NewsDay|A vigilante group called the “Scorpions” has unleashed a reign of terror in Nhwali village in Gwanda, Matabeleland South province, where it is accused of viciously assaulting villagers and leaving many injured.

The Scorpions are reported to have the backing and protection of Police Deputy Commissioner-General Learn Ncube, who reportedly comes from Zongwani village in the area.

The gang emerged in the last quarter of 2019 as a neighbourhood watch committees whose duty was to eradicate crime in the area but has since morphed into a terror group that is now imposing dusk to dawn curfew in the area.

Nhlanhla Moyo, one of the victims, was discharged from Gwanda District Hospital on Thursday. He said:

It all happened around 9 pm when I was on my way home. I was accosted by the thugs, who accused me of not heeding to their curfew.

I was made to roll on the ground as they whipped me with a sjambok all over the body after which they used a hammer to break my leg.

Ncube however, professed ignorance about the Scorpions and referred the Southern Eye reporter to Matabeleland South provincial police. He said:

I am not aware of such cases, probably we also have a provincial spokesperson and officer commanding province, you can find out if they received such reports or you can still check with national spokesperson Assistant Commission (Paul) Nyathi.

What I know are cases of stock theft which happen there.

… as for the Scorpions you are asking about, I do not know anything about them.

THE late former Zanu PF politburo member, Kumbirai Kangai’s widow, Miriam Kangai has won a High Court case against her step daughter, Mara Hativagone over distribution of the national hero’s estate.

Hativagone is Kangai’s eldest daughter from another relationship who in 2013, contested the decision by the Master of the High Court to authorise Miriam to use half of the money generated from the family business.

She approached the courts saying Miriam was not entitled to the 50% shareholding in Kangai’s business empire, Lunar Estates.

Hativagone, who is also former Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president, sued the Master of High Court, Eldard Mutasa, for the authorisation which she claimed was made based on fraud.

But the High Court on Tuesday ruled in favour of Miriam. Her lawyer, Vote Muza said the court dismissed Hativagoni’s case and ruled that the national hero’s widow was the major shareholder of the estate.

Judge Justice Jacob Manzunzu ruled that she should retain her 50% shareholding, while the other 50% shares held through Luna Estates, was to be equally shared among the beneficiaries.  Kangai’s former Buhera constituency was allotted 10% shares.

“The case Mara Hativagone brought collapsed after she failed to prove that Mrs Kangai was not entitled to 50% shares in Luna Estates,” the lawyer told NewsDay.

“Mrs Kangai made an application for absolution from the instance which was granted by consent of the plaintiff meaning she agreed that with the fact that she had brought a hopeless case. The position ruled by the master in 2013 that Mrs Kangai was a 50% shareholder therefore stands.”

Muza added: “Almost all of the major assets were held through the company Luna Estates and only a few movables left as residue shall be shared equally between Mrs Kangai and the surviving children of which 10% will go to his former Buhera constituency.”

Since the death of the former Zanu PF politburo member, there has been a protracted fight over Kangai’s property between his wife and children who did not want the widow to access anything from the deceased’s estate.

At one time, Hativagone was reported to the police on allegations of tempering with Luna Estates company registration papers in a bid to elbow the widow from the company.

State Media|A MAN from Tsholotsho who fatally struck a neighbour with an iron bar for having an affair with his under-age niece has been sentenced to a wholly suspended five-year jail term.

Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo, on circuit in Hwange said Mthulisi Dube (38) of Mlotheni area acted in self defence when he attacked Ntobeko Mathunjwa (21) who had ganged up with other villagers to assault him.

Justice Moyo also said Dube was not fit to serve a jail term because of he was of ill health.

Before start of court proceedings, the judge checked if Dube, who looked frail, was fit to stand trial.

“The court considered that the accused acted in self defence as the deceased was the aggressor who ganged up with others to attack him. The court also considered the accused’s condition hence he is sentenced to five years in jail which is wholly suspended for five years on condition that he does not within that period commit an offence where violence is an element,” said Justice Moyo.

Dube, who was represented by Miss Charity Manyeza of Ndove and Associates pro-deo, had pleaded not guilty to murder and guilty to a lesser charge of culpable homicide.

Prosecuting, Mrs Martha Cheda said Dube armed himself with an iron bar intending to beat up Mathunjwa and Mr Millard Tshuma accusing them of having an affair with his 14-year-old niece who was in Form Two.

“On 31 August 2019 and at 6PM, the accused who was carrying a metal rod and Mr Musawenkosi Sibanda went to search for Mr Millard Tshuma who they accused of proposing love to their niece. They found Mr Tshuma at Makhaza Business Centre and confronted him. Mr Tshuma fled from the scene,” said Mrs Cheda.

Mathunjwa and Mr Given Moyo followed up on Dube and Mr Sibanda after being told about what had happened.

They caught up with Dube and Mr Sibanda along a footpath and charged at them. Seeing that Dube was armed, Mathunjwa and Mr Moyo fled, the court was told.

Dube and Mr Sibanda gave chase and caught up with Mathunjwa and struck him once on the head with an iron bar and left him bleeding.

Mathunjwa was rushed to Tsholotsho District Hospital by some villagers before being transferred to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo where he died after admission. Doctors said Mathunjwa died of severe brain damage and skull fracture.

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed industrialist and United Refineries Limited chief executive officer, Mr Busisa Moyo, as Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Company board chairperson.

He takes over from Ms Ruth Ncube whose term of office ended last December. Industry and Commerce Minister, Dr Sekai Nzenza, announced the appointment of Mr Moyo in a statement today. She said the appointment, which was done in accordance with the Public Entities and Corporate Governance Act, was with effect from 13 March 2020.

“The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Honourable Dr Sekai Nzenza (MP) with the concurrence of His Excellency, the President E.D. Mnangagwa, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Busisa Moyo as the chairperson of the ZITF Company board in terms of Public Entities and Corporate Governance Act effective 13 March 2020,” reads the statement

Mr Moyo is an accomplished business leader, industrialist, entrepreneur and nation-builder who has been recognised with various awards and accolades both within Zimbabwe and Internationally.

Currently, he is the chief executive officer of United Refineries Limited, one of the giant agro-processing companies in the country based in Bulawayo, and a member of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe board.

Dr Nzenza expressed confidence that Mr Moyo’s business acumen and experience would be resourceful in re-positioning, modernising and transforming ZITF into a formidable regional and international player. She paid tribute to outgoing chairperson, Ms Ncube, for her leadership and dedicated contribution to ZITF Company’s strategic direction with competence and expertise.

Mr Moyo, who is also a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee is a holder of a Bachelor of Accounting Science Degree with the University of South Africa and a holds a Global Executive Masters in Business Administration from IESE Business School (Spain).

Mr Moyo completed his Articles with Deloitte & Touche in 1999 and previously served as the chairman of the Oil Expressers Association of Association, non-executive director of First Capital Bank and president of Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI).

HEALTH experts have raised concern over the Zimbabwe’s lackadaisical approach towards coronavirus screening and detection, amid discord in the President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government on information regarding the deadly virus.

Confirmed cases of the coronavirus this week surpassed the 200 000 mark worldwide, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) urging countries to scale up testing of the virus.

Zimbabwe has been using the WHO case definition of a suspect case guidelines, possibly missing potential cases. This comes as a tourist who initially showed symptoms of the disease while in the country but was not tested because she did not meet the “case definition”, tested positive upon arrival in the United Kingdom.

Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights (ZDHR) said the guidelines had limited the number of people that were being tested.“The majority of people with Covid-19 are a symptomatic and will not meet this case definition. So there is a probability that we might be missing potential cases. Yesterday (Tuesday) WHO urged countries to increase testing more people and do contact tracing. So we urge government to test more people. However we have limited resources to test a lot of people. We have very few test kits donated by WHO, about 200 according to sources, so that’s a limiting factor,” ZDHR secretary general Norman Matara said.

He also pointed out the lack of protective clothing for the health personnel, which has made them reluctant to respond to possible cases.“We do not have adequate personal protective equipment for health workers especially in the provinces and districts. Health workers are not confident of their safety and are sceptical to respond to a suspected case,” he said.

“We also need management protocols to be taught to all the hospitals in Zimbabwe. From data from countries with high cases of Covid-19 we have learnt that about 20% of cases will require ICU admission. In Zimbabwe we have only four functional ICU beds in Harare. The identified isolation centres do not have ICU capability

“We also think that the government should put travel restrictions especially for countries with high prevalence of Covid-19. We also need a proper communication channel to dispel myths and misconceptions and also give the public information on Covid-19. We need a website and a hotline for people to access correct information. Overall we think the government is partly prepared to deal with an outbreak. These gaps need to be addressed for us to have confidence in the response mechanism.”

In his state of the nation address on Tuesday, Mnangagwa only discouraged travel to Zimbabwe by people from Covid-19 hit areas, banning gatherings of more than 100 people in the country.

He also said his government was in the process of identifying facilities that could work as isolation centres for the disease.“Kits and other accessories for screening, handling, testing and treatment continue to be availed. More isolation and treatment centres are being identified, designated and equipped appropriately,” Mnangagwa said.

Zimbabwe currently has 55 beds in the country’s main isolation centres at Wilkins Hospital in Harare and Thorngrove Hospital in Bulawayo.

Executive Director, Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) Itai Rusike described the country’s public health sector as very weak, poorly funded and poorly equipped to deal with a coronavirus outbreak given the low staff morale, perennial drug shortages, antiquated and obsolete equipment.

“The government needs to immediately implement strict measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) including imposing travel restrictions on foreign nationals from the high risk countries.

We were expecting President Emerson Mnangagwa to announce a total lockdown to combat the spread of the disease, such as closure of schools due to the overcrowding nature in public schools,” Rusike said.

“Yes, we do welcome the banning of the public gatherings by the government but if we don’t address the issue of overcrowding in public transportation especially the subsidized Zupco buses, availability of uninterrupted portable water supply for people to regularly wash their hands, protective gear for the health workers, test kits in our health institutions, availability of drugs and ambulance services then the president’s measures will be a futile attempt.”

He said government should recognise the importance of community participation is vital in dealing with Covid-19 pandemic.

“Openness in sharing the information on Covid-19 will allay fear, panic, stigma, discrimination and proliferation of false information that is happening as a result of lack of knowledge, information and awareness programmes on the causes, prevention, signs and symptoms of the Covid-19 disease. The general public just do not have adequate information on the disease hence their overreliance on social media and other unreliable sources of information,” Rusike said.

“This is a new disease and most of our health workers lacks confidence and are equally scared of COVID-19 and are also in need of capacity building and further training.”

Ministries in Mnangagwa’s government have been giving out contrasting information on the disease.Health minister Obadiah Moyo and Tourism minister Mangaliso Ndlovu this week gave contrasting information about the UK tourist who visited Victoria Falls this month. Moyo saying the tourist had tested positive for coronavirus days after leaving Zimbabwe, while Ndlovu said she had not.

Last month the ministries Health and Information clashed over a Thai traveller who at the time was suspected of having the coronavirus. The Information ministry revealed the person had met the WHO case definition while the Health ministry said the traveller had not been tested because of failure to meet the case definition.
.

Cases of Covid-19 continues to rise in South Africa as today the 20th of March 2020 two hundred and two of cases and have been confirmed and recorded. The new confirmation of this cases was announced by the minister of health during his media briefing. 

33 new cases in Gauteng, 1 in KZN, 11 in Western cape and 7 in Free State. The Free State has recorded their new first cases today and the Free State health department has ensure the community that they will tackle this outbreak and try by all means to protect them from spreading and affecting them. 

This new cases that are recorded in Free State all of these citizens have travelled internationally and they have been quarantined in a B&B after testing and now they are in self-isolation.

And the health minister has said that 60-70% of people in South Africa will contact this disease but that shouldn’t cause any panic as people are requested to do all they can to protect themselves from this virus by practicing washing of hands daily and social distancing. 

SAA has suspected international flights that runs to and from the US, U.K and Germany immediately until the end of May. Citizens coming from high-risk countries will not be allowed to enter the country as they could be a high risk to the community they might be coming back to.

Farai Dziva| A mentally-challenged Masvingo woman stabbed to death a man who allegedly attempted to rape her last month.

The woman identified as Saru was arrested for killing the 45 year-old man who allegedly attempted to rape her.

“Saru stabbed
Ndara Kageze Musitapa twice on the chest on February 28, 2020, at LC Pharmacy in Masvingo around midnight.

Musitapa tried to force himself on Saru and she resisted.She grabbed a knife stabbed Musitapa twice on the left side of the chest,” police in Masvingo said.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said prison is the safest place to be following the outbreak of the coronavirus. Do you think that Zimbabwe's prisons are safe from coronavirus?

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) March 20, 2020

By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said that prisons are the safest places for people to be amid the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) across the world.

This comes on the back of cabinet approving the release of over 6 000 inmates serving jail time for various non-violent crimes.

Responding to a question from a reporter if the amnesty would go ahead amid coronavirus fears, Mnangagwa said the amnesty is not related to measures that have been put in place to curb the spread of the disease. Said Mnangagwa

The amnesty program has no relationship with the pandemic. In other measures, we are discouraging people from visiting their loved ones in prisons, that will be restricted. If there is a safer place now, it is the prison.

Zimbabwe’s prisons have a carrying capacity of 17 000 people but currently are home to 22 000 inmates.

A few months after becoming President, Mnangagwa granted amnesty to 3 000 prisoners in a bid to decongest prisons.

A ZANU PF councillor for ward 13 in Chipinge will spend the next 12 years in jail for raping a mentally-challenged patient, who cannot be named for ethical reasons, on three different occasions after threatening her with death.

David Chivhovho (49), who resides in Chief Mutema’s area, pleaded not guilty to the charges, but was convicted by Chipinge regional magistrate Chrispen Maturure.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, of which three years were conditionally suspended for five years.

Prosecutor Tembelani Dhliwayo told the court that sometime last month, Chivhovho went to the complainant’s homestead and found her carrying out her household chores.

He demanded sex from her, but she refused and he dragged her into her bedroom hut and raped her once. On another date but in the same month, he found her alone in her bedroom hut.
Chivhovho again demanded sex from her, but she refused and he pinned her to the ground, threatening her with death.

Out of fear, the complainant complied and he went on to rape her before he left the homestead unnoticed and ordered her not to tell anyone about the issue.

Using the same modus operandi, Chivhovho again in the same month demanded sex from her, but she refused.

Chivhovho went on to pull her by her blouse and dragged her into her bedroom hut.
While inside, he raped her again. He left the homestead after threatening to kill her if she divulged the incident to anyone.

However, the matter came to light after she advised other villagers about her abuse at the hands of Chivhovho.

The matter was reported to the police, leading to his arrest.
— NewsDay

By A Correspondent- In the wake of discovering that his wife of 12 years has been cheating on him and probably reeling from a storm of emotions, a Bulawayo man took the bold but rather unusual step when he decided to revenge by allegedly demanding se_x from the wife’s lover’s wife.

A deeply hurt Tarirai Chimutwe, a police officer stationed at Hillside Police Station in Bulawayo, incensed that his wife Ronica Chikaanwa, was being “sampled” by Soul Chandigere, decided to retaliate by also seeking a tryst with his (Chandigere)’s wife only identified as Mai Tino.

To Chimutwe time will be the best answer to heal his broken heart, after Chandigere’s wife allegedly turned down his se_x demands.

In a fit of pique, Chimutwe started insulting Chandigere’s wife claiming her husband left her for his wife because she was not bathing and was also boring in bed.

In an emotional response, Chandigere’s wife hit back while bragging that she was now madly in love with another man who was satisfying her adding that her husband was also terrible in bed.

She went on to mock Chimutwe saying his wife and his alleged girlfriends were also leaving him because he had a small “bedroom gun” that is not good enough to satisfy a woman.

Seeing that his revenge mission had hit a brick wall, Chimutwe then sued Chandigere for disturbing his peace by allegedly sleeping with his wife.

In his suit, Chimutwe whose wife’s cheating ways seem to be too much for him passionately pleaded with the court to stop Chandigere from sleeping with his wife.

In a more shocking confession, Chimutwe who stays at Ross Camp said Chandigere and his wife were always meeting at their matrimonial house in Cowdray Park for sex romps.

“I am applying for a peace order against Soul Chandigere who is my wife’s lover so that he stops abusing me by sending insulting messages. I also want the court to stop him from going to our matrimonial house in Cowdray Park where he often goes to sleep with my wife.

“He is also threatening that he will cause my wife to move out of Ross Camp to go and stay in Cowdray Park so that they will freely see each other without disturbances.

“He is also threatening me saying he is a spiritual man and will use his spiritual powers to separate me from my wife. On 29 December 2018 he also headbutted me when we met at Sekusile Business Centre. May the court bar him from going to my matrimonial house where he meets with my wife and has sexual intercourse,” begged Chimutwe while insisting that he still loves his wife despite the fact that she had cheated on him.

Chandigere, however, rubbished Chimutwe’s claims saying he was no longer in love with his wife.

“I did not assault him. He is the one who came together with five other people and attacked me while accusing me of being a thief. He also struck me with a stone.

“I am also no longer in love with his wife and I have never been to his matrimonial house. I, however, admit that I sent him the threatening messages because he was now proposing love to my wife,” responded Chandigere.

Chimutwe was plunged into deep emotional devastation when his application for a peace order was dismissed by the court.

Earlier this month Chimutwe was also shamed by his wife who claimed he forcibly grabbed her private parts before he repeatedly squeezed and pulled them so hard that she was left in excruciating pain and unable to go to the toilet for three days.

This was after his wife allegedly refused to have se_x with him and also as punishment against her for having affairs.-StateMedia

Chipinge Rural District Council’s Ward 13 councillor, Daniel Dhliwayo Chivhovho (63), was last Friday jailed 15 years for raping a mentally challenged woman.

Chivhovho of Grassflats Farm in Chief Mutema’s area had pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape when he appeared before regional magistrate, Mr Tendai Mahwe, who convicted him because of overwhelming evidence.

The councillor will serve an effective 12-year jail term after Mr Mahwe suspended three years on condition that Chivhovho does not commit a similar offence in the next five years.

Prosecuting, Mr Themba Dhliwayo said sometime in February 2019, Chivhovho went to the complainant’s house with the intention of seeing her husband.

“When he arrived at the complainant’s homestead, he found her alone, doing household chores. The accused person grabbed the complainant by the stomach, demanding to be intimate with her. The complainant refused, but the accused promised to give her some bags of maize,” he said.

“Chivhovho raped the complainant once. He then threatened her with death if she ever disclosed what had happened to anyone,” said Mr Dhliwayo.

In the second incident which also happened in February 2019, Chivhovho went to the complainant’s homestead and found her sweeping the kitchen hut.

Chivhovho entered the hut and demanded to sleep with her again, but she refused. He raped her again.

On the third occasion, Chivhovho found the complainant home alone again and ordered her to go to her bedroom hut.

She refused, but Chivhovho grabbed the complainant and dragged her into the hut. He then raped her.

However, following this incident, the complainant ran to her aunt’s homestead, which is about four kilometers away from hers, and narrated her ordeal.

A report was made to the police, leading to his arrest.

-State Media

Last week the Zimbabwe Deputy Minister of Energy and Power Development Magna Mudyiwa made a startling comment in both the Senate and National Assembly to the effect that she was neither aware of the extent of service stations illegally selling fuel in foreign currency – outside the ‘few’ licenced to do so – nor did she have any first-hand knowledge of the price of this precious, but scarce, commodity in United States Dollars (USD).

As the People’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) views these comments with the skepticism they surely deserve.

This is a whole Cabinet Minister, yet purports to be ignorant of the most basic aspects of her portfolio – leading us to understandably conclude that this is just an extension of her administration’s dubious attempts to protect their cartel allies – who have been unfairly benefiting from generous advantages, at the expense of other players in the industry – resulting, in the significant suffering of the majority of the country’s citizenry, who have had to bear the brunt of incessant fuel shortages and price increases.

Surely, how can the regime fail to know the magnitude of service stations illegally selling fuel in foreign currency – in spite of numerous reports being publicly made to this effect?

Would it not had been common sense for a caring administration to have had urgently instituted investigations into these sordid activities?

Is this illegitimate regime so ill-equipped that it would not have been able to carry out a simple go-around all service stations, especially in the capital city of Harare, to ascertain which company was charging what, and if they were licenced to do so?

Similarly, would it have been too much to establish a ‘hotline’ for consumers to report any service stations that would have been charging in foreign currency, so that those in authority could check of the company had the necessary authorization?

Surely, the regime is playing dangerous games with the people of Zimbabwe, and the economy at large.

If the Deputy Minister alleges that “there are only a few companies licenced to sell fuel in foreign currency, in order to cater for those in the diplomatic corps, and non-governmental organizations (NGO)” – yet, the generality of the population was well aware that the majority of outlets were demanding payments in hard currency, should we not be witnessing significant seriousness on the part of the administration in investigating this criminality?

This administration has been on record loudly touting the gospel of “zero tolerance to corruption”, and encouraging whistle-blowers to come forward with reports of such nefarious activities – but, when a large number of Zimbabweans make such reports, including members of parliament – the powers-that-be appear worryingly indifferent.

Let us not forget that this was not the first time the Deputy Minister had made such outrageous remarks – as she had also shocked members of the House of Assembly a few days earlier.

What are we, then, to make of all this apparent lackluster reaction in dealing with these wayward fuel companies?

The long and short of it is that, these allegations are being made against the usual suspected fuel cartels, who have long had the backing and shielding of the establishment – through its close links to the ruling elite – whereby, they also dominate foreign currency allocations from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), and were recently suspiciously awarded licences to sell the commodity in foreign currency, although only for “very few” of their outlets, whilst the rest traded in the local currency.

However, based on these accusations in the public domain, those “very few” outlets have not been limited to ” very few” at all, but have transcended virtually the majority of fuel stations across the country.

It would, thus, be safe to conclude that the reluctance by those in authority to investigate, and institute appropriate action, is a continuation of its protection and advancement of these cartels – whilst, the nation suffers, as can not afford the foreign currency demanded to purchase this product.

The illegitimate regime has clearly shown that it cares more about lining the pockets of their cartel allies, at the expense of the generality of the population,who have had to endure untold suffering at the hands of economic problems caused by the same regime’s inconsistent, incoherent, and incompetent policies, on top of unfettered and unlimited corruption.

As the People’s party, the MDC demands immediate action by this regime to take significant and meaningful action against these cartels, as the continued over-burdening of the country’s citizenry has reached boiling point – and, as the adage goes, “a hungry man (or woman) is an angry man (or woman).

They have been warned!

Jasmine Toffa
MDC Secretary for Energy and Power Development

By A Correspondent- Bid to dubiously acquire an Advanced level place at Mazowe high backfired for a 19 year-old Mazowe woman after she was convicted of fraud.

Petunia Faiti was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment yesterday by Concession magistrate Nyasha Machiriori for fraud.

Machiriori however suspended the sentence on condition that Faiti performs 175 hours of community service at Pearson primary school, Mazowe.

Prosecutor Kumbirai Nyamvura told the court that on February 8 Faiti approached the deputy head of Mazowe high School  Susan Mack (56) and produced a fake result slip from her phone which she claimed was from a local college.

Faiti sent her fake results to Mack on WhatsApp while looking for a lower six place.

Upon receiving the results the deputy head saw some anomalies on the centre number of the slip. She also discovered that the naming of the subjects was shortened.

She verified with ZIMSEC and discovered that Faiti failed her O level, she then filed a police report leading to the arrest of the accused.

South Africa plans to install a 40-kilometer fence on its land border crossing with Zimbabwe to prevent undocumented migrants and people infected with the coronavirus from entering, as part of emergency measures to contain the spread of the disease.

The specifications of the 1.8 meter high fence at the Beitbridge border post have already been finalized along with the appointment of a contract, the Department of Public Works said in a statement Thursday. The barrier is expected to be completed within a month. The department didn’t specify the costs.

–With assistance from Brian Latham.

-Bloomberg

The current bank exchange rates for the ZWL$ today are as follows:

• USD to ZWL$: 24.9052
• ZWL$ to RAND: 0.6955

Data according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Black Market Rates:

• USD to ZWL$ zimrates.com $44.20
• USD to ZWL$  zwl365.com $43.40
• USD to ZWL$ bluemari.info $42.00
• USD to BOND: zimrates.com $32.20

More: marketwatch.co.zw

Jane Mlambo| Social media has gone into overdrive over deputy information minister Energy Mutodi’s remarks that sex workers are at high risk of person to person transmission of coronavirus discouraging the hiring of the ladies of the night to combat the spread of the deadly pandemic.

Posting on Twitter yesterday, Mutodi discouraged the hiring of sex workers as part of measures to combat coronavirus.

“As we launch the Coronavirus National Preparedness Campaign, we are discouraging close personal contact in queues including the hiring of sex workers. Sex workers are at high risk of person to person transmission & can spread the virus quickly in urban areas & growth points,” said Mutodi.

Responding to Mutodi, social media users felt the remarks were off the mark especially coming from a top government official.

“Is this the best Govt have to offer? How do we go from queues to sex workers?
And now we decide to target and start a blame game on a group that have nothing to do with COVID transmission.
Maybe to distract that most don’t have access to clean water to wash hands?
Disgraceful,” said Nancy Kachingwe.

That Kalanga said, “ZUPCO buses which are always overloaded are operating as usual, that seems like a higher risk but y’all are quiet about that. I would be more worried about that. But then again priorities have never been the govt’s strongest point.”

Girl Child Network founder, Betty Makoni told Mutodi to get WHO guidelines instead of stereotyping sex workers.

“Get guidelines FROM WHO. Everyone can be affected. You should not stereotype and put vulnerable group of women at risk. Everyone is affected,” said Makoni.

Finance minister Professor Mthuli Ncube yesterday visited Chimanimani to assess progress in the reconstruction of infrastructure.

Below are the pictures of this tour with Chimanimani East legislator Joshua Sacco.

In a landmark ruling, the high court has invalidated the common law rule which grants guardianship and sole custody rights of a child born out of wedlock to the mother, denying the biological father parental control.

Justice Happious Zhou, who presided over the case pitting prominent business mogul, Frank Buyanga and his former girlfriend Chantelle Muteswa, declared that the common law rule was inconsistent with the new constitution and was therefore invalid.

Therefore, Buyanga was granted joint custody of his minor son by the High Court after a long battle with his former girlfriend.

Buyanga through his lawyers, Admire Rubaya and Everson Chatambudza, challenged the common law position that the mother of a child born out of wedlock is the sole guardian of and has exclusive custody over that child.

In terms of the judgement, the common law position has been overturned and the court says it is unconstitutional and not in line with the best interests of the child for the mother to automatically become the custodian.

“This application is essentially a challenge to the common law position that the mother of a child born out of wedlock is the sole guardian of and has exclusive custody over that child.

The applicant in this instance seeks to be declared joint guardian of the minor child together with the respondent who is the mother and under the current law the natural guardian of the child,” read Buyanga’s application.

“Applicant also wants joint custody over the child. In respect of guardianship, the applicant asks the court to order that he and the respondent exercise the right of guardianship in consultation with each other and that if the parties disagree on any matter relating to the exercise of the rights of guardianship in the matter involved has a bearing on the life, health and morals of the child, either party entitled to approach a judge of this court in chambers for an order to resolve the disagreement.

The judgement by the High Court reiterated that the issue of joint guardianship had not been considered because the parties then accepted that they were bound by the common law position.
“The Constitutional validity of the common law position on custody and guardianship of the child born out of wedlock is what is at issue in casu. In other words, the issue is whether the applicant, being the father of a child born out of wedlock, is entitled to joint guardianship and joint custody over the child under the constitution of Zimbabwe 2013,” reads the judgement.

“The order granted by consent was based on the existing common law position whose constitutional validity he is challenging. This issue has not been determined by any court and is therefore not res judicata. For these reasons I dismissed the objection in limine.”

Muteswa disputed that joint custody and joint guardianship with Buyanga was in the best interest of the child.

“Respondents case, the respondent disputes that joint custody and joint guardianship with the applicant is in the best interest of the child. She also questions the sustainability of the applicant to be given custody or guardianship rights over the child. Respondent denies that the common law on the custody and guardianship of a child born out of wedlock is in consistent with section 19 (1) and section 19 (2) as read with section 81 of the constitution and, further denies that section 56(3) is contravened by the existing common law.”

The High Court handed the ruling as follows;

“The applicant and respondent shall within 30 days of this order arrange to have the minor child interviewed by a government social worker to be appointed by the Registrar of this court after which the appointed social worker shall prepare and present a report with recommendations on how the parties shall exercise their joint custodial rights without disrupting the social life of the child.

“Such report shall be placed before any judge of this court within 30 days of being presented to the Registrar, together with this record, for a final order to be made regarding the terms of the joint custody. If any costs are to be incurred in respect of the work of the social worker, such costs shall be shared equally by the applicant and the respondent.”

Last week Muteswa unsuccessfully sought an urgent injunction to stop Buyanga from changing the minor’s surname until after a judicial review.

The Children’s Court ruled that Buyanga could have his name appear on the child’s birth certificate.

In her High Court urgent application Muteswa argues that registration of the little boy in his mother’s surname was in the minor child’s best interests.

-State Media

Health Minister Obadiah Moyo says 378 people have been placed on coronavirus surveillance after entering Zimbabwe through the country’s various points of entry. 

In a ministerial statement in Parliament, Moyo maintained that Zimbabwe is yet to record a positive test for the killer virus.

“Robert Mugabe Airport had 6 750 travelers who went through it and 103 of those travelers are under surveillance.  Victoria Falls had 1 120 and out those 54 were under surveillance.  In Victoria Falls Road, 291 travelers went through and two of those are under surveillance. Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo 957 and 182 are under surveillance. Then Beitbridge, we had 128 and 31 are under surveillance. Plumtree 151 and six are under surveillance,” said Moyo.

“On the 13th of March, the National Micro-Biology Laboratory tested 14 suspected cases for COVID -19 and all of them were negative. Their samples were also tested at the WHO regional laboratory in South Africa and they came out as negative.”

Moyo said Zimbabwe’s National Response Mechanism for Surveillance and Early Detection of any possible cases was activated and will remain activated until after the WHO has removed the global health alert.

“Ministry of Health and Child Care has developed and is implementing the National COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan guided by the eight pillars of WHO Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan,” he said.

“The budget to meet the plan has since been revised to US$25 million from US$5,2 million. The plan will be used to resource, mobilise from Government, international and development partners.”

-Online

By A Correspondent- Controversial ZANU PF MP (Goromonzi West) and Deputy Information Minister Energy Mutodi has discouraged Zimbabwean men from hiring s_x workers as they risk contracting coronavirus (COVID-19).

Mutodi added that s_x workers are at high risk of person to person transmission. 

He posted on Twitter:

As we launch the Coronavirus National Preparedness Campaign, we are discouraging close personal contact in queues including the hiring of s_x workers. S_x workers are at high risk of person to person transmission and can spread the virus quickly in urban areas and growth points.

Mutodi’s remarks follow President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s launch of the Coronavirus National Preparedness and Response Plan on Thursday.

While Zimbabwe is yet to officially confirm its first coronavirus case, several regional countries, among them Zambia and Botswana, have reported cases.

National Secretary for Transport and Logistics Settlement Chikwinya has challenged the government to de-congest and disinfect the public transport sector as the nation fights the possible outbreak of the coronavirus.

“Zimbabwe’s Public Transport system is a key element to be considered amid the Corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic. Trains, Buses and Airplanes are our modes of mass public transport and these are mostly overloaded and often unhygienic,” he said.

“The conditions prevalent in mostly buses, kombis and pirate taxis (mshikashika) can prove to be catalysts during such outbreaks. Cognisant of this problem, the MDC urges transport operators to sanitise public transport systems to improve the hygiene conditions.”

He said staff operating these mass transport systems must go through compulsory training on how to keep high standards of hygiene. 

“Personal Protective Equipment for the crew must be worn appropriately and at all times. Hand sanitizers must be provided in all public transport systems and must be used by travellers. Disinfectants must be sprayed in the buses and kombis at regular intervals to guard against conditions that promote survival of the corona virus.,” he said

“The MDC calls upon private companies to assist in the fight against Coronavirus through facilitating the acquisition of disinfectants and training the operators as well as provision of personal protective equipment for staffers.”

Chikwinya said the government is for the first time expected to put to good and appropriate use the USD26 million facility availed by the Global Fund in the fight against Covid19.

 “Zimbabweans remain skeptical as to the capacity of our government to be accountable since other such grants have been abused in the past at the expense of Public Safety. The MDC family would like to thank President Adv Nelson Chamisa for providing leadership by inspecting the Harare Coronavirus Isolation Centre which is Wilkins Hospital. Leadership at all levels is expected to be alive to the challenges facing our institutions so that practical solutions can be arrived at from an informed position,” he said.

“The MDC urges those that have been advised to self-quarantine to religiously follow all steps as advised by Health Authorities so as to avoid possible spread of the virus. Prevention is better than cure and as such we applaud all Health Staffers who are taking all precautionary measures to ensure that the COVID19 pandemic is kept in check.”

-Online

By A Correspondent- Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo is inadequately prepared to handle coronavirus cases.

This emerged when the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care visited the hospital on Thursday to access preparedness of Bulawayo health institutions in the wake of an outbreak.

The committee led by the chairperson Dr Ruth Labode was particularly unimpressed by the state of affairs at Mpilo Central Hospital where patients were being bundled in one room as they arrived the at the hospital.

“If a patient comes here, they have a high temperature and they are saying they were in China and they have been in a queue all day with other patients, what will you do? You yourself (workers) do not have any protective clothing or masks.

“It does not work. You are not ready here,” she said while talking to nurses attending to patients at the casualty department.

Dr Labode said this much to the chagrin of the Mpilo officials who said they were not an isolation hospital so they were not going to treat any suspected cases of the Coronavirus who came to the hospital.

She said besides the hospital not being an isolation center, they needed to be prepared as people come to the center first before being referred to Thorngrove Infections Disease Hospital.

Dr Labode was furious when the nurses said they would place the victims suspected of having symptoms of the virus in a separate room while they wait for an ambulance to pick them up to Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital.

“…But this patient would have spent so much time in casualty and you further detain them  just next to other patients, can you not see that this does not work, you can infect more people if this person tests positive for corona virus,” she said before walking away from the department.
Earlier on there were concerns by the committee who said they were not sanitized as they came it.

“I am worried for myself and others, we came in here and there was no one sanitizing us at the entrance, a whole hospital is ignoring this important issue while the rest of the world is talking about this virus. There must be something that is done here at Mpilo Hospital to ensure the safety of the people,” said Hon Stars Mathe from Nkayi South who sits in the committee.

During the same visit, the committee questioned why renal patients were paying for consumables that are supposed to be covered by the hospital when the Government announced that renal services are free for the public.

Renal patients who are undergoing dialysis are forking out at least US$100 to US$150 to buy consumables elsewhere that enable them to be dialyzed while the institution is said to have received a budget for the consumables.

“You say the service is free but at the same time the specialists are saying patients are failing to raise funds for dialysis consumables while you also report that you have a budget that was allocated foe renal cases. We need to stop lying to each other, if someone is to be arrested let it be so. What is the allocation for the consumables doing and you say the money is almost finished? What is it buying,” Dr Labode questioned?

 The committee also heard from the hospital chief executive officer Mr Leonard Mabhandi that that there was a high staff attrition as nurses were leaving en mass while doctors and specialists were also leaving the institution.-StateMedia

Celebrating Women with Disabilities on International Women’s Day

Women are very important and the roles they play in our communities deserve to be celebrated. However, in doing so, women with disabilities who continue to be resolute despite socio-economic challenges they encounter in their day to day lives are often forgotten.

Women with disability, by virtue of being women and having disabilities, face double marginalization. Although concepts such as gender mainstreaming, women empowerment and emancipation form part of our daily policy discourses in Zimbabwe, there is little to show for that when it comes to women with disabilities.

While our society continues to perpetuate negative attitudes and harmful cultural practices against women with disabilities, the government shows no care both in its policies and practices for them.

Evidence abounds on lack of inclusion of women with disabilities in government-related women empowerment projects such as women in mining and women in farming. This consequently perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty for women with disabilities.

There is therefore, a need for a sober reflection as we celebrate the international women’s day and even the women’s month. Our celebrations can only be valid when we fight for all women in the society to have equal opportunities economically, socially and politically despite their disabilities.

The constitution states that sign language is one of the officially recognized languages of Zimbabwe. However, sign language is not being used at many institutions providing services to members of the public such as hospitals, courts, police stations and educational institutions.

This means that persons with hearing impairment in general and women with hearing impairment in particular experience systematic exclusion and discrimination, notwithstanding that our Constitution prohibits that.

Women with disabilities face serious violations of their sexual and reproductive health rights. In the case of women with hearing impairment, the communication barriers between them and the health practitioners who do not understand sign language leads to the breach of their confidentiality as there would be need for a third person. It may also lead to them being given wrong prescriptions or failing to access the services at all.

Likewise, women with visual impairment face challenges as sexual reproduction health information is usually in inaccessible formats instead of formats such as Braille and Audio.

Women with mental and intellectual impairment face a lot of sexual abuse and offenders are never punished because our law views such women as being not being competent and compellable witnesses. In some cases, women with disabilities are perceived as asexual and in other cases viewed as a cure for HIV.

In both cases, information is not readily made available to them thereby making them susceptible to abuse. Women with disabilities are very vulnerable especially when violence breaks out. Most women with disabilities cannot speedily flee from violent scenes. In the same vein, they can hardly protect themselves from abusive relationships.

Consequently, the MDC as a government will take a holistic approach in resolving such challenges faced by women with disabilities. The MDC government will ensure that women with disabilities enjoy their rights and exercise them fully. Sustainable empowerment projects in both the rural and urban communities will be generated to eliminate economical marginalization.

As a government, the MDC will also establish Disability Resource Centres in all provinces of the nation, but above all make sure information and all infrastructure is accessible to women and all persons with disabilities at large.

The fortitude of women with disabilities in the face of challenges they face gives us the reason to celebrate them in their diversity for being strong in all this.

Happy International Women’s Day to all women, especially to the women with disabilities.

Celebrating International Women’s Day

Denias Mudzingwa

Secretary for People with Disabilities and the Disadvantaged

Movement For Democratic Change

Opposition MDC legislator for Harare West Joana Mamombe has told Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube to test for coronavirus following his recent visit to Norway, a country that has recorded over 1 600 cases of the disease and six deaths.

The Harare West MP was speaking in Parliament Wednesday during the question and answer session where the Covid-19 subject dominated discussion.

Mamombe said Zimbabwe’s top government officials who include Ncube should take a cue from US President Donald Trump who has presented for test for coronavirus openly.

She said, in full:

“Thank you Madam Speaker for the protection.  Madam Speaker, I was talking about Hon. Members that leaders in our communities, it would be good for us to be taught on the Coronavirus outside this Parliament so that we can educate our constituents when we go out there.

          “Secondly, there is a marked shortage of sanitisers in local shops.  There are some rich people who can afford to buy their own sanitisers to sanitise their hands against the virus.  What is Government doing to make the sanitisers available in the shops?

          “Lastly Madam Speaker, this morning, myself as a Member of Parliament, Joanna Mamombe and the Secretary General Hon. Hwende were at the High Court.  What surprised me was that hundreds of people enter the High Court on daily basis yet there are no sanitisers or any form of protection against the virus at the court entrances.  We are talking about preventing the disease yet our important institutions like the courts where many people gather, there are no sanitisers.  We would not recommend for the courts to be closed but there must be measures in place to protect people.  Still on the courts, I also want to talk about our prisons where there are more than hundreds of people.  What is Government doing to prevent the disease from affecting prisoners?

          “Before I sit down Madam Speaker, in different countries that the Hon. Minister mentioned, the likes of the United States of America, we saw the leaders especially the President, Donald Trump voluntarily being tested for the virus.  He was the first to be tested for Coronavirus – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Madam Speaker, I am saying this because I follow news on current affairs and if other Hon. Members are not following the news then it is their problem.  The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump came out in the open, led by example and was tested for Covid-19.  We are not seeing it in this country.

          “Hon. Mthuli Ncube even went to Norway where there are several cases of the Coronavirus. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – We want the Hon. Minister to tell us whether or not Hon. Ncube volunteered to be tested for Covid-19 upon his return from Norway.  We want these things to be said openly so that other people understand the importance of this disease.  As a leader, if you are tested first then those who follow you will be tested too.  Hon. Mthuli Ncube should be tested and the results made public.  I thank you. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –”

By Own Correspondent| Afro-jazz musician Tongai “Greatman” Gwaze (27) recently paid lobola for his sweetheart, Silibazo Masara.

Gwaze, who was born with myopathy — a condition that affects muscles — announced the development through his Facebook page, describing his love for Masara as unconditional.

“I know a lot has been said about her character by some people who believe that she has other intentions but honestly as unbelievable as it seems or as hilarious as some of you

think it is, the indisputable fact is — what brought us together is unconditional love,” hesaid.

The wheelchair-bound Chitungwiza-based musician said his condition did not make him “useless”.

The musician told a local publication that wedding plans were underway and they were likely to wed in September.

 “I can’t say much about it and the date except it is in six months to come. For now I am not at liberty to disclose the bride price for security reasons,” he said.

Greatman started his music career in 2010 in Mhangura but has been in the background for years till the time he met Sulumani Chimbetu in 2017.

He has released three albums and has also worked with Mathias Mhere.-Newsday

By Own Correspondent| Farms which were protected under Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreements (BIPPAs) and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), including those owned by indigenous corporates, could also be returned to their previous owners upon application for repossession.

MDC-Alliance legislators, Tendai Biti and Innocent Gonese on Wednesday challenged Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement Deputy Minister Vangelis Haritatos to explain why they were returning land to white former farmers.

In terms of Statutory Instrument 62 of 2020 — Land Commission (Gazetted Land) (Disposal in Lieu of Compensation) Regulations, 2020 — former landowners under these categories can either opt for repossession or monetary compensation.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the country had sanctions imposed on it for repossessing its land.

He said:

“They have imposed sanctions on us because we repossessed our land. Let me be categorically clear that the land reform programme is irrevocable.

Our people got their land back, with or without hunger; with or without bumper harvests we took back our land. We will have our land forever.

“Nothing will change that. Nobody will remove us from our land. So those who want to re-engage with us must admit that the land of Zimbabwe belongs to the people of Zimbabwe. There is no negotiation on that issue.

We went to war because of the land. The land is the heritage for our future generation. We must teach our children to be patriotic. Our children should love their country just as Americans and Chinese love their countries.” -StateMedia

Workers at cement manufacturing company Lifetouch Investments, reportedly scurried for cover and refused to enter the company premises after their Chinese bosses reportedly came back into the country from their native China.

The workers at the Redcliff-based company reportedly downed tools as they pleaded with their bosses to be screened first to ensure they did not have the virus. Company director Don Wang, and four of his associates, had travelled to China to celebrate their New Year. But upon return, the four reportedly “sneaked” into the country and led to the employees getting wind of it and refusing to mix with them.

Kwekwe District Civil Protection Unit (CPU) chairman Fortune Mpungu was not readily available for comment. Kwekwe Mayor Councillor Angeline Kasipo, while giving the state of preparedness in Kwekwe district which also includes Redcliff, promised to look into the matter. Wang kept this news crew waiting for two hours when approached for comment and never returned.

But workers at Lifetouch revealed that their bosses had flown to China and came back into the country without following proper procedures.

“We refused to be in contact with them after they came back from China last week. We just woke up with them loitering at the site and shouting instructions and everyone asked how did they come back. So we decided to tell them to get quarantined first before they come to work, what if they have the virus and they spread it to us,” said one worker on condition of anonymity.

Another employee said the bosses live at the company premises together with most of the workers.

“They stay at the company premises together with us and to be honest our conditions are not conducive and they make it easy for the virus to spread easily. We live 18 of us in one room and that is not hygienic,” said the worker.

Travellers visiting corona virus prone areas are supposed to go under surveillance for 21 days. There has been no confirmed case of coronavirus, Covid-19, in the country but the Government has taken measures to screen travellers at ports of entry, especially those coming from countries with recorded cases of Covid-19. Neighbouring South Africa and Zambia, among other African countries, have recorded Covid-19 cases.

Covid-19 was first detected in China’s Hubei province, in Wuhan City in December last year and has since spread around the world — with more than 200 000 people infected and at least 9 000 reported dead from the viral infection. At least 34 African countries have recorded coronavirus cases and 16 deaths had been recorded as of Thursday afternoon.

— BMetro

Independent|SADC leaders have been left frustrated by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration following his decision to block former South African president Thabo Mbeki from mediating in the proposed dialogue with his fierce rival, opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa, government and diplomatic sources revealed this week.

Sadc countries — in particular economic powerhouse, South Africa, and Botswana — are unhappy with Zimbabwe’s ongoing social, economic and political crisis, bad investment environment, state interference in public institutions, lack of respect for trade agreements and lack of competition in business.

Mbeki visited Zimbabwe mid-December last year on a Sadc-initiated mission to nudge Zanu PF and MDC into negotiations. This was after regional leaders realised Harare’s problems were caused more by a political crisis than the so-called Western sanctions.

During his visit, Mbeki — famed for brokering the 2009 Global Political Agreement, which brought together Zanu PF and MDC into a unity government — also met political leaders who are part of the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) and civil society organisations.

The former South African president promised to return to Harare by December 30, 2019, to continue with the preliminary talks, but has not done so, amid reports Mnangagwa has been ignoring calls from the respected African elder.

Before Mbeki’s visit, sources said, regional leaders had the view that Chamisa did not want dialogue, but they later realised through discussions with him and other senior MDC party officials that he was just against the idea of participating in a dialogue being held under the discredited Polad platform, which many have dismissed as Mnangagwa’s political fan club.

Sadc leaders publicly supported Mnangagwa’s rise to power on the back of a military coup against the then president Robert Mugabe in November 2017, although they privately urged him to hastily undertake political and economic reforms to legitimise his reign.

Sources told the Zimbabwe Independent this week that Sadc leaders are frustrated by Mnangagwa’s refusal to allow the Mbeki mediation to take shape. They are also frustrated by his failure to turn around the country’s political and economic fortunes, which they are convinced makes Zimbabwe the albatross on the regional grouping’s neck.

“There is growing frustration in the Sadc region about Mnangagwa’s failure to give Mbeki the chance to mediate in the political impasse. They now think that Zimbabwe is not serious about transforming its economy. There is huge disgruntlement over this issue in the diplomatic circles and the entire region,” a Sadc diplomat accredited to Harare said.

“Basically, the concerns are coming from the fact that there are many South African and Botswana companies investing in Zimbabwe and they are feeling the heat from the economic meltdown as they cannot repatriate their profits.

“The general economic environment has been very unfriendly. There was a lot of optimism when Mbeki started the moves, but all that has dissipated now. Sadc leaders are also disappointed that the political impasse in Zimbabwe has persisted for far too long.”

Mnangagwa, sources said, was confronted at a bi-national commission meeting with Botswana in Gaborone early this month. Botswana officials were frank in closed door discussions where they expressed disappointment about the investment climate, among other issues.

Botswana officials cited the decision by the Mnangagwa administration to cancel a deal late last year for the revival of Kwekwe-based firm Lancashire Steel with Botswana-based investor Whinstone Enterprises without revealing the reasons, as an example of the toxic investment climate.

Implementation of the deal, signed in July 2018, was accelerated at last year’s Zimbabwe-Botswana bi-national commission, but government officials frustrated the investor by dragging their feet despite a push by the Botswana company to consummate the deal.

“This is just one example of the many cases that have frustrated investors. So they were saying, in one of the plenary sessions, it is useless to sign deals with people who are not serious about implementation. If you closely examine the communique from the Gaborone bi-national commission, you will realise that there was only one deal signed and the other six were memoranda of agreement in education, wildlife, cultural exchange and similar sectors and nothing was concerning the more serious economic sectors like mining and manufacturing,” a source who travelled to Botswana said.

South Africa’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mphakama Mbete, recently openly criticised government for meddling in business.

“Zimbabwe has presented itself to be open for business, which we believe is an appropriate approach to developing this country and economy. However, in order to attract significant flows of direct investment, it is important that Zimbabwe improves its record concerning the following issues: security of tenure and investment protection; repatriation of proceeds by investors; the honouring of bilateral trade and investment agreements; the need to open up the economy to competition; establishment of new credibilities and lastly, optimal debt servicing,” he said while addressing a Polad economic summit in Harare last month.

Many South African companies operating in Zimbabwe have been frustrated by government’s policy flip-flops and corruption. The most outstanding example is the termination of the deal to recapitalise and revamp the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ).

The US$400 million deal, won by the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) and South African rail, ports and pipeline utility Transnet, was cancelled in controversial circumstances in October last year at the behest of Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza.

State Media|PUBLIC institutions in Bulawayo, mostly schools, hospitals as well as old people and children’s homes, have been found wanting in terms of adopting essential precautionary measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

A Chronicle news crew yesterday visited schools, central hospitals and institutions for the elderly and children as well as bus ranks.

At a funeral in Cowdray Park, before eating, mourners were in a queue to wash their hands using water without soap or sanitising liquid.

Information gathered from the field visits indicated that there was sloppiness and lack of preparedness in as far as dealing with the risk of the deadly coronavirus is concerned.

However, this has largely been attributed to inadequate resources at most institutions.

The news crew first visited Mpilo Central Hospital where the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care was touring the hospital and found no hand sanitisers at around 9am.

However, the sanitisers were later availed within a short space of time after Nkayi South National Assembly member Stars Mathe took the hospital’s management to task.

The sanitisers were, however, placed at entrances, without sensitising anyone on their use.

The news crew observed that several people were just walking into the hospital without using the sanitisers.

At the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH), there were no hand sanitisers for patients and visitors, but one was provided for the parliamentary portfolio committee members at the hospital boardroom.

UBH chief executive officer Mrs Nonhlalnhla Ndlovu said the hospital only had 10 by 750ml bottles of hand sanitiser for the whole hospital, but they were awaiting a consignment of 200 bottles from Natpharm.

“We are waiting for 200 bottles from Natpharm here in Bulawayo. They said they could not dispatch them to us yet as they have not yet been entered into their system so we are hoping to get them soon,” she said.

Mrs Ndlovu said UBH had not yet received any protective equipment and had only four kits that had been provided for Ebola when there was an outbreak of the disease in Central Africa in 2017.

The hospital initially had seven kits before using three.

At the bustling area near Tredgold Buildings, which was teeming with hundreds of commuters who were jostling to board Zupco buses and kombis, it was evident that basic hygienic norms were not being adhered to as evidenced by some people shaking hands and hugging each other.

Some commuters could be seen pushing and elbowing each other as everyone rushed for a seat.

The news crew also visited Percy Ibbotson Rehabilitation Centre in Luveve, as well as Mzilikazi and Mpopoma high schools.

Although the schools have suspended assembly, toilets did not have disinfectants and were dirty.

“We are talking of a school with an enrolment of 2 000 children and honestly, where do we get money to buy hand sanitisers to cater for such a huge number of pupils. We are, however, encouraging pupils to practise personal hygiene both at school and home,” said a teacher at Mpopoma High School.

Scenes captured from around Bulawayo yesterday. While some people have heeded calls to improve personal hygiene to reduce the risk of the spread of coronavirus others have taken a casual approach including washing hands without soap or sanitisers

At Thembiso Children’s Home and Entembeni Old People’s Home in Luveve suburb, there was, however, tangible evidence of efforts to curb coronavirus as the Chronicle news crew observed liquid soaps placed in restrooms.

“Health is a top priority at our institution and we are aware of the deadly Covid-19. As part of our measures to curb the spread of the disease, we are encouraging both staff and children to practise personal hygiene and we have also put disinfectants such as liquid soap in our toilets,” said Mr Busiso Maphala, the superintendent of Thembiso Children’s Home.

The home has a total number of 33 children kept at the institution.

Entembeni Old People’s Home matron, Sister Happy Ndlovu, they did not have sanitisers and authorities said there were facing funding challenges.

“We are trying to improve in terms of the general cleanliness of our environment and surroundings, particularly in light of coronavirus. As an institution that looks after the elderly who are more vulnerable to diseases. We have to make sure that we maintain the highest standards of hygiene despite the financial challenges,” she said.

“Some of the major challenges we are facing is that we are not getting enough funding from the donor community to buy things like hand sanitisers among other disinfectants, which are essential for hygienic purposes.”

The institution has 44 elderly people.

Similar challenges are also faced at Ekuphumuleni Geriatric Nursing Home in Mzilikazi suburb.

At local hotels, the news crew observed that they were providing sanitisers to visitors.

At Hotel Inn in Bulawayo, the security guard stationed at the entrance gate was sanitising guests’ hands and another sanitiser was also provided at the front office.

At Rainbow Hotel the sanitiser is placed at the door and hotel staff encouraged guests to use it as they go in.

Most pharmacies and shops did not have sanitizers in the Central Business District.

City medical expert, Dr William Legg said the best way for people to protect themselves from Covid-19 is to follow basic hygienic practices such as washing hands often with soap and water, avoiding close contact with people who might be infected as well as cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces.

He said plastic masks were not helpful in terms of preventing the spread of coronavirus.

Dr Legg, however, explained that masks were more effective when worn by sick people to prevent respiratory droplets from escaping.

“In my opinion, as a medical expert, I am saying masks are not a good idea because they don’t stop the spread of the disease. In actual fact, they might even habour the virus as the moisture of the cloth doesn’t prevent air from coming out,” he said.

“Coronavirus is a very bad flu and it affects the lungs and causes damage. It is contagious as it comes from touching not from air droplets. In Zimbabwe we don’t have a huge problem for now, but to prevent it we need ordinary, excellent personal hygiene and common sense.”

Dr Legg urged people to keep their surroundings clean as well as avoid mixing with crowds and people with flulike symptoms to self-isolated themselves.

The symptoms of Covid-19 infections can range from very mild to severe respiratory illness and may include fever, cough and shortness of breath. These symptoms can be very similar to those for influenza hence making it difficult to distinguish without clinical testing.

FIVE armed robbers accused of robbing two Harare businessmen — Messrs Tawanda Nyambirai and Rodney Dangarembizi — of over US$220 000, were yesterday killed in a shoot-out with detectives.

Two of them survived and were arrested.

Police sources suspect the five were part of the gang that robbed money changers of foreign currency and a car at Makoni Shopping Centre in Chitungwiza recently.

A notorious suspect on police’s list of most wanted criminals, Musa Taj Abdul (alias Musa Mahommed) was among those killed.

He had been on the run for over a decade. The other slain robbers were identified as Taurai Chitepo, Prince Zakeo, Godfrey Mupamhanga and the other one only identified as Mahlangu.

Police sources said the gang was based in South Africa and would only cross into Zimbabwe for “special assignments” before travelling back to their base.

Police recovered four firearms — a CZ, FN Browning, Star pistol and a revolver. Some 19x9mm rounds of ammunition and four 7,65mm rounds of ammunition were also recovered.

A Toyota Fortuner that was being used by detectives to track the suspects was extensively damaged during the shoot-out with bullet holes all over. However, none of the detectives was injured.

The police sources said detectives working on a tip off, had been tracking and tightly monitoring the gang for three days before they pounced on them along Glenara Avenue.

The gang was travelling in a Mazda BT50 double cab without registration plates.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday confirmed the shoot-out, but said two robbers had been confirmed dead.

“They were operating from South Africa and they were working with their local informants, who supplied them with information. The gang was using a Mazda BT50 double cab and was involved in a high speed chase with the detectives from CID Homicide. The chase started from Hatfield before they drove along Glenara Avenue and entered into a garage near Rhodesville Police Station,” he said.

The robbers were the first to fire shots, prompting the police to fire back.

“As of now I can only confirm that two of them are dead and we will release more details tomorrow (today) as investigations are still in progress,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.

Last month, the gang, using inside information, separately stormed Mr Nyambirai’s TN Holdings head office in Harare and Mr Dangarembizi’s business premises at Chisipite wearing masks.

They first pounced at Mr Dangarembizi’s premises where they forcibly took away US$37 000, two vehicles and 13 cellphones before proceeding to Mr Nyambirai’s office where they took a cash safe with US$180 000.

Investigations revealed that the robbers had information that the two businessmen were in possession of huge amounts of cash and they even stated the exact figures in the safes during the robberies.

Mr Dangarembizi was at his premise when the robbers arrived, while Mr Nyambirai was away.

Last month, business briefly came to a halt at Makoni Shopping Centre in Chitungwiza when the gang fired 10 shots into the air and robbed two illegal foreign currency dealers of US$7 000, up to $30 000 and a Toyota Allion.

The nine robbers, who were wearing masks, jumped off a Toyota Hilux truck armed with pistols, rifles and a machete before one of them ordered the illegal foreign currency dealers, who trade outside the Simbisa Food Court, to lie down.

ZANU PF yesterday slammed the MDC for whipping Glen View South MP Vincent Tsvangirai for saying Western-imposed sanctions were hurting ordinary citizens.

Tsvangirai, son to MDC’s founding leader the late Morgan Tsvangirai, said as a patriotic Zimbabwean, he felt that the sanctions were not targeted as claimed by the European Union (EU) and the United States, but were hurting ordinary Zimbabweans.

He said this during Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade led by Makonde MP Kindness Paradza (Zanu-PF) when a pressure group, Broad Alliance Against Sanctions, was giving oral evidence on Tuesday.

Broad Alliance Against Sanctions has people that have camped outside the US embassy in Harare since last year.

However, Mr Tsvangirai’s remarks drew the ire of his party which gave him an ultimatum to withdraw the statement, arguing that it was at variance with the party’s position.

In a statement last night, Paradza castigated MDC for allegedly victimising a legislator who was carrying out his parliamentary duties.

“In my capacity as chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, I would like to register my dismay at the way the MDC-Alliance leadership has gone out of its way to harass, humiliate and victimise, Hon Vincent Tsvangirai, the son of our late Prime Minister and MDC founding President, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.

“It has come to my attention that Hon Tsvangirai is being victimised for speaking out against the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the US government and its allies,” reads a statement from Cde Paradza.

He said it was important to note that during the testimonies, other MDC members of the committee decided to walk out, with others tried to force Mr Tsvangirai to do the same, but he refused. Paradza said it was not only unfortunate, but shocking for the MDC-Alliance leadership to victimise an MP who was elected to carry out his parliamentary duties.

MDC-Alliance secretary-general Charlton Hwende directed Tsvangirai to retract his statement or face suspension.

“We have noted with dismay your utterances in the National Assembly on 17 March 2020 in which you claimed that American sanctions on Zimbabwe hurt the ordinary people.

“As a member of the MDC, you are expected to adhere to the party’s stance regarding sanctions, which is that they are helping Zimbabweans to overcome the ruthless Zanu-PF tyranny. . . .”

State Media|Parents of children born out of wedlock can now exercise joint guardianship and custody since constitutional rights granted to children changed the common law position that grants sole guardianship to the mother, the High Court has ruled.

Under the common law, the father could be made to pay child maintenance, but the mother had sole parental powers.

With such exclusive powers, mothers could decide to exclude fathers from the lives of their children and single-handedly decide issues concerning the children’s welfare.

The landmark judgment handed down this week ended a long-drawn custody dispute pitting businessman Mr Frank Buyanga and his ex-girlfriend, Ms Chantelle Muteswa.

Justice Happias Zhou said the common law provision was discriminative.

He ruled that both parents can lawfully enjoy joint guardianship and custody of the child and when they appear before the courts they should be considered equal parents.

In the case of a deadlock, either can approach the court for recourse.

Justice Zhou said the previous common law position was in breach of sections of the Constitution that granted equal treatment to all regardless of many listed factors including whether a person was born in or out of wedlock.

“It is unfair discrimination to deny a child the benefits of associating with his or her biological father, which is an aspect of parental care, on the mere ground of the marital status of the parents at the time he or she was born.

“Care means more than just channelling monetary maintenance to the child through the mother.

“It entails the opportunity to influence and shape, the personality, character, and life of the child by spending time with the child and being involved in making choices about the child’s life and future,” he said.

Justice Zhou said the common law position discriminates against both the child and the father.

“The treatment of the father shows that a child was regarded as ‘fatherless’ and deserving of no paternal care or attention save for the purposes of maintenance.

“The child was in essence being regarded as a commodity of some sort given that without rights of access, custody or guardianship, the maintenance contribution was essentially channelled through the mother of the child.

“In practice, a father could pay maintenance for a child that he had never seen in his life and the child would be receiving such benefit from someone he or she had never seen,” ruled Justice Zhou.

Advocate Thabani Mpofu, instructed by Mr Admire Rubaya of Rubaya & Chatambudza Legal Practitioners, represented Mr Buyanga.

Advocate Fadzai Mahere and Wilmont & Bennett law firm represented Ms Muteswa’s side in the child custody wrangle.

Justice Zhou ordered both parties to ensure their child is interviewed by a Government social worker to establish the damage, if any, he could have suffered during litigation.

The social worker is expected to prepare and present a report with recommendations on how parties shall exercise their joint custodial right without disrupting the social life of the child within 30 days of the issuance of the order.

Both parties must equally share any costs associated with the social worker’s services.

Mr Buyanga and Ms Mteswa’s dispute started in the Civil Court, but due to appeals and cross appeals, it spilled into the High Court.

State Media|President Mnangagwa yesterday launched Zimbabwe’s US$26 million preparedness and response plan for coronavirus aimed at building an integrated and coordinated strategy on preventing the spread of the virus causing Covid-19 and mitigating its effects.

He said coronavirus was almost certain to reach Zimbabwe, hence the need for a detailed plan to minimise its effects and spread.

“It is no longer a matter of if or but when our country will have these cases”.

The total budget will be spent in eight areas identified by the Ministry of Health and Child Care with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The areas and their allocations are:

Planning, monitoring and coordination US$1 424 100;
Risk communication and community engagement US$1 098 500;
Surveillance, rapid response and case investigation US$4 159 890;
Points of entry US$112 440;
National laboratory system US$3 119 454;
Infection prevention and control US$238 850;
Case management US$4 090 540; and
Logistics, procurement and supply management US$12 144 606.

The plan was crafted by the Ministry of Health and Child Care with technical support from other partners based on eight pillars set by the World Health Organisation.

Launching the plan, President Mnangagwa said no country was immune to the disease and Government was committed to stopping Covid-19 in its tracks.

He said given the fast rate at which coronavirus was spreading, Zimbabwe could no longer afford to continue with a “business as usual approach” and so should step up its efforts to be prepared.

“As Zimbabwe, we cannot continue with business as usual approach, as it is no longer a matter of if but when our country will have these cases,” said President Mnangagwa.

“Around 200 000 people have tested positive to the coronavirus globally and around 7 000 have died due to the disease worldwide. Closer home, around 30 or more African countries have confirmed cases of Covid-19 and in our region, seven out of 16 Sadc countries have confirmed cases.

“Considering the scale and magnitude of the spread of this virus, it is very clear that no country is immune from the disease and its impact. With our HIV prevalence of 14 percent in Zimbabwe or slightly below and malnutrition and other non-communicable diseases, especially among children, we are deeply concerned about the impact Covid-19 could have in Zimbabwe.

“This situation is a real threat to the citizens of our mother country. My Government through the Ministry of Health and Child Care has put in place and continues to enhance measures to minimise the import of COVID-19 into the country and ensure health safety of citizens of our country.”

President Mnangagwa said the world over, Governments had activated emergency modes, as the number of cases, the number deaths and the number of affected countries had increased significantly.

He said although Covid-19 was first reported in China, the total number of cases and deaths outside China had now overtaken the total number of cases in China with Europe now being the epicentre of the pandemic.

Said President Mnangagwa: “The national emergency preparedness and response mechanism and surveillance and early detection of any possible cases was activated and will remain active until after the World Health Organisation has removed the global health alert. Our preparedness measures have been stepped up through heightened surveillance systems at national, provincial and district levels with special focus on all ports of entry throughout the country with mandatory screening of all visitors having already started and all our Government buildings and infrastructure should be screened with immediate effect.

“In addition, active surveillance and follow ups continue to be done to minimise the spread of the Covid-19 in Zimbabwe.

“As of March 13 2020, around 10 000 travellers had been screened at our ports of entry and put on surveillance. All our hospitals remain on high alert for the Covid-19. Work is in progress to strengthen the capacity of identifying isolation centres that are able to manage severe cases throughout the country.

“There is no confirmed case yet in Zimbabwe but considering the volume of traffic and other countries in the region and internationally, we need to step up and enhance our preparedness and response to the scourge.”

The launch of the Zimbabwe preparedness and response plan at State House was also attended by Vice President Kembo Mohadi, Cabinet Ministers, United Nations officials and diplomats affiliated to the country.

A Malawi national quarantined at the Beitbridge District coronavirus management centre on Wednesday after showing high temperature is still awaiting results, while his 19 compatriots who were on the same bus were taken by Government officials to the next border.

Health officials here moved swiftly to quarantine the man who exhibited signs of a fever and had a history of coughing.

Specimens were sent for further laboratory tests to Harare, with results expected in 24 hours.

Nineteen of his countrymen, who were travelling with him on a Munorurama bus, and not a Munhenzva bus as reported earlier, were screened and escorted to the next border because they did not present any signs of illness.

The 19 were escorted by Government officials in several vehicles to ensure they did not have contact with anyone until they cross the border into Malawi.

The detained man was in transit from Northern Cape in South Africa to Malawi via Zimbabwe.

The standard precautions came into effect as the health team swung into action and he was taken in for tests after 5pm.

District medical officer, Dr Lenos Samhere said they had conducted all the necessary tests and sent specimens for further tests.

“Currently, the man has been isolated and in a stable condition.

“We have since collected his specimens for testing,” he said.

He encouraged people to practice standard measures, among them personal hygiene and avoiding crowded places to minimise the spread of the coronavirus.

Dr Samhere said Mimosa Mine was now working with the Government to upgrade the port health facilities at Beitbridge Border Post where screening of all travellers was mandatory.

“There is construction work that is going on within the border and this will come with all the facilities we would need for a port health centre.

Mimosa Mine was helping upgrade the current port health facilities, which were expected to be complete by the end of yesterday.

The Beitbridge team had asked for additional staff.

Dr Samhere said they were in need of 29 environmental health technicians, 20 nurses, 12 nurse aides, 12 general hands and one laboratory technician but were operating with six environmental health technicians, four port health technicians, and several environmental health students.

All schools, colleges and universities must close next Tuesday as the Government steps up efforts to ensure any outbreak of coronavirus in Zimbabwe is controlled and minimised.

So far, no case has been confirmed yet.

While originally the Government was prepared to let the normal term end, President Mnangagwa yesterday said, in a statement, that the Government’s new decision was informed by concerns raised by parents and the education sector.

The President said while Zimbabwe had not recorded any case of the virus to date, Government thought it prudent to err on the side of caution, more so since teaching institutions had high levels of human concentration and contact.

“The decision is part of the general precautionary measures the country is taking in light of the worldwide outbreak and rapid spread of the coronavirus,” he said.

On Tuesday, President Mnangagwa said Government would advise on dates for the reopening of all schools and colleges in the country once the threat of the virus is judged to have receded.

He said March 24 should allow for an orderly closure of the institutions and for parents to arrange for the safe travel of pupils and students to their homes.-State media

FIVE armed robbers accused of robbing two Harare businessmen — Messrs Tawanda Nyambirai and Rodney Dangarembizi — of over US$220 000, were yesterday killed in a shoot-out with detectives.
Two of them survived and were arrested.

Police sources suspect the five were part of the gang that robbed money changers of foreign currency and a car at Makoni Shopping Centre in Chitungwiza recently.

A notorious suspect on police’s list of most wanted criminals, Musa Taj Abdul (alias Musa Mahommed) was among those killed.
He had been on the run for over a decade.

The other slain robbers were identified as Taurai Chitepo, Prince Zakeo, Godfrey Mupamhanga and the other one only identified as Mahlangu.

Police sources said the gang was based in South Africa and would only cross into Zimbabwe for “special assignments” before travelling back to their base.

Police recovered four firearms — a CZ, FN Browning, Star pistol and a revolver. Some 19x9mm rounds of ammunition and four 7,65mm rounds of ammunition were also recovered.

A Toyota Fortuner that was being used by detectives to track the suspects was extensively damaged during the shoot-out with bullet holes all over. However, none of the detectives was injured.

The police sources said detectives working on a tip off, had been tracking and tightly monitoring the gang for three days before they pounced on them along Glenara Avenue.

The gang was travelling in a Mazda BT50 double cab without registration plates.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday confirmed the shoot-out, but said two robbers had been confirmed dead.

“They were operating from South Africa and they were working with their local informants, who supplied them with information. The gang was using a Mazda BT50 double cab and was involved in a high speed chase with the detectives from CID Homicide.

The chase started from Hatfield before they drove along Glenara Avenue and entered into a garage near Rhodesville Police Station,” he said.

The robbers were the first to fire shots, prompting the police to fire back.-State media

In his address to the Nation, President Mnangagwa announced a raft of measures in response to the corona virus pandemic.

Such measures include, among other things, restriction of movements and gatherings; banning of gatherings of more than 100 people; postponement of public events such as ZITF and Independence Celebrations.

It was, however, the enunciation that since schools are only two weeks away from the end of term they will remain open, that baffled logic and common sense.

By implication does the President posits that corona virus cannot spread in two weeks? Worse still does he imply enrolments in schools are less than 100? It is Oxymoronic and illogical to ban gatherings everywhere except in schools as if teachers and pupils do not gather and are immune to the Coronavirus.

Schools are the most dangerous places for the spread of any pandemic more so given the fact that some schools have an enrolment of more than 2000 pupils and in the event of a single person getting infected with the virus, the vector spread effect could be so swift given the number of students and various families from which they come from.

Not surprisingly various countries abroad, continentally and regionally have closed schools in their comprehensive response strategies. For Zimbabwe, therefore, to respond otherwise is not only vogue, vapid and vacuous, but also callous and monumental injustice against teachers and pupils.

Many schools dotted across the country, located in tourists areas and bordering other countries that have confirmed cases of Coronavirus infection are far detached from quarantine centres or health facilities so that they pose a great danger if they remain open.

Is it because Zimbabwean leaders have no children learning in Zimbabwe and no relative in the teaching fraternity so much that they have adopted an intransigent and irresponsible approach to corona virus pandemic in the education sector?
As Ptuz, we want to convey our greatest anger and disillusionment at the health and professional insult by President Mnangagwa, let alone gambling with teachers and pupils’ lives.

His enunciation is unacceptable, provocative and insensitive to the threat posed by corona virus to humanity. The measures enunciated in his address are in all earnest and honest with respect to schools, a high sounding nothing, if not a tissue of misrepresentation and insult to the education sector. Such a health threat to pupils and teachers can never be tolerated.

Worse still the pronunciation is not a product of engagement with educators, but unilateral decision of the President and dangerous.

As the pronunciation to keep schools open is a question of life and death, teachers will not accept it. We hope govt will urgently review this as a matter of urgency.

If nothing is forthcoming from the government by the end of this week, teachers would not be held responsible for closing schools.

We urge teachers across the union divide, to urgently pass district and provincial resolutions that should shape teachers’ urgent nation response in case there is no urgent response from govt. There is certainly no life after death for teachers and pupils.

We cannot be treated in a discriminatory, degrading and servitude manner in comparison to other citizens.

We are managers of the nation and world’s greatest resource, viz, children, and therefore our health and security of the resource must be guaranteed, and not exposed to the vagaries of virus and decimation.

Venceremos
Dr Takavafira M. Zhou (Ptuz President)

ARTUZ Statement :

The government has declared a national emergency in the face of the deadly coronavirus.

Public gatherings have been banned but schools are to remain open.

This move has sparked outrage among teachers and Union leaders who would have preferred closing of all schools.

Zimbabwean schools close on 2 April for the first term holiday, which is two weeks from now.

The unfortunate part is that our schools are not ready to prevent the wholesale spreading of the coronavirus and our healthcare has totally collapsed. Most schools do not set any end of term examinations for the first term and schools are already winding down.

Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, ARTUZ appreciates the national mood at the moment and we will not make pronouncements that will cause panic and despondency among our people.

We have always been at loggerheads with government on many issues and we remain fiercely opposed to many of their policies.

We will, however, avoid confrontation on this issue in the best interest of public health.

We will humbly submit our request of having schools closed on 20 March 2020.

Upon closure of schools, we are calling for an Education Sector Health indaba to dialogue on how we can upscale our preparedness in the face of the coronavirus.

The second term comes in our winter and if the virus is not contained by then things will be worse and lives are certainly going to be lost.

The education sector should be ready by then to mitigate the spreading of the virus.

Our Union proposes setting up of a task force comprising of Union leaders, education officials, health experts and other relevant players to lead the fight against Covid-19 in the education sector.
Meanwhile here are some quick tips on how to protect ourselves from the virus.

-Wash hands often (soap+water or alcohol-based rub)
-Avoid touching face
-Cover mouth when coughing w/ elbow or tissue
-Maintain 1 metre between yourself, anyone who is coughing/sneezing
-Avoid crowds
-Limit travel
-Stay home if ill

SOME churches have indefinitely cancelled services and religious rites that involve mass gatherings while others are limiting the number of people that can attend a service in light of the threat posed by Covid-19.

A number of churches have opted to live-stream services so that congregants can watch from home.

The Catholic Church in Zimbabwe has indefinitely suspended obligatory Mass for the vulnerable and banned some traditional church rituals such as shaking hands and receiving communion with one’s tongue to contain spread of coronavirus.

Churches that include Apostolic Faith Mission, Harvest House International, Celebration Church and Word of Life have resolved to split services to ensure there are no more than 100 congregants at any given event.

The Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Zimbabwe has already called off services
following instructions from church leaders in Utah, United States of America, who have suspended all worship globally following the spread of the coronavirus.

Zimbabwe has not recorded any case of the coronavirus.

However, the Government declared the coronavirus a State of National Disaster and postponed major social events including the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), the 40th Independence Day celebrations, religious and public gatherings of more than 100 people for the next 60 days.-State media

MDC president Nelson Chamisa has expressed his condolences over the passing away of the late Chief Khayisa Ndiweni’s widow Agnes Masuku Ndiweni and mother to dethroned Chief Nhlanhlayamangwe Felix Ndiweni’s who died at the age of 96.

Posting on microblogging site Twitter on Thursday, Chamisa said:

“Condolences to the Ndiweni family on the passing on of ugogo uMasuku, Paramount Chief Felix Nhlanhla Ndiweni’s mother. Ugogo uMasuku, Indlovukazi yethu, uMadlenya, uZikode, uMlondo is no more. Our 96-year-old pious & great mother, proud resident of Ntabazinduna. MHSRP!”

FUEL players have approached the High Court challenging the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) notice which announced an 8 600 percent hike in licence renewal fees.

According to the Indigenous Petroleum Association of Zimbabwe (Ipaz), the increase will see fuel players paying up to $2 million per year, up from $23 000.

“This is an urgent application seeking to interdict the first respondent (Zera) from giving effect to the terms of conditions for renewal of licences contained in a notice issued by the first respondent dated the 9th of March 2020, the terms of which notice will take effect from the 31st of March 2020.

“The application also seeks to have the aforesaid notice declared unlawful and therefore invalid.

“In addition, the application seeks to have the first respondent’s board declared to be improperly constituted and as such, to have its decisions declared null and void,” Ipaz said.

According to the organisation, which cited Zera and Energy minister Fortune Chasi as respondents, prior to the introduction of the multi-currency system in 2009, the petroleum industry was dominated by large multi-national companies such as Caltex, Mobil, BP Shell and Total, with a few indigenous players.

In an affidavit, the organisation’s chairperson Aaron Chinhara said due to the tough operating environment riddled with shortages of foreign currency and inflation, the industry was on its knees.

The organisation, which has 260 members, said multi-national companies had deserted the industry, leaving a yawning gap, which gave birth to indigenous players.

Ipaz said it was always consulted by Zera on issues to do with licensing and it had been taking on board some of its views and recommendations.

“Applicant’s members had previously never had issues when it came to the renewal of licences.

“However, towards the end of last year, the applicant was surprised to hear that some players in the industry wanted to force applicant’s members out of business by hiking fees and other terms and conditions for renewal of licences beyond the reach of applicant’s members,” Chinhara said.

He further said that some of the members paid $306 000 for licences, which is the amount that was initially proposed.

“On the 9th of March, the first respondent dropped a bombshell when it published a notice headed: Petroleum Sector Notice: Licensing of Petroleum Sector Operators 2020.

“The contents of the notice confirmed our fears regarding the imposition of stringent requirements that we sought to stop notwithstanding the assurances we had been given by the first respondent,” he said.

The organisation agreed to engage Zera to withdraw its notice, adding that the board was also improperly constituted.

The fuel players said the licence fees hike was a threat to their business operations and could make a number of people jobless.

“There would also be a shortage of fuel if 260 service stations with a capacity of millions of litres of fuel in the industry are forced out of business.

“Some these members are holders of free funds so that the acute shortage of fuel in the country is alleviated.

“However, disqualifying them from obtaining a licence would mean that no such fuel is imported and the already crippling shortages would continue to worsen,” Chinhara said.

Zera and Chasi have not yet responded to the application, which is pending before the High Court.

Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s dispute over custody of his children took a new turn Monday after it emerged that his estranged wife, Marry Mubaiwa had actually conceded to being mentally unstable while making her application for bail at the High Court.

Apparently, Chiwenga had refused to release the couple’s three children into Marry’s custody on the basis that the latter was a drug addict and unsuitable to take care of the children.

However, when the couple’s custody dispute spilled into the Supreme Court on appeal Monday, it then emerged that High Court judge, Justice Christopher Dube-Banda, who deliberated over the matter, did not deal with the application that was placed before him when he ruled in favour of Marry.

This was revealed when Chiwenga, through his lawyers, submitted before Deputy Chief Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza and Justices Paddington Garwe and Chinembiri Bhunu that Justice Dube-Banda misdirected himself when he granted Marry what purported to have been a spoliation order, which she had not applied for.

During interaction with the court, Marry’s lawyer Advocate Taona Nyamakura, who was being assisted by Advocate Sylvester Hashiti, also made a concession that Justice Dube-Banda granted a spoliation order which had not been sought by his client but urged the court to correct and make an amendment to the High Court order.

The VP’s lawyers, Advocate Lewis Uriri, who was instructed by Wilson Manase, said the judgment by Justice Dube-Banda was not supposed to have granted Marry custody of the couple’s three minor children.

They said when she approached the High Court for relief, she simply challenged Chiwenga’s decision barring her from accessing their official home, number 614 Nick Prince Drive, Borrowdale Brooke, Harare.

Advocate Uriri further said Marry would not have sought custody of the minor children given that she had previously submitted a letter from the doctor, during her bail application, saying she needed constant monitoring by a psychiatrist.

Uriri said the letter was confirmation that she could not take care of her children because of her mental condition. He said it was, therefore, wrong for Justice Dube-Banda to order Chiwenga to release the children into her custody.

“When she was arrested, there was a duty of protection and a duty of care for the children. Whilst she was in custody she filed an affidavit that she needed attention of a psychiatrist,” Advocate Uriri said.

“She openly stated that she could not be trusted with her own children. She did not apply to the court for custody and, as far as we are concerned, that custody matter is still pending.”

As if that was not enough, Nyamakura was also grilled by Justice Bhunu, who wanted him to explain how Chiwenga was alleged to have abducted his children who had been in his custody when Marry was behind bars on allegations of money-laundering, externalisation and attempted murder.

“If he (Chiwenga) already had the children while she was in custody, how did he then abduct the children?” Justice Bhunu asked.

Nyamakura responded: “Appellant (Chiwenga) did not restore custody of the children soon after the mother was released from prison.”

The judge then further asked: “Respondent (Marry) being a psychiatric patient, was she the best parent to stay with the children? Does that not cast doubt on her mental capacity?”

And Nyamakura answered: “Nowhere did she say she was not able to stay with her children.”

After a lengthy interaction with the lawyers, Justice Gwaunza reserved judgment on the matter.

Meanwhile, the extra-territorial investigations into Marry’s attempted murder allegations filed by Chiwenga have been completed and the prosecution is waiting for exhibits and evidence to be brought before the Prosecutor-General for perusal, the magistrates court heard yesterday.

Magistrate Chrispen Mberewere remanded Marry to May 8 and her lawyer, Wellington Musengwa consented to the postponement, but filed a notice to apply for refusal of further remand on May 8 if the trial date is not provided.

The State, represented by Tinashe Makiya, said investigations of the attempted murder charge and money-laundering were almost complete and a trial date will be provided.

— NewsDay

THE late founding father of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai’s son Vincent, pictured, — who is the MP for Glen View South — has come under fire from his party after he said that sanctions were not targeted, but were affecting all Zimbabweans.

Tsvangirai told the parliamentary portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs that sanctions must go now.

“I believe they (sanctions) should go. In this day and age, they don’t help anything if you look at every other country out there in the world. Look at all the statistics that are out there, they don’t help with anything, you may target one person, but that person is never targeted and that person will continue with their lives.

“I am a patriotic person who believes that sanctions do hurt ordinary persons but at the same time making an act like that I believe sometimes you may end up opening up citizens to further harm,” said Tsvangirai.
This did not go down well with the party, which yesterday immediately distanced itself from Tsvangirai’s position.

“What Honourable Tsvangirai said is not the party’s position. As the people’s party, the MDC remains clear and unequivocal in its stance.

“We are more focused on the lifting of ‘domestic sanctions’ that the illegitimate regime has imposed on the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe,” MDC spokesperson Daniel Molekeli told the Daily News yesterday.

“Zanu PF must focus on opening up the democratic space at home first, and then the so-called international sanctions will naturally fall away. Those are not economic sanctions, but they are targeted at individuals who are violating human rights,” he added.

This comes after the US State Department recently added to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list minister of State Security Owen Ncube and former commander of the Presidential Guard, Anslem Sanyatwe, for their role in the killings of civilians by the security sector in 2018 and 2019.

Ncube and Sanyatwe were last year placed on the US State Department Visa Travel Negative list for their role in thwarting protests and under the SDNs designated persons will have their assets blocked while nationals of the world’s richest country are prohibited from dealing with them.

The US senators, Jim Risch (R-Idaho), who is the chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Chris Coons (D-Del.), member of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, are pushing for more names in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration to be added in what could further isolate Zimbabwe and render futile government international re-engagement efforts.

Own Correspondent|Reports just received indicate that a highly suspect Coronavirus Case has been detected in Gwanda.

Sources at Gwanda Provincial Hospital told ZimEye.com that the patient disembarked from a Bulawayo bound bus from Johannesburg South Africa on Thursday morning in urgent need for medical attention.

The sources said the patient exhibited all possible symptoms of the deadly virus.

The patient was rushed to Gwanda Hospital where, according to the sources, tests were done but results are still being expected at the time of writing.

More details to follow…..