By Own Correspondent| Cancer patient Lydia Gondora has died at Parirenyatwa Hospital.

Watch the live video loading below…….

VIDEO LOADING BELOW.

UPDATED: ZimEye has received sad news from the Zimbabwe Cancer Support Network that the Domboshawa mother many diasporans donated to her hospital needs in November last year, Lydia Gondoro has passed away at Pari Hospital.

This was after her Karanda Hospital doctor, a British surgeon, had returned to the UK for an emergency and she had been referred to Pari early Sunday. She passed away just after midnight.

Exact details of how she passed away had not been established at the time of publishing.

It happened “just after midnight…we found out the news at 11 O clock this morning UK time,” a representative, one Mai Liam, told ZimEye.

VIDEO UPDATE BELOW…

Happy birthday cde President, consolidate the ground for a peaceful and prosperous Zimbabwe. Enjoy your day????????

— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) February 2, 2020

By A Correspondent| Political analyst Pedzisayi Ruhanya has blasted church leaders in Zimbabwe who have remained mum when the Emmerson Mnangagwa led adminstration committed atrocities against innocent civilians labelling their events as bogus prayer meetings.

Ruhanya said this following the recently held prayer meeting held in the capital Harare where Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga were guests.

Said Ruhanya:

Zanu Pf since Mugabe has been holding the so called prayer meetings with these fake prophets but evil adminstration has not stopped in Zimbabwe. So many people have been killed by Zanu Pf and these churches never said anything against Zanu Pf murders. BOGUS PRAYERS!!

ZANU PF since Mugabe has been holding the so-called prayer meetings with these fake prophets but evil administration has not stopped in Zimbabwe. So many people have been killed by ZANU PF and these churches never said anything against ZANU PF murders. BOGUS PRAYERS!!!

— Pedzisai Ruhanya (@PedzisaiRuhanya) February 2, 2020

Detained undocumented Zimbabweans cry for help from Hillbrow police cells in South Africa so that the can be deported back home. @SAHRCommission @unhcr @SAPoliceService @MoFA_ZW pic.twitter.com/oP5Zh8IpeP

— Charega (@Charega1) January 29, 2020

By Own Correspondent| Marry Chiwenga’s mother Helga Mubaiwa cried uncontrollably when her daughter was denied bail and sent to prison over assaulting the family maid Delight Munyoro.

Presenting her arguments before a Harare magistrate, Bianca Makwande, her lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa reportedly told the court that Marry was being dumped for a “newer and modern” woman.

Mtetwa further told the court that it must not ignore that the maid was the one who was looking after the children before Marry and her husband VP Constantino Chiwenga were embroiled in their current nasty divorce, therefore, she could not have assaulted the maid as alleged.

She added that Marry could not have assaulted Munyoro with her hands as alleged as the accused’s hands were visibly swollen and showing injuries.

Meanwhile, four senior prosecutors who were dispatched to oppose Marry’s bail application convinced the court that Marry had the potential to commit similar offences and it would be wrong to free her.

They also recommended that she be examined by government doctors as they suspected that she could have a mental problem.

A Matabeleland-based pressure group, Ibhetshu likaZulu, on Thursday remembered 11 Silobela villagers who were abducted by State security agents at the height of Gukurahundi on January 30 and 31, 1985.

Thursday last week marked the 35th anniversary since the men disappeared without trace.

The list of those who were abducted and still missing are Kefasi Ndebele, Clement Baleni, who was a teacher at St Dominic’s School, Enoch Tshuma, Simon Siginya Bhuzo Dube, Dennis Mabhikwa, Mbulani Mnkandla, Lambart Ncube, Milton Ndlangamandla, Velile Hlongwane, Mika Cephas Ndebele and Patrick Mthethwa.

In 1993, relatives of the abductees filed an application to the High Court seeking an order compelling the police, Prisons Services, Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the army to furnish them information which might lead to their discovery.

The applicants submitted that their missing relatives were taken from their homes on the night of January 30 and 31, 1985 by men using a vehicle similar to the type used by police or CIO.

They said they were driven away and have never been seen to date. A check with the police established that they were not in police custody while the army, prisons commissioner-general and CIO director-general also distanced themselves from the matter.

“We are asking former State Security minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, former Defence minister Sydney Sekeramai, former Fifth Brigade leader Retired Air Marshal Perrence Shiri and the former director-general of the CIO to help the families with the bones if they are dead or if they are alive to bring them as their families are still painfully searching for answers,” Ibhetshu likaZulu’s secretary-general Mbuso Fuzwayo said in a statement.

Fuzwayo said they were concerned that “the failure to find answers of the dark cloud of the past will give rain of unrest in the future.”

By A Correspondent| Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi has said that efforts are underway to make sure the power situation has changed within two months.

His remarks come when water levels have continued to dwindle at Kariba Dam a development that hamstrings power generation at the Kariba Hydropower plant. Chasi said Mozambique was an alternative.

He said:

There are efforts that are underway to mitigate the low power generation at Kariba and the one I can safely say is in the pipeline is the Mozambique deal.

We are expecting the deal with Mozambique to come through by March or April. Right now, I wouldn’t want to divulge much as the negotiation teams are still liaising but I can promise the nation that in one or two months, the power situation would have changed.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that the deal which is set to revive a 30-year agreement between Zimbabwe and Mozambique is dependent upon Zimbabwe clearing its arrears through a US$100-million facility it secured from Afreximbank.

The imports Zimbabwe is currently getting from Eskom of South Africa and Hydroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique are not enough due to a debt overhang that the country has battled to clear over the years.

-Statemedia

WATER levels at Kariba Dam, home to the country’s biggest and only hydro-electric power station, have started going down.

 the dam is left with power generation water that is at one metre level, it has been learnt.

Over the past few weeks, there has been hope that water inflows into Kariba, which is fed from the Zambezi River, had started rising, but latest statistics from the Zambezi River Authority which manages the dam on behalf of Zambia and Zimbabwe, showed that levels had started going down, further dampening hopes of adequate power generation.

According to the statistics, water level in the Kariba Dam was at 476,75 metres translating to 8,64 percent of the dam capacity on Thursday last week. 

The water level was 1,25 metres above the minimum 475,50m recommended for power generation.

“The Kariba Lake is designed to operate between levels 475,50m and 488,50m (with 0,70m freeboard) for hydro-power generation. The lake level has been decreasing due to reduced rainfall activities around and on the lake to close the period under review at 476,75m (8,64 percent usable storage) on 30 January 2020. Last year on the same date, the lake level was 481,73m (44,83 percent usable storage),” Zambezi River Authority said in the update. 

According to the figures, inflows into the dam increased from 476,67m (8,09 percent full) from 17 January to 476,82m (9,18 percent full) on 25 January. 

However, since 26 January levels started going down, dropping to 476,75 metres by Thursday.

Compared to last year, the water levels are a massive 36 percent apart. 

Kariba has the capacity to produce 1 050MW of electricity but on Friday it was only generating 306 MW, according to the Zimbabwe Power Company. 

Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi told Sunday News yesterday that it was unfortunate that the country and others in the region that feed into the Zambezi River have not received significant rains that have brought notable changes to the water levels in the lake.

“Of course, the rains that we have been receiving have not brought much change to the levels in Kariba Dam so we still do not have enough water to improve power generation at Kariba. We are still hopeful but remember the issue of rain is also beyond our control.”

According to the Zambian Meteorological Department, in the period between December and this month, no meaningful rainfall is expected in the country. Zambia also feeds water into Kariba.

“The northern half of the country has a high chance of receiving normal to above normal rainfall while the southern half is likely to receive normal to below normal rainfall. This part of the season will be characterised by reduced rainfall due to dry spells around February,” the department announced in its forecast for the December to February period.

However, Minister Chasi said the Government will not sit and mourn about Kariba as it has put in place alternatives to improve power generation in the country.

“There are efforts that are underway to mitigate the low power generation at Kariba and the one I can safely say is in the pipeline is the Mozambique deal.”

Zimbabwe is importing power from Eskom of South Africa and Hydroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique to mitigate challenges. However, the imports are not enough due to a debt overhang that the country has battled to clear over the years.

“We are expecting the deal with Mozambique to come through by March or April. Right now, I wouldn’t want to divulge much as the negotiation teams are still liaising but I can promise the nation that in one or two months, the power situation would have changed,” he said.

It has also been reported that the deal between Zimbabwe and Mozambique is hinging on Harare clearing its arrears through a US$100-million facility it secured from Afreximbank. 

The deal is set to revive a 30-year agreement between the two neighbouring countries as part of immediate-term solutions to stabilise local power supplies. 

President Mnangagwa discussed the matter with his Mozambican counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi, during his visit to Maputo last month.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube last week added that Government has set aside $8,5 billion to support electricity generation and imports, as part of efforts to ease load shedding.

SCHOOLS in Hwange and Victoria Falls are reportedly demanding an extra US$1 from each learner per week for teachers to attend class despite the learners having paid fees in full.

The development which authorities say is illegal and an extortion of parents, resembles the banned extra lessons and is reportedly happening in most primary schools with parents divided over the issue.

A snap survey conducted by Sunday News during the week showed that a majority of Government and council schools in Victoria Falls as well as some in Hwange have adopted the trend. Pupils confirmed that those who do not pay were sometimes not given work to do or their school work was not marked.

In some cases, it was the parents who mooted the idea after noticing that their children were spending time without learning at school. Parents are divided with those who cannot afford US$1 per week siding with the Government while those who can are pushing for the sustenance of the development.

“We paid school fees and we are now being made to pay extra money for teachers. We understand that they are incapacitated but how is their situation different from everyone else’s? We also don’t earn much and why should we subsidise their salaries as if we get better pay,” said an angry parent.

Another parent said: “Those working in the tourism industry are the ones pushing for this because they earn forex yet most of us are paid in local currency meaning we have to buy that money from the black market.”

This means that a teacher with an average class of 40 learners gets US$40 per week which translates to US$160 per month extra money outside the conventional salary from Government.

Some private institutions in the resort town are reportedly demanding US$5 per pupil per week while some have pegged their school fees in United States dollars and are not accepting local currency.

Contacted for comment, Matabeleland North provincial education director Mr Jabulani Mpofu warned teachers against demanding payment from parents.

“If ever that is happening they should know that it is not allowed. It’s like paying incentives which were stopped. I am being told that in some cases it’s the parents who initiated the idea and that should stop forthwith,” said Mr Mpofu.

Speaking on the sidelines of the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) and Health Service Bipartite Negotiating Panel workshop during the week after striking a salary deal with Government, Apex Council president Mrs Cecilia Alexander said no civil servant, no matter how incapacitated they were, should demand payment from parents.

Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive Dr Sifiso Ndlovu condemned the practice as unorthodox and bordering on corruption which was against the ethical conduct of the profession.

“It’s outside the law for educators to ask children to pay extra fees and we urge our members to avoid this as much as possible because it’s corruption, illegal and a criminal way of getting paid,” he said. 

THE recently constituted mealie-meal task force, whose mandate is to ensure transparent and equitable distribution of the product, has unearthed serious irregularities throughout the entire supply chain.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Mail Society, chairman of the taskforce, who is also Deputy Minister of Industry of Commerce Raj Modi, said they had identified syndicates causing “artificial” mealie-meal shortages.

“The situation is so disheartening. I’m so disturbed by what we are discovering. Some of the culprits responsible for creating supply and distribution anomalies have been identified. Sadly, the rot is at every level, which is from the grassroots going up.

“We are in the process of piecing together evidence so that we present a solid case in the coming days when we make public our findings,” revealed Deputy Minister Modi last Thursday.

The task force is making follow-ups with major suppliers and retailers of mealie-meal. This follows critical shortages of the commodity on the official market after Government re-introduced a subsidy programme to ensure that maize-meal, roller meal in particular, is available at an affordable price of $50 per 10kg packet to consumers.

Officials from the Zimbabwe Republic Police, Standards Association of Zimbabwe, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Grain Marketing Board, Confederation of Retailers’ Association and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority are some of the members of the task force.

So much is expected by disgruntled members of public from the team.

And Deputy Minister Modi opines positive results are set to be achieved.

However, he highlighted that the rot is so grave and has been ongoing for some time.

“I’m personally on the ground in Bulawayo, addressing some of the challenges. Some of the cases have taken us time to unpack as one person directs you to the next and you end up going around in circles. We are not deterred though as we are close to cracking this.

“However, I can’t tell you much at the moment. I would have preferred you interview me after we conclude our investigations at least four or five days from now,” said Deputy Minister Modi.

Millers under the new mealie-meal subsidy programme can source their maize from all possible sources, imports included.

Upon producing proof that they have milled and delivered the product, the subsidy is paid directly to millers by Government.

But the task force has identified disturbing trends.

For instance, some of the maize is disappearing before reaching the millers. Furthermore, the millers themselves, after getting supply, are channelling a huge chunk of the mealie-meal to the black market, not retailers.

Retailers are also equally guilty of “feeding” the parallel market.

“In Bulawayo we have the Silo mealie-meal displayed and being sold on the black market, in front of the Silo shop. It is partly through these illegal vendors that we are conducting investigations and tracing it back to the source of the crime,” Deputy Minister Modi said.

The task force chairman said a change of approach in maize and mealie-meal distribution systems is one of the many ways to deal with the ongoing crisis.

Smuggling of mealie-meal

Late last year, our sister paper The Sunday News, reported that there was a cartel of retailers and vendors who were hoarding mealie-meal in Victoria Falls and selling it in hard currency to Zambian cross-border vendors on the black market.

The report identified a popular spot known as “Emaplankeni” as the major market for the illegal trade.

The trend has not stopped thus far!

In fact, the situation has moved to another level. Truckloads of mealie-meal are illegally finding their way into neighbouring countries.

Zambian media reports indicate that mealie-meal brands from Zimbabwe have flooded the Livingstone market.

The Zimbabwean products are sold at relatively lower prices when compared to the Zambian products due to the subsidy programme.

“The rot is so severe to the extent that unimaginable things are happening. We are investigating everything, borders included. Our routine involves checking what the suppliers get and from who, names of retailers that received the product and the customers that bought the mealie-meal,” said Deputy Minister Modi.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube recently revealed through the Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN) that smuggling of mealie-meal had become rampant.

“Roller meal is finding its way across borders. I am aware that some people are buying it and getting it across (borders), making a margin by selling at a higher price. We frown upon that,” said Minister Mthuli.

Besides mealie-meal, a variety of other products such as sugar, rice and juices are smuggled out of the country using both legal and illegal exit points.

According to investigations, some Government officials are said to be heavily involved in the scam.

They are alleged to operate through foot soldiers and proxies that they quickly bail out the moment they get arrested by law enforcement agencies.

Tracing the decay

Investigations by The Sunday Mail Society last week revealed that the mealie-meal crisis was far from over.

Both roller meal and the refined version of the product are currently not readily available on the official market. Scores of customers are still moving from one supermarket to another in search of the precious commodity.

However, when one visits pricey downtown tuckshops and the black market, they have access to the product.

The unscrupulous and often illegal traders charge the mealie-meal in United States dollars or bond notes (cash).

Backyard shops/traders that we visited in Mbare as we tried to unpack the supply chain mystery were busy repackaging mealie-meal from clearly labelled brands like Maworesa, Red Seal and Silo, into smaller and unbranded packs.

But what is the logic behind repackaging?

“We are repacking so that people buy what they can afford,” explained one vendor only identified as Silo Diva, pretending to care.

He gave a cheeky smile before his colleague bluntly added: “We heard that police are after people who are reselling mealie-meal being sold for $50, that is why we change bags.”

By the time of going to print, defiant traders pegged mealie-meal prices as follows — $75 to $130 for the 10kg packet, while 5kg was going for $65, a 2kg sachet was pegged at $20, while a 500g pack required one to fork out $11.

In hard currency, they were charging US$4 or equivalent in bond notes for a 10kg packet of Silo roller meal or any other unbranded packets.

Prices for refined mealie-meal depend on the brand but the cheapest was pegged at US$5 for a 10kg bag.

The unscrupulous traders have vowed to carry on with the illegal practice despite Government warnings.

“You will never find anyone selling mealie-meal at that $50 price. Wakamboona kupi sadza re $50 iwe? (Where have you seen $50 sadza?). I sell my product in United States dollars or bond notes equivalent.

“It’s not my fault that things are hard. You will still find me selling mealie-meal here no matter what. Tine mukoto wedu une ngweshe-ngweshe dzacho (We have the support of bigwigs). Customers are free to buy elsewhere. I don’t force anyone,” said one arrogant female shop- keeper.

Drastic measures

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) has resolved that blacklisting members that are found guilty of supplying the black market with mealie-meal was the best way to go.

They also recommend that the Government should withdraw the licences of unscrupulous traders.

“As CZR, we’ll also take action against shops involved in inside marketing. One of the actions we will take involves blacklisting them from accessing the Government’s subsidised products. We will ask the millers to cease supplying them,” said CZR president Denford Mutashu.

He added that they will soon be monitoring mealie-meal distribution and selling in all the country’s 10 provinces.

The Grain Millers Association spokesman Garikai Chaunza weighed in: “We used to monitor how our products were distributed and sold but the Competitions and Tariff Commission wrote to us saying we should stop and we complied in July last year.

“It used to be our role to monitor but we are no longer allowed to do so. Given back our powers, we will bring back the situation to normal,” argued Chaunza.

Annual maize requirement

Zimbabwe’s annual maize consumption stands at 1,8 million tonnes.

By October this year, the country needed 800 000 tonnes to cover a gap in maize supplies until the next harvest.

In September last year, the country took delivery of the first consignment of 17 000 tonnes out of the 100 000 tonnes bought from Tanzania. Government paid for the maize as part of efforts to alleviate food shortages brought about by the drought.

MDC leader Mr Nelson Chamisa should accept that he was defeated by President Mnangagwa during the 2018 Presidential elections and embrace the inclusive Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) platform, chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa has said.

Ambassador Mutsvangwa urged Mr Chamisa to swallow his pride and desist from seeking exceptional inclusiveness through bilateral talks with the Head of State and Government.

Responding to a story published on a discredited online publication alleging that the war veteran leader met Mr Chamisa, Cde Mutsvangwa said the online publication was hell bent on makiing a meal out of an inconvenient chance encounter at an airport departure lounge.

He said in terms of the law, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Constitutional Court are the two sacrosanct institutions that can confer electoral legitimacy.

“Nelson Chamisa cannot have his cake and eat it at the same time,” said Ambassador Mutsvangwa.  He seeks exceptional inclusiveness that is akin to squaring the circle.

“His record since the 2018 harmonised elections paints him as a rejectionist.

“He refuses the verdict of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Constitutional Court, the two sacrosanct institutions of conferring electoral legitimacy.

“He instead seeks legitimacy from the President of the Republic who has no locus standi on this electoral issue. President Mnangagwa was just another contesting candidate in the 2018 harmonised elections.”

Last week, Mr Chamisa was in South Africa where he was reportedly soliciting Sadc’s intervention in Zimbabwe’s domestic affairs.

His efforts, however, came to naught as no senior South African government official obliged to meet him.

Ambassador Mutsvangwa said Mr Chamisa will find no joy in his pursuit of reversing his crushing electoral defeat because Sadc does not acquiesce to interfering in domestic matters.

“Sadc will not set a precedent whereby competent constitutional bodies are countermanded by opposition parties sulking from electoral loss.

“This is a sure recipe for anarchy.

“I appeal to him to do the right thing first — recognise the full and undivided outcome of the 2018 harmonised elections.

“Chamisa has finally discovered Sadc as a diplomatic force worthy of attention. In the past, his favourites were Washington, London, Brussels, etcetera.

“The Sadc Summit anti-sanctions resolution jolted Chamisa into realising that Zimbabwe’s future lies with the unshakable solidarity of its neighbours.

-State media

OPPOSITION leader Nelson Chamisa said yesterday that South Africa and the rest of Sadc now fully appreciated the scale of Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis – necessitating urgent intervention.

This comes after Chamisa visited South Africa this week where he updated the country’s former president Thabo Mbeki and senior government officials in Pretoria about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe, and how this is increasingly threatening regional stability.

“I am back from South Africa where I met many key political stakeholders. I am glad that there is now an appreciation of the grave problems that we have in Zimbabwe across the region.

“They also appreciate the urgency that is needed to find solutions on Zimbabwe … and there is now a shared view on the continent that there is a big crisis in Zimbabwe, which is a good starting point.

“On our part … we are going to embark on several initiatives to ensure that we resolve the crises in Zimbabwe,” Chamisa told the Daily News yesterday.

He revealed that he had told the South African leadership that the situation in Zimbabwe was threatening to degenerate into complete chaos unless there was immediate intervention.

This comes as the European Union (EU), the United States of America (USA) and the church in Zimbabwe — among others — have implored President Emmerson Mnangagwa to engage Chamisa in direct talks to help foster progress and development in the country.

“The situation in the country is unsustainable because it is those in government who are making it ungovernable where in other countries it is those who are outside government who foment conflict.

“When you deny people their freedoms, when you actively foment anarchy and chaos, you become an enemy of the people.
“President Mbeki told me that there is shared concern and shared anxiety in the region and on the continent (about Zim) … and he should be coming back here anytime soon,” Chamisa added.

This comes as hardliners within both Zanu-PF and the MDC are said to be working hard to scupper Mbeki’s Zim mission — including stopping the retired statesman from returning to the country to continue with his valiant efforts to get Mnangagwa and Chamisa to end their political bickering.

Mbeki — who helped to broker the stability-inducing 2008 government of national unity between opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and ex-president Robert Mugabe, who are both late — was in the country last December to try and nudge Mnangagwa and Chamisa to hold talks.

Earlier this week, Chamisa’s aides had confirmed to the Daily News that the MDC boss was in Johannesburg to meet Mbeki and senior SA government officials — in a bid to unlock the country’s political logjam which had worsened the dire economic plight of ordinary Zimbabweans.

“We were expecting that Mbeki would come back, but it seems that this is taking long. So, a decision was made at the highest level that the president (Chamisa) travels to South Africa and appraise the political leadership there of the country’s situation,” one of the aides said.

This view was later buttressed by Chamisa himself during an interview with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), in which he said he was in that country to remind Pretoria on the urgency of Zimbabwe’s dire political and economic situation.

“I have not met with President Mnangagwa since when we were in Parliament … I think it is now almost two years which is quite sad because people compete in an election and are supposed to have a conversation post-election to find a way forward for the nation.

“This is one sad part for me that you just go into an election … meet through the ballot, beyond the ballot you are not able to converse or communicate.

“In Africa, wherever there is a negotiation … there has to be a negotiator because that is our nature as a people,” Chamisa said.
“For us to be able to deal with the acrimony … disharmony and disagreement between us and … Mnangagwa, there is need to have a credible negotiator.

“We think that the avenue and platform created by President Mbeki will go a long way to creating this conversation.

“It is now more urgent than ever before because the situation in the country has really taken a nosedive. Things are going down south in many ways,” Chamisa told the SA public broadcaster further.

He also said he would use his visit to South Africa to implore President Cyril Ramaphosa to take decisive action on the Zimbabwean crisis, which he warned could engulf the whole region.

“We now have fresh evidence after the Constitutional Court determination of the dispute between us and … Mnangagwa, particularly in the Zec (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) report that was tabled in Parliament, wherein the commission is indicating that they flouted the law and the procedures of elections in announcing the elections of 2018.

“That evidence has to be at the doorstep of Sadc, the African Union (AU) and of course … President Ramaphosa to show and validate the fact that indeed elections in Zimbabwe were rigged and stolen.

“We will not be able to have a credible 2023 election until we … resolve the … disputed election so that we prevent future disputes,” Chamisa said.

“We don’t want to have a recycling of the same old problems. This is a vicious cycle that has to be curbed so that we will have credible elections,” he said further.

This comes as Zimbabwe is in the grip of a huge economic crisis which has stirred anger and restlessness among long-suffering ordinary people.

Previously, both Mnangagwa and Chamisa have said that they are interested in dialogue, although nothing concrete has developed despite those encouraging statements.
On his part, Mnangagwa has remained resolute in his demands that any talks with Chamisa should be held under the platform of the political actors’ dialogue (Polad) — where he regularly holds meetings with leaders of fringe opposition parties, who a large cross-section of Zimbabweans has dismissed as tokens, particularly as the youthful MDC boss is not part of this structure.

Chamisa himself has repeatedly ruled out joining Polad — demanding instead direct dialogue with Mnangagwa.

In 2009, Mugabe was forced into forming a government of national unity (GNU) with Tsvangirai after the hotly-disputed 2008 polls.

Tsvangirai was widely believed to have beaten Mugabe hands down in those polls.

However, the results of the elections were withheld for six long weeks by stunned authorities — amid widespread allegations of ballot tampering and fraud, which were later confirmed by former bigwigs of the ruling Zanu-PF.

In the ensuing sham presidential run-off, which authorities claimed was needed to determine the winner, Zanu-PF apparatchiks engaged in an orgy of violence in which hundreds of Tsvangirai’s supporters were killed — forcing the former prime minister in the inclusive government to withdraw from the discredited race altogether.

In the meantime, to add to the country’s woes, Zimbabwe is experiencing acute shortages of the staple maize-meal, amid massive hunger which has affected more than 8,5 million people.

State Media|President Emmerson Mnangagwa has officially declared that his government now needs divine intervention to get things right.

Mnangagwa, who was accompanied by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, was speaking at the launch of the Zimbabwe Indigenous International Council of Churches (ZIICC) National Day of Prayer at the National Sports Stadium.

Addressing about 30 000 congregants at the convention, President Mnangagwa said the initiatives being undertaken by the Government to transform the country’s economy needed to be complemented by the churches’ support.

President Mnangagwa, who based much of his speech on biblical scriptures, implored the nation to commit its aspirations to God.

“However, as a country, we must pray for divine protection, economic prosperity and peace without ceasing. The Bible commands us to pray and to give thanks in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves.

“1 Thessalonians 5 verse 17-18: ‘Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.’

“We must always commit all our national aspirations to the Almighty God; casting our burdens to him for surely he shall sustain us,” said the President.

President Mnangagwa urged church leaders to encourage their members to be productive, in line with Government’s theme for 2020.

“I have declared the year 2020 as a year of productivity and trade. I, therefore, call upon the leadership of all churches in Zimbabwe to engage, teach and encourage their congregants to be hardworking and productive. God has given us abundant natural resources throughout the country,” he said.

“We must harness these natural endowments to improve the quality of life for our people.”

He implored churches to “be visible and relevant to Government development initiatives” such as the devolution programme.

The President pledged to immediately address grievances raised by indigenous churches, in particular access to land for worship.

“Turning to your genuine concerns you have raised, in particular, the possible special consideration in accessing land for worship in both rural and urban areas, let me assure you that responsible authorities will look into the matter with the urgency it deserves.

“Equally, we have established institutions to deal with the youths, women, people living with disabilities and SMEs, among others,” he said.

The President applauded indigenous churches for standing behind Government in calling for the removal of sanctions imposed on the country.

“I want to thank you indigenous churches for mobilising your congregants to support and unite the Government and the SADC region in our call for the urgent removal of economic sanctions against our country. We commend that collective, loud and audible voice,” said President Mnangagwa.

In his remarks, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga applauded President Mnangagwa for offering the indigenous churches a platform for dialogue, which was part of his promise to be a listening President.

“Since assuming the leadership role of the Second Republic, His Excellency President Mnangagwa has indeed lived up to his promise that he is a listening President who welcomes ideas and dialogue from all walks of life,” he said.

The Vice President said the work being done by ZIICC clears the road to the “Promised Land” for Zimbabwe to become an Upper Middle Income Economy by 2030 adding that churches played a complementary role in fighting current scourges such as the machete-wielding gangsters.

In his remarks, ZIICC patron Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi said churches were not involved in politics, but had a God-given mandate to pray for the nation and its leaders.

“We have thought to take our place as the church of Zimbabwe, but not focusing on politics but on our God-given mandate to be God’s intermediaries to his people,” he said.

“We are only here to pray for the leaders and pray for the country and to help work together and do all we can to maintain peace.”

VP Chiwenga said President Mnangagwa remained “at the top of our agenda in terms of our prayers because he is driving a big bus, which is our country Zimbabwe. To the shock or surprise of our detractors, Zimbabwe is still going strong. This is because Zimbabwe is a prayerful nation,” he said.

Bishop Roderick Makusha of Deeper Life Ministries urged MDC-Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa to move on beyond the 2018 elections.

“You can claim that you were rigged, but at times you have to accept the result because God would have given his stamp of approval. You have to accept so that the nation goes forward,” he said.

“You should let bygones be bygones; you never know, maybe one day, you can be the winner.”

Prophet Andrew Wutawunashe of the Family of God church commended President Mnangagwa’s administration for upholding freedom of worship and supporting indigenous churches that had for a long time played second fiddle to foreign denominations.

Prophet Wutawunashe said opposition politicians should not focus on political battles at the expense of the general people.

“If we continue in the futile, adversarial and power-seeking politicking, which is solely based on the destructive opposition whose sole end is political power, we will abort the path to our own God-given prosperity,” he said.

“Let us, as we pray, heed the clarion call to unite and address our differences and work together for the agenda of strengthening and building our nation, which holds great dividends for our people.

“While our nation, just like other nations, has its own fair share of problems, the answer does not lie in cannibalising our own nation and the future of our own children by bowing to foreign powers.”

Several Cabinet ministers and senior Government officials attended the event.

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s estranged wife, Marry Mubaiwa, was yesterday denied bail for allegedly assaulting the family’s housemaid at Hellenic School in Borrowdale following an altercation over the custody of children last week.

She was remanded in custody to February 14. In passing the ruling, Harare regional magistrate Mrs Bianca Makwande said although the case was one of common assault, the accused had a propensity for violence since she committed the crime while on bail for another case.

The State was represented by prosecutors Clemence Chimbare, Michael Reza, and George and Tinashe Manokore.

The four argued that granting Mubaiwa bail would undermine the bail system as her actions showed she was “unrepented and had total disregard of the judiciary system”.

It is the State’s case that on Tuesday last week, Mubaiwa slapped Delight Munyoro (38) using the back of her hand resulting in the complainant sustaining a cut on the cheek and a loose tooth.

According to court papers: “On the 28th of January 2020 at around 12.05 hours, the complainant (Munyoro) proceeded to Hellenic Primary School, Borrowdale, Harare, to collect Michael Chiwenga, son of the accused person and Vice President Chiwenga.

“When it was time to collect the child, Batsirai Furukiya — the driver (of VP Chiwenga) — went to collect the child and the complainant (Munyoro) remained seated in the vehicle.

“When the driver was walking with the child, going to where the vehicle was parked, the accused person followed behind.

“When she arrived at the vehicle, where the complainant was seated, she started shouting at Munyoro accusing her of being a witch.

“The complainant remained quiet whilst in the car and the accused struck her once on her left cheek,” reads part of the court papers.

Mubaiwa is being represented by Harare lawyer Ms Beatrice Mtetwa.

Last week, Ms Mubaiwa won a High Court appeal for custody of the couple’s three minor children and access to the matrimonial home.

But her joy was short-lived after VP. Chiwenga filed a notice of appeal at the Supreme Court, challenging the lower court’s decision.

The filing of a notice of appeal effectively suspends the court ruling until determination of the appeal.

Ms Mubaiwa was last month granted $50 000 bail for attempting to murder VP Chiwenga, illegally externalising US$1 033 000, laundering US$990 000 and fraudulently seeking to upgrade her customary union to a civil marriage without her husband’s consent.

– state media

Farai Dziva| A Zimbabwean bishop has urged MDC leader Nelson Chamisa to accept the outcome of the 2018 polls because “God approved Emmerson Mnangagwa’s victory.

Bishop Roderick Makusha of Deeper Life Ministries suggested that God “approved the rigging.”

“Sometimes even if you lose after being rigged you have to be realistic and accept the result because God would have given his stamp of approval.

You have to accept the results so that the nation can move forward.

You have to focus on the future because one day if you are still alive you will rule Zimbabwe,” said Bishop Makusha.

By Nelson Chamisa| Back in 1978, this day marked my introduction to this world. 42 years ago, in 1978 and in the ‘am’ hours on a Thursday. To be precise, at 3am, the journey started.

The world was waiting. I was overdue and had to be delivered to this world at Silveira mission in Bikita of Masvingo.

Two years before the birth of Zimbabwe in 1980, my journey had begun. I am two years older than the beautiful Zimbabwe, our country. As the nation turns 40 this year I turn 42.

I have sworn to dutifully and loyally serve my beloved country, Zimbabwe. I have been an MP and a Cabinet Minister (inclusive government) and an advocate in the superior courts of Zimbabwe.I have served in the three arms of the state.I have served my country to the best of my ability in the legislature, executive and the judiciary.I have also served internationally through representing Zimbabwe in the ACP-EU in Brussels, Belgium.I thank God’s Grace in all this.

It is my humble desire and cherished pledge to build, create and lead a New Zimbabwe before I ultimately retire from active public life. I have this strong vision and drive to make Zimbabwe great. We will make Zimbabwe a powerful, successful and wonderful nation.

But I have a confession to make ..I am a perfectionist.I’m difficult to please.I even hardly please and satisfy myself. I keep trying to be better.Excellence is my goal. I carry this infinite craving for knowledge and insatiable curiosity for wisdom. I love learning and books. I cherish knowledge, information and education. I love the Bible and the word of God. I love peace and bringing people together. I love gathering rather than scattering.I cherish uniting.

I often ask myself ..what’s next and why? who next and why ? When next and why? When I die, what next ?? I care about the ‘hereafter’ and the ‘henceforth’. For the next decade, God willing, I hope to be serving my country and the wonderful people of God in Zimbabwe before finally exiting national duty and the public space.

Thereafter, I settle to focus on leadership coaching & youth mentoring, philanthropy and winning souls for the Kingdom. I believe leaders must lead and leave. Leaders must leave and live.

I have already begun building a foundation, the The Nelson Chamisa Foundation and writing books. I have written four books yet to be published and released.

My rural home in Gutu shall be my retirement home. Where I was born, there I shall retire and there I shall finally rest. We must all be our best then rest.I must retire before I tire and get tired.

I thank and love God, the Overseer of the universe, the Master and Judge of this world. God is my creator and I am HIS. I am a composition of God’s grace and a fine definition of HIS infinite mercies. I believe in The Lord Jesus Christ as the King and saviour of my life and indeed all lives. I thank Jehovah for giving me the chance of life and yet showing me the best and greatest of life. Before we all go back to the maker, we must strive to make the world a better place and the human life worthwhile. All this, for God’s glory.

For the journey thus far, I thank Thoko my wife, Ashlee my son, my parents and the entire for their magnanimity to share me with the world.

I also profoundly salute all of you friends, my earth-mates in this world. Leadership is no easy enterprise.You encourage and support me.You continue to make me the person I am. You perfect my imperfections, you polish my blemishes, you correct my mistakes, you subsidize my inadequacies. More importantly, and in all circumstances, you cover up my shortcomings. Friends, the best is yet to come.Better days are coming!!

To Whom Much is Given, Much Will Be Required. To whom much is given, much will be expected (Luke 12:48)

God bless you.

Excellence, Difference, Brilliance!

Godisinit

pamabvihatibvi

nelson chamisa,
Under my hand, this 2nd February 2020.

Jane Mlambo| Firebrand Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa yesterday met sex workers from his constituency whom he said requested for a meeting with him to highlight the challenges they are encountering in their chosen trade.

After meeting the ladies of the night who numbered nearly 100, Mliswa said he will be looking at dealing with their social plight through introducing empowerment projects and alternative jobs.

“Meeting with commercial sex workers from the Norton community. They have sought me for assistance in various challenges they are facing in their trade.

“Most of the commercial sex workers are in it due to other pressing social issues thus we shall be looking at dealing with those through initiatives such as empowerment and providing alternative jobs.”

Yesterday, Marry Mubaiwa Chiwenga was denied bail by the Harare Magistrates on the grounds that she has propensity to commit violence.

She had been arrested on charges of assaulting her maid, the lady in the picture below.

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s estranged wife, Marry Mubaiwa, was yesterday denied bail for allegedly assaulting the family’s housemaid at Hellenic School in Borrowdale following an altercation over the custody of children last week.

She was remanded in custody to February 14. In passing the ruling, Harare regional magistrate Mrs Bianca Makwande said although the case was one of common assault, the accused had a propensity for violence since she committed the crime while on bail for another case.

The State was represented by prosecutors Clemence Chimbare, Michael Reza, and George and Tinashe Manokore.

The four argued that granting Mubaiwa bail would undermine the bail system as her actions showed she was “unrepented and had total disregard of the judiciary system”.

It is the State’s case that on Tuesday last week, Mubaiwa slapped Delight Munyoro (38) using the back of her hand resulting in the complainant sustaining a cut on the cheek and a loose tooth.

According to court papers: “On the 28th of January 2020 at around 12.05 hours, the complainant (Munyoro) proceeded to Hellenic Primary School, Borrowdale, Harare, to collect Michael Chiwenga, son of the accused person and Vice President Chiwenga.

“When it was time to collect the child, Batsirai Furukiya — the driver (of VP Chiwenga) — went to collect the child and the complainant (Munyoro) remained seated in the vehicle.

“When the driver was walking with the child, going to where the vehicle was parked, the accused person followed behind.

“When she arrived at the vehicle, where the complainant was seated, she started shouting at Munyoro accusing her of being a witch.

“The complainant remained quiet whilst in the car and the accused struck her once on her left cheek,” reads part of the court papers.

Mubaiwa is being represented by Harare lawyer Ms Beatrice Mtetwa.

Last week, Ms Mubaiwa won a High Court appeal for custody of the couple’s three minor children and access to the matrimonial home.

But her joy was short-lived after VP. Chiwenga filed a notice of appeal at the Supreme Court, challenging the lower court’s decision.

The filing of a notice of appeal effectively suspends the court ruling until determination of the appeal.

Ms Mubaiwa was last month granted $50 000 bail for attempting to murder VP Chiwenga, illegally externalising US$1 033 000, laundering US$990 000 and fraudulently seeking to upgrade her customary union to a civil marriage without her husband’s consent.- state media

Farai Dziva|They say there are no permanent friends in politics.

Barely two years after playing an influential role in propelling Emmerson Mnangagwa to the highest office in the land, Ezra Chadzamira has now become an enemy of the First Family, particularly Auxillia, who is reportedly pushing for the expulsion of the Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs.

Zanu PF insiders say Auxillia Mnangagwa is using Killer Zivhu and disgruntled party stalwarts in the province to push for the removal of Chadzamira from office.Chadzamira was taunted and ridiculed by Grace Mugabe as he fought in Mnangagwa’s corner.

Zivhu who ironically was Mrs Mugabe’s blue -eyed boy at the height of the Dr Amai Rallies, has also managed to win Mrs Mnangagwa’s sympathy, according to ruling party sources.

“The First Lady is pushing for the expulsion of Chadzamira because she feels he is neglecting the old guard.

She is working with Zivhu, Oppah Muchinguri and Josiah Hungwe to push Chadzamira out of office,” said a ruling party source.

Zivhu is also reportedly seeking Mrs Mnangagwa’s protection as he is facing expulsion for “abusing social media platforms.”

Zivhu was not available for a comment at the time of writing.

Three people had a close shave with death in Chinhoyi’s high-density suburb of Chikonohono when tanks filled with liquid petroleum (LP) gas caught fire and exploded on Thursday.

An eyewitness, Peter Virimo told The Herald that the fire was caused by gas leakages that were ignited by flames from a restaurant nearby.

One of the injured was the gas owner, who attempted to close the leaking cylinder valves after the fire had started.

Said Virimo:
When the guy realised that one of his tanks was leaking, he carried a toddler that was with him to safety before going back to close the valve.

A female bartender who came to witness the inferno and a physically challenged man who was also close to the accident site are said to have been the other casualties.

Chinhoyi Municipality town clerk Maxwell Kaitano told the publication that it was regrettable that the trader failed to be circumspect resulting in the accident.-State media

By A Correspondent| A Bulawayo teenager allegedly broke into Luveve High School premises and stole two laptops on Monday.

Luck Ncube (19), was arrested after he was caught charging the laptops directly from a Zesa substation through illegal connections.

The incident was confirmed by Bulawayo provincial spokesperson Inspector  Abednico Ncube on Friday.

He said:

A 19-year-old suspect has been arrested for theft and tampering with Zesa installations. The suspect was caught red-handed while charging two laptops from a Zesa power substation where he had connected an adapter directly to the power cable.

Further investigations revealed that the two laptops had been stolen by the suspect after he broke into Luveve High School premises.

Ncube is facing charges of tampering with Zesa installations, possession of an unlicensed firearm, unlawful entry and theft of property.

-Statemedia

By A Correspondent| The ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa has put security forces on high alert in the capital, Harare.

There is an ongoing stop and search on all truck going into Harare on all roads, ZimEye reveals.

Whispers were all over alleging that he (Mnangagwa) “fears” a coup; and stop and search operation is countrywide at the moment.

Most roads into the CBD are being manned by armed police at least 2 police officers with AK47 rifles and no motorist can run away because they already look like they can open fire.

Is the machete phenomenon a genuine concern to the ZANU PF government?

Top politicians aligned to the ZANU PF leader reveal with evidence that the machete chaos was started by Mnangagwa himself and he is on video in the last few months threatening to use machetes on citizens as a form of punishment.

He is also on video amid the machete phenomenon, telling party members on the 14th Dec 2019 that this year, all evidence implicating him for state violence must be “nipped in the bud ” before it reaches the United Nations.

Analysts say he will this year use a cover for violence to deal with political opponents.

While efforts to get a comment from the Joint Operations Command were fruitless at the time of writing, a latest JOC report says the security forces are targeting the opposition MDC party.

While the United Nations has fingered Mnangagwa’s administration for the 1 August 2018, and the January 2019 violence, the man has continued to state the opposite.

Earlier on the Norton legislator Temba Mliswa warned that marauding machete wielding gangs that have caused massive terror through murder, rape, robbery and other forms of anarchy in parts of the country’s mining areas could work against President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu-PF’s ambitions to remain the country’s governing authority.

He was speaking at the Information for Development (IDT) panel discussion forum at Sapes Trust in Harare on: “The Machete Militia: Origins, Responses and Implications.”

Mliswa said the gangs have morphed into a strong, rogue unit which enjoyed tacit army backing.

“These criminals are now working with law enforcement agents but the truth of the matter which you can take is that these guys will take them (Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF) out of power, remember this day,” said Mliswa.

“They have gone too far, they (senior Zanu-PF politicians) feel that they are helping them but they are doing more harm to the people of Zimbabwe.

“The people of Zimbabwe have a tendency to keep quiet, they have the patience to keep quiet for five years, when they vote and that is when they speak.”

Mliswa also questioned the government’s sincerity in dealing with the menace and implicated senior officials in Zanu-PF, army and police for bankrolling the terror gangs.

“He whoever controls gold, controls politics; the military is involved, the police is involved. Operation Restore Legacy happened and after that happened have we gone back to the institutions we were working with or we now have a situation where we have one institution in charge and that institution is the military at the end of the day?

“The police itself is weak because (Operation) Restore Legacy exposed the police, Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). We say that you are weak. We (Zimbabwe Defence Forces) are the people that have brought this new dispensation (and) as a result, we are in control’.

He said it was time that senior politicians including ministers and the State security agents became honest.

“It is about time we are honest, but if the army then becomes so involved in people being killed, in situations where the law enforcement agents who arrest like the police cannot do their job then we need to ask, who is in control?”

A police operation to flush out the Mashurugwi has netted hundreds of suspected members.

However, allegations continue swirling that senior Zanu-PF politicians, army generals and the police are protecting the armed gangs.

The MDC has also pointed fingers at Mnangagwa, Minister of State Security Owen Ncube, Minister of Justice Ziyambi Ziyambi and Local Government Minister July Moyo and Zanu-PF MP Dexter Nduna as being behind the terror groups.

“I have listened to our colleagues in Zanu-PF at a high level, nobody; none of them has condemned the crisis we have in the country of organised, commanded, initiated from the top violence, which is challenging to the security of persons,” opposition leader Nelson Chamisa said last month.

“If we don’t stand up together as a people to defend ourselves, we will go the Rwanda way. We have a soft genocide taking place,” he said referring to the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which over 800 00 people were massacred. – Byo24/Additional Reporting

• LIVE program follows on ZimEye.com

ZIMBABWE’s liberation war fighters have demanded that the proposed Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Board, set to take care of their welfare, should be chaired by ex-Zipra and ex-Zanla combatants on a rotational basis.

This came out during public hearings on the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle, 2019 Bill, which were held in the Midlands and Matabeleland North provinces this week. The Bill is currently before Parliament.

Among other provisions the Bill will establish the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Board and spell out its composition and functions. Presently, war veterans’ concerns are being championed by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association.

Sonny Key Mguni (Bubi MP Zanu PF), who led a team of MPs from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs who are gathering evidence from war veterans told Southern Eye that former Zipra fighters were demanding 50/50 representation on the board with their ex-Zanla counterparts.

“Everywhere the committee went in Matabeleland and Midlands, war veterans suggested there must be rotation of board chairpersonship by Zanla and Zipra,” Mguni said.

“They said if a chairperson of the board is Zanla, and their term expires, then the incoming term must be chaired by a person from Zipra,” he said. Mguni said former fighters also demanded that the title of Commander of the Defence Forces be changed to High Commander.

“Everywhere we went – and there was 100% attendance – the committee was told by war veterans that they now want the commander of the army to be a war veteran,” Mguni said.
“They said the term Commander of the Defence Forces must be changed to High Commander, adding that the person they want to command the army must be a very experienced person and not a mafikizolo (Johnny come lately),” he said.

If passed as is, the Bill will have a profound economic impact given that the former freedom fighters are pushing for their pensions to be at the same scale with a retired army major or lieutenant colonel.

“They were clear that they want their legacy respected in the same manner that World War II veterans are cherished and well taken care of. They said their children should benefit and be supported through scholarships, adding that the Bill should stipulate that their medical care should include access to hospitals outside the country,” Mguni said, adding that there were also calls for monthly stipends commensurate with the poverty datum line.Among other privileges, section 21 (1) of the Bill stipulates that war veterans are entitled to 20% of gazetted State land.

Vice President Chiwenga has for the second time refused to take food, drinks, wine, or water at public gatherings.

Sources said: “I have witnessed indications of the soaring tension between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga during the prayer meeting at the National Sports Stadium today.

After being offered a glass of water VP Chiwenga refused to take it for fear of being poisoned.”

Other sources claim that Chiwenga is not taking food in public as an operation done on him requires him to use specialised tubes to feed directly through the throat and not the normal way.

VP Chiwenga has since stopped taking food at public gatherings.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office has reportedly decided to ignore the recently acquired AirZim Boeing 777.

Sources from the national airliner and Civil Aviation Authority (CAAZ) said the President’s office has not shown any interest in using the plane for the number 1 as was hoped. It is not clear why Mnangagwa will not use the plane.

The plane purchased from Malaysia is more than 10 years old and has bad safety history after one of them vanished from the skies.

Flight MH370 disappeared from Radar a few minutes after take off with 227 passengers on board in March 2014 a move which prompted the Malaysian airline to dispose entire Boeing 777 fleet.

One official with CAAZ said fear of the plane missing may have prompted the President to ditch the new jet.

‘I am sure it is more to do with safety issues as you are aware Boeing planes are not the safest at the moment the maker has issues the Max also.

Despite the challenges I still think the 777 is safe we are yet to hear of any issue since the 2014 one and there is no legit reason for our President to fear flying it’.

Millions of scarce foreign currency will be wasted on hiring private jet from Dubai. Since taking over from the late Robert Mugabe in a coup Emmerson Mnangagwa has been blowing millions on chartered flights. Comlux the owners of the luxury jet which Mnangagwa uses charge U$30,000.00 per hour and in 2019 alone the President blew over U$15 Million.

Source: Dangwe Media

Media Statement|Ahead of a municipal by-election in Kuwadzana, Zanu PF political commissar Victor Matemadanda has distributed 28 tonnes of maize meal in a crass act of vote-buying in violation of the Electoral Act.

As usual, the captured ZEC will turn a blind eye to this violation of the laws of the land. Elsewhere, especially in rural areas and those areas where there are pending by-elections, Zanu PF continues to illegally use food as a political weapon.

This is the reason why some in the country have lost faith in the electoral route. But those of us in the MDC are a democratic party and we have sought to use democratic means in the prosecution of our struggle. We will continue to fight for reforms to ensure the electoral route is vaccinated against Zanu PF’s piranha instincts.

As a party, we have unstinting faith in democracy and in the electoral route. That has always been the culture and character of the party and that is why a comprehensive reform agenda is one of our key demands.

We challenge ZEC to take action on Matemadanda but we are well aware that the captured election management body will do no such thing.

ZEC has shown that it is an extension of Zanu PF and we challenge them to take decisive action against the Zanu PF political commissar not only to prove their autonomy but also to show their teeth, assuming they have them.

A captured ZEC is one of the reasons why the MDC national executive yesterday adopted an alternative Electoral Bill that will, among other key tenets, ensure that ZEC is a truly independent and impartial institution.

Despite Victor’s vote-buying antics, we know Zanu PF will not be victors in Kuwadzana. What Victor has simply done is dare ZEC to take action.

ZEC must step up to the plate and if they don’t take action, and by the good heavens they will not, then Victor’s Kuwadzana antics provide glaring evidence why this country is always mired in this vicious cycle of disputed elections, which has bred the illegitimacy that is at the very heart of our current national crisis.

#thepeoplesgovernment.

Luke Tamborinyoka
MDC Deputy National Spokesperson

THE Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has foiled an attempt by 25 machete-wielding gang members to invade a mine in Chinhoyi, national police spokesperson Paul Nyathi has confirmed.

This comes at a time when the country is battling to contain the menace of machete-wielding gang members who have caused havoc in several mining towns across the country.

“Twenty-five illegal miners armed with iron bars, shovels, picks and machetes attempted to invade a mine in Makonde, Chinhoyi on January 26, 2020. Police moved in to disperse them using teargas and firing some warning shots,” Nyathi said.

The police have since launched Operation Chikorokoza Ngachipere, which has so far netted in over 2009 machete gang members across the country, as the police seek to end illegal activities in mining towns.

The on-going operation has also seen the arrest of illegal miners in Penhalonga and Matobo, according to Nyathi.
“On January 24, 2020, four men were arrested for illegal gold panning along Mutare River, Penhalonga. A 50kg bag of gold ore was recovered.  On January 25, 2020 ZRP Matobo arrested 15 people for illegal gold panning, one for possessing dagga in the on-going operation against illegal mining activities,” Nyathi said.

The High Court also this week denied bail to at least seven machete gang members, who were reportedly involved in the murder of Kadoma police constable Wonder Hokoyo in December last year.

High Court judge Amy Tsanga ruled that Lyton Panashe Tshuma, Obvious Mawire, Tonderai Musasa, Richwell Tshuma, Bornlight Mukute, Taurai Munetsi and Tinashe Demo, were not suitable candidates for bail.

The other suspect, a 14-year-old boy, has since been freed on bail.

The suspects are accused of having invaded Good Hope Mine in Kadoma on December 28 last year.

“The severity of the punishment they are likely to face in light of the crime having been committed under aggravating circumstances has been alluded to by the State and is likely to induce absconding. The strength of the State case in this instance is bolstered by the identification parade which was carried out, which unearthed two of the applicants.

“Weapons were recovered from two others. Moreover the applicants are said not to be permanently resident at the given address. It would not be in the interest of justice to release them on bail when they have tenuous ties to the place of residence,” Tsanga said, before dismissing the gang’s bail application.

MARRY Chiwenga, the estranged wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga
was Saturday remanded in custody by a Harare Magistrate after she was denied bail on fresh charges of assaulting a family maid last week.

Marry is facing charges of assaulting a family maid, Delight Munyoro who had accompanied the feuding couple’s minor children to Hellenic School in Borrowdale, Harare last Tuesday.

Denying her bail, the magistrate said Marry had a “propensity to commit crimes of violence”.

In December last year, Marry was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) officers on charges of attempting to murder her husband while he was receiving treatment at a private hospital in South Africa and spend three weeks in remand prison.

Farai Dziva|They say there are no permanent friends in politics.

Barely two years after playing an influential role in propelling Emmerson Mnangagwa to the highest office in the land, Ezra Chadzamira has now become an enemy of the First Family, particularly Auxillia, who is reportedly pushing for the expulsion of the Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs.

Zanu PF insiders say Auxillia Mnangagwa is using Killer Zivhu and disgruntled party stalwarts in the province to push for the removal of Chadzamira from office.Chadzamira was taunted and ridiculed by Grace Mugabe as he fought in Mnangagwa’s corner.

Zivhu who ironically was Mrs Mugabe’s blue -eyed boy at the height of the Dr Amai Rallies, has also managed to win Mrs Mnangagwa’s sympathy, according to ruling party sources.

“The First Lady is pushing for the expulsion of Chadzamira because she feels he is neglecting the old guard.

She is working with Zivhu, Oppah Muchinguri and Josiah Hungwe to push Chadzamira out of office,” said a ruling party source.

Zivhu is also reportedly seeking Mrs Mnangagwa’s protection as he is facing expulsion for “abusing social media platforms.”

Zivhu was not available for a comment at the time of writing.

Three people had a close shave with death in Chinhoyi’s high-density suburb of Chikonohono when tanks filled with liquid petroleum (LP) gas caught fire and exploded on Thursday.

An eyewitness, Peter Virimo told The Herald that the fire was caused by gas leakages that were ignited by flames from a restaurant nearby.

One of the injured was the gas owner, who attempted to close the leaking cylinder valves after the fire had started.

Said Virimo:
When the guy realised that one of his tanks was leaking, he carried a toddler that was with him to safety before going back to close the valve.

A female bartender who came to witness the inferno and a physically challenged man who was also close to the accident site are said to have been the other casualties.

Chinhoyi Municipality town clerk Maxwell Kaitano told the publication that it was regrettable that the trader failed to be circumspect resulting in the accident.-State media

By A Correspondent|At conventional prayer meetings, people display the holy scriptures on stage with a devotion to encounter God’s face (See examples below). People even wave the Bible – for it is all about the book and its author. You see the Bible standing out at the front or at least some scriptural extraction focusing on the Creator placated, the culture is portrayed in Exodus where Moses cried out, “show me your face Lord!” The whole purpose of prayer is thus for people to encounter the Creator’s face. But at the national sports stadium on Saturday morning people were made to encounter the face of Emmerson Mnangagwa. It was his portrait at the front and the Bible at the backside. See videos below

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Marry Mubaiwa-Chiwenga has appeared before the Magistrates Court today on charges of common assault on a maid; and has been remanded in custody after the Magistrate denied her bail on grounds that she has a “propensity to commit crimes of violence”.

More to follow….

Ahead of a municipal by-election in Kuwadzana, Zanu PF political commissar Victor Matemadanda has distributed 28 tonnes of maize meal in a crass act of vote-buying in violation of the Electoral Act.

As usual the captured ZEC will turn a blind eye to this violation of the laws of the land. Elsewhere, especially in rural areas and those areas where there are pending by-elections, Zanu PF continues to illegally use food as a political weapon.

This is the reason why some in the country have lost faith in the electoral route. But those of us in the MDC are a democratic party and we have sought to use democratic means in the prosecution of our struggle. We will continue to fight for reforms to ensure the electoral route is vaccinated against Zanu PF’s piranha instincts.

As a party, we have unstinting faith in democracy and in the electoral route. That has always been the culture and character of the party and that is why a comprehensive reform agenda is one of our key demands.

We challenge ZEC to take action on Matemadanda but we are well aware that the captured election management body will do no such thing. ZEC has shown that it is an extension of Zanu PF and we challenge them to take decisive action against the Zanu PF political commissar not only to prove their autonomy but also to show their teeth, assuming they have them.

A captured ZEC is one of the reasons why the MDC national executive yesterday adopted an alternative Electoral Bill that will, among other key tenets, ensure that ZEC is a truly independent and impartial institution.

Despite Victor’s vote-buying antics, we know Zanu PF will not be victors in Kuwadzana. What Victor has simply done is dare ZEC to take action.
ZEC must step up to the plate and if they don’t take action, and by the good heavens they will not, then Victor’s Kuwadzana antics provide  glaring evidence why this country is always mired in this vicious cycle of disputed elections, which has bred the illegitimacy that is at the very 
heart of our current national crisis.

Luke Tamborinyoka (MDC Deputy National Spokesperson)

By Jane Mlambo| A response to a post by South African News24 in which they reported about an Indonesian crocodile with a tyre stuck on its head for years, has become a source of ridicule after a Zimbabwean likened it to President Emmerson Mnangagwa affection for his scuff.

Find below screenshot to the post and @ChipsChaps’ reaction.

By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube has announced that an additional $500 million in notes and coins will be put into economy in the first six months of 2020.

Ncube said that the initiative is premised at easing the cash crisis that has lingered for years now. Zimbabwe has attempted a number of tricks including the introduction of the surrogate currency, the bond note to address the cash shortage issue but results have been frustrating, so far.

The minister added that the introduction of the additional $500 million will also address the money-laundering issue.

He said:

An additional $500 million in notes and coins will be put into the economy in the first six months of 2020. We expect this to ease the demand for physical cash and you won’t be ripped off by money dealers who sell cash.

His remarks come when parallel markets are now fully established and have become defacto sources of official foreign currency exchange rates.

Economists have warned that money-laundering will continue to be a dorminant threat to the government as long as the cash crisis is not addressed.

-Statemedia

35'
ZIM 0-0 Malawi
U20 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifier leg 2
1-1 aggregate
Chances to score on either end but none taken. Yet pic.twitter.com/JSEzj6udxZ

— Zimbabwe Football Association (@online_zifa) February 1, 2020

By A Correspondent- A picture of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and UFIC leader Emmanuel Makandiwa has hogged the limelight with netizens coming up with various “theories and guesses” on what the two men were discussing.

What do you think Makandiwa was telling VP Chiwenga?

Ahead of a municipal by-election in Kuwadzana, Zanu PF political commissar Victor Matemadanda has distributed 28 tonnes of maize meal in a crass act of vote-buying in violation of the Electoral Act.

As usual the captured ZEC will turn a blind eye to this violation of the laws of the land. Elsewhere, especially in rural areas and those areas where
there are pending by-elections, Zanu PF continues to illegally use food as a political weapon.

This is the reason why some in the country have lost faith in the electoral route. But those of us in the MDC are a democratic party and we have
sought to use democratic means in the prosecution of our struggle. We will continue to fight for reforms to ensure the electoral route is vaccinated
against Zanu PF’s piranha instincts.

As a party, we have unstinting faith in democracy and in the electoral route. That has always been the culture and character of the party and that
is why a comprehensive reform agenda is one of our key demands.

We challenge ZEC to take action on Matemadanda but we are well aware that the captured election management body will do no such thing. ZEC
has shown that it is an extension of Zanu PF and we challenge them to take decisive action against the Zanu PF political commissar not only to
prove their autonomy but also to show their teeth, assuming they have them.

A captured ZEC is one of the reasons why the MDC national executive yesterday adopted an alternative Electoral Bill that will, among other key
tenets, ensure that ZEC is a truly independent and impartial institution.

Despite Victor’s vote-buying antics, we know Zanu PF will not be victors in Kuwadzana. What Victor has simply done is dare ZEC to take action.
ZEC must step up to the plate and if they don’t take action, and by the good heavens they will not, then Victor’s Kuwadzana antics provide
glaring evidence why this country is always mired in this vicious cycle of disputed elections, which has bred the illegitimacy that is at the very
heart of our current national crisis.

Luke Tamborinyoka (MDC Deputy National Spokesperson)

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube is set to put into circulation an additional $500mil of notes and coins which he said will be pumped into the economy. Do you think that this move will ease the current cash crisis?

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) February 1, 2020

By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube has announced that an additional $500 million in notes and coins will be put into economy in the first six months of 2020.

Ncube said that the initiative is premised at easing the cash crisis that has lingered for years now. Zimbabwe has attempted a number of tricks including the introduction of the surrogate currency, the bond note to address the cash shortage issue but results have been frustrating, so far.

The minister added that the introduction of the additional $500 million will also address the money-laundering issue.

He said:

An additional $500 million in notes and coins will be put into the economy in the first six months of 2020. We expect this to ease the demand for physical cash and you won’t be ripped off by money dealers who sell cash.

His remarks come when parallel markets are now fully established and have become defacto sources of official foreign currency exchange rates.

Economists have warned that money-laundering will continue to be a dorminant threat to the government as long as the cash crisis is not addressed.

-Statemedia

#NationalPrayerMeeting "My Gvt is seized with putting the requisite infrastructure to stimulate economic growth. To that end, the implementation of numerous projects in mining, road construction & rehabilitation, agriculture & power creates employment for people" – @edmnangagwa pic.twitter.com/vEqDW7dx3j

— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) February 1, 2020

By Patrick Guramatunhu- To herald the 2008 to 2013 GNU as a success is a grotesque misrepresentation of historic facts that will not be allowed to go unchallenged!

“Mbeki – who helped to broker the stability-inducing 2008 government of national unity between opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and ex-president Robert Mugabe, who are both late – was in the country last December to try and nudge Mnangagwa and Chamisa to hold talks,” reported a local publication.

Rubbish!

The 2008 to 2013 GNU principle purpose was to implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement, the reforms were designed to ensure future elections in Zimbabwe were free, fair and credible elections and not a repeat of the blatant cheating and wanton violence of 2008! Sadly, not even one of the reforms saw the light of day. Not one!

SADC leaders made one last desperate effort to have the 2013 elections postponed until the reforms are implemented. 

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there. I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza told Violet Gonda. 

The SADC leaders got Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, away from Mugabe, and warned them “If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!”

As we know MDC leaders ignored the warning for exactly the same reason they had ignored implementing the reforms for the last five years – greed, as David Coltart, MDC minister during the GNU, ready confessed in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe. 

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” confessed Coltart.

“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”

Greed had the better of the MDC again in 2018 as they went on to contest the elections knowing fully well that not even one reforms had been implemented since the rigged elections of 2013 and therefore Zanu PF will rig those elections too. And that is exactly what happened. 

By participating in the flawed and illegal elections MDC has given some modicum of credibility and legality, as Coltart admitted, to the vote rigging and, per se, illegitimate Zanu PF regime. 

The Constitutional Court challenge of the 2018 presidential race result by MDC on the grounds that the vote counting process was flawed was an exercise in futility. The whole process was flawed and illegal and not just the counting. 

”We now have fresh evidence after the Constitutional Court determination of the dispute between us and Mnangagwa, particularly in the ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) report that was tabled in Parliament, wherein the commission is indicating that they flouted the law and the procedures of elections in announcing the elections of 2018,” said Chamisa in a recent SABC interview.

“We don’t want to have a recycling of the same old problems. This is a vicious cycle that has to be curbed so that we will have credible elections.” 

ZEC had flouted the law by failing to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, at least a month before nomination day. Chamisa and his MDC friends knew this and ignored this and many other blatant violations in the election process only to pick on the counting of the vote. This is just a time wasting gimmick, bolting the door when the horse has bolted. 

Chamisa is in SA to meet both President Cyril Ramaphosa and former President Thambo Mbeki “in a last ditch effort to foster dialogue between him and President Emmerson Mnangagwa”, according to the Daily News. 

The economic recovery President Mnangagwa had hoped for with his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra has not materialised. The success of his mantra was premised on him keeping his promise to end corruption, to hold free and fair elections, etc., etc. He has failed to honour any of these promises and thus confirming that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state or be it under new management following the November 2017 coup. 

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs, there will be no meaningful economic recovery. None!

Chamisa is taking advantage of the worsening economic situation to advance a false narrative that the country would be enjoying economic recovery if he had been declared the winner of the July 2018 presidential race. As a way forward, he is proposing a dialogue with Mnangagwa, presided over by a mediator, to negotiate a power sharing arrangement, Nation Transition Authority (NTA).

Since the electoral dispute is over the presidential result, MDC is proposing the party must share cabinet and presidential power with Zanu PF. Zanu PF will keep its parliamentary 2/3 majority since the parliamentary results are not disputed. 

As the main selling pitch, Chamisa insists the NTA will implement “comprehensive democratic reforms and end the curse of disputed elections”. This is nonsense. 

The NTA is a watered down version of the 2008 to 2013 GNU; with the same key players, Zanu PF and MDC, but with Zanu PF, with its 2/3 majority in parliament, holds the trump cards. The GNU failed to get ever one reform implemented in five years it is naive to believe the NTA will do any better.

It is a lie to suggest that the 2008 GNU produced stability and worse still to suggest the NTA with Zanu PF and MDC,  GNU mark 2, will do any better. The way forward is for the vote rigging, and per se, illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step down so we can appoint an independent and competent interim administration to implement the reform leading to free and fair elections.

POISONING fears in Zimbabwe’s presidium have escalated after Vice President Constantino Chiwenga on Saturday refused to drink water at the Zimbabwe Indigenous Churches organised National Day of Prayer in Harare.

The incident follows various conspiracy theories ignited after Chiwenga spent close to four months in China where he was seeking medication after an alleged poisoning scare.

Since his return Chiwenga has been refusing to consume any form of food stuff at public events.

He refused to take a glass of champagne at the official arrival of a new Air Zimbabwe aircraft last month, choosing to spill the glass’ contents on the floor.

On Saturday, Chiwenga was offered a glass of water while he was introducing President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the church organised event.

He blatantly refused to take the glass in full glare of the congregants.

It sparked further speculation that there is trouble in paradise amid reports of emerging factional wars in the ruling Zanu PF.

At the height of internal strife in Zanu PF, during the ousted late president Robert Mugabe’s regime, the then vice president Mnangagwa was poisoned at a rally in Gwanda.

-Zim Morning Post

By A Correspondent- Harare City Council has embarked on an Operation to destroy structures and businesses built illegally along Kirkman Road (which links the sprawling high-density suburb of Dzivarasekwa to the city centre), and Lomagundi Road.

Illegal Shops selling various goods ranging from construction material to live animals opposite N. Richards Wholesalers after Westlea were affected.

Harare’s corporate communications manager Michael Chideme vowed that the city council will not relent on the demolitions.

He said:

Investing in illegal settlements is a waste of time and resources.

We are encouraging people to settle on legal places to avoid having their structures destroyed. Anyone on illegal settlements should make sure that they remove their structures.

We also want to preserve wetlands; so we want people to stop putting up structures on wetlands as well.

Armed officers from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and municipal police are working together during the cleanup operation.

After moving into an area, they ask the traders to destroy their structures but if they resisted, front-end loaders will be used to forcibly pull down the structures.

-statemedia

By A Correspondent- A 13 year old girl from Stanhope Village in Nyamandlovu died during a gruesome rape ordeal at the hands of her 18-year-old cousin who later allegedly burnt her body before burying it in a shallow grave, police confirmed yesterday.

He then buried it in a nearby bush. Matabeleland North police spokesperson Inspector Simphiwe Makonese confirmed the incident which happened on Sunday last week at around 3AM. She said Moyo had been arrested.

Insp Makonese said on the day in question, Moyo was left at home with the victim and two other children. She said he woke up in the middle of the night and went to the girl’s bedroom where he allegedly raped her twice.

Insp Makonese said Moyo’s mother (45) left home on Sunday morning to visit some relatives in Bulawayo and left him with three children, his victim included. The two other children were a girl, the deceased’s young sister aged eight and a boy aged 11 years.

“They were sleeping in the same room: the boys were sleeping on the bed and the deceased was sleeping with the younger girl on the floor. At around 3AM, the accused person sneaked into the deceased’s blankets and raped her while his hand was on her mouth and the other hand on the neck choking her to muffle noises. The minor died as a result of choking,” said Insp Makonese.

She said after realising that the minor had died, the suspect took the body to a nearby bush. “He took her body and went to the bush and sprinkled it with paraffin. He burnt the body before burying it in a shallow grave,” Insp Makonese said. She said when the other children asked him about the whereabouts of his cousin, he pretended as if he did not know what had befallen her.

Insp Makonese said the deceased’s young sister went to inform the village head that her sister was missing. Upon interrogation by villagers, Moyo confessed that he had killed her.

‘’I advise parents that they must not leave the girls alone at home. They must seek an adult female who will take care of them while they are away,” said Insp Makonese. When The Chronicle visited the area, there was a sombre atmosphere.

The village head, Mr Ocean Moyo, said when the children, who were worried about the now deceased, went to his homestead to report the matter, they saw his wife as he was not home at the time.

“My wife notified other villagers who then teamed up to search for her. When the remains of the girl were found, one of my committee members called me.

“I then instructed them to call the police for help. They took my car from home which they used to go to Nyamandlovu police station and when the police came the body was exhumed. The parents of the suspect had arrived, that’s when the suspect said he raped and killed her,” said Mr Moyo.

A villager Miss Nelisiwe Dube said the deceased’s young sister first told neighbours that she could not locate her sister and they advised her to report to the headman.

She said when the deceased’s younger sister woke up in the morning and asked Moyo about her sister, he initially pretended as if he knew nothing before he later opened up saying she disappeared after they had a misunderstanding over the issue of washing plates.

The younger sister notified their neighbours who then advised her to report the matter to the village head. Another villager who identified herself as Mrs Ndlovu said: “Before they conducted the search, the villagers together with members of the neighbourhood watch apprehended Moyo after he exhibited signs that he was the one who was involved in the disappearance of his cousin.

“While searching they stumbled upon the fresh shallow grave where the victim was buried.” – state media/additional reporting

By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ally Chris Mutsvangwa ranted against Vice President Constantino Chiwenga in a chance encounter with the MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa, a local publication reported.

The shock development comes as the Zanu-PF Youth League has recently become vocal against “cartels”, seen as a precursor to an all-out war with Chiwenga by first targeting his financial backer, Kudakwashe Tagwirei, an influential player in the petroleum industry.

Chamisa was at the Robert Mugabe International Airport on January 29 ahead of a trip to South Africa when he came across the chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association who was also at the airport on undisclosed business.

Two sources who witnessed the encounter said Mutsvangwa initially requested a photo to be taken with Chamisa, before launching into an unrestrained attack on Chiwenga, Mnangagwa’s ambitious deputy.

“He told Chamisa to disengage from Chiwenga, stating that the former army general was claiming influence that he did not have, both in the military and Zanu-PF,” one source said.

Chamisa reportedly expressed surprise that Mutsvangwa was associating him with Chiwenga, remarking: “You are donating me to Chiwenga, and Chiwenga donates me to you. Which is which?”

Mutsvangwa did not care who was listening, another source who witnessed the encounter said. The war vets chief, said the source, appeared convinced that Chamisa was open to a political alliance with Chiwenga.

“He was particularly dismissive of Chiwenga, questioning his fitness for higher office,” the source, who had just walked over to greet Chamisa, told ZimLive.

Referring to Chiwenga’s nasty divorce from his former model wife, Marry Mubaiwa, Mutsvangwa told Chamisa: “Don’t be fooled by a man who has a prostitute running rings around him.”

Chamisa reportedly asked “who’s the prostitute, and who’s the man?” before the two men separated, both laughing.

The encounter reveals deepening divisions in Zanu-PF, with two distinct factions – one led by Mnangagwa and the other by Chiwenga – each seeking to take decisive control of the party before the next elections in 2023.

Chiwenga was the army general who led a coup against the former late president Robert Mugabe in November 2017. He recalled Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s former deputy, from exile to make him president in a bid to sanitise the coup.

But the two men have differed sharply after Mnangagwa claimed victory in a presidential election in August 2018 by just over 35,000 votes. Chiwenga’s camp says the 76-year-old Zanu-PF leader is unelectable and has failed to effectively run the country, imperilling their project with the lurking dangers of a popular uprising or annihilation in a future election.

Mnangagwa, through his son Emmerson Junior, has reportedly engaged the Zanu-PF Youth League to push back against Chiwenga.

Youth League deputy secretary Lewis Matutu and Godfrey Tsenengamu, the political commissar, have taken to social media to launch thinly-veiled attacks on Sakunda Holdings boss, Tagwirei, believed to be Chiwenga’s moneyman.

Tagwirei, the local partner of global commodities trader, Trafigura, is accused of running a near monopoly in the petroleum industry and fleecing the state through the opaque Command Agriculture scheme run by Sakunda.

A parliamentary committee says agriculture ministry officials have failed to account for US$3 billion expenditure on the scheme, and Tagwirei has refused to testify before parliament.

Writing on Facebook on January 29, Matutu said: “How can a few individuals prosper on majority’s tears?”

Avoiding naming Tagwirei, he added in another post on January 31: “We will be judged by our deeds as a generation. Personally, l refuse to be amongst the cursed ones simply because l would have ignored evil things happening whilst watching and right now l have an opportunity to make things right #cartelsmustfall.”

Tsenengamu, also taking to Facebook, said: “We will pay the price, either for fighting the blood-sucking cartels or for smiling at them while they suffocate us. I choose to fight.”

Tsenengamu said Zimbabwe was being destroyed “not by those few who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing something positive.”

“Monday is the day #CartelsMustFall,” he wrote on January 31, hinting strongly that the Youth League would pursue some action soon.

Zanu-PF sources told ZimLive that Matutu was also personally angry after recently going to the party’s secretary for administration, Obert Mpofu, to demand that he be issued a Toyota Land Cruiser “like all other politburo secretaries”, and being rebuffed.

All Zanu-PF secretaries in the politburo had Land Cruisers purchased for them by Tagwirei, and if Matutu had been granted his wish, the party would have turned to the Sakunda boss who has used his vast fortune to buy influence.

The convergence between Matutu and Tsenengamu has surprised some, who say the two men have rarely been aligned.

“It shouldn’t surprise anyone, however, because Tsenengamu will do anything for money or a voucher. He’s shamelessly unscrupulous. For a thousand dollars, he would slap the president, he’s that sort of guy,” a member of the Youth League said.

Mnangagwa’s son, Emmerson Junior, is reportedly pulling the financial strings on the Youth League to do his father’s bidding.

Mnangagwa has identified Tagwirei – whose accounts were temporarily frozen by the Reserve Bank last year over allegations that he was manipulating the local currency – as the power behind Chiwenga, and hopes by targeting him, he would leave his 63-year-old deputy financially weaker and unable to mount any challenge to his rule.

The Zanu-PF leader has, since taking power in 2017, been reorganising the military top brass and retiring other senior officers in moves aimed at diminishing Chiwenga’s influence.

The Zimbabwe Independent reported on Friday that “an unsettled Mnangagwa” had made moves to “coup-proof” his regime by changing the commanders of the Presidential Guard, the infantry battalion which, together with the Mechanised Brigade, played a critical role in the 2017 military coup that toppled Mugabe.

The Presidential Guard, responsible for providing protection to the president and securing Harare, is a specialised force trained to fight in built up areas. It consists of two battalions, the 1 PG Battalion commonly known as State House Battalion, and the 2 PG Battalion situated in Dzivaresekwa.

Mnangagwa has named Lieutenant-Colonel Alison Chicha as the commander of 2 PG Battalion, replacing Lieutenant-Colonel Regis Mangezi, who moves over to command the 1 PG Battalion. Mangezi takes over from Lieutenant-Colonel Solomon Murombo, removed from the unit after he clashed with Mnangagwa’s wife – an incident caught on a leaked audio tape.

Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxillia, accused Murombo of spying on her and plotting to kill the president. Her outburst betrayed the first family’s fears and concerns about their security. Murombo has been shunted off to Zimbabwe Defence House, the military headquarters

-ZimLive

By A Correspondent- The military must now step in to stop machete gangs who are terrorising and killing people in many parts of the country, Norton MP Temba Mliswa has said.

Speaking at a policy dialogue meeting organised by the Southern African Political Economy Series (Sapes) Trust in conjunction with the Information for Development Trust (IDT) in Harare on Thursday, Mliswa also said he had challenged State Security minister Owen Ncube to come out in public and set the record straight concerning reports that he was behind the machete gangsters.

Mliswa said the Constitution empowers the military to help the police in dire situations.

“Machete wars have now gone out of hand and the police are struggling to contain the menace.

However, we have a mighty military force in the country. The generals of the army are also very intelligent. They don’t go to war and use that time to study. So they can actually strategise and deal with this machete gangster problem,” he said.

“Section 251 (of the Constitution) gives the army the mandate to carry out such an operation of flushing out machete gangsters. The army conducted Operation Restore Legacy which removed the late President Robert Mugabe from power. So it means the army is powerful and can manage to deal with the problem of machete gangsters,” said Mliswa.

Ad by Valueimpression

Mbizo MP, Settlement Chikwinya (MDC Alliance) said there was need for the authorities to interview criminals convicted of machete violence so that they explain how the menace was organised.

“In the prisons we have the small fish who were jailed due to machete violence. These are the ones who should tell us how they operated and name the big fish behind them. There have been names of top officials that have been implicated but we can only get the true stories from the small fish in the prisons,” he said.

-Newsday

By A Correspondent- Disheartening accident occurred yesterday along at the 58 kilometer peg along Mvurwi- Kanyemba highway, two people who were riding a motor bike crashed into scotch-cart and sustained severe injuries.

Bulawayo24.com has learnt that Tawarira Forgiveness (27) who was together with Godknows Shungu on his motorbike underestimated the speed of ox drawn cart and tried to overtake.

In result of that underestimation Forgiveness who was driving is said to have rammed into the cart and both of them were seriously injured.

Mashonaland Central police spokesperson Inspector Milton Mudembe confirmed the accident.

The duo is presently admitted at Guruve hospital.

In relation to the incident the police warned people to put reflections on ox drawn carts for road users to see at night.

By Patrick Guramatunhu- To herald the 2008 to 2013 GNU as a success is a grotesque misrepresentation of historic facts that will not be allowed to go unchallenged!

“Mbeki – who helped to broker the stability-inducing 2008 government of national unity between opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and ex-president Robert Mugabe, who are both late – was in the country last December to try and nudge Mnangagwa and Chamisa to hold talks,” reported the Daily News.

Rubbish!

The 2008 to 2013 GNU principle purpose was to implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement, the reforms were designed to ensure future elections in Zimbabwe were free, fair and credible elections and not a repeat of the blatant cheating and wanton violence of 2008! Sadly, not even one of the reforms saw the light of day. Not one!

SADC leaders made one last desperate effort to have the 2013 elections postponed until the reforms are implemented. 

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there. I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza told Violet Gonda. 

The SADC leaders got Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, away from Mugabe, and warned them “If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!”

As we know MDC leaders ignored the warning for exactly the same reason they had ignored implementing the reforms for the last five years – greed, as David Coltart, MDC minister during the GNU, ready confessed in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe. 

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” confessed Coltart.

“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”

Greed had the better of the MDC again in 2018 as they went on to contest the elections knowing fully well that not even one reforms had been implemented since the rigged elections of 2013 and therefore Zanu PF will rig those elections too. And that is exactly what happened. 

By participating in the flawed and illegal elections MDC has given some modicum of credibility and legality, as Coltart admitted, to the vote rigging and, per se, illegitimate Zanu PF regime. 

The Constitutional Court challenge of the 2018 presidential race result by MDC on the grounds that the vote counting process was flawed was an exercise in futility. The whole process was flawed and illegal and not just the counting. 

”We now have fresh evidence after the Constitutional Court determination of the dispute between us and Mnangagwa, particularly in the ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) report that was tabled in Parliament, wherein the commission is indicating that they flouted the law and the procedures of elections in announcing the elections of 2018,” said Chamisa in a recent SABC interview.

“We don’t want to have a recycling of the same old problems. This is a vicious cycle that has to be curbed so that we will have credible elections.” 

ZEC had flouted the law by failing to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, at least a month before nomination day. Chamisa and his MDC friends knew this and ignored this and many other blatant violations in the election process only to pick on the counting of the vote. This is just a time wasting gimmick, bolting the door when the horse has bolted. 

Chamisa is in SA to meet both President Cyril Ramaphosa and former President Thambo Mbeki “in a last ditch effort to foster dialogue between him and President Emmerson Mnangagwa”, according to the Daily News. 

The economic recovery President Mnangagwa had hoped for with his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra has not materialised. The success of his mantra was premised on him keeping his promise to end corruption, to hold free and fair elections, etc., etc. He has failed to honour any of these promises and thus confirming that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state or be it under new management following the November 2017 coup. 

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs, there will be no meaningful economic recovery. None!

Chamisa is taking advantage of the worsening economic situation to advance a false narrative that the country would be enjoying economic recovery if he had been declared the winner of the July 2018 presidential race. As a way forward, he is proposing a dialogue with Mnangagwa, presided over by a mediator, to negotiate a power sharing arrangement, Nation Transition Authority (NTA).

Since the electoral dispute is over the presidential result, MDC is proposing the party must share cabinet and presidential power with Zanu PF. Zanu PF will keep its parliamentary 2/3 majority since the parliamentary results are not disputed. 

As the main selling pitch, Chamisa insists the NTA will implement “comprehensive democratic reforms and end the curse of disputed elections”. This is nonsense. 

The NTA is a watered down version of the 2008 to 2013 GNU; with the same key players, Zanu PF and MDC, but with Zanu PF, with its 2/3 majority in parliament, holds the trump cards. The GNU failed to get ever one reform implemented in five years it is naive to believe the NTA will do any better.

It is a lie to suggest that the 2008 GNU produced stability and worse still to suggest the NTA with Zanu PF and MDC,  GNU mark 2, will do any better. The way forward is for the vote rigging, and per se, illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step down so we can appoint an independent and competent interim administration to implement the reform leading to free and fair elections.

By A Correspondent- The leader of the opposition MDC, advocate Nelson Chamisa has said that the socio-economic and political crises were as a result of the toxic politics in the country adding that by working together can this country be revived again.

He speaks when the nation is divided over almost everything. There is always binary characterisation of citizens, one is either a supporter or member of the MDC or belongs to the ruling ZANU PF. There is no room for objective thinking!

Posting on microblogging site, Twitter, Chamisa said:

Everywhere I went in South Africa, I met anxious yet hopeful Zimbabweans working so hard to help families at home. Zimbos love their country& expect the problems to be fixed. We must fix our politics to fix the economy. We do it as one. Good politics invites good business.

Efforts have been made, however, to bring the standoff between ZANU PF and the MDC to an end yet there seems the concerned parties are not prepared to deescalate.

Chamisa’s remarks are a strong redolent of the sentiments by many analysts who have often said that the impasse was hamstringing efforts to revive the economy and to reengage the international community.

By A Correspondent- Cuban Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Carmelina Ramirez Rodriguez has said Cuba is likely to increase the number of doctors serving in Zimbabwe in the near future.

Cuba currently has 36 doctors operating in Zimbabwe under a government-to-government arrangement.

Ambassador Rodriguez said this while briefing journalists after meeting Acting President Kembo Mohadi at his Munhumutapa offices yesterday.

She said Harare and Havana enjoyed deep-rooted relations which dated back to Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.

“Our relations date back to the 1970s when the liberation movement was training. We were talking about how to increase cooperation. We have cooperation in health and in education at the Bindura University of Science Education. We have some professors there and also our doctors are all around the country. Currently we have 36 doctors,” said Ambassador Rodriguez.

Asked if there was a likelihood that Cuba could increase the number of its doctors in Zimbabwe, she said: “Of course, we have doctors everywhere in Africa, so we can see that our cooperation in health is very important to help Zimbabwe and support the people of this beautiful country.”

When she met Senate president Mabel Chinomona last year, Ambassador Rodriguez called for stronger ties between Zimbabwe and Cuba.

“In light of the international politics we are currently experiencing, countries like Cuba and Zimbabwe have to cooperate and share ideas, including with other Third World countries,” she said.

“We have developed cooperation in many sectors, particularly in health and education, with a lot of Zimbabweans having studied in Cuba while a number of doctors from the health brigade have been to Zimbabwe,” she said.

Zimbabwe and Cuba shared a common history.Both countries are reeling from the unjustified US sanctions which seek to influence global politics either through war or other punitive measures. As brotherly countries, some Zimbabwean doctors and other experts were trained in Cuba.-statemedia

By A Correspondent- Three top members of the presidential guard, Blessmore Tembo (32), Gilbert Charuma (31) and Liberty Munemo (31) together with a former broadcaster, Musorowegomo Mukosi (41) on Thursday 30 January appeared before Mt Darwin magistrate Rutendo Muchena facing assault charges.

News Day reports that the accused were granted $500 bail each.

Reports suggest that the accused were arrested for allegedly assaulting 15 villagers and forcefully tried to take Chin gold mine in Mt Darwin.

The prosecutor told the court that the accused pounced on Mushaki Business Centre, Mt Darwin, armed with a pistol and demanded identity cards from artisanal miners, assaulted them before they disappeared.

The assaulted individuals reportedly regrouped, pursued the quartet and effected citizen arrest on the suspects.

The alleged assault happens when there is chaos in the mining sector caused by the notorious machete gangs popularly known as Mashurugwi or Al Sabab.

Machete gangs have all along been torturing, killing and or robbing miners and members of the public, particularly in mining towns until recently when reports suggested that they were even invading cities including Harare.

Economic analysts have warned that the anarchy in the mining sector might scare off potential investors and also the country risked losing potential revenue as performance is affected by the violence.

-Newsday

By A Correspondent- A man from Chidobe outside Victoria Falls town has been hospitalised with fractured ribs after he was assaulted by a neighbour.

Mr Lungisani Weza (41) of BH36 under Chief Mvuthu had confronted his neighbour Fanuel Sibanda (40) about a herd of cattle that had grazed his maize crop.

Sibanda allegedly responded by assaulting Mr Weza with a knobkerrie on the ribs.

The incident, which happened last year, only came to court this week as police were still carrying out investigations.

Sibanda pleaded not guilty to assault when he appeared before Victoria Falls magistrate Ms Rangarirai Gakanje. He told the court that he acted in self-defence after Mr Weza confronted him armed with an axe and a log.

“I was about to drive my herd of cattle away when he followed me carrying a log and axe. He hit me once on my left shoulder and that is when I snatched the log from him,” said Sibanda. The magistrate remanded Sibanda out of custody on his own cognisance to February 27.

Prosecuting, Mr Onias Nyathi said the two neighbours had a misunderstanding after the complainant’s cattle strayed into the accused’s field.

“On 7 January 2019, Mr Weza went to his field around 5pm to drive out the accused’s herd of cattle that had strayed into the field. Upon arrival, he saw the accused and questioned him why he was leaving his cattle feeding on his crops. The accused person went on to assault the complainant by striking him several times on the head and the ribs using a knobkerrie,” said Mr Nyathi.

He said Mr Weza suffered three broken ribs and sustained a swollen left hand.  He was taken to  Victoria Falls Hospital before being transferred to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo. Sibanda was arrested after a report was made to the police.

-StateMedia