

The Trust is made up of various people from Bulawayo, ranging from academics to industrialists, who have come together to raise funds to help establish Ekusileni Medical Centre as a national Covid-19 isolation centre. Cde Moyo said the Trust has handed over a working document to the Ministerial Taskforce, which would be presented to President Mnangagwa.

“We will hand over this document to the President for deliberation but noting the situation which we are in at the moment, we have given the Trust a week to become operational of which they have assured us that they will be in a position to admit their first patient, if any, in the next week.

-State Media

MDC top politicians, Welshman Ncube and Douglas Mwonzora have had ugly exchanges on twitter with the latter accusing the party vice president of plotting a coup against disputed party leader Nelson Chamisa.

The simmering rivalry within the main opposition has been ignited by a recent Supreme Court ruling declaring Chamisa’s rise to the party helm as fraudulent.

Mwonzora claimed Ncube was intentionally leading Chamisa astray so he could snatch his boss’s job at their party’s next congress in 2024.

The exchanges followed claims by Ncube that party politicians who openly celebrated the Supreme Court ruling had been sold a dummy by the court.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court Tuesday upheld an earlier High Court order for the beleaguered party to revert back to its leadership elected in 2014 and to call for an extra-ordinary elective congress within three months.

Mwonzora and Morgen Komichi, two party leaders who emerged victorious from the cited congress, have openly welcomed the ruling, drawing wide condemnation from the party faithful for alleged treachery.

In a bitter exchange of words on Twitter, Mwonzora questioned whether Ncube was not throwing dust in  Chamisa’s eyes as he allegedly did with former president of the now defunct MDC splinter group Arthur Mutambara.

Ncube was first to lead an MDC revolt back in 2005, which saw the party split into two with the Ncube formation later inviting Mutambara to become its leader. Founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now late, remained with the mainstream MDC.

Ncube, who was secretary general of the splinter group, later took Mutambara’s job at a party congress, something that did not go well with the one-time deputy prime minister who was allowed to cling to his government job by then State President Robert Mugabe.

Charged Mwonzora, “We must equally ask are you (Ncube) not deliberately setting up Nelson Chamisa for failure so that you take over from him in 2024 as you did Mutambara some years back?”

“Given your rebellion against Tsvangirai it becomes a habit does it not? Only time will tell.”

Ncube responded: “We do not need to wait for time to tell, Chamisa is astute, very astute. He does not need me to make informed and strategic choices.

“Speaking for myself, and you can take this to your vault, I will not take over or rather I will not see to take over in 2024 or at any other time.”

Mwonzora finds himself fighting for his political life amid a volley of accusations by angry MDC members he was a party sell-out.

All Africa

By A Correspondent- MDC Vice President Professor Welshman Ncube has revealed that the Morgan Richard Tsvangirai house formerly known as Harvest House is not owned by the MDC.

In a wide-ranging interview with journalist Zenzele Ndebele on Saturday, Professor Ncube said the building was owned by a Trust which had a lease agreement with the MDC Alliance.

The issue of the building came amidst speculations that the MDC-T leader Thokozani Khupe would want to move into the building after the Supreme Court pronounced her as the rightful heir to the MDC-T throne which fell vacant after the death of Morgan Tsvangirai.

Ncube added that the supreme court judgment revealed that there was politicization of the judiciary because the judges turned a blind eye on some case judgments that were similar to the case at hand.

By A Correspondent- George Charamba the spokesperson of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said that the police’s confiscation of Mutare farmers’ goods was regrettable.

A video that circulated on social media suggests that police raided Mutare farmers on the 3rd of this month around 3 am and confiscated their goods arguing that they were defying the national lockdown decree.

The lockdown was imposed by president Mnangagwa in a bid to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Responding to his follower on twitter who had asked if there will be compensation to farmers whose goods were confiscated, Charamba said:

Can’t say just yet until after our Monday prayers. The incident was unfortunate, regrettable.

Following the confiscation, President Mnangagwa ordered the police to allow farmers and traders of agricultural produce to continue with their operations unhindered.

While announcing the lockdown, Mnangagwa said that access to essential services including health and food was not going to be suspended.

By A Correspondent- ZimEye reviews President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State House address to journalists.

Said Mnangagwa while responding to a question on whether the lockdown period will be extended or not:

“I would not want to pre judge what we will do… after the 21 day period, we will have to weigh the option of whether we are extending or not… but i am currently happy with the response by our people.”

Watch the live video below for this and more…..

By A Correspondent- Police in the mining town confirmed that several shops have been broken into since the lockdown started on Monday last week.

Daring thieves in Kwekwe have taken advantage of the 21-day lockdown and broken into shops where they have looted an assortment of goods.

Speaking during a Kwekwe District Taskforce on coronavirus (COVID-19) on Friday, the Officer Commanding Police in Kwekwe District, Chief Superintendent Conrad Mubaiwa, said several arrests have been made in connection with the break-ins.

“We have had cases of break-ins at Mbizo 4 Shopping Centre where thieves broke into several shops and looted groceries and other valuable goods. Investigations are still ongoing and more details will be coming as we go,” said Chief Supt Mubaiwa.

He said two arrests have so far been made in connection with the break-ins. 

“We have so far arrested two suspects who were believed to be going around with a commuter omnibus where they would load their goods. They are in police custody as we speak and they are assisting police with investigations,” he said.

Chief Sup Mubaiwa urged businesspeople to beef up their security during the lockdown period adding that police patrols would be increased in the town.

“We are going to beef up our patrols as police to ensure that businesses are safe from the daring thieves. But at the same time, we also encourage business people to also ensure that their businesses are well secured,” said Chief Supt Mubaiwa.

Meanwhile, Chief Supt Mubaiwa said police were taking measures to ensure that residents in Kwekwe abide to the set lockdown rules and avoid moving around willy-nilly.

“While most of the citizens have taken heed of the call by Government to stay indoors, we have had a few cases where some shops and bars have been opening and selling alcohol to people.

We as police, therefore, are going to ensure we enforce the call by the President. We are beefing up our police officers across the town to ensure that nothing like that happens,” he said.-StateMedia

By A Correspondent- The Ministry of Health and Child Care in Zimbabwe has responded to a news headline by Daily News which says “Shocker: Zim Corona Testing Kits Condemned.”

The Ministry said that the Minister of Health, Dr Obadiah Moyo had stated that defective kits were not used. Responding to Daily News’ tweet with the headline above, the Ministry said:

We appreciate your reportage @DailyNewsZim on Covid-19 news, but your screaming headline is giving false impression that all the tests which were done in Zimbabwe produced wrong results. Dr Obadiah Moyo clearly pointed out that defective kits were not used.

Other sceptical of the government however demand to know how the government managed to differentiate between defective and functional kits.

This comes when there are reports that some countries including Spain are accusing China of giving them defective kits which were not up to the task.

This also comes amid reports that about 14 percent of Chinese people that had recovered from coronavirus have tested positive again prompting some to say that perhaps the kits which initially tested them were defective.

By A Correspondent- Logan Williams who acted as the young Barry Allen “The Flash” has died aged 16.

Williams’s agent Michelle Gauvin, says he died Thursday. Gauvin did not give the cause of his death, but she said his sudden death comes as a “shock.”

Williams’s death was confirmed by firmed by Marlyse Williams his mother who told Tri-City News the family is “absolutely devastated”.

Mrs Williams also did not tell the cause of her son’s death but said coronavirus has made things harder for the family.

Tributes came pouring in for Williams who started acting at the age of 10 as his co-stars from series shared fond memories of the young actor on social media.

He appeared in other television shows, including “When Calls the Heart” and “The Whispers. ”star.-ABCNews

By A Correspondent- Senator Douglas Mwonzora was yesterday in an accident.

Speaking to ZimEye, Mwonzora confirmed the development and said the accident was minor and it occurred when he was coming from Engineer Elias Mudzuri’s house in the late afternoon along Lomagundi drive in Harare.

He said:

“Yes, I was involved in an accident while on my way from Mudzuri’s house. around 4pm. I was not hurt but the car is the one that was damaged when i rammed into a truck that was in front of me. I was fortunate that i was not hurt, but it is true, I was involved in an accident.”

Below are the pictures showing the accident…..

By A Correspondent- African Roots musician and sculptor-cum-politician Bryn Mteki says he is taking no chances with the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) and has since gone into self-isolation.

The Nora hit maker disclosed this in a video he posted on his WhatsApp status on Friday.

However, he did not reveal his recent travel history in the video, but a local publication established that Mteki, who contested the presidential election as an independent candidate, had entered the country from either Europe or the United States via Johannesburg on March 20.

“I am not just feeling a little bit well you know [sic]”, he said.

“It could be coronavirus, you know, corona scare. Just stay away, stay at home.

“I am just feeling a little bit under the weather, you know.”

Standard Style could not reach out to the musician to ascertain whether he had sought medical assistance or had gone for Covid-19 testing since he had travelled from high-risk areas.

However, a source close to the musician said Mteki was in self-isolation and taking no chances.

“He has no symptoms and looks perfectly well, but he decided not to mix with people, including his family, and has gone into self-isolation,” the source said.

In January, Mteki told this publication that he would spend the better part of this year in Europe and the US where he would hold exhibitions and attend arts festivals.

Popularly known as Sekuru Tau, Mteki surprised all and sundry when he threw his hat into the political ring for the July 31, 2018 presidential election as an independent candidate.-Standard

By A Correspondent- Nyaradzo Funeral Company says it is postponing a planned increase in premiums that was supposed to come into effect on 1 May 2020, until further notice.

In a statement, the company said the decision was made in view of the financial vulnerabilities facing its clients that have been triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The statement read:

As part of measures to complement Government efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across the whole country and the financial vulnerabilities this pandemic has caused on our clients, Nyaradzo Life Assurance Company would like to advise our valued clients that the implementation of the premium adjustment scheduled for 1 May 2020 has been deferred until further notice. We thank you for your continued support.

The company recently announced that it was suspending some of its services due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Services including removal of bodies from homes and bus service for mourners were among those affected.

By A Correspondent- Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika said Saturday he was taking a wage cut to help fund the fight against the coronavirus, and ordered his government to do the same.

Mutharika said in a statement he had ordered the treasury to cut his own salary and the wages of his ministers and deputy ministers by 10% for three months.

The money saved would be directed towards the fight against the novel coronavirus, he added.

Malawi has so far recorded four cases of the virus.

“Government will take measures to protect jobs and incomes, protect businesses and ensure continuity of the supply chain and the survival of the economy,” he said in a statement.

Mutharika also announced the opening of new testing centres for Covid-19 and the recruitment by the health ministry of 2,000 extra staff.

“We need more soldiers and human power in this fight,” he said.

Mutharika declared a state of emergency on March 23 to combat the virus, closing schools until further notice.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. According to World Bank figures, more than half of the 17 million population lives below the poverty line.-AFP

Standard|‘Vultures’ are not waiting for the death of the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (Ziscosteel), but are instead flying low for the kill, eyeing its mega-million assets, among them the steelworks’ real estate, it has emerged.

The first two installments in this series, where The Standard has been working with Information for Development Trust to expose alleged shady deals at the Midlands-based Zisco, revealed that government midwifed a controversial US$265 million takeover of the steelworks by ZimCoke, which paid only $1 in transfer fees.

Under the deal, ZimCoke is gunning to grab critical assets from the integrated Zisco — a state-owned enterprise — among them land, coke ovens, the railway line and stakes in essential subsidiaries such as ZimChem.

The current Zisco board led by Gift Mugano says ZimCoke is a “rogue investor” and is adamant that it will not allow the takeover because the purported seal flouted tender regulations and would effectively kill the steelworks, but ZimCoke insists it will not back down.

The Zisco board claimed last week that government, as the major shareholder, had recommended that the deal be revisited, but ZimCoke spokesperson and board member, Eddie Cross told The Standard that they had been given the go-ahead to upscale their work.

A document leaked to The Standard on Friday shows that the Zisco board had tasked its management to produce a close analysis of the possible impact of the ZimCoke deal, and the latter’s conclusion was that it would suffocate the resuscitation of the steelworks.

“The ZimCoke deal, in its current form, impinges on the resuscitation of Zisco, to such a serious extent that there will be no revival of Ziscosteel as an integrated steelworks as most of the plants are included in the ZimCoke domain and they will therefore be inaccessible to Zisco,” observed the company’s management.

Zisco cannot survive without its own coke batteries, coal supplies, the railway line, conveyor belt, gas holders, coke plant offices and workshop, refractory stores, the land on which it is sited, and water rights to Kwekwe River, among a host of other assets and enabling facilities that ZimCoke is gunning for, according to the management.

Documents and source testimonies showed that the ZimCoke deal also entailed the surrender of 400 general housing units, 15 executive houses, 48% shareholding in ZimChem, and all refractory materials, which were purchased by Zisco at the time they wanted to repair the batteries, pipes and electrical equipment.

The other assets that would go to ZimCoke are pipes, electrical equipment purchased by Zisco, granulated slag, which accumulated over the years and is used mainly by cement manufacturing companies, pig iron as well rail wagons at Dabuka and over 3 000 hectares of the steelworks.

A Zisco official who refused to be named said: “They (ZimCoke) want the houses from Torwood. Zisco has sold the houses and now remains with flats.

“So they are aiming to take over the flats and in the event Zisco is to be resuscitated, it will now have to rent flats for its workers from ZimCoke.

“The 15 executive houses are all that remains for the Zisco management.”

Paper trail has fingered several key persons perceived to be aligned to President Emmerson Mnangagwa that have already perched on Zisco properties.

July Moyo, Mnangagwa’s political sidekick for a long time and current Local Government minister, has been identified as one of the hawks eyeing Zisco assets.

Moyo, together with another Midlander and Mnangagwa ally, Daniel Mackenzie, was involved in negotiating the ZimCoke deal even though their roles remain hazy.

The minister has been occupying a Zisco house at Number 31 Orpheus Road from prior to the 2018 general elections and is reportedly negotiating to buy it, the same way Mnangagwa bought a house from the steel company about 20 years ago.

Mnangagwa has a house he bought from Zisco after renting it for some time, apart from buying Hotel Redcliff under unclear circumstances.

Moyo was reluctant to talk about his involvement.

“Talk to the people at Zisco,” he said, and dodged responding to specific allegations.

Mnangagwa’s ally, Arikana Chihombori-Quao, who is managing the president’s public relations in the US, took over Zisco’s Torwood hospital but it could not be immediately established if the purchase flouted any rules.

Chihombori-Quao, a medical doctor and activist, runs the US-based Bell Family Medical Centres and was recently removed by the African Union as its “permanent ambassador” to the USA.

In 2009, she attracted international condemnation for reportedly grabbing a white owned farm with the help of the Robert Mugabe government despite having lost her Zimbabwean citizenship when she became a US citizen.

At that time, Zimbabwean law did not permit dual citizenship.

“ZimCoke in its deal wants houses from Zisco,” a well-placed government official said. “This raises questions about why they would want houses, that Zisco still wants to use.

“They are an investor; they should build their own houses.

“It won’t be surprising that the deal is negotiated to allow some top officials easy access to the houses and critical assets when these are moved off the government company’s assets list,” said the source.

The official added: “Several questions have been raised as to why houses have formed part of the assets transfer to ZimCoke when Zisco also needs the resources to accommodate its own workers.”

But another official placed coal tar at the centre of the “vultures’’ interests.

Coal tar can be further processed to produce tar used for road construction, creosote, snake repellent and other related products.

“The need for high-grade coal tar started long back when a company, South Pole, which former president Robert Mugabe’s sons were believed to have a stake in, were targeting before the ZimCoke deal,” said the official.

The tar can be sold locally or within southern Africa for road construction.

“The Beitbridge-Chirundu dualisation project provides an easy market for the tar for ZimCoke to quickly break even,” the official added.

“That is the reason why it wants 48% shares in ZimChem (which processes the product) to influence the production of the tar.”

Cross denied allegations that ZimCoke was trying to grab Zisco assets and instead said their teams had stopped people from stripping the steel giant’s property.

“We have had a small team working at ZimCoke for over a year now,” Cross told The Standard.

“Their main task has been to stop the continuous theft of assets from the site — plant and equipment, scrap iron and cables.

“In addition, they have cut grass and fire breaks to protect assets and conveyor belts from bush fires.

“We have also sorted out all spares on-site and have started to prepare the site for the arrival of contractors.

“Offices have been renovated and we have had a succession of consultants on-site to look into what was needed to bring the plant back into production.

“All working drawings have been located and estimates of costs prepared. This has cost us close to US$1 million.”

Zimbabweans have expressed outrage over the recent fuel price increase announced by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) at a time when global fuel prices are going down.

Fuel prices have been static for several weeks but on Saturday, ZERA announced that the prices of diesel and petrol had been raised with effect from 5 April 2020.

According to a circular issued by ZERA, diesel now costs $21.52 while petrol costs $21.77. This means that for the first time in over a year, a litre of petrol now costs more than that of diesel.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Energy and Power Development, Fortune Chasi, says he will give an explanation on why the government, through ZERA, has increased fuel prices when global crude oil prices have been on a decline. Said Chasi:

FUEL PRICE INCREASE: the question being asked as to why our fuel price is going up when international prices are going down is a legitimate one. I will endeavour to give an explanation later today.

Prices of fuel have been going down over the past several weeks amid decreased demand and an oil price war sparked in part by the spread of the coronavirus.

According to US News, in March, Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s major oil exporters, announced plans to flood the market with oil in an escalation of a price war with Russia after the latter refused to go along with a plan to cut production in light of decreased demand.

Standard|Fears are growing that the government is poorly equipped to deal with confirmed coronavirus cases, following shocking revelations by a 52-year-old Ruwa resident who tested positive after a trip to the Middle East.

The new coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, was in January confirmed to have spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

It has spread fast throughout the world, killing more than 60 000 people in a short space of time, with Italy, the United States and Spain being among the most affected, while China seems to be already containing the pandemic.

Saul Sakudya, who tested positive to Covid-19 after travelling to Dubai last month, spoke out to The Standard, which worked in collaboration with Information for Development Trust to track down affected people, and revealed how officials bungled his case and almost cost his and the family’s lives.

His testimony exposed government’s poorly coordinated testing system and its neglect of confirmed cases.

Sakudya, who trades in electrical accessories, told The Standard that he travelled to Dubai on March 15 to buy stock for his small business, returning three days later.

He said he opted to be quarantined at his home after having a nightmarish experience from the day he decided to go for Covid-19 testing at Wilkins Hospital, the only such centre serving the capital.

A day after his arrival, on a Thursday, he developed a cough and, feeling tired, decided to spend the day at home.

“On Friday, my situation became worse, and at midnight, I started having a terribly dry cough, feeling dizzy, severe headache, loss of appetite, throat irritation and a severe backache, but I wasn’t sneezing,” he said.

After another day at home, he finally decided to consult a doctor, who prescribed antibiotics and advised him to go and rest, but his situation subsequently deteriorated.

“Monday morning, I decided to go for Covid-19 testing at Wilkins Hospital.

“My 21-year-old son drove me to the infectious diseases hospital. It was around 2pm. I was there when Zororo Makamba died,” added Sakudya.

Zororo, a 30-year-old television personality and son of James Makamba, a prominent Zanu PF politician-cum-businessman, succumbed to the disease on March 23, a few days after his return from the US.

His death provided the first glimpse into the Zimbabwean health system’s ill-preparedness to manage positive coronavirus cases.

The Makamba family complained immediately after Zororo’s death that they struggled to secure a ventilator and, even after it was accessed from a private practitioner, Wilkins Hospital did not have suitable plugs.

The family also complained that it was asked to pay US$120 000 for the hire of a ventilator and felt that Zororo’s death could have been avoided had the health system been functioning well.

Zororo was the second confirmed corona case, followed by Sakudya.

The third patient from Zimre Park in Ruwa, a suburb to the south-east of Harare, said he waited for a period far longer than the promised time to receive results after his Wilkins test.

“I was told that my results would come out in five hours and if they didn’t, it would mean that I had tested negative,” said Sakudya.

“I went back home to wait for my results. Five hours passed and no results came.”

As the wait took too long, he at one time visited his office in the city, driven by his 21-year-old son, the first born with his 40-year old wife, while his eldest son aged 24, is from a past relationship.

That day, three days after, was when he received a call from a Ministry of Health official confirming his case.

He returned home from the office to meet the ministry official who announced that he was taking him away for quarantine.

“Imagine, [they availed the results] after 72 hours. What if I had interacted with many people thinking that I was negative?” said a worried Sakudya.

It was also at that stage, he added, that they took samples from his 40-year-old wife, his son who had been driving him, and his 10-year-old daughter.

“I was asked to go to Wilkins for isolation. My son was still driving me.

“We went to Wilkins and were told the hospital was closing down for renovations.

“We were referred to the Beatrice Road Infectious Disease Hospital.

“At Beatrice, we were told to go back to Wilkins.

“They said they were not ready to handle a coronavirus case.

“We went back to Wilkins, but they refused to take us, this time referring us to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals,” said Sakudya.

Out of frustration, he called Prosper Chonzi, the head of health services at the Harare City Council, which runs Wilkins Hospital, to complain that he was being tossed around despite his condition.

Chonzi reportedly advised him to go home so that an ambulance would ferry him to an isolation centre the next day.

As promised by Chonzi, an ambulance was despatched to pick him up.

“They took me to Beatrice Hospital,” Sakudya said.

“There was chaos at the hospital with panicky nurses fleeing the hospital, complaining that they had no protective clothing to handle a Covid-19 patient.”

He was forced to remain in the ambulance for more than three hours and the nurses returned only when he was moved to a secluded spot at the hospital.

“I was finally admitted and doctors immediately came. I was injected and given antibiotics.

“The following day [Friday], I told them I wanted to be isolated at home because I needed warm water continuously,” he said, and that is how he returned to Zimre Park where he has been since then.

Health ministry officials subsequently brought his wife’s and 21-year-old son’s results out of the samples collected two days before.

His wife and son tested positive, while their 10-year old daughter tested negative.

Two maids and another relative were tested that day and their results came out negative two days later.

Government publicised the negative results without first advising Sakudya and his family.

“It was saddening that results came after announcements were made and were already circulating on social media. That is not good,” fumed Sakudya.

His worries are not over, though.

Since he and his family went into isolation, no one from the Health ministry or the social welfare department has bothered to check on them, despite the fact Zimbabwe, so far, has a manageable nine confirmed cases.

Only Chonzi and two other officials named as Duri and Mudariki have been checking on him since self-isolation started on March 24.

Sakudya, his wife and the two sons — the elder who is 24 — are self-isolating in a cottage at their Zimre home, while the family members who tested negative are now confined to the main house.

“We are using one bathroom,” he revealed. “We have devised a way that those who tested negative will bathe first, and those that are positive later, but we have to make sure we clean the bathroom thoroughly.”

Sakudya said his two sons had not developed any symptoms and his wife only complained of chest pains, and he said he was out of pain.

“Government has not been supportive. “It is not walking the talk.

“I was quarantined on March 24 and up to now, no one from the Ministry of Health or any government department has been here to see me, or provide food,” he said.

“It is now about 14 days to go for the national lockdown to be complete, I am not supposed to go out, but my government is not worried about how I am surviving.

“What is the social welfare department doing if it can’t help the vulnerable?” said Sakudya.

Zimbabwe is now into its seventh day of a national lockdown decreed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to manage Covid-19.

Well-wishers bring food and other essential items to Sakudya’s gate, phone to notify him of the deliveries and leave.

For Sakudya, who said he feared a death sentence had been passed on him the day he was diagnosed positive, life or routine during the isolation period has not been easy.

“I jog in my yard, listen to music and watch films. Sometimes I sleep for two hours.

“I am taking antibiotics and hot water with lemons.

“Sometimes I sleep for about two hours during the day. Those negative of the coronavirus will have their own world in the main house.”

He said Covid-19 patients need moral support, not disdain and discrimination.

“I felt my world was crumbling, like I was in a restriction cell where no lullaby could soothe the seething mass of despair, but am glad I am a new narrative of hope,” he added.

Thomas Muwodzeri, a former councillor in the ward under which Zimre Park falls, has also been offering the Sakudya family moral support.

“This is a national disaster and the government should take an active role,” he said.

“As residents, we need information to bail out our friends and brothers.”

Health ministry permanent secretary Agnes Mahomva confirmed to The Standard that Covid-19 test results must be availed within five or seven hours.

“I think there was a communication problem,” Mahomva said. “I don’t think it is possible that he was told that if results didn’t come out after five hours it meant that he was negative.”

On government support, Mahomva referred questions to the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, whose minister Paul Mavima was not picking calls.

However, the permanent secretary in the ministry, Simon Masanga, said his department had not been alerted of Sakudya’s ordeal.

“I am hearing about it from you only now. It’s a health issue and the ministry of Health is responsible,” Masanga said.

“If it is a case that the person needs food aid, it is our ministry and as soon as we have records, we will assist.”

MDC top politicians, Welshman Ncube and Douglas Mwonzora have had ugly exchanges on twitter with the latter accusing the party vice president of plotting a coup against disputed party leader Nelson Chamisa.

The simmering rivalry within the main opposition has been ignited by a recent Supreme Court ruling declaring Chamisa’s rise to the party helm as fraudulent.

Mwonzora claimed Ncube was intentionally leading Chamisa astray so he could snatch his boss’s job at their party’s next congress in 2024.

The exchanges followed claims by Ncube that party politicians who openly celebrated the Supreme Court ruling had been sold a dummy by the court.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court Tuesday upheld an earlier High Court order for the beleaguered party to revert back to its leadership elected in 2014 and to call for an extra-ordinary elective congress within three months.

Mwonzora and Morgen Komichi, two party leaders who emerged victorious from the cited congress, have openly welcomed the ruling, drawing wide condemnation from the party faithful for alleged treachery.

In a bitter exchange of words on Twitter, Mwonzora questioned whether Ncube was not throwing dust in  Chamisa’s eyes as he allegedly did with former president of the now defunct MDC splinter group Arthur Mutambara.

Ncube was first to lead an MDC revolt back in 2005, which saw the party split into two with the Ncube formation later inviting Mutambara to become its leader. Founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now late, remained with the mainstream MDC.

Ncube, who was secretary general of the splinter group, later took Mutambara’s job at a party congress, something that did not go well with the one-time deputy prime minister who was allowed to cling to his government job by then State President Robert Mugabe.

Charged Mwonzora, “We must equally ask are you (Ncube) not deliberately setting up Nelson Chamisa for failure so that you take over from him in 2024 as you did Mutambara some years back?”

“Given your rebellion against Tsvangirai it becomes a habit does it not? Only time will tell.”

Ncube responded: “We do not need to wait for time to tell, Chamisa is astute, very astute. He does not need me to make informed and strategic choices.

“Speaking for myself, and you can take this to your vault, I will not take over or rather I will not see to take over in 2024 or at any other time.”

Mwonzora finds himself fighting for his political life amid a volley of accusations by angry MDC members he was a party sell-out.

All Africa

State Media|THE Beautiful Bulawayo Trust, a committee formed to spearhead the fight against coronavirus (Covid-19) in the city has been given one week to set up a testing and isolation centre after it emerged yesterday that Bulawayo has no such facility.

Thorngrove Infectious Disease Hospital which had been earmarked to cater for Covid-19 cases in the city is still undergoing renovations and in the event of a reported case in the city, the patient has to be transferred to Harare for isolation.

The revelations were made by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, July Moyo at a Press conference after a meeting between a delegation from the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Covid-19 and members of the Trust last night.

The Trust is made up of various people from Bulawayo, ranging from academics to industrialists, who have come together to raise funds to help establish Ekusileni Medical Centre as a national Covid-19 isolation centre. Moyo said the Trust has handed over a working document to the Ministerial Taskforce, which would be presented to President Mnangagwa.

“We will hand over this document to the President for deliberation but noting the situation which we are in at the moment, we have given the Trust a week to become operational of which they have assured us that they will be in a position to admit their first patient, if any, in the next week.

Isolation wards undergoing renovation at Thorngrove hospital in Bulawayo.

“They have said they will start with a carrying capacity of 50, as the 50 beds are already available but the capacity is to go up to 200 but what the people of Bulawayo have said is that depending on the intensity of this coronavirus they think it is necessary to have a 600-bed capacity in the whole Metropolitan Province,” said Moyo.

He said Bulawayo did not have an isolation centre in case of an outbreak.

“In terms of testing there is equipment at the National University of Science and Technology and at Mpilo Hospital. We are in the process of combining these so we can do the testing here locally. I understand in Bulawayo we currently have the rapid testing equipment but it is not complete, so they have not started testing, therefore testing is at the moment only being done in Harare where samples from all corners of the country are sent,” said Moyo.

Early in the week, Sunday News sent written questions to the local authority’s spokesperson, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu who revealed that the local authority required US$300 000 for the complete refurbishment of Thorngrove hospital to be able to house Covid-19 cases.

“A third or less would make the hospital able to admit the first 50 patients comfortably,” said Mrs Mpofu.

Also present at the Press briefing were Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Professor Paul Mavhima, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Development, Prof Amon Murwira and the Minister of Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Mangaliso Ndlovu.

Meanwhile, the Government has directed that all council and privately-owned clinics and hospitals will fall under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Child Care as the country tries to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

This comes amid revelations that 21 health facilities have been identified to be turned as Covid-19 testing centres in Bulawayo, 19 of which are council-owned clinics.

“This all is done to ensure co-ordination and monitoring, so that we are able to win this war as a team,” said Moyo.
Cde Moyo further revealed that the Ministerial Taskforce was now actively involved in the mapping exercise where Covid-19 test sites in all districts are being identified.

“Right now, the numbers are few but we must not relax because we have not yet tested a lot of people, so when the testing increases, we might face challenges, which is why we are here as ministers to work on this mapping exercise. I am especially happy that people of Bulawayo are also working hard being led by the Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Judith Ncube ,” said Moyo.