NEIGHBOURING South Africa has told President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration to stop political interference in public institutions, respect trade agreements and allow competition in business if it is serious about turning around the collapsing economy.
In a straight talk by South Africa’s ambassador to Zimbabwe Mphakama Mbete during the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) economic summit last week, government was told not to tinker with important economic institutions for political gain.
“Public institutions are key to proper economic management and must be allowed to pursue their mandate in line with the policy framework and legislation that establishes them. These institutions are important to provide a stable and predictable economic environment for business to thrive,” Mbete said.
Business, particularly through Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe, has accused government of dragging the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe into quasi-fiscal activities and allowing it to print or generate money for political expediency and resultantly undermine the local currency.
Mbete said research showed that governments which manipulated institutions led generally poor nations.
“Nations with extractive political and economic institutions are likely to be poor compared to those with inclusive economic institutions, where the rule of law is protected against rent-seeking and political manipulation,” he said.
Mnangagwa’s government has been posturing, telling its African and international audiences that sanctions were affecting economic development in the country and hindering foreign direct investment (FDI), but Mbete sang from a different hymnbook.
“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 import 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 and establishment of new credibilities, lastly optimal debt servicing,” he said.
Zimbabwe has been writing laws to protect local industries from competition, especially by enforcing punitive import tariffs and closing out some sectors to foreign competition.
These include Statutory Instrument (SI) 64 of 2016, whose objective was to boost domestic production by protecting local industries from unfair competition from foreign firms.
The SI resulted in the removal of 43 products from the Open General Import Licence.
Zimbabwe, however, repealed SI 64, all its predecessors and consolidated their contents into SI 122 of 2017 with import controls, though relaxed, still haunting the nation.
The laws came under scrutiny after the country joined the African Continental Free Trade Area, which will remove economic borders and bring fierce continental competition.
Mbete told government that without addressing these issues, FDI would seek safer destinations.
“We believe that in a highly competitive environment for FDI, these are but a few of the basic conditions that must be upheld at all times. In our view, failure to do so means that investment capital will always look past Zimbabwe to other safer havens,” he said.
Touching on the core of economic decay, Mbete said the shortages of energy, fuel and water in Zimbabwe were not making matters any better.
“Zimbabwe has an industry base that has been neglected for long and needs reinvestment and re-calibrating. This neglect undermines government revenue collection potential since industry is operating below its potential. Industry and the economy by extension triumphs when basic services such as energy, fuel, water, bulk services, for example, are provided in a consistent and predictable way, this is essential for long-term planning by the productive sectors,” he said.
“We think it is important for all members of society to enter into a social contract wherein government, business, labour and citizens rally behind a common vision of the country of Zimbabwe. Success requires mutual co-operation of all players as no one section of society can do it alone.”
Added Mbete: “South Africa, we believe, has had a very successful social contract through the National Economic Development Labour Council.”
Passengers in commuter omnibus travelling to Chitsunga in Mbire were lucky to escape death after the kombi was swept away by the strong current after attempting to cross the flooded Karai river.
Mashonaland Central Provincial Development Coodinator Mr Cosmas Chiringa confirmed the incident.
“I have just received a report this morning that a kombi was swept away but no fatalities were recorded. I am also told that those who suffered minor injuries were treated at Chirunya clinic,” said Mr Chiringa.
The Kombi was dragged by the raging waters for about 40 metres.
By A Correspondent | Video evidence to prove that Emmerson Mnangagwa is guilty for Gukurahundi is available, and still, what has changed in Zimbabwe since Gukurahundi apart from the signing of the unity accord and the signing of Robert Mugabe’s resignation letter Nice 2017? This is all the more proof that the Gukurahundi massacre did not at all end in 1984, it is still ongoing, proven by Mnangagwa’s statements before the 1 August crackdown, those just after the January 2019 killings while in Mwenezi, and those as late as last month while in Kuwadzana, Harare.
The People’s Party has since called Mnangagwa to order over the killings. The party says there is a clear continuation of a process of murder. It said:
We note with concern plans by the Emmerson Mnangagwa regime to fast-track the exhumation and reburial of victims of the Gukurahundi atrocities in which over 20 000 Ndebele civilians were killed.
Those who were killed were not possessions of the State but came from families that have the right to direct the manner and speed with which the exhumation and reburial of their loved ones must be conducted.
Mnangagwa in particular must take a step back from any process aimed at resolving Gukurahundi because he was one of the chief architects of the killings. At the time, serving as State Security Minister, he flatly denied that there were any such killings. Video evidence is available to support this claim. What has changed?
Gukurahundi cannot be resolved with a piecemeal approach. For there to be healing, reconciliation, unity and peace, the truth must lead together with justice and meaningful compensation.
The People’s Party believes that a national shrine equivalent to the Heroes Acre, and a memorial in the mold of the Holocaust Museum, must be setup for the reburial of all unidentified remains as well as those whose family members wish to have their loved ones buried there. This monument should serve as a reminder to future generations.
Further, it is important that the facts be litigated on national television in the same manner the Motlanthe Commission was broadcast after the killing of six unarmed civilians on August 1, 2018. The people of Matabeleland must be allowed to speak and be heard.
We believe that these substantive actions can open the path to healing from this great injustice that must never again be visited on the people of Zimbabwe.
He’s in trouble again: Julius Malema is facing another legal headache, after the East london Magistrate’s Court issued him with an arrest warrant.
Anything Jacob Zuma can do, Julius Malema claims to do better. On Monday morning, he even followed in uBaba’s footsteps when it comes to skipping court. Juju failed to show up at the Magistrate’s venue in East London, and subsequently, the presiding judge issued an official warrant of arrest for the EFF leader.
The news comes as the political firebrand was due to face five separate counts of discharging a firearm in a public space. Back in 2018, a video of Julius Malema firing a rifle into the air during an EFF rally sent shockwaves across the country – and it was eventually brought to the attention of the judiciary.
Malema has faced a few legal issues in the past 12 months, losing multiple cases to AfriForum on issues regarding rallying calls for land grabs. He is also trying to get the Riotous Assemblies Act overturned, and has been confronted with assault charges from the NPA after getting into an altercation with a security guard two years ago.
The incident in Mdantsane has been contentious to say the least. Juju claims that he was handed the firearm, not knowing that it was a real gun. He maintains that he was told it was a replica, and predictably, the EFF’s top dog suggests that he was the victim of a conspiracy.
He becomes the second high-profile political leader to be slapped with an arrest warrant in 2020. Jacob Zuma failed to appear for his corruption trial in January, and should he fail to return to court on 6 May, Msholozi could be cuffed by the authorities. The terms for Julius Malema’s warrant are less clear, though.
Correspondent|There was drama at the Harare Magistrates’ Court after a self-proclaimed Mbuya Nehanda, charged with criminal nuisance, shouted at officials.
Facing charges of criminal nuisance, she shouted that spirit mediums must not be arrested. Asinuta Dendere appeared before magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa who released her on free bail.
Her daughter-in-law, Phyllis Pikitai is supposed to take care of her and remind her to return to court on March 4.
Phyllis was also advised to take Dendere to two medical doctors so that she is examined.
The State was stopped from the allegations after Dendere interrupted shouting that she was arrested as she was trying to speed up an application she made in 2018 to see the President.
Dendere also said she wanted to see the President at his Munhumutapa offices as she wanted to discuss serious issues with him but her application was turned down. She also indicated that she was Mbuya Nehanda a spirit medium that should be respected.
Dendere also indicated that she was not crazy but the spirit of Mbuya Nehanda had pushed her to do what she did leading to her arrest.
The State was alleging that Dendere was arrested on February 19 at Munhumutapa building after she pitched at the entrance and started to behave mischievously saying she was a spirit medium who wanted entrance into the building. H Metro
Farai Dziva|Former Warriors and Dynamos goalkeeper Tatenda Mkuruva says he still has ambitions to play for the national soccer team.
Mkuruva was the Warriors first choice goalie at AFCON 2017 under now Nyasa Big Bullets coach Kalisto Pasuwa but his career hit a slight snag when he joined ABSA Premiership side Cape Town City.
“It’s every soccer player’s dream to represent his country and I am happy I did and I’m still looking forward to be called back to the Warriors,” Mkuruva told The Herald.
“ I know it’s not going to be easy because we have good goalkeepers. But, I will work hard and, hopefully, get the reward to be back again in the Warriors setup,” he added.
Farai Dziva|Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool’s success is bringing in a new set of transfer problems as his team is now so good, even the biggest names fear they couldn’t get in it.
The Reds remain unbeaten this season with a massive 19-point lead at the top of the English Premier League table. They are just five wins away from their first championship in three decades.
A couple of big names have been linked with the club in recent months with Germany’s Timo Werner the latest star who went on to describe them as the best in world.
But Klopp has other beliefs in the transfer business. He told the Mirror newspaper that it’s not easy as it looks.
He said: “If they see you are successful, it’s easier to get into talks with players. But on the other side, it’s more difficult the better your team is because they ask questions like ‘where and when would I play?’
“We need players who want to be part of this, who want to fight for their spot, who want to make the next step together with us, who want to develop and improve so that’s it.
“We have these players and whoever wants to join us, needs to have exactly this kind of attitude.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool will return to action this evening when they face West Ham in their Matchday 27 encounter at Anfield.
By A Correspondent| Hell has broken loose on the necromancer Shepherd Bushiri over allegations of bedding former Deputy Finance Minister Terence Mukupe’s wife.
So far Bushiri has issued a statement denying the allegations while at the same time threatening newspapers from publishing the story.
In the latest development, Mukupe has dropped the UK Zimbabwean preacher Uebert Angel’s name.
The nexus has since gotten tighter as the last time Bushiri was in the spotlight over infidelity allegations, Angel telephoned ZimEye seeking to bribe for both him and Bushiri. They wanted the story to be killed before it gets published. ZimEye reproduces the telephone convo which ended up as a full interview below. We publish all in the public interest as there is a string of several women Angel himself has pleasured himself on, per his own admissions, and one of these, a 23 year old young lady developed a mental illness following the counter.
Answering to the matter, Angel justified himself saying a moral failure is not a crime. He said, “what crime is it what crime is that? You see moral failure is not a crime.
“I am dealing with the law here moral failure is not a crime. And remember I come from Masvingo, you know. We always say don’t cry more than the bereaved, alright?” (Time 40:00 to 41:27).
Last week, Bushiri announced in a statement saying there is no foundation whatsoever to the allegations.
But in this development, Mukupe reveals more precise details of the alleged acts. He gets to mention Room 14 Rustenberg. WATCH BELOW:
Farai Dziva|Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp has come out in defence of the duo of Khama Billiat and George Makuleka after their missed penalties proved decisive in the club’s Nedbank Cup exit on Saturday.
Amakhosi, after having played out a 1–1 draw with Highlands Park, went down 4-5 in the penalty shootout, with the aforementioned pair missing from 12 yards, something which the German highlighted is part of the game.
“It’s always something where we are disappointed, there’s no doubt about it, but as I said, under the circumstances, there’s not really a game that we could see normally from our side,” said Middendorp told Kick Off Magazine.
“The penalties are always something in the end that [is unpredictable]. In particular, the two players who missed on our side – George and Khama – are normally 100 percent [guaranteed to score].
“Every time in training or whenever, regularly, they score. But this is what happens in the end, and it’s not to comment on.
It’s a penalty shootout and Highlands Park qualified [for the next round]. As for us, we win together, and we’re not qualified together.” he added.
By Showbiz Reporter|Marry Chiwenga’s cousin Genius Kadungure has said the flamboyant necromancer Passion Java is not as rich as he proclaims.
He said many of the cars he flaunts are hired vehicles.
Ginimbi revealed this in a video while sitting behind the steering wheel of a heavy machine of his. He said “Java does not have a cent. The many cars are hired things.” VIDEO –
By A Correspondent- A self confessed se_x worker serving time for extorting her clients has sensationally claimed to have been convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Chipo Dube vowed to turn her former clients and fellow hookers to God saying the power of the Holy Spirit convicted her when one of the inmates shared a sermon during a prayer in a cell.
Dube said this on Saturday during a church service conducted by Daughters of Virtue ministries popularly known as Ndadhiniwa Group led by Prophetess Memory Matimbire.
“I lost my time and dignity loitering in the Avenues to hook men for se_x. I was unaware that God had good plans for me and my family,” said Dube.
“The devil robbed me of my life and opened a door for me to be called a pr0stitute ndikabviswa nyadzi dzose zvekufamba ndakashama pavanhu nemumabhawa ndichitsvake mari.
“I became greedy to the extent of robbing several men who hooked me for se_x by extorting them of their hard earned money supposed to help their families.
“My life has changed here in prison, police arrested me and prison officers made sure I do not escape but something happened to my soul during a prayer when one of the inmates who has since been released shared a word with me in the cell.
“The Holy Spirit convicted me and I came to my senses and realised that I am a sinner and I felt sorry for the families I robbed their money and partners who were denied their conjugal rights during my useless time in the streets hooking men for se_x.
“God has spoken to me and my body is no longer filled with the power of sin and no longer craving for se_x,” said Dube.
She narrated how she lured lustful men for se_x in the Avenues area saying God had changed her life and could not wait to be a fisher of men upon her release in a few months to come.
“One of the inmates named Cathy shared a message with me quoting scriptures from the book of Judges where a story of Samson is written.
“Ndakabviswa rima mandiri nyama yangu yashanduka uye ndakawana mukana wekudzidziswa shoko ndirimuno mutorongo saka pandinobuda nyika ichashanduka neshoko rechiedza,” said Dube promising to take good news to pr0stitutes and lustful men.
Dube promised to be on fire for Jesus Christ alongside Prophetess Matimbire upon her release commending her for visiting them with messages of hope and prayer.
Daughters of Virtue ministries donated goods worth US$10 000 and $3000 and included sanitary pads, maize, mealie meal, cooking oil, blankets, dried fish, washing and bathing soap, tooth paste, flour and pairs of slippers.-HMetro
BLACK Rhinos have settled for Trojan Stadium as their home ground for the 2020 Premiership season.
Rhinos will announce their arrival in Bindura with a friendly match against Division Side Simba Bhora tomorrow.
The team’s secretary general Edward Mutukwa told H-Metro yesterday that they have settled for Trojan since it is already fit to host Premier Soccer League matches.
“Yes, for now, we have settled for Trojan Mine Stadium which already passed the FIB inspection, though a few areas need to be attended to,” said Mutukwa.
Chauya Chipembere had initially hinted on using Chinhoyi Stadium and Mutukwa said they had not abandoned their plans.-H-Metro
By Wilbert Mukori- My fellow Zimbabweans, we are well and truly stuck!
Nothing encapsulates Zimbabwe’s economic decline and helplessness more than what happened to our agricultural sector. We live in the day and age when human ingenuity has turned deserts in blooming fields and orchards.
Zimbabwe is for all intent and purposes the Biblical Garden of Eden and once upon a time we used to be the breadbasket of the whole region. Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies seized the farms and shared them amongst themselves, mostly, and our agricultural sector completely collapse.
“We are importing maize, wheat, carrots, potatoes . . . . We import everything!” Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr John Mangudya admitted in a recent video in Spotlight-z.
We are starving in the Garden of Eden! A damning testimonial of human failure!
As long as Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies remain in government and thus retain the ownership of the farms; Zimbabwe’s food shortages are set to remain. These errant farmers are certainly not giving up their farms since they have been earning fortunes in farming subsidies from the government’s Command Agriculture programmes – a conduit for looting billions of dollars of public funds with little to show for it.
Of course, we are stuck! We know we are stuck; those who lord over us, know we are stuck and, worst of all, they know there is little we can do about!
“Today I have the privilege to be part of this historic occasion with representatives from the various political parties and the other sectors of our society gathered to discuss issues, share ideas and make recommendations on how we can accelerate the turnaround efforts of our country’s economy,” said President Mnangagwa, according a Daily News report.
“This event is unprecedented by that it is the first of its kind to be organised by political actors from across the political divide under the banner of the POLAD.
“No one has the monopoly of ideas on how our country can speedily modernise, industrialise and develop.
“The forum is committed to take remedial steps to address and identify gaps to enhance economic stability, growth and sustainable economic development.”
The imposition of POLAD and Mnangagwa’s insistence that it is the vehicle for Zimbabwe’s economic recovery epitomises why Zimbabwe is not only stuck but helplessly so!
Zimbabwe is in this economic mess because of 40 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. The nation has failed to remove the regime from office all these years because the party blatantly rigged the elections denying the people a meaningful say in the governance of the country.
Ever since his taking over from Robert Mugabe in the November 2017 coup, Emmerson Mnangagwa has wanted to portray himself as different from Mugabe. Whereas Mugabe had been a control freak autocrat who considered even his own fellow senior Zanu PF leaders as intellectual midgets devoid of any ideas and leadership qualities. Mnangagwa readily admits to “no one has the monopoly of ideas”. It is not what he says but what he does that matters the most, of course.
First of all, Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections; contrary to his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections and thus break with Mugabe days tradition; to secure his own position as the country’s next autocratic dictator. Second, he creates POLAD to corral all his political opponents for the sake of milking them of any ideas they have and, most important of all, to stop them criticising him and holding him to account.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and political paralysis (having a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical ruling party, Zanu PF, and an equally corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition parties) during Mugabe days was the dearth of open debate and democratic competition and accountability. We still have no meaningful public debate and no democracy in Mnangagwa’s new dispensation.
“It is commendable that this forum is being attended by our development partners and members of the diplomatic corps, who are all indispensable partners to our economic development,” continued Mnangagwa.
“I call on you to bear with us as we implement our wide ranging reforms towards the speedy modernisation and industrialisation of our economy.”
Zimbabwe, the pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs under Mugabe, has remained unchanged under new management of Mnangagwa. It is infuriating that Mnangagwa should try to convince us there is change when absolutely nothing has changed. Worse still, it is even more infuriating that nations like the EU should even be encouraging him to believe he is on the right track for change when he is not!
Zanu PF will never implement the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. Never!
Of course, we are stuck and it is very patronising for countries like EU to pretend Zanu PF has changed when we all know Zimbabwe is pariah state and nothing has changed. Nothing!
By A Correspondent- South Africa’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mphakama Mbete told President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to stop meddling in the functioning of public institutions and to respect the rule of law for the country to be able to revive its economy.
Mbete spoke frankly on the panacea to Zimbabwe problems during the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) economic summit last week.
He said:
“Public institutions are key to proper economic management and must be allowed to pursue their mandate in line with the policy framework and legislation that establishes them. These institutions are important to provide a stable and predictable economic environment for business to thrive.
Nations with extractive political and economic institutions are likely to be poor compared to those with inclusive economic institutions, where the rule of law is protected against rent-seeking and political manipulation.
Zimbabwe has an industrial base that has been neglected for long and needs reinvestment and re-calibrating. This neglect undermines government revenue collection potential since industry is operating below its potential.
Industry and the economy by extension triumphs when basic services such as energy, fuel, water, bulk services, for example, are provided in a consistent and predictable way, this is essential for long-term planning by the productive sectors.”
Mbete called Zimbabweans, that is, government, business, labour and citizens to enter into a social contract to tackle the country’s perennial problems.
He pointed Mnangagwa to his own country’s successful social contract through the National Economic Development Labour Council.
Change in our country can actually be more straightforward than we think.
We have the power to stop dictators in our land, which is the interest of our people who are yearning for freedom and prosperity.
This regime now has an inherent belligerence which is threatening us all.
We have become more susceptible to corruption, divided and failing to unite on basic principles of democracy.
All dictators divide the people to find fertile ground to selectively persecute citizens in isolation and in vulnerability. We need to be clear with our needs and what we are actually fighting for. That clarity will inspire us to unite and fight for our freedom.
Having achieved that with democracy robustly in place, our society should start thriving and our country will be respected. We are suffering from absence of democracy, leadership and good governance which has become a fatal moral flaw which cannot be ignored anymore.
Politicians in any free state, whether they like it or not, are obliged to pay attention to the needs of citizens.
This is what we are lacking, politicians who represent the will of the people.
A country without moral clarity is a country in which dictators speak of human rights and prosperity, yet they are busy killing and brutalising own citizens condemning the whole country to abject poverty and instability. Zimbabwe is not excluded.
Fellow Zimbabweans and fellow Africans today l celebrate 27 years of existence on this mother earth.
I thank the Almighty for giving me the opportunity to live once more and explore the world in a bid to make it a better place. I thank you all who have contributed to my journey on this planet, my biological family headed by my father Hebert as well as my evergrowing family of Democrats led by Advocate Nelson Chamisa a great revolutionary.
I salute my fellow comrades whom I’ve worked with, in this struggle to transform Zimbabwe into a modern Democratic Developmental State.
I take this day to reflect on the road l have traversed thus far and the task upon the shoulders of our generation to liberate our country from the shackles of dictatorship, corruption, nepotism, kleptocracy, nihilism, fascism, autocracy and absolute state failure!
I celebrate this day at a time when things are not well in the motherland- the decay of the social fabric, the incarceration of human rights defenders { in particular my brother Cde Mako} and the decay of our national economy which continues to serve the few at the expense of the many. I reflect on this because it is out of this crisis that our nation will be made great through our protracted and scientifically organised struggle for democratic change and transformation in our own lifetime!
My wish and desire is that l genuinely work to make the world a place habitable by all regardless of one’s social, economic and cultural status.
To fight, read, speak, transform and develop.
As long as we live, an egalitarian society is what we will continue to fight for!
A healthy lifestyle is one which helps keep and improve people’s health and well being. It focuses on elements like: healthy eating, stop substance abuse and smoking, stress management, safe sexual behaviour and exercising regularly. All these elements are important for healthy living. A healthy lifestyle is a simple way with health insurance as illness and visits to a health practitioner are markedly reduced.
Healthy eating: This is eating a meal that have all nutrients required by the body to function that is protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and mineral salts. One should take heavy meals during the day and at night take smaller meals.
Drink more water at least 2litres per day unless specified by a doctor to limit the amount of fluids per day. Salt and oil when cooking should be adequate as these also contribute to diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. With health eating one should also consider weight management. One should have a BMI (body mass index) between 18.5 to 24.9.
Stop smoking: Smoking is hazardous to health and is a risk factor for many cancers. Alcohol intake should be reduced. Binge drinking and using drugs should be stopped as it is not good for health.
Stress management: People manage stress in different ways and peace of mind is required for healthy living. One should get enough sleep at least 6 to 8 continuous hours per day. Spend time with loved ones and if you have problems share with someone you trust or a counselor.
Safe sexual behaviour: Sticking to one partner is safe and reduce the risk of contracting STIs. Always use a condom and reduce STIs and unplanw ned pregnancy.
5.Exercising: Regular exercise of at least 30mins to 1hour per day for 3 to 4 days per week can be adequate. Exercises differs from just walking to strenuous or anaerobic exercises.
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By A Correspondent| The prolific Zengeza MP who is the MDC Deputy Chairman, Job Sikhala has said Zimbabweans are dying in everyway anyway so there is no more reason to fear death.
His comments come within weeks of ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa threatening the people of Kuwadzana with military level punishment – to redeploy the army the same way he did on the 1st August 2018, to punish them “for stopping the rain,” literally.
Mnangagwa: "But once we know it is the people of Kuwadzana who do not wish it to rain, we will deploy the army to surround them to beat them up" Video- ZBC pic.twitter.com/apQ05pc4jn
Speaking to Newsday in an interview, Sikhala said, “if we stay at home we die, if we demonstrate we die still- better “to die on your feet than to live on your knees”
In Sikhala’s words, those who died demonstrating are Heroes.
The Harare Magistrates court has granted RTGS$1000 bail to Allan Moyo and Makomborero Haruzivishe with a condition to report twice a week at Harare central police station.
By Hon Job Wiwa Sikhala
MDC National Vice Chairman :
Sometimes people do not understand my straightforward sentiments on the governance of Emmerson Mnangagwa primarily because of fear of the unknown.
Fear of the unknown is fear grounded on harm visiting upon someone or falling on someone if you voice against the injustice perpetrated by the powers that be. It is planted in the pysche of the public and it leads citizens into resignation to fate. Those in power love it because they will reap the fruits of that fear and do whatever they want with the nation and its people because to them, beholden the power of fear.
It is on this background, that I want to share with many people how the Zimbabwe State, is currently under the grip of a sophisticated system that portrays itself different from what it is. This deception had takers in the initial stages soon after the coup on November 17,2018, until the period we slowly exposed it for what it is. People didn’t understand the kind of a person that they were dealing with. Some of us who had an opportunity to understand how people with intelligence backgrounds can be dangerous to be given power knew from the beginning that Mnangagwa was going to be a dangerous albatross around the freedom neck of the people of Zimbabwe. The power of the State is constructed around a powerful intelligence system that becomes its source of survival. This is the Israeli theorem. Military strength come as a complimentary and supplementary source of security. That’s why all Arab states can not do anything against the State of Israel. Israel would know what their adversaries think in advance and the toilets their enemies use.
Mnangagwa, since the coming into being of the State of Zimbabwe has been the power behind the late Robert Mugabe since independence. He created one of the most feared intelligence systems in our country in the form of the CIO.
The CIO became the source of fear through its overt and covert operations, in the assassination and murder, abductions and disappearances of political opponents, in the poisoning using chemicals imported from Russia and North Korea of government adversaries. In dealing with political opponents, they always took a leading role. The first experiment was done against Father Zimbabwe, Joshua Nkomo and ZAPU soon after independence.
The operation became overt and covert to extinguish ZAPU from the face of the earth.
The role of the CIO which was created in the image of Mnangagwa can not be overemphasized, but we all know the role they played in Zimbabwe against opponents of the system up to present. How from 2000, when the MDC was formed became the source of assassination against many leaders of our party from those in lower structures to those who were in senior party positions. That’s why it is my belief that an organization without a polished, sophisticated intelligence system will not dethrone a system whose foundation is based on the use and manipulation of the state institutions.
Mnangagwa, like Vladimir Putin, is well acquainted with the sophistry of how to manipulate systems to his maximum advantage.
Since Putin took over from Boris Yeltsin in 2002, the people of Russia Federation have been tossed upside down by the former KGB Director of External Intelligence. He uses purging, fear and manipulation to remain unshaken in power. His use and manipulation of the intelligence system is felt and feared even in far foreign lands.
Some Americans today strongly believed that Putin intelligence manipulated its electoral system and rigged Donald Trump to power. This is not a simple allegation. It somehow demonstrate the danger of people whose background is fostered in intelligence.
Today, Putin alternates from President to Prime Minister in the process manipulating the Russia Federation constitution, and the nation is stuck with him until 2024, despite huge and widespread disenchantment and discontent against his rule.
All his long run Emmerson Mnangagwa was always dreaming to succeed his master Robert Mugabe. The first thing he deviced was fight and keep Mugabe in power under whatever circumstances.
Would it be through rigging elections using the intelligence system like what he did in 2002, 2013 or 2018, or brazen murder and assassination of opponents like what he did against ZAPU from 1980-87, or in 2008, he would not care as long as he has returned power.
The video of him speaking after, the ZANU PF and Robert Mugabe defeat in 2008, where he said that he phoned looking for Didymus Mutasa who had already packed his goods to Rusape after Mugabe’s clear defeat by the icon of democracy Morgan Tsvangirai, and his hunting for Elliot Manyika who was the Political Commissar of the party who was not answering his phone, should tell any normal Zimbabwean the evil man we are dealing with.
Clearly, the intention was to subvert the will of the people, which he successfully did.
The unexplained death of General Solomon Mujuru, who was his political nemesis rings something in my head. All his internal rivalries died in circumstances that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Edison Zvobgo, Josiah Tungamirai. The car accidents that eliminated Sydney Malunga, Chris Ushewekunze, Moven Mahachi and many more.
Knowing very well that CIO, as I earlier pointed out is not enough without the compliment of military power, the man had to find ways and means to manipulate the military to his side as it has its own intelligence system that does not report to the Minister of Intelligence.
He duped Mugabe to accept the idea of forming an organ outside the control of the State or party. It reports to its own commanders and the Minister of Defense direct to the President.
The opportunity was gracingly presented to him when Mugabe chose him as the trusted lieutenant to chair an unconstitutional body created to serve the interests of the party and not the nation called the Joint Operations Council (JOC). It presented him with an opportunity to interact with all the service chiefs of security sector.
Unbeknown to Mugabe, the man was building his fortress that will come to bite him to death. JOC is not a creation of the constitution or any statute in our country.
It’s a security coordination club that governs itself and is not answerable to any constitutive organ of the State. It is used as a platform to plan and plot against opponents of the system. It established decentralized structures down to district levels.
That is to mean, there are provincial JOC meetings chaired by the Provincial Ministers that involves provincial heads of CIO, Army, Police, Prison Services and a provincial ZANU PF Chairman.
The District JOC is chaired by the District Administrator of the designated district with the district heads of the same above institutions in attendance. They forward reports to the JOC centre which Mnangagwa was chairing.
Mnangagwa with few chosen commanders would then go and report to Mugabe.
Manipulation of intelligence details and reports along the way would be the order of the day because murume akanga oumba chinhu chake.
Thats why you realised that when the red line was drawn on the succession battle, Mnangagwa would clap, smile and feel unmoved when he was insulted, demeaned, decampaigned right on his face during the ZANU PF Youth interface Rallies.
That is the deception only unique to evil schemers.
Grace Mugabe would rant all day long finger pointing him, he would not be moved. Even people like Sarah Mahoka and Mandi Chimene would call him “dhakisi”, on his face but he would respond to it by a smile. You people, that smile was not a love smile. It was an evil smile and you wouldn’t see that he was feigning stupidity.
Despite the other group having thoroughly brained people like Prof Jonathan Moyo, the last you would see of them was when when he mounted a scooter in the forests of Mozambique into safety. That smile of idiocy is what it ended up doing.
With all those brains he made them flee in terror into the land of the aliens.
This is a man who does not need to be apologetic when you resolve to deal with. His stupid rantings that “nyangwe 2030 ndinenge ndiripo”, should not be taken lightly.
He shouts stupid, talks like an overdosed mariajuana smoker, looks like the worst empty vessel ever to be around. In such deceptive demeanor he needs to be treated with committed toughness. He needs to be treated with utmost sophistry, bravery and commitment.
Whatever I say is informed from the knowledge of how to deal with these kind of evil people. They know they can not be voted by the most insane of mind. They resort to elections which they know, they have already predetermine.
Zimbabweans shouted about NIKUV hoarses out after 2013 elections but it just died a natural death. No one talks about NIKUV today. Resorting to play the game to his tune is suicidal.
2030 tino svika varipo. They need shock and aware. They need to be surprised by the people. The people own everything. Thats why I have got a strong belief in people. We owe it to our country. Together we will break this barrier. And let me reassure you, the man is living in the illusion of his intelligence sphere. We will bring him down to the people and the people will ask him questions to answer.
By Hon Job Wiwa Sikhala
MDC National Vice Chairman :
Sometimes people do not understand my straightforward sentiments on the governance of Emmerson Mnangagwa primarily because of fear of the unknown.
Fear of the unknown is fear grounded on harm visiting upon someone or falling on someone if you voice against the injustice perpetrated by the powers that be. It is planted in the pysche of the public and it leads citizens into resignation to fate. Those in power love it because they will reap the fruits of that fear and do whatever they want with the nation and its people because to them, beholden the power of fear.
It is on this background, that I want to share with many people how the Zimbabwe State, is currently under the grip of a sophisticated system that portrays itself different from what it is. This deception had takers in the initial stages soon after the coup on November 17,2018, until the period we slowly exposed it for what it is. People didn’t understand the kind of a person that they were dealing with. Some of us who had an opportunity to understand how people with intelligence backgrounds can be dangerous to be given power knew from the beginning that Mnangagwa was going to be a dangerous albatross around the freedom neck of the people of Zimbabwe. The power of the State is constructed around a powerful intelligence system that becomes its source of survival. This is the Israeli theorem. Military strength come as a complimentary and supplementary source of security. That’s why all Arab states can not do anything against the State of Israel. Israel would know what their adversaries think in advance and the toilets their enemies use.
Mnangagwa, since the coming into being of the State of Zimbabwe has been the power behind the late Robert Mugabe since independence. He created one of the most feared intelligence systems in our country in the form of the CIO.
The CIO became the source of fear through its overt and covert operations, in the assassination and murder, abductions and disappearances of political opponents, in the poisoning using chemicals imported from Russia and North Korea of government adversaries. In dealing with political opponents, they always took a leading role. The first experiment was done against Father Zimbabwe, Joshua Nkomo and ZAPU soon after independence.
The operation became overt and covert to extinguish ZAPU from the face of the earth.
The role of the CIO which was created in the image of Mnangagwa can not be overemphasized, but we all know the role they played in Zimbabwe against opponents of the system up to present. How from 2000, when the MDC was formed became the source of assassination against many leaders of our party from those in lower structures to those who were in senior party positions. That’s why it is my belief that an organization without a polished, sophisticated intelligence system will not dethrone a system whose foundation is based on the use and manipulation of the state institutions.
Mnangagwa, like Vladimir Putin, is well acquainted with the sophistry of how to manipulate systems to his maximum advantage.
Since Putin took over from Boris Yeltsin in 2002, the people of Russia Federation have been tossed upside down by the former KGB Director of External Intelligence. He uses purging, fear and manipulation to remain unshaken in power. His use and manipulation of the intelligence system is felt and feared even in far foreign lands.
Some Americans today strongly believed that Putin intelligence manipulated its electoral system and rigged Donald Trump to power. This is not a simple allegation. It somehow demonstrate the danger of people whose background is fostered in intelligence.
Today, Putin alternates from President to Prime Minister in the process manipulating the Russia Federation constitution, and the nation is stuck with him until 2024, despite huge and widespread disenchantment and discontent against his rule.
All his long run Emmerson Mnangagwa was always dreaming to succeed his master Robert Mugabe. The first thing he deviced was fight and keep Mugabe in power under whatever circumstances.
Would it be through rigging elections using the intelligence system like what he did in 2002, 2013 or 2018, or brazen murder and assassination of opponents like what he did against ZAPU from 1980-87, or in 2008, he would not care as long as he has returned power.
The video of him speaking after, the ZANU PF and Robert Mugabe defeat in 2008, where he said that he phoned looking for Didymus Mutasa who had already packed his goods to Rusape after Mugabe’s clear defeat by the icon of democracy Morgan Tsvangirai, and his hunting for Elliot Manyika who was the Political Commissar of the party who was not answering his phone, should tell any normal Zimbabwean the evil man we are dealing with.
Clearly, the intention was to subvert the will of the people, which he successfully did.
The unexplained death of General Solomon Mujuru, who was his political nemesis rings something in my head. All his internal rivalries died in circumstances that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Edison Zvobgo, Josiah Tungamirai. The car accidents that eliminated Sydney Malunga, Chris Ushewekunze, Moven Mahachi and many more.
Knowing very well that CIO, as I earlier pointed out is not enough without the compliment of military power, the man had to find ways and means to manipulate the military to his side as it has its own intelligence system that does not report to the Minister of Intelligence.
He duped Mugabe to accept the idea of forming an organ outside the control of the State or party. It reports to its own commanders and the Minister of Defense direct to the President.
The opportunity was gracingly presented to him when Mugabe chose him as the trusted lieutenant to chair an unconstitutional body created to serve the interests of the party and not the nation called the Joint Operations Council (JOC). It presented him with an opportunity to interact with all the service chiefs of security sector.
Unbeknown to Mugabe, the man was building his fortress that will come to bite him to death. JOC is not a creation of the constitution or any statute in our country.
It’s a security coordination club that governs itself and is not answerable to any constitutive organ of the State. It is used as a platform to plan and plot against opponents of the system. It established decentralized structures down to district levels.
That is to mean, there are provincial JOC meetings chaired by the Provincial Ministers that involves provincial heads of CIO, Army, Police, Prison Services and a provincial ZANU PF Chairman.
The District JOC is chaired by the District Administrator of the designated district with the district heads of the same above institutions in attendance. They forward reports to the JOC centre which Mnangagwa was chairing.
Mnangagwa with few chosen commanders would then go and report to Mugabe.
Manipulation of intelligence details and reports along the way would be the order of the day because murume akanga oumba chinhu chake.
Thats why you realised that when the red line was drawn on the succession battle, Mnangagwa would clap, smile and feel unmoved when he was insulted, demeaned, decampaigned right on his face during the ZANU PF Youth interface Rallies.
That is the deception only unique to evil schemers.
Grace Mugabe would rant all day long finger pointing him, he would not be moved. Even people like Sarah Mahoka and Mandi Chimene would call him “dhakisi”, on his face but he would respond to it by a smile. You people, that smile was not a love smile. It was an evil smile and you wouldn’t see that he was feigning stupidity.
Despite the other group having thoroughly brained people like Prof Jonathan Moyo, the last you would see of them was when when he mounted a scooter in the forests of Mozambique into safety. That smile of idiocy is what it ended up doing.
With all those brains he made them flee in terror into the land of the aliens.
This is a man who does not need to be apologetic when you resolve to deal with. His stupid rantings that “nyangwe 2030 ndinenge ndiripo”, should not be taken lightly.
He shouts stupid, talks like an overdosed mariajuana smoker, looks like the worst empty vessel ever to be around. In such deceptive demeanor he needs to be treated with committed toughness. He needs to be treated with utmost sophistry, bravery and commitment.
Whatever I say is informed from the knowledge of how to deal with these kind of evil people. They know they can not be voted by the most insane of mind. They resort to elections which they know, they have already predetermine.
Zimbabweans shouted about NIKUV hoarses out after 2013 elections but it just died a natural death. No one talks about NIKUV today. Resorting to play the game to his tune is suicidal.
2030 tino svika varipo. They need shock and aware. They need to be surprised by the people. The people own everything. Thats why I have got a strong belief in people. We owe it to our country. Together we will break this barrier. And let me reassure you, the man is living in the illusion of his intelligence sphere. We will bring him down to the people and the people will ask him questions to answer.
Farai Dziva|A woman perceived to the a spirit medium has been arrested for attempting to enter Munhumutapa Building to see Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The woman, Asinuta Dendere, demanded to see Mnangagwa at his Munhumutapa offices.She was arrested last week.
She claimed she had serious issues to discuss with Mnangagwa.
She claims she is Mbuya Nehanda.
“Dendere was arrested at Munhumutapa building after she pitched at the entrance and started to behave mischievously saying she was a spirit medium who wanted to enter the building.She was charged with criminal nuisance,” government sources said.
The woman, sources say, wants Mnangagwa to step down sue to the escalating economic crisis.
Farai Dziva|A woman perceived to the a spirit medium has been arrested for attempting to enter Munhumutapa Building to see Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The woman, Asinuta Dendere, demanded to see Mnangagwa at his Munhumutapa offices.She was arrested last week.
She claimed she had serious issues to discuss with Mnangagwa.
She claims she is Mbuya Nehanda.
“Dendere was arrested at Munhumutapa building after she pitched at the entrance and started to behave mischievously saying she was a spirit medium who wanted to enter the building.She was charged with criminal nuisance,” government sources said.
The woman, sources say, wants Mnangagwa to step down sue to the escalating economic crisis.
Farai Dziva|MDC president Nelson Chamisa has encouraged party members to remain resilient and continue to push for change in the wake of economic challenges.
Addressing party supporters in Bindura said over the weekend, Chamisa said: “We have found a way of challenging ZANU PF’s hegemony in rural areas, therefore, “freedom and freedom nigh.”
“We need to be brave, it is time for us to put bravery ahead of everything else because we are almost getting there.
We are about to deliver freedom to this country, a new beginning and prosperity, the dawn is upon us. Let us not give up hope…”
Farai Dziva|MDC president Nelson Chamisa has encouraged party members to remain resilient and continue to push for change in the wake of economic challenges.
Addressing party supporters in Bindura said over the weekend, Chamisa said: “We have found a way of challenging ZANU PF’s hegemony in rural areas, therefore, “freedom and freedom nigh.”
“We need to be brave, it is time for us to put bravery ahead of everything else because we are almost getting there.
We are about to deliver freedom to this country, a new beginning and prosperity, the dawn is upon us. Let us not give up hope…”
Farai Dziva|MPs are struggling to use the new Samsung tablets they were given, Norton MP Temba Mliswa has said.
“I would also like to say these tablets that we got – I think we need to have a 30-minute lesson for all of us because some of us are used to the I-phone and not Samsung.
So anybody who needs further education on it can then see the ICT specialists. I think an understanding is needed,” said Mliswa.
It is understood some MPs are deeply reluctant to embrace digital communication.
By A Correspondent- The trial of leaders of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), lawyer Douglas Coltart and Simon Drury for criminal nuisance, which was for today has been postponed to tomorrow (25 February). ARTUZ said in a statement:
ARTUZ leadership, lawyer Douglas Coltart and Simon Drury’s trial for criminal nuisance that was scheduled for today has been postponed to tomorrow (25 February) at 1415 hrs in court 6, at Harare Magistrate’s court.
It has been necessitated by the absence of Magistrate Rudo Mugwagwa who has been presiding over the case since last year.
We look forward for justice to prevail. The dragging of trial in courts since August 2019 is a deliberate act to frustrate our cdes. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Our fight for a living wage is on. We still maintain our demand for US dollar salaries.
We thank our members, like-minded individuals and organisations who came to court for solidarity today. We encourage you to maintain your support for the workers’ struggle frustrate our cdes.
We encourage you to maintain your support for the workers to struggle through your presence whenever we are prosecuted.
Farai Dziva|MPs are struggling to use the new Samsung tablets they were given, Norton MP Temba Mliswa has said.
“I would also like to say these tablets that we got – I think we need to have a 30-minute lesson for all of us because some of us are used to the I-phone and not Samsung.
So anybody who needs further education on it can then see the ICT specialists. I think an understanding is needed,” said Mliswa.
It is understood some MPs are deeply reluctant to embrace digital communication.
By Hon Job Wiwa Sikhala
MDC National Vice Chairman.
The enemy is now shaking and quaking. They are coming on us full throttle. I have noticed with anger and anguish the desperate attempts by the department of counter intelligence of the CIO, the military intelligence and the office of Emmerson Mnangagwa calling itself the Office of the President and Cabinet(OPC), pushing hard a narrative to destroy and sow seeds of division in the people’s party through by running with a nauseating narrative to shuffle the MDC leadership as constituted by the Gweru congress.
Let it be clear to George Charamba and their released dogs that, the MDC leadership as constituted at the Gweru congress with the People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa as our head, Hon Tendai Biti, Professor Welshman Ncube and Hon Lynette Karenyi-Kore as the Vice Presidents and Hon Thabitha Khumalo as the chair and deputised by myself will never be changed as constituted under whatever circumstances. The narrative by George Charamba as confirmed by his post on his Twitter handle @Jamwanda that I am a project of the Americans to seize power in the MDC and lead a violent take over of government is a mere regime attempt to cause maximum divisions in the people’s party, assertions that have got no takers. Leadership in our democratic movement is installed at a congress. Besides that I have got no ambitions to be the President of the movement at all. Not today, tomorrow or in the future. I have got full faith in the leadership of my President Advocate Nelson Chamisa, who unbeknown to many is my young brother. I will support, compliment his drive for a free democratic society to the hilt. I will stand with Adv Nelson Chamisa until donkeys grow horns. So continue wasting your time on puerile suppositions.
Let this also be a warning to those planted among ourselves who are advancing the propaganda of the evil regime that, “Sikhala anoda kutiza nechinhu”, that soon you will find yourself in the gallows of history. Becoming a conveyancer of the toxic regime propaganda and shenanigans driven by few coins of silver is intolerable. Gossipers whose survival in politics depends on advancing divisions in the party should be warned that your time is nearing. You will never rise again in this people’s party through rumor mongering. Our general membershi is aware of your disposition and behavior.
God bless Zimbabwe.
God bless all of you.
Freeedom is coming!!
UK & others must certainly be sued if they fail to ensure UN laws are observed all over, esp in govts that boast of deploying the army on their own citizens to punish them "for stopping the rain", as Mnangagwa says on live-video, putting sanctions on his own people.@UKinZimbabwe
By A Correspondent- An Inyathi farmer has been arrested on charges of shooting and injuring two of his neighbours for trespassing into his property.
Nhlanhla Makuyana (56), of Twin Farm in Dromoland, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges when he appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Sibonginkosi Mnkandla on Thursday.
He was remanded out of custody to February 26 for continuation of trial.
The court was told that on October 29 last year at around 8am, the complainants, Thembani Nyoni and Sebastian Mayisa, who were in the company of others, were walking along a road which passes through Makuyana’s plot towards Switch Mine carrying a minerals detector and a hoe.
They allegedly met Makuyana, who was being accompanied by his brother, Thamsanga.
Makuyana allegedly cocked his gun and pointed it at the two complainants, accusing them of illegally prospecting for gold on his property.
It is the State’s case that the two tried to run away, prompting Makuyana to fire at them, hitting both.
Nyoni and Mayisa sustained serious injuries and a report made to the police, leading to Makuyana’s arrest.
Defence lawyer Abigail Masawi told the court that Makuyana fired the shots in self-defence after the complainants allegedly attempted to attack him.-Newsday
By A Correspondent- Former Zanu Pf youth leader Godfrey Tsenengamu who was last month suspended from the party for exposing cartels in the country accused the late former president Robert Mugabe for lying and playing games to rid his perceived opponents.
Tsenengamu said the youth league was tricked by the former Zimbabwean leader into playing a part in getting rid of the former vice president Joice Mujuru.
He said this in an interview with a local publication, the Daily News.
Said Tsenengamu:
“The late and former President Robert Mugabe had convinced us at a private meeting with him at State House that the then VP Mai Mujuru had planned evil against him and that as the vanguard of the party we were supposed to play our role in defending the party and the revolution which was embodied through him as the leader of the party.
Because we thought that these were real issues, we stood up to act only to realise later that he had lied to us and that these were just games he was playing to get rid of those he viewed as threats to his hold to power.”
CONTROVERSIAL and flamboyant preacher, Prophet Passion Java who torched a storm on social media following a video clip of him speaking in tongues had a wide ranging interview with H-Metro Reporter Adoration Bizure over this and many other issues.
Q: What is the purpose of your social media posts?
A: Our social media posts are meant to reach out to the idealistic so that when they want to know more on who Prophet Passion is they will end up watching my teachings and knowing more about God. I use social media as a marketing strategy of evangelizing the word of God. Nowadays things have changed, we now have modern ways of evangelizing as compared to the yesteryear church which specialized on holding tent crusades to preach the gospel. When we evangelize we target unbelievers because we don’t want members from another church to join ours we want lost souls to come to Christ.
Q: There is a video circulating on social media of you showcasing guns, most people did not expect that from a man of God since guns serve a purpose of killing people. What is the idea behind that?
A: The guns are just part of what I have at home, showing them is just excitement of what I never thought I will have. Buying them was not something I was going to do but in my man cave I have games and a lot of what’s needed for every man to have but it’s like when all men would come to my house they world ask and say where are the real man Guns. No one believed me that I didn’t have one looking at the cars outside and the jewelry in the house and the worth of my house. So I said why not then I went and bought. We all have something at our houses that we use for safety and what everyone has depends on what they can afford. In one sermon prophet Makandiwa preached a message he said iwewe kumba kwako kukauya mbavha haubude nebible but netsvimbo coz ndoirikumba kwenyu.
Q: Can you comment on the clip of speaking in tongues. Some are making fun of the tongues. What is your position on the issue of tongues versus what the bible says?
A: I cannot comment on those making fun of the tongues it is up to them but this is not something new, Pastor Chris spoke in shona ( Handei Tose ) in one of his tongues , oyedepo also said musaba musaba whilst speaking in tongues. In acts Chapter 2 verse 6 when people of all languages heard the disciples speaking in tongues they were shocked to hear them speaking their own language . That’s why 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 say they’re tongues of man and of angels, of man you hear all languages of earth etc, So when I speak in these languages it’s not like it’s the first time, it’s biblical.
Q: How do you handle your comic side with the ministry? Do people still take you seriously as a religious leader?
A: Comic life is what others call it but for me it’s called evangelical life this is what has attracted many to our ministry and social media ministry. In America they say Your looks are your hooks, how you look determines how you will attract people and my ministry does not target people who are in church already but people who are in the world. That’s why Jesus was seen with drinkers, pr0stitutes and heathens. Jesus first miracle was of changing water into wine; this was meant to win worldly souls not Pharisees. Some Christians are in cages because of religion but the Bible says where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty. I am serious when it comes to evangelism I can do all that is within my means that is why on July 24 I will be coming to Zimbabwe with Pastor Benny Hinn for a conference to be held at the Harare International Conference Center.
Q: Some people call you The Gaffa others Twabam, why such names on a man of God?
A: There is a difference between Twabam, Gaffa and Prophet Passion. Twabam gives a picture that the prophet is still a human being by laughing, dancing and showing vids on social media. Gaffa helps ghetto people and sponsor Zim dancehall music to find a platform for the prophet to reach the ghetto people. All these are one person like I’m a father to my three sons and a husband to my wife and a Chief Executive Officer to my business but still one person.
We have now completed our sober and painstaking study of Excelgate. In embarking on that study, we allowed ourselves to be guided by the remarks of MALABA J (as he then was) in City of Mutare v Mawoyo 1995 (1) ZLR 258 (HC) where he held as follows:
“The question whether or not this court has jurisdiction to alter its final judgments or orders has been answered in previous decisions of courts in jurisdictions that follow the common law tradition. The general rule is that once a final judgment or order has been given, the judge who gave it or any other judge of parallel jurisdiction has no power to alter, rescind, vary or set it aside, except in the few instances recognised at common law or by the Rules of the High Court. One of the exceptions recognised at common law is when the judgment or order has been obtained through fraudulent misrepresentation.”
Doubtless, Excelgate comes with certain consequencies.
By A Correspondent- Firebrand South African opposition leader Julius Malema is facing arrest after an Eastern Cape court issued a warrant of arrest.
This comes after the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) failed to appear in the East London magistrates court on Monday morning. Malema was supposed to appear in court to answer to a charge related to the discharge of a firearm in a public space.
Malema is facing five different charges which include the unlawful possession of a firearm and reckless endangerment to a person or property after he discharged his rifle during a rally in Mdantsane back in 2018.
Commenting on the latest developments, Luxolo Tyali of the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) to the Eye Witness News:
“As is standard practice when an accused person does not appear in court, a warrant of arrest was issued but that warrant won’t be effected until the next appearance. Their absence in court was an arrangement that was made prior to them having to come to court. They won’t be in court today.”
The following was the Masvingo born Uebert Angel’s comment following the first allegations of infidelity against both him and his colleague, Shepherd Bushiri: “What crime is it, what crime is that? You see moral failure is not a crime…”
By A Correspondent| Hell has broken loose on the necromancer Shepherd Bushiri over allegations of bedding former Deputy Finance Minister Terence Mukupe’s wife.
So far Bushiri has issued a statement denying the allegations while at the same time threatening newspapers from publishing the story.
In the latest development, Mukupe has dropped the UK Zimbabwean preacher Uebert Angel’s name.
The nexus has since gotten tighter as the last time Bushiri was in the spotlight over infidelity allegations, Angel telephoned ZimEye seeking to bribe for both him and Bushiri. ZimEye reproduces the telephone convo which ended up as a full interview below. We publish all in the public interest as there is a string of several women Angel himself has pleasured himself on, per his own admissions, and one of these, a 23 year old young lady developed a mental illness following the counter.
Answering to the matter, Angel justified himself saying a moral failure is not a crime. He said, “what crime is it what crime is that? You see moral failure is not a crime.
“I am dealing with the law here moral failure is not a crime. And remember I come from Masvingo, you know. We always say don’t cry more than the bereaved, alright?” (Time 40:00 to 41:27).
Last week, Bushiri announced in a statement saying there is no foundation whatsoever to the allegations.
But in this development, Mukupe reveals more precise details of the alleged acts. He gets to mention Room 14 Rustenberg. WATCH BELOW:
By A Correspondent- An Inyathi farmer has been arrested on charges of shooting and injuring two of his neighbours for trespassing into his property.
Nhlanhla Makuyana (56), of Twin Farm in Dromoland, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges when he appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Sibonginkosi Mnkandla on Thursday.
He was remanded out of custody to February 26 for continuation of trial.
The court was told that on October 29 last year at around 8am, the complainants, Thembani Nyoni and Sebastian Mayisa, who were in the company of others, were walking along a road which passes through Makuyana’s plot towards Switch Mine carrying a minerals detector and a hoe.
They allegedly met Makuyana, who was being accompanied by his brother, Thamsanga.
Makuyana allegedly cocked his gun and pointed it at the two complainants, accusing them of illegally prospecting for gold on his property.
It is the State’s case that the two tried to run away, prompting Makuyana to fire at them, hitting both.
Nyoni and Mayisa sustained serious injuries and a report made to the police, leading to Makuyana’s arrest.
Defence lawyer Abigail Masawi told the court that Makuyana fired the shots in self-defence after the complainants allegedly attempted to attack him.-Newsday
ARTUZ leadership, lawyer Douglas Coltart and Simon Drury’s trial for criminal nuisance that was scheduled for today, has been postponed to tomorrow (25 February) at 1415 hrs in court 6, at Harare Magistrate’s court.
It has been necessitated by the absence of Magistrate Rudo Mugwagwa who has been presiding over the case since last year.
We look forward for justice to prevail. The dragging of trial in courts since August 2019 is a deliberate act to frustrate our cdes. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Our fight for a living wage is on. We still maintain our demand for US dollar salaries.
We thank our members, like minded individuals and organisations who came to court for solidarity today. We encourage you to maintain your support for the workers struggle through your presence whenever we are prosecuted.
By A Correspondent- Guitarist and music producer Clive Mono Mukundu has warned men who frequent the Avenues area for ladies of the night that they risk extortion.
Posting on his Facebook page, Mukundu narrated a colleague’s ordeal.
He said:
Saturday night on my way home towards midnight I was stopped by a man who looked very desperate. I stopped, rolled the window slightly & gave him an ear.
He had recognized me so I was his only hope. He had “catched” one of the red light district girls. After whatever they did the lady hiked her fees from $50 bond to $5US, apa he had no money left after giving her the 50bond.
So he begged me to borrow him $5Usd, in order to protect his dignity because the woman was threatening war, she was gonna call for back up and she was gonna film the fracas on camera & expose him, apa the guy is a church official.
I agreed to help him on condition that he gives me something as collateral, but when she saw that I was willing to help him she then hiked it to $50 Usd & had confiscated the guys’ car keys.
Luckily I had the 50USD, he gave me a Laptop as collateral, gave her the money & she disappeared into the night to look for another victim, that’s when he discovered that she had stolen his other cellphone phone & other small items as he was negotiating with me.
A friend of mine who stays in the avenues say such extortion cases happen daily these days, no one reports to the police because it fumuraz the victim kuti he was keching prostitutes.
But some of the guys return back with back up for ma recovery, that’s when you hear stories of prostitutes being beaten up or killed, & people are quick to equate the cases with domestic violence, no ma recovery.
So I met the guy yesterday morning, he gave me back my money & I returned his Laptop & advised him to stay away from those ladies.
He said the lady was very nice before the act, as soon as it was done she totally changed into a new person, hiked her fees & started making threats, & I hear the threats are not empty threats at all.
MAYHEM ruled supreme within a Mufakose family as they were divided over how to handle the body of a deceased man who lived in a dog kennel.
Some family members wanted the body of the late Kaitano Freitas, 53, to lie in state in the house but others argued against the move. They argued that since the family let him stay in a kennel when he was alive, they had no right trying to treat his dead body with love.
Freitas reportedly spent five years living in a dog kennel at his parents’ house as he was not allowed in the house by his sisters.
Yolanda, daughter to the deceased blocked her father’s body, saying the family failed to respect him when he was alive so it was prudent that his body lies in state outside before burial.
The sisters who made Freitas live outside were reportedly bitter that their brother neglected the family during the time he made a fortune while forgetting to buy his own house.
“This is not fair, vavakuda kuti baba vangu varare mumba nhasi nekuti vafa asi vari vapenyu vairariswa muzumbu kuchinaya and vachinyimwa chikafu.
“The damage is already done, nyika yakatoseka kare saka vanofanira kurara panze.
“My grandmother and dad’s sisters are heartless such that baba vedu vakati kana ndafa musandipinze mumba.
“Vakatoti mukangodaro dzinza rese rinopera.
“How could they do that to their own blood?” said Yolanda.
The family finally ensured that Freitas’ body lies in state in the house but not before more controversy as the deceased’s children and sisters boycotted the burial ceremony.
One of the sisters identified as Beula said she had reasons for not attending her brother’s burial.
“I have no comment and I will not say anything because I have two infants who I am taking care of.
“Besides, I have my own reasons and I don’t have to explain anything to you.
“Please get out of here and get your comments from whoever referred you to me,” shouted Beula.
Yolanda, however watered down the issue saying they were waiting for a vehicle to take them to the cemetery.
“We have our own transport which did not show up but we will definitely go to the cemetery.
“How can we go alone yet our fathers’ sister did not even make an effort?
“Pano pachaita hondo and vanhu ngavamire pachokwadi.”
Neighhours who spoke on condition of anonymity to H-Metro claimed Freitas’s death was as a result of neglect from the family and Freitas’ father experienced the same situation when he died.
“Baba vepo chaivo vakambonzwaro nevana vavo and patove nemweya wakaipa.
“Taimupa chikafu nekuti vanga vasingamupe and I am very bitter such that I have decided not to go to the cemetery.
“Painaya mvura yese iyi, ainge arimo muchimba chake ichochi and ana sisi vake ivavo ndivo vananyakukonzera.
“Zvinonyadzisa veduwe zvekuti dai makauya nezuro, mungadai makaonerera drama chairo,” said one resident.
By Showbiz Reporter|Marry Chiwenga’s cousin Genius Kadungure has said the flamboyant necromancer Passion Java is not as rich as he proclaims.
He said many of the cars he flaunts are hired vehicles.
Ginimbi revealed this in a video while sitting behind the steering wheel of a heavy machine of his. He said “Java does not have a cent. The many cars are hired things.” VIDEO –
By A Correspondent- A Zimbabwean man Tinotenda Kenny Nyeke based in South Africa has gone missing since Monday 17th of February 2020.
Said his sister:
“He was wearing a short, sleepers and a nike t-shirt…His mobile phone, passport and wallet are all at home…All his belongings are at home. We have relatives in South Africa and they have been everywhere, the hospital, the police and the mortuary, but there is still no trace of him. It’s just like he vanished. But it’s not making any sense, there is no note, nothing.
If you can hear me Kenny and you are not in any trouble or anything, please just let me know, anyone, anything, it is really a difficult time.
….My brother was physically well, and he had no previous record of any mental challenge, nothing that we know of…
There were no signs of depression, nothing. He had all the support he needed because he was relatively new in South Africa. ”
Watch the live video loading below for this and more…
By A Correspondent- The government is facing hurdles in its efforts to deal with corruption, despite hoping that the new Money Laundering Act will provide the answers, Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told Senators this week.
Ziyambi’s sentiments came following MDC Masvingo Senator Tichinani Mavetera’s question whether the government has achieved anything in its anti-corruption fight.
“Recently, in the press, the prosecutor-general said cartels have captured various institutions in the country, including the Judiciary, the media et cetera.
“I think this issue is a serious one in this country. I would like to hear what the government has so far achieved because I think the fight against corruption started a long time ago during this second republic but we cannot continue like that. I think we owe it to the public to make sure that it is explained and publicly see tangible results of what is happening.”
Ziyambi said they are committed to fight against corruption but they are facing many hurdles.
“Indeed, any nation, when there is corruption, it will retard economic growth and as a government, we are committed to fighting corruption.
“However, fighting corruption means you will be fighting people with needs and when you do so, they use every legal route available to try to escape. So, you would find that it is actually accepted internationally that prosecuting one case of corruption needs a lot of money and you will meet a lot of impediments,” he said.
Ziyambi said what is happening in Zimbabwe’s anti-corruption fight is not peculiar but is common when you are fighting corruption.
“Having realised that, we then decided that taking the criminal route is one of the most difficult ones because the burden of proof is on the State.
“So, we brought to this Parliament an amendment to the Money Laundering Act wherein we then inserted what we call unexplained wealth orders where the prosecutor-general will now be allowed an ex-parte application …
“that will be taken to court to show property that specific individuals would have amassed. He added that the burden is now shifted to the accused to prove whether she or he is not corrupt.
“So, what we have done is — and I am glad this House passed that legislation — we now have that provision whereby if you amass wealth and we know that the amount of money that you earn does not correspond to what you have, the prosecutor-general can go to court so that an order can be issued to show why that wealth cannot be frozen and you explain the source of your wealth.
“However, failure to explain, then that is forfeited to the State. We believe this is an easier route, it is a civil route, the burden of proof shifts to the other person, and it is not on the State.
“So, we are now using several methods to fight corruption and going forward, you will see a lot of asset forfeitures happening.”-DailyNews
By A Correspondent- Police in Bulawayo have arrested a woman from Pumula suburb for allegedly kidnapping a five-week-old baby girl.
The woman was arrested after her friend called the baby’s mother informing her of the address of the suspect.
After receiving the anonymous call, the distraught mother first went to the police and was escorted to the suspect’s Pumula suburb home leading to the unharmed baby’s rescue.
In a statement yesterday, Bulawayo police spokesperson Chief Inspector Abednico Ncube said the incident happened on Wednesday last week.
He said the suspect, whom he did not name, went to the complainant’s house under the pretext that she was looking for her sister.
“At the time the accused person arrived at the complainant’s house, the complainant was about to leave heading to town. The accused person said she was also going to town and insisted on helping the complainant carry one of her twin babies who is five weeks old and she was given one of the twins,” said Chief Insp Ncube.
When they arrived in town at Tredgold Buildings, the accused person received a call and advised the complainant that she had no bus fare to return home so she had to rush to her friend nearby to get some cash.
She went with the baby and never came back.
“The complainant tried contacting the accused person several times to inquire on her whereabouts but she was not picking up calls until the phone went off,” said Chief Insp Ncube.
The complainant later went to Bulawayo Central Police Station and reported the matter.
“Later in the day the complainant received an anonymous call from a certain lady who claimed to be the accused’s friend advising her that she had seen the accused carrying the baby on her back and introduced her as her cousin,” said Chief Insp Ncube.
The complainant was advised to go to a certain house in Pumula suburb where the accused resides.
She went to Pumula Police Station and she was escorted by the police to the house.
The twin baby girl was rescued and the accused person was arrested-Statemedia
By A Correspondent- Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda has directed the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to ensure that Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairman Tafadzwa Musarara appears before the committee on Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement if he fails to do voluntarily.
Musarara has failed to appear before the Justice Mayor Wadyajena-chaired committee after he snubbed several invitations.
In a letter directed to police on 14 February, Chokuda wrote:
You are hereby required and directed by Parliament of Zimbabwe on the sight hereto to summon Mr T. Musarara that he appears personally before the Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement that is inquiring into support services by the government of Zimbabwe into grain and wheat millers and the financing of silo repairs.
Parliament wants Musarara and his association to explain how they used US$27 million received from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for the importation of wheat.
This comes as ZANU PF youth league leaders accused Musarara of being a cartel leader responsible for running down the country’s economy.
By A Correspondent- A mentally challenged man from Mabele village under Chief Wedza in Zvishavane struck and killed his wife with a log before burning the body on an altar.
However, High Court Judge on circuit in Gweru, Justice Martin Makonese passed a verdict of not guilty and sent Kenneth Masuku (68) to a rehabilitation center because he was ill at the time that he committed the crime.
It is the State case that on November 22, 2016 at around 6pm Masuku informed the deceased Lucia Dziwadi (51) that he was instructed by a prophet to fetch flowing water from a river for the purposes of cleansing the homestead.
Masuku requested Dziwandi to accompany him to fetch water in Ngezi River.
On their return, Masuku diverted the route and headed to Mushandugwa hill. At the hill Masuku picked up a log and struck the deceased once on the left side of the head and she fell down.
He delivered another blow on the head and the deceased became unconscious. He searched the deceased and took her Nokia cell phone together with her identity card.
Masuku placed the body on an already prepared altar of firewood, lit the fire and then left the deceased’s body to burn.
He went home and buried the deceased cell phone and ID card outside the yard.
The remains were discovered on November 25, 2016 at the hill leading to the arrest of Masuku.
Masuku was examined by a psychiatrist at Mlondolozi Special Institute from the period November 2017 to January 2018 and the doctor concluded he was insane.
By A Correspondent- ARTUZ leadership is appearing at Harare Magistrates Rotten Row Court today at 8.00 am charged with criminal nuisance.
This is emanating from a demonstration held on 23 August 2019 dubbed salary funeral at Finance Minister’s office in Harare. ARTUZ leadership appearing in court are Obert Masaraure, Nation Mudzitirwa, Gerald Tavengwa, Andrew Munguri, Godfrey Chanda, lawyer Douglas Coltart and activist Simon Drury.
Said the ARTUZ:
The case is dragging in courts. We wish it could be speeded up to give reprieve to our members. Some are travelling from far-flung areas, Matabeleland and Manicaland to attend court.
We call upon our members and like-minded individuals to come to court in solidarity with our leaders.
Gutu — SANDON ACADEMY in Mupandawana, Gutu District, Masvingo, has awarded its top student a car after she attained 20 points at A-Level.
Tinotenda Chidume (19) could not hide her joy when she was handed the keys of a Toyota Fun Cargo at an inaugural awards ceremony held at the school last Thursday.
“I am still in shock that I won this car. I did not expect such a big prize.
“I want to urge all learners at this school, across the country and the world over to always aim high because there is always a reward for hard work,” she said.
Other top achievers won cash prizes, while their teachers walked away with television sets and bicycles.
Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Minister Jenfan Muswere, who was the guest of honour, praised Sandon Academy for its commitment to quality education.
“I therefore, want to thank Sandon Academy for taking the initiative to move towards becoming one of the ICT hubs which indeed is the country’s vision towards the attainment of Vision 2030.
“I hope Sandon Academy will continue to improve and strive for excellence in its general administration and quality pass rate.”
He said the Government welcomed private enterprises in the education sector as long as all requirements and standards were adhered to.
“I have confidence that students who would be leaving this academy after completion of their studies will surely make a positive difference to our society, country and on the international stage.
“I would like to congratulate the 2019 O and A-Level top achievers who are going to receive prizes for excelling in academic and other disciplines,” he said.
Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Ezra Chadzamira praised Sandon Academy for its academic excellence.
“I am excited that Sandon Academy is an institution and others in my province that have maintained their positive educational success and maintained their brand beyond doubt through high pass rates,” he said.
Amr Fahmy, the former general secretary of the Confederation of African Football
Own Correspondent|Amr Fahmy, the former general secretary of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), died on Sunday at the age of 36 after a long battle with cancer.
Fahmy, whose father and grandfather assumed the same role, was appointed as CAF’s secretary general in November 2017, replacing Moroccan Hicham El Amrani.
However, he was fired less than two years into the job after he accused CAF’s president Ahmad Ahmad of bribes and misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was replaced by Moroccan Mouad Hajji.
The revelations caused shockwaves in the continent and prompted world governing body FIFA to take over the running of African football for six months last year, dispatching its own general secretary Fatma Samoura to effectively be in charge of CAF.
In June last year, Ahmad Ahmad was also briefly detained by French authorities in Paris as part of a corruption probe.
“It is with great deal of sadness and emotions that we received the shock news,” CAF said in a statement carried on its official website.
“On behalf of CAF, we extend our deepest condolences to his family especially his parents, his spouse and daughter.
“Our thoughts are with you at this difficult moment, and may God have mercy on his soul.”
Before becoming the secretary general, Fahmy also worked with the CAF Competitions Division between 2007 and 2015 and was the director of the Africa Cup Nations, the continent’s flagship tournament.
He intended to run for president in CAF’s next elections in 2021.
Own Correspondent|The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has predicted heavy rains and thunderstorms across the country this week.
In a statement, MSD said heavier falls in excess of 50mm in 24 hours are expected in some areas. It said:
“Widespread thunderstorms are expected across much of the country. These storms are expected to bring heavier falls (in excess of 50mm in 24 hours) in places.
“Such a thundery phenomenon is usually superseded by lightning. This poses a potential threat to the tallest objects such as trees, poles, isolated sheds and even persons in an open field.”
“Downstream flooding is also a potential hazard. Once a thunderstorm begins, desist from all outdoor activity.”
Avoidance of metal objects, electrical gadgets and tall isolated trees or sheds. Do not cross flooded rivers or streams whether on foot or in a vehicle.
Avoid parking vehicles under trees, where possible trim overhanging branches and when thunder roars it is best to be indoors.
Own Correspondent|In a major scandal which ZimEye.com unearthed at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s so much loved ZUPCO project, it has since emerged that a point of sale machine that was used to collect money for the obviously loss making venture was found dumped at a toilet at the company premises.
This happened in October 2019 just under a year of the millions of dollars project commenced.
Reports indicate that there was a machine number 8 which was stationed at Willowvale Depot which caused continuous shortages that ended up running up to thousands of dollars, albeit Zim dollars.
The machine was eventually tracked by IT, only to be discovered that it was not sending money to the government run company Bank Accounts but was sending somewhere else.
When the audit was being conducted top officers in the company blocked the investigations on the machine.
A POS machine, probably the same machine, was later discovered inside a toilet without an identification number, and no sim card in it.
The identification number and the sim card would have made it easy to track the operator and the account number where the money was being routed.
Zupco has since fired its Risk, & Audit Control Manager, a Mr Chimbanda in the first week of February.
Chimbanda who had been appointed Risk Manager on the 1st August 2019, was fired within 6 months at work just before commencing a human resources audit.
Impeccable sources revealed to ZimEye, he had at the time attempted to do an indepth risk audit, following several scandals in the human resources department, that have seen unlicensed drivers being employed amid a rising spate of accidents by ZUPCO buses.
The CEO and the Operations Division blocked the audit and rushed to remove Chimbanda from the post.
After Chimbanda was removed, he (Chimbanda) raised a complaint with the Task Force, but they did nothing at all.
readers advised – there were frantic efforts from many quarters in both Zimbabwe and UK to stop this report from being published.
By Simba Chikanza |PART 1 | Within 3 days of Emmerson Mnangagwa striking a deal with the Belarusian government on the 17th Jan 2019, revenue money had already started disappearing from the transport company, ZUPCO, an exclusive ZimEye investigation based on the latest internal risk auditreveals.
In this documentary, several offices are probed by ZimEye and they include [see the satellite map below], the company’s Willowvale, and Belvedere buildings.
– military taskforce
–embarrassing cash leaks detected
-shortfalls on scan machines
-machine discovered inside a toilet with no ID number
-Zupco’s Tagwirei speaks to ZimEye [interview]
Fearing rising protests, Mnangagwa had launched the “noble” venture of purchasing hundreds of buses in order to lower the burden of transport costs. This would have worked well and the quality of life improved. But the multi million dollar investment is now set for another disappointment, as an embarrassing audit in ZimEye’s possession reveals how more than $22,000 vanished, the looting beginning right within 72 hours of the Belarus meeting. The conclusion from the snap audit are that the company policy on the timing of banking revenue receipts was violated.
At the centre of Zupco’s scandal, is the notorious collusion of two directors, the CEO and the Director of Operations:
– The Acting CEO – [substantive post, Financial Director], Mr Everisto Madangwa.
– The Marketing (Acting Divisions Operations Manager) Tito Chirau … he is Madangwa’s enforcer of corruption.
Chirau has gained the reputation of being the ZUPCO Tagwirei, as it were, – a man who has taken over operations, marketing, and accounting, and the 5th department he is now in charge of is the HR department.
Military led taskforce
There is a task force team in ZUPCO appointed early last year by the minister of Defence through the Ministry of Local Government. The taskforce oversees the safety of buses, and it comprises, the ZDF, the police, and the CIO. The head of the taskforce delegation is Col Richard Mapanda, and he is deputised by Ass Comm Moyo, and DIO Ndabezihle Ndoro. This team was generally effective in the first few weeks of 2019, but from around April time they were rendered inept by a systematic cartel comprising at least three bigwigs: The chairman of ZUPCO, Dr Talon Garikai, is the Vice Chancellor of Harare Institute Of Technology. Everything happening in ZUPCO is now being run from the HIT. The tap card system came from HIT. Stationery supplies are coming HIT. The booking of Intercity buses system, is being run by the HIT, which means that ZUPCO is now literally operating from HIT.
Embarrassing Cash leaks detected
The cash amount of leaks detected from the snap audit are respectively: – RTGS 19267.00, ZAR 2070.00 and RTGS 378.
In a summary, the report says: “the Accountant and Cashier were invited to explain and justify the departure from the company’s policy regarding the timing of banking revenue receipts. In their written responses, they attributed this departure to the temporary shift of the cash office from Willowvale Depot to Belvedere Depot as well as transport problems to transmit the cash receipts to the bank.
“It was however established that the temporary shift took place on 20 January 2019. Willowvale cash office resumed its operations on 12 February 2019. Their explanation does not hold water as the delays in banking continued beyond the 12 February 2019 when CIT – cash in transit services were available to the Depot.”
When a decision was passed to bring in the police and the anti-corruption commission, ZACC, to investigate, an accountant was then used to make some diversionary responses, on the 15th October 2019.
shortfalls on scan machines
machine which was discovered inside a toilet with no ID number inside it
Further to all this, there was last year a scandal of shortfalls on scan machines, which resulted in machine number 8 which leaked thousands to an unknown receiving account. This happened in October 2019. There is machine number 8 which was stationed at Willowvale Depot, it caused shortages running up to the thousands. That machine was tracked by IT, it was found the machine was not sending money to accounts, it was sending somewhere else. When the audit was being conducted Chirau blocked that investigations. There is a machine which was discovered inside a toilet, and was found without an identification number, and no sim card in it, but found inside a toilet. The identification number and the sim card would have made it easy to track the operator and the account number where the money is being routed.
Zupco has since fired its Risk, & Audit Control Manager, a Mr Chimbanda in the first week of February. Mr Chimbanda who had been appointed Risk Manager on the 1st August 2019, was suddenly fired within 6 months just before commencing a human resources audit. Impeccable sources revealed to ZimEye, he had at the time attempted to do an indepth risk audit, following several scandals in the human resources department, that have seen unqualified drivers being employed. This comes amid the rising spate of accidents. The CEO and the Operations Division blocked the audit and rushed to remove Chimbanda from the post.
The audit comes as it is revealed Chirau drafts what he terms a non renewal list through which long serving employees are randomly lined up for dismissal, and in their place, his own personal handpicks are given the jobs.
After Chimbanda was removed, he (Chimbanda) raised a complaint with the Task Force, but they did nothing at all.
Hot Questions the two ZUPCO bosses must answer are as follows:
– Has the more than $22,000 bankage shortage between Jan and June 2019 been finally restored?
– How come this shortage was not publicly declared?
– Why did you fire the Risk Control manager, Mr Chimbanda at a time when the June audit findings are still to be addressed?
– Why did you block the HR audit when it was needed seeing the number of non qualified drivers and rising number of accidents?
– Why did you block the HR audit and then you start firing people using your own non renewal list not based on an audit?
– Why have you allowed Eng, Talon Garikai to continue holding multiple posts without declaring his asset s according to the Companies Act ?
– In your estimation how many weeks does Zupco have before it requires capital injection from government?
– Why haven’t you addressed the conflict of interest in the TapCard system managed by the ZUPCO Board chairman’s other organisation, HIT ?
– Why did you reject the task force member from the CIO was appointed to work with the HR officer… and investigate allegations of job seekers being made to pay bribes of 20 USD to get jobs?
– In October 2019, Mr Chirawu and Madangwa you promised the sacked Lewis Matutu that you were going to fire 100 conductors to replace them with 100 Zanu PF youths. Why have you continued in this course of action and is this not abuse of office?
– To Mr Chirau, records show that you on the 22nd January 2020, you telephoned HR department to reinstate Mr Liberty Masomere, (work ID 9083), who is colonel Richard Mapanda’s secretary’s brother, was that not abuse of office?
Zupco’s Tagwirei speaks to ZimEye [interview]
ZUPCO’s own Tagwirei, Mr Tito Chirau
While efforts to get a comment from the demoted Risk Manager were fruitless, ZimEye managed to get a hold of the Operations Director, Mr Tito Chirau who briefly spoke to ZimEye. He at first denied the existence of the audit report, saying the only persons who can be called auditors are external auditors. He also said the Risk & Audit Control Department does not conduct any audits. Towards the end of the interview, he once again discredited the audit report this time however acknowledging its existence saying it was truly prepared by the Risk Department.
Will this money which leaked, the $22,000 be returned?, he was questioned. He replied saying, “Eeeeh, please speak to the CEO,” he said.
He continued loudly charging, “ you can call the CEO and speak to him.”
But you are the Operations Director Mr Chirau, he was asked, and he went on to reply saying: “What I can tell you right now is that there is nothing factual from all that you are saying, but anyway, I will just refer you to the CEO.”
The audit is not factual?, he was asked. He said, “yes it’s not factual, everything that you have there it’s people who don’t want to see ZUPCO succeeding, and the funny thing is you are just being verbose and loud, but when we speak about numbers, numbers don’t lie.
“And I can tell you right now that all those things that you are speaking about, if you are humble enough to speak to the CEO and gather facts, then you are going to see that it’s just people who are just trying to smear ZUPCO for their nefarious means.
“ZUPCO is one of the most successful government initiatives and a lot of people don’t like it, and you can tell that from your tone, you seem to have just believed those people who don’t want to see ZUPCO succeed.
“So please go speak to the CEO and I am sure if there is merit at what you are asking, he will be able to prove to you that it is all lies, the bunch of people who are probably aggrieved for wrong reasons, who are peddling these things they are all over the place. Speak to the CEO, and he will help,” he ended.
So the copy of the June audit that you have which one is it?, he was asked.
He answered saying, “the problem that you have is you are trying to be high sounding and clever for nothing. Eeh, what is an audit report? What is an audit report?
“An audit is done by approved auditors and the auditors they produce a report and this is a public company; those reports are there for government they are there for everyone to see.
“So when you speak of an audit, you see … you are trying to fight a battle for people who are aggrieved, and I am shocked I don’t know which country you are living in. ZUPCO is the biggest success story of the government; buses are on the road, and more buses are coming. So when you begin to say these things I wonder what agenda you are trying to drive at.”
Why do you say so? This is an audit by your Risk department, he was asked.
He replied: “So you see in this conversation all you are mentioning is the Risk department, and the Risk department is the one that has been featuring in all those articles that you are talking about. So you guys are fighting the battle of one aggrieved department, or one aggrieved worker without probably going directly to ZUPCO,” he said. I am not fighting any battle for a worker, ZimEye’s Simba Chikanza said. To this he hit back saying, “You are, the thing that you are raising you are trying to be high sounding, but I think you didn’t take time to go through the questions that you want to ask, for example you are talking about an audit, an audit, an annual audit is done by big companies that went to tender and was chosen that’s the company that does audits for ZUPCO. So if you are talking about an internal audit report that was generated by someone, and you are saying that the Risk department generates audit report, which company has got a Risk department that generates audit reports?
“No I am telling you now, I am calling you now, audit reports are done by the office of the auditor, the Risk department does not do audits. So if you come to ZUPCO,” he concluded just before putting the phone down.
Efforts to get a comment from the CEO, and the Zupco board Chair were fruitless up to the time of publishing.
– THIS ARTICLE IS ONLY PART 1 OF THIS SERIES: EXPOSING CRIMINALS STATIONED AT ZESA. JUMP ONTO ZIMEYE.COM FOR MORE
For the full interview: AUDIO LOADING BELOW – ZIMEYE.COM
Own Correspondent|Reports on Sunday morning indicated that Deontay Wilder was hospitalised after Tyson Fury’s heavy beating left him with an ear injury.
Wilder was second-best throughout the fight and wound up on the canvas multiple times. He stopped on his feet in the seventh round, the end of an aggressive masterclass that Fury produced on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The American had made 10 defenses of his WBC heavyweight world title before he surrendered the belt to Fury. Wilder was absent from the post-fight press conference in Las Vegas, and The Athletic reporter Mike Coppinger tweeted that it was because he was sent to “local hospital.”
Coppinger said: “Deontay Wilder is headed to a local hospital for examination of an apparent ear injury along with general observation following a knockout defeat and seven rounds of punishment.”
“Deontay Wilder is headed to a local hospital for examination of an apparent ear injury along with general observation following a knockout defeat and seven rounds of punishment. Wilder won’t appear at the post-fight news conference,” said Mike Coppinger after the fight.
Wilder’s long-time trainer Jay Deas, who attended the press conference in place of his fighter, said the boxer had a tear in the ear.
“It may have affected his equilibrium [in the fight],” he said. “He’s going to get a couple stitches there.”
The loss means Wilder’s record falls to 42 wins (41 KOs) against 1 loss (1 KO) and 1 draw.
Fury, the winner, advanced his record to 30 (21 KOs) against 1 draw, unbeaten. He left the press conference to celebrate victory at the Hakkasan night club in the MGM Grand.
However, it was later reported by ESPN that Wilder was not hospitalized. His manager Shell Finkel said Wilder was “examined and stitched up in the dressing room” for a cut inside his ear.
Finkel also said Wilder took “considerable time to produce a [drug test] sample for VADA collectors, another reason he did not [attend] the post-fight news conference,” Dan Rafael reports.
Own Correspondent|The British government plans to reject a European Union decision to lift sanctions on the wife of the late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, suggesting its approach to financially targeting foreign individuals will diverge from the bloc’s, the Sunday Telegraph reports.
The U.K. suspended an order freezing the assets of Grace Mugabe after the EU’s decision last week, because it’s bound to follow the bloc’s sanctions decisions until the Brexit transition period expires at year’s end.
Yet the British government disagreed with the decision and plans to reimpose sanctions on Mugabe once the transition period is over, the newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information.
On Monday, the bloc renewed its arms embargo against Zimbabwe and will maintain a targeted assets-freeze against the state-controlled armaments company, Zimbabwe Defence Industries.
Restrictive measures were initially introduced in 2002 in response to serious human rights violations by Mugabe’s government.
A spokesman for the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office told the newspaper: “We did not agree with the EU’s decision to suspend these sanctions on Grace Mugabe. At the end of the transition period we will review it.
Correspondent|Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s estranged wife Marry, is now facing an attempted murder charge in South Africa.
Marry allegedly wanted to kill her powerful husband in June last year, while he was gravely ill in a top hospital in South Africa.
Marry is facing similar charges at the Harare Magistrate’s Court where she is also facing serious accusations of money laundering, externalisation and fraud, over which she is currently out on bail of $50 000.
Vice President Chiwenga’s lawyer, Wilson Manase, confirmed the South African development yesterday.
“First of all, a crime was committed in South Africa and the South African police got an interest in the docket.
“They then pursued those allegations and are in the process of investigating the case. The South African police will call for witnesses to give statements,” he said.
However, he flatly denied accusations that Chiwenga had decided to file the police case in South Africa when it became apparent that local courts had no jurisdiction to try a matter that was allegedly committed in a foreign land.
“Not at all. In terms of the law, if a matter is committed in South Africa, which has an effect in Zimbabwe, it can be tried in either of the two countries.
“There are case laws to that effect,” he told the Daily News.
On her part, Marry’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, while also confirming the South African development, had earlier said that Chiwenga had lodged the attempted murder charge there against his estranged wife.
“Our legal colleagues in South Africa have told us that he reported the case last Saturday. Other than that I have no further information pertaining to the said report,” she said.
In Zimbabwe — where Marry is already on bail over the same attempted murder allegation — the State has said that the charge arose after Chiwenga was airlifted to South Africa for medical attention on June 22 last year, after his health deteriorated dramatically.
The State is further alleging that Marry had forced Chiwenga to stay at Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria for 24 hours — thus denying him access to needed medical treatment.
It further says on June 23, 2019, Marry allegedly kept on denying Chiwenga access to medical treatment and the security team in the end had to force their way in, to take him to Netcare Hospital.
“During the time when the complainant was admitted at the hospital, he (Chiwenga) was helpless and would rely on medical staff and the security personnel.
“On July 8, 2019 at about 20:00 hours, the accused came to the hospital with the intent to cause serious harm to the complainant,” the State is alleging.
“She (Marry) ordered the security personnel to excuse her, alleging that she wanted privacy with the complainant.
“The security personnel went outside leaving the accused together with the complainant inside the ward.
“Whilst alone with the complainant, accused unlawfully removed the medical intra-venous giving set (equipment), as well as the central venous catheter which were inserted to the complainant, and the complainant started bleeding profusely,” prosecutors allege further.
“The accused forced the complainant off the bed, held him by the hand and moved out from the ward before being intercepted by the security personnel at the exit door.
“The hospital staff were called by the security personnel and they re-connected the intra-venous giving set and the central venous catheter, and resuscitated the condition of the complainant.
“The accused disappeared from the hospital after the hospital staff was alerted by the security personnel. The accused had no right whatsoever to act in the manner she did,” the State adds.
However, while applying for bail at the High Court, Marry denied the allegations and said while Chiwenga was in China — where he was receiving further treatment — he even requested President Emmerson Mnangagwa to arrange for her to travel to see him, adding that the vice president had also allegedly sent US$30 000 for her personal upkeep and use.
Marry said all this happened after the alleged attempted murder, adding that this was not synonymous with the State’s claims that she wanted to kill her husband.
The former model also argued then that if the claims that she wanted to kill Chiwenga were true, the case could have been reported to the police in South Africa.
“Surely, a serious incident such as an attempt on the life of a sitting vice president with its potential to embarrass relations would have been reported in South Africa and investigated promptly. In her state, the applicant is alleged to have ‘disappeared from the hospital’.
“How this could have happened, without the aid of magic is not stated in the Form 242. Worse, is the fact that she returned home to Zimbabwe after taking her husband for further care.
“She did not ‘disappear’ but stayed at the matrimonial home, for six months before charges were then brought contemporaneously with the filing of divorce proceedings.
“One is reminded of the saying that surely when a hyena wants to eat its children, it first accuses them of smelling like goats,” Marry said.
She also said that there was no report from the doctors who allegedly attended to Chiwenga and resuscitated him when she reportedly removed the intra-venous giving set and the central catheter.
“This is impossible because such reports do not exist, for the simple reason that the incident did not occur as alleged or at all.
“No doctor who respects his professional standing will be made to perjure himself.
“Laughable is the so-called last exhibit. The State says it has a ‘photograph’ of a bloodied T-shirt that the vice president was wearing.
“Surely an exhibit of that nature, despite it being merely of circumstantial relevance would have been kept and safeguarded.
“A photograph of a bloodied T-shirt remains a photograph, it proves nothing and cannot override primary evidence,” Marry said.
She also said that she was still nursing wounds that she had suffered from an attempt on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s life during a bombing incident at White City Stadium in Bulawayo in 2018.
She said further that in her health condition she would not have been in a position to drag a “whole army general” from a hospital bed as alleged by the State.
Correspondent|MDC MP Settlement Chikwinya denied accusations that he said Vice President Constantino Chiwenga brought the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) from China.
Speaking during a question and answer session last week in Parliament, which was attended by Chiwenga, Chikwinya denied ever denigrating the VP as was alleged by Norton MP Temba Mliswa. Said Chikwinya:
“The Vice President went through his difficult times which you (Speaker) announced at the beginning of this session.
“To insinuate that a matter regarding the Coronavirus which emanates from China is being discussed in Parliament and therefore since he was treated in China, therefore he brought that disease is an indictment and a show of disrespect by Honourable Mliswa to Honourable Chiwenga.”
“I challenge the Clerk to refer to the Hansard. If there was any time that I raised the name of Honourable Vice President Chiwenga in relation to the Coronavirus, I am prepared to face any consequences.”
Chiwenga spent four months at a Chinese hospital last year where he underwent a surgical procedure. He returned to Zimbabwe in November, a few weeks before COVID-19 was detected in China’s Wuhan city.
State Media|Ziscosteel chief executive Mr Alois Gowo has retired from the parastatal after serving for 35 years.
Zisco acting board chair Dr Gift Mugano confirmed the retirement and said works executive manager Mr Elphas Mahachi will be the acting CEO.
“When we joined in 2019, Mr Gowo had tendered his resignation, but we begged him to stay until the end of the year, which he did,” said Dr Mugano.
“We want to thank him for the time he served at the company and wish him well in his future endeavours.”
Mr Gowo said he was now a full-time farmer.
“Yes, I left the company in December last year. I now have nothing to do with the company, I can no longer comment on behalf of the company.
“I am now into full-time farming at my farm in Zvimba. I have done enough and it’s now time for me to rest,” he said.
However, he expressed disappointment over the failure to revive the former steel giant.
“My disappointment is that I have left before Ziscosteel was back in production. I so wished to play a part in its resuscitation. However, my wish is to see the company being brought back into production without further delay and that this should be in tandem with the recapitalisation of Hwange Colliery, NRZ and Zesa,” he said.
Mr Gowo joined the company in 1984 as assistant civil engineer before being promoted to plant civil engineer.
He rose through the ranks to become divisional manager civil engineer, then project and development manager before being appointed acting CEO in 2006.
He was appointed substantive chief executive in 2008, a time when the company started facing operational challenges.
TWO Bulawayo Fire Brigade officers were injured yesterday after a water tender they were travelling in was involved in an accident while rushing to a flash floods distress call in the city.
Bulawayo was yesterday hit by flash floods that destroyed property at some homes.
Acting Bulawayo Chief Fire Officer Mr Jabulani Ndlovu said their driver lost control of the water tender along Plumtree Road near Dunlop on his way to Nketa suburb.
“Two of our men who were responding to residents’ flash floods calls were involved in an accident along Plumtree Road near Dunlop. The road was slippery as a result of the rains and the driver lost control of the vehicle which landed on its side. The two were rushed to the United Bulawayo Hospitals where they are receiving treatment,” said Mr Ndlovu.
He said the fire brigade attended to 18 reported flash flood incidents in suburbs such as Nketa, Sizinda and Nkulumane among others.
“From the incidents that we attended to, we found that the flooding was caused by failure to open up weep holes on precast walls. We had to open up the weep holes to allow water to freely flow from the affected houses as some of the water was flowing into houses damaging property,” Mr Ndlovu said.
He said residents should open weep holes in line with the city’s by-laws when constructing precast walls.
Mr Ndlovu said residents should also avoid crossing flooded streams as they risk being swept away.
Residents yesterday flooded social media with pictures showing the flooding in their neighbourhoods.
A Chronicle news crew visited some of the affected suburbs at about 11AM and observed that the situation had normalised.
However, low-lying bridges such as the one connecting Nkulumane suburb and Upper Rangemore in Umguza and another one on the Phekiwe River along Solusi Road were flooded leaving members of the public stranded as they were failing to cross.
Parents who were visiting their children at Solusi High School waited in vain hoping for water levels to drop at the bridge.
“This is a serious inconvenience; we drove all the way from Gwanda and later we have to drive to Harare. We are visiting our child at Solusi High School but we have been waiting here for two hours. Only daring motorists have crossed the flooded bridge but this is just too risky,” said Mr Mandla Mkandla.
Another motorist Mr Tennyson Ndiweni said responsible authorities should consider making the bridge much higher.
“This is a perennial problem we experience whenever there are heavy rains. Instead of water flowing under the bridge, it is flowing over the bridge. We have seen some daring people crossing the flooded bridge. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that a vehicle has been swept away. They should just increase the height of the bridge,” said Mr Ndiweni.
Meanwhile, the Meteorological Services Department has predicted that moderate to heavy rains will be experienced in most parts of the country up to tomorrow (Tuesday).
A 68-YEAR-OLD woman from Rhodene suburb in Masvingo allegedly strangled her nephew to death by pulling his school tie for coming home late from school and then attempted to commit suicide by poisoning, police have confirmed.
Modie Chirinda of Carry Street allegedly reprimanded Gokomere Primary School pupil, Macdonald Chirinda (13) and tightened his tie leading to his death.
Upon realising that the Grade Seven pupil was now unconscious due to her actions, she then took some poisonous substance, but survived.
The boy’s body was taken to Masvingo General Hospital mortuary for postmortem while the woman was rushed to hospital for treatment.
Masvingo police spokesperson Chief Inspector Charity Mazula said the incident happend last Thursday in Rhodene Low Density Suburb at around 6AM.
Chirinda is admitted in hospital under police guard.
“Yes, we received such a report but police are still carrying out investigations to figure out what exactly transpired. The case was reported from Rhodene’s Carry Street. It involves an elderly woman and her nephew who was attending Gokomere Primary,” said Chief Insp Mazula.
It is alleged that Chirinda asked Macdonald, who was already in uniform preparing to leave for school, why he had come home late the previous day.
Before responding, Chirinda charged towards the boy, who sensing danger attempted to run away but he was grabbed by the tie.
Macdonald tried to scream for help but the woman continued to pull the tie until he suffocated.
State Media|The licensing of more service stations to sell fuel in foreign currency will not jeopardise de-dollarisation, but will increase options for motorists and help bring more forex from free funds into the formal system.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Mangudya said this after authorising President Emmerson Mnangagwa linked ZUVA Petroleum to sell fuel using foreign currency last week.
Speaking during the 2020 Monetary Policy Statement Mangudya indicated that companies and individuals with free funds were free to seek permits to import fuel and sell in forex.
The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA), which does the licensing, has made it clear that applicants will have to meet a number of conditions.
Under the present system, service stations permitted to sell in foreign currency have to show that the funds with which they plan to import the fuel are legitimate.
ZERA has gone to great lengths to ensure fuel bought with Zimbabwe dollars for resale in the local unit is not sold in forex.
And Zera has also implied it will be fairly sparing with forex licences looking at the geographical spread of forex stations.
Zuva, one of the three largest oil companies with a large number of service stations, has already given an indication of how the future might play out by announcing that just eight of its many stations, four in northern Harare and one each in four other cities, will be converting to forex stations.
The biggest downside to mass use of forex stations is that forex fuel attracts higher excise duty, so even at interbank rates is significantly more expensive than fuel in the general market.
At black market rates, a motorist using mobile money to buy US dollar banknotes to buy forex fuel will be paying in the end almost exactly twice the price of general Zimdollar fuel.
Dr Mangudya insisted that de-dollarisation was a process, which the authorities hope to conclude in the next five years, all things being equal.
He said the call for people with free funds to import fuel and sell in forex does not signal that de-dollarisation had failed.
“As a Government, we have defined where we are going, and that is the de-dollarisation route,” said Dr Mangudya. “Because it’s a process and not an event, we are saying as the central bank that we believe within five years, we will complete de-dollarisation.
“By de-dollarisation we are not saying there will be no more foreign currency in circulation; that is a wrong definition of de-dollarisation because if you look at those countries that have de-dollarised, for instance Zambia, Cameroon, Ethiopia, they still accept foreign currency and you can still open a foreign currency account.”
Dr Mangudya said in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 70 percent of transactions remain in forex despite a path to de-dollarisation. Belarus is now in its eighth year of de-dollarisation, but forex is still used in some areas. Many countries have attempted to de-dollarise but a few such as Israel, Poland, Bolivia, and Peru, have succeeded on the back of a comprehensive policy package needed to reduce financial dollarisation. Dr Mangudya said for Zimbabwe, the measure for de-dollarisation was the value of deposits held in forex. He said presently, US$785 million is held in forex, translating to about $12 billion, which represents 36 percent of total bank deposits which were $34,50 billion as at December 31, 2019. The balance, 64 percent, is local currency.
Said Dr Mangudya: “If you look at the statistics of transactions from last year, $549 billion were in local currency out of 188 million transactions. Zimbabwe is in a medium dollarised economy; we are not 100 percent dollarised. The country has never been 100 percent dollarised.
“So don’t condemn people on why they are using free funds. Free funds have always been there even during the 2008 hyperinflation,” said Dr Mangudya.
Dr Mangudya expects that in five years, citizens would have changed their attitude towards the local currency.
“Right now, it’s too early to expect everyone to be using the local currency after 10 years in dollarisation,” he said. “Once inflation stabilises and we have a stable environment, people will be happy to use the Zimbabwe dollar.”
Government wants monthly inflation to be between 2,3 percent and 5 percent throughout the year.
Dr Mangudya believes US dollar transactions were small, especially at food outlets like Chicken Inn and Chicken Slice, which may not reach US$1 000 per day.
Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport in Bulawayo is seriously underutilised.
There is very little air traffic, although the airport can handle wide-bodied aircraft.
At a plenary session during the recent tourism indaba in Bulawayo, JMN International Airport manager Mr Passmore Dewa said concerted efforts should be made by the tourism sector to increase tourist arrivals in Bulawayo.
“We can accommodate a wide body aircraft that can fly from Bulawayo to London non-stop, to Singapore non-stop, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia non-stop and to most European cities non-stop, but it’s not for the airport to re-attract the aircraft,” he said.
“It’s supposed to be concerted efforts because the airlines come, and they are supposed to be attracted by what happens in the city. What is it that you are offering here (Bulawayo) as tourism players that they have to come.
“The airport is just a convenience for them (aircraft) to go in and out. If I am flying to Dubai, I don’t want to spend time at an airport.”
JMN International Airport was commissioned in 2013 after it went through a major upgrade under the first phase of the rehabilitation programme.
During a tour of the airport by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development in September last year, CAAZ said $13 million had been set aside in the National Budget to begin Phase II of JMN International Airport expansion programme.
Mr Dewa said: “This airport can handle some of the biggest aircraft you can think of. Here (JMN International Airport) in terms of the fuelling facilities, runway, the terminal building, we can actually handle an aircraft that is as big as A330 or 767, which can carry up to 300 passengers from here to anywhere in the world”.
Mr Dewa said since 1980, Zimbabwe has signed about 55 bilateral air service agreements with many countries and this presents an opportunity that stakeholders in the tourism industry should exploit.
“We had about 14 European airlines flying into Zimbabwe up until about 1999, major airlines coming to Zimbabwe; coming with the biggest aircraft that you can think of.
“That time in the 1990s, Harare was the hub in the region. We were a destination. We have since stopped to be a destination,” he said.
“We are now a spoke. In aviation terms when we say we are now a spoke, it means we are now feeding into other regional hubs, which is what as a nation we need to start working on.
“So, those are the issues now at national level or policy level we need to have an aircraft strategy. A framework is there, we talk of the Yamoussoukro Declaration, which was signed around 1999.
“That gives room for us, especially African airlines, to fly to any African country and land at any airport in Africa as they please. But we still have these control issues as Government to say ‘no, we still have to negotiate and see whether they can come’. But that framework is there, it’s signed,” he said.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza
A personal assistant to a Cabinet Minister allegedly swindled the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) of over 19 000 litres of fuel and a vehicle after misrepresenting that his boss needed to visit cyclone Idai-hit areas.
Cephas Chiwetu, who was employed as personal assistant to Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza, got the fuel and a Ford Ranger on the pretext that the minister needed to visit Chimanimani and Chipinge many times, converting the fuel to personal use.
Chiwetu appeared in court last Thursday charged with defrauding Zinara of 19 248 litres of fuel and abusing a Ford Ranger.
He appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mr Hoseah Mujaya facing charges of fraud and criminal abuse of office as a public officer.
Chiwetu was not asked to plead and was released on $3 000 bail.
According to the State, Chiwetu’s duties involved liaising with the principal executive assistant or private secretary pertaining to the minister’s diary.
He was also said to be responsible for accompanying the minister to his constituency, taking care of his belongings, coordinating with his aides and doing some of his errands.
It is the State’s case that between March 26 to May 31, 2019, Chiwetu acted contrary to and inconsistently with his duties as a public officer by originating requests for fuel purporting that Minister Matiza needed fuel for his trips to Cyclone Idai-damaged places.
The court heard that during the time he requested the fuel from Zinara, he was fully aware that Minister Matiza was receiving fuel from his ministry.
It is alleged that Zinara lost $65 925 in fuel reportedly requested by Chiwetu.
Daily News|Masvingo High Court judge, Justice Garainesu Mawadze, recently acquitted MDC vice chairperson Job Sikhala of treason charges after he allegedly called for the overthrowing of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government.
The Daily News on Sunday reporter Blessings Mashaya caught up with the firebrand politician in Harare to speak on a variety of issues, politics included. Below are the excerpts of the interview.
Q: You have been acquitted, what’s the way forward?
I will continue prosecuting the people’s struggle. The period we are in now does not need individualism. It needs selflessness to the cause of our country.
Our country is transparently under the armpit of a holocaust tyranny. This tyranny cannot continue to preside over the State of affairs through coercion and bloodshed. This has to come to an end.
And how will it come to an end? I challenge all Zimbabweans to join us in a fight for our freedom. This is a struggle that no longer calls the MDC alone. It’s now a national project.
The democratic project belongs to all Zimbabweans would they be in villages, schools, universities, military barracks, police camps, prisons, townships, factories, whether you are Zanu PF, MDC, NCA, NDU, or whatever political party, Emmerson Mnangagwa has become the enemy of all of us.
The way he has privatised Zimbabwe cannot be tolerated by a civilised society. The methods of running a State through bloodbath are intolerable and cannot continue any further.
I urge all the people of Zimbabwe to rally behind the clarion call to our freedom. All this will be demonstrated by the power the people hold.
Omar Hassan AL-Bashir never thought people have power. He thought few rogue elements in the military will perpetuate his brutality, but it came to an end. Every nation belongs to its people.
I also don’t believe all in our security services are rogue. There are real professionals who keep the integrity of the forces.
We have some who believe in executing their constitutional mandate with professionalism and who do not believe in the philosophy of being used to kill their brothers.
Any professional security men or women cannot cross the red line of killing people. Only rogue elements do that. So there is need for every member of our security service to define who you are. Are you a professional or a rogue? It is within this context the struggle for Zimbabwe should be understood.
Q: Many people know Sikhala as a rabble-rouser in the political field, what is the reason behind your actions?
People must differentiate between confrontation and being forthright. I was born just like that. Handirovi mbwa ndakaviga mupini (I cut to the chase). That was exactly the character of my late father. He would tell you the open truth, whether the truth is palatable or not. I just tell it like it is.
Africa has a tendency of lying to appease or please individuals. Not me, please, I don’t need anything from anyone to pontificate lies and massage bad things. What I say about anything, that’s my honest and truthful opinion.
Dictators always want to hear praises about them. I will never hide my true feelings about anything, I say it out, if you are happy or not it’s up to you, if not hard luck. Secondly, I am intolerable to nonsense. This government is not only clueless. It is evil.
You can’t murder people and expect some of us to respect you. Human blood is sacrosanct. If you kill anyone or use violence to attain or retain power, don’t expect flattery from me. I don’t want to be praised by anyone as if I am different from any other person. We are all human beings. All human beings must be treated with the respect and dignity naturally entitled to a person. Any deviation from that cardinal philosophy of life is unacceptable to me.
Q: Do you not fear for your life?
Fear has been an instrument used by oppressors to silence those who do not share their madness. One retired long serving white member of Parliament in South Africa, Van Der Merwe, who became my friend, told me that during apartheid, they would hang black nationalists by the neck, take them into a helicopter and fly them over the sea and throw them for sharks’ food as an instrument to inflict maximum fear.
He repented and now says such evil should not ever have been done because apartheid fell despite all that brutality against humanity.
Fear in Zimbabwe has been used since 1980. The Matabeleland genocide and holocaust and all the terror and violence that followed thereafter, is the political ideology of a tyrannical and satanic regime which could not tolerate criticism and opposition.
I was born like what I am. I never accepted to be frightened into submission. Life is not owned by the appropriators of power or those arrogating godly powers upon themselves. It belongs to one God, a God for us all.
So whatever human beings plan cannot be God’s plan. God has his own plans about me which no one can detect or take control of. So, I am not afraid of a man of flesh. Whatever comes let it come. Liberating a country from tyrants is not a picnic business of those possessed with fear.
Q: Some critics are saying demonstrations don’t work, what’s your view?
People power works. I don’t know whether you want to ascribe people power to demonstrations. I am a strong believer in the ideology of people power. If you have people behind you who share the same sentiments and pain, it works.
Go and ask Omar Hassan AL-Bashir, Hosni Mubarak, apartheid SA, even next here in Malawi. Mutharika was just confirmed to be an empty president. He was moving in the streets, but behind his head he knew, he was now a zombie. People own everything. They own the power to install or dethrone you.
Q: What do you think is the best way for opposition to take against the Mnangagwa government?
The opposition is in no good shape than now, to drive the people’s agenda. We are here for the business of the people not our selfish interests.
It is incumbent upon us to give direction to the struggle. People believe in a leadership to give direction on how to finish their long awaited freedom. Soon the direction will come. It no longer needs hesitation. No matter how they brutalise us, they will not kill all of us.
Q: You are an experienced politician do you see any changes in Zanu PF in terms of how they respect human rights?
Zanu PF is history, fossilised. A dead donkey surrounded by vultures for food. All those vamunoona vachitomhoka tomhoka (running around) in Zanu PF are fortune hunters. It has no leaders at all from top to bottom. It has street dealers and fortune hunters who are using that name for extortionate economic plunder.
They salivate for nothing, besides the bag. All are money mongers who are so corruptible that expecting any change from such a rubric organisation is expecting too much.
Morons generally don’t change. They are empty vessels and skulduggery idiots hanging to it for economic fortunes.
Change should not be the disappearance of individuals from the political scene, but the complete annihilation of a system.
People of Zimbabwe must not yearn for any change in Zanu PF. They must rather yearn for its total destruction. It is an evil cult. Cultism doesn’t change. A cult remains a cult. It must be destroyed in its entirety.
Q: Some critics are saying the opposition is not doing enough to fight for the people?
The project to fight Zanu PF cannot be a business of the few. It is the business for everyone. Like I earlier said, from the peasants to factory owners, from street boys to the top executives, the challenge is all ours. Leaving this business to the MDC alone will create a nauseating narrative we lived with for years, that tisu takakusunungurai ( we liberated you).
Not again. The struggle belongs to all of us. As leadership we must only give direction not to own the struggle. The struggle cannot be totemised. It is the people’s struggle. It’s all ours.
Q: You are a firebrand politician and you have already been arrested for your combative style, are you going to tone down?
I have been arrested 64 times for my political views. It’s some persecution I endured all my life. Idiots in the tyrannical pedestal think they can destroy the fighting spirit of modern liberation fighters by using arrests as an instrument to silence us all, but unbeknown to them is that it creates the opposite.
Rather than silencing me, it has rather hardened and emboldened my resolve. They should have learnt from history.
Prisons do not silence the voice of reason. It rather intensifies the fighting spirit and determination. Ask apartheid South Africa. They will tell you that Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki were not silenced by the oppression of a prison. It rather hardened their resolve. Ask the late Maurice Nyagumbo, ask vaMavhaire, ask the late Robert Mugabe.
Incarceration has always had the opposite results. Can you tell me one person who was silenced by arrests in the struggle of mankind. Wozoti zvako wasvuta mbanje woti haa we will silence Wiwa through arrests. Wanzai bepa (they smoke marijuana and think they can silence me through arrests).
Q: How has your social life been affected since your acquittal?
Stocking, trailing and use of State security agents wherever I am has intensified. Two good examples: After my acquittal on the 14th of February, State security agents came at OK Supermarket where we were buying groceries for my school children whom I was to visit on the 15th.
I did not come out of my car, but they asked which car I was in from some people who were around. When my security details got it, they confronted them and they rushed to their car and drove away. When we left on our way to my village in Gutu, they trailed us and by the time we arrived at Nyika they came and parked right next to my vehicle at the Highway Shops.
When we left to go home they followed us along the dust mountainous road to my village and it was now at night around 9pm. Unbeknown to them we had two cars with more than 30 people. When we resolved to stop our vehicles in the bush to confront them after switching off the lights, they made a U-turn and sped off.
I did not stay in Harare as soon as I arrived on Sunday from the village. I had a court case to dispose of in Karoi. The matter was a trial which was due for a long time, as I was not able to attend to it, because of the exigencies of the treason trial.
When they found out that I was at Karoi Magistrates Court, they deployed all the CIOs and members from the military intelligence in Mashonaland West.
I did not care and went on to cross examine the witness the whole day on Wednesday. When we decided to leave after we postponed the matter to another day for other witnesses to come, they trailed us all the way from Karoi to my house in Harare.
When they flagged my driver to stop between Zvimba and Norton I wanted us to stop and hear what their problem was but my driver refused to stop. In short, what I am saying is that there is no private life for me anymore. No more luxury of meeting with friends at places of leisure. I am the riskiest person to be seen in my company at the moment.
So my friends should not think I am ignoring them. I am rather saving them from harassment because of their association with me.
Allow me to finish this fight against them without my associates becoming collateral damage. But let it be known to them, that if anything happens to me, Masvingo should have been a clear warning to them. Zimbabwe will be reduced to ruins. The whole country will need reconstruction for years because I know what is in the minds of the people.
Any attempt to terminate my life will result in unprecedented instability that will result in serious bloodbath and that will be the end of this evil regime.
You will never hear about them again. That will be their end. And this I know it for a fact. Let them continue doing their funny tricks and see the end result.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praised his players for passing “an incredible test” as Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to score a late winner at Leicester and cement themselves in second spot.
Jamie Vardy had hit the post for Leicester in the first half, but both sides wasted numerous chances before Jesus slotted home with a cool finish after a surging run from Riyad Mahrez had opened up the home defence.
The best of those opportunities saw Foxes keeper Kasper Schmeichel deny Sergio Aguero from the spot on the hour mark as the Blues’ penalty problems continued.
The defending champions are now seven points clear of the Foxes having won twice since being banned from European football for two years by Uefa.
“Don’t ask me about the attitude of these guys,” said Guardiola. “You still doubt what they have done. These players have won seven titles in the last eight [domestic] competitions.
“Today, after missing the penalty, see the reaction we had against an incredibly good team, not just for where they are in the table right now but the way they played in general this season. It was an incredible test for us.”
Guardiola’s side have now missed five of their seven Premier League spot-kicks this season, but Leicester will argue they should have been given two of their own before the break.
Nothing was given when Kevin de Bruyne had his arms up in the wall and James Maddison’s free-kick clearly hit them, and even more mystifying was the decision to give Leicester a corner when Ederson took out Kelechi Iheanacho.
Iheanacho had beaten the Brazilian to Maddison’s delightful chipped pass and was floored by the goalkeeper’s attempt to punch the ball to safety, but referee Paul Tierney and the video assistant referee both felt Ederson had touched the ball.
The next time VAR got involved, it was to award the visitors a penalty – after Dennis Praet charged down Ilkay Gundogan’s effort with his arm.
But Schmeichel preserved parity when he saved with his legs after Aguero went for power and blasted his spot-kick down the middle, leaving the game in the balance.
The Foxes keeper denied Aguero again soon after, but he could do nothing to keep out Jesus’ strike which brought a jubilant reaction from the away fans, and the Manchester City players joined them in celebration at the final whistle.
It is almost an irrelevance that the Blues have cut Liverpool’s lead at the top to 19 points, but they can head for the Bernabeu for their Champions League last-16 tie with Real Madrid on a high after a difficult week.-BBC
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praised his players for passing “an incredible test” as Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to score a late winner at Leicester and cement themselves in second spot.
Jamie Vardy had hit the post for Leicester in the first half, but both sides wasted numerous chances before Jesus slotted home with a cool finish after a surging run from Riyad Mahrez had opened up the home defence.
The best of those opportunities saw Foxes keeper Kasper Schmeichel deny Sergio Aguero from the spot on the hour mark as the Blues’ penalty problems continued.
The defending champions are now seven points clear of the Foxes having won twice since being banned from European football for two years by Uefa.
“Don’t ask me about the attitude of these guys,” said Guardiola. “You still doubt what they have done. These players have won seven titles in the last eight [domestic] competitions.
“Today, after missing the penalty, see the reaction we had against an incredibly good team, not just for where they are in the table right now but the way they played in general this season. It was an incredible test for us.”
Guardiola’s side have now missed five of their seven Premier League spot-kicks this season, but Leicester will argue they should have been given two of their own before the break.
Nothing was given when Kevin de Bruyne had his arms up in the wall and James Maddison’s free-kick clearly hit them, and even more mystifying was the decision to give Leicester a corner when Ederson took out Kelechi Iheanacho.
Iheanacho had beaten the Brazilian to Maddison’s delightful chipped pass and was floored by the goalkeeper’s attempt to punch the ball to safety, but referee Paul Tierney and the video assistant referee both felt Ederson had touched the ball.
The next time VAR got involved, it was to award the visitors a penalty – after Dennis Praet charged down Ilkay Gundogan’s effort with his arm.
But Schmeichel preserved parity when he saved with his legs after Aguero went for power and blasted his spot-kick down the middle, leaving the game in the balance.
The Foxes keeper denied Aguero again soon after, but he could do nothing to keep out Jesus’ strike which brought a jubilant reaction from the away fans, and the Manchester City players joined them in celebration at the final whistle.
It is almost an irrelevance that the Blues have cut Liverpool’s lead at the top to 19 points, but they can head for the Bernabeu for their Champions League last-16 tie with Real Madrid on a high after a difficult week.-BBC
Farai Dziva|Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is battling to produce metal licence discs for drivers due to shortage of foreign currency.
More than 150 000 drivers who passed road tests are yet to receive metal licence discs.
CVR Registrar George Makoni has said shortage of foreign currency is causing the delays.
“As you may know, foreign currency is scarce and our Government has priority areas to disburse foreign currency to . . . It is not anyone’s fault, it is our situation as a country at the moment.
The challenges have been compounded by inadequate manpower.
Our department has 85 approved posts countrywide.
Those 85 are responsible for making licences for all people in Zimbabwe, and not all of them are in production.
All licences that we make are made using manual equipment. Our systems are not yet computerised. We are using old equipment which was acquired way back.
At any given time, we can only produce 48 licences, while Vehicle Inspection Department is churning out 9 000 drivers monthly. From September 2018 up to now those licences have not been made yet,” Makoni told state media.
Farai Dziva|Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is battling to produce metal licence discs for drivers due to shortage of foreign currency.
More than 150 000 drivers who passed road tests are yet to receive metal licence discs.
CVR Registrar George Makoni has said shortage of foreign currency is causing the delays.
“As you may know, foreign currency is scarce and our Government has priority areas to disburse foreign currency to . . . It is not anyone’s fault, it is our situation as a country at the moment.
The challenges have been compounded by inadequate manpower.
Our department has 85 approved posts countrywide.
Those 85 are responsible for making licences for all people in Zimbabwe, and not all of them are in production.
All licences that we make are made using manual equipment. Our systems are not yet computerised. We are using old equipment which was acquired way back.
At any given time, we can only produce 48 licences, while Vehicle Inspection Department is churning out 9 000 drivers monthly. From September 2018 up to now those licences have not been made yet,” Makoni told state media.
TWENTY-SEVEN passengers aboard an MB Transport bus heading for Beitbridge were early yesterday robbed of money and valuables worth thousands of dollars by three gunmen, some 20 kilometres before the border town.
The incident occurred soon after the Lutumba tollgate along the Beitbridge-Masvingo highway. The bus was reportedly travelling from Harare with 33 people on board including the bus crew and the three suspects.
MB Transport proprietor Mr Brian Mungofa confirmed the incident yesterday.
“The robbers boarded the bus in Harare on Friday along with other 27 passengers at the Mbudzi traffic circle. They then attacked the passengers early in the morning at Lutumba area.
They were three suspects and have gone into hiding. The matter has been reported to the police,” said Mr Mungofa.
It could not be readily verified how much was stolen from the passengers.
National Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the matter was under investigation.
“I can confirm that we are investigating a case of three suspects who robbed some passengers in a bus they had boarded from Harare and travelling to Beitbridge,” he said.
The incident occurred a few hours after 58 Zimbabweans travelling to Harare from South Africa were robbed of valuables by two gunmen who had followed them from Johannesburg.
The bus driver, Mr Thembane Ngwenya survived death by a whisker after two bullets narrowly missed his head when one of the robbers shot at him at close range.
According to Mr Ngwenya, the suspects shot at the bus inducing a mechanical fault resulting in him stopping after struggling to engage gears.
“They demanded R40 000 which they alleged had been given to the bus crew by one client in Johannesburg.
They searched everyone and took away phones and money and left after they were convinced we had no money,” said Mr Ngwenya.
Of late there has been an increase in cases where armed robbers target Zimbabwean cross-border buses in South Africa.
After boarding the buses mainly in Pretoria they then attack the passengers in bushes between Hamanskraal and Polokwane.
Over 15 buses have been attacked by armed gangs in the last 12 months.
In addition, more than six buses have been attacked by armed robbers between Lutumba and Beitbridge town by armed robbers who pretend to be passengers but later attack their victims especially those travelling from Harare to South Africa for shopping.-State media
TWENTY-SEVEN passengers aboard an MB Transport bus heading for Beitbridge were early yesterday robbed of money and valuables worth thousands of dollars by three gunmen, some 20 kilometres before the border town.
The incident occurred soon after the Lutumba tollgate along the Beitbridge-Masvingo highway. The bus was reportedly travelling from Harare with 33 people on board including the bus crew and the three suspects.
MB Transport proprietor Mr Brian Mungofa confirmed the incident yesterday.
“The robbers boarded the bus in Harare on Friday along with other 27 passengers at the Mbudzi traffic circle. They then attacked the passengers early in the morning at Lutumba area.
They were three suspects and have gone into hiding. The matter has been reported to the police,” said Mr Mungofa.
It could not be readily verified how much was stolen from the passengers.
National Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the matter was under investigation.
“I can confirm that we are investigating a case of three suspects who robbed some passengers in a bus they had boarded from Harare and travelling to Beitbridge,” he said.
The incident occurred a few hours after 58 Zimbabweans travelling to Harare from South Africa were robbed of valuables by two gunmen who had followed them from Johannesburg.
The bus driver, Mr Thembane Ngwenya survived death by a whisker after two bullets narrowly missed his head when one of the robbers shot at him at close range.
According to Mr Ngwenya, the suspects shot at the bus inducing a mechanical fault resulting in him stopping after struggling to engage gears.
“They demanded R40 000 which they alleged had been given to the bus crew by one client in Johannesburg.
They searched everyone and took away phones and money and left after they were convinced we had no money,” said Mr Ngwenya.
Of late there has been an increase in cases where armed robbers target Zimbabwean cross-border buses in South Africa.
After boarding the buses mainly in Pretoria they then attack the passengers in bushes between Hamanskraal and Polokwane.
Over 15 buses have been attacked by armed gangs in the last 12 months.
In addition, more than six buses have been attacked by armed robbers between Lutumba and Beitbridge town by armed robbers who pretend to be passengers but later attack their victims especially those travelling from Harare to South Africa for shopping.-State media
Farai Dziva|Norton MP Temba Mliswa’s controversial remarks about Innscor officials have triggered “twitter storm.”
Innscor officials, through their lawyers, have since lodged a complaint with Twitter.
See part of the letter written by Innscor officials’ lawyers to Twitter:
We consider that the tweets… contain racial slurs and perpetuate a racist trope of a black African who has personally benefited from the disenfranchisement and exploitation of other black people by white Africans and Asian Africans
the chain of tweets also make wide ranging generalised slurs against white and Asian Africans, which are particularly sensitive in a country which has historically experiences serious unrest and violence along racial lines.
Whilst our client is not a homosexual, the suggestion that our client is a homosexual is a serious one in Zimbabwe, where homosexual acts between men are illegal and violence against gay men is prevalent.
This allegation alone, is tantamount to an incitement to violence against him.
Furthermore, we consider that the chain of allegations perpetuates a discriminatory trope that homosexuals as a group are engaged in corruption, favouring only people of the same orientation who bestow them with sexual favours.
In response Mliswa said:
“So I hear Addington Chinake(Innscor board member) feels the best way to counter my allegations is to approach Twitter for my account to be closed rather than sue me.
If I was lying, I’d probably agree, but I’m prepared to stand up in court any day for what I said.”
Farai Dziva|Norton MP Temba Mliswa’s controversial remarks about Innscor officials have triggered “twitter storm.”
Innscor officials, through their lawyers, have since lodged a complaint with Twitter.
See part of the letter written by Innscor officials’ lawyers to Twitter:
We consider that the tweets… contain racial slurs and perpetuate a racist trope of a black African who has personally benefited from the disenfranchisement and exploitation of other black people by white Africans and Asian Africans
the chain of tweets also make wide ranging generalised slurs against white and Asian Africans, which are particularly sensitive in a country which has historically experiences serious unrest and violence along racial lines.
Whilst our client is not a homosexual, the suggestion that our client is a homosexual is a serious one in Zimbabwe, where homosexual acts between men are illegal and violence against gay men is prevalent.
This allegation alone, is tantamount to an incitement to violence against him.
Furthermore, we consider that the chain of allegations perpetuates a discriminatory trope that homosexuals as a group are engaged in corruption, favouring only people of the same orientation who bestow them with sexual favours.
In response Mliswa said:
“So I hear Addington Chinake(Innscor board member) feels the best way to counter my allegations is to approach Twitter for my account to be closed rather than sue me.
If I was lying, I’d probably agree, but I’m prepared to stand up in court any day for what I said.”
By A Correspondent| Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is losing patience with the government citing authorities’ nonchalance in addressing workers’ grievances.
ZCTU president Peter Mutasa said as workers, they have tried to be committed to negotiations to no avail and they are now left with one option; to call for a general strike.
Said Mutasa:
We continue to find ourselves in an unfortunate situation where the cost of living continues to shoot through the roof and, on the other hand, workers’ salaries remain stagnant.
We have really tried to commit to negotiations. However, we think it is not working. Workers are suffering and the majority is failing to access basics such as food, decent health care and education.
As we report back to workers, we have no doubt that the only mandate we will be given is to call for a general strike.
Mutasa’s comments come after the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) meeting between labour, business and government, held early this month, failed to yield any progress in solving the erosion of workers’ salaries and wages.
Civil servants and other formally employed workers have made the issue of salaries pegged on the prevailing interbank rate a key demand, and in the case of civil servants, the government has refused to budge.-DailyNews
By Own Correspondent| Suspended Zanu PF secretary for the commissariat Godfrey Tsenengamu said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has failed to meet expectations following the fall of the Robert Mugabe in November 2017.
Speaking in an interview with a local publication, Tsenengamu was candid in his assessment of Mnangagwa’s achievements.
He said:
I expected that the new party leadership would forgive those it had contradictions with and reunite the party.
I expected the leadership to unite all Zimbabweans and focus on developing the country together as a people.
I expected that the leadership would deal differently with the problems we saw in the old dispensation like corruption, regionalism, tribalism, unemployment, political polarisation, policy inconsistencies, indigenisation and empowerment, transparency and accountability etc. I badly wanted to see change.
… I hope the Second Republic will one day achieve these for me, so far it hasn’t.
Tsenengamu added that some people in the Zanu PF leadership have been captured by cartels and even some within the opposition are also hostages of the cartelists.
He emplored the country’s leaders to find a way out of the current mess or else Zimbabwe is doomed.-DailyNews
By Own Correspondent| Landlords in Bulawayo are reported to be demanding US$35 to US$40 per room from students residing outside the campus at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST).
This has forced the students to resort to squatting and engaging in campus marriages as rental charges have become unsustainable. A student who spoke to thr state media on condition of anonymity said:
This situation is now worse than before, rentals are now costly and our parents cannot afford such kind of money on a monthly basis so we end up negotiating with our colleagues to share a room without the knowledge of the landlord.
Some of us end up engaging in immoral habits whereby we end up living with students of the opposite sex just to secure accommodation, we, therefore, request that Government builds more hostels equally affordable like on-campus rentals.
Meanwhile, the construction of an upmarket accommodation facility to house more than 1 000 students in Bulawayo by the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) started in 2019.
IDBZ chief marketing and public relations officer Priscilla Zvobgo.-Statemedia
By Own Correspondent| Two armed robbers ambushed a Harare-bound Croswell Logistics cross-border bus in northern South Africa at around 10am and robbed 58 passengers of cellphones and cash.
The bus driver, Mr Thembane Ngwenya, escaped death by a whisker after two bullets missed him.
The attack occurred when the bus stopped along the N1 Highway between Zebediella and Polokwane as the driver sought to check on a disturbing mechanical noise.
He said:
“This is a miracle. I survived by Godñs grace. Two bullets missed my head at close range.”-StateMedia
Communities in Gwanda got a major boost after a local non-governmental organisation Hand in Hand Zimbabwe (HiH Zim) facilitated the installation of solar-powered boreholes.
The project running under the Green Enterprise Project is meant to transform livelihoods of rural people across the country.
HiH Zim has installed four solar-powered boreholes at four community gardens in the district, a development that has seen farmers in the area increasing crop production.
Gwanda, which falls within agro-ecological Region V and receives annual average rainfall of 477mm, has a record of many cases of crop failure.
The district has not experienced above normal rainfall over the past 10 years and meaningful crop production is only under irrigation.
The installation of the solar boreholes has, however, brought relief to villagers, many who struggled to sustain their crops as they had to travel long distances to fetch water.
As a result of HiH Zim’s intervention, most gardens in the area are thriving with an array of crops such as butternut, potatoes, tomatoes, beans and chomolia, as well as nursery trees.
HiH Zim CEO Felix Tete said the provision of the solar-powered boreholes were part of the organisation’s strategy to promote the use of green energy in the district, while at the same time creating jobs and building socio-economically resilient communities.
Sympathy Ngulube (34) from Sinalidau Garden in Ward 20, praised HiH Zim for helping to develop her impoverished community in the past three years.
“The business trainings and provision of technical support from Hand in Hand Zimbabwe has opened our minds,” Ngulube, a mother of four told Southern Eye on Sunday.
“We have been taught a lot and on top of that the water woes that we were facing are now a thing of the past because we can easily water our crops.
“In the past our gardening projects were not doing so well because we would get tired of walking long distances to fetch water, but the installation of the solar-powered boreholes have eased our burden. As a group we are looking forward to our first harvesting season in the coming few months.”
Ngulube indicated that her group will soon be selling their butternut crop to local markets in the district.
“Our plan is to buy cattle and goats as a form of investments from the proceeds of our crops,” she said.
Tsamikan Sebata, from Progressive Garden in Ward 14, said she had been living in abject poverty for years as a result of poor harvests induced by drought in the district, but the solar-powered boreholes have come as a relief.
She said although the 45-member group recently started selling their produce, they are looking forward to earning a sustainable income from the sales.
“The Green Enterprise Project is proving to be helpful in the district as it has revamped production in our garden,” she said.
“In addition, the project has also empowered our youth, and families as well as our community in terms of job creation and building socio-economic resilience.”
The project created 490 green jobs and 34 green enterprises in the past year and there are good prospects for growth this year.
Sebata said the group is reinvesting back into the garden through buying seedlings and they are all optimistic that the project would be self-sustaining in the near future.
“This project is not only helping us with new income streams for our families, but is also opening our eyes to various opportunities,” Sebata, the mother of three said.
Since their garden has a provision of tree nurseries, Sebata said the group sells tree seedlings at $15 each.
About 63 types of fruit trees that include mango, guava, lemons and pawpaw have been planted in the garden.
The group members are also looking forward to selling their butternut and tomatoes, which will be ready for harvest soon.
The market for their produce is in Gwanda town and surrounding communities.
Phakamani and Sengezane gardens in Ward 14, where HiH Zim also installed solar-powered water boreholes, are realising high yields in their butternut crop production, which they plan to sell beginning of March.
Loreen Mpondo (62) said she was confident the proceeds from the garden would go a long way in improving their lives.
Since its inception more than 15 months ago, the Green Enterprise Project has established three apiaries, five tree nurseries, and five nutritional gardens with a provision of fodder for cattle and goat fattening
The project is one of the economically and environmentally viable projects that was adopted by HiH Zim as a pilot venture in Gwanda.
The project was incepted in September 2018 and is expected to run until August 2021. It seeks to achieve improved sustainable economic activities and strengthen resilience to climate change for the resource-constrained communities – particularly women and young people.
This goal will be achieved through climate-smart agriculture (irrigated horticulture) and beekeeping.
These interventions are part and parcel of climate change adaptive strategies. By its very nature the project targets to benefit 80% women and 20% men in Ward 6,7,14 and 20 in Gwanda.
HiH Zim is a non-profit organisation that helps resource limited and marginalised people in rural communities, particularly women and youth, to create better livelihoods for themselves and their families through its flagship series, the Jobs Creation Programme (JCP), which encompasses a self-help approach that is premised on a four-pillar model involving social mobilisation into self-help groups, training in entrepreneurship and economic development, facilitating access to microloans and facilitating market linkages and value addition.
Apart from the JCP, the organisation has over the past four years incepted various projects including the Motivated and Entrepreneurial Youth Project, Community Upliftment Programme, Green Enterprises Project and Jobs for Zimbabwe Project, Market Linkages Project and the Daughters of Africa Project.
The organisation was registered as a non-profit trust in Zimbabwe in July 2015 and is presently supporting communities in seven districts namely Bulilima, Chikomba, Chirumanzu, Gwanda, Lupane, Nkayi and Shurugwi.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza
State Media|More than 150 000 drivers who passed road tests are yet to get their driver’s licence discs as the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR) is battling to secure consumables needed for their production.
The department is currently in the process of producing discs for learners who passed their tests in August 2018.
Most of the raw materials, which include metal photo plates, a special dye, a fixer and a developer, are all purchased in the United States.
The old manual machine that is used in the production process can only produce 48 driver’s licence discs at one go and frequently breaks down.
Photographs and signature sizes are also manually adjusted during the production, which makes the process laborious.
CVR Registrar Mr George Makoni told The Sunday Mail that foreign currency shortages were mainly causing the delays.
“As you may know, foreign currency is scarce and our Government has priority areas to disburse foreign currency to . . . It is not anyone’s fault, it is our situation as a country at the moment,” he said.
The challenges have been compounded by inadequate manpower.
“Our department has 85 approved posts countrywide. Those 85 are responsible for making licences for all people in Zimbabwe, and not all of them are in production.
“All licences that we make are made using manual equipment. Our systems are not yet computerised. We are using old equipment which was acquired way back. At any given time, we can only produce 48 licences, while Vehicle Inspection Department is churning out 9 000 drivers monthly. From September 2018 up to now those licences have not been made yet,” said Mr Makoni.
CVR believes it would be better to transition from metal licence discs to smart licences that are considered affordable.
A computerisation programme has been ongoing for the past two years.
“There is a computerisation programme called Zimbabwe Information Management System which was approved in 2018. Hopefully, it will develop into smart driver’s licence to take over from the metal licence.”
An electronic learner’s licence test system is already operational in both Harare and Bulawayo.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza said an import substitution programme would help solve some of the challenges in the medium to long term.
“Government has already approved localised production. We are looking at import substitution generally. We want to localise production of all licences so we do not keep importing. There are issues of security involved and also revenue; it is a process,” he said.
Last year, Government tasked innovation hubs at local universities to come up with a patented system for the local production of vehicle registration plates with adequate security features.
This followed a huge backlog in the production of vehicle registration plates.
By Nelson Chamisa|IN 2008, Nelson Mandela said there was a “tragic failure of leadership” in Zimbabwe. His words have never been truer than they are today.
There is evidence of failure everywhere you look.
In March 1997, Zimbabwe launched Vision 2020. Among the promises under Vision 2020 were: housing, healthcare, education and jobs for all by 2020.
Today, not one of these promises has been met.
Our healthcare system is facing its worst crisis ever. Our schools are witnessing the highest dropout rates in the nation’s history.Unemployment is worsening, amid currency volatility and an unstable business environment.
According to the United Nations, 90% of Zimbabwean children are experiencing malnutrition and stunted growth.In a nation as rich and talented as ours, this should not be the case. This is a tragic failure of leadership.
The 2018 election presented a chance for Zimbabwe to transition to a modern, democratic leadership. That opportunity was stolen from Zimbabweans, through a deeply flawed election that foisted an illegitimate government on the country.
Ahead of that election, our calls for deep electoral reforms were ignored. In the euphoria of Robert Mugabe’s ouster, many in the world and the region bought into Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ruse. They were sold the lie that he would bring stability and change.
It did not take long for the mask to fall off. The murder of six civilians on August 1, 2018, and the deployment of the army in January 2019, when at least 17 people were killed and many more wounded, revealed the true face of the regime. Zimbabwe is once again isolated from the world, facing a massive man-made hunger crisis.
Today, Zimbabwe is a broken and divided nation, led through fear, governed by force and ruled through violence.The “New Dispensation”, “Open for Business” and “Second Republic” slogans ring hollow even to those that were once deceived by them.
It is the superficial rhetoric of a clueless administration, just muddling through on directionless experimentalism, hoping that somewhere along the way, it will somehow stumble upon solutions.
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No change can ever come under Zanu PF, simply because Zanu PF itself will never change.The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has proven its capacity to deliver real change. Our capacity to deliver has been second-guessed many times by those who chose the route of appeasement. The reality is that our country did better when the MDC was in government, and in charge of the Ministry of Finance.
When we entered the Government of National Unity (GNU) in 2009, inflation had reached 500 billion percent. By the time the GNU ended in 2013, inflation was just 1,63%. As soon as Zanu PF was left to run the economy alone, inflation started rising. Annual inflation is now well over 500%, and rising.
In 2012, a teacher was earning US$300. It was not much, but they could afford to send their children to school. Today, that same teacher is earning less than US$100. They cannot afford the bus fare to class, and can no longer send their own children to school.
Before the GNU, the economy had shrunk by 16,5% in 2008. Under the GNU, the economy grew by 5,4% in 2009; 11,4% in 2010; 9,3% in 2011, and 10,6% in 2012. As soon as the GNU ended, the economy grew just 2,4% in 2014. In 2019, the economy fell 7,5%. These are the facts.
However, Zimbabwe is not beyond redemption.Under the MDC’s Agenda 2020, our programme of action and peaceful resistance, we will this year work to deliver the legitimacy that our country was denied, and the prosperity that our people deserve.
Our party’s activities have been severely curtailed in recent months, including bans on peaceful protests. But we will not betray the people’s vote, nor let their voices be silenced.
In 2020, we will focus our efforts on the people’s fight on five key issues, namely: the fight for a people’s government and reforms; the fight for a better life; the fight against corruption; the fight for the rule of law; and the fight in defence of the constitution.
We will, over the coming months, push ever more resolutely for genuine dialogue. This should lead to a National Transitional Authority, under which we would implement far-reaching reforms, leading to credible elections. Only then can we move on.
Zimbabwe is again sliding into chaos. Around the country, machete-wielding gangs are overrunning the police in the country’s goldfields. The greedy political figures that birthed these gangs, for self-enrichment, have now lost control. The hunger crisis will drive even more young people to despair, and into desperate action.
A dangerous impatience now engulfs the nation. The country is in danger of being overtaken by forces and processes that are intolerant to the continued status quo. The endless police crackdowns on our people have radicalised many youths against any form of authority.
The Zimbabwean crisis is no longer domestic, but regional.Every country in the region already faces growing social demands from their own citizens. We are deeply grateful to our neighbours for accommodating Zimbabweans, but, in truth, none of them deserve to take on the added burden of another country’s failure.
Hence our call for our neighbours, South Africa included, to intervene and help us talk and resolve this deep crisis.
The policy of appeasement has failed and can no longer continue. More than two years after the November 2017 coup, and more than 18 months after the stolen 2018 election, time is fast running out for Zimbabwe.
It is time to correct Zimbabwe’s tragic failure of leadership, before it is too late.
Advocate Chamisa is president of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change.
Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown constitutes the biggest threat to Zanu-PF’s continued hold on power, the ruling party has admitted.
The country is going through one of the worst economic crises since 2013 characterised by severe currency shortages, scarce fuel supplies and galloping inflation.
A United Nations expert last month said Zimbabwe was on the brink of a man made starvation.
Hilal Elver, the UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food, made the observation after an 11-day assessment.
She attributed the crisis to hyperinflation, poverty, natural disasters and economic sanctions, among other things.
The government, however, described Elver’s findings as exaggerations but the admission by Zanu-PF in a central committee report tabled at the ruling party’s just-ended annual conference in Goromonzi showed that the authorities are having sleepless nights over the crisis.
In the report, Zanu-PF commissar Victor Matemadanda said the crisis threatened the party’s own existence. Zanu-PF does not take responsibility for the chaos in the economy.
“The most latent security threat that has great consequences is the unstable economy, which is largely propelled by the parallel market (black market),” reads part of the report.
“Formal trading prices are determined by the parallel market exchange rate, which has been sharply rising on a daily basis.
“Prices of all commodities and services have followed suit to unsustainable levels.
“Most people are failing to make ends meet, so are poverty levels that are rising very much throughout the country.
“As a result, anger is brewing among the citizens while there is loss of confidence on the direction the economy is taking.”
In January a steep increase in the price of fuel led to violent protests across the country, which were ruthlessly put down by the army and police.
Human rights groups said as many as 17 people were killed when security forces fired live ammunition during the three days of demonstrations.
At least several women were allegedly raped by soldiers. Since then the government has been refusing to give the main opposition MDC clearance to hold protests, saying the situation in the country remained volatile.
The central committee report recommended that Zanu-PF should prioritise programmes aimed at resuscitating the economy for its survival.
“As the party continues to prioritise the resuscitation of the economy, the national security (organs) need to maintain a peaceful environment around the country to enable unperturbed economic growth,” the report added.
Zanu-PF also describes the MDC and civil society groups as a security threat as they are allegedly working together in efforts to topple Mnangagwa.
“The opposition, together with their international allies, have attempted to put pressure on President Mnangagwa to start a separate dialogue with opposition leader Nelson Chamisa,” the report added.
“It is interesting to note that some NGOs, civil society organisations and some western countries continue to fight in the opposition’s corner by morally supporting their acts of destabilisation.
“The same organisations have been urging America and its European allies to maintain the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe citing alleged human rights violations by security services.”
The party accused the organisations of “staging” abductions of their members “to ensure that the country is viewed in political bad light”.
MDC, the report claims, is working with some community based organisations that organise cultural, sporting and arts festivals as well as sexual reproductive education programmes to recruit supporters ahead of the 2023 general election.
“These programmes are being done as campaign strategies by MDC ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections,” Zanu-PF claimed.
Chamisa and the MDC refused to recognise Mnangagwa’s election victory in last year’s elections citing alleged vote rigging.
The opposition party has been pushing for dialogue between the two leaders to resolve the crisis, but Zanu-PF insists that there is no need for the talks.
Instead Mnangagwa set up a dialogue forum of fringe political parties that took part in the July 2018 presidential elections, which the MDC has dismissed as a farce.
Churches have also been pushing for dialogue between Mnangagwa and Chamisa to resolve Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis, which has left millions on the brink of starvation.
According to the UN, 60% of Zimbabwe’s population is food insecure due to a severe drought during the 2018/19 farming season.
Mnangagwa, who took over from Mugabe in 2017 following a military coup, has been struggling to deliver on his promise of a quick economic turnaround.
Foreign investors continue to stay away from Zimbabwe due to the unstable political situation in the country and unpredictable economic policies.
In June Zimbabwe dumped the multi-currency regime that had helped stabilise the economy for over a decade and reverted back to its own currency.
The Zimbabwe dollar, however, has been losing value rapidly due to low economic activity in the country.
GOKWE Town Council director of finance Joconia Nyoni has been arrested for allegedly abusing his office.
Nyoni (58) was arrested last Wednesday and later appeared before Gokwe magistrate Mr Hillary Ndlovu for allegedly defrauding his employer through flouting proper tender processes.
The court heard that Nyoni, working in cahoots with Gokwe Town Secretary, Melania Mandeya, allegedly prejudiced the council of thousands of dollars after conniving to flout tender processes in their favour. Mandeya is already on remand for similar charges.
Nyoni was granted $1 000 bail and will be back in court on 5 March for provision of a trial date.
As part of bail conditions, he was ordered to surrender his passport with the clerk of court, continue residing at his given address and not to interfere with witnesses.
Prosecuting, Mr Tinashe Wazvaremhaka told the court that Nyoni, in his capacity as the director of finance, connived with Mandeya to prejudice council of funds. Acting in connivance, Nyoni directly procured a 10KVA/10KWA solar power system from Nerenchia Power Rite Company on a fix and supply basis for Gokwe Town Council.
During the procurement procedure, the council was quoted US$14 792,50 by the said company.
Nyoni, however, went on to pay $325 435, using an unofficial foreign currency exchange rate, thereby favouring the said company and prejudicing council of large sums of money.
Had it been competitive bidding method, the court heard, the local authority could have saved thousands of dollars.
Nyoni also paid for 24 by 330 watts solar panels but only 20 by 400 watts solar panels were installed at the town house and the rest were unaccounted for.
Nyoni was represented by Mr Solomon Kangambeu of Chitere and Chidawanyika Legal Practitioners.
POLICE yesterday banned the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC women assembly rally slated for Harare’s Warren Park suburb.
In a letter dated February 21, written by the police to the women assembly, the authorities said the MDC application doesn’t meet the requirements of the Maintenance of Peace and Order Act.
“The office acknowledges the receipt of your amended letter received on February 21, 2020. “The letter still does not meet the requirement of sections 7 (2) of the Maintenance of Peace and Order Act Chapter 11: 23.”
Last year, police banned MDC rallies that had been scheduled for Mabvuku, Harare, and Domboshawa, Mashonaland East Province on the basis that they had not complied with the country’s laws.
The police last year also banned a series of MDC demonstrations called to protest against the deteriorating economic situation in the country.
The MDC had to call off its planned anti-government protests at the last minute, after failing to overturn a police ban.
This is despite the fact that with the Harare demonstration, protesters had already gathered in the CBD, forcing the police to violently disperse them, resulting in several people being hurt.
The demonstration had been called to protest the government’s poor stewardship of the economy, but police said they had evidence it could turn violent.
Since 2018 disputed presidential elections, Zimbabwe has lurched from one crisis to another, and the political stalemate between Chamisa and President Emmerson Mnangagwa — the two political protagonists — has only increased tensions in the country.
Tyson Fury completed one of the greatest comebacks in modern sports history on Saturday night when he knocked out Deontay Wilder in the seventh round to add the WBC’s version of the world heavyweight championship to his own lineal claim to the title, delivering the definitive outcome their first encounter failed to produce.
The Gypsy whose career appeared finished when he left the sport for more than two years amid public battles with addiction and mental illness, made good on his promise to press for a knockout in the hotly anticipated rematch against a man regarded as boxing’s most dangerous puncher.
As promised, he came forward from the opening bell, dropped the champion for the first time in a decade with a right hand to the temple in the third round, then again with a clubbing left to the body in the fifth.
By the sixth, Wilder was bleeding from his left ear, his legs were gone and he appeared unable to adequately defend himself as Fury relentlessly picked him apart.
When referee Kenny Bayless waved it off at the 1:39 mark of the seventh after the champion’s corner threw in the towel, it set off scenes of pandemonium among the sold-out crowd of 15,816 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“He will be back,” said Fury, who serenaded the audience with a rendition of Don MacLean’s American Pie immediately afterward. “He will be champion again. But I will say, the king has returned to the top of the throne.”
The conventional wisdom dictated that Fury would have been well-suited to reprise the tactics from their epic split draw 15 months ago, when he spent most of the evening boxing Wilder’s ears off with erratic feints, a stubbornly effective jab and deft upper-body movement belying his towering 6ft 9in frame.
Even after suffering knockdowns in the ninth and 12th rounds, the latter of which left him seemingly unconscious on descent, Fury came off the floor each time and finished the round getting the better of the exchanges.
For Saturday’s rematch, Fury replaced Ben Davison, the astute young trainer who marshaled his astonishing comeback from a personal abyss, with the Kronk Gym alumnus SugarHill Steward. He deliberately packed on extra weight, eating six meals and drinking eight litres of water daily in search of a size advantage against the lighter American, coming in at 273lb at Friday’s weigh-in compared to Wilder’s career-high 231lb.
The Briton had also told anyone within earshot that he would be more offensively minded for the sequel, where he went off a slight underdog with the oddsmakers. But no one in the run-up, including Wilder, was certain whether to take him seriously. The only thing you know about Fury is you never know.
Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) sprung from his corner at the opening bell and began pumping double jabs at the challenger’s head while circling to his left, but the challenger slipped most of his opponent’s efforts with ease. Fury was slow to start but moved the 6ft 7in champion back with a combination later in the frame that sent the crowd to their feet and walked through a massive shot from the American in the second. Wilder appeared slower than in their first fight, as if compromised by the extra weight.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) seemed even more emboldened to start the third, throwing more punches in fluid combination as Wilder’s output began to wane. Toward the end of the round after a break in the action, Fury dropped Wilder with a looping right hand set up with a quick-fire jab along the ropes. It was the only American’s second time on the canvas as a professional and the first since he was floored by journeyman Harold Sconiers, some 30 bouts and nearly 10 years ago in a fight he won by fourth-round knockout. A reeling Wilder went down again in an exchange moments after beating the count, but Bayless ruled it a slip.
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By now Wilder, whose bleeding left ear suggested a damaged eardrum, was completely out of sorts as he looked to land the right hand to the point of parody. By the fifth, his legs had abandoned him and he was reduced to crude, lunging attacks that Fury could see from miles away. When Fury sent him to the deck for a second time with a thudding left to the body, you began to wonder when the referee would intervene. Bayless would deduct a point from Fury for hitting behind the head during the round but the outcome at that point felt like a fait accompli.
Fury knocks down Deontay Wilder in the fifth round.
Fury knocks down Deontay Wilder in the fifth round. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images
The challenger poured on the punishment in the sixth, making the most of his 85in reach when scoring from the outside and his 271lb form while in-fighting beautifully, pounding away with hooks and uppercuts to the head and body. Wilder was still bleeding from his ear and found himself in full retreat in the moments when he managed to escape from the ropes.
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That set the stage for the stunning denouement midway through the seventh, when Wilder’s assistant trainer, Mark Brelend, threw in the towel with the American cornered and absorbing blows in a decision that head trainer Jay Deas disagreed with.
“Mark threw the towel, I didn’t think he should have,” Deas said. “Deontay is the kind of the guy that goes out on his shield. He will tell you straight up: don’t throw the towel in.”
Tyson Fury expects Deontay Wilder rematch rather than Joshua showdown
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Fury landed 82 of 267 punches (30.7%), compared to only 34 of 141 for Wilder (24.1%), according to Compubox’s punch statistics. He connected on 58 power shots in less than seven full rounds after landing only 38 in the entire first fight. He was the winner of all but one round on the three judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage. (The Guardian had it 59-52, a shutout.)
Wilder, who earned the same guaranteed $25m purse for Saturday’s fight as Fury with the potential for more based on the pay-per-view receipts, was gracious in the wake of his first defeat in 44 pro fights. “The best man won tonight … You just take it for what it is. I can make no excuses tonight. I had a lot of complications. But we’ll come back stronger next time around,” said Wilder, who headed directly to a local hospital afterward for stitches and precautionary observations and missed the post-fight press conference. “This is what big-time boxing is all about, the best must fight the best.”
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The Alabama native, who captured the WBC’s version of the long-fractured heavyweight championship with a 2015 win over Bermane Stiverne, was attempting to make an 11th consecutive title defense and break a tie on the all-time list with Muhammad Ali, who made 10 during his second reign between 1974 and 1978. Only Joe Louis (25), Larry Holmes (20) and Tommy Burns (11) have made more.
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Instead the 31-year-old from Manchester, who descends from Traveller stock with all the fighting heritage that entails, has now earned the WBC strap after winning the WBA, WBO and IBF titles in 2015 when he ended Wladimir Klitschko’s decade-long reign in Düsseldorf.
Fury never lost those belts in the ring, instead surrendering them into the heavyweight ether amid his 31-month layoff, where they have since been absorbed by Britain’s Anthony Joshua. His improbable return to the summit of boxing’s prestige division on Saturday night seemed unthinkable at rock bottom, as he ballooned to 400lbs and contemplated taking his own life.
Now a summit meeting between Fury and Joshua to unite all four titles and crown an undisputed heavyweight champion for the first time since Lennox Lewis looms as perhaps the richest fight in boxing history. That is, if Wilder doesn’t exercise his contractually mandated option for an immediate rematch which Fury’s team said they would honor.
“I look forward to the next fight, the rematch if he wants it,” Fury said.
Farai Dziva|Norton MP Temba Mliswa’s controversial remarks about Innscor officials have triggered “twitter storm.”
Innscor officials, through their lawyers, have since lodged a complaint with Twitter.
See part of the letter written by Innscor officials’ lawyers to Twitter:
We consider that the tweets… contain racial slurs and perpetuate a racist trope of a black African who has personally benefited from the disenfranchisement and exploitation of other black people by white Africans and Asian Africans
the chain of tweets also make wide ranging generalised slurs against white and Asian Africans, which are particularly sensitive in a country which has historically experiences serious unrest and violence along racial lines.
Whilst our client is not a homosexual, the suggestion that our client is a homosexual is a serious one in Zimbabwe, where homosexual acts between men are illegal and violence against gay men is prevalent.
This allegation alone, is tantamount to an incitement to violence against him.
Furthermore, we consider that the chain of allegations perpetuates a discriminatory trope that homosexuals as a group are engaged in corruption, favouring only people of the same orientation who bestow them with sexual favours.
In response Mliswa said:
“So I hear Addington Chinake(Innscor board member) feels the best way to counter my allegations is to approach Twitter for my account to be closed rather than sue me.
If I was lying, I’d probably agree, but I’m prepared to stand up in court any day for what I said.”
Warriors star Khama Billiat is said to be still in a state shock following the robbery incident in which armed thugs pounced on him in Johannesburg on Thursday.
The 29-year-old Kaizer Chiefs man was robbed for the second time in three years after another incident in February 2017.
Neither the player nor the Amakhosi communications department have broken silence on the incident but a friend of the Aces Youth Academy graduate told the The Herald newspaper that he is still traumatised on account of it.
“From what I hear, it all happened very fast. The good thing is they didn’t harm him although they managed to get away with some valuables,” he said.-Soccer 24
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praised his players for passing “an incredible test” as Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to score a late winner at Leicester and cement themselves in second spot.
Jamie Vardy had hit the post for Leicester in the first half, but both sides wasted numerous chances before Jesus slotted home with a cool finish after a surging run from Riyad Mahrez had opened up the home defence.
The best of those opportunities saw Foxes keeper Kasper Schmeichel deny Sergio Aguero from the spot on the hour mark as the Blues’ penalty problems continued.
The defending champions are now seven points clear of the Foxes having won twice since being banned from European football for two years by Uefa.
“Don’t ask me about the attitude of these guys,” said Guardiola. “You still doubt what they have done. These players have won seven titles in the last eight [domestic] competitions.
“Today, after missing the penalty, see the reaction we had against an incredibly good team, not just for where they are in the table right now but the way they played in general this season. It was an incredible test for us.”
Guardiola’s side have now missed five of their seven Premier League spot-kicks this season, but Leicester will argue they should have been given two of their own before the break.
Nothing was given when Kevin de Bruyne had his arms up in the wall and James Maddison’s free-kick clearly hit them, and even more mystifying was the decision to give Leicester a corner when Ederson took out Kelechi Iheanacho.
Iheanacho had beaten the Brazilian to Maddison’s delightful chipped pass and was floored by the goalkeeper’s attempt to punch the ball to safety, but referee Paul Tierney and the video assistant referee both felt Ederson had touched the ball.
The next time VAR got involved, it was to award the visitors a penalty – after Dennis Praet charged down Ilkay Gundogan’s effort with his arm.
But Schmeichel preserved parity when he saved with his legs after Aguero went for power and blasted his spot-kick down the middle, leaving the game in the balance.
The Foxes keeper denied Aguero again soon after, but he could do nothing to keep out Jesus’ strike which brought a jubilant reaction from the away fans, and the Manchester City players joined them in celebration at the final whistle.
It is almost an irrelevance that the Blues have cut Liverpool’s lead at the top to 19 points, but they can head for the Bernabeu for their Champions League last-16 tie with Real Madrid on a high after a difficult week.-BBC
TWENTY-SEVEN passengers aboard an MB Transport bus heading for Beitbridge were early yesterday robbed of money and valuables worth thousands of dollars by three gunmen, some 20 kilometres before the border town.
The incident occurred soon after the Lutumba tollgate along the Beitbridge-Masvingo highway. The bus was reportedly travelling from Harare with 33 people on board including the bus crew and the three suspects.
MB Transport proprietor Mr Brian Mungofa confirmed the incident yesterday.
“The robbers boarded the bus in Harare on Friday along with other 27 passengers at the Mbudzi traffic circle. They then attacked the passengers early in the morning at Lutumba area.
They were three suspects and have gone into hiding. The matter has been reported to the police,” said Mr Mungofa.
It could not be readily verified how much was stolen from the passengers.
National Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the matter was under investigation.
“I can confirm that we are investigating a case of three suspects who robbed some passengers in a bus they had boarded from Harare and travelling to Beitbridge,” he said.
The incident occurred a few hours after 58 Zimbabweans travelling to Harare from South Africa were robbed of valuables by two gunmen who had followed them from Johannesburg.
The bus driver, Mr Thembane Ngwenya survived death by a whisker after two bullets narrowly missed his head when one of the robbers shot at him at close range.
According to Mr Ngwenya, the suspects shot at the bus inducing a mechanical fault resulting in him stopping after struggling to engage gears.
“They demanded R40 000 which they alleged had been given to the bus crew by one client in Johannesburg.
They searched everyone and took away phones and money and left after they were convinced we had no money,” said Mr Ngwenya.
Of late there has been an increase in cases where armed robbers target Zimbabwean cross-border buses in South Africa.
After boarding the buses mainly in Pretoria they then attack the passengers in bushes between Hamanskraal and Polokwane.
Over 15 buses have been attacked by armed gangs in the last 12 months.
In addition, more than six buses have been attacked by armed robbers between Lutumba and Beitbridge town by armed robbers who pretend to be passengers but later attack their victims especially those travelling from Harare to South Africa for shopping.-State media
Farai Dziva|Norton MP Temba Mliswa’s controversial remarks about Innscor officials have triggered “twitter storm.”
Innscor officials, through their lawyers, have since lodged a complaint with Twitter.
See part of the letter written by Innscor officials’ lawyers to Twitter:
We consider that the tweets… contain racial slurs and perpetuate a racist trope of a black African who has personally benefited from the disenfranchisement and exploitation of other black people by white Africans and Asian Africans
the chain of tweets also make wide ranging generalised slurs against white and Asian Africans, which are particularly sensitive in a country which has historically experiences serious unrest and violence along racial lines.
Whilst our client is not a homosexual, the suggestion that our client is a homosexual is a serious one in Zimbabwe, where homosexual acts between men are illegal and violence against gay men is prevalent.
This allegation alone, is tantamount to an incitement to violence against him.
Furthermore, we consider that the chain of allegations perpetuates a discriminatory trope that homosexuals as a group are engaged in corruption, favouring only people of the same orientation who bestow them with sexual favours.
In response Mliswa said:
“So I hear Addington Chinake(Innscor board member) feels the best way to counter my allegations is to approach Twitter for my account to be closed rather than sue me.
If I was lying, I’d probably agree, but I’m prepared to stand up in court any day for what I said.”
ZANU PF factionalism has spilled into Parliament as rival camps position themselves ahead of the long-awaited restructuring exercise to elect new provincial structures and district coordinating committees.
The fights have particularly turned ugly in Mashonaland Central where some Zanu PF provincial executive members are accusing their chairperson and Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe of trying to use Parliament in his fight against one of his main political foes, businessman Tafadzwa Musarara.
Musarara, who is the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) boss, has been in and out of Parliament before the Justice Mayor Wadyajena- led Agriculture committee to explain how the group used the money it allegedly received from government.
The GMAZ boss will be back in Parliament on Tuesday after clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda, in a letter addressed to “all and each of the members of the police force”, directed them to summon Musarara to appear before Wadyajena’s committee.
“You are hereby required and directed by Parliament of Zimbabwe on the sight hereto to summon Mr T Musarara that he appears personally before the Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement that is inquiring into support services by the government of Zimbabwe into grain and wheat millers and the financing of silo repairs,” read Chokuda’s letter dated February14.
But Zanu PF Mashonaland Central executive members alleged provincial factional wars were now being fought in Parliament.
They claimed Kazembe was using his friendship with Wadyajena to fight his political wars with Musarara, who challenged him for the Mazowe West constituency primary elections in the 2018 general polls.
Kazembe won, but Musarara’s backers stormed the Zanu PF headquarters in Harare accusing him of abusing his chairmanship to rig the polls by failing to deploy ballot papers in the GMAZ boss’ strongholds.
“We believe Kazembe is behind the wars between Wadyajena and Musarara. Wadyajena and Kazembe are known allies.
“District coordinating committee elections and provincial elections are due any time and Kazembe is likely to be challenged by businessman James Makamba,” one of the provincial officials, who requested anonymity fearing reprisals, said.
“He believes Musarara is backing Makamba and, therefore, there is a strong belief that he is using Parliament to get at Musarara.
“Remember last year, Kazembe touched off a storm when he declared that he would deal ruthlessly with anyone who wanted to challenge him for the position of provincial chairmanship, which he said he still wanted.”
The official was referring to an address by Kazembe during Muzarabani North legislator Zhemu Soda’s victory celebrations at Utete business centre in August last year.
Kazembe declared he would not leave his party position because he still loved it and those who tried to disturb his duties would suffer the consequences. Kazembe said he was fed up with the lies.
“My friend, listen, I don’t have time for that nonsense, I have nothing to do with the portfolio committee,” he said.
“ I am not in the committee; I am not in any committee. I don’t know where my name is coming in. I am sick and tired of that nonsense.”
Musarara was not picking calls and GMAZ spokesperson Garikai Chaunza said he could not comment on the political issues.
Which country has a Head Of State who deploys the army on citizens to punish them for "stopping the rain," literally: US, Sudan, Cuba, Nigeria, or Zimbabwe?
By Business Reporter| The exiled businessman Mutumwa Mawere has reacted to calls by the disgraced former African Union ambassador Arikana Chihombori who alleges that sanctions on Emmerson Mnangagwa are sanctions on Zimbabwe, the nation.
Chihombori speaking in the state owned ZBC said, ” Zimbabwe has been under sanctions for a very long time.
“The people of Zimbabwe have suffered for many years. The most affected are the most are vulnerable. The sanctions are illegal and there is no good reason why they must continue…”
But Mawere, a black investor deprived of his own private business by the same government said,
“Only wish more is known and shared about the self-inflicted pain imposed by policies that are inimical to the rule of law.”
He continued, “the opposite of poverty is not sanctions removal but a consequence of deliberate actions to make Zim a friend of wealth which is created by humans.”
Meanwhile when contacted by ZimEye, Chihombori’s response was below:
VIDEO LOADING BELOW….
@edmnangagwa has hired the Washington based @AmbChihombori to force President @realDonaldTrump to remove ZIDERA | She was fired by the AU last year for corruption. Already she is on ZBC video today and this afternoon briefly spoke to ZimEye via phone. – WILL IT WORK?
Correspondent|AUTHORITIES say people should not panic over the decision to allow fuel companies with free funds to import and sell petrol and diesel in foreign currency ‘ as this is part of measures needed to stabilise the Zimbabwe dollar.
This comes as the country is experiencing acute shortages of both petrol and diesel, which have seen thousands of desperate commuters resorting to walking across cities and towns due to the fuel and transport problems.
On Friday, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya reiterated that the country was in the process of moving away from the general use of the US dollar in the economy, to return to the sole use of the local currency.
As such, Mangudya said, allowing fuel companies and filling stations with their own foreign currency to import their supplies directly served to stabilise the Zimbabwe dollar, while also promoting the use of the local currency.
“The transition to the exclusive use of the local currency is … a process and not an event.
“This means putting in place de-dollarisation milestones that take into account the realities on the ground that free funds are free to be used by their holders and that export retentions are still in place for use by exporters,” he said.
“This is critical to ensure that confidence is maintained and increased and that the local currency is not alienated.
“It is because of the above that free funds can be used to purchase fuel being procured by oil marketing companies under the direct fuel import scheme, without resorting to the foreign exchange from the interbank and or government. The same applies to electricity imports.
“Under these circumstances, the use of free funds for domestic transactions should not be confused as going back to dollarisation but as a pragmatic transition or approach to de-dollarisation,” Mangudya said.
“This is in line with international and regional best practice of de-dollarisation.
“Experiences in other countries show that most countries took between five to 10 years to complete the de-dollarisation process. Zimbabwe is just starting,” he further said.
Zimbabwe is experiencing severe shortages that include fuel, power, critical medicines and foreign currency.
Commuters across the country have been spending long hours on road sides, waiting for transport to and from work ‘ after fuel shortages worsened this month.
In a bid to deal with the crisis, the RBZ recently directed fuel companies with their own funds to import their supplies directly and to also charge in US dollars.
However, this has sparked much debate, with critics accusing the government of inconsistency and hypocrisy on the use of the coveted US dollar.
