By Own Correspondent- MDC leader Nelson Chamisa’s lawyer, Thabani Mpofu, has challenged the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) to arrest “the real big criminals” involved in the looting of National Social Security Authority (Nssa) and offered to prosecute the matter for free.

In a terse statement, Mpofu said he had details of the real looters around Nssa, accusing Zacc of going for small fish.

Said Mpofu:

“We know who it is that has raided the public purse. We are fully aware of what happened with Command Agriculture, the true but untold Nssa story is known to us, even to the minutest derail. We are ready to act, but we will only act against the corrupters of the corrupt, the bishops of thievery.”

Mpofu said if Zacc chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo was sincere in the fight against corruption, she should arrest the chief architects of the looting and he would offer his expertise free of charge to prosecute them.

“This is my public offer to you Justice Matanda Moyo, give me three of the big ones, give me three who have looted our billions and I will prosecute the for free. The ball is on your court, m’ lady,” he said.

Mpofu’s statements come at a time there has been outrage from the public fronted by Zanu PF accusing MDC-aligned lawyers of representing alleged corrupt Zanu PF chefs.

One of the MDC-aligned lawyers, who spoke on condition of being unnamed, said people were missing the bigger picture.

“Look at the defence in most of the cases, it has been simple, that the public officials acted under instructions from the appointing authorities. In the scheme of taking the cases, we expose the fact that the State is targeting smaller fish and it should prosecute everyone from the top,” the lawyer said.

National Patriotic Front spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire said there was nothing much to read in the corruption crusade because it was merely a fight for political space.

“It has nothing to do with corruption, it’s politics. This is why you find lawyers who are part of the MDC don’t miss a heartbeat when they take on cases against the small fish in Zanu PF because it becomes persecution,” he said.

Former Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Priscah Mupfumira battling for freedom has in her defence indicated that the pilferage of funds from Nssa was bigger than her.-Newsday

By A Correspondent- Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said the introduction of the Zimbabwe dollar was timely as the country had registered macro-economic fundamentals that will promote stability of the local currency.

Ncube said this during a Mid-Term budget review breakfast meeting in Bulawayo recently,

He said as highlighted in the Mid-Term fiscal policy statement, there was a host of positive macro-economic fundamentals supporting the introduction of the local currency.

Underpinned by the two-year Transitional Stabilisation Programme adopted in October last year, Prof Ncube said the country’s current domestic debt level was receding and as at the end of June, it stood at $8,8 billion from $9,5 billion during the same time last year.

He said:

“Also the fact that domestic expenditure is not growing means that money supply growth is under control. 

“We are targeting reserved money or high-powered money as long we can target a specific growth on that we are good. Money supply not growing too fast, current and budget deficit under control, and we are able to support production, we are good.

“We are certainly going in the right direction in terms of the macro-economic picture,” said Prof Ncube.-StateMedia

By A Correspondent- Several students at Belvedere Teachers College are reported to have suffered from diarrhoea which could be the reason why the institution of higher learning closed before the school term calendar provision.

Most students left the institution last Thursday while yesterday was said to be the last day where most students had to vacate the college.

Speculation has been that the cases of diarrhoea had increased prompting the college to close earlier, a theory which was dismissed by the institution though acknowledging case of diarrhoea at the institution.

College principal Julia Mbofana confirmed diarrhoea cases but said early closure was to make students have ample time to look for internship as well as the institution to prepare for graduation ceremony scheduled for next week.

Some students who opened about the diarrhoea cases said they suspected that food offered at the institute was causing diarrhoea.

A first year wood technology student said the outbreak mainly affected those who stay at school.

“The situation was terrible on Wednesday (last week) night because people were affected while some are still sick.

“We were supposed to close this week but due to the outbreak, the college ordered people to go home last week, and the college closed yesterday,” she said.

A Mathematics student added:

“We ate cold food on Thursday and I’m suspecting that could be the reason why people were infected.

“People started vomiting, stomach cramps, headaches and dehydration and we were certain that this might be diarrhoea since there are a number of diarrhoea cases recorded in Harare.”

An unidentified staff also confirmed the diarrhoea outbreak saying many people suspect the food.

Mbofana said cases of diarrhoea could be emanating from buying food from vendors by the main gate adding that she also consumes the meals taken by students but has not suffered.

“The reasons why we closed earlier are that we wanted them to prepare for industrial attachment for those who are due for attachment and we also wanted to prepare for our 2019 graduation ceremony.

“Some students left but some are still at the institution,” Mbofana said.

Mbofana said some students were treated of diarrhoea while some would throw away the medication given to them.

“Some had diarrhoea and they were treated but some would throw the pills in the bins.

“I’m also having the same meals but nothing happened. I am suspecting that it could be outside food.

“We also asked the students to come and get tested for diarrhoea but no one came forward,” added Mbofana.-StateMedia

By A Correspondent- First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has called on the 100 girls that participated in her inaugural National Girls Boot Camp in Harare this week to be ambassadors who spread the theme of hard work, unity, love and the spirit of entrepreneurship among their peers in their respective provinces.

The girls were from the country’s 10 provinces.

Speaking during the closing ceremony of the camp at Lake Chivero yesterday, Mnangagwa said the event was a platform to engage and impart life skills to the girl child.

“We are gathered here to bid each other farewell,” she said.

“I want to thank all of you for the good behaviour you exhibited as I did not hear of any complaints of misbehaving. Keep up the good behaviour wherever you go.

“As I said during the official opening, that you have become provincial ambassadors for the First Lady, I expect you to go and influence others to learn from you.”

Mnangagwa said following the success of the inaugural event, the national boot camp would be an annual event, adding that the next episode will be more exciting.

“During this week’s stay in this camp, you had built some relationships, however, true friendship should not be affected by distance,” she said.

“You were staying as a mixed group such that someone from Masvingo was sharing a room with a colleague from Matabeleland, this was deliberately done so that you learn to quickly adapt to situations and be able to interact.

In life you will face such situations as you will be moving from place to place in search of your needs. The next episode of the boot camp will be much better and more interesting.”

Mnangagwa told the girls to remain focused.

“To you our girls, our pride, you came, you saw, you heard, you interacted and you made friends. As you go back to your destinations, remember to focus on the good things that you experienced, for it is the good things that will help you in shaping your future.”

The Angel of Hope Foundation patron thanked teachers who accompanied the girls and ZimParks for hosting them.

She also thanked other partners who made the camp a memorable event. The girls walked away with an assortment of foodstuffs and other goodies.

“These foodstuffs, I want you to go and give to your parents, and grandmothers who are my friends and pass my gratitude to them for entrusting me with you for the whole week,” said Amai Mnangagwa.

The secondary school pupils are also set to benefit from the First Lady’s scholarship programme starting next year.

The boot camp involved engaging, interacting and empowering the girls who got advice and teachings on several topics from qualified and experienced facilitators.

On sports day, they interacted with the Zimbabwe national netball team, the Gems, who shared with them their life testimonies.

The boot camp was life-changing for the girls, who learnt life lessons from Mnangagwa’s humility. One of the girls, Tadzai Ndlovu (15) from Machakata School in Gokwe, said it was her first time to be in Harare and thanked the First Lady for the opportunity.

She said she learnt a lot, especially from the Zimbabwe Republic Police Victim Friendly Unit, adding that she was going to educate other girls in her village about their rights and how to go about it if they were infringed.

The First Lady is passionate about women empowerment and recently several young women from disadvantaged backgrounds received certificates after undergoing a special training programme in tourism and hospitality, courtesy of Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa facilitated the skills mentorship programme through her charity organisation Angel of Hope Foundation, whose main focus is to uplift lives of disadvantaged children and other vulnerable members of society.

The skills they received during the tourism training programme will empower and capacitate the young ladies to be self-reliant.-StateMedia

By A Correspondent- FC Platinum players had to endure a 315km trip by bus from Lilongwe to Blantyre, which took them about 4hrs 30 minutes, after the plane that was supposed to carry them for their Confederation of African Football (Caf) Champions League preliminary match against Kalisto Pasuwa’s Nyasa Big Bullets today, developed a technical fault.

The match was set for the Kamuzu Stadium at 2:30pm.

The Zimbabwe champions flew into Lilongwe on Thursday night and were supposed to connect to the capital city at 7am in the morning, but found themselves stranded at the airport after their plane developed problems and failed to take off.

With the few other domestic airlines fully-booked, the Norman Mapeza-coached side had no other alternative other than getting on the road.

The travelling glitches saw them arriving in Blantyre at around 5:30pm, throwing their training programme into chaos as they had planned to have the feel of the match venue in the afternoon.

Instead, they had to train in the evening, but the session was restricted to only about 30 minutes.

Mapeza looked a frustrated figure as the chaos unfolded, but remained optimistic that the travelling huddle will not affect his players.

“We travelled about 300km by road, and sometimes it affects psychologically, but at the end of the day we are here and we have to play the game and see what happens. It was something that is beyond our control and there is nothing we can do.

We will talk to the players, because it’s all part of the game and that’s what happens in Africa most of the time. But I think physiologically, we should be ready for the game,” Mapeza said.

Mapeza will be facing off against Pasuwa, another former Warriors coach in a battle of wits between two coaches viewed by many as two of the country’s finest.

Between them, they share a staggering seven local league titles with Pasuwa just edging Mapeza by one. The former Dynamos coach also won the league tittle with Nyasa Bullets last season.

Today’s battle, while it will not fully define who is the best coach of the two, but what is certain is that the winner will not only walk away with the three points, but also the bragging rights.

“We know Kalisto, he has done well in terms of our football back home and the game will be a huge challenge but we will just have to go there tomorrow with the right frame of mind and try to get a positive result. Nyasa from my understanding is a very good side and we will have to be at our best to get a result,” Mapeza said.

The Zvishavane-based side will begin this edition of the competition with a new looking squad after the departure of five key players.

They lost the Moyo twins, Kelvin and Elvis, Farai Madhanhanga, Ali Sadiki and Godknows Murwira. But Mapeza is not utterly worried because he still has loads of experience in veterans like Devon Chafa, Never Tigere, Raphael Mudhuviwa Mkhokeli Dube, Kelvin Madzongwe and the returning Rodwell Chinyengetere, who can do the job.

“We lost the core of the team just a month ago and we have a new team now, but I think they are capable of getting a positive result.”

Goalkeeper and captain Petros Mhari, who returned from trials in South Africa last week, did not travel with the team to Malawi because of a bereavement in his family.

He is expected to be back for the return leg at Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo, in a fortnight.-Newsday

By Own Correspondent- Harare City Council has warned land invaders who are erecting structures built on wet lands that they risked losing their money.

Council said some land invaders have illegally built on road verges.

“Land invaders are losing thousands of dollars in illegal investments following council’s decision to pull down structures built on wetlands, school and clinic sites. Most invasions occurred in the Southern and Western suburbs,” Council said.

In recent minutes of the Environmental Management Committee, Director of Works Engineer Zvenyika Chawatama noted with concern the rampant cases of land invasion which had seen council resorting to taking legal action through effecting a nine-month eviction order against the invaders.

“The committee expressed concern at the invasion of Crowborough Farm and open spaces in Budiriro,” reads the minutes.

The Director of Works reported that with regard to invasion of Crowborough Farm, Council has sought for nine months eviction orders and was only left with one month to effect the evictions.

“The Environmental Management Committee has made evictions a top priority solely because the land being occupied by the invaders has been reserved for the construction of council schools and other purposes.
“The committee requested Eng Chawatama to identify all school sites which had been invaded so council can get eviction orders.”

Council added:
“Eng Chawatama was also tasked to engage the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Commissioner with regards to the matter. With regard to the Budiriro issue the Director of Works reported that the Zimbabwe Republic Police were not willing to help Council to stop the new invasions.

He had however, since booked an appointment with the ZRP Commissioner to map a way forward on the issue. He also further requested to organise a meeting with the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the Environmental Management Committee to map a way forward on the matter.”-StateMedia

By Majaira Jairosi- Emmerson Mnangagwa’s recent performance address at State House, reflecting an end of his one year in office since he was endorsed by the constitutional court (ConCourt) in August 2018, was full of mockery and lies.

In all aspects of life, nothing is so annoying as to confront an ignorant ruler who conveys lies and deception with dogmatic arrogance.

In the following sections, I will attend to some of the statements that Mnangagwa made, which were all driven by nothing but lies, deception, pretence and arrogance.

My response to his statements will be in no particular order.
(1) “I heartily thank you for choosing me to lead you on this new, exciting but long journey, a year of which we have now completed.”

Well, who does he want to fool? Mnangagwa was not chosen by the majority, but by a minority with support from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), which was working in cohort with the Military Junta.

We all witnessed how they came up with a ballot paper that was designed to favour Mnangagwa among other shenanigans, which I will briefly explore in other sections of this article.

Even after the election, Mnangagwa expressed his disappointment by directing an attack at his MPs whom he accused of sabotaging him by not encouraging their supporters to vote for him.

It is a known fact that most Zanu PF candidates encouraged their supporters to vote for Zanu PF MPs but to chose wisely when it comes to voting for a President.
The reality that the ConCourt endorsed him remains as true as it is that Mnangagwa was
not chosen by the people but that he was endorsed by a court. As such, the people did not
give him the consent to govern, but it is the court that consented in one of the most
bizarre judgements ever passed by, presumably, a group of learned people.
It is laughable & intriguing for Mnangagwa to think that people chose him. Given
Mnangagwa’s well documented history, which attaches him to gory episodes of murder and
ruthlessness, Zimbabweans have never trusted him or liked him. Since 2000 Mnangagwa
never won an election, reason why, in August 2018, ZEC, the Military Junta and ConCourt
had to come to his rescue the same way they did with Mugabe in 2008.
To sum up this section, let me categorically state that it is a pathological lie that the
majority of the people of Zimbabwe chose Mnangagwa. He is “unchoosable” , unlikable
and unelectable.
(2) “Above all, a solid foundation has been laid for more and greater gains in future.”
This is utter nonsense, what foundation has been laid? A solid foundation of lies, fraud, murder and
pretence. You see, when they murder people to maintain a grip on power they call it a solid
foundation; when they appoint military men like Utoile Silaigwana as Chief Elections Officer,
despite his well known history of involvement in electoral coup & fraud, they call it solid
foundation; when they practise nepotism by appointing a coup announcer’s wife as Zimbabwe Anti-
corruption Commission chairperson, they call it solid foundation.
Compatriot, when they appoint sycophants in the form of a Priest, Media Mogul and a Cooking oil
tycoon in Presidential Advisory Council, they call it solid foundation. Perhaps they are right,
because these solid foundations will make sure that Mnangagwa continues to hold on to power
regardless of his tragic leadership failure.

The truth be told, Mnangagwa’s solid foundation to power is laid on the carcasses our
people brutally murdered in August 2018 and January 2019 by cowards in military
fatigue, brandishing automatic machine guns.
(3) “We are back into the international fold, with those we continue to re-engage, notably
the Europeans and Americans, increasingly warming up to our overtures”.
Another stupid claim meant to hoodwink the generality. Contrary to this pronouncement, we heard
representatives of the international community registering their dismay on 1 st of August whilst
paying tribute to the those who were murdered by the regime. They did not mince words but they
categorically expressed their concerns over they way Mnangagwa handled the matter. It is such lack
of transparency and accountability which they maintained, will continue to hinder any prospects for
re-engagement.
It is so funny, arrogant and disingenuous that Mnangagwa tells the nation that “we are
back into the international fold” when countries like US were imposing sanctions on
unruly elements like Anselem Sanyatwe. Such penchant for lying does not help the
situation. The reason why China is now watching from a distance is that it does not want
to be seem to be the only country, which props up a patently corrupt regime. China has
very a very strong law, which detests corruption.
(4) “The pace at which our broad reforms have unfolded in the year which has gone by is
truly remarkable”
This is one of the biggest lies being told by this regime. There are no meaningful reforms
taking place. Look at the media. Entities like ZBC, The Herald and its sister papers have
remained very partisan in favour of Zanu PF. These entities have, like always, served as
Zanu PF mouthpieces with their journalists who have become the party’s activists and foot
soldiers. The way they conduct their business is so embarrassing in the eyes of the people
of Zimbabwe and the international community. Watching ZBCtv or listening to ZBC radio,
one questions why people are subject to Zanu PF nuisance day in day out. It is so
staggering that people like Nick Mangwana, Monica Mutsvangwa and dunderhead Energy
Mutodi find nothing wrong with it. For Mnangagwa to say “ The pace at which our broad
reforms have unfolded in the year which has gone by is truly remarkable” is just crude
nonsense meant to provoke the people.
When it comes to reforms, the regime has not moved an inch. One notable evidence is that
they have even introduced a law via the back-garden, which allows anyone and everyone to
be charged with “subverting a constitutionally elected government”, judging by the pace &
number of people who have been charged so far. Even by Mugabe’s standard, this is
despotism on another level. Zimbabweans have never seen anything like it. The monstrosity
being displayed by Mnangagwa has left many people shocked both local and international.
But this is who he is, a man who was described by his own people as someone who has
“consistently and persistently exhibited traits of disloyalty, disrespect, deceitfulness, and
unreliability”. The jointly drafted letter of dismissal went on to state that “He has also
demonstrated little probity in the execution of his duties”.
Anyone familiar with Zwitter (A term which describes Zimbabwean twitter community),
will agree that many people from Zimbabwe have been tweeting about the need for
genuine reforms in Zimbabwe. These demands stem from a realisation that no meaningful
reforms have been implemented so far. The calls for reforms have been loud, however the
regime, with its arrogance, has been taking no notice.
The whole address by Mnangagwa was driven by the regime’s new culture of lies, deception, fraud

and pretence. It was nothing but another Asante Sana.

Majaira Jairosi
Researcher. MDC Activist
[email protected]

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Republic Police confirmed that a Bulawayo man shot a fellow motorist after the duo were involved in a minor altercation over a  road accident. 

Said the police:

“A male adult aged 45 years is being charged with attempted murder after he shot a 29 year old man on the neck with a Glook pistol at the 55km peg, Bulawayo- Nkayi road on 8/8/19.

“The two were involved in a minor road traffic accident which resulted in minor damages and a punctured tyre to the vehicles.” 

ZRP says members of the public, especially drivers are warned against road rage and violence after getting involved in accidents.

“They should timeously report such incidents to the police.” ZRP added.

NewsDay|Zanu PF’s promotion of wood-powered kiln ovens to make bread has been described as “primitive and unsustainable”.

The project was commissioned in Harare recently before the concept was taken to Chinhoyi, where Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs minister Mary Mliswa officiated at the launch held at the party’s provincial offices last week.

In separate interviews conducted by NewsDay Weekender, ordinary citizens described the bakery projects as “taking back the country to the stone age era”.

“This is a mockery to Zanu PF as these projects do not take the economy forward,” Leonard Chirinda said.

“Instead of retooling confectionaries and other industries, Zanu PF is taking us to the stone age.”

Another critic, Shumirai Kaseke, said the hype that surrounded the bakery and soap-making projects was not necessary.

“All the fuss around these projects will come to nought. These are just side-shows by the ruling elite to gloss over a failed economy, characterised by closed industries. It’s not promoting entrepreneurship,” Kaseke said.

Some residents also said the wood-fuelled ovens would result in people wantonly cutting down trees, leading to the depletion of forests.

Zanu PF is promoting the “bush-bakeries” in the wake of shortages of bread in shops.

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Republic Police have reported that a Bulawayo man was shot after he was involved in a minor altercation with a fellow motorist over a  road accident. 

Confirmed the police:

“A male adult aged 45 years is being charged with attempted murder after he shot a 29 year old man on the neck with a Glook pistol at the 55km peg, Bulawayo- Nkayi road on 8/8/19.

“The two were involved in a minor road traffic accident which resulted in minor damages and a punctured tyre to the vehicles.” 

ZRP says members of the public, especially drivers are warned against road rage and violence after getting involved in accidents.

“They should timeously report such incidents to the police.” ZRP added.

Nelson Chamisa urges Linda Masarira to rejoin the big tent

The Zimbabwean surrogate currency, the Bond Note is expected to be removed from circulation within the next three weeks and replaced by the new Zimbabwean currency.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is expected to launch a new series of Zimbabwe Dollars to replace the Bond notes.

Sources within the RBZ said they emerged from a meeting where all systems were set at go.

“I am just coming from a marathon meeting with the bosses and I can assure you that the Zim dollar will be printed and unveiled in the next 21 days all things being equal,” the source said.

“The Governor has been busy the whole week in consultation with relevant stakeholders to make sure that the physical notes are launched with public confidence as they will ease the liquid crisis that the country is faced with.”

The source added that the new notes are anticipated to stabilize the Zim dollar at around 1:1 rate with the South African Rand thereby giving a boost to salaries that workers have been crying of.

In June Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube issued an SI that banned the use of foreign currency as legal tender in the country,

Passengers Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ) welcomes the introduction of the tap and go payment system for ZUPCO.

It brings convenience to the commuting public. However, there is concern with the fact that passengers are being made to buy the tap and go card for $10.

This amount overstretches the pockets of passengers, many of whom are not formally employed.

PAZ is also concerned with the fact that ZUPCO is prioritizing passengers with tap and go cards such that those who will be paying with cash either get left behind or are the last to board the bus.

Some of the passengers who will be paying with cash, at times would have been the first ones on the queue. The purchasing of tap and go cards should not be through this form of duress.

We are calling upon ZUPCO have a timetable. Many people who rely on ZUPCO are often late to work, because they start operating later in the morning hours.

Many people leave their work stations after seven in the evening and there will be no buses to transport them.

The buses that ZUPCO is hiring must be roadworthy. There are many that are not fit to transport people.

Tafadzwa Goliati

Passengers Association of Zimbabwe President

Farai Dziva|PPPZ leader Pastor Timothy Chiguvare has said he will defeat Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa in the 2023 Presidential plebiscite.

“My ability to add value to the nation of Zimbabwe is an art form that has taken years of experience to perfect and I am now ready to do what I am born for , to live for and to die for .”

“FELLOW ZIMBABWEANS! YOU DESERVE THE BEST OR NOTHING
I am the CHANGE you have been waiting for and your LIVES will never be the same again , NOW watch this space!” , declared Chiguvare in a statement.

“Fellow Zimbabweans you have a choice to make. Remember! you are the KEY and the SOLUTION – Vote for PPPZ , your Party of choice for the 2023 election.
Making the wrong CHOICE will mean that you have failed to plan your FUTURE , then POVERTY will plan it for you.”

Fellow Zimbabweans, it is again the month of August, a month associated with high accident incidences on our highways.

The month has seen record high fatalities in the previous years and the MDC is concerned by such a trend. August is a month associated with many people traveling to church conferences, family gatherings, Heroes day celebrations and so on. These events result in high usage of the highways making the roads busy and abundant with drivers of various characters on vehicles in multi ranging state.

The MDC is gravely concerned by the state of our roads across the country, the deplorable road conditions have become a death trap to our drivers and road users alike. It is imperative therefore that all road users exercise extra caution when on the wheel.

According to the Auditor General Report of 2018, Road accidents went up by 26%, and this is worrisome in that our hospitals are ill-equipped to offer emergency services to save life in the event of a serious accident. The only way to remain safe is to avoid the accidents. The MDC family bears testimony to this tragedy in that in the month of May and June we lost three senior leaders, who included Paul Rukanda, Tafadzwa Mhundwa and our dear Honourable MP for Glenview South Vimbai Tsvangirai Java. May their souls rest in eternal peace.

We are aware that so many other families have born this pain of losing their loved ones through road traffic accidents hence our clarion call to all citizens and especially drivers that our lives are best determined by how we drive and behave on the roads.

Zero Accidents are possible.

Let’s have August 2019 being different from the rest.

Just remember the following:

Do not drink and drive.

Have a good rest before embarking on a long journey

Make all the basic checks on your vehicle i.e. tyre pressure, water and oil.

Avoid driving at night.

Observe all traffic signs at all times

Respect speed limits.

Be courteous to fellow road users, avoid high emotions.

when feeling tired pull over and rest at a safe place.

While the economic hardships are wreaking havoc on our lives and to our families, imagine being unable to fend for them anymore after a fatal accident. Imagine the hospital bills required in case of a serious injury in a road traffic accident, let’s try and avoid all that by driving safely this August and forever after.

Zimbabwe still needs you.

Drive to arrive alive.

ZeroAccidentsPossible

Hon Settlement Chikwinya (MP)
Secretary for Transport and Logistics.
Movement For Democratic Change

Jane Mlambo| Zanu PF Youth League Commissar, Godfrey Tsenengamu has urged Finance minister Professor Mthuli Ncube to adjust workers salaries to maintain the buying power which has been eroded by inflation since the local economy began tumbling.

Posting on Facebook today, Tsenengamu said workers salaries which were once pegged at USD400 should be getting an equivalent of that amount in Zimbabwean dollars.

He added that at the current rate, workers were getting less than USD50 dollars due to the devaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar against the greenback.

“Salaries Ought To Be Adjusted To Maintain Buying Power For The Worker Whose Salary Was Pegged e.g @ USD400 who now gets ZWD400 which is now less than USD50,’ said Tsenengamu on Facebook.

 By A Correspondent| In a restructuring exercise currently underway at First Capital Bank, more than 200 employees are set to lose their jobs.

The bank reportedly sent a memo to the would-be retrenches Friday, pledging to continue supporting each and every affected member.

The memo read in part:

The restructuring exercise is a significant change and the bank remains commited to assist each colleague through this process.

The HR Department has already communicated arrangements that have been put in place for the support services that includes counselling and financial advice.

The First Capital Bank Head of Corporate Affairs and Customer services confirmed the development to a local publication and said:

First Capital bank Zimbabwe can confirm that some employees will be exiting the bank undera compulsory restructuring exercise.

This has come at the back of the review of the operating model aimed at creating operational efficiencies. The exercise also seeks to respond to local and global trends impacting the banking industry.

This comes barely a month after First Capital Bank employees threatened to go on strike over low remunerations.

Some workers were reportedly shaken by the sudden announcement.-263Chat

Dear Mr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa

May you please tell your people to stop following me around!! Ever since I was released from prison I am being followed and monitored everwhere I go by weird people in tinted cars without number plates. In the past four days, the car pictured below (black tinted ford ranger with no number plates) has been parking outside my house in the evenings.The pattern of its arrival and departure is consistent with my arrival at home from work.

I would like to reiterate that I am neither a terrorist, nor a security threat in any way. My work as a women and human rights activist is in no way related to any insurgency or terrorism acts as alleged by state security agents.

I hold no intentions to unconstitutionally remove your Government from power. I am a law abiding and peace loving Zimbabwean. I was never trained on the use of either small or big arms in Maldives as wrongly stated by propaganda in state media. The workshop I participated in was on human rights and peace building in line with my work of mobilising and capacitating women to take up leadership positions.

Please tell your people to leave me and my kids alone!! The intensified surveillance is traumatizing my family and the children are now afraid of moving freely at home where they are supposed to feel safe and secure. My children (aged 4 and 3 years) deserve peace and a safe environment just like yours and every other kid for proper development. Above all, they also need me and risk growing up without parental love and guidance if I am to be harmed by these menacing thugs.

May you also please tell your people who arrested me and confisticated my passport at the airport on 27 May 2019 to return my passport to law and order officers at Harare central police station. During my last court appearance, the investigating officer indicated that she never received my passport from the people who arrested me.

I had many opportunities to leave this country but I chose to stay so please don’t punish me for choosing to stay in Zimbabwe amidst all the economic turmoils we have faced as a country over the years.

I am not an enemy of the state Mr Mnangagwa, the enemy is the ailing economy, corruption and misgovernance. Women are suffering the worst in this economy and as a woman I don’t deserve further harassment by your agents. Women, girls and the general citizens are in a state of hopelessness. May you kindly solve the political and economic crisis sir rather than persecuting human rights defenders!

Regards, 
Sitabile Dewa

Zimbabwe’s economy is getting close to the fuel market price after eliminating subsidies which have been in place over the past months, subsidies which helped keep prices low in US$ terms, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

Despite the erratic supplies, fuel prices have over the last few months rising gradually, tracking movements on the foreign exchange market. Demand for the commodity increased since May as business and domestic consumers of use fuel as an alternative source of energy. Zimbabwe is facing rolling power outages lasting up to 18 hours due to depressed generation at the country’s largest hydro-powered station.

Until May, fuel importers were accessing foreign currency at 1:1 between the RTGS dollar and the greenback despite the central bank dumping the parity in February.

IMF resident representative to Zimbabwe Patrick Imam told Business Times the subsidy was not done in a transparent manner as it was not reflecting in the budget.

“Zimbabwe has subsidised fuel on a large scale in the recent past. This was, however, not done in a transparent manner, as these were not reflected in the budget despite the budget eventually having to pay for it. It was instead done indirectly,” Imam said.

“The central bank, through preferential foreign exchange allocation to fuel importers, helped keep fuel prices low. This quasi-fiscal activity has now started to be addressed, and we are getting close to the market price.”

Since the removal of the fuel subsidy, the price has been on an upward trend will fuel retailing at ZWL$9.01 and ZWL$9.06 per litre for petrol and diesel respectively from ZWL$3.26 and ZWL$3.38 prior to the removal of the subsidy.

Imam said the Fund was not opposed to subsidies as they can be used, for instance, when the government wants to encourage the consumption or production of something that would otherwise be under-supplied by the market such as education.

“In all countries around the world, there is a strong belief in the importance of having an educated population, both for its own sake because there is an intrinsic value in being educated, but also because an educated workforce imposes a positive externality on the
country,” he said.

He said when Malawi removed all primary school fees, enrollment went up from 2 million children to 3 million over 6 years and the enrollment gap between the rich and the poor closed.

Imam said there were also bad reasons to subsidise, for instance, when it happens for political reasons and that from society’s point of view are not necessarily desirable or efficient.

“Think of the Common Agricultural Policy as practiced in Europe in the 1980s. European farmers were able to extract large subsidies, because they mattered politically. The result of this policy was that it imposed a huge cost on European consumers, but especially on farmers around the world who saw on oversupply of products such as milk depressing international prices,” he said adding that there are subsidies used to keep loss-making State-owned enterprises that are not viable alive.

“Think of all the airlines over the African continent that are recapitalised every few years. It’s politically easier to keep a State-owned enterprise alive than face a vocal group of unemployed individuals.”

-Business Times

Farai Dziva|MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has said Zanu PF betrayed the core values of the liberation war through massive vote rigging.

Below is Chamisa’s statement on the coming Heroes and Defence Forces celebrations:

It is exactly twelve months since disputed and stolen election of 2018.

The majority of Zimbabweans are still in shock at the brazen manner in which their vote was stolen.

Disputed elections continue to pose a major blow and betrayal to the fundamental ideals of the liberation struggle, whose main aim and clarion call was One Man, One Vote.

Manipulation of the vote is indeed a negation of the sanctity and integrity of the right to choose for which so many of our people died in pursuit of that democratic right.

The non racial Zimbabwe of today was born out of a strong desire, and a determined sense of sacrifice, by many brave young men and women, who put their lives and livelihoods at risk in order to deliver a free and prosperous Zimbabwe, for all who live and belong to it.

The liberation of Zimbabwe came through a protracted war of independence, so this month we are joined together as Zimbabweans in paying tribute to the valiant men and women, who fought for the liberation of their country, Zimbabwe.

What brings and binds us together as Zimbabweans is far more important than what may separate us as a people.

Through this incredible sacrifice, we are moved to believe that with unity of purpose, fortitude and commitment, no weapon can stop a moment whose time has come.

Our liberation heroes such as Josiah Tongogara and Nikita Mangena, always reminded us that victory was certain, those worlds have never been more appropriate and truer, than for this time that we are living in.

No evil force can overwhelm a people’s desire whose cause is just and righteous, and whose time has now come.

In fact, so important is the Heroes commemoration, such that allocating a mere day for such a mammoth and important occasion is not enough.

In a New Zimbabwe, under a new people’s government, everyday will be a Heroes Day, because we honour our heroes through how we live our lives and not through cosmetic, vacuous and inadequate celebratiosn that ignore our people’s suffering.

We believe that Heroes are found at all levels, and are not only political, because we find them in our communities looking after orphans and the disabled, an example set by the late great Jairos Jiri.

Our new government will declare a Heroes and Memorials month so that the nation is accorded adequate time to remember the sacrifices made, the courage exhibited, the bodies maimed and the lives lost in the struggles to liberate and democratize our beautiful Zimbabwe.

We will be setting aside a whole month to celebrate this significant epoch in the national story of Zimbabwe, these celebrations will be done and reflected through how we look after our people, especially the most vulnerable.

There is nothing heroic or revolutionary about stealing money meant for pensioners at NSSA, and looting money meant for social services as we have seen happen for decades under the present government.

Heroism is about protecting our people and not about making empty speeches at a place that has been turned into a political party cemetery, yet funded by the struggling taxpayer in Guruve, Gwanda, Murewa, Bikita and everywhere in the country.

It is my wish for the whole month of August to be littered with community programs, town-hall meetings, village communions, dance, arts, film and various other festivities in remembrance of those patriotic Zimbabweans whose blood irrigated the tree of our political and economic emancipation.

These gallant sons and daughters of this land, whose sweat, toil and tears birthed an independent and democratic Zimbabwe, should be celebrated through works that reflect how they envisaged a free Zimbabwe.

Those of us who are the political alternative are fully aware of the fact that the democratic struggle that we are prosecuting, is mutually inclusive and consistent with the liberation struggle ideals of Nikita Mangena and Josiah Tongogara.

We fully recognize that the unfulfilled part of their struggle desires is found in the lack of liberation and political independence outcomes, which are defined by the freedom to choose, and also by the availability of a better life for our people.

Theirs was a truly heroic struggle, but unfortunately their dream of a better Zimbabwe remains a dream deferred that we must now fulfil in order to complete the liberation struggle.

The challenge for our generation is to fully address that conspicuous deficit, one that has brought untold suffering to our people.

Our role as a democratic movement is simply to complete the unfinished business of the liberation struggle, whose aspirations and desires should never be ignoredd or undermined.

Our struggle as a democratic movement, the struggle we began with the iconic Dr Morgan Richard Tsvangirai and others in 1999, is a patriotic struggle that stands right on the shoulders of the struggle waged by Alfred Nikita Mangena, Joshua Nkomo, Josiah Magama Tongogara and Lookout Khalisabantu Vumindaba Masuku, Herbert Chitepo, Leopold Takawirato mention but a few.

We only wish to complete that unfinished National Democratic struggle by ensuring that the attendant freedoms and the full democracy that this iconic generation aspired for are fully achieved in our lifetime.

And indeed from this generation, they shall come forthwith our own heroes, those who are sacrificing for the fulfilment of the Zimbabwean dream.

The spirit of heroism is within each and every one of us.
That spirit of sacrifice, that sense of responsibility and duty towards others around and beyond us within our borders is what we are in pursuit of.

We salute those who at times risk their lives to save others in one-way or another.

Each and every generation has its own heroes. We also have modern-day heroes who remind us that it is in our nature to reach out to others, to sacrifice for others and to do that which is good for our country.

On this National Heroes’ Day, we resolutely salute them, as we do to our sportsmen and women; our musicians who through their hard work on the international scene continue shine a positive and bright light on Zimbabwe.

Indeed, we also have everyday heroes in our military and police forces, our teachers, nurses, and countless responsible citizens who see sacrifice as a duty, and honour in service to our great nation.

I am painfully aware that some of you may be in a fuel or bank queue, or have no electricity or water, or can’t get your passport, or are struggling with medical or school fees, or have nightmares with the rising cost of living and high prices.

Remember, every shortage is but a shortage of love. Every problem and shortages that we are encountering are a leadership deficit.

Amidst the current hardships of water, power and cash shortages, I wish to take advantage of this occasion to salute all resilient Zimbabweans who are braving these painful realities under these difficult circumstances.

Indeed, you are national heroes. Your sacrifices under these trying times need to be equally celebrated and acknowledged.

I urge you all the heroic people of Zimbabwe not to despair, better must come, and it will come if we are united in delivering a Zimbabwe for not only ourselves, but for future generations to come whose stock is constantly being looted by a corrupt, incompetent and nepotistic predatory group.

Let all Zimbabweans reflect on the sacrifices paid on this day.

Let us all spend the holiday with our families and friends and share our aspirations and thoughts of a united and peaceful country.

It is heart wrenching to note that war veterans who were at the centre of the struggle for our independence are living under squalid conditions and without any social or economic support from the State.

The plight of war veterans and their families is of immediate national concern.

The men and women who fought for the independence of this country from colonial rule had a vision and aspirations.

This vision has being shattered by criminal behaviour and selfish and personal pursuits for wealth.

Today, this once breadbasket of Africa is now a basket case.

Surely, this stands out as a betrayal of the loft ideals of the liberation struggle.

Incredibly, Zimbabwe houses vast wealth, exceptionally talented Human Resources, rich minerals, fertile lands and natural wonders.

The opportunities for economic transformation and prosperity are limitless and immediately available if we have a people’s government, one that cares about the nation.

The population of our young and very educated people makes an ambitious economic growth path more certainly achievable in our lifetime.

The vision that has been set by our forefathers and yet betrayed by their successors is not far beyond our reach, but only if we start working NOW.

That work begins today by fixing our politics and governance deficits.

Good governance and growth have long been pencilled to go hand in hand with a nation’s success.

However, we will not fix our politics without true and legitimate leaders, Zimbabwe is a long way from real transformation and sustainable growth as long as it is subjected to comical political arrangements meant to satisfy the greed and very few.

The Zimbabwe that our heroes dreamt, worked and died for is one in which no citizen would be unsafe and insecure in the land of their birth.

In that Zimbabwe, no citizen would die or be in jail on account of politics, power and political differences.

It would be a Zimbabwe in which every citizen would have a decent job and wage, with all Zimbabweans having a fair share and equal opportunities to the wealth they create and equal rights that our heroes secured for us.

This Zimbabwe, however, can only be built by a political leadership that places the highest premium on integrity and which is committed to the highest standards of public service, while recognising the importance of a partnership with the people they serve.

We can best honour our heroes by providing this leadership in our various areas of endeavour, as we rededicate ourselves to the task of building a Zimbabwe that offers opportunity to all its people, and where we all share and care for each other.

This is where we must begin today here in Zimbabwe. We are determined to return our country to legitimacy, democracy and prosperity.

My fellow citizens, nothing short of a political solution through national dialogue will extricate our country from the jaws of impoverishment, poverty and suffering.

We must have genuine comprehensive political and electoral reforms to transform our country and make it prosperous.

To the entrepreneurs (vendors), the war veterans, the workers, youth and women’s groups, the marginalized groups, the civic and church groups, let us mobilize each other as peacemakers in the quest for freedom.

Let us not miss our turn to be genuinely heroic in pursuit of a better life.

Let us sacrifice for a better Zimbabwe. Let us be the heroes of our time by bringing back that glitter, glamour and glory to our motherland.

Our national heroes have left us a great heritage and legacy to build on; let us preserve it for generations to come.

None but ourselves can fix this country.

This is the purpose of our generation. The liberation generation discovered theirs, we as the transformation generation must play our part and act our duty by delivering a truly prosperous Zimbabwe.

In conclusion, I wish to say to the youth of this country, you are the game changers and defenders of our country.

The cost of doing nothing far exceeds the cost of doing something.

We must change our unmerited circumstances and harsh realities of joblessness, hopelessness and poverty.

The future is bright. Tomorrow is glorious!

Change that delivers.

Thank you and God Bless You.

Happy Heroes Month.

Zimbabwe, land we love, land of peacemakers, Our motherland.

Nelson Chamisa
MDC President

By A Correspondent| The house is in Borrowdale, Harare.

Sources privy to the developments alleged that hundreds on MDC t-shirts are being printed in preparation for the upcoming August 16 protest.

The regalia, is set to be distributed to Zanu Pf youths who are going to cause violence and mayhem.

The development follows revelations by the Zimbabwe National Army boss Valerie Sibanda that while the army is not partisan, it would not fold its hands and watch “anarchy”.

Could this be reason why MDC t shirts are being printed?

Will violence perpetrated by Zanu Pf erupt on August 16?

Watch the video below….

Where red MDC t l-shirts are allegedly being printed in preparation for 16th August protest @MakomboreroH @mdczimbabwe pic.twitter.com/oqVC30wiRt

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 10, 2019

By Nelson Chamisa| It is exactly twelve months since disputed and stolen election of 2018.

The majority of Zimbabweans are still in shock at the brazen manner in which their vote was stolen.

Disputed elections continue to pose a major blow and betrayal to the fundamental ideals of the liberation struggle, whose main aim and clarion call was One Man, One Vote.

Manipulation of the vote is indeed a negation of the sanctity and integrity of the right to choose for which so many of our people died in pursuit of that democratic right.

The non racial Zimbabwe of today was born out of a strong desire, and a determined sense of sacrifice, by many brave young men and women, who put their lives and livelihoods at risk in order to deliver a free and prosperous Zimbabwe, for all who live and belong to it.

The liberation of Zimbabwe came through a protracted war of independence, so this month we are joined together as Zimbabweans in paying tribute to the valiant men and women, who fought for the liberation of their country, Zimbabwe.

What brings and binds us together as Zimbabweans is far more important than what may separate us as a people.

Through this incredible sacrifice, we are moved to believe that with unity of purpose, fortitude and commitment, no weapon can stop a moment whose time has come.

Our liberation heroes such as Josiah Tongogara and Nikita Mangena, always reminded us that victory was certain, those worlds have never been more appropriate and truer, than for this time that we are living in.

No evil force can overwhelm a people’s desire whose cause is just and righteous, and whose time has now come.

In fact, so important is the Heroes commemoration, such that allocating a mere day for such a mammoth and important occasion is not enough.

In a New Zimbabwe, under a new people’s government, everyday will be a Heroes Day, because we honour our heroes through how we live our lives and not through cosmetic, vacuous and inadequate celebration that ignore our people’s suffering.

We believe that Heroes are found at all levels, and are not only political, because we find them in our communities looking after orphans and the disabled, an example set by the late great Jairos Jiri.

Our new government will declare a Heroes and Memorials month so that the nation is accorded adequate time to remember the sacrifices made, the courage exhibited, the bodies maimed and the lives lost in the struggles to liberate and democratize our beautiful Zimbabwe.

We will be setting aside a whole month to celebrate this significant epoch in the national story of Zimbabwe, these celebrations will be done and reflected through how we look after our people, especially the most vulnerable.

There is nothing heroic or revolutionary about stealing money meant for pensioners at NSSA, and looting money meant for social services as we have seen happen for decades under the present government.

Heroism is about protecting our people and not about making empty speeches at a place that has been turned into a political party cemetery, yet funded by the struggling taxpayer in Guruve, Gwanda, Murewa, Bikita and everywhere in the country.

It is my wish for the whole month of August to be littered with community programs, town-hall meetings, village communions, dance, arts, film and various other festivities in remembrance of those patriotic Zimbabweans whose blood irrigated the tree of our political and economic emancipation.

These gallant sons and daughters of this land, whose sweat, toil and tears birthed an independent and democratic Zimbabwe, should be celebrated through works that reflect how they envisaged a free Zimbabwe.

Those of us who are the political alternative are fully aware of the fact that the democratic struggle that we are prosecuting, is mutually inclusive and consistent with the liberation struggle ideals of Nikita Mangena and Josiah Tongogara.

We fully recognize that the unfulfilled part of their struggle desires is found in the lack of liberation and political independence outcomes, which are defined by the freedom to choose, and also by the availability of a better life for our people.

Theirs was a truly heroic struggle, but unfortunately their dream of a better Zimbabwe remains a dream deferred that we must now fulfil in order to complete the liberation struggle.

The challenge for our generation is to fully address that conspicuous deficit, one that has brought untold suffering to our people.

Our role as a democratic movement is simply to complete the unfinished business of the liberation struggle, whose aspirations and desires should never be ignored or undermined.

Our struggle as a democratic movement, the struggle we began with the iconic Dr Morgan Richard Tsvangirai and others in 1999, is a patriotic struggle that stands right on the shoulders of the struggle waged by *Alfred Nikita Mangena, Joshua Nkomo, Josiah Magama Tongogara and Lookout Khalisabantu Vumindaba Masuku, Herbert Chitepo, Leopold Takawira*to mention but a few.

We only wish to complete that unfinished National Democratic struggle by ensuring that the attendant freedoms and the full democracy that this iconic generation aspired for are fully achieved in our lifetime.

And indeed from this generation, they shall come forthwith our own heroes, those who are sacrificing for the fulfilment of the Zimbabwean dream.

The spirit of heroism is within each and every one of us. That spirit of sacrifice, that sense of responsibility and duty towards others around and beyond us within our borders is what we are in pursuit of.

We salute those who at times risk their lives to save others in one-way or another.

Each and every generation has its own heroes. We also have modern-day heroes who remind us that it is in our nature to reach out to others, to sacrifice for others and to do that which is good for our country.

On this National Heroes’ Day, we resolutely salute them, as we do to our sportsmen and women; our musicians who through their hard work on the international scene continue shine a positive and bright light on Zimbabwe.

Indeed, we also have everyday heroes in our military and police forces, our teachers, nurses, and countless responsible citizens who see sacrifice as a duty, and honour in service to our great nation.

I am painfully aware that some of you may be in a fuel or bank queue, or have no electricity or water, or can’t get your passport, or are struggling with medical or school fees, or have nightmares with the rising cost of living and high prices.

Remember, every shortage is but a shortage of love. Every problem and shortages that we are encountering are a leadership deficit.

Amidst the current hardships of water, power and cash shortages, I wish to take advantage of this occasion to salute all resilient Zimbabweans who are braving these painful realities under these difficult circumstances.

Indeed, you are national heroes. Your sacrifices under these trying times need to be equally celebrated and acknowledged.

I urge you all the heroic people of Zimbabwe not to despair, better must come, and it will come if we are united in delivering a Zimbabwe for not only ourselves, but for future generations to come whose stock is constantly being looted by a corrupt, incompetent and nepotistic predatory group.

Let all Zimbabweans reflect on the sacrifices paid on this day.

Let us all spend the holiday with our families and friends and share our aspirations and thoughts of a united and peaceful country.

It is heart wrenching to note that war veterans who were at the centre of the struggle for our independence are living under squalid conditions and without any social or economic support from the State.

The plight of war veterans and their families is of immediate national concern.

The men and women who fought for the independence of this country from colonial rule had a vision and aspirations.

This vision has being shattered by criminal behaviour and selfish and personal pursuits for wealth.

Today, this once breadbasket of Africa is now a basket case.

Surely, this stands out as a betrayal of the loft ideals of the liberation struggle.

Incredibly, Zimbabwe houses vast wealth, exceptionally talented Human Resources, rich minerals, fertile lands and natural wonders.

The opportunities for economic transformation and prosperity are limitless and immediately available if we have a people’s government, one that cares about the nation.

The population of our young and very educated people makes an ambitious economic growth path more certainly achievable in our lifetime.

The vision that has been set by our forefathers and yet betrayed by their successors is not far beyond our reach, but only if we start working NOW.

That work begins today by fixing our politics and governance deficits.

Good governance and growth have long been pencilled to go hand in hand with a nation’s success.

However, we will not fix our politics without true and legitimate leaders, Zimbabwe is a long way from real transformation and sustainable growth as long as it is subjected to comical political arrangements meant to satisfy the greed and very few.

The Zimbabwe that our heroes dreamt, worked and died for is one in which no citizen would be a unsafe and insecure in the land of their birth.

In that Zimbabwe, no citizen would die or be in jail on account of politics, power and political differences.

It would be a Zimbabwe in which every citizen would have a decent job and wage, with all Zimbabweans having a fair share and equal opportunities to the wealth they create and equal rights that our heroes secured for us.

This Zimbabwe, however, can only be built by a political leadership that places the highest premium on integrity and which is committed to the highest standards of public service, while recognising the importance of a partnership with the people they serve.

We can best honour our heroes by providing this leadership in our various areas of endeavour, as we rededicate ourselves to the task of building a Zimbabwe that offers opportunity to all its people, and where we all share and care for each other.

This is where we must begin today here in Zimbabwe. We are determined to return our country to legitimacy, democracy and prosperity.

My fellow citizens, nothing short of a political solution through national dialogue will extricate our country from the jaws of impoverishment, poverty and suffering.

We must have genuine comprehensive political and electoral reforms to transform our country and make it prosperous.

To the entrepreneurs (vendors), the war veterans, the workers, youth and women’s groups, the marginalized groups, the civic and church groups, let us mobilize each other as peacemakers in the quest for freedom.

Let us not miss our turn to be genuinely heroic in pursuit of a better life.

Let us sacrifice for a better Zimbabwe. Let us be the heroes of our time by bringing back that glitter, glamour and glory to our motherland.

Our national heroes have left us a great heritage and legacy to build on; let us preserve it for generations to come.

None but ourselves can fix this country.

This is the purpose of our generation. The liberation generation discovered theirs, we as the transformation generation must play our part and act our duty by delivering a truly prosperous Zimbabwe.

In conclusion, I wish to say to the youth of this country, you are the game changers and defenders of our country.

The cost of doing nothing far exceeds the cost of doing something.

We must change our unmerited circumstances and harsh realities of joblessness, hopelessness and poverty.

The future is bright. Tomorrow is glorious!

Change that delivers.

Thank you and God Bless You.

Happy Heroes Month.

Zimbabwe, land we love, land of peacemakers, Our motherland.

Nelson Chamisa
MDC President

MDC Mbizo MP Settlement Chikwinya and his Redcliff counterpart, Lloyd Mukapiko, were yesterday acquitted of charges of inciting violence during the January fuel price hike protests.

Kwekwe magistrate Story Rushambwa concurred with the legal team for the MPs led by Gweru lawyer Wellington Davira that the State had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Chikwinya and Mukapiko spent more than two weeks in custody, before being granted bail.

The State, led by prosecutor Yemurai Mugumba, had alleged that the two MDC officials incited public violence during the fuel price hike protests that rocked the country in January after President Emmerson Mnangagwa raised the price by 150 %.

According to the State, the actions of the two led to the blocking of roads and destruction of property in central Kwekwe.

In an interview with Southern Eye yesterday, the duo’s lawyer, Davira, said the magistrate had directed himself well in clearing the MPs of the charges.

“Our clients’ defence was that of alibi. They were not at the scene of the alleged crimes. That on its own, therefore, saw them being cleared of the false charges,” he said.

Chikwinya is a national executive member of the MDC, where he heads the transport and logistics committee. On the other hand, Mukapiko is the MDC Midlands organising secretary.

Davira argued during trial that Chikwinya was at a local pub during the time he was alleged to have addressed people at Rippaz Shop, inciting them to turn violent.

He also told the court that Mukapiko was, in fact, sitting for a provisional driver’s license at Vehicle Inspection Department at the time police also alleged he had addressed people, inciting them to engage in violence.

-Newsday

It is exactly twelve months since disputed and stolen election of 2018.

The majority of Zimbabweans are still in shock at the brazen manner in which their vote was stolen.

Disputed elections continue to pose a major blow and betrayal to the fundamental ideals of the liberation struggle, whose main aim and clarion call was One Man, One Vote.

Manipulation of the vote is indeed a negation of the sanctity and integrity of the right to choose for which so many of our people died in pursuit of that democratic right.

The non racial Zimbabwe of today was born out of a strong desire, and a determined sense of sacrifice, by many brave young men and women, who put their lives and livelihoods at risk in order to deliver a free and prosperous Zimbabwe, for all who live and belong to it.

The liberation of Zimbabwe came through a protracted war of independence, so this month we are joined together as Zimbabweans in paying tribute to the valiant men and women, who fought for the liberation of their country, Zimbabwe.

What brings and binds us together as Zimbabweans is far more important than what may separate us as a people.

Through this incredible sacrifice, we are moved to believe that with unity of purpose, fortitude and commitment, no weapon can stop a moment whose time has come.

Our liberation heroes such as Josiah Tongogara and Nikita Mangena, always reminded us that victory was certain, those worlds have never been more appropriate and truer, than for this time that we are living in.

No evil force can overwhelm a people’s desire whose cause is just and righteous, and whose time has now come.

In fact, so important is the Heroes commemoration, such that allocating a mere day for such a mammoth and important occasion is not enough.

In a New Zimbabwe, under a new people’s government, everyday will be a Heroes Day, because we honour our heroes through how we live our lives and not through cosmetic, vacuous and inadequate celebratiosn that ignore our people’s suffering.

We believe that Heroes are found at all levels, and are not only political, because we find them in our communities looking after orphans and the disabled, an example set by the late great Jairos Jiri.

Our new government will declare a Heroes and Memorials month so that the nation is accorded adequate time to remember the sacrifices made, the courage exhibited, the bodies maimed and the lives lost in the struggles to liberate and democratize our beautiful Zimbabwe.

We will be setting aside a whole month to celebrate this significant epoch in the national story of Zimbabwe, these celebrations will be done and reflected through how we look after our people, especially the most vulnerable.

There is nothing heroic or revolutionary about stealing money meant for pensioners at NSSA, and looting money meant for social services as we have seen happen for decades under the present government.

Heroism is about protecting our people and not about making empty speeches at a place that has been turned into a political party cemetery, yet funded by the struggling taxpayer in Guruve, Gwanda, Murewa, Bikita and everywhere in the country.

It is my wish for the whole month of August to be littered with community programs, town-hall meetings, village communions, dance, arts, film and various other festivities in remembrance of those patriotic Zimbabweans whose blood irrigated the tree of our political and economic emancipation.

These gallant sons and daughters of this land, whose sweat, toil and tears birthed an independent and democratic Zimbabwe, should be celebrated through works that reflect how they envisaged a free Zimbabwe.

Those of us who are the political alternative are fully aware of the fact that the democratic struggle that we are prosecuting, is mutually inclusive and consistent with the liberation struggle ideals of Nikita Mangena and Josiah Tongogara.

We fully recognize that the unfulfilled part of their struggle desires is found in the lack of liberation and political independence outcomes, which are defined by the freedom to choose, and also by the availability of a better life for our people.

Theirs was a truly heroic struggle, but unfortunately their dream of a better Zimbabwe remains a dream deferred that we must now fulfil in order to complete the liberation struggle.

The challenge for our generation is to fully address that conspicuous deficit, one that has brought untold suffering to our people.

Our role as a democratic movement is simply to complete the unfinished business of the liberation struggle, whose aspirations and desires should never be ignoredd or undermined.

Our struggle as a democratic movement, the struggle we began with the iconic Dr Morgan Richard Tsvangirai and others in 1999, is a patriotic struggle that stands right on the shoulders of the struggle waged by *Alfred Nikita Mangena, Joshua Nkomo, Josiah Magama Tongogara and Lookout Khalisabantu Vumindaba Masuku, Herbert Chitepo, Leopold Takawira*to mention but a few.

We only wish to complete that unfinished National Democratic struggle by ensuring that the attendant freedoms and the full democracy that this iconic generation aspired for are fully achieved in our lifetime.

And indeed from this generation, they shall come forthwith our own heroes, those who are sacrificing for the fulfilment of the Zimbabwean dream.

The spirit of heroism is within each and every one of us.
That spirit of sacrifice, that sense of responsibility and duty towards others around and beyond us within our borders is what we are in pursuit of.

We salute those who at times risk their lives to save others in one-way or another.

Each and every generation has its own heroes. We also have modern-day heroes who remind us that it is in our nature to reach out to others, to sacrifice for others and to do that which is good for our country.

On this National Heroes’ Day, we resolutely salute them, as we do to our sportsmen and women; our musicians who through their hard work on the international scene continue shine a positive and bright light on Zimbabwe.

Indeed, we also have everyday heroes in our military and police forces, our teachers, nurses, and countless responsible citizens who see sacrifice as a duty, and honour in service to our great nation.

I am painfully aware that some of you may be in a fuel or bank queue, or have no electricity or water, or can’t get your passport, or are struggling with medical or school fees, or have nightmares with the rising cost of living and high prices.

Remember, every shortage is but a shortage of love. Every problem and shortages that we are encountering are a leadership deficit.

Amidst the current hardships of water, power and cash shortages, I wish to take advantage of this occasion to salute all resilient Zimbabweans who are braving these painful realities under these difficult circumstances.

Indeed, you are national heroes. Your sacrifices under these trying times need to be equally celebrated and acknowledged.

I urge you all the heroic people of Zimbabwe not to despair, better must come, and it will come if we are united in delivering a Zimbabwe for not only ourselves, but for future generations to come whose stock is constantly being looted by a corrupt, incompetent and nepotistic predatory group.

Let all Zimbabweans reflect on the sacrifices paid on this day.

Let us all spend the holiday with our families and friends and share our aspirations and thoughts of a united and peaceful country.

It is heart wrenching to note that war veterans who were at the centre of the struggle for our independence are living under squalid conditions and without any social or economic support from the State.

The plight of war veterans and their families is of immediate national concern.

The men and women who fought for the independence of this country from colonial rule had a vision and aspirations.

This vision has being shattered by criminal behaviour and selfish and personal pursuits for wealth.

Today, this once breadbasket of Africa is now a basket case.

Surely, this stands out as a betrayal of the loft ideals of the liberation struggle.

Incredibly, Zimbabwe houses vast wealth, exceptionally talented Human Resources, rich minerals, fertile lands and natural wonders.

The opportunities for economic transformation and prosperity are limitless and immediately available if we have a people’s government, one that cares about the nation.

The population of our young and very educated people makes an ambitious economic growth path more certainly achievable in our lifetime.

The vision that has been set by our forefathers and yet betrayed by their successors is not far beyond our reach, but only if we start working NOW.

That work begins today by fixing our politics and governance deficits.

Good governance and growth have long been pencilled to go hand in hand with a nation’s success.

However, we will not fix our politics without true and legitimate leaders, Zimbabwe is a long way from real transformation and sustainable growth as long as it is subjected to comical political arrangements meant to satisfy the greed and very few.

The Zimbabwe that our heroes dreamt, worked and died for is one in which no citizen would be a unsafe and insecure in the land of their birth.

In that Zimbabwe, no citizen would die or be in jail on account of politics, power and political differences.

It would be a Zimbabwe in which every citizen would have a decent job and wage, with all Zimbabweans having a fair share and equal opportunities to the wealth they create and equal rights that our heroes secured for us.

This Zimbabwe, however, can only be built by a political leadership that places the highest premium on integrity and which is committed to the highest standards of public service, while recognising the importance of a partnership with the people they serve.

We can best honour our heroes by providing this leadership in our various areas of endeavour, as we rededicate ourselves to the task of building a Zimbabwe that offers opportunity to all its people, and where we all share and care for each other.

This is where we must begin today here in Zimbabwe. We are determined to return our country to legitimacy, democracy and prosperity.

My fellow citizens, nothing short of a political solution through national dialogue will extricate our country from the jaws of impoverishment, poverty and suffering.

We must have genuine comprehensive political and electoral reforms to transform our country and make it prosperous.

To the entrepreneurs (vendors), the war veterans, the workers, youth and women’s groups, the marginalized groups, the civic and church groups, let us mobilize each other as peacemakers in the quest for freedom.

Let us not miss our turn to be genuinely heroic in pursuit of a better life.

Let us sacrifice for a better Zimbabwe. Let us be the heroes of our time by bringing back that glitter, glamour and glory to our motherland.

Our national heroes have left us a great heritage and legacy to build on; let us preserve it for generations to come.

None but ourselves can fix this country.

This is the purpose of our generation. The liberation generation discovered theirs, we as the transformation generation must play our part and act our duty by delivering a truly prosperous Zimbabwe.

In conclusion, I wish to say to the youth of this country, you are the game changers and defenders of our country.

The cost of doing nothing far exceeds the cost of doing something.

We must change our unmerited circumstances and harsh realities of joblessness, hopelessness and poverty.

The future is bright. Tomorrow is glorious!

Change that delivers.

Thank you and God Bless You.

Happy Heroes Month.

Zimbabwe, land we love, land of peacemakers, Our motherland.

Nelson Chamisa
MDC President

MDC President Nelson Chamisa’s Heroes Month message to the people of Zimbabwe

It is exactly twelve months since disputed and stolen election of 2018.

The majority of Zimbabweans are still in shock at the brazen manner in which their vote was stolen.

Disputed elections continue to pose a major blow and betrayal to the fundamental ideals of the liberation struggle, whose main aim and clarion call was One Man, One Vote.

Manipulation of the vote is indeed a negation of the sanctity and integrity of the right to choose for which so many of our people died in pursuit of that democratic right.

The non racial Zimbabwe of today was born out of a strong desire, and a determined sense of sacrifice, by many brave young men and women, who put their lives and livelihoods at risk in order to deliver a free and prosperous Zimbabwe, for all who live and belong to it.

The liberation of Zimbabwe came through a protracted war of independence, so this month we are joined together as Zimbabweans in paying tribute to the valiant men and women, who fought for the liberation of their country, Zimbabwe.

What brings and binds us together as Zimbabweans is far more important than what may separate us as a people.

Through this incredible sacrifice, we are moved to believe that with unity of purpose, fortitude and commitment, no weapon can stop a moment whose time has come.

Our liberation heroes such as Josiah Tongogara and Nikita Mangena, always reminded us that victory was certain, those worlds have never been more appropriate and truer, than for this time that we are living in.

No evil force can overwhelm a people’s desire whose cause is just and righteous, and whose time has now come.

In fact, so important is the Heroes commemoration, such that allocating a mere day for such a mammoth and important occasion is not enough.

In a New Zimbabwe, under a new people’s government, everyday will be a Heroes Day, because we honour our heroes through how we live our lives and not through cosmetic, vacuous and inadequate celebratiosn that ignore our people’s suffering.

We believe that Heroes are found at all levels, and are not only political, because we find them in our communities looking after orphans and the disabled, an example set by the late great Jairos Jiri.

Our new government will declare a Heroes and Memorials month so that the nation is accorded adequate time to remember the sacrifices made, the courage exhibited, the bodies maimed and the lives lost in the struggles to liberate and democratize our beautiful Zimbabwe.

We will be setting aside a whole month to celebrate this significant epoch in the national story of Zimbabwe, these celebrations will be done and reflected through how we look after our people, especially the most vulnerable.

There is nothing heroic or revolutionary about stealing money meant for pensioners at NSSA, and looting money meant for social services as we have seen happen for decades under the present government.

Heroism is about protecting our people and not about making empty speeches at a place that has been turned into a political party cemetery, yet funded by the struggling taxpayer in Guruve, Gwanda, Murewa, Bikita and everywhere in the country.

It is my wish for the whole month of August to be littered with community programs, town-hall meetings, village communions, dance, arts, film and various other festivities in remembrance of those patriotic Zimbabweans whose blood irrigated the tree of our political and economic emancipation.

These gallant sons and daughters of this land, whose sweat, toil and tears birthed an independent and democratic Zimbabwe, should be celebrated through works that reflect how they envisaged a free Zimbabwe.

Those of us who are the political alternative are fully aware of the fact that the democratic struggle that we are prosecuting, is mutually inclusive and consistent with the liberation struggle ideals of Nikita Mangena and Josiah Tongogara.

We fully recognize that the unfulfilled part of their struggle desires is found in the lack of liberation and political independence outcomes, which are defined by the freedom to choose, and also by the availability of a better life for our people.

Theirs was a truly heroic struggle, but unfortunately their dream of a better Zimbabwe remains a dream deferred that we must now fulfil in order to complete the liberation struggle.

The challenge for our generation is to fully address that conspicuous deficit, one that has brought untold suffering to our people.

Our role as a democratic movement is simply to complete the unfinished business of the liberation struggle, whose aspirations and desires should never be ignoredd or undermined.

Our struggle as a democratic movement, the struggle we began with the iconic Dr Morgan Richard Tsvangirai and others in 1999, is a patriotic struggle that stands right on the shoulders of the struggle waged by Alfred Nikita Mangena, Joshua Nkomo, Josiah Magama Tongogara and Lookout Khalisabantu Vumindaba Masuku, Herbert Chitepo, Leopold Takawirato mention but a few.

We only wish to complete that unfinished National Democratic struggle by ensuring that the attendant freedoms and the full democracy that this iconic generation aspired for are fully achieved in our lifetime.

And indeed from this generation, they shall come forthwith our own heroes, those who are sacrificing for the fulfilment of the Zimbabwean dream.

The spirit of heroism is within each and every one of us. That spirit of sacrifice, that sense of responsibility and duty towards others around and beyond us within our borders is what we are in pursuit of.

We salute those who at times risk their lives to save others in one-way or another.

Each and every generation has its own heroes. We also have modern-day heroes who remind us that it is in our nature to reach out to others, to sacrifice for others and to do that which is good for our country.

On this National Heroes’ Day, we resolutely salute them, as we do to our sportsmen and women; our musicians who through their hard work on the international scene continue shine a positive and bright light on Zimbabwe.

Indeed, we also have everyday heroes in our military and police forces, our teachers, nurses, and countless responsible citizens who see sacrifice as a duty, and honour in service to our great nation.

I am painfully aware that some of you may be in a fuel or bank queue, or have no electricity or water, or can’t get your passport, or are struggling with medical or school fees, or have nightmares with the rising cost of living and high prices.

Remember, every shortage is but a shortage of love. Every problem and shortages that we are encountering are a leadership deficit.

Amidst the current hardships of water, power and cash shortages, I wish to take advantage of this occasion to salute all resilient Zimbabweans who are braving these painful realities under these difficult circumstances.

Indeed, you are national heroes. Your sacrifices under these trying times need to be equally celebrated and acknowledged.

I urge you all the heroic people of Zimbabwe not to despair, better must come, and it will come if we are united in delivering a Zimbabwe for not only ourselves, but for future generations to come whose stock is constantly being looted by a corrupt, incompetent and nepotistic predatory group.

Let all Zimbabweans reflect on the sacrifices paid on this day.

Let us all spend the holiday with our families and friends and share our aspirations and thoughts of a united and peaceful country.

It is heart wrenching to note that war veterans who were at the centre of the struggle for our independence are living under squalid conditions and without any social or economic support from the State.

The plight of war veterans and their families is of immediate national concern.

The men and women who fought for the independence of this country from colonial rule had a vision and aspirations.

This vision has being shattered by criminal behaviour and selfish and personal pursuits for wealth.

Today, this once breadbasket of Africa is now a basket case.

Surely, this stands out as a betrayal of the loft ideals of the liberation struggle.

Incredibly, Zimbabwe houses vast wealth, exceptionally talented Human Resources, rich minerals, fertile lands and natural wonders.

The opportunities for economic transformation and prosperity are limitless and immediately available if we have a people’s government, one that cares about the nation.

The population of our young and very educated people makes an ambitious economic growth path more certainly achievable in our lifetime.

The vision that has been set by our forefathers and yet betrayed by their successors is not far beyond our reach, but only if we start working NOW.

That work begins today by fixing our politics and governance deficits.

Good governance and growth have long been pencilled to go hand in hand with a nation’s success.

However, we will not fix our politics without true and legitimate leaders, Zimbabwe is a long way from real transformation and sustainable growth as long as it is subjected to comical political arrangements meant to satisfy the greed and very few.

The Zimbabwe that our heroes dreamt, worked and died for is one in which no citizen would be a unsafe and insecure in the land of their birth.

In that Zimbabwe, no citizen would die or be in jail on account of politics, power and political differences.

It would be a Zimbabwe in which every citizen would have a decent job and wage, with all Zimbabweans having a fair share and equal opportunities to the wealth they create and equal rights that our heroes secured for us.

This Zimbabwe, however, can only be built by a political leadership that places the highest premium on integrity and which is committed to the highest standards of public service, while recognising the importance of a partnership with the people they serve.

We can best honour our heroes by providing this leadership in our various areas of endeavour, as we rededicate ourselves to the task of building a Zimbabwe that offers opportunity to all its people, and where we all share and care for each other.

This is where we must begin today here in Zimbabwe. We are determined to return our country to legitimacy, democracy and prosperity.

My fellow citizens, nothing short of a political solution through national dialogue will extricate our country from the jaws of impoverishment, poverty and suffering.

We must have genuine comprehensive political and electoral reforms to transform our country and make it prosperous.

To the entrepreneurs (vendors), the war veterans, the workers, youth and women’s groups, the marginalized groups, the civic and church groups, let us mobilize each other as peacemakers in the quest for freedom.

Let us not miss our turn to be genuinely heroic in pursuit of a better life.

Let us sacrifice for a better Zimbabwe. Let us be the heroes of our time by bringing back that glitter, glamour and glory to our motherland.

Our national heroes have left us a great heritage and legacy to build on; let us preserve it for generations to come.

None but ourselves can fix this country.

This is the purpose of our generation. The liberation generation discovered theirs, we as the transformation generation must play our part and act our duty by delivering a truly prosperous Zimbabwe.

In conclusion, I wish to say to the youth of this country, you are the game changers and defenders of our country.

The cost of doing nothing far exceeds the cost of doing something.

We must change our unmerited circumstances and harsh realities of joblessness, hopelessness and poverty.

The future is bright. Tomorrow is glorious!

Change that delivers.

Thank you and God Bless You.

*Happy Heroes Month.

Zimbabwe, land we love, land of peacemakers, Our motherland.

Nelson Chamisa
MDC President

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) has refuted claims on social media and other debates that former Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Priscah Mupfumira — who is in jail for grand corruption — has been getting special treatment in and out of remand prison

Social media yesterday was awash with pictures and videos of Mupfumira coming to court smartly dressed and holding a handbag as well as toiletry bag in her hand.

It is alleged that Mupfumira got a special seat in the prison van and used the back door entrance to enter the court for her bail hearing yesterday.

However, in an interview Friday, Chief Correctional Officer and national public relations officer for ZPCS Meya Khanyezi said unconvicted prisoners like Mupfumira have special rights they are entitled to.

‘‘We have Section 78 of Prisons Act Chapter 7:11 which says an unconvicted prisoner may be permitted to maintain himself and to arrange for the purchase or receive from private sources at proper hours items such as food, bedding clothing or other necessities as the commissioner may from time to time determine,” she said.

‘‘Section 80 further states that if an unconvicted prisoner does not provide himself with food, clothing and bedding, he shall receive normal prison food, clothing and bedding,” she added.

Her clarification is in line with the findings of an independent body about the rights of prisoners in Zimbabwe.

A 2018 report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, titled “RIGHTS BEHIND BARS: A Study of Prison Conditions In Zimbabwe” concluded that Zimbabwe prisons were in compliance with international and domestic standards on conditions of detention to make recommendations.

The central aim of the study was to determine whether the conditions in our prisons are consistent with the international and domestic standards that are provided for in international instruments, the Constitution and the Prisons Act (Chapter 7:11).

“To make this determination, the Forum, in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO), carried out prison monitoring visits at seven correctional or custodial institutions representing different types of prisons in the country and found out that Zimbabwe was at 80 percent compliance level in terms of providing prisoners with dignity, cell conditions and sanitations, bedding, adequate clothing, the right to sufficient food.

“The study also found out that the prisoners are getting education as well as various forms of vocational trainings and work.

“The study also recommended that the prisoners have a right to clean water and the right to health care services,” said the organisation.-StateMedia

By A Correspondent- Parliament has passed the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill (MOPA) — which is set to replace the contentious Public Order and Security Act (POSA) — as well as two Budget Bills, with the House having to sit from Thursday afternoon to 4am yesterday.

The amended MOPA as well as the Finance and Appropriation Bills will, however, not become law until they have been passed by Senate, assented to by the President and gazetted as Acts of Parliament.

President Mnangagwa has since summoned Senate to sit on Wednesday.

In a statement Friday, Parliament said Senate will consider the Finance Bill (2009), Appropriation (Supplementary) 2019 and Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill.

“The President of the Republic of Zimbabwe has in terms of Section146 (a) of the Constitution, summoned the Senate to meet on Wednesday 14th August 2019 to consider the Finance Bill (2019), Appropriation (Supplementary) 2019 and the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill. Consequently, all senators are invited to attend the sitting on Wednesday 14th August 2019 commencing at 1430 hours,’’ reads the statement.

MOPA is one of the major milestones in legal reform and opening up of democratic space in the Second Republic.

In a bid to entrench democratic values and freedoms in line with Vision 2030 of achieving an upper middle income economy, President Mnangagwa’s leadership has implemented a raft of reforms designed to transform the political and economic environment.

The Bill went through the three readings in Parliament after the Parliamentary Legal Committee withdrew an adverse report that it had issued against MOPA, which is in fulfilment of reforms aimed at opening up democratic space in the Second Republic.

This Bill was passed by the National Assembly yesterday, but with amendments proposed by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi to accommodate the reservations expressed by the PLC in its adverse report.

The amended Bill received a non-adverse report from the PLC before the final vote in the National Assembly and its transmission to Senate.

Said Ziyambi just before the third and final reading: “I want to thank the Honourable Members and everyone. I think this was highly informative, exciting, educative and I think we have come up with certain pieces of clauses that were also problematic but we managed to bring our brains together and improve them.

“I believe that what we have done tonight and finished this morning is a wonderful job. I want to thank all the Honourable Members that have endured the whole night until now for a job well done. I think we have done justice to the Bill and I want to thank all the Honourable Members even though at times we appeared to be differing for coming together to deal with specific clauses and improving them.”

MDC-Alliance vice-president Tendai Biti said: “Honourable Chair, can we also thank the esteemed Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and his team for granting us indulgence and also for holding fort on behalf of the State. This dialogue must be a national dialogue to serve our country. So we want to thank you Minister and everyone else on the right and left side. Zikomo kwambili.”

The Appropriation Bill allows for additional funding as presented by Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube during the Supplementary Budget and Mid-Term Budget Review Statement last week while the Finance Bill gives effect to the minister’s proposals.-Statemedia

By A Correspondent- Zimbabwean born Wellington Chaparadza, is a successful UK entrepreneur who is flying the Zimbabwean flag high.

Chaparadza was last year awarded a jackport when he received an order for close to US$300k to manufacture among other products, his powerful yet odourless detergent which is way stronger and much more powerful and effective than most products that are currently on the shelves.

In an exclusive interview with ZimEye, the successful entrepreneur, whose field of study is chemistry, demonstrated how the detergent, made from maheu works.

Watch the video (loading) below…..

He attributed his success to the negative and mocking comments by flamboyant businessman Philip Chiyangwa some time in 2000 against teachers in Banket who were being forced to attend a Zanu Pf rally.

He was one of those teachers resisting to attend the rally.

The comments, according to him, was his turning point where he realised that the teaching profession was not his field.

He told ZimEye that he wants to one day meet Chiyangwa.

Chaparadza said:

“Sometimes you get inspired by negative comments and sometimes you are driven by passion. Sometimes circumstances push you towards your goals and success. Mine is a long story.

… I hope you will connect me to this man (Philip Chiyangwa). I would love to meet the man one day.”

Chaparadza however narrated the events of the day which marked the beginning of his journey towards entrepreneurship.

“I was teaching in Chinhoyi, Banket and i was teacher at Zimbabwe Open University. And so one day, we went to a rally. It was on a Friday and then as teachers, you know, we were not allowed to be active in politics, but then we were forced to go on this particular day.

Chiyangwa saw the resistance among the teachers and then he told us, “Teachers you have nothing, why are you this pompous, you know you work all year but your salary can not buy my left shoe”.

Maybe he has forgotten but i have not. It was in 2000.

This was my turning point because I then realised that teaching was not for me. What he said that i can work all year but my salary is not enough to buy his left shoe really moved me.

He said this while he was standing on the podium and he emphasised it that our salary for the whole year could not buy his left shoe adding that it is the least expensive of his two shoes. The right shoes was therefore out of bounce for us because it was way more expensive.

But that inspired me and i said myself teaching is not for me. Yes, some of the things said you forget, but for some, you do not forget, But that was my turning point.”

The detergent manufactured by Chaparadza, Bio Attitude is a powerful, instant yet odourless hard surface cleaner which is non corrosive. The detergent does not have volatile organic compounds.

By A Correspondent- There are no sacred cows in the fight against corruption and Zimbabweans must collectively play a part in building a transparent society, the President has said.

Officially opening the 20th Sadc Lawyers Association (Sadc-LA) annual conference and general meeting here, Mnangagwa said his administration will stop at nothing to weed out corrupt individuals from public office.

On Thursday, the President sacked jailed Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Priscah Mupfumira, saying her conduct was not consistent with what is expected of a Government minister.

Mupfumira is facing a slew of criminal abuse of public office charges involving US$95 million of National Social Security Authority (NSSA) funds.

She also faces two fresh charges after the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) reportedly established that she was involved in money laundering and fraudulently ordering companies dealing with NSSA to transfer money into her personal bank account.

Mnangagwa told the lawyers’ conference that corruption was a threat to the gains of Independence, hence the need to fight it in all sectors of the economy.

A lawyer by profession, said the country needs strong institutions capable of ensuring access to affordable justice delivery as he exhorted the legal fraternity to partner Government in re-engagement and rebuilding the economy.

“Sadly, corruption being an antithesis of justice has left a stain on our post-independence legacy. As a result, too many opportunities have been squandered, lives ruined and our development potential stunted. We must now collectively return our country to an era of transparency and openness. Corruption and mismanagement in our institutions and systems cannot be whitewashed.

“It is incumbent upon all of us to reform and rebuild every facet of our society from the foundations up. The age of impunity must be behind us and my Government shall never shy away from doing the right thing. The bureaucratic bottlenecks and frustrating foot-dragging officials must be dealt with without fear or favour because officials do not only enrich themselves, but they also impoverish the majority,” said Mnangagwa.

He said equally, bad crops in the judicial system must be weeded out as he promised Government support for national institutions in the execution of their mandate and putting the judicial system back on the high pedestal it belongs.

Mnangagwa said the law should empower ordinary citizens by increasing their involvement in matters related to their affairs and protecting them from exploitation by corrupt individuals.

“Under the Second Republic, my administration recognises that weak institutions and restricted access to justice will deprive opportunities to our people and undermine the delivery of public services and economic development.

“Thus, my Government is accelerating efforts to consolidate constitutionalism, the rule of law as well as strengthening institutions that support democracy. We shall with greater resolve, protect constitutionally enshrined rights, fully cognisant, however, of the fact that the enjoyment of such rights is not absolute.”

He said legal practitioners have a role to play in nation-building.

Mnangagwa said the need to balance an open economy and the rights of all citizens to access quality public services and economic development remains Government’s priority.

He challenged lawyers never to be aloof to issues related to international trade, finance and investment but to interrogate policy and use their skills to fight cross-border crimes and security threats.

The President said there was a strong political will among Sadc political leaders to entrench a democratic culture rooted in Africa’s need for sustainable socio-economic development.

“As Sadc member states, our ties are based not only on a common history but shared hopes and aspirations. These are anchored on a better and more prosperous tomorrow as we share a common destiny in the economic, political, legal, social, cultural and religious spheres,” said Mnangagwa.

He said Government is committed to the doctrine of separation of powers and independence of the justice system and would always seek collaboration with various stakeholders, including the legal fraternity, towards the attainment of an upper middle income economy by 2030.

The theme for the conference, which ends tomorrow, is: “Supporting strong institutions for equal access to justice for all”.

President Mnangagwa said the theme resonated with the aspiration of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 which advocates unity, peace, justice and strong institutions, tenets he said were indispensable ingredients for a just and prosperous society.

He urged the legal fraternity to be transformative and work closely with governments within a goal of protecting vulnerable members of the society like women and children as abuse of such has no place in society.

“I exhort you legal professionals to go beyond ensuring the entrenchment of constitutionalism, rule of law and other democratic tenets within our respective jurisdictions. You must use the law to propel modernisation, industrialisation and integration of our economies.

“Our collective efforts must be towards ensuring legal frameworks that accelerate the elimination of poverty, mitigation of climate change, enhancement of food security and facilitation of quality medical healthcare and other social services,” Mnangagwa said.-StateMedia

By Own Correspondent| Human rights activist, Star Dewah who is accused of plotting to overthrow a constitutionally elected government has implored President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his administration to stop the 24 hour surveillance on her.

Dewah, is one of the 7 human rights activists arrested in May at Robert Mugabe International Airport soon after coming from a workshop in the Maldives hosted by the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies.

The charge sheets against the activists specified the meeting and its training in civil disobedience and alleged that they wanted to overthrow a constitutionally elected government.

The arrests came days after state-owned daily The Herald ran a story claiming organizations with links to the main opposition MDC party “had been hard at work laying the groundwork for civil unrest to be unleashed next month.”

Dewah however pleaded with Mnangagwa’s administration to stop the 24 hour surveillance on her adding that her family was now living in fear.

She said:

Dear Mr ED Mnangagwa

May you please tell your people to stop following me around. Ever since I was released from prison, I am being followed and monitored everywhere I go by weird people in tinted cars without number plates.

In the past four days, the car pictured below, black tinted Ford ranger with no number plates has been parking outside my house in the evenings. The pattern of its arrival and departure consistent with my arrival at home from work.

Please tell your people to leave me and my kids alone! The intensified surveillance is traumatising my family and the children are now afraid of moving freely at home where they are supposed to feel safe and secure.

Below is the thread by Dewah

Dear Mr @edmnangagwa
May you please tell your people to stop following me around!! Ever since I was released from prison I am being followed and monitored everwhere I go by weird people in tinted cars without number plates pic.twitter.com/2d9R9aCk9w

— Star Dewah (@StarDewah) August 9, 2019

Please tell your people to leave me and my kids alone!! The intensified surveillance is traumatizing my family and the children are now afraid of moving freely at home where they are supposed to feel safe and secure.

— Star Dewah (@StarDewah) August 9, 2019

The workshop I participated in was on human rights and peace building in line with my work of mobilising and capacitating women to take up leadership positions.

— Star Dewah (@StarDewah) August 9, 2019

I hold no intentions to unconstitutionally remove your Government from power. I am a law abiding and peace loving Zimbabwean. I was never trained on the use of either small or big arms in Maldives as wrongly stated by propaganda in state media.

— Star Dewah (@StarDewah) August 9, 2019

I would like to reiterate that I am neither a terrorist, nor a security threat in any way. My work as a women and human rights activist is in no way related to any insurgency or terrorism acts as alleged by state security agents.

— Star Dewah (@StarDewah) August 9, 2019

NewsDay|THE Zanu PF youth league has threatened to block the demonstrations planned by the opposition MDC party to protest government’s poor handling of the economy which it claims has left the majority of people in the country poor.

The southern Africa country is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since 2009, with rolling power cuts of up to 18 hours daily threatening industry and mines, while shortages of cash, fuel, bread and medicines have become chronic.

The Nelson Chamisa-led MDC on Tuesday this week filed a notice with the police to demonstrate against rising unemployment, corruption and a deteriorating

economy, but the response by Zany PF sets the stage for possible clashes between the country’s dominant political foes.

Zanu PF youth league boss Pupurai Togarepi said by announcing the protest date, battle lines between his party and the MDC had been drawn in the sand.

“Any thuggery will be confronted with equal measure,” Togarepi warned.

“If they decide to be funny as they did in previous so called demonstrations, there won’t be anything called MDCA from that day. We are not going to sit back

and watch them tear the Constitution of our country with impunity.”

At least 17 people were killed and 200 sustained gunshot wounds after security forces crushed protests over a 150% fuel price increase in January this year. Cumulatively, the cost of fuel has risen by over 500% this year alone following a 26% rise early this week, although the commodity remains scarce.

Zanu PF youths, soldiers and police officers were all implicated in the violence.

Togarepi added: “If they have set a date then the battle lines have been drawn. I hope they don’t cross the Rubicon line.”

Asked if he was not inciting violence by his choice of words, particularly when the Constitution provides for peaceful demonstrations, Togarepi accused the MDC

of planning to subvert a constitutionally-elected government.

Charging that the opposition party had failed the test for peaceful protests in the past, he said: “They are threatening to remove a constitutionally-elected government. I am reacting to a threat from the MDC-A to remove a government through illegal means.”

“They abused the freedom to demonstrate, destroyed police stations and people’s properties etc. We cannot stand akimbo while terror mongers are threatening

anarchy. While the Constitution gives the right to demonstrate, it also gives the right for self-defence.

“We will defend our Zimbabwe, our democracy and our people. We will respond decisively if we are provoked. To defend our democracy is a right too. The right to

demonstrate is not an absolute right; unfortunately MDC Alliance has failed the test in past demonstrations.”

However, quizzed on how they intend to carry out their plans since they are not the law enforcers, Togarepi ominously retorted: “A touch is a move.”

The opposition has in the past accused Zanu PF activists of fomenting anarchy and inciting violence during their demonstrations. Some have accused Zanu PF of

targeting and attacking known opposition activists during the protests.

In January, both police and soldiers were accused of gross human rights violations when they indiscriminately beat up citizens following the protest over therising cost of living.

THREE female Zimbabwean nationals have died on the spot while five others have sustained serious injuries after a Toyota Granzia they were in overturned in Kazungula District.

The accident happened on Tuesday around 13:30hrs 17km North of Kazungula at Mapanda Village, Chief Sekute along Nakatindi Road.

Deputy Police Spokesperson Rae Hamoonga has confirmed the development to Mwebantu in a statement and said the accident involved a Toyota Granvia Registration number AJD 5955 which was being driven by Tawila Imungana aged 30 years of Sesheke.

Hamoonga said the accident happened when the vehicle had a rear right tyre burst and in the process the driver lost control, went off the road and overturned.

He said three female Zimbabwean Nationals whose particulars are not yet known died on the spot and their bodies have been deposited at Livingstone District General Hospital Mortuary awaiting postmortem and examination.

Meanwhile, Hamoonga said the driver and four other passengers sustained serious injuries and were rushed to Livingstone General Hospital while the vehicle is extensively damaged.

Motorists in some parts of the country last night spent their night blocking Toll Gates in protest to the new toll gate fees which went up by 500%

This unaffordable 500% toll gate price hike, comes regardless of the propaganda by the Finance Minister, Prof. Mthuli Ncube & Regime Associates in the Presidential Advisory Council that prices were coming down after the introduction of a local currency.

Some boom gates at the toll gates were forcibly opened and cars proceeded without paying the fees in protest!

Government increased tollgate entry fees and other traffic related fees through Statutory Instrument 171 of 2019 published in the Government Gazette yesterday.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development increased the fees in terms of Section 6 of the Toll Roads Act (Chapter 13:13).

Light motor vehicles now pay $10 from $2, mini buses $15 from $3, buses $20 from $4 heavy vehicles $25 from $5 and haulage trucks $50 from $10. SI 171 of 2019 also says: “It is hereby notified that the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development has in terms of Section 52 of the Vehicles Registration and Licensing Act (Chapter 13:14), vehicle registration and vehicle number plate replacement is now at $400.”

Duplicate registration book and change of ownership is now $75, whereas personalised number plates are now $12 500.

The cost of a provisional driver’s licence has also risen to $100 for Classes 3 and 4 vehicles; Classes 1 and 2 are now $125.

Application for foreign drivers licences have also been increased to $500.

FIRED Environment, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry Minister Prisca Mupfumira yesterday challenged the State to furnish her with a trial date on three of the seven counts of corruption she is facing.

Mupfumira is facing seven counts of criminal abuse of office involving US$95 million.

Speaking through her lawyer Mr Charles Chinyama during her routine remand, Mupfumira demanded that she be given a trial date for the three counts.

Mupfumira said this following reports that police have completed investigations into three cases.

“We are ready to proceed wih trial in respect of the three counts,” said Mr Chinyama.

The State led by Mr Michael Reza said it will only furnish Mupfumira with a trial date after investigations into all seven counts have been completed.

“The State will not be stampeded into giving a trial date when investigations are still ongoing,” said Mr Reza.

Mr Reza also said the State will not give Mupfumira a trial date even on August 23 when she is expected to return to court for a routine remand.

Harare magistrate Mrs Learnmore Mapiye presided over the matter.

Mupfumira is yet to know her fate after a High Court judge reserved judgment in her bail application.

The State opposed her bail application alleging that she was a flight risk considering that she owns mansions in Dubai, South Africa and United Kingdom.

Mupfumira is alleged to have directed NSSA to deposit money into her CBZ personal account, leaving room that she could also have externalised some of the money.

It also alleged that Mupfumira filed medical reports with the State raising fears that once granted bail, she would abscond trial.

The State called the investigation officer into the matter, who is attached to ZACC, Sergeant Trust Chinembiri, who also revealed that they needed about three months to dig further into the case.

Sergeant Chinembiri also revealed that Mupfumira had planned to flee into South Africa, where she is believed to own a mansion in the leafy suburb of Sandton, on July 24 with the aid of her Chinese friends to avoid arrest.

He also said Mupfumira had two passports with a 10-year United Kingdom visa.

Mupfumira, through her lawyer Advocate Lewis Uriri, who is acting on lawyer Charles Chinyama’s instruction, said one of the passports was for her official duty as a Cabinet minister.

State Media|THE Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) has refuted claims on social media and other debates that former Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Priscah Mupfumira — who is in jail for grand corruption — has been getting special treatment in and out of remand prison

Social media yesterday was awash with pictures and videos of Mupfumira coming to court smartly dressed and holding a handbag as well as toiletry bag in her hand.

It is alleged that Mupfumira got a special seat in the prison van and used the back door entrance to enter the court for her bail hearing yesterday.

Chief Correctional Officer and national public relations officer for ZPCS Meya Khanyezi said unconvicted prisoners like Mupfumira have special rights they are entitled to.

‘‘We have Section 78 of Prisons Act Chapter 7:11 which says an unconvicted prisoner may be permitted to maintain himself and to arrange for the purchase or receive from private sources at proper hours items such as food, bedding clothing or other necessities as the commissioner may from time to time determine,” she said.

‘‘Section 80 further states that if an unconvicted prisoner does not provide himself with food, clothing and bedding, he shall receive normal prison food, clothing and bedding,” she added.

Her clarification is in line with the findings of an independent body about the rights of prisoners in Zimbabwe.

A 2018 report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, titled “RIGHTS BEHIND BARS: A Study of Prison Conditions In Zimbabwe” concluded that Zimbabwe prisons were in compliance with international and domestic standards on conditions of detention to make recommendations.

The central aim of the study was to determine whether the conditions in our prisons are consistent with the international and domestic standards that are provided for in international instruments, the Constitution and the Prisons Act (Chapter 7:11).

“To make this determination, the Forum, in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO), carried out prison monitoring visits at seven correctional or custodial institutions representing different types of prisons in the country and found out that Zimbabwe was at 80 percent compliance level in terms of providing prisoners with dignity, cell conditions and sanitations, bedding, adequate clothing, the right to sufficient food.

“The study also found out that the prisoners are getting education as well as various forms of vocational trainings and work.

“The study also recommended that the prisoners have a right to clean water and the right to health care services,” said the organisation.

A Njube woman regrets dumping her husband whom she had been married to for five years as he now beats her whenever he gets the chance to see her.

Tariro Alice Shoniwa is reportedly fed up with Fainos Phiri who reportedly follows her everywhere she goes to bash her as revenge for breaking up with her.

As a result of Phiri’s violent behaviour Shoniwa decided to seek justice from the courts.

“We were encountering problems in our marriage until I broke up with him and decided to move out. The problem I am encountering now is that he is following me wherever I go. He comes to my house and insults me and beats me and always causes a scene where I stay,” said Shoniwa.

As if that is not enough, Phiri destroys Shoniwa’s property whenever he gets the chance to get into her house.

“He forces himself into my house and starts destroying my household property. I am therefore applying to this court to assist me by stopping him from assaulting me, insulting me and to stop coming to my place,” said Shoniwa.B-Metro

An incestuous relationship between two siblings from Ndadulo Village under Chief Mkoka in Gokwe, shocked the community after the illicit relationship resulted in pregnancy.

Twenty four-year-old Nkazimulo Tshuma and his teen sister Everjoy Tshuma (19), were both dragged to Chief Mkoka’s traditional court by their neighbours, for having sexual intercourse within a prohibited degree of relationship. Chief Mkoka ordered them to pay a fine of two goats.

Timothy Ncube, a neighbour to the two siblings, said the two started sleeping together soon after their parents’ death in 2013.

“The two siblings who started staying alone following the death of their parents told Chief Mkoka that they started having sex more than five years ago,” he said.

He said if it wasn’t for the pregnancy, no one was going to know about the illicit affair.
“If it wasn’t for this pregnancy, no one was going to suspect that these two were sleeping together. Everyone else just thought their relationship was only a brother-sister relationship.

“We only got to know about the relationship after we confronted the girl when we noticed the pregnancy. At first she was refusing to divulge that his brother was responsible for the pregnancy,” he said.

Chief Mkoka confirmed presiding over the matter.
“I presided over a matter of two siblings who had a relationship which resulted in pregnancy. I strongly warned them against that relationship. Such kind of relationships are totally unacceptable in our culture and should be frowned upon,” he said.

Chief Mkoka said if it wasn’t for the fact that the two were orphans, the fine could have been stiffer.
“I had to be lenient with them because they are orphans. But if it wasn’t for that, l would have fined them a beast or two,” he said.B-Metro

A 60-year-old woman from Highlands suburb in Zvishavane is seeking a peace order against her two teenage grandchildren whom she is accusing of urinating in her pots.

Joyce Phiri is seeking a peace order against Lesley Phiri (19) and his younger brother aged 16 who are both pupils at a local school.

Phiri told the court that the two teenagers were working with their father (her son) who also hated her.
The matter was heard before Zvishavane magistrate Shepherd Munjanja.

She told the court that at times the teens would put dog poop in her mealie-meal in a bid to “fix” her.

“Your worship, these children together with their father Emmanuel Phiri, want me out of my house.
“So, they have gone to great lengths like urinating in my pots, and putting dog poop in my mealie-meal. They even insult me because I have refused to move out of the house,” she said.

Phiri pleaded with magistrate Munjanja to grant her a protection order before the worst happens to her.
“Your worship, l need a protection order before these children do something bad to me. As l speak now, we are no longer on speaking terms and we are no longer cooking together as a family. They do not care about my welfare, all they want is my house,” she said.

Testifying in court, Emmanuel, who spoke on behalf of his sons said his mother was mentally unstable.
“Your worship, what my mother is saying is not true. She is not mentally stable and she hasn’t been taking her medication that’s why she is saying such ridiculous things. Everyone from our area knows her situation,” he said.

Magistrate Munjanja postponed the matter and ordered Phiri to bring her medical reports as proof.B-Metro

FINANCE and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube yesterday said the introduction of the Zimbabwe dollar was timely as the country has registered macro-economic fundamentals that will promote stability of the local currency.

Speaking during a Mid-Term budget review breakfast meeting in Bulawayo, Prof Ncube said as highlighted in the Mid-Term fiscal policy statement, there was a host of positive macro-economic fundamentals supporting the introduction of the local currency.

Such fundamentals, he said, included the reduction in current domestic debt and fiscal deficit and suspension of Treasury Bills issuance.

Underpinned by the above positive macro-economic fundamentals, Prof Ncube said the introduction of a local currency was timely.

“We have closed the twin deficit (current account deficit and fiscal deficit) and that’s very important. I am always asked that Minister was it the right time to introduce the Zimbabwe dollar? The answer is yes, I repeat the answer is yes.

“We cannot introduce a stable domestic currency if you are running a large budget deficit and an alarmingly large current account deficit . . . so, this position is ideal for managing a stable domestic currency,” he said.

Zimbabwe re-introduced the local currency as a sole legal tender towards the end of June this year through the promulgation of Statutory Instrument 142 of 2019 to bring back normalcy in the economy as the monetary authorities noted a cocktail of challenges that were caused by the adoption of a multicurrency regime.

Such challenges included financial distortions in the formal market that were caused by the parallel market.State media

Farai Dziva|Zanu PF Youth League leader, Pupurai Togarepi has sensationally claimed there is no place for the MDC in central government.

See Togarepi’s full statement below:

The wise always say do not pick fights you can’t win and the clever ones stick to this time old piece of wisdom, but sadly and rather regrettably, our political opponents in the MDC are naive and fail to understand such basics.

Zanu PF is the ruling party of Zimbabwe, and with a very weak and out of sorts opposition such as the MDC, we will rule this country until donkeys grow horns, they can only dream but then dreams are for free.

We say Zanu PF will rule for ages to come, not because we are undemocratic but purely because we are the people’s preferred party as has been proven since the turn of this year where the party has won by-elections with little effort.

Zanu PF is winning elections because President Emmerson Mnangagwa is leading us to the Promised Land and those with vision and who care to see can already witness the transformative progress that is taking place, slowly people’s lives are being transformed, notwithstanding some problems here and there.

However, the noise and mischief makers in the MDC, as myopic as ever, chose to bury their heads in the sand like ostriches, and like the damn warmongers that they are now issuing needless ultimatums that are meant to ill-conceivably rattle Zanu PF into entering into a government of national unity in flagrant disregard to the will of the people that was expressed loud and clear in last year harmonised elections.

There is no place for the MDC in government and certainly no free lunch, democracy is at times very selfish and the so-called democratic party should eat that.

We have said it before, there is no back door entrance into government and the sooner the bellicose yet ill-information democracy midgets like Job Sikhala realise this, the better, democracy is functional in Zimbabwe and no amount of threats or ultimatums will alter that.

But in case they chose the undemocratic path and threaten to unseat a constitutionally elected government through needless demonstrations, those in the opposition should be guided accordingly, we are the ruling party Zanu PF and stand ready to defend the People’s vote and our President.

We are not afraid of clowns and the place for clowns is in circuses and not politics, neither do we fear the bark of toothless dogs, let them bark themselves hoarse isu tichingotonga, delivering on our electoral promises.

The MDC should also remember that we are a revolutionary party, the party that liberated the country from colonialism against all odds.

We have the capacity to thwart any troublesome elements and forewarned must be forearmed, only that our supposed to be opposition brothers are lost souls, clueless and howling for recognition in the pits of darkness.

Farai Dziva| Controversial Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting Services, Energy Mutodi, has implored Zimbabweans to ignore the MDC demo scheduled for August 16.

Mutodi has also warned that the firm hand of the government will be used to deal the planned MDC demonstration.

“The planned MDC demo has bn condemned by South African leaders & the whole SADC.

Any sensible Zimbabwean will not risk his or her life taking part in such a futile event.

President Mnangagwa is building the country step by step & any attempt to disturb him will be met with a firm hand…”Mutodi posted on Twitter.

Defence Minister, Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri and her Deputy, Victor Matemadanda, last week threatened to unleash soldiers to thwart opposition led demonstrations.

Farai Dziva|Members of the Movement for Democratic Change in South Africa will join the August 16 demo.

The Communications Secretary for MDC SA Province, Innocent Nsingo, told ZimEye party members in that country were keen to join the demo.

“The leadership and members of the MDC South Africa Province will be in Zimbabwe on the 16th of August,to demonstrate together,in solidarity with the suffering people of Zimbabwe. We will be there,be there,” said Nsingo.

“We are organising transport logistics and everything.We are saying the people of Zimbabwe have suffered for too long and as such we can no longer bear the pain anymore.”

By A Correspondent| The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) has denied claims that former Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Priscah Mupfumira — who is in jail for grand corruption — has been getting special treatment in and out of remand prison.

Pictures and videos of Mupfumira coming to court smartly dressed and holding a handbag as well as toiletry bag in her hand did the rounds amid claims that the former minister was being treated differently from other accused persons.

It is alleged that Mupfumira got a special seat in the prison van and used the back door entrance to enter the court for her bail hearing recently.

However, Chief Correctional Officer and national public relations officer for ZPCS Meya Khanyezi said unconvicted prisoners like Mupfumira have special rights they are entitled to. 

‘‘We have Section 78 of Prisons Act Chapter 7:11 which says an unconvicted prisoner may be permitted to maintain himself and to arrange for the purchase or receive from private sources at proper hours items such as food, bedding clothing or other necessities as the commissioner may from time to time determine,” she said.

‘‘Section 80 further states that if an unconvicted prisoner does not provide himself with food, clothing and bedding, he shall receive normal prison food, clothing and bedding,” she added.

Her clarification is in line with the findings of an independent body about the rights of prisoners in Zimbabwe.

A 2018 report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, titled “RIGHTS BEHIND BARS: A Study of Prison Conditions In Zimbabwe” concluded that Zimbabwe prisons were in compliance with international and domestic standards on conditions of detention to make recommendations. 

The central aim of the study was to determine whether the conditions in our prisons are consistent with the international and domestic standards that are provided for in international instruments, the Constitution and the Prisons Act (Chapter 7:11).

“To make this determination, the Forum, in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO), carried out prison monitoring visits at seven correctional or custodial institutions representing different types of prisons in the country and found out that Zimbabwe was at 80 percent compliance level in terms of providing prisoners with dignity, cell conditions and sanitations, bedding, adequate clothing, the right to sufficient food.

“The study also found out that the prisoners are getting education as well as various forms of vocational trainings and work.

“The study also recommended that the prisoners have a right to clean water and the right to health care services,” said the organisation.”-StateMedia

Farai Dziva|Emmerson Mnangagwa is desperate to coax his former boss Robert Mugabe following the former strongman’ s announcement that he does not want to be buried at the National Heroes Acre.

According to a weekly publication, Mugabe has chosen to be buried at his rural home in Zvimba- next to his late mother Bona.

Family members who spoke to the Independent newspaper said:

“Mugabe has made it clear to his family that he does not wish to be buried at the National Heroes’ Acre anymore. He does not want to be associated with Mnangagwa and all those he now views as his betrayers and tormentors.”

“He has said he doesn’t want them to sing and pontificate over his dead body. He has informed relatives about his decision and this is known in the family; it’s also now known in government circles.”

Mugabe’s declaration is reported to have shocked Mnangagwa.

The Zanu PF leader is reported to have tried to mend bridges by sending a high powered delegation to Singapore to check on the President’s health.

The delegation includes Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda, Central Intelligence Organisation Director-General Isaac Moyo and Mugabe’s former personal doctor Professor Jonathan Matenga, according to the paper.

By A Correspondent| The Vehicle Inspection Department has effected new prices for all its services revealing that a learner’s licence and certificate of competence is now pegged at $100.

Below are the new prices:

LEARNER LICENCE $100.00

CERTIFICATE OF COMPETENCY (class 3,4) $100.00

CERTIFICATE OF COMPETENCY (class 1,2) $125.00

RETEST $100.00

PRODUCTION $ 75.00

DUPLICATE $ 75.00

URGENT DISC APPLICATION $175.00

INFORMATION SEARCH FEE $ 25.00

VIDEO LOADING BELOW

By A Correspondent- A MARANGE man appeared before a Mutare magistrate on allegations of possessing five pieces of diamond without a permit on Monday.

The diamond pieces had 13.11 carats and valued at $1 115.

Augustine Majaya (43), of Tinoengana Village under headman Chiadzwa in Marange, appeared before magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe facing charges of dealing in or possession of diamonds without a permit or licence.

He denied the allegations, but Mr Mahwe remanded him in custody to August 19 for sentencing.

Prosecutor Mr Brian Goto told the court that on February 19, 2019, at around 8am, Detective Assistant Inspector Dliwe Mpofu (40), received information that the accused person was illegally in possession of diamonds and was on his way to Mutare along the Mutare-Masvingo highway.

Mpofu teamed up with three other detectives — Sergeant Elliot Muchariona, Sergeant Ushe Magune and Constable Collen Chidhakwa and intercepted the car that Majaya was driving at Mutare Teacher’s College.

The court heard that the police officers searched the accused person who was still seated on the driver’s seat and recovered five pieces of diamonds from his right hand.

Majaya failed to produce the permit allowing him to be in possession of the diamonds, leading to his arrest.

Majaya, however, denied the allegations saying he was not in possession of any diamonds.

“I was driving a Toyota Run and on board there was another passenger. We were both searched and nothing was recovered.

“I was not in possession of any diamonds. The said diamonds were recovered from the motor vehicle, not on me,” he said.-ManicaPost