FC Platinum registered their first point in CAF Champions League Group A when they drew 1-1 with African football giants Al Ahly at Barbourfields Stadium.
FC Platinum had a good start and opened the scoring in Stanely Ngala in the 25th minute.
The Zimbabwean league champions went into the break leading. However Al Ahly went level in the 52nd mins through Marwan Mohsen.
The result sees FC Platinum remain at the bottom of Group B but with at least a point. Al Ahly still lead with 7 points only a point ahead Al -Hilal and Etoile Du Sahel who meet in a late kick off.
In the political party a political commissar or political officer is a supervisory officer responsible for the political education (ideology) and organization of the party, they are assigned to, and intended to ensure people’s control of their party.
People’s control of the party is a doctrine in a party that places ultimate responsibility for a party’s strategic decision-making in the hands of the people rather than the few at the top.
This is overseen through the implementations of the resolutions of the conference. This was Victor Matemadanda’s first conference as tete ve musangano.
Comrade Matemadanda confirmed that the people’s control ideal is “the proper subordination of a competent, top leadership to the ends of policy as determined by people authority.
Matemadanda vows to resuscitate the ZANU PF slogan that “ZANU VANHU, VANHU I ZANU”
People’s control is often seen as a prerequisite feature of a stable liberal democracy.
Our principle is that the people command the party and the Party commands the government.
The civil servants regardless of their party must be commanded by the ruling party. So when Matemadanda challenged the civilians he is in his right place and in the position of the party.
Matemadanda vowed to make his department function and its wings must reign in the civil servants and make the government function.
Matemadanda is powered by his zeal to work and see a greater change to this end the whole commissariat department is on its feet on the ground running.
The 18th Zanu-PF Annual National People’s Conference in Goromonzi closed after a week of intensive and fruitful deliberations.
It could not have been possible without people so Matemadanda as the PC understands people because he came from the people and munhu we vanhu. He understands what people wants.
The commissariat is changing the face of ZANU PF and you make it a party of the people driven by the people.
Therefore, it is critical for all the relevant authorities to stay fully engaged and support policies and resolutions conference has come up with.
Cyclone Matemadanda is clearing and cleaning from party structures and spreading the wings to the civil servants because the party is above the government.
With the party being in charge of government It was encouraging to hear that many departments and organisations already have made commitments to streamline imports and prioritise local production. They have committed to sweep out lazy civil servants and those who work against the government.
With Comrade Matemadanda as tete ve Musangano the time of lazy civil servants is over.
But this is only going to happen if Government, especially its relevant departments, stays on that path. The conference endorsed as a resolution that The Party is above government. The party controls directs and is above government.
Government ministers at selected from a pool of competent elected representatives.
In that spirit the party forms the government of the day So the government being a creation of the party must not lead the party.
The party must take the leading role. in order to serve the electorate the government must deliver so the party must supervise the government. the government must therefore serve the party over and above all.
Being that as it may it becomes easier for the party resolutions to be implemented by the government to the best interest of the people.
Minister Mthuli announced the end of the austerity measures. This is a welcome position and any project which is brought up will be funded.
Zimbabwe is expected to have an economic boom as austerity measures are now yielding fruits.
We need to intensify our efforts in these and other areas, and implement conference resolutions in order to attain such ambitious objectives.
It is also very clear that implementation of conference resolutions is closely linked to economic processes, and so is good governance at all levels, which facilitates implementation of economic policy.
It is therefore clear that a political situation must be reached in-order to achieve the best economic performance.
During the session issues related to good governance were highlighted not only in the dedicated session, but are also relevant in all other priority areas for action.
More so that the party is above government.
Sharing experiences and lessons learned was mentioned throughout the week of the conference.
This is a crucial part of meaningful implementation, follow-up and monitoring of the economy, and should be done more intensively at all levels by the party.
Comrade Matemadanda declared corruption as an enemy of the state. There is a big task thrown on his shoulders he will have to be a bull and pull through.
With a view to ensuring full engagement of all stakeholders, Zanu-PF discussed a comprehensive roadmap for implementation, follow-up and monitoring of the action programme regarding corruption and cash shortages.
Mainstreaming the economy to suit national development strategies is one of the most urgent tasks at hand. The party needs full support in this respect.
Building on the country experiences, the implementation and follow-up component needs to be strengthened, involving all relevant structures.
Establishment of a working group on the indicators to monitor the implementation of the objectives, goals and targets of the party is also necessary.
Cde Matemadanda is tasked with a mandate to recruit more cadres and more voting cadres.
The restructuring of the party now underway is meant to take stock of the party and while making it friendly and easy to join the people’s party ZANU PF.
Cde Matemadanda is open to ideas and he is an open minded man who will use all Morden skills to recruit and enhance the revolutionary party.
Specific follow-up measures, which include the commissariat department working with the youth to set the ZANU PF lamp ablaze.
In addition, the party also needs to keep the momentum of engaging all stakeholder groups and during the conference the groups which were anti ZANU PF came to support ZANU PF and gave
Solidarity speeches.
It is important that conference resolutions be implemented so that we achieve that much-needed economic turnaround.
Conference should not be a mere event but a proper barometer of our work.
The survival of the party must justify the calling of a next conference.
After the conference, something must be seen to be happening.
A complete turn and good fortune must be witnessed.
A conference must yield fruits and must be a focal point of progress.
The way forward should be to walk the talk and reach the destination.
Matemadanda is the man who can walk the talk and reach the end.
Matemadanda is a calculating politician who is humble and down to earth. He reaches to every person regardless of his social background.
There is a unity of purpose within the party Matemadanda and his department are cultivating the unity and strength.
Since the party is above the government the conference becomes supreme to the government and the conference is set to be the supervisory meeting scrutinising the workings of the government.
The ingenious of Matemadanda is seen in the way the party won all the bye elections in local government and parliament.
Within a short period War Veterans have for the first time felt wanted and guardians of the party.
The man who has been tasked by the president to oversee the well-being of the party Victor Matemadanda.
Now the MDC and all opposition parties far below in ratings tremble and hide as the mighty ZANU PF thunders across the skies of politics.
In the few bye elections in Matemadanda’s time there was never a complaint of violence.
A very soft but serious crushing giant Matemadanda will steer the party ahead to 2023. ED will walk in the political park levelled and shovelled by the commissariat department under the capable leadership of Victor Matemadanda. The president comrade ED Mnangagwa will never regret the trust he bestowed in Matemadanda.
Surely the president in his wisdom made a wise choice in Matemadanda and the fruits are getting ripe.
2023 ED will be there
The Zimparks rangers who were killed by suspected Zambian nationals were buried yesterday, The Herald reports. Timothy Tembo was buried in Kariba while Chidumo Mabarani was buried in Gokwe.
At Tembo’s burial In Kariba,
Zimparks deputy director-general Geoffreys Matipano expressed Zimparks sadness over the unfortunate incident and said:
This is a very unfortunate incident and as Parks we are very much concerned with our people’s safety. These are our workers, these are rangers who were on duty. This is national duty, protecting the natural resource, including wildlife and fish.
We are aware that the incident was perpetrated by people from across the border.
This issue is being handled by appropriate structures
Tembo and Mabarani were killed by the poachers they had apprehended .
Their bodies were retrieved from Lake Kariba on Tuesday. -The Herald
By A Correspondent News on the web is that Mnangagwa is going for his annual leave and will leave Chiwenga as Acting President.
The thing is though, Chiwenga himself is back in China for more panel beating which means Mohadi who is the other Vice President will probably be Acting Acting President.
Anyone who has seen Mohadi or heard about his stories will know that he is in worse shape than the other two.
One could say Mohadi is in worse shape than Mugabe who is dead, and few would argue otherwise. Lord knows how he got that job. It’s another reminder that Zimbabweans are ruled by the gun not intelligence or competence.
Back to Mnangagwa, well, he is going on his annual leave, we are being told. Question is, leave from what? What does he actually do when he is ‘working’? Let’s see. When he took the presidency he spoke about trade deals worth billions of dollars which never materialised.
Then we saw him taking a 25 car motorcade to grand open a canteen at Zanu pf headquarters.
More recently, we have seen him at his farm, one of 200 probably, feeding fish alongside a woman whose name I will not mention for obvious reasons.
I suppose when he is doing these things he does less damage to the country. It’s what he does behind the scenes which has led to the deaths and suffering of many citizens e.g sending soldiers to kill protestors, the abductions and the corruption. My point is, in front of the cameras Mnangagwa looks like a fool wearing a scarf, but behind the scenes he is a manipulative and extremely dangerous man.
Him going on annual leave means that he will have more time in the shadows to create havoc and suffering. We should all be worried.
By A Correspondent- Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Kazembe Kazembe has assured the nation that machete wielding gangs will not be tolerated.
Speaking soon after the arrest of a 14 member machete wielding gang in Mazowe on Wednesday Kazembe said police will maintain law and order.
“Zimbabweans are naturally peace loving people,the police will carry out their mandate to ensure there is law and order, “Kazembe said.
“We also have a collective responsibility as Zimbabweans to ensure there is peace and stability in our one and only country.”
We would want to see artisanal miners carry out their work legally and in an orderly and conducive environment,it is this crime being perpetrated by the machete weilding gangs which will not be tolerated,” he added.
Meanwhile, the 14 suspects have appeared before Bindura provincial magistrate Tinashe Ndokera yesterday who denied them bail and remanded them in custody.
Zambian top-flight club Lumwana Radiants have unveiled Dominic Chungwa and Kelvin Bingala as their new signings.
Chungwa and Bingala join the side on two-year contracts from CAPS United and Herentals respectively.
The pair become the latest Zimbabwean players to cross north of Zambezi after the recently crowned Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Soccer Star of the Year Joel Ngodzo joined BuildCon last week.Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe Divine Destiny leader Bishop Ancelimo Magaya has described the late Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe as an enlightened despot compared to his predecessor President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In an exclusive interview with ZimEye, Bishop Magaya said Mugabe was subtle in his conduct unlike the current leader who is “openly vernomous and cruel”.
He said:
“Things have not been well in Zimbabwe… We are in one of those cycles today where Zimbabwe continues to suffer under the regime in this case headed by the current President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is a different face but certainly no different.
The system, we still have toxic bloodstream infact, we are in a worse off situation. Well you will note that both Mugabe and Mnangagwa, they are principally born of the same mother, ideologically they belong together in terms of the foundations of wickedness, they belong together in terms of their being driven by their hunger and insatiable thirst, they are born of the same mother, they belong together.
Mugabe was, he was somewhat an enlightened despot. He would be able to put up a false picture. People would be abducted during his times, people would be maimed.
The late Robert Mugabe was subtle, yes but they were done in a more discreet way… What is different is he (President Mnangagwa) is more vernomous. President Mugabe has never unleashed, to the best of my knowledge, unleashed soldiers into the streets, he never dispatched soldiers from the barracks to shoot at unarmed civilians. But President Mnangagwa has done that.
On 1 August 2018 and from the 14th to the 16th of January 2019, people were also killed and women reportedly raped when people demonstrated nationwide. So president Mnangagwa he is more brutal, he is more cruel. But also, there is a way in which Mugabe would be able to demonstrate a sense of being in charge, which is totally different from the current leader.”
Sitting under the shade of a big sausage tree I looked out into the 37 degree heat that characterized many parts of Zimbabwe this Christmas and New Year.
A mirage was running across my view and I alternately cursed and smiled at the Vervet monkey which sat in a tree nearby eating the avocado it had just stolen off the table.
Delicately peeling the avocado with its teeth, spitting the skin out bit by bit, the little monkey ate the entire fruit and then licked each of its fingers one by one.
I closed my eyes to imprint the memory, hoped one of the giant sausages in the tree above wouldn’t fall on me and thought about how this beautiful place and our desperate people were going to survive another year of Zimbabwe’s crisis situation.
So many Zimbabweans who came home for Christmas from the Diaspora saw for themselves the dire state we are in, heard the strange, unrealistic statements from government leaders and listened to the desperate stories told by their families who are trying to survive the collapse of our country for the second time in a decade.
They heard the words of Zimbabwe’s President last week. Speaking to residents in Harare’s high density suburb of Kuwadzana the President created a storm of criticism when people asked him about the unaffordable price of meat.
The President told them they should eat vegetables instead of meat, because his doctor had told him that vegetables were good for you.
Meanwhile this week a 1.5 kg chicken is priced at Z$104 and a single kg of locally grown carrots, in an unmarked, unlabelled plastic bag in a major supermarket was priced at Z$53.99. For countless Zimbabweans earning less than Z$500 a month, even a single bag of carrots has become a luxury in January 2020.
Perhaps the President or his POLAD advisors (who are now asking for ‘all terrain vehicles’) haven’t been into the supermarkets themselves lately or perhaps they’ve forgotten what it’s like to earn the equivalent of US$28 a month, less than a dollar a day.
Zimbabweans home for Christmas heard about the imminent crisis in our education system. In a few days time the new school year starts here but teachers unions are saying their members aren’t going to work unless their salaries are at least equivalent to what they were this time last year.
Teachers are currently earning around Z$1,000 a month before deductions leaving them going home with the equivalent of US$40 – 60 a month. This time last year they were earning in US dollars and taking home US$450 – 500.
If teachers salaries were pegged to the same US dollar amount they were earning last year, they should be taking home around Z$8,000 a month. To put these figures in perspective, the recently released Poverty Datum Line for a family of five is Z$3,700; teachers are currently earning one quarter of that amount. It’s a dire situation and as diabolical for teachers as it is for parents.
This is what parents are facing as they try to get their children ready for school next week. These are the current costs for a thirteen year old boy starting senior school in Form One at a government school in my home town this January 2020.
Fees Z$950 for one term.
Uniform Z$1341, consisting of one shirt, one pair shorts, one tie, one jersey, one blazer and one pair of shoes .
Sports kit: Z$500 (one T shirt, one pair shorts one pair tennis shoes) 20 Exercise writing books: Z$400
Total so far Z$3,191; no room to buy a single change of clothes, satchel, pens, pencils, lunch box, drink bottle, rain coat, calculator, dictionary or any of the other extras needed.
This boy’s Mum earns Z$400 a month and so all of it is out of reach for her. And the insult on top of this? The teacher tells the parent: “for us to ‘teach nicely’ your child can give us US$10.”
As I sat under the sausage tree thinking about the teacher’s words, I understood that the tragic irony here is that desperate teachers soliciting bribes from desperate parents aren’t even earning enough to educate their own children.
Meanwhile a week into 2020 multiple hundreds of people are queuing for travel documents to get out of Zimbabwe and go to neighbouring countries where they hope to get jobs and send money home to keep their families alive.
In my home town there were so many people trying to get travel documents that they had to queue in a dusty open space across the road from the passport complex. Waiting in lines four deep; waiting to get out, waiting for a normal life..
From the Beitbridge border we heard that Zimbabweans going back to South Africa, back to their jobs, were stuck in two kilometer long vehicle queues and when they got to the front they waited on foot for 8 – 12 hours to get their passports stamped.
Officials said that 35,000 people crossed the border legally in one day last week and we wonder how many thousands more crawled under and over the fences and razor wire to get away from Zimbabwe, our beautiful, broken country.
As troubled as we are in Zimbabwe our hearts go out to all our friends and family in Australia suffering in the devastating fires ravaging the country; you are part of our Disapora and not forgotten. And to all our family and friends from the Diaspora who came home this Christmas, gave moral support and words of comfort, or sent goods and treats home for their families, thank you.
Until next time, thank you for reading this Letter From Zimbabwe, now in its 20th year, and my books about life in Zimbabwe
ZANU PF legislator, Dexter Nduna has attracted the wrath of the family of an 80-year-old granny and her 16-year-old grandchild who were sexually violated before being killed in Chegutu by suspected machete gangs known as Mashurugwi or Al Shabab after he took selfies with the body of a teenage girl.
Nduna’s actions come after police warned members of the public against posting pictures or videos of accident scenes saying they would result in unintended problems such as trauma to families of those involved in accidents.
Responding to Nduna’s tweet, ZiFM Stereo presenter Patience Musa, a niece of the murdered granny, said:
Member of Parliament Dexter Nduna @DexterNduna … you owe my family an apology.
Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa also responded to the insensitive pictures saying that Nduna had crossed the line and was going to “expose” him.
Other bloggers questioned Nduna’s sanity and asked for his removal from office.
Meanwhile, Nduna has apologised for taking the pictures and urged authorities to take action to apprehend the murderers.
Credit: Daily News
Lets unite in our numbers & confront massacre of our people by government sponsored Amashurugwi_
Our movement has mandate to be a weapon in the hands of the oppressed people of Zimbabwe. We are a beacon of hope & inspiration for a generation that seeks to fight for its emancipation.
The battle is butressed fought and won by mass mobilization and unity of the masses.
To this date at least 300 people have been killed by machete welding, Owen Mudha Ncube led and Mnangagwa owned ama Shurugwi gangs.
Law enforcement officers cannot touch them because they are owned by the president himself.
If we as the masses of Zimbabwe don’t put a stop to it, we will all perish. You might read about it today and tomorrow they will be at your door step and butcher you and your entire family.
We can upon all iMovement Yabantu members in your millions let’s get up and act.
Those of us who work for international media outlets let’s bring attention of the world to this genocide.
To our members who are human rights lawyers let’s bring the attention of the International Criminal Court on the genocide happening.
To our members from various political parties let’s unite for mass protests. We call on all political leaders who have the people of Zimbabwe at heart to call on their structures and lead from the front with us. Let us put our selfish interests aside.
To all our people, all of us, every one this is a call to you. Let’s all unite in one voice & say zvakwana| sokwanele. Do not wait until the machetes are at your door step.
They will deploy soldiers on us on the streets but they will not kill us all. We have more than 1 million people who have joined imovement yabantu, consider this an instruction *” Mobilize Mobilize for Mass Action”.*
All of us have a duty to be the vanguard of our communities. *Mobilize Mobilize Mobilize*
To our soldiers, especially Commander Zimbabwe Defence Forces PV Sibanda, Mdawini is this the legacy you want to leave behind that the military you led could not defend the citizens from machete butchers. Saphela Sibanda shuwa wena ukhona, when they finally kill us all sifike sithini Ku Lookout Masuku?
The radical mass movement yabantu calls for mass action. If the military is not deployed to act against amashurugwi we will act.
Leading from the from the front we will announce on this platform dates and plans.
We are a weapon in the hands of the masses. We are very confident of our mass mobilization capacity.
By A Correspondent- Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Kazembe Kazembe has assured the nation that machete wielding gangs will not be tolerated.
Speaking soon after the arrest of a 14 member machete wielding gang in Mazowe on Wednesday Kazembe said police will maintain law and order.
“Zimbabweans are naturally peace loving people,the police will carry out their mandate to ensure there is law and order, “Kazembe said.
“We also have a collective responsibility as Zimbabweans to ensure there is peace and stability in our one and only country.”
We would want to see artisanal miners carry out their work legally and in an orderly and conducive environment,it is this crime being perpetrated by the machete wielding gangs which will not be tolerated,” he added.
Meanwhile, the 14 suspects have appeared before Bindura provincial magistrate Tinashe Ndokera yesterday who denied them bail and remanded them in custody.
By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe Divine Destiny leader Bishop Ancelimo Magaya has said the late Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe was an enlightened despot compared to his predecessor President Emmerson Mnangagwa. whose rule reflects that he is not in charge.
In an exclusive interview with ZimEye, Bishop Magaya said Mugabe was subtle in his conduct unlike the current leader who is “openly vernomous, cruel and yet not in charge “.
He said:
“Things have not been well in Zimbabwe… We are in one of those cycles today where Zimbabwe continues to suffer under the regime in this case headed by the current President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is a different face but certainly no different.
The system, we still have toxic bloodstream infact, we are in a worse off situation. Well you will note that both Mugabe and Mnangagwa, they are principally born of the same mother, ideologically they belong together in terms of the foundations of wickedness, they belong together in terms of their being driven by their hunger and insatiable thirst, they are born of the same mother, they belong together.
Mugabe was, he was somewhat an enlightened despot. He would be able to put up a false picture. People would be abducted during his times, people would be maimed.
The late Robert Mugabe was subtle, yes but they were done in a more discreet way… What is different is he (President Mnangagwa) is more vernomous. President Mugabe has never unleashed, to the best of my knowledge, unleashed soldiers into the streets, he never dispatched soldiers from the barracks to shoot at unarmed civilians. But President Mnangagwa has done that.
On 1 August 2018 and from the 14th to the 16th of January 2019, people were also killed and women reportedly raped when people demonstrated nationwide. So president Mnangagwa he is more brutal, he is more cruel. But also, there is a way in which Mugabe would be able to demonstrate a sense of being in charge, which is totally different from the current leader.”
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba has dismissed as gibberish reports that his boss was under house arrest.
He was responding to a report by an online publication claiming that Mnangagwa had been put under house arrest by the military at the orders of his Deputy Constantino Chiwenga.
“Ratings gibberish,” said Charamba reacting to the report.
Instead Charamba said Mnangagwa came back briefly to office from his three week leave to meet members of the Presidential Advisory Council.
“His Excellency the President, Cde E.D. Mnangagwa briefly came back from his annual leave to meet with representatives of the Presidential Advisory Council, PAC. PAC which is set to hold its inaugural meeting for 2020 year in early February, sought to get direction on Government policy and programmes for the year that has just begun,” said Charamba.
“In his brief to PAC representatives, the President intimated that 2020 is the year of productivity and growth on the back of reforms and liberalization measures implemented in 2019. Govt would seek to pay close attention on sector-specific policies both for inner consistency and cross-sectoral harmony and linkage to the overall quest for productivity and growth.
“Special emphasis will be placed on enabling energy sector in the double sense of power and fuel to ensure this critical enabler does….not hamper productivity and growth.
Additional focus will be placed on infrastructural projects, with Govt urging PAC to use its influence and stature to enthuse private sector participation in infrastructural programmes.”
By A Correspondent- The 40 machete-wielding illegal gold panners who besieged a police base in Gokwe North in an attempt to rescue their counterparts who had been arrested for armed robbery, have been remanded in custody.
It emerged in court that nine panners had been arrested for robbery and the 40 stormed Zenda Police Base to free them.
They were remanded in custody to today for bail hearing by Gokwe regional Magistrate Musaiona Shortgame who was sitting at Nembudziya Circuit Court.
The accused are facing charges of obstructing or defeating the course of justice.
The nine others they were trying to rescue who are facing armed robbery charges were remanded in custody to January 15 for trial.
Prosecuting, Mr Liberty Chimwaradze told the court that on January 6 this year, around 5PM, police details manning Zenda Police base arrested nine panners who were moving around in a Toyota Wish armed with machetes, in connection with a robbery case at Mums Gold Mine in Gokwe North.
The following day, 10 police officers were deployed to escort the accused persons from Zenda Police Base to ZRP Nembudziya.
The police later received information that there were two commuter omnibuses full of armed artisanal miners from Kadoma on their way to rescue the arrested accused persons who are part of their gang known as Branco.
Within minutes, the two commuter omnibuses approached the police base.
“The accused persons who were numbering 40 and armed with machetes, axes, shovels, picks and knobkerries besieged the police base demanding the release of their colleagues,” Mr Chimwaradze told the court.
The accused persons, the court further heard, charged towards the vehicle which was still parked outside with the nine accused and attempted to open the doors so that their colleagues could escape.
They threatened to attack the cops if they did not obey their instructions.
As they moved closer, the police fired warning shots in the air ordering the accused persons to surrender but they did not comply.
Police eventually fired shots at the gang resulting in two members of the gang being seriously injured.
The rest of the gang members were arrested as they tried to flee from the scene.
By A Correspondent- Marry Chiwenga has approached the courts seeking an order compelling her estranged husband and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga to allow her access to their three children and matrimonial home in Harare’s Borrowdale suburb.
According to papers filed at the High Court on Thursday by her lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, Marry said after she was granted bail on Monday, she was barred from accessing her matrimonial home at number 614 Nick Price Drive, Borrowdale Brooke and children by soldiers from the Presidential Guard.
Marry was granted bail, after spending almost a month in remand prison, on Monday on a litany of charges including externalising cash, attempting to kill Chiwenga, corruption and other charges
Marry said the soldiers, led by a Lieutenant Colonel Mangezi told her that they had strict instructions from Chiwenga not to let anyone in and out of the premises without his express permission.
Mtetwa said Chiwenga’s conduct was in violation of a court order granting Marry bail part of whose conditions was that she stays at her matrimonial home until her case is concluded by the courts.
She accused Chiwenga of abusing his position as Vice President to persecute Marry despite the fact that the courts were yet to conclude their divorce and the attempted murder charges.
In the papers Marry also alleged that soldiers acting on the instructions of Chiwenga on Wednesday blocked Marry from accessing her business premises Orchid Gardens in Domboshava.
In her sworn affidavit, Marry said her children aged 8, 7 and 5 were all minors and needed the love and care of their mother.
Chiwenga’s lawyers are yet to respond to the suit.
By A Correspondent- Zanu PF legislator, Dexter Nduna has attracted the wrath of the family of an 80-year-old granny and her 16-year-old grandchild who were sexually violated before being killed in Chegutu by suspected machete gangs known as Mashurugwi or Al Shabab after he took selfies with the body of a teenage girl.
Nduna’s actions come after police warned members of the public against posting pictures or videos of accident scenes saying they would result in unintended problems such as trauma to families of those involved in accidents.
Responding to Nduna’s tweet, ZiFM Stereo presenter Patience Musa, a niece of the murdered granny, said:
Member of Parliament Dexter Nduna @DexterNduna … you owe my family an apology.
Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa also responded to the insensitive pictures saying that Nduna had crossed the line and was going to “expose” him.
Other bloggers questioned Nduna’s sanity and asked for his removal from office. Meanwhile, Nduna has apologised for taking the pictures and urged authorities to take action to apprehend the murderers
U . S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the decision by Britain’ s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan to step back from royal duties was “ sad . ”
Trump sent the “ strong message ” to Britain’ s Queen Elizabeth II in an interview with Fox . Britain’ s Queen Elizabeth II , who is Harry ’ s grandmother , was reportedly not consulted before the pair announced their decision to seek a lower profile , build financial independence and divide their time between Britain and North America .
“ I don ’ t want to get into the whole thing . I just have such respect for the Queen I don ’ t think this should be happening to her , ” Trump added in an interview with Fox News that was partially aired on Friday.
The couple said they plan to restrict media access and withdraw from a rota system for press coverage of the royal family.
Buckingham Palace said discussions were ongoing with the couple, who are officially known as the duke and duchess of Sussex .
The surprise announcement came after they had denounced intrusive and inaccurate media reporting , as well as the vitriol directed toward them on social media , including racist attacks against U . S. -born Meghan, whose mother is black .
In an interview last year with the British newspaper The Sun , Trump called Meghan “ nasty” after finding out that she did not support his election .
“Why We Shot Down Ukranian Boeing 737-800 Plane” – Iran
“The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake,” Rouhani said on Twitter.
“Armed Forces’ internal investigation has concluded that regrettably, missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people.”…..IRAN
Iran said on Saturday its armed forces “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed after taking off from Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard.
President Hassan Rouhani said a military investigation had found “missiles fired due to human error” brought down the Boeing 737 on Wednesday, calling it an “unforgivable mistake”.
The about-turn came after officials in Iran had categorically denied Western claims that the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) airliner had been struck by a missile in a catastrophic error.
The plane, which had been bound for Kiev, slammed into a field shortly after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport before dawn on Wednesday.
It came only hours after Iran’s armed forces launched a wave of missiles at bases hosting American forces in Iraq in response to the killing of Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran’s top generals, in a US drone strike.
Iran had come under mounting pressure to allow a “credible” investigation after video footage emerged appearing to show the plane being hit by a fast-moving object before a flash appears.
The Ukrainian and Canadian leaders called for accountability after Iran’s admission.
The armed forces were first to acknowledge the error, saying the Boeing 737 had been mistaken for a “hostile plane” at a time when enemy threats were at the highest level.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake,” Rouhani said on Twitter.
“Armed Forces’ internal investigation has concluded that regrettably, missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people.”
Iran ‘Saddened’
In a statement posted on the government’s website, Rouhani said Iran’s armed forces had been on alert for possible attacks by the Americans after the “martyrdom” of Soleimani.
“Iran is very much saddened by this catastrophic mistake and I, on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, express my deep condolences to the families of victims of this painful catastrophe,” he said.
Rouhani added he had ordered “all relevant bodies to take all necessary actions (to ensure) compensation” to the families of those killed.
“This painful incident is not an issue that can be overcome easily.”
He said, “the perpetrators of this unforgivable mistake will be prosecuted”.
“It is necessary to take necessary steps and measures to remove the weak points of the country’s defence systems so that such a catastrophe is never repeated again.”
The majority of passengers on UIA Flight PS752 were dual national Iranian-Canadians but also included Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons, and Swedes.
Demands For Justice
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded Saturday that Iran punish those responsible for the downing of the plane and pay compensation.
“We expect Iran… to bring the guilty to the courts,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on Facebook.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said closure and accountability were needed in the wake of the incident.
Trudeau also demanded “transparency and justice for the families and loved ones of the victims”.
“This is a national tragedy, and all Canadians are mourning together,” his office said in a statement.
The disaster came as tensions soared in the region after the Soleimani killing, and fears grew of an all-out war between Iran and its arch-enemy the United States.
Washington said the Soleimani strike was carried out to prevent “imminent”, large-scale attacks on American embassies.
Tehran had vowed, “severe revenge” for the killing of Soleimani before launching missiles at the bases in Iraq.
“Human error at the time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.
“Our profound regrets, apologies, and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.”
Iran has invited the United States, Ukraine, Canada, and others to join the crash investigation.
It is Iran’s worst civil aviation disaster since 1988 when the US military said it shot down an Iran Airplane over the Gulf by mistake, killing all 290 people on board.
Video footage of the UIA 737, which The New York Times said it had verified, emerged and appeared to show the moment the airliner was hit.
A fast-moving object is seen rising at an angle into the sky before a bright flash appears, which dims and then continues moving forward. Several seconds later, an explosion is heard and the sky lights up.
Many airlines from around the world canceled flights to and from Iran in the wake of the crash or rerouted flights away from Iranian airspace.
Nations around the world have called for restraint and de-escalation, and fears of a full-blown conflict have subsided after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran appeared to be standing down after targeting the US bases in Iraq.
Two senior officials in the Ministry of Defence and War Veterans, Peter Muchakazi the Director of Procurement and Kunofiwa Mervyn Madondo an accountant on Thursday appeared before Harare Magistrates’Courts facing fraud charges.
The duo reportedly made false claims that Defence House had received cleaning services from Maids on Wheels (Pvt) Ltd between March and June last year.
Muchakazi is said to have produced fake invoices which saw the ministry losing more than RTGS300 000.
Magistrate Francis Mapfumo granted Muchakazi ZWL5 000 bail while Madondo paid ZWL3 000.
Meanwhile, Danison Muvandi with whom the pair connived with to dupe the government is still at large.
The development comes at a time when president Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced that his administration will take stern action against corruption which is rampant in the country.
The Mountain Kingdom has found itself at the centre of a dramatic crime story threatening to further destabilise its politics.
Maesiah Thabane
Lesotho police reportedly confirmed on Friday night that their first lady, Maesiah Thabane, is now considered a fugitive after she allegedly dodged being questioned in the 2017 shooting case of her murdered love rival Lipolelo Thabane.
Earlier it had been reported that Maesiah Thabane had barricaded herself into the prime minister’s official residence in Maseru as police commissioner Holomo Molibeli told reporters they had an arrest warrant for her.
However, when they searched the residence, she could not be found, though Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane was reportedly there, alone in his bedroom, professing not to know where his wife was.
Maesiah married Thomas Thabane shortly after Lipolelo was killed aged 58. Thabane had been divorcing her when she was gunned down in her driveway on the eve of his inauguration in 2017.
They had been married since 1987 and had one daughter. They filed for divorce in 2012.
Lipolelo Thabane’s daughter, Nkoya Hlaele, went public late last year to accuse Maesiah Thabane of ordering her mother’s death.
AfricaTimes has now reported the prime minister faces accusation of trying to remove the country’s police commissioner, Holomo Molibeli, due to his dogged determination to pursue the case against Maesiah. Thabane has unsuccessfully tried to suspend Molibeli, putting him at odds with even his own political party, the All Basotho Convention.
Maesiah Thabane now reportedly fears for her life amid the ongoing political instability in the country.
Farai Dziva| Opposition leader Timothy Chiguvare says God has called him to lead Zimbabwe.
See statement below: PPPZ President now gearing himself to lead Zimbabweans to VICTORY and into the promised land of milk and honey , he is a born mass leader of terrific credentials , to him it’s a calling and he is following the direction of his calling of changing lives and of changing nations.
The PPPZ President Pastor Timothy Chiguvare strongly believes that leadership starts with the efficient management of yourself knowing where you belong and where you are going and then it comes to the accomplishment of an outstanding “TASK” a (FEAT= to a brave or a clever deed) going the extra mile ( the quality of your labour) Psalms 78 vs.72 )
The country’s football governing body ZIFA, has sent a message of support to Warriors captain Knowledge Musona as he prepares to join a new club in the recently opened January transfer window.
Musona(29), has had a nightmarish spell at Belgian side RSC Anderlecht but that will soon be a thing of the past as he is now training with a new club, KAS Eupen, ahead of a proposed move.
ZIFA’s communications department took to microblogging site Twitter to back the former Kaizer Chiefs man.
Stanley Ngala scored on his FC Platinum debut in the 1-1 draw against Egyptian giants Al Ahly on Saturday.
The game was a Champions League Group B fixture played at Barbourfields Stadium.
Ngala arrived at Zvishavane-based side last week after leaving Manica Diamonds at the end of 2019.
The forward netted in the 20th minute after the hosts had struggled to make meaningful raids in the opening part of the game. Last Jesi, another new signing, also caused some trouble upfront.
Al Ahly, on the other end, managed to hold the possession in the middle of the park but had to wait until the half hour mark to make their first effort on target.
The teams went to the break with the Platinum Boys in the lead.
However, some poor defending in the second period saw the hosts failing to control their first half momentum.
They survived an early scare but it was not going to be long when Marwan Mohsen restored parity in the 55th minute.
The game ended in a draw as FC Platinum picked their first point in Group B.
The virus infects the central nervous system, ultimately causing an inflammation of the brain and is always fatal once symptoms develop.
The rabies virus is present predominantly in the saliva of rabid animals and is usually transmitted from animal to animal and from animal to humans through the bite of a rabid animal.
Mode of transmission
All warm-blooded mammals are susceptible to rabies virus infection, but only a few species are important as reservoirs and vectors of the disease.
While bats are important as reservoirs in North America, and foxes in Europe, the chief reservoir species in Zimbabwe is the wild jackal. Rabid jackals will often and uncharacteristically encroach on human settlements and transmit the virus to domesticated animals and humans, through bites.
The infection of domesticated dogs and cats starts a typical rabies outbreak as more domesticated animals and people are put at risk. Cattle and other non-carnivore domestic animals can also infect humans although this is rare.
Apart from transmission through bites of infected animals, exposure to secretions especially saliva of infected animals directly into a fresh open wound or scratch or onto delicate mucous membranes will result in infection. Iatrogenic transmission through organ transplants has also been recorded.
Facts to note about rabies transmission:
One cannot get rabies by patting an animal
Saliva from an infected animal must get through the skin, usually from a bite, scratch, cut orwound.
If a person or animal is infected with the rabies virus, it generally takes 3 to 8 weeks for the virus to multiply and cause signs and symptoms of rabies. This is relative to the closeness of the bite site to the head.
In rare cases this period may be as short as few days or as long as several years.
The length of the incubation period depends in part on the wound severity, wound location in relation to the nerve supply, and relative distance from the brain amount and variant of the virus, the degree of protection provided by the clothing and other factors.
If rabies post-exposure immunizations are not begun before the infection progresses to the central nervous system, rabies is always fatal
An animal infected with rabies virus will not live beyond 10 days following onset of clinical signs.
Signs and symptoms of rabies in humans
In humans, the incubation period is highly variable and may be 3-8 weeks or more depending on the severity and site of the wound. Clinical signs of rabies are variable.
The early symptoms of rabies in people are similar to those of many other illnesses such as flu and these include
fever,
headache,
general weakness,
There may be also discomfort or a prickling or itching sensation at the site of bite.
These symptoms may last for days.
As the disease progresses, more specific symptoms appear and may include
insomnia,
symptoms of cerebral dysfunction,
anxiety, aggressiveness, hallucinations, confusion, agitation, hydrophobia (fear of water),
hyper-salivation (increase in saliva),dysphagia (difficult of swallowing)
Slight or partial paralysis, altered vocalization.
Progression to death is rapid and usually occurs specifically within days of the onset of neurological symptoms. Without medical attention after the onset of symptoms the duration of the illness is usually 2-6 days, sometimes longer. Death is usually caused by respiratory paralysis and known to be accelerated by convulsions.
In unvaccinated humans, rabies is always fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered before the onset of symptoms.
Symptoms of the paralytic form in animals
Change in behavior to docility Profuse salivation
Paralysis of the throat muscles and inability to swallow
Drooping of the lower jaw, in dogs and cattle
General paralysis, coma and death in a few hours
general weakness,
There may be also discomfort or a prickling or itching sensation at the site of bite.
These symptoms may last for days. As the disease progresses, more specific symptoms appear and may include
insomnia,
symptoms of cerebral dysfunction,
anxiety, aggressiveness, hallucinations, confusion, agitation, hydrophobia (fear of water),
hyper-salivation (increase in saliva),dysphagia (difficult of swallowing)
Slight or partial paralysis, altered vocalization.
Progression to death is rapid and usually occurs specifically within days of the onset of neurological symptoms.
In unvaccinated humans, rabies is always fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered before the onset of symptoms.
Confirmed case: a suspected case that is laboratory-confirmed
Signs of rabies in animals
In domestic animals the incubation period is generally 3-12 weeks, but can range from several days to months, rarely exceeding 6 months.
There are two forms of rabies in animals: the paralytic and the furious form
Symptoms of the paralytic form in animals
Change in behavior to docility
Profuse salivation
Paralysis of the throat muscles and inability to swallow
Drooping of the lower jaw, in dogs and cattle
General paralysis, coma and death in a few hours
Prevention measures
General prevention methods to be observed
Responsible pet ownership It is critical for owners to
Ensure that vaccination cover in all dogs, cats up-to-date at all times
comply with quarantine orders on any biting animals
Take the pet to a veterinarian to receive a rabies booster If pets come into contact with a
jackal
Keep all pets in some type of enclosure a house, fenced yard or kennel and not allowed them
to roam free.
Keep pets on a leash when they are outside their enclosure
Prevent uncontrolled breeding of dogs and cats
Approach the veterinarian for population control measures
Report any suspicious animal behaviour for veterinary investigation
Avoid attracting wild animals that might have rabies into your yard or home
Keep garbage bins covered with tight-fitting lids Do not leave pet food outdoors
Prevent animals from getting into your home by placing a cap on your chimney, keep garage
doors closed and eliminate places where animals can take up residency
Exclude bats from houses and structures near homes
Avoid contact with wild animals
If you encounter injured or orphaned wildlife, contact local animal control or a game warden
for assistance
Never touch or pick up a wild animal without gloves
Sick animals may be infected with rabies
Avoid contact with stray animals and animals you do not know
If you are bitten or possibly exposed to rabies
Immediately wash the wound thoroughly with lots of running water preferably warm using soap or povidone iodine solution.
This should not however be considered sufficient except where test results in animal samples are negative.
If you cannot confine the biting animal, pay close attention to what it looked like and where it went so this information can be quickly shared with veterinary officers or other persons involved with trying to locate the animal for observation.
Seek medical attention from a health care provider.
All animal bites should be reported to veterinary officer or the local health facility or the police.
Immunize any person with proven or probable exposure to rabies and administer rabies immunoglobulin in case of severe exposure
Pre-exposure prophylaxis
Humans at high risk (e.g. laboratory personnel, veterinarians, handlers, wildlife personnel) must
receive pre-exposure immunization
Pre-exposure vaccine regimen: 1 dose of Rabies vaccine, human diploid cell in IM on days 0, 7, 28 with booster every 2 years- for more information like/follow our Facebook page :Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
With many expecting him to perhaps succumb to the pressure and spotlight of being a target for English Premier League sides in the January transfer window, red-hot Zimbabwean striker Tinotenda Kadewere started 2020 the exact same way he ended 2019, scoring goals for Le Havre.
The 24-year-old struck again last night in his side’s crucial 1-0 win over Niort in their first game of 2020, his 16th minute goal taking his tally for the current campaign to 18.
Kadewere’s rise to the pinnacle of the French Ligue 2 goal scoring chart has culminated to interest from English Premier League sides Southampton and Crystal Palace, Turkish and Sottish giants Galatasaray and Celtic respectively.
His side have pegged him at £10 million, a figure which, judging by his performance this season, is somewhat justifiable.Soccer 24
Legendary former Barcelona and Spain midfield maestro Xavi Hernandez is in talks with the Catalan giants board as a potential replacement for current boss Enersto Valverde, reports have indicated.
The 2010 World Cup winner, who won every football title there is during his successful time at Nou Camp before moving to Qatar, reportedly held talks with Barcelona Sporting Director Eric Abidal this week.
According to ESPN, the defending LaLiga champions are ‘sounding out’ their former midfield as a possible replacement for Ernesto Valverde this summer.
The publication further claims that Abidal and CEO Oscar Grau met with the former Barca midfielder on Friday.Soccer24
The PPPZ President now gearing himself to lead Zimbabweans to VICTORY and into the promised land of milk and honey , he is a born mass leader of terrific credentials , to him it’s a calling and he is following the direction of his calling of changing lives and of changing nations.
The PPPZ President Pastor Timothy Chiguvare strongly believes that leadership starts with the efficient management of yourself knowing where you belong and where you are going and then it comes to the accomplishment of an outstanding “TASK” a (FEAT= to a brave or a clever deed) going the extra mile ( the quality of your labour) Psalms 78 vs.72 )
Farai Dziva| Opposition leader Timothy Chiguvare says God has called him to lead Zimbabwe.
See statement below:
PPPZ President now gearing himself to lead Zimbabweans to VICTORY and into the promised land of milk and honey , he is a born mass leader of terrific credentials , to him it’s a calling and he is following the direction of his calling of changing lives and of changing nations.
The PPPZ President Pastor Timothy Chiguvare strongly believes that leadership starts with the efficient management of yourself knowing where you belong and where you are going and then it comes to the accomplishment of an outstanding “TASK” a (FEAT= to a brave or a clever deed) going the extra mile ( the quality of your labour) Psalms 78 vs.72 )
Zambian top-flight club Lumwana Radiants have unveiled Dominic Chungwa and Kelvin Bingala as their new signings.
Chungwa and Bingala join the side on two-year contracts from CAPS United and Herentals respectively.
The pair become the latest Zimbabwean players to cross north of Zambezi after the recently crowned Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Soccer Star of the Year Joel Ngodzo joined BuildCon last week.Soccer 24 Zimbabwe
By A Correspondent |News on the web is that Mnangagwa is going for his annual leave and will leave Chiwenga as Acting President.
The thing is though, Chiwenga himself is back in China for more panel beating which means Mohadi who is the other Vice President will probably be Acting Acting President.
Anyone who has seen Mohadi or heard about his stories will know that he is in worse shape than the other two.
One could say Mohadi is in worse shape than Mugabe who is dead, and few would argue otherwise. Lord knows how he got that job. It’s another reminder that Zimbabweans are ruled by the gun not intelligence or competence.
Back to Mnangagwa, well, he is going on his annual leave, we are being told. Question is, leave from what? What does he actually do when he is ‘working’? Let’s see. When he took the presidency he spoke about trade deals worth billions of dollars which never materialised.
Then we saw him taking a 25 car motorcade to grand open a canteen at Zanu pf headquarters.
More recently, we have seen him at his farm, one of 200 probably, feeding fish alongside a woman whose name I will not mention for obvious reasons.
I suppose when he is doing these things he does less damage to the country. It’s what he does behind the scenes which has led to the deaths and suffering of many citizens e.g sending soldiers to kill protestors, the abductions and the corruption. My point is, in front of the cameras Mnangagwa looks like a fool wearing a scarf, but behind the scenes he is a manipulative and extremely dangerous man.
Him going on annual leave means that he will have more time in the shadows to create havoc and suffering. We should all be worried.
ZANU PF legislator, Dexter Nduna has attracted the wrath of the family of an 80-year-old granny and her 16-year-old grandchild who were sexually violated before being killed in Chegutu by suspected machete gangs known as Mashurugwi or Al Shabab after he took selfies with the body of a teenage girl.
Nduna’s actions come after police warned members of the public against posting pictures or videos of accident scenes saying they would result in unintended problems such as trauma to families of those involved in accidents.
Responding to Nduna’s tweet, ZiFM Stereo presenter Patience Musa, a niece of the murdered granny, said:
Member of Parliament Dexter Nduna @DexterNduna … you owe my family an apology.
Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa also responded to the insensitive pictures saying that Nduna had crossed the line and was going to “expose” him.
Other bloggers questioned Nduna’s sanity and asked for his removal from office.
Meanwhile, Nduna has apologised for taking the pictures and urged authorities to take action to apprehend the murderers.
Credit: Daily News
Lets unite in our numbers & confront massacre of our people by government sponsored Amashurugwi_
Our movement has mandate to be a weapon in the hands of the oppressed people of Zimbabwe. We are a beacon of hope & inspiration for a generation that seeks to fight for its emancipation.
The battle is butressed fought and won by mass mobilization and unity of the masses.
To this date at least 300 people have been killed by machete welding, Owen Mudha Ncube led and Mnangagwa owned ama Shurugwi gangs.
Law enforcement officers cannot touch them because they are owned by the president himself.
If we as the masses of Zimbabwe don’t put a stop to it, we will all perish. You might read about it today and tomorrow they will be at your door step and butcher you and your entire family.
We can upon all iMovement Yabantu members in your millions let’s get up and act.
Those of us who work for international media outlets let’s bring attention of the world to this genocide.
To our members who are human rights lawyers let’s bring the attention of the International Criminal Court on the genocide happening.
To our members from various political parties let’s unite for mass protests. We call on all political leaders who have the people of Zimbabwe at heart to call on their structures and lead from the front with us. Let us put our selfish interests aside.
To all our people, all of us, every one this is a call to you. Let’s all unite in one voice & say zvakwana| sokwanele. Do not wait until the machetes are at your door step.
They will deploy soldiers on us on the streets but they will not kill us all. We have more than 1 million people who have joined imovement yabantu, consider this an instruction *” Mobilize Mobilize for Mass Action”.*
All of us have a duty to be the vanguard of our communities. *Mobilize Mobilize Mobilize*
To our soldiers, especially Commander Zimbabwe Defence Forces PV Sibanda, Mdawini is this the legacy you want to leave behind that the military you led could not defend the citizens from machete butchers. Saphela Sibanda shuwa wena ukhona, when they finally kill us all sifike sithini Ku Lookout Masuku?
The radical mass movement yabantu calls for mass action. If the military is not deployed to act against amashurugwi we will act.
Leading from the from the front we will announce on this platform dates and plans.
We are a weapon in the hands of the masses. We are very confident of our mass mobilization capacity.
By Nomusa Garikai| It is not the first time that we are having a drought in Zimbabwe and we have always said in government that nobody will die of hunger and still no one is going to die of hunger in Zimbabwe,” said VP Mohadi after receiving newly appointed UN residence coordinator Maria Ribeiro.
“We are going to marshal all the resources that we have towards the provision of food for our people and if need be, then we will call other people like the World Food Programme (WFP) to assist us but definitely we are on top of the situation,” said Mohadi.
This is the arrogant defiance of a regime that knows it is not accountable to anyone. The WFP people are already in the country and have been feeding millions of Zimbabweans for a long time.
A few weeks ago the WFP was appealing for US$200 million to source food for 8 million Zimbabweans are otherwise facing starvation.
Of course, many Zimbabweans have died of starvation in the past and many more will died.
The WB reported that 90% of Zimbabweans are poor and 34% of them live in extreme poverty. It is common knowledge that many poor families have one meal a day comprising of maize meal porridge and vegetables. It is no surprise that many Zimbabweans are malnourished and many children have died of marasmus (a lack of protein and calories) and kwashiorkor (a lack of just protein).
Zimbabwe has very few reported cases of marasmus, kwashiorkor or other malnutrition related deaths not because there are none; every health worker, especially the foreign ones, know they will be in deep trouble if they reported the truth. Like so many other tyrannical regime, Zimbabwe has perfected the art of denying the truth even when it is staring them in the face!
“We are going to marshal all the resources to food for our people and if need be, then we will call other people like the World Food Programme (WFP)!” The WFP is already in the country and is feeding 8 millions, half the country’s population, and Zanu PF wants to claim the credit for it. How typical!
Sitting under the shade of a big sausage tree I looked out into the 37 degree heat that characterized many parts of Zimbabwe this Christmas and New Year.
A mirage was running across my view and I alternately cursed and smiled at the Vervet monkey which sat in a tree nearby eating the avocado it had just stolen off the table.
Delicately peeling the avocado with its teeth, spitting the skin out bit by bit, the little monkey ate the entire fruit and then licked each of its fingers one by one.
I closed my eyes to imprint the memory, hoped one of the giant sausages in the tree above wouldn’t fall on me and thought about how this beautiful place and our desperate people were going to survive another year of Zimbabwe’s crisis situation.
So many Zimbabweans who came home for Christmas from the Diaspora saw for themselves the dire state we are in, heard the strange, unrealistic statements from government leaders and listened to the desperate stories told by their families who are trying to survive the collapse of our country for the second time in a decade.
They heard the words of Zimbabwe’s President last week. Speaking to residents in Harare’s high density suburb of Kuwadzana the President created a storm of criticism when people asked him about the unaffordable price of meat.
The President told them they should eat vegetables instead of meat, because his doctor had told him that vegetables were good for you.
Meanwhile this week a 1.5 kg chicken is priced at Z$104 and a single kg of locally grown carrots, in an unmarked, unlabelled plastic bag in a major supermarket was priced at Z$53.99. For countless Zimbabweans earning less than Z$500 a month, even a single bag of carrots has become a luxury in January 2020.
Perhaps the President or his POLAD advisors (who are now asking for ‘all terrain vehicles’) haven’t been into the supermarkets themselves lately or perhaps they’ve forgotten what it’s like to earn the equivalent of US$28 a month, less than a dollar a day.
Zimbabweans home for Christmas heard about the imminent crisis in our education system. In a few days time the new school year starts here but teachers unions are saying their members aren’t going to work unless their salaries are at least equivalent to what they were this time last year.
Teachers are currently earning around Z$1,000 a month before deductions leaving them going home with the equivalent of US$40 – 60 a month. This time last year they were earning in US dollars and taking home US$450 – 500.
If teachers salaries were pegged to the same US dollar amount they were earning last year, they should be taking home around Z$8,000 a month. To put these figures in perspective, the recently released Poverty Datum Line for a family of five is Z$3,700; teachers are currently earning one quarter of that amount. It’s a dire situation and as diabolical for teachers as it is for parents.
This is what parents are facing as they try to get their children ready for school next week. These are the current costs for a thirteen year old boy starting senior school in Form One at a government school in my home town this January 2020.
Fees Z$950 for one term.
Uniform Z$1341, consisting of one shirt, one pair shorts, one tie, one jersey, one blazer and one pair of shoes .
Sports kit: Z$500 (one T shirt, one pair shorts one pair tennis shoes) 20 Exercise writing books: Z$400
Total so far Z$3,191; no room to buy a single change of clothes, satchel, pens, pencils, lunch box, drink bottle, rain coat, calculator, dictionary or any of the other extras needed.
This boy’s Mum earns Z$400 a month and so all of it is out of reach for her. And the insult on top of this? The teacher tells the parent: “for us to ‘teach nicely’ your child can give us US$10.”
As I sat under the sausage tree thinking about the teacher’s words, I understood that the tragic irony here is that desperate teachers soliciting bribes from desperate parents aren’t even earning enough to educate their own children.
Meanwhile a week into 2020 multiple hundreds of people are queuing for travel documents to get out of Zimbabwe and go to neighbouring countries where they hope to get jobs and send money home to keep their families alive.
In my home town there were so many people trying to get travel documents that they had to queue in a dusty open space across the road from the passport complex. Waiting in lines four deep; waiting to get out, waiting for a normal life..
From the Beitbridge border we heard that Zimbabweans going back to South Africa, back to their jobs, were stuck in two kilometer long vehicle queues and when they got to the front they waited on foot for 8 – 12 hours to get their passports stamped.
Officials said that 35,000 people crossed the border legally in one day last week and we wonder how many thousands more crawled under and over the fences and razor wire to get away from Zimbabwe, our beautiful, broken country.
As troubled as we are in Zimbabwe our hearts go out to all our friends and family in Australia suffering in the devastating fires ravaging the country; you are part of our Disapora and not forgotten. And to all our family and friends from the Diaspora who came home this Christmas, gave moral support and words of comfort, or sent goods and treats home for their families, thank you.
Until next time, thank you for reading this Letter From Zimbabwe, now in its 20th year, and my books about life in Zimbabwe
Five people were killed, while 12 others were injured when a Kadoma-bound Baker’s Inn truck and a Toyota Granvia travelling to Harare collided at the 123-kilometre peg along the Harare-Bulawayo Road yesterday. The accident is said to have happened after the delivery truck driver swerved and encroached into the oncoming traffic lane, resulting in a head-on collision.
Police are withholding the names of the deceased until their relatives have been informed. Deputy national police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Blessmore Chishaka confirmed the accident.
“Circumstances are that a male adult was driving a delivery truck along Harare-Bulawayo Road towards Kadoma with two passengers on board.
“On approaching the 123-kilometre peg, the truck driver swerved to the right encroaching into the lane of oncoming traffic resulting in a head-on collision with a Toyota Granvia that was travelling in the opposite direction.”
“The Toyota Granvia had 15 people on board and four people, including the driver, died on the spot while one other person died on admission at Kadoma Hospital.
“Two passengers who were in the truck and eight from the Toyota Granvia were injured. Four of the injured were referred to Kadoma Hospital and the other eight were referred to Chegutu Hospital.”
Police urged motorists to be cautious on the roads and to avoid overloading and speeding.
Lets unite in our numbers & confront massacre of our people by government sponsored Amashurugwi_
Our movement has mandate to be a weapon in the hands of the oppressed people of Zimbabwe. We are a beacon of hope & inspiration for a generation that seeks to fight for its emancipation.
The battle is butressed fought and won by mass mobilization and unity of the masses.
To this date at least 300 people have been killed by machete welding, Owen Mudha Ncube led and Mnangagwa owned ama Shurugwi gangs.
Law enforcement officers cannot touch them because they are owned by the president himself.
If we as the masses of Zimbabwe don’t put a stop to it, we will all perish. You might read about it today and tomorrow they will be at your door step and butcher you and your entire family.
We can upon all iMovement Yabantu members in your millions let’s get up and act.
Those of us who work for international media outlets let’s bring attention of the world to this genocide.
To our members who are human rights lawyers let’s bring the attention of the International Criminal Court on the genocide happening.
To our members from various political parties let’s unite for mass protests. We call on all political leaders who have the people of Zimbabwe at heart to call on their structures and lead from the front with us. Let us put our selfish interests aside.
To all our people, all of us, every one this is a call to you. Let’s all unite in one voice & say zvakwana| sokwanele. Do not wait until the machetes are at your door step.
They will deploy soldiers on us on the streets but they will not kill us all. We have more than 1 million people who have joined imovement yabantu, consider this an instruction *” Mobilize Mobilize for Mass Action”.*
All of us have a duty to be the vanguard of our communities. *Mobilize Mobilize Mobilize*
To our soldiers, especially Commander Zimbabwe Defence Forces PV Sibanda, Mdawini is this the legacy you want to leave behind that the military you led could not defend the citizens from machete butchers. Saphela Sibanda shuwa wena ukhona, when they finally kill us all sifike sithini Ku Lookout Masuku?
The radical mass movement yabantu calls for mass action. If the military is not deployed to act against amashurugwi we will act.
Leading from the from the front we will announce on this platform dates and plans.
We are a weapon in the hands of the masses. We are very confident of our mass mobilization capacity.
The man seen on camera being "exposed" by his wife with a girlfriend having been caught in a Canadian drinking hideout, is speaking today. Mr Jokonya told https://t.co/RMz9FsvEJW he will today announce his side of the story. Time: 5pm (UK time)
By A Correspondent- General of Prisons Major Paradzai Zimondi (Retired) said there were about 20 000 inmates across the country’s prisons and of these, only 500 were female.
He praised the First Lady’s ongoing empowerment initiatives which he said boded well for national development.
“ . . . as the ZPCS we are appreciative and indebted to the invaluable cooperation provided by both the local and external partners towards this massive project. Indeed, this is indispensable for ensuring the successful day-to-day operation of the envisaged Female Open Prison,” he said.
“Today’s ceremony signifies the take-off of the much-awaited construction of our first ever state-of-the-art female open prison not only in Zimbabwe, and not only in the Southern African region but also across our African continent. The establishment of the female open prison is in tandem with the transitional shift from the closed prison system into the more open correctional system.”
Minister of State for Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs Appolonia Munzverengwi could not hide her excitement.
“I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for your unprecedented grace to descend from various places and positions to come for this auspicious occasion in our province. Mashonaland East is overwhelmed by the magnitude of commitment and love that is shown even in the radiance in your faces,” she said.
To kick-start the prison project, Tinmac company owned by Deputy Minister of Youth, Sport, Art and Recreation Tino Machakaire donated five Brahmans, UMAA institute founder Dr Cleopas Kundiona weighed in with $10 000 and Minister Munzverengwi donated two Dorper sheep and two Boer goats.
The ceremony was attended by several Government officials and civic organisations.
By A Correspondent- The 40 machete-wielding illegal gold panners who besieged a police base in Gokwe North in an attempt to rescue their counterparts who had been arrested for armed robbery, have been remanded in custody.
It emerged in court that nine panners had been arrested for robbery and the 40 stormed Zenda Police Base to free them.
They were remanded in custody to today for bail hearing by Gokwe regional Magistrate Musaiona Shortgame who was sitting at Nembudziya Circuit Court.
The accused are facing charges of obstructing or defeating the course of justice.
The nine others they were trying to rescue who are facing armed robbery charges were remanded in custody to January 15 for trial.
Prosecuting, Mr Liberty Chimwaradze told the court that on January 6 this year, around 5PM, police details manning Zenda Police base arrested nine panners who were moving around in a Toyota Wish armed with machetes, in connection with a robbery case at Mums Gold Mine in Gokwe North.
The following day, 10 police officers were deployed to escort the accused persons from Zenda Police Base to ZRP Nembudziya.
The police later received information that there were two commuter omnibuses full of armed artisanal miners from Kadoma on their way to rescue the arrested accused persons who are part of their gang known as Branco.
Within minutes, the two commuter omnibuses approached the police base.
“The accused persons who were numbering 40 and armed with machetes, axes, shovels, picks and knobkerries besieged the police base demanding the release of their colleagues,” Mr Chimwaradze told the court.
The accused persons, the court further heard, charged towards the vehicle which was still parked outside with the nine accused and attempted to open the doors so that their colleagues could escape.
They threatened to attack the cops if they did not obey their instructions.
As they moved closer, the police fired warning shots in the air ordering the accused persons to surrender but they did not comply.
Police eventually fired shots at the gang resulting in two members of the gang being seriously injured.
The rest of the gang members were arrested as they tried to flee from the scene.
By A Correspondent- A report by the state media has claimed that some State universities that had increased tuition fees by more than 1 000 percent without Government approval have reverted to last semester fees as Government completes consultations on the issue.
Social media has been awash with statements of alleged fees increases by tertiary institutions, some as high as $51 000 per semester.
Only the Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) formally communicated the increased fee structure to students.
GZU had increased fees for block release classes from $1 300 to between $9 600 and $15 000 depending on the degree level.
The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation Science and Technology Development, Professor Amon Murwira yesterday said the Government was completing consultations and would make a formal announcement to students soon.
Speaking during a meeting with block release and cohort classes yesterday in Masvingo, GZU Vice Chancellor Professor Rungano Zvobgo said the university had reverted to the old fees.
“The fees will be determined by the Minister next week. As of now fees will be the same as last semester,” said Prof Zvobgo.
He advised students not to register until a decision on fees has been made by the Government but urged them to attend lectures.
“Students can pay the same fees but we are waiting for the Minister to give a formal statement about the fees structures. For registration you can not register now, you will register during the second block because we do not know when the minister will issue a formal statement on the fees structure,” said Prof Zvobgo.
A level 4:2 student who preferred anonymity said the meeting also tackled problems being faced by the students with the highlight of the meeting being the high fees increase. “We met the Vice Chancellor yesterday and the main issue was to do with fees. I feel relieved somehow because $9 600 was too much for me. We know that the Government will not approve these exorbitant fees,” she said.
The National University of Science and Technology’s (Nust) marketing and communication officer Mrs Lindiwe Nyoni said fees discussions are underway.
“Discussions are in progress and at the moment we are not sure if the fees will be increased or not. After all has been done we will inform our students,” said Mrs Nyoni.
Sources at Gwanda State University (GSU), Lupane State University (LSU) and at the University of Zimbabwe said the fees had not changed yet and classes are expected to resume in time. Efforts to get a comment from Midlands State University (MSU) Information and Public Relations acting Director Mr Reginald Nyango were fruitless as he did not respond to emailed questions.
Prof Murwira said Government is carrying out consultations with the responsible authorities to finalise the 2020 university fees proposals. “We will make a formal announcement after completing the consultations process.” On Tuesday, Prof Murwira said $15 000 was unbearable for most students. “Even after the review, the fees are not likely to exceed $5 000. Government will not approve exorbitant hikes,” he said.
By A Correspondent- Five people have died while 12 more were left nursing wounds when a Kadoma-bound Baker’s Inn truck and a Toyota Granvia collided along the Harare-Bulawayo Road on Friday.
The accident was confirmed by Deputy national police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Blessmore Chishaka who told the Herald that the Toyota Granvia had 15 people on board and four people, including the driver, died on the spot while one other person died on admission at Kadoma Hospital. Chishaka added:
Circumstances are that a male adult was driving a delivery truck along Harare-Bulawayo Road towards Kadoma with two passengers on board.
On approaching the 123-kilometre peg, the truck driver swerved to the right encroaching into the lane of oncoming traffic resulting in a head-on collision with a Toyota Granvia that was travelling in the opposite direction.
Chishaka also said that four of the injured were referred to Kadoma Hospital and the other eight were referred to Chegutu Hospital.
By A Correspondent- Vice President Kembo Mohadi has assured the nation that no one will die of hunger.
The state media reported that the VP said this during a courtesy visit made by United Nations resident coordinator Ms Maria Ribeiro to his offices in Harare (Friday).
He said:
The government will marshal all its resources to ensure that no one dies of hunger.
The VP’s remarks are coming in the midst of a dry spell that may precede a second drought after Zimbabwe experienced another drought in 2019, which left half the country in need of food aid.
United Nations is already appealing to other nations to help drought-stricken Zimbabwe as food aid might dry up by next month.
By A Correspondent- Zanu PF legislator, Dexter Nduna has attracted the wrath of the family of an 80-year-old granny and her 16-year-old grandchild who were sexually violated before being killed in Chegutu by suspected machete gangs known as Mashurugwi or Al Shabab after he took selfies with the body of a teenage girl.
Nduna’s actions come after police warned members of the public against posting pictures or videos of accident scenes saying they would result in unintended problems such as trauma to families of those involved in accidents.
Responding to Nduna’s tweet, ZiFM Stereo presenter Patience Musa, a niece of the murdered granny, said:
Member of Parliament Dexter Nduna @DexterNduna … you owe my family an apology.
Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa also responded to the insensitive pictures saying that Nduna had crossed the line and was going to “expose” him.
Other bloggers questioned Nduna’s sanity and asked for his removal from office. Meanwhile, Nduna has apologised for taking the pictures and urged authorities to take action to apprehend the murderers.
By A Correspondent- Spectator Index has reported that a Russian official has said that Iran must learn lessons from its downing of a Ukrainian plane.
The remarks come after the Iranian government has admitted that it shot down the Ukranian plane by mistake killing all the 176 passengers (mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians) and crew on board.
Previously, the Iranian government was saying that the plane caught fire before it crashed whilst the USA was saying that the Iranian army might have accidentally shot down the plane.
Ballistic missile experts have been saying that a Russian-made missile brought the plane down.
The developments are taking place when tensions between the USA and Iran are mounting.
By A Correspondent- Marry Chiwenga has approached the courts seeking an order compelling her estranged husband and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga to allow her access to their three children and matrimonial home in Harare’s Borrowdale suburb.
According to papers filed at the High Court on Thursday by her lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, Marry said after she was granted bail on Monday, she was barred from accessing her matrimonial home at number 614 Nick Price Drive, Borrowdale Brooke and children by soldiers from the Presidential Guard.
Marry was granted bail, after spending almost a month in remand prison, on Monday on a litany of charges including externalising cash, attempting to kill Chiwenga, corruption and other charges
Marry said the soldiers, led by a Lieutenant Colonel Mangezi told her that they had strict instructions from Chiwenga not to let anyone in and out of the premises without his express permission.
Mtetwa said Chiwenga’s conduct was in violation of a court order granting Marry bail part of whose conditions was that she stays at her matrimonial home until her case is concluded by the courts.
She accused Chiwenga of abusing his position as Vice President to persecute Marry despite the fact that the courts were yet to conclude their divorce and the attempted murder charges.
In the papers Marry also alleged that soldiers acting on the instructions of Chiwenga on Wednesday blocked Marry from accessing her business premises Orchid Gardens in Domboshava.
In her sworn affidavit, Marry said her children aged 8, 7 and 5 were all minors and needed the love and care of their mother.
Chiwenga’s lawyers are yet to respond to the suit.
Lets unite in our numbers and confront the massacre of our people by government sponsored Amashurugwi_
Our movement has mandate to be a weapon in the hands of the oppressed people of Zimbabwe. We are a beacon of hope & inspiration for a generation that seeks to fight for its emancipation.
The battle is butressed fought and won by mass mobilization and unity of the masses.
To this date at least 300 people have been killed by machete welding, Owen Mudha Ncube led and Mnangagwa owned ama Shurugwi gangs.
Law enforcement officers cannot touch them because they are owned by the president himself.
If we as the masses of Zimbabwe don’t put a stop to it, we will all perish. You might read about it today and tomorrow they will be at your door step and butcher you and your entire family.
We can upon all iMovement Yabantu members in your millions let’s get up and act.
Those of us who work for international media outlets let’s bring attention of the world to this genocide.
To our members who are human rights lawyers let’s bring the attention of the International Criminal Court on the genocide happening.
To our members from various political parties let’s unite for mass protests. We call on all political leaders who have the people of Zimbabwe at heart to call on their structures and lead from the front with us. Let us put our selfish interests aside.
To all our people, all of us, every one this is a call to you. Let’s all unite in one voice & say zvakwana| sokwanele. Do not wait until the machetes are at your door step.
They will deploy soldiers on us on the streets but they will not kill us all. We have more than 1 million people who have joined imovement yabantu, consider this an instruction *” Mobilize Mobilize for Mass Action”.*
All of us have a duty to be the vanguard of our communities. *Mobilize Mobilize Mobilize*
To our soldiers, especially Commander Zimbabwe Defence Forces PV Sibanda, Mdawini is this the legacy you want to leave behind that the military you led could not defend the citizens from machete butchers. Saphela Sibanda shuwa wena ukhona, when they finally kill us all sifike sithini Ku Lookout Masuku?
The radical mass movement yabantu calls for mass action. If the military is not deployed to act against amashurugwi we will act.
Leading from the from the front we will announce on this platform dates and plans.
We are a weapon in the hands of the masses. We are very confident of our mass mobilization capacity.
Sunningdale 1 Residents Association (S1RA) of Sunningdale 1, Harare, Zimbabwe has unearthed another Land Invasion behind Phillipi Circle and Boshoff drive (Ref: Architectural Diagram).
Currently City of Harare (Sunningdale District Office) has allowed street vending, environmental degradation, dumping and collects monthly revenue without even flighting an expression of interest to nearby Residents.
#LookClosely@Diagram #LookClosely@Picture
S1RA is appealing directly to each and every member of society to help fight Land Invasions and observe with keen interest and ambition to fight Corruption for the future generation.
I am “Akafanana Newe”, and my expectations are that we work together on key priority areas like Land, Environment, Water, Health, Shelter and Rights in 2020 and beyond!!!
This is Live and our appeal # technicalExpertise #psychoSocialSupport # support Sunningdale 1
By A Correspondent- A kombi was involved in an accident with a truck carrying bricks at Zuva service station along Seke road, Saturday morning.
The accident, which occurred around 10:00 am at the Keldon robot near Walter Magaya’ s church saw the kombi ramming into the truck carrying bricks which had made a u-turn and was coming from the service station and was going in the opposite direction towards Seke.
When this reporter arrived at the scene of the accident, other motorists were trying to assist the driver of the blue kombi who was trapped in his vehicle and was crying for help.
It however could not be immediately established what had transpired and how many passengers were injured in the accident.
This is a developing story. Refresh this page for latest updates.
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba has dismissed as gibberish reports that his boss was under house arrest.
He was responding to a report by an online publication claiming that Mnangagwa had been put under house arrest by the military at the orders of his Deputy Constantino Chiwenga.
“Ratings gibberish,” said Charamba reacting to the report.
Instead Charamba said Mnangagwa came back briefly to office from his three week leave to meet members of the Presidential Advisory Council.
“His Excellency the President, Cde E.D. Mnangagwa briefly came back from his annual leave to meet with representatives of the Presidential Advisory Council, PAC. PAC which is set to hold its inaugural meeting for 2020 year in early February, sought to get direction on Government policy and programmes for the year that has just begun,” said Charamba.
“In his brief to PAC representatives, the President intimated that 2020 is the year of productivity and growth on the back of reforms and liberalization measures implemented in 2019. Govt would seek to pay close attention on sector-specific policies both for inner consistency and cross-sectoral harmony and linkage to the overall quest for productivity and growth.
“Special emphasis will be placed on enabling energy sector in the double sense of power and fuel to ensure this critical enabler does….not hamper productivity and growth.
Additional focus will be placed on infrastructural projects, with Govt urging PAC to use its influence and stature to enthuse private sector participation in infrastructural programmes.”
Israel launched the attack on areas considered Iranian interests Friday morning.
File Photo
An Israeli airstrike on eastern Syria has killed more than eight fighters from Iraq’s Iran-backed Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Force – PMF).
A US drone strike also killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the PMF head, last week.
Israel launched the attack on areas considered Iranian interests Friday morning.
“Unidentified aircraft targeted vehicles and arms depots in the Albu Kamal area, causing a large explosion.
“At least eight Iraqi Hashed fighters were killed,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He said several others were wounded.
The Britain-based organization said three villages in the Albu Kamal area known for housing forces loyal to Tehran have been targeted by drone strikes since Wednesday.
DeirEzzor24 reported that weapons shipment to Lebanese terror group Hezbollah was targeted in the attack.
The weapons reportedly included ballistic missiles belonging to the Imam Ali Brigade, a Shiite militia under the PMF.
The Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said, died on Friday at the age of 79, according to Oman state media.
“One week after the death of Qasem Suleimani…this is a significant event,” Journalist Yashar Ali noted. “Both Iranian and American leaders will be at his funeral.”
This is a major event because Oman has been an island (not literally) of tranquility in the Middle-East and the Sultan was one of the few people who could mediate between the US and Iran,” Ali continued. “The Sultan has no apparent heir…a council will likely decide who his heir is.”
1. Holy cow.
State media in Oman is reporting that Sultan Qaboos has died at 79. The challenge is he has never had an heir.
One week after the death of Qasem Suleimani…this is a significant event.
Both Iranian and American leaders will be at his funeral
2. This is a major event because Oman has been an island (not literally) of tranquility in the Middle-East and the Sultan was one of the few people who could mediate between the US and Iran.
The Sultan has no apparent heir…a council will likely decide who his heir is.
“The reason this is a bigger deal now is tensions are at an all time high with the US and Iran,” Ali added. “If he had died a year ago, it would have been a major moment (he’s been in power for 50 years), but not as significant as this.”
4. The Sultan did apparently leave envelopes with the name of his choice but that is only if a council failed to come up with a choice of a successor.
The point is though, there is no natural heir. And that causes some stress and concern.
5. The reason this is a bigger deal now is tensions are at an all time high with the US and Iran. If he had died a year ago, it would have been a major moment (he’s been in power for 50 years), but not as significant as this.
Business at the country’s parallel (black) market for foreign currency and other commodities has never been as brisk.
Billions of dollars in local or foreign currency exchange hands on a daily basis in a shrinking economy that is rapidly turning informal and unruly.
Black market dealers have mushroomed in every city, town and growth point in the country with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs), foreign currency and fuel being sold virtually at all busy corners.
In 2019, the government passed a plethora of Statutory Instruments (SIs) and directives to exert control on the economy.The regulations cover the marketing of grain, foreign exchange, petroleum importation and retailing, customs and excise duty and the compulsory use of the Zimbabwean dollar as legal tender.
However, these regulations have all but fuelled the fire as key producers in the economy channel their produce to the black market in search of the coveted US dollar, quick cash or competitive prices.
Producers are also running away from the biting inflation whose year-on-year rate ended the year above the 500% mark, up from 481% recorded in November.
Zimbabwe is predominantly a mixed economy but the government has been leaning towards command economics in the past few years.
The government now dominates in key sectors such as agriculture, media, rail transportation, power generation, telecommunications and mining; either directly or through state entities and parastatals (SEPs).
The dominance is further heightened by the central position played by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in the allocation of foreign currency for the importation of various commodities and raw materials into the country.
Sub-economic subsidies in agricultural inputs, electricity, petroleum, grain and basic commodities have underwritten the government’s dominance, rendering the private sector by-standers in the economy.
Excessive government control has created record levels of corruption, maladministration and nurtured black market activities that will be hard to eliminate in the foreseeable future.
Energy sector
Despite licensing various private businesses to import and engage in downstream marketing of petroleum in the country, the government controls the importation of petroleum through the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noic) pipeline.
Importation of the liquid gold is subject to foreign currency allocations from the central bank while price ceilings are set by Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera).
As a result, petroleum companies with free funds have no incentive to use their own funds to import the commodity and sell it at sub-economic prices set by the government. This has led to unrelenting fuel shortages which give room to black market activities in retailing, smuggling of fuel to neighboring countries and hoarding of fuel for speculative reasons.
On average, fuel costs US$1,07 per litre if the Interbank rate is used, however, if the widely referenced black market rate is used the price falls to US$0.77 per litre making Zimbabwe’s fuel cheaper than the Sadc (Excluding Angola) regional average of US$1,03.
Angola has the cheapest fuel in the region at US0,47 as it produces the commodity.To end the fuel shortages, the government needs to partially liberalize the importation of the commodity which will free up foreign currency while taking pump prices closer to the regional average.
The same is also expected in electricity pricing where sub-economic subsidies led to massive losses for the state utility (Zesa) in 2018.
Competitive prices on electricity allow the utility to meet its operational needs, service foreign debts and above all, import sufficient electricity to power local production of goods and services.
Foreign exchange market
The government gazetted Statutory Instrument 142 (Legal Tender Regulations) on June 6 in 2019 so as to stop the re-dollarization of the economy and quell demands from civil servants for remuneration in foreign currency.
On that date, the US dollar to Zimbabwean dollar rate was 1:5,65, now the rate has tumbled to more than 1:16,85 on the Interbank and 1:23 on the black market.
The spread between the two rates provides incentives to sellers to shun the interbank, thus fuelling the black market.
To reduce black market rates, the central bank needs to provide more foreign currency to producers who import raw materials that add value to the economy especially manufacturers of consumer goods, plastic products, pharmaceuticals and agriculture inputs especially fertilizers.
Allocating more foreign currency to these producers saves the country millions of dollars worth of imports in finished products.Given the fact that only 50 corporates control over ZW$10 billion in bank balances on the local market, the black market rates are very susceptible to huge swings if a few of these firms invade the black market for foreign currency to meet their operational needs.
A spread between the black market and interbank rate can be minimized if large producers’ foreign currency needs are met through the interbank as opposed to the black market.
This will also help channel millions of diaspora remittances to the interbank market.The central bank will also be expected to exercise restraint on any money supply growth that feeds government consumption, in order to maintain value for the local currency.
Fast moving consumer goods
Local producers of fast moving consumer goods are being forced by inflation to supply products to Cash n Carry tuck-shops and the thriving black market so as to get instant cash or foreign currency.
Some manufacturers have also increased their export component even at discounted prices so as to get the coveted foreign currency and settle external obligations.
The major challenge with the black market in this case is that the market has very few economic players in terms of tax contributions, banking and compliance to council by-laws.
Grain marketing
Recently, the government enacted and suspended Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 (Grain Marketing Control of Maize Regulations) which banned the buying and selling of maize among unauthorized persons in Zimbabwe.
The law prohibited any person or entity from buying or acquiring maize from producers other than through the GMB.To deal with side marketing of grain to the black market, the government simply needs to pay competitive prices for delivered grain (maize and wheat) to farmers instead of paying less to local farmers, while being comfortable in paying world prices on importing grain.
Paying a competitive price for grain supplies also serves to incentivize commercial grain producers who have been slowly migrating to tobacco and other export crops.
Mining
Minerals are the economic mainstay of the country. Zimbabwe’s minerals exports receipts stood at US$3,2 billion in 2018, a figure which represented 76% of the country’s official total export earnings.
However, exports from the mining sector plunged 20% to US$1,240 billion from January to June 2019 as a result of Gold smuggling.All other minerals are expected to register growth except for Gold and Silver which are controlled by the central bank.
The country’s biggest Gold miners such as Freda Rebecca, RioZim, Metallon Gold and Falcon have been facing operational challenges while small scale miners have been diverting produce to the black market for smuggling in protest to the export retention threshold of 55%.
The miners want to retain all the export proceeds or the government to revert back to the 2017 level of 70%.It is imperative for the central bank to settle for a higher retention threshold while getting commitment from the miners on the liquidation of retained foreign currency on the interbank market.
The black market threatens economic viability in the country as it is twined to corruption and cartels that control the local economy from mineral exports (especially Gold and Chrome), importation of grain and agric inputs, and petroleum, foreign currency allocations and its subsequent trading in the streets.
Over-regulating the economy has dented Zimbabwe’s economic recovery path while fuelling fire to the black market.
There is a strong cause to let free market policies lead in the allocation of national resources instead of government interference, dominance and control via statutory instruments.
Own Correspondent|A Canadian Tomato Picker job opportunity published by ZimEye.com has revealed that it will be more rewarding for most Zimbabwean professionals including doctors to quit their jobs and go and pick tomatoes in farms in Canada.
According the job advert, farms in Canada are offering a wage of $14.18, Canadian Dollars per hour.
The Canadian Dollar currently trades at about 80 US Cents which means that the farms are paying an hourly rate of US$17.73 an amount way higher than what the Zimbabwean government has offered any of its workers.
Government in its last wage offer to then striking doctors was a highest basic salary of ZWL$11 000 to Senior Doctor with Junior Doctors getting slightly less.
In US Dollar terms, the Canadian worker on an 8 hour day shift and 40 hour week will earn a basic salary of US$2 836 at the end of the month while a Zimbabwean Senior Doctor will go home with a basic salary of US$733.00.
Government also offered locum rates for nurses and paramedics at ZWL$16 per day hour and ZWL$24 per night hour which in US Dollar terms is way far from the farm workers wage in Canada.
In a meeting held with Civil Servants yesterday, government offered its workers a wage of ZWL$2000 per month which works out to US$133 per month, an amount a Canadian farm worker makes in a day’s work.
See the Canadian Tomato Picker job opportunity below.
Can you work in Canada as a Tomato picker?If you can work as a tomato picker in Canada, kindly see below for full details and apply. No degree or education needed
Location: Burford, ON
Salary: $14.18 an hour
No degree, certificate or diploma
No experience
Weight Handling
Up to 23 kg (50 lbs)
Type of Farm Operations
Fruit and vegetable combination farming
Type of Crops
Vegetables
Bell peppers
Tomatoes
Specific Skills
Sort and pack fruits and vegetables
Pick row and orchard crops
Load, unload and transfer crates, supplies and farm produce, livestock and poultry
Specific Skills – Field Crops
Hand harvesting vegetables
Work Site Environment
Outdoors
Wet/damp
Dusty
Hot
Transportation/Travel Information
Own transportation
Work Conditions and Physical Capabilities
Fast-paced environment
Repetitive tasks
Handling heavy loads
Physically demanding
Manual dexterity
Ability to distinguish between colours
Standing for extended periods
Bending, crouching, kneeling
Large workload
Work Location Information
Rural area
Relocation costs not covered by employer
Personal Suitability
Team player
Reliability
Landscape and Horticulture Technicians and Specialists Specific Skills
Correspondent|Can you work in Canada as a Tomato picker?If you can work as a tomato picker in Canada, kindly see below for full details and apply. No degree or education needed
Location: Burford, ON
Salary: $14.18 an hour
No degree, certificate or diploma
No experience
Weight Handling
Up to 23 kg (50 lbs)
Type of Farm Operations
Fruit and vegetable combination farming
Type of Crops
Vegetables
Bell peppers
Tomatoes
Specific Skills
Sort and pack fruits and vegetables
Pick row and orchard crops
Load, unload and transfer crates, supplies and farm produce, livestock and poultry
Specific Skills – Field Crops
Hand harvesting vegetables
Work Site Environment
Outdoors
Wet/damp
Dusty
Hot
Transportation/Travel Information
Own transportation
Work Conditions and Physical Capabilities
Fast-paced environment
Repetitive tasks
Handling heavy loads
Physically demanding
Manual dexterity
Ability to distinguish between colours
Standing for extended periods
Bending, crouching, kneeling
Large workload
Work Location Information
Rural area
Relocation costs not covered by employer
Personal Suitability
Team player
Reliability
Landscape and Horticulture Technicians and Specialists Specific Skills
Correspondent|Manchester City will look to keep up their strong run of form when they travel to Aston Villa on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola’s men have won each of their four games since that damaging 3-2 loss away at Wolves in December but remain 14 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Villa’s plight is far more desperate, with Dean Smith’s men hovering just one place and one point above the relegation zone, although they did pull off an important 2-1 win away at Burnley in their last Premier League game.
Can City keep up their momentum or will the Villains upset the applecart? Read on for our preview, predictions, team news and TV coverage information.
When is Aston Villa vs Man City and where can I watch live?
Competition: Premier League
Venue: Villa Park
Date: Sunday, 12 January 2020
Kick-off: 4:30 PM (UK time)
TV coverage (UK): Sky Sports Premier League & Sky Sports Main Event
Last five meetings: Aston Villa vs Man City
26 Oct 2019: Man City 3-0 Aston Villa (Premier League)
05 Mar 2016: Man City 4-0 Aston Villa (Premier League)
30 Jan 2016: Aston Villa 0-4 Man City (FA Cup)
08 Nov 2015: Aston Villa 0-0 Man City (Premier League)
25 Apr 2015: Man City 3-2 Aston Villa (Premier League)
Aggregate Score: Aston Villa (LLLDL) 2-14 Man City (WWWDW)
Ones to watch
Aston Villa: Frederic Guilbert
Villa are likely to spend a lot of time without the ball, chasing around City’s vibrant, dynamic attackers as they seek to create gaps.
If that is indeed the case, Smith will need a big performance from full-back Frederic Guilbert, who will be tasked with cutting off Guardiola’s famous cut-back deliveries and stopping City’s inside forwards.
Key stat: Guilbert has made more tackles (51) than any other Villa or Man City player in the Premier League this term.
Man City: Raheem Sterling
Raheem Sterling has somehow found yet another level to elevate his game, spearheading Guardiola’s attack with his dynamic dribbling and maverick movement.
That said, the England international has been on the scoresheet in just one of his last five appearances, so he’ll be out to prove a point at Villa Park on Sunday.
Key stat: Sterling has completed more dribbles (38) and scored more goals (11) in the Premier League than any other Man City player this season.
Team news
Aston Villa
Jonathan Kodjia missed the Carabao Cup semi-final clash against Leicester with illness and could miss out again here.
Tom Heaton, Jed Steer, John McGinn, Matt Targett, Keinan Davis and Wesley Moraes all remain sidelined.
Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane are finally nearing fitness but Sunday’s clash still comes too soon for them.
Ederson should return between the sticks in place of Claudio Bravo.
Predicted XI: Ederson; Walker, Otamendi, Fernandinho, Mendy; Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Gundogan; Sterling, Aguero, B. Silva.
Prediction
City will head to Villa Park brimming with confidence after their Manchester derby win on Tuesday and if they can match that performance once again, it’s hard to see Dean Smith’s men having a chance of a result, despite their need for points.
Guardiola’s far superior attacking talent should expose the cracks in Villa’s defence and tip the scales.
Independent|PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has confided in some cabinet ministers and senior Zanu PF officials close to him that he is not too keen on negotiating a power-sharing deal with opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.
Highly placed sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that following last December’s visit to Harare by former South African president Thabo Mbeki on a Sadc-initiated mission to nudge the two protagonists to the negotiating table, Mnangagwa briefed some senior government officials, including cabinet ministers and top Zanu PF members, that he would rather go it alone for the duration of his five-year term, considering he won the mandate to do so in the 2018 general election, than allow the opposition into government.
The term expires in 2023 when the next general election is due.Mnangagwa and Chamisa have adopted hardline stances on the talks, each insisting dialogue can only happen on their terms.
They also sharply differ on the modalities for dialogue as well as the desired outcome.Mbeki’s biggest challenge will be to break the logjam and bring the two to the negotiating table.
At the moment, Zanu PF and the MDC are wrangling over the platform on which the dialogue can take place, with Mnangagwa insisting that the opposition party should join the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) platform he established in May last year if it entertains any hopes of participating in national dialogue.
Chamisa on his part is adamant that he will never join Polad, which comprises of “insignificant political figures” like Lovemore Madhuku, Thokozani Khupe and Bryan Mteki, among others.
Chamisa also favours the establishement of a National Transitional Authority which would, among other outcomes, lay the groundwork for credible polls.
However, sources said while Mnangagwa has publicly stated that he would talk to Chamisa if he joins Polad, his true position was that he was not amenable to it under any circumstances.
“He has clearly told those of us he trusts that publicly he was keen to talk to Chamisa when in actual fact he is not too keen on these talks. He prefers that his administration continues as at present, since our party won the election and got vindicated by the courts when the MDC challenged the presidential poll result. He believes he has the backing of regional heads of state,” a top official said.
Mbeki had indicated that he would be returning to the country during the last week of December after having briefed Sadc heads of state, but he failed to do so.
However, he is still expected to visit Zimbabwe shortly.“No one really knows the course events will take at the moment, but, from the look of things, Mbeki, when he finally returns, will have to work really hard to convince the two to abandon their hardline stance. otherwise, as things stand, Chamisa’s refusal to join Polad, which itself makes a lot of sense in many respects, will just provide him (Mnangagwa) with the perfect opportunity to refuse talks with Chamisa.
It’s all confusing at the moment, though, because it’s hard to see the MDC acceding to that sort of demand,” the official said.Another official said: “If you listen to the government rhetoric, it points to that direction (of not wanting talks). For instance, it is well known that Mbeki came here on a Sadc undertaking but they have declared that his visit was on a government invitation and that he (president), is the one who gave him permission to meet with other parties and civil society leaders. This is basically meant to create the impression that he is in total control of the situation.”
Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the only thing she knew was that the President was keen on dialogue.“The President is on record as saying dialogue is the best thing for the country and if there is anyone claiming he or she heard something else different, I don’t know about that,” she said.
However, despite the sharp differences between the political parties, there is overwhelming consensus from all facets of society, and even among regional leaders, that dialogue is unavoidable if Zimbabwe is to be extricated from the economic and social crisis it finds itself in.
Own Correspondent|Iran has announced that its military “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 on board.
The statement on Saturday morning blames “human error” for the incident, adding that the military mistook Flight 752 for a “hostile target”.
Press TV also quoted Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces as saying that the plane had flown close to a “sensitive military site”.
The military said it was at its “highest level of readiness” amid the heightened tensions with the United States.
“In such a condition, because of human error and in a unintentional way, the flight was hit,” the military said. It apologised and said it would upgrade its systems to prevent future tragedies.
In a statement posted on social media, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani wrote that the country “deeply regrets this disastrous mistake”.
“My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families. I offer my sincerest condolences,” he said, adding that “investigations continue to identify and prosecute this great tragedy and unforgivable mistake”.
Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft. But then the US and Canada, citing intelligence, said they believe Iran shot down the aircraft.
On Friday, Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s civil aviation authority, said it was impossible due to close coordination between Iran’s air defence and the civil aviation department.
“What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane,” Abedzadeh told reporters in Tehran.
The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukraine International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at US forces in Iraq.
State Media|Zimbabwe is poised to open its first ever female open prison in Marondera, perhaps the only one in Southern Africa, as it keeps abreast with changes in global trends in the rehabilitation of prisoners.
At present, the country only has Connemara Open Prison for men just outside Gweru. Inmates at an open prison are allowed to go home and spend time with their family members and relatives.
They are also given opportunities to engage in various rehabilitation activities and programmes in a less restrictive environment.
First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa was appointed patron of the Female Open Prison Foundation.
Speaking at a ground-breaking ceremony for a state-of-the-art female open prison facility on Friday, Mrs Mnangagwa described women as an important and sensitive constituency within communities whose roles demand that they be in constant touch with the family and community as opposed to outright incarceration.
“Females or mothers in general, and by the nature of their matrimonial roles and instincts are the custodians of our ubuntu/hunhu, family fabric and unit. The establishment of the female open prison would be quite conducive for promoting and maintaining such family fabric and unit given that this would provide them with more time and opportunities to be in touch with children and families apart from aiding their rehabilitation and reintegration given that such an institution would at most be serving as a halfway home,” she said.
The idea of an open prison in Zimbabwe got Cabinet approval in 1996 and this ushered in the opening of Connemara Male Open Prison near Gweru, with the first inmates taking occupation in year 2000.
The open prison concept is gaining popularity worldwide because it helps in reducing overcrowding in jails, the construction cost is fairly reduced and the operational cost of open prisons is far less than the enclosed prisons.
She said plans were afoot to establish open prisons countrywide, funds permitting.
“ . . . Government also approved the establishment of a purpose-built female open prison that not only meets the special needs of inmates but also serves as a vehicle for their rehabilitation and empowerment which is critical for enhancing their sustainable livelihoods. Premised on this determination, sites for the possible establishment of a female open prison were identified in Marondera and Mutare, hence today plans are afoot to build similar prisons countrywide.
“As the patron of Female Open Prison Foundation I am happy to acknowledge that Government is modernising the prison system to cater for the rights of inmates and also empower them with knowledge and some life survival skills which are wholly focused on helping to prepare them for a life upon discharge from our prisons and correctional institutions.”
Amai Mnangagwa toured the female section at the prison where inmates showcased some of their projects.
To kick-start the prison project, Tinmac company owned by Deputy Minister of Youth, Sport, Art and Recreation Tino Machakaire donated five Brahmans, UMAA institute founder Dr Cleopas Kundiona weighed in with $10 000 and Minister Munzverengwi donated two Dorper sheep and two Boer goats.
File Picture of a foreign currency dealer in Harare
State Media|A former accountant in the Ministry of Defence allegedly stole US$20 million from the ministry, bought four houses in Harare, a fleet of 25 taxis and four cars between January 2010 and December last year, a court yesterday heard. Simbarashe Zvineyi (36) also allegedly channelled part of the money to the foreign currency parallel market.
He was alleged to have been in possession of a pistol, whose origins police said they were still investigating. Zvineyi yesterday appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts facing fraud and money laundering charges.
He was not asked to plead to the charges when he appeared before magistrate Mr Francis Mapfumo, who remanded him in custody to Monday for his bail application.
Allegations against Zvinaye are that between January 2010 and December 31, last year, he and Danison Muvandi — who was a top accounting officer in the same ministry — hatched a plan to defraud the Ministry of Defence.
On several occasions, Muvandi, who is still at large, using his position and influence, would misrepresent that there were classified operations to be carried out and allegedly instructed the chief accountant, Lameck Jackson, to deposit funds into Zvineyi’s accounts in NMB Bank, CBZ, CABS and Steward Bank, using Zvineyi’s vendor number.
There were no such classified operations to be conducted.
Acting on the misrepresentation, Jackson reportedly transferred into Zvineyi’s bank accounts money ranging from US$40 000 to US$66 000 during the decade. The pair would then allegedly share the loot.
From investigations carried out so far, the Ministry of Defence has suffered a prejudice of US$20 million and only four vehicles have been recovered.
On his second count, Zvineyi, during the same period and acting in connivance with Muvandi and after they allegedly defrauded the Ministry of Defence, reportedly laundered the proceeds of the offence by acquiring properties, which include more than 25 taxis, a Jeep Wrangler, an Isuzu KB300, a Honda Fit and a Toyota Vitz.
He also allededly bought houses in Tynwald, Aspindale, Avonlea and Borrowdale.
Muvandi also allegedly acquired various properties some of which have been recovered. Mr George Manokore and Ms Patience Ngombengombe represented the State.
Own Correspondent |HE was a good footballer, but decided to turn to his other passion — music — where he has remained great up to this day.
Most of people he played with at Darryn T, including Lloyd Chitembwe, Gift “Umbro” Muzadzi and the great Norman Mapeza still believe he could have scaled dizzy heights had he remained a footballer.
But 45-year-old Elton Muropa has no regrets.
Muropa is a revered backing vocalist for sungura musician Alick Macheso after he joined the famed Orchestra Mberikwazvo back in 2001.
At that time, his former DT Africa teammates like Musareka Jenitala and Alois Bunjira had reached the pinnacle of their football careers.
For once, especially after he looked at Mapeza, who was at Turkish side Galatasaray a few years back, Muropa regretted having ever decided to hang up his football boots.
He even considered coming back to the game he still loves most, but his sixth sense told him to pursue music.
“I was already a star player for Darryn T by the time I completed my Ordinary Level in Chitungwiza back in the early 1990s,” said Muropa.
“I was playing at right-back in the same team with the likes of Norman (Mapeza) and Chitembwe, among an array of other stars.
“I was good and (Dutch coach) Clemence Westerhorf kept telling me that I was going to end up playing in Europe. I really believed him and I put all my effort at training.
“I was a first-choice full-back even after we got promoted into the top-flight. But then something happened.
“After playing almost eight games in the top-tier in which I was one of the stars, I got a slight injury on my shin.
“I had to miss the next three games since two of those matches were scheduled for mid-week.”
It was during that time Muropa had been given time to rest and recuperate that he decided to do backing vocals for musician Staben Mawire.
Having shot to fame with the hit album, “Chimbekeya”, Mawire was a revered songster back then, and Muropa wouldn’t resist the temptation after a big carrot had been dangled by the musician.
So good were his vocals that Paul Mpofu, regarded by many as the greatest jiti musician ever to emerge in this country, would soon raid Mawire and took aboard Muropa.
Meanwhile, Westerhorf was having marathon meetings with the defender-cum-musician to consider coming back to the team.
“Sometimes, I would go to the training sessions and then miss games. Of course, I played several other games in the league, but I was split between football and music.
“The truth is I liked both, but I needed less training in music as my voice was natural. It was flowing and every super musician, including (the late) Leonard Dembo, wanted me in their ensembles.
“I had to make a decision as the longer I took to take either, the more difficult it was for me to perform to the best of my ability in both.”
Muropa would choose football and he immediately decided to turn into a striker.
He did well for a season, but his passion for music had not subsided.
Mapeza, who played alongside him, thinks Muropa would have gone places had he not decided to take off his playing shoes and take up the microphone.
“I know Elton (Muropa) from our days at Darryn T. We grew up together from the juniors and graduated into the first team together.
“He was a very good player. He was one of the best.
“Of course, I cannot tell where he would have ended up had he not quit football, but I maintain he was not bad,” said Mapeza.
With Chitembwe, Stewart “Shutto” Murisa and Muzadzi, who all have respect for Muropa having gone on to make a name for themselves, probably he might have developed into a great player as well.
But after another great musician Cephas Mashakada noticed his vocal prowess while he was with Mpofu, Muropa decided to completely focus on his musical career, terminating a football journey that had looked so bright for him.
As his flawless voice caught attention, Macheso, who was on his way to record his fourth studio album “Zvakanaka Zvakadaro”, lured him to his band in 2001 and Muropa has served the ensemble with distinction to date.
“There are times when I regret ever retiring early from my footballing career, but then I realise quickly that music has given me so much.
“I am sure even if I had gone to play outside the country, what I have at the moment is what I would have bought.”
Mapeza is now a revered coach at South African Premiership football side, Chippa United.
He has won four league titles locally, with Monomotapa once and thrice with FC Platinum.
Muzadzi is a goalkeepers’ coach at Dynamos, Chitembwe mentors Harare City, Murisa helps in the background for CAPS United and Muropa, now an owner of three houses in the capital, is looking forward to do what he knows best for Orchestra Mberikwazvo’s 12th studio album due for release this year.
Own Correspondent|Following loud cries by POLAD partners, over President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s move to Gazette the proposed ZANU PF 27 amendments to the constitution, government yesterday presented the gazetted proposed clauses to members of the Political Actors Leaders (POLAD).
Before the amendments were presented to them, POLAD partners loudly claimed that they had agreed that he was not going to Gazette the proposals before discussing with them.
POLAD consists of 18 political party leaders that participated in the 2018 harmonised elections.
Briefing media after a closed POLAD meeting held at a Bulawayo hotel, POLAD co-convener Ms Margaret Sangarwe said Government presented the proposed constitutional changes to POLAD so that they make informed decisions.
“There was a presentation from the Permanent Secretary of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mrs (Virginia) Mabiza on the constitutional amendments and the highlight of this presentation was that the Bill was gazetted on the 31st of December 2019. Parliament will conduct hearings on the Bill after the mandatory 90-day period.
“It was mentioned that the presentation was mainly informative on POLAD members so that when they discuss, they do so from an informed position,” said Ms Sangarwe.
One of the POLAD members and MDC-T Bulawayo proportional representation MP, Ms Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, said the group was yet to come up with a position on the proposed constitutional amendments.
She said POLAD would take advantage of cordial relations with Zanu PF in coming up with a position.
“The committees are clear about the outputs; the critical ones are going to be on the amendment of the Constitution and coming up with a POLAD position and beginning to engage with Government. We haven’t come up with our position but we have a technical committee that is going to look at those positions and proceed to then engage,” said Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
She said POLAD was also working on a shadow Bill for electoral reforms.
Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga said POLAD was keen on ensuring that governance issues were addressed and would be advising Government on a course of action after wider consultation on various issues.
THE political rejects that make up the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) found out this week that they have nothing more than ornamental value when President Emmerson Mnangagwa ploughed ahead to gazette amendments to the constitution.
This is despite promises from the ruling party leader that he would debate with the motley crew of losers the proposed changes before they are gazetted and taken to Parliament.
“During the last meeting of Polad, one of the resolutions read out was that the proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill should not be gazetted, but instead brought to Polad where it would be discussed and other parties input,” one of the hangers-on, a member of the totally irrelevant grouping and lifetime National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leader Lovemore Madhuku whined.
“It was agreed that a Bill would then be brought to Parliament with amendments also from other political parties and, instead of focussing on the Zanu PF needs, we will have an omnibus Bill, but that was not followed. But they went ahead and gazetted the Bill.”
In a further demonstration of just how useless the impact of the grouping is, Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi swatted away their concerns, as one would an irritating fly, pointing out that the government has no obligation to take bills to Polad. It is laughable that the leaders of parties that garnered less than 2% of total votes cast in the 2018 elections were demanding cars and allowances.
These opportunists, who have already burdened the taxpayer through their meetings which add nothing to the nation’s wellbeing, are shamelessly driven by self-interest. Any self-respecting political leader would have quit the grouping after such a monumental snub, but it is probably asking too much from those who list “visiting Cyclone Idai” — whatever that means — as one of their achievements in 2019.
That one member of this group, Bryan Mteki, has actually rejoined Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF shows just how much of a joke this platform is. They are truly shameful, greedy and pathetic political opportunists.
Own Correspondent|Three people are battling for their lives after consuming meat from animals that died of anthrax in Mahusekwa, Marondera district.
The three cases were picked at Chimbwanda Clinic last week and were confirmed at Mahusekwa Hospital on Monday.
Marondera District Veterinary Officer, Dr Kramer Manyetu said on investigation, it was established that the affected three people consumed meat from two cattle that died on December 30, 2019.
“No meat was still available when the affected property was visited. The two cattle deaths were reported at Chimbwanda West Diptank which has a census of 800 cattle.
“The combined census for a 10 kilometre radius is 4 500 cattle covering a total of three diptanks namely Chimbwanda West (800), Chimbwanda communal area (22 76) and Nyandoro (1 458),” he said.
Dr Manyetu said they had secured 5 000 doses required to cover the three dip tanks .
“Our staff and the Ministry of Health and Child care are in the area and so far we can confirm that it is only one homestead affected.
“The community has secured poles to build races on three dip tanks and vaccinations will start Friday,” he said.
The Department of Veterinary Services has received 811 000 doses of anthrax vaccine from Botswana’s Vaccine Institute to deal with outbreaks during the rainy season.
Anthrax is a life threatening infectious disease caused by bacteria that normally affects animals, especially ruminants.
The disease affects all warm blooded animals including human beings.
Signs of anthrax include sudden death of livestock, rapid decomposition of the bloated carcasses and tarry blood coming out of all natural openings.
The blood of the carcass is brownish and does not clot.
During the rainy season, the country usually experiences more anthrax outbreaks because of the rains that wash away the top soil and expose spores.
There have been cases of farmers who get infected after eating meat from cattle that would have died of anthrax.
People may also get infected thorough contact with the infected animals.
“Opening an anthrax carcass will lead to formation of anthrax spores that are resistant to environmental changes, heat, cold and will contaminate the soil or area for more than 40 years.
“The public should not handle, buy or eat meat that has not been inspected. Anthrax carcasses should never be opened, skinned or eaten. Instead, they should be buried deep into the ground,” said Dr Manyetu.
“It is also an offence to sell to the public, meat that has not been processed in an abattoir and inspected and certified as unconditionally fit for human consumption.”
Farmers were advised to report all cattle deaths to their nearest veterinary officers.
President Mnangagwa last week told Zimbabweans that he can not control the sky rocketing price of beef urging Zimbabweans to instead resort to feeding on green vegetables and potatoes.
Because of Mnangagwa’s declaration, butcheries since went on a wild spree increasing the price of beef to as high as $150 per kilogram in some areas. To counter the high price, street sales of uninspected beef are flourishing. Most of the meat is from cattle that may have succumbed to various drought related illnesses including anthrax which are dangerous to human beings if the meat is consumed.
Own Correspondent| MDC-T President Thokozani Khupe was selected POLAD’s chairperson for the international re-engagement committee, while NCA leader Professor Lovemore Madhuku chairman of constitutional matters and legislative committee.
POLAD will also appoint the national healing, communication and publicity and monitoring and evaluation committees’ chairpersons and would soon have a spokesperson.
One of the POLAD members and MDC-T Bulawayo proportional representation MP, Ms Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, said the group was yet to come up with a position on the proposed constitutional amendments.
She said POLAD would take advantage of cordial relations with Zanu PF in coming up with a position.
“The committees are clear about the outputs; the critical ones are going to be on the amendment of the Constitution and coming up with a POLAD position and beginning to engage with Government. We haven’t come up with our position but we have a technical committee that is going to look at those positions and proceed to then engage,” said Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
She said POLAD was also working on a shadow Bill for electoral reforms.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said POLAD was keen on ensuring that governance issues were addressed and would be advising Government on a course of action after wider consultation on various issues.
Five people were killed, while 12 others were injured when a Kadoma-bound Baker’s Inn truck and a Toyota Granvia travelling to Harare collided at the 123-kilometre peg along the Harare-Bulawayo Road yesterday. The accident is said to have happened after the delivery truck driver swerved and encroached into the oncoming traffic lane, resulting in a head-on collision.
Police are withholding the names of the deceased until their relatives have been informed. Deputy national police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Blessmore Chishaka confirmed the accident.
“Circumstances are that a male adult was driving a delivery truck along Harare-Bulawayo Road towards Kadoma with two passengers on board.
“On approaching the 123-kilometre peg, the truck driver swerved to the right encroaching into the lane of oncoming traffic resulting in a head-on collision with a Toyota Granvia that was travelling in the opposite direction.”
“The Toyota Granvia had 15 people on board and four people, including the driver, died on the spot while one other person died on admission at Kadoma Hospital.
“Two passengers who were in the truck and eight from the Toyota Granvia were injured. Four of the injured were referred to Kadoma Hospital and the other eight were referred to Chegutu Hospital.”
Police urged motorists to be cautious on the roads and to avoid overloading and speeding.
President Mnangagwa yesterday took a break from his vacation to meet representatives of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) where he outlined Government’s vision for 2020 geared towards increased productivity and economic growth. The meeting, which lasted over an hour-and-a-half, was held at his Munhumutapa Offices at the request of PAC who were represented by Messrs Joe Mtizwa and Edwin Manikai, while a number of ministers overseeing economic ministries attended the meeting.
These include Professor Mthuli Ncube, (Finance and Economic Development), Winston Chitando (Mines and Mining Development), Foreign Affairs and International Trade (Dr Sibusiso Moyo) and Dr Sekai Nzenza (Industry and Commerce).
Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba yesterday said the President had laid out plans which the Government had for the economy.
“Before the President left for his annual leave there was a request from members of PAC to meet with him so that he gives them their marching orders for 2020 and by marching orders I mean the Government’s vision by way of programmes, by way of policies and by way of priorities with a view that when they have their own inaugural meeting to be held around mid-February, they will work within the parameters of Government’s policies and Government thinking. So the President had to break from his vacation to meet the representatives of PAC.
“Basically, what the President said was that 2019 was a year of reforms and liberalisation of the economy and that 2020 is the year we need to build on the reforms we did in 2019 so that we then move the country forward.
“That means the emphasis is going to be on productivity as well as growth and Productivity and growth means the infrastructure must be in place, it means the enablers by way of energy and fuel must be in place and more critically that sector policies are very clear, internally consistent and coherent and mutually reinforced towards the broader objective of growing the economy,” Mr Charamba said.
He said the President had also emphasised that the focus on productivity should include international trade.
“He also emphasised that whilst last year’s emphasis was on reforms and liberalisation, this year must see us emphasising industrial output and linked to that is import substitution, meaning we must compress our imports and stimulate our exports,” he said.
“The President then drew to the attention of the PAC representatives that of the 34 advisories they issued last year, there was one area they overlooked and that area has to do with international trade. He said 2020 must see them (PAC) casting their eyes towards international trade so that Zimbabwe can develop markets, gear itself for exports, import technologies that will facilitate value addition and thereby underpin growth of exports.”
Mr Charamba said the meeting also recognised recent projections of economic growth by the World Bank following the drought induced down-turn experienced last year.
The World Bank has projected that Zimbabwe’s economy will grow by 2,7 percent this year, from a negative growth of 7 percent in 2019.
“This means it will be a phenomenal recovery and this on the back of reforms that we have put in place and the firming of commodity prices, particularly in the mining sector. So really the prospects are very good and what we all need to do is sharpen our focus and ensure that there is increased productivity,” he added.
The Presidential spokesperson said the meeting also discussed the role of the financial sector especially the work of the Monetary Policy Committee set up last year.
He said the meeting had recognised what the MPC had done to stabilise the exchange rate through the harmonisation of policies between the fiscal and the monetary side.
“So the emphasis was that let’s maintain currency stability and let’s ensure that inflation keeps coming down. So that’s what happened today. It was an hour-and-a-half long meeting and a very fruitful meeting,” Mr Charamba said.
He said the PAC representative had raised concern over incidences of violence involving machete gangs.
“The PAC representatives expressed their concern over the escalation of violence in the country, particularly around the artisanal miners and urged the Government to take a strong position in stamping out that menace which can threaten the recovery of the economy,” Mr Charamba said.
President Mnangagwa established the 26-member PAC in January last year to assist and advise him in formulating key economic policies.
About 30 families in Nembudziya, Gokwe North District, were left counting their losses after their houses and livestock were swept away by flash floods on Monday.
Midlands Acting Provincial Development Coordinator (PDC) Mr Fortune Mpungu confirmed the disaster in the wake of rains that hit most parts of the country.
Gokwe received a total of 185 mm of rainfall, the highest in years.
“We have about 30 families in Gokwe North that were left homeless after floods swept through the area on Monday. Besides the homes that were submerged by water, we also have livestock and property that were swept away by the floods,” said Mr Mpungu, who is also the acting chair of the Provincial Civil Protection Committee.
He said while no casualties or serious injuries were reported, some of the villagers sustained minor injuries.
He said the Civil Protection Department had already provided temporary shelter for the affected families.
“The district CPD is also in the process of mobilising foodstuffs for the affected families,” said Mr Mpungu, adding: “We have since advised families that are living along Sengwa River who are also practising river bank cultivation to move to safer places. Most of these families abandon their homes to move to the river banks which they consider to have fertile soils and we have since started the process of moving them,” he said.
He said the most affected areas were Sengwa, Chireya and Nenyunga.
The floods come at a time when the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has warned of impending heavy rainfall coupled with thunderstorms and the possibility of flash flooding.
Meanwhile, six schools in Kwekwe district were destroyed by a hailstorm that swept through the district.
Samambwa Primary School in Zhombe was totally destroyed.
Mr Mpungu said following a Government directive for local authorities to renovate infrastructure destroyed by hailstorms, they had delegated Zibagwe Rural District Council to make sure that the school was reconstructed.
Government yesterday presented the gazetted proposed Constitutional Amendments clauses to Political Actors Leaders (POLAD) so that they can also make their input on the landmark development.
Polad consists of 18 political party leaders that participated in the 2018 harmonised elections.
Government recently gazetted 27 proposed amendments to the Constitution including clauses to facilitate the roll out of the devolution agenda through removing Members of Parliament from the membership of provincial councils.
The amendments also include clauses permitting the President to appoint at least two more non-constituency Cabinet Ministers and also extending the women’s quota in Parliament by another two terms among other changes.
Briefing media after a closed Polad meeting held at a Bulawayo hotel, Polad co-convener Ms Margaret Sangarwe said Government presented proposed Constitutional changes to Polad so that they make informed decisions.
“There was a presentation from the Permanent Secretary of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mrs (Virginia) Mabhiza on the Constitutional Amendments and the highlights of this presentation was that the Bill was gazetted on the 31st of December 2019. Parliament will conduct hearings on the Bill after the 90-day period which is required. It was mentioned that the presentation was mainly informative on Polad members so that when they discuss, they do from an informed position,” said Ms Sangarwe.
She said during the deliberations Polad members also selected chairpersons and vice chairpersons for three thematic committees.
Ms Sangarwe said Dr Thokozani Khupe was selected chairperson for the international re-engagement committee, Professor Lovemore Madhuku chairman of constitutional matters and legislative committee while Mr Trust Chikohora was made chairperson of the economic committee.
She said next Thursday Polad will appoint the national healing, communication and publicity and monitoring and evaluation committees’ chairpersons and would soon have a spokesperson.
Ms Sangarwe said members also came up with timelines to achieve their objectives.
One of the Polad members and MDC-T Bulawayo proportional representation MP Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said the group is yet to come up with a position on the proposed Constitutional Amendments.
She said Polad would take advantage of cordial relations with Zanu-PF in coming up with a position.
“The committees are clear about the outputs; the critical ones are going to be on the Amendment of the Constitution and coming up with a Polad position and beginning to engage with Government. We haven’t come up with our position but we have a technical committee that is going to look at those positions and proceed to then engage,” said Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
She said Polad was also working on a shadow Bill for electoral reforms.
Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga said Polad was keen on ensuring that governance issues are addressed and would be advising Government on a course of action after wider consultation on various issues.
Farai Dziva|Former Cabinet Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo has said MaShurugwi gangs were created by Emmerson Mnangagwa and his cronies.
” In 2017 VP Mphoko showed Cabinet gruesome images of victims of machete gold-gangs in Kwekwe.
Cabinet tasked Chombo to get the Police to investigate. Mnangagwa, July Moyo & Owen Mudha Ncube were implicated.”
“I did not support Mnangagwa & his power grab when I was in govt.
I exposed his command uglyculture, he called it command agriculture & his coup plotting. In cabinet we exposed his machete gold-gangsters. Cabinet was shown gruesome pictures of machete killings by his gangs,” argued Moyo.
Five people died while 12 others were injured when a Kadoma-bound bakery truck and a Toyota Granvia minibus travelling to Harare collided at the 123-kilometre peg along the Harare-Bulawayo road on Friday.
Preliminary reports indicate that the truck driver lost control resulting in his vehicle swerving towards oncoming traffic resulting in a head-on collision.
Police are withholding the names of the deceased until their relatives have been notified.
Deputy National Police Spokesperson Chief Superintendent Blessmore Chishaka confirmed the accident.
“We would like to confirm the death of five people in a fatal road accident which occurred at the 123km peg along Harare-Bulawayo road,” said Chief Superintendent Blessmore Chishaka.
“The Toyota Granvia had 15 people on board and four people including the driver died on the spot while one other person died on admission at Kadoma hospital.
“Two passengers who were in the truck and eight from the Toyota Granvia were injured as a result of the accident. “Four of the injured were referred to Kadoma Hospital and the other eight were referred to Chegutu Hospital.”
Police urged motorists to be cautious on the road and avoid overloading and over-speeding.
Five people died while 12 others were injured when a Kadoma-bound Bakers Inn truck and a Toyota Granvia travelling to Harare collided at the 123-kilometre peg along Harare-Bulawayo road yesterday.
The accident is said to have happened after the delivery truck driver swerved and encroached into the oncoming traffic lane resulting in a head-on collision.
Police are withholding the names of the deceased until their relatives have been notified. Deputy national police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Blessmore Chishaka confirmed the accident.
“Circumstances are that a male adult was driving a delivery truck along Harare Bulawayo road towards Kadoma with two passengers on board. On approaching the 123 kilometre peg, the truck driver swerved to the right encroaching onto the lane of oncoming traffic resulting in a head-on collision with a Toyota Granvia that was travelling in the opposite direction.”
“The Toyota Granvia had 15 people on board and four people including the driver died on the spot while one other person died on admission to Kadoma hospital.
“Two passengers who were in the truck and eight from the Toyota Granvia were injured. Four of the injured were referred to Kadoma Hospital and the other eight were referred to Chegutu Hospital.”-State media
Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona 3-2 in the second semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup on Thursday night.
Diego Simeone’s men, with the underdog tag written all over them prior to kick off based on their recent record against the Catalan giants, surged ahead in the 47th minute when Koke scored, seconds after coming on.
Reigning Balon d’or winner Leo Messi restored parity for Enersto Valverde’s men less than five minutes later and then a familiar face punished Atletico, in form of Antoine Griezmann, who put Barcelona ahead for the first time on the night in the 62nd minute.
Former Real Madrid and Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata equalized for Atleti and then Correa had the final say, scoring the winner for Simeone’s men with four minutes of regulation time left of play.
Atletico now meet cross town rivals Real, who beat Valencia in the other semi-final, this coming Sunday.Soccer 24
FC PLATINUM coach Lizwe Sweswe and his goalkeeper Francis Tizayi believe that while they might be seemingly down, they are certainly not out as they take on eight times African champions Al Ahly at Barbourfields Stadium this afternoon.
The Zvishavane based outfit were 0-2 losers to the Egyptians in the first leg which was their third loss on the trot in the campaign and left them in danger of failing to reach the knockout stage of the tournament.
They have managed just a single goal in the 270 minutes of football in their Group B campaign.
“We are geared up for the match, we were just unfortunate that we didn’t get a positive result in the first leg.
Tactically we tried but unfortunately it didn’t work but we hope that tomorrow our plans and tactics will help us get the desired result.
The morale might be low by virtue of having lost the first leg but we are learning as we go and geared up for the encounter,” said Tizayi.
His coach Sweswe said they remained cognisant of the gigantic nature of their opponents this afternoon but were equally not moved as they were prepared to face them and get a positive result.
“It’s about how big the game is especially playing such a big team in Africa but what is important for the boys is their confidence after the first game in Egypt. We expect to play well and try to turn the tables especially after we saw how they are playing,” said Sweswe who said there might not be too many changes from the squad that did duty in Cairo.
The gaffer expressed his disappointment at the poor conversion rate that has been characteristic of their campaign where they would dominate play but fail to bury the chances that come their way.
“From the analysis of our last match, we created so many chances and the players know what should have been done especially with our conversion rate, which I must say was very poor in the first leg but we have been working hard on that to make sure we are clinical in front of goal,” said Sweswe.
Today’s match officials come from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.- State media
CIVIL servants yesterday rejected Government’s offer to increase their cost of living adjustment by 97 percent, maintaining their position of having their salaries indexed to the interbank rate beginning from the time the rate between the local unit and the US dollar was 1:1.
In an interview, Apex Council president Mrs Cecilia Alexander said in their meeting with Government representatives in Harare yesterday, they failed to agree on the 97 percent hike offered by their employer.
“Government said the cushioning allowance that we were supposed to receive in December will be paid out on January 15 across the board.
However, we could not reach consensus on the issue of cost of living adjustment because the offer they brought did not in any way address the concerns we raised in our position paper,” she said.
“Our position was to say Government should apply interbank rates salaries basing on the October 2018 salary of US$425.
In other words, we are not asking for salary increase, but we just want the restoration of value, but Government offered 97 percent on a sliding scale from 80 percent to 97 percent, which the negotiating team rejected.”
The Apex Council, a representative body of civil servants’ unions met on Tuesday and resolved to push Government to index their salaries to the interbank rate beginning from October 2018 when the rate between the local unit and the US dollar was 1:1.-State media
Farai Dziva|Zimbabwe Online Health Centre will, as from next week, begin to interact with clients in and out of the country through digital communication.
In a statement Zimbabwe Online Health Centre said :
We will soon introduce a variety of services to enhance the provision of healthcare services.As from next week you will begin to see content on various health issues.This will be done through livestreaming, articles and direct interaction with clients.
Zimbabwe is facing a critical health crisis and our thrust is to combat such problems through the online health centre.
In addition we seek to enhance access to healthcare services.
What we offer:-online consultation
-online health solutions to patients
-health education
-health tips
-health awareness programmes among other programmes.
For more information like and follow our Facebook page: Zimbabwe Online Health Centre
Farai Dziva|Former Cabinet Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo has said MaShurugwi gangs were created by Emmerson Mnangagwa and his cronies.
” In 2017 VP Mphoko showed Cabinet gruesome images of victims of machete gold-gangs in Kwekwe.
Cabinet tasked Chombo to get the Police to investigate. Mnangagwa, July Moyo & Owen Mudha Ncube were implicated.”
“I did not support Mnangagwa & his power grab when I was in govt.
I exposed his command uglyculture, he called it command agriculture & his coup plotting. In cabinet we exposed his machete gold-gangsters. Cabinet was shown gruesome pictures of machete killings by his gangs,” argued Moyo.
Mnangagwa Has Bounced Back Into Office Barely Hours Into His Annual Holiday. Mr G Charamba says this was to address members of his PAC. ED doesn't trust VP Chiwenga even with an hour talking to a mere PAC meeting, what more a small battalion @Jamwanda2 ? Jamwanda pics pic.twitter.com/IgmfsKPKeC
Farai Dziva|Former Cabinet Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo has said MaShurugwi gangs were created by Emmerson Mnangagwa and his cronies.
” In 2017 VP Mphoko showed Cabinet gruesome images of victims of machete gold-gangs in Kwekwe.
Cabinet tasked Chombo to get the Police to investigate. Mnangagwa, July Moyo & Owen Mudha Ncube were implicated.”
“I did not support Mnangagwa & his power grab when I was in govt.
I exposed his command uglyculture, he called it command agriculture & his coup plotting. In cabinet we exposed his machete gold-gangsters. Cabinet was shown gruesome pictures of machete killings by his gangs,” argued Moyo.
Wellington Chikombo, Harare province chairman for the MDC led by Nelson Chamisa, has said that it was a huge mistake for Zimbabweans to partake in the 2017 military assisted transition which resulted in the demise of former president Robert Mugabe.
He said that the country might have been bad but is now worse off compared to what it was then.
Addressing beneficiaries of the party’s social support programme in Zengeza, Chitungwiza, Chikombo said:
When we marched in 2017, we celebrated trouble. We jumped from a frying pan into the fire. We thought we were rescuing the people from Mugabe, but we wasted our energy on Mnangagwa. We wasted our time.
His remarks come when the country is submerged under socioeconomic and political crises characterised by a huge deficit in fuel, electricity, medicines and foreign currency whilst the democratic space is also diminishing.
There were high hopes that president Mnangagwa who replaced his long-time boss would turn around the fortunes of the country but his first twenty-four months in power have been less encouraging.
Authorities, on the other hand, argue that they are establishing “sustainable” measures to propel the country forward adding that the process would take more than the expected time.- NewsDay
Wellington Chikombo, Harare province chairman for the MDC led by Nelson Chamisa, has said that it was a huge mistake for Zimbabweans to partake in the 2017 military assisted transition which resulted in the demise of former president Robert Mugabe.
He said that the country might have been bad but is now worse off compared to what it was then.
Addressing beneficiaries of the party’s social support programme in Zengeza, Chitungwiza, Chikombo said:
When we marched in 2017, we celebrated trouble. We jumped from a frying pan into the fire. We thought we were rescuing the people from Mugabe, but we wasted our energy on Mnangagwa. We wasted our time.
His remarks come when the country is submerged under socioeconomic and political crises characterised by a huge deficit in fuel, electricity, medicines and foreign currency whilst the democratic space is also diminishing.
There were high hopes that president Mnangagwa who replaced his long-time boss would turn around the fortunes of the country but his first twenty-four months in power have been less encouraging.
Authorities, on the other hand, argue that they are establishing “sustainable” measures to propel the country forward adding that the process would take more than the expected time.- NewsDay
By A Correspondent- Violent artisanal miners have irked the Zimbabwe Peace Project which is worried why the government is unable to stop their menace.
ZPP in is latest report said the Machete wielding artisanal miner gangs continued wreaking havoc with a gang popularly known as “Team Barca” murdering a police officer in Battlefields.
“The unrelenting exhibition of lawlessness by these gangs makes it impossible for citizens to enjoy security of person as guaranteed by the constitution,” ZPP reported.
“The challenges ushered in by this unfortunate scheme of things demands that the law takes its course and demonstrate that no one is above the law even politicians. Police.”
ZPP said the politics of the country continued on a negative trajectory with some divisive utterances being made at the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu PF)’s 17th Annual National People’s Conference held at Goromonzi High School from 11-16 December 2019.
“The Deputy Minister of Defence, Victor Matemadanda declared that Zanu PF would not be removed from power, even by elections and that in the event of losing elections, the party would stay in power by any means necessary3,” said ZPP.
“Such loaded statements insinuate that the party can easily flout the provisions of the constitution and the tenets of democracy that give citizens the right to select a government of their choice [Constitution of Zimbabwe Section 3 {2(a, b, c, d, f)”
The Zanu PF Youth League in its entirety condemns the heinous acts by the machete wielding gangs who have descended on the Mining sector and society at large.
Many innocents have fallen victim to the callous act, lives have been lost and a number have been injured by the marauding criminals.
It’s is also a matter of concern that some police officers on duty have also fallen victim to these criminals. As a public service gesture, the ZANU (PF) Youth League implores all our structures and the peace loving people of our beloved motherland Zimbabwe to be on alert and share with law enforcement agents any information which may lead to the arrest of the gangs who have caused havoc in our peaceful society.
In light of this unfortunate wave of criminality, the ZANU PF Youth League applauds the current efforts by the Zimbabwe Republic Police of hunting down these criminals. As a wing of the Party we do not condone such criminal acts by the heartless, deviant and callous gangs.
In addition, the League encourages the National Prosecution to valiantly oppose bail for those accused until their matters are finalized.
Furthermore, machete wielding gangs are a worse societal evil compared to even cattle rustling and as such should carry severe deterrent sentences like life imprisonment and lengthy sentences. We pray in this regard that Judicial Officers may give the maximum possible sentence for all individuals convicted of crimes involving machetes.
We also further hope the judicial system shall expedite these cases in sentencing, such that any one outside who feel obliged to follow in these terrible ways are quickly discouraged.
As a youth League we embrace the ethos of productivity, peace and unity and we are in solidarity with progressive institutions which are committed to end the wave of criminality by the machete wielding gangs.
Inserted by: Yeukai Simbanegavi Secretary for Information and Publicity ZANU ( PF) National Youth League
By A Correspondent- Infamous Machete-Wielding gangs detained musician Shinsoman on stage in Chegutu and forced him to sing for their enjoyment for hours.
This was revealed by the musician himself who narrated the ordeal to the publication:
I had a show in Kwekwe with Freeman and all they did was fight. In Chegutu it was total horror. They made me sing for hours. After performing one song they would make me repeat it
MaShurugwi have headlined for weeks mostly for terrorising people, murder and robbery and fighting with law enforcement agents.
By A Correspondent- Civil servants here have rejected government’s latest salary offer of a 97 percent increment which would have seen the lowest paid civil servant earning $2 000 per month.
The development comes as the workers threaten a crippling strike over their employer;s “dishonesty” a few days before school open.
The civil servants today met government where it was proposed that the highest-paid civil servant, would receive an increment of 56 percent.
However, the $2000 in RTGs translates less than US$100 on the parallel market where the greenback is trading in excess of $22 for US$1.
These proposals were made at a National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) meeting held in Harare this Friday.
However, the unions representing the civil servants turned down the offer saying that it did not come close to addressing their concerns and needs.
The civil servants are demanding that their salaries be indexed to the United States Dollar, and the wage of US$ 545 must be multiplied by the exchange rate.
The civil servants have since indicated that they will meet on Monday to decide the way forward and to see if they should report for duty the following day.
The government also offered a cushioning allowance for the month of December of at least $750 for the lowest-paid workers. That amount would be paid before the January pay date. The civil servants also rejected this amount saying that it was too little.
This is a developing story. Refresh this page for latest details.
By A Correspondent- Marondera Town council will hit the new decade ground running as they plan to clear their housing backlog by 82%.
The council will allocate 14000 high and low density stands in a bid to clear its 17000 housing backlog. This was revealed by Marondera Mayor, Chengetai Murowa, as he was speaking to the publication:
According to the master plan, at Hunyani we are expecting 14 000 stands and servicing of the area is set to begin soon. We are also going to unveil stands in Shepperton area and we are confident the housing crisis will be dealt with after these projects.
The President who is taking his annual leave briefly came back today to meet with members of the Presidential advisory council.
Here is the full meeting agenda as communicated by George Charamba.
PAC which is set to hold its inaugural meeting for 2020 year in early February, sought to get direction on Government policy and programmes for the year that has just begun. In his brief to PAC representatives, the President intimated that 2020 is the year of productivity and growth on the back of reforms and liberalization measures implemented in 2019. Govt would seek to pay close attention on sector-specific policies both for inner consistency and cross-sectoral harmony and linkage to the overall quest for productivity and growth.
Special emphasis will be placed on enabling energy sector in the double sense of power and fuel to ensure this critical enabler does not hamper productivity and growth. Additional focus will be placed on infrastructural projects, with Govt urging PAC to use its influence and stature to enthuse private sector participation in infrastructural programmes.
Out of the 34 policy advisories which PAC forwarded to Govt, there was an appreciation that little was covered related to international trade in the triple sense of economic diplomacy, FDI attraction, technology sourcing and overseas markets development for greater exports. 2020 would see a deliberate emphasis in this area, including looking at ways of mobilizing the Zimbabwean Diaspora in this drive for greater productivity and exports.
The Financial Sector would work extra hard to ensure currency stability and low inflation for growth, while industry and commerce would look at a medium-to-long term industrial strategy in keeping with greater import substitution and the manufacturing of exportables. Mines and Mining Development will seek to intensify greater exploration of National mineral resources to make them bankable & thus usable for leveraging foreign capital.
Noteworthy is the fact that the World Bank projects Zimbabwe’s economy to grow by 2,7% in 2020, up from a negative growth of -6,5% last year because of drought. This sanguine projection is based on firming mineral prices, principally gold and platinum. Foreign receipts amounted to USD$6,8bn, down from USD$7,8bn the year before. This deep of USD$400m was not bad given the challenging year Zimbabwe went through, including costs of adjustment & liberalization.
By A Correspondent- A motorist caused a scene at Drill Hall police station in Bulawayo when he climbed on top of his car and insulted police officers who had arrested him for parking his Botswana registered vehicle at an undesignated place.
According to a police source, who witnessed the drama which happened on 03 January, Bryton Chipadza was brought to Drill Hall by traffic cops for dangerously parking his car in the middle of the road between Leopold Takawira and Fort Street in order to change money.
On the way to the police station, Chipadza is said to have been insulting the police officers who arrested him, accusing them of being corrupt and uneducated.
When they arrived at the police station Bryton climbed on top of his car and refused to go into the charge office.
“He was causing a scene and it attracted a small crowd. He was arrested at night around 8, had he been arrested during the day the crowd could have been much bigger. He accused the police who had arrested him of targeting foreign vehicles in order to get bribes in foreign currency.
“He also advised the arresting officers to quit their jobs and join him in Botswana because they were earning peanuts. He also promised to tarnish the image of the police on social media. After he calmed down he entered the charge office and was issued a Form 265 which gives the alleged offender an option to pay a fine or appear in court after 14 days,” said the source/.
Chipadza’s threats to soil the image of the police were not empty as he indeed used Facebook to hit back.
“Corruption alert by a certain group of police officers from Drill Hall police station in Bulawayo. A lady officer who drives a Ford Fiesta police vehicle, I am not sure if Sibanda is her real name, but she identified herself as Sibanda and a male officer named Shoko, they are harassing foreign vehicle owners in Bulawayo at night, asking for bribes in forex. I am yet to take this issue to higher offices which deal with corruption,” he wrote to a Facebook page called Bulawayo Public Notice Board.
However, some Facebook users who read his post defended the police and accused Chipadza of telling only one side of the story.
Attempts to contact Chipadza proved fruitless as he did not respond to Facebook messages sent to him by B-Metro.
The officer in charge at Drill Hall Traffic section, Chief Inspector Yedzani Tshuma refused to comment.
“Call the media department. It is not my place to comment about that incident,” he said.
