Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo | Masvingo State Minister Josaya Dunira Hungwe is a man who is well known for his boot-licking traits.

At one point he said soldiers would be deployed to defend former President Robert Mugabe at all costs.

Last week Hungwe was at it again.He equated President Emmerson Mnangagwa to biblical character Nehemiah.

Hungwe also equated Zanu PF to Jerusalem and likened the G-40 Faction to King Nebuchadnezzar.

Responding to Hungwe’ s utterances, concerned church leaders said Hungwe’ s sentiments should not go unchallenged.

Several church leaders said Hungwe’ s blasphemous comments were very unfortunate.

“It is sad to note that politicians are abusing the bible to propagate their views.

Hungwe’ s line of argument is totally divorced from the biblical concept he used,” said a Masvingo based church leader.

“Hungwe must leave the pulpit to those who were ordained to preach.His comments are unfortunate.

He went out of the way in a bid to please his political masters, ” fumed another church leader.

Ray Nkosi | The European Union has lauded President Robert Mugabe’s standing down, as showing that “that he has listened to the people’s voices.”

In a diplomatically worded statement issued by the EU High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini on the situation in Zimbabwe, the union said, ” It is important now that an inclusive dialogue is established that respects the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe for a more prosperous and democratic future, and which encourages the acceleration of key reforms.”

In an earlier statement the EU demands that there be reforms first leading to credible elections before funds are released to the new Zimbabwe regime. A point immediatley countered by now exiled Professor Jonathan Moyo who took to twitter to write, “The #EU says no significant new funding for Zimbabwe before credible elections. Ok. But the upfront hurdle to cure is that there can be no credible elections organised & conducted by an illegitimate government run by a Junta following a coup d’etat!”

By Staff Reporter| A Beitbridge male businessman has claimed that his bus was shot at by soldiers yesterday.

While the exact circumstances of the incident were sketchy, he presented the below pictures which show several bullet holes on the vehicle’s body.

“The passengers inside this bus could have easily been killed, ” commented an observer, Fanwell Dube Sunday night.

The incident is said to have happened near a roadblock and it is said the driver had tried to flee and while escaping soldiers decided to open fire on him. At the time of writing, there was no further evidence to prove that the attackers were truly soldiers.

Will he allow the diaspora vote?

By Farai D Hove| The new ZANU PF National Commissar Victor Matemadanda is passionate about the diaspora, it has been said.

The ZANU PF UK Chairman Nick Mangwana says Matemadanda is looking beyond Zimbabwe’s borders and there is a new approach in the party.

Writing on his Twitter portal Monday afternoon, Mangwana said, “Went for a briefing with the NPC Cde Victor “It Can’t” Matemadanda.

“His views are that the grassroots is the party. He is also passionate about the Diaspora & fully behind our resolutions.

“There is a new approach in the party. Back to grassroots.”

It was not clear at the time of writing if Matemadanda will allow diasporans to vote.

Went for a briefing with the NPC Cde Victor “It Can’t” Matemadanda. His views are that the grassroots is the party. He is also passionate about the Diaspora & fully behind our resolutions. There is a new approach in the party. Back to grassroots pic.twitter.com/loYI2ioXmm

— Nick mangwana (@nickmangwana) December 11, 2017

By Paul Nyathi | Walking around the streets of Harare there is an obvious confusion on the positioning of the National Flag.

Some premises are hoisting the flag at half-mast while others have taken the flag to the top.

National flags are put at half-mast when the country is going through a mourning period usually following the death of a high profile national figure.

Zimbabwe mourned the passing on of former Minister of Health Doctor Timoth Stamps who was declared a national hero and was interred at a private family ceremony on thursday last week.

Zimbabwean general regulations normally give the nation a mourning period up to the day of burial of the person declared to be mourned for.

Stamps’ private family ceremony may have left Zimbabweans confused if he had been buried yet or not so as to raise the flags high.

A security personnel at the Zimbabwe Open University Building in the CBD told ZimEye.com that he was told to fly the flags half way over a week ago and no one has told him to raise them and so will not change from the directive.

“That was the instruction I was given and I can’t change until I am told to change,” he said.

The confusion on the flag is so bad that even flags at the parliament buildings were not corresponding with those at the government offices across the road.

Efforts to get a comment from the Ministry of Information in Harare were fruitless.

A Gokwe-based Central Intelligence Officer (CIO) lured a 20-year-old woman into his bedroom where he tried to rape her before the victim bit his penis and escaped.

Nyamuchiwa attempted to rape the woman who had approached him seeking assistance to secure a place to train as a teacher as Mkoba Teacher’s College in Gweru.

Nyamuchiwa was last year convicted of attempted rape by a Gokwe magistrate who sentenced him to four years in jail of which one year was suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.

Bulawayo Justice Nicholas Mathonsi dismissed Nyamuchiwa’s appeal, saying it lacked merit.

The judge said the complainant’s evidence was consistent and demonstrated the absence of consent.

Justice Mathonsi said Nyamuchiwa abused his position as an officer in the President’s Office to victimise a desperate school leaver.

“This is a person who abused his position as an officer in the President’s Office and a member of Zanu-PF to victimise a simple rural school leaver desperate for a placement at a college. She was unsuspecting and genuinely believed that she could be assisted,” said the judge.

“Even the complainant’s mother entrusted the appellant who turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. For betraying that trust the appellant deserved what was coming to him and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the sentence. In the result, the appeal is hereby dismissed in its entirety,” ruled Justice Mathonsi.

Nyamuchiwa, through his lawyers H. Tafa and Associates, said the evidence by State witnesses was not credible and full of inconsistencies.

In his grounds of appeal, Nyamuchiwa argued that the complainant seduced him because she was desperate to enrol at Mkoba Teacher’s College.

“Although I was meeting the complainant for the first time, she is the one who seduced me by sitting on my bed, removing her jacket and pushing her dress up seductively. Having been encouraged by the complainant’s actions, I requested to have sex with her and she agreed. Having helped her take off her clothes I asked her to perform oral sex on me and she complied,” said Nyamuchiwa.

Nyamuchiwa said after oral sex, the complainant’s phone rang and she spoke to her mother after which she announced that she had to leave.

The facts of the matter are that on July 12 last year, the complainant’s mother referred her daughter to the Zanu-PF district offices in Gokwe where she was to submit her application forms for enrolment at Mkoba Teacher’s College.

The complainant was given Nyamuchiwa’s phone number so that she could contact him. Upon arrival, the complainant found the office closed and she immediately phoned her mother who in turn contacted Nyamuchiwa to assist her daughter.

The complainant phoned Nyamuchiwa who offered to process her application. The court heard that Nyamuchiwa then lured the woman to his house. On arrival Nyamuchiwa immediately locked the door and attempted to have sex with the complainant.

Nyamuchiwa undressed complainant and threw her onto the bed before putting a condom while pinning her down.

The complainant wrestled with Nyamuchiwa during which she managed to bite his private parts resulting in the appellant releasing her.

The woman managed to escape and she contacted her mother about what transpired. A report was made to the police leading to Nyamuchiwa’s arrest.

Journalist Violet Gonda (VG) interviewed former Education minister David Coltart on the Hot Seat programme to understand President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Cabinet.
Coltart warned the government was going to be run by a civilian administration, which has just a thin veneer over a military junta.
He believes it’s going to be harder for Mnangagwa to fight an election than it was for Robert Mugabe, who had support in the rural areas, and explains why he disagrees with those who are calling for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to retire.
VG: Mr Coltart, first of all, your thoughts on this new cabinet?
DC: I’m very disappointed. I was prepared to give Emmerson Mnangagwa the benefit of doubt. I was encouraged by his statement that he issued just before he returned to Zimbabwe, and by much of his inauguration address.
I was also encouraged by some of the actions taken this week, and so, I had high expectations for this cabinet. I never expected him to appoint a government of national unity. I always felt there was insufficient time in the run-up to the elections, but I really hoped that he would reach out and get some good technocrats involved — use the five Cabinet posts reserved to him in terms of the Constitution to do that, and also perhaps to bring in some younger blood from within Zanu PF.
He’s failed to do that, although he’s brought in three technocrats; which is encouraging. The rest of the cabinet is made up of generally old men.
There is not a single person under the age of 40, there are only three women in a cabinet of 22, and he has brought in some hard-line military people including Perrance Shiri and Major General Sibusiso Moyo.
VG: Who are the biggest winners?
DC: Well the military, clearly, is behind this. This is the deal. He has put in the military in key positions. Major General Moyo is now the Foreign minister; he will play a critical role in the interaction between Zimbabwe and the African Union and Sadc.
Perence Shiri is now the minister of Lands and has got a very important role to play and then he has put some of the hardliners.
VG: Many fear that the military have captured the political space. You mentioned Major General Moyo who is now the Foreign Affairs minister. What does he need to do to turn things around because at the end of the day, people don’t know anything about him? Does he have a background in international relations? Or, is it going to be easy sailing for him because the West is eager to reengage with a reinvented Zanu PF?
DC: Well, I’m puzzled by President Mnangagwa’s appointment of Major General Moyo. I’ve got nothing against Major General Moyo. I don’t know him at all, but he does have a problematic past. He is mentioned in the 2002 UN report into the plundering of the Congo, he was then director general of Cozlec. he advised both Tremult and Oryx Natural Resources, which represented covert Zimbabwean military financial interest in negotiations with state mining companies in the DRC then.
He was also the person accused by civic groups of being in charge of violent military action against MDC members in the presidential run-off election in 2008 and of course, he was the face of the coup in the early hours of Wednesday November 15, when he appeared on ZTV.
So it’s a puzzling choice for Foreign minister because this is a man who is already known to the international community in a very bad way.
It may be that these allegations were false, but the UN enquiry into the DRC was comprised of competent people from a range of different countries, including Egypt and other countries and they came out with this damning report.
So, he is going to have to overcome that history in projecting Zimbabwe as a modern democratic nation state.
VG: Why do you think Emmerson Mnangagwa chose him? Was he stuck with these military people because he had to reward military people? And you mentioned Air Marshall Perence Shiri, who is now the Lands Minister. How significant is that?
DC: Well dealing with your first one, obviously I don’t know the thought process that President Mnangagwa went through in appointing Major General Moyo.
It does appear as if it is some way of payback to the military for their assistance, but that is a mere assumption. Major General Moyo may have attributes that President Mnangagwa’s aware of, that none of us are aware of.
It is puzzling. I would have thought that he would have chosen someone like Patrick Chinamasa who made quite a good connection in Washington; is viewed as a relatively moderate lawyer; who would have presented a better face for the nation.
Turning to your question regarding Air Marshall Perence Shiri, it is problematic. He was the Commander of the Fifth Brigade.
The North Korean trained Fifth Brigade in 1983.
And, although of course, he has been Commander of the Air Force for a long time, he had a relatively low profile. Now, he becomes a Minister of Lands. Land is obviously a key issue for President Mnangagwa, he referred to it in his inaugural address. He said that he wanted a new dispensation; that he wanted to pay compensation to farmers; and, in that role, Mr Shiri is going to have to have this international face.
He’s going to be the face of the nation in persuading the international community that the land question has been resolved.
So, it’s a curious choice. It doesn’t make sense to me. I would have thought that any number of ZANU PF ex Cabinet Minsters or Members of Parliament would have fitted that role better
VG: You say Patrick Chinamasa would have made a good appointment as Foreign Affairs minister. But, some would argue the only good appointment was returning Chinamasa as Finance Minister because of his experience in the previous Cabinet.
That right now he is the best person for this position and that his is the only position that matters right now because its all about the economy… about the money.
DC: Well, I actually take a contrary view because the reality is that whilst Tendai Biti, the former Finance minister, stabilised the economy. Under his tenure, as you know, the economy grew, bank deposits grew.
Since Patrick Chinamasa took office as Finance minister, there has been a run on bank deposits. He is the person responsible for this massive budget deficit, which has been funded by the issuance of Treasury Bills.
He is the person responsible for issuing Bond notes. So he, more than anyone else, must take responsibility for the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy.
I would have thought, if ever there was ever a position that needed a sound technocrat, someone like a Nkosana Moyo or a Simba Makoni, it was the Ministry of Finance.
So, I disagree with that. I don’t think it does inspire confidence in the public confidence in the Banking sector to have Patrick Chinamasa in that position.
VG: Who are the technocrats you mentioned earlier on? You said there are three technocrats at least in this Cabinet. Who are they?
DC: The three technocrats are Professor Amon Murwira, who is a University of Zimbabwe lecturer, Professor Clever Nyathi, who up until now has been working with the UNDP and Winston Chitando, who is Minister of Mines now, and up until his appointment was Chairman, and – I think, before that was Managing Director of Mimosa platinum Mines.
So those are good appointments, all three of those. I don’t know much about the two professors, but certainly Winston Chitando is respected in the mining sector and Mimosa Mines seems to have run well. So credit where credit is due, those are 3 good appointments.
VC: I understand that, by law, the President is only supposed to have appointed 5 non constituency members of parliament but in this case he has appointed at least 8. What can you say about this?
David: Well, he has 5 in terms of the Constitution. The Constitution also says that people can be appointed but then also have to take up seats in Parliament within a prescribed period of time, I think it’s within three months.
So, I presume that having got rid of the likes of Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere and others from Parliament, there are now by-elections coming up and I assume they get these people, these extra three people, to stand in the constituencies that are now vacant.
Violet: But what about the issue of Perence Shiri and Sibusiso Moyo? Have they been retired yet?
David: Well, the Constitution is very clear in that regard. The old constitution was not clear but the new Constitution is very clear that ministers cannot hold any other office on becoming ministers.
So, they are going to have to resign their commissions and end their service in the military. That of course goes across the board, for example, the technocrat; Winston Chitando will have to resign as chairman of Mimosa Mines because the Constitution is very clear now that when you are a cabinet minister, you cannot hold any other post.
ViG: What is Mnangagwa thinking of in terms of bringing in cabinet ministers, who for a long time have been described as useless in government. Why should Zimbabweans be convinced that these ministers will do things differently – namely Obert Mpofu, David Parirenyatwa, Supa Mandiwanzira and even Lazarus Dokora. What can you say about those appointments?
Dc: President Mnangagwa’s problem is that he’s restricted to current ZANU PF Members of Parliament. We’ve just discussed that you can appoint five outsiders.
So he was restricted to those people presently in parliament, and of course, given the way he’s been treated by the G40 faction this year – two assassination attempts on him – so he obviously is mistrustful of a lot of his parliamentary colleagues.
So that would have cut down; that would have narrowed; his options even further. So, to a certain extent I’m sympathetic for him because he has to deal with the team allocated to him. And, he doesn’t, to be frank, have much choice, other than to recycle many of these ministers who have not performed particularly well in the past.
Violet: So basically, what you are saying is that there are no new things that we can expect from these recycled ministers, and that there is a lack of skilled people in Zanu PF?
DC: Well, if you go through the list. As I say, Patrick Chinamasa has presided over the collapse of the economy in the last few years. Obert Mpofu was Minister of Mines when, according to none other than Robert Mugabe, the diamond sector was looted of $15 billion.
That came under his watch. He is now in charge of the Police, responsible for investigating and prosecuting criminals. So that doesn’t give one much confidence. My successor, Lazarus Dakora has courted a lot of controversy in the last four years.
I don’t think it’s really fair for me to comment beyond that regarding my own successor. But then, when you go through the rest of the list, there are very few people who I think the public will have confidence in. But, I reiterate, President Mnangagwa didn’t have much to choose from.
VG: Yes, but still, are we moving forward or we are stuck in the same place?
DC: I think that we are moving forward to the extent that we have prevented the emergence of a dynasty.
That was a very important development. My real fear was that Grace Mugabe would take over from Robert Mugabe and that would have been very negative.
However having said that having taken two steps forward, I think we’ve taken a step forward, I think that we’ve possibly taken two steps back, in that, this cabinet is heavily; clearly heavily; influenced by the military and that does not auger well for the future.
We need civilian government that the military must recognize its constitutional role, it should stay in the barracks and should not get involved in politics.
One other point in this regard, is that given this cabinet, I think that the
President is going to find it difficult to get the same support enjoyed by Robert Mugabe in Mashonaland East and West and Central Provinces.
In the depths of those rural areas I believe there is still a considerable amount of support for Robert Mugabe as an individual. I think many of those rural dwellers will battle to understand why Robert Mugabe was treated in this way.
And, I think the reality is that President Mnangagwa will only be assured of considerable support in two provinces, namely the Midlands and Masvingo.
I think he’s going to find it very difficult to get support with this cabinet in the metropolitan Provinces of Harare and Bulawayo, and I think he will battle in Matabeleland North and South Provinces.
And I doubt very much that he will manage to get the same number of votes in Mashonaland Central, East and West. And, traditionally, those Mashonaland provinces have formed the bulk of support for a Zanu PF presidential candidate.
Once they’ve done these numbers, I think they will realize that they are going to be hard pressed to win an election against a united Opposition.
Now, of course, at present, the Opposition is not united. I hope that now that we’ve seen, with great clarity, what President Mnangagwa’s attentions are, and that clarity in itself might encourage the opposition to unite, because, if we don’t, it seems to me, that going forward, effectively, our country is going to be run by a civilian administration which has just a thin veneer over a military junta.
VG: Critics of Emmerson Munangagwa still say that these appointments show that the new president is still in a factional mood. Given what you have said -that he had no choice but to pick some of these people from Parliament and the military? Do you think he is a progressive leader?
DC: President Mnangagwa’s history doesn’t give one much hope that he is a progressive person. My friends often describe me as a pathological optimist, so you’re going to have to excuse me for a while as I revert to my pathological optimism. And it’s by saying this, that I have been encouraged by some of Mnangagwa’s statements in the last couple of weeks.
I said it earlier, his statement from exile, just prior to coming back, was very positive. He said that Zanu PF could not do this alone and his inauguration address as well was very constructive in many different ways.
So I was expecting better of him in the appointment of this cabinet.
However, as we all know, politics is the art of the possible. And, he has had to deal with a party in which there are very high expectations.
He has had to deal with war veterans who feel that they have been minimized and rejected, and he’s had to try and balance all of these competing interests.
He also knows that this is an interim government, that he faces an election in July next year and he would have had some concerns that if he had brought in people from the Opposition, that it would have compromised his own ability to prepare for an election as the Zanu PF candidate.
So, in essence, what I’m saying is I’m not sure that this cabinet reflects what Emmerson Mnangagwa would have wanted to do had he had the power alone to do it.
I think that this Cabinet reflects the reality that he has to accommodate these different groups, who, at the end of the day, have seen him ascend to power. Without the military intervening in the way they did, without war veterans organizing that march in Harare on the 18th November, he would not have had the momentum to come back and to assume the Office of President.
And now, it’s payback time. He has had to accommodate people and it’s resulted in this very disappointing cabinet.
VG: And what about the issue of his human rights record and issues of corruption?
DC: Those are issues that he has to confront. I have also taken some hope from his children; he’s got some very nice children and those children can’t come out of a vacuum.
And I am also sad to say had taken hope from his own statements and I thought that he had turned over a new leaf.
This Cabinet has set people back, has set my own hopes for him back, and I think he is going to have a very difficult time of it now convincing Zimbabweans and the International Community, that he does intend to embrace democracy, to embrace the Constitution and take this nation forward.
Vg: You know a post shared by a Mr Bhajila, shared on social media, said: “With EDM as president while his wife is the Chirumanzi MP and now Chris Mutsvangwa is Information Minister while his wife Monica is Minister of State for Manicaland Province, the days of dynasties are far from over”. You mentioned that the Mugabe dynasty is now over, but what about this point that Mr Bajila is raising – is this a worrying development?
Dc: I did see that comment, and it is a valid one. I’m not sure that it counts as a dynasty; I don’t think that there is any change of President Mnangagwa’s wife becoming resident in future.
But, yes, it is a worrying development that you’ve got these families that have been bought into positions of great power. It’s a negative development, it’s not a dynasty at present, but it always of danger of developing into that and Zimbabweans have to guard against that.
VG: And with Chris Mutsvanga being made Minister of Information, are you hopeful that we will see media reforms sometime soon, or even before elections?
DC: As you know, Section 61 of the Constitution makes it very clear that the country should have an independent media and it makes it equally clear that state media must have an independent editorial policy and must allow a diversity of views. That hasn’t happened in the last 50 years. It hasn’t happened under the Rhodesian Front or under Robert Mugabe’s rule. I’m afraid I’m a bit of a pessimist in that regard. Zanu PF know that they are going to be in real trouble in the run up to this
election, even with the state of the opposition, and, it’s hard to imagine that they are now going to level the playing field to make things better for the Opposition and to enable the opposition to explain its policies to the public.
So, I don’t expect him to comply with the Constitution.
VG: On the issue of the new president offering a three month amnesty for people who illegally externalized money to return it back.
Will that apply also to those who are in government today, and, who is checking on issues of transparency and accountability?
DC: That is a critical question. We hope that when President Mnangagwa said that he was determined to tackle all people, it won’t just be Ignatius Chombo who faces corruption charges but that others, even some in this cabinet that he’s just appointed, should be investigated.
But unfortunately I fear that that even that pronouncement is all to do with factional politics within Zanu PF to justify the illegal actions taken by the military in this coup, rather than a determination to respect the rule of law and to ensure that all criminal elements are investigated and prosecuted.
When we see some of the people in this cabinet, who, for reasons of defamation laws, I can’t name specifically, but when we see them being investigated, we’ll know that this is a genuine drive to combat criminal elements in our society. But, until that happens, many of us will just be left with the impression that it’s to further a factional agenda.
VG: Many are quite critical of the Opposition right now, and many are saying the Opposition needs to reinvent itself if it wants to maintain relevance as Zanu PF is now on a serious charm offensive.
What do you make of calls for Morgan Tsvangirai to step down and help groom a successor for the 2018 elections, because people feel that with the way things are going, no one will be able to defeat Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2018?
DC: Well, I think that was right prior to last night’s cabinet announcement. I think if Emmerson Mnangagwa had continued this charm offensive and had put in some more exciting people in cabinet, or even just putting people in different positions, as I mentioned with Minister Chinamasa. I think he would have been far more attractive to the electorate. So I don’t think he is as attractive today as he was yesterday because of this cabinet.
Turning to the nub of your question regarding Morgan Tsvangirai. You know, I think it’s unfair, at this stage, for us to be dictating to Morgan Tsvangirai what he should or shouldn’t do. He hasn’t been well and what we do know is that whatever position I might have adopted in the past regarding Morgan Tsvangirai, the fact remains that he is arguably still the most popular Opposition politician in this country.
And until there is someone who has similar charisma and similar political appeal to him it would be foolhardy – if, and this is a big if, – if he is still fit enough to run, to get someone else. Bear in mind that in the presidential election coming up the person has to get, in the first round, 50% plus one.
I think it’s going to be incredibly difficult for President Mnangagwa to get that 50%. That will mean that whoever comes second, let’s assume that Mnangagwa gets 35 or even 40% and Morgan Tsvangirai gets 30% – you know, I’m speculating.
The point I’m simply making is that we will go into a runoff election which will compel the opposition to rally around one person, and it may be Morgan Tsvangirai, it maybe somebody else who gets a higher percentage of the vote.
But, just a conclusion on this point. I think all of us hope that Morgan Tsvangirai will get healthy again. He has bravely gone through this chemotherapy and operations. He is clearly weak at present, but people do recover, and that’s my prayer.
Forget about the politics now. He’s been a courageous person and I really pray that he does get healthy, whether he stands for office again or not. He deserves our respect and our support in that regard.
VG: Yes I’m sure many Zimbabweans would wish Mr Tsvangirai well. But do you honestly believe that the military will offer election victory to the opposition on a silver platter?
David: No, I don’t believe the military is going to offer election victory to the opposition on a platter, I think it is going to be incredibly difficult.
All I’m saying though is that it’s going to be harder for Emmerson Mnangagwa to fight an election than it was for Robert Mugabe to fight the elections in 2008 and 20013.
Robert Mugabe, for all his faults, was more respected country-wide than Emmerson Mnangagwa is amongst the rural vote. 70% of the population is in the rural area.
We mustn’t be fooled by the turn outs that Zanu PF would have us say were the turn outs in the cities, in Harare and Bulawayo, there are some Zanu PF MP’s trying to argue that they turned out in support of Emmerson Mnangagwa. They wanted Robert Mugabe gone.
That doesn’t translate necessarily into support for Emmerson Mnangagwa.
I concede that many of the unemployed young people don’t have close allegiances to the MDC. They want jobs.
That is what is critical, and if Emmerson Mnangagwa can deliver jobs to them in the next few months, then it may well be that those young people vote for Emmerson Mnangagwa, which would make it easier for him. But, I think it’s going to be incredibly difficult for him, especially because of this cabinet.
Had he appointed people like Nkosana Moyo and Simba Makoni and others, who would have inspired not just Zimbabwean people but also our friends in the international community, I think that a lot more international support would have been forthcoming which, in turn, would have enabled him to create jobs and to give people hope.
I think that this Cabinet does just the reverse. It has depressed people domestically and it is going to make our international friends very cautious about supporting this administration.
Violet: Thank you very much David Coltart for speaking to us on the programme, Hotseat.
David: Thank you Violet
To contact the journalist email [email protected] or follow @violetgonda on twitter. See more at www.violetgonda.com

The defense attorney for Zimbabwe’s former finance minister and a top youth leader alleges they were tortured under military detention, and held illegally.

A court granted both men bail last week.

The military detained Zimbabwe’s former finance minister, Ignatius Chombo, and a former youth leader of the ruling Zanu PF party, Kudzanai Chipanga during last month’s military intervention in this southern African country.

Chombo is charged with fraud, corruption and abuse of office during former President Robert Mugabe’s administration. Chipanga is accused of causing disaffection among the country’s defense forces. Their arrest was carried out during an army blitz that targeted what it calls “criminals” who allegedly surrounded the country’s now deposed leader.

High Court judge Edith Mushore ordered the duo to be released on bail. Chombo was ordered to post $5,000 in bail money, to report to the police three times a day, and to surrender title deeds of his house as well as travel documents. He also is barred from the central bank and government offices where the offenses were allegedly committed.

Chipanga was ordered to post $500 as bail and to report to the police twice daily.

Their defense attorney, Lovemore Madhuku, says his clients should not have been arraigned in the first place because their detention was unconstitutional.

“The High Court criticized the magistrates’ court and said they were wrong to have denied these persons bail because they were very fit candidates for bail but the High Court did not just end there, it went further to say that those persons that had arrested them before they were taken by the police, that is the military, they had acted in an unlawful manner because they had gone beyond the 48 hour rule.”

Madhuku claims the army tortured his clients while they were in detention. “Very clearly so; they were actually tortured, torture is any form of pain that you inflict on a person with a view to want them to either do something in an unlawful manner so even blindfolding, keeping a person blindfolded for a minute, two minutes, three minutes when you are doing that against their will that’s torture, assaulting them when in custody that’s torture and as they were doing that they were trying to extract certain information from them.

Madhuku says his clients will seek compensation from the new government of Mugabe’s former deputy, President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“What next lawfully is that we first expect that the government will come and tell us that, ‘look, we were sorry we did this and here we are offering compensation.’ They must apologize to our clients and then offer to pay them compensation for the period of unlawful detention. But if they do not do that we will take them up on that issue at the same time we will take it into account when this matter is going to be taken up …”

Chombo and Chipanga are among the highest-profile former officials detained by the military since it acted last month. Both are linked to the Generation 40 faction of the ruling ZANU-PF party, which was close to both President Mugabe and his wife, Grace Mugabe.

Since he resigned on November 21^st, Mugabe has not been seen in public. Some of his allies reportedly have sought refuge in neighboring countries.- VOA

LIVEVIDEO report starting an hour’s time.

By Oluhle Sibanda| A City Liner bus traveling from Johannesburg went up in flames early this morning.

The incident happened at the 40km peg from Beitbridge. – CLICK ON THE SATELLITE MAP TO ZOOM IN – please note the map will update in 5 minutes.

At the time of writing, ZimEye was told by a source that there were no casualties. But the bus company issued caution saying investigations were still underway so they could not communicate anything at present.

“Oh yes the bus that caught fire earlier on (today).

“Basically that situation is still being investigated but so far we have not heard anything about anybody being hurt…the only that’s damaged is the coach,” a receptionist said Monday morning.

LIVEVIDEO report starting in an hour’s time.

By Staff Reporter| Barely hours after dodging an interview to answer for his dodgy $5million ZESA parastatal tender among other shady deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Wicknell Chivayo has been arrested, shortly after insulting ZimEye’s Simba Chikanza during a LIVE program on Saturday night.

His lawyer has confirmed Chivayo was taken away by security forces but could not tell whether it was police or military. To further confirm the arrest, attempts by ZimEye.com to reach Chivayo since last night were met with a brickwall as Chivayo’s phone was continuously switched off.

His lawyer Thabani Mpofu told the local Daily News Chivayo was arrested yesterday Sunday although he was not sure which police took him, ZRP or military. “At the moment I am still frantically trying to establish what happened. I thought by now I would have made headway, but nothing has come up yet,” he said.

Chivayo’s WhatsApp number showed he was last online around 5pm yesterday when ZimEye called him once again.

ZimEye.com is in the next few minutes offloading the tender document Chivayo reportedly stole from the ZANU PF headquarters and which he used to inflate figures.

Chivayo’s arrest is over the ZESA deals wherewith he obtained over half a billion dollars worth of tenders and moreover received a cash payment of $5million without a performance guarantee.

He was arrested within 24 hours of dodging ZimEye.com for answers.

https://youtu.be/ehMSgIgD_r4?t=2m52s

It was not clear at the time of writing where Chivayo is being held, and ZimEye will keep our valued readers and viewers updated. – THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY….

By Terrence Mawawa| ZRP Cops and army officers were yesterday arrested and detained in Chipinge over a bribery case.

The soldiers were manning a roadblock at Mashiri in Chipinge when they allegedly demanded cash from a senior army officer.

” The soldiers and police officers who were at a roadblock at Mashiri in Chipinge were arrested and detained at the army barracks yesterday.

An army colonel who was driving a commuter omnibus passed by and the cops and the soldiers demanded cash from him.

He then went to complain at 3 Brigade, leading to the arrest of the whole team,” said a police source in Chipinge.

This comes a few days after calls by the new government were made on public officers to desist from corruption.

MDC Alliance leader Morgan Tsvangirai is asking US President Donald Trump for assistance in dealing with President Emmerson Mnangagwa whose government has kept a tight lid on democratic reforms in the run up to next year’s elections.

Tsvangirai has sent off a three member delegation to Trump in Washington DC – part of a global campaign to exert international pressure on President Mnangagwa.

The development comes as the nation readies for the upcoming polls where Tsvangirai will face a military run party whose generals have before sworn that they will never salute him.

Tsvangirai’s three member delegation consists of MDC-T Vice President Nelson Chamisa, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Tendai Biti and MDC president Welshman Ncube, who doubles as MDC Alliance spokesperson.

The three left Harare yesterday for Ethiopia where they will go to the Africa Union Headquarters before proceeding to the US and Europe. MDC Alliance executive member Jameson Timba revealed the trip to local paper NewsDay.

“Those three leaders are on a diplomatic mission to apprise to the international community on developments in Zimbabwe, but most importantly to alert the international community of the need for free, credible and fair elections in Zimbabwe when it is time,” said Timba.

Below are more pictures from the tragic accident which occurred between Gweru and Shurugwi road when a Sprinter tried to overtake at a blind spot and collided with a Toyota Ipsum.

Zanu-PF’s new national political commissar, Victor Matemadanda says ZANU PF would have lost the upcoming 2018 elections if Robert Mugabe had remained party leader.

Matemadanda was quoted during a Zanu-PF Bulawayo inter-district meeting at its Davies Hall provincial headquarters.

“Zanu-PF was going to lose the 2018 elections had we continued with the former president as our candidate,” said Matemadanda.

He continued saying, “this is largely because he (Cde Mugabe) had allowed his wife (Mrs Grace Mugabe) working in cahoots with the professor of succession (Prof Jonathan Moyo) and that dangerous boy called Tyson (Mr Saviour Kasukuwere) to destroy the party from within.

“The aspirations of the liberation struggle which we fought for can now be achieved following Operation Restore Legacy. When we fight in a revolution we don’t fight for personal glory, but for everyone and this fight should benefit the party. We want discipline in the party.

Matemadanda, quoted by the state media, then promised to re-build its structures afresh starting at cell level.

In a case that might set a precedent, a Harare nurse was dismissed from St Anne’s Hospital after serving the institution for two years after her employer discovered out that she was HIV positive.

The development saw her sue the employer but later loose the case the Constitutional Court ruling that her rights were not violated.

She was diagnosed with HIV in 2003. At that time she was employed by Avenues Clinic but soon retired in 2006 due to deteriorating health.

She later applied for a job at St Anne’s Hospital after recovering in 2010 and was asked to disclose if she was suffering from any serious illness including HIV. It was at that point that she did not reveal her status.

She later suffered a stroke in 2012 when she was discovered to be HIV+ and after St Anne’s had ordered an investigation it was found out that she had contracted HIV years before and knew about it. The findings resulted in her dismissal.

The National Employment Council’s Appeals Committee ordered her reinstatement but St Anne’s challenged the decision at the Labour Court.

While St Anne’s challenge was pending, the woman filed an application directly at the Constitutional Court arguing that her right to privacy in terms of Section 57(e) of the Constitution had been violated by St Anne’s Hospital. However, Chief Justice Luke Malaba, sitting with eight other judges dismissed her application, saying no rights had been violated. – state media

State Media – Government has so far recovered $47,7 million from the loans it issued under the Command Agriculture Revolving Fund, which translates to 66 percent of its target of $72 million.
This comes amid reports that 10 000 farmers were still to deliver their maize to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Government has also collected $3,6 million from wheat farmers against a target of $8,8 million as at November 23. This was revealed by Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa in his 2018 National Budget presentation last week.

Minister Chinamasa said a positive culture of honouring loan obligations was emerging among farmers who benefited from the empowerment support under the Command Agriculture Programme.

“In this regard, Command Agriculture Revolving Fund registering repayment receipts of $47,7 million in loan recoveries from farmers. This is against the anticipated target of $72 million.

“Out of the 50 000 farmers contracted to produce maize under Command Agriculture, 33 percent fully paid their loan obligations, with 22 percent having partially paid their obligations, while recoveries from others are being made as they deliver to the GMB.

“However, as at November 23 2017, about 10 053 contracted farmers had not made any maize deliveries to GMB, an indication that these were already defaulting on their 2017 debt obligations.”

Government has instituted measures to ensure recoveries from the farmers, with monitoring teams already deployed to follow up on those who were being made to acknowledge their debts for repayment next season.
To encourage farmers to continue paying back their debt obligations, all fully paid farmers were being prioritised in accessing inputs under the 2017-18 Command Agriculture programme.

“With regards to those farmers who have partially paid, as well as the new farmers, consideration to be contracted is based on a tight criteria which includes, among others, the need for a farmer to demonstrate capability to produce,” said Minister Chinamasa.

According to the budget, the absence of effective control and distribution mechanisms had meant that bogus farmers could access inputs through unscrupulous suppliers.
This also resulted in the abuse of fuel coupons, whose issuance was not commensurate to farmer requirements.

“Some of the potential risk areas have since been rectified, which has seen the logistics committee in consultation with private financing partners tightening the distribution and collection mechanisms for both fuel and other inputs,” said Minister Chinamasa.

“All participating farmers are now required to have their contract papers and release orders for inputs collection to be processed at district level. For those farmers required to collect inputs directly from inputs suppliers, Government officials have been stationed at inputs suppliers’ depots to clear and monitor collection of inputs by farmers.”

Minister Chinamasa said other potential leakages being plugged related to absence of validation processes over use of tillage vouchers and combine harvesters repairs and collusion between district Command Centre officials and some farmers that could result in inputs collections in excess of requirements determined by Agritex and ward officers.
Some farmers who would have benefited from Command Agriculture inputs supplies were being paid in full for grain delivered to the GMB, despite having loan obligations under the programme.

Government has thus moved in to plug potential leakages that could arise.
“In this regard, participating farmers are also required to complete the cost recovery Stop Order forms at the point of inputs collection,” said Minister Chinamasa. “Furthermore, plugging of potential leakages is extended to prevent some ward extension officers recommending farmers without farm or land offer letters to collect inputs, resulting in no recoveries.”

President Mnangagwa has always been on record warning those who abuse Command Agriculture inputs that Government will deal with them accordingly.

Command Agriculture, a brainchild of the Government, has rescued thousands of farmers
who would have failed to productively use their land owing to funding challenges.
Under the programme, farmers received inputs for free, but are expected to deliver five tonnes of maize each to the GMB.

The shock resignation by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) chairperson Rita Makarau — a mere eight months before the country holds its make-or-break national elections next year — has cast a huge shadow on the eagerly-awaited polls, which a fearful opposition want to be monitored by international observers.

Makarau — also a respected Supreme Court judge and the secretary of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) — stunned the country on Friday when she abruptly resigned from her post without giving any reasons, amid a plethora of political conspiracies.

Well-placed sources at the Zec who spoke to the Daily News on Sunday yesterday also said Makarau’s unexpected departure had left a of lot of questions unanswered, as days before she quit she had been in jovial mood in meetings with stakeholders at the national elections management body.

“It appears as if she may have been pushed. Her email signalling her intention to resign came as a complete shock to us. It came after we had just had an important meeting with one of our stakeholders during the week, and there was no sign whatsoever that she was on her way out.

“In fact she was as calm and as cheerful as she always is. So, you can imagine our surprise when we received that email. It definitely suggested that she may have been pushed before she jumped.

“We are all trying to put the pieces together and make sense of everything, as her email never stated her reasons for that very sudden move,” one of the sources said.

New Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi confirmed Makarau’s resignation at the weekend and also said the Supreme Court judge had not given reasons for leaving the post.

In the meantime, her sudden departure has elicited myriad conspiracy theories, with the opposition and political analysts also warning that it is now “mandatory” that the international community watches over the 2018 polls which must be held by August next year.

It has also emerged that one of the opposition’s charges is that Makarau’s alleged forced resignation from Zec is meant to allow the current dominant faction in Zanu PF to “manipulate the vote” in its favour next year.

During the heights of the ugly factional brawling in the ruling party — which pitted the Generation 40 (G40) faction against the Team Lacoste camp, which was rooting for new President Emmerson Mnangagwa — Makarau was viewed favourably by the G40 group which wanted her to become the country’s chief justice after the late Godfrey Chidyausiku.

Matters came to a head during the interviews for that position when the two major Zanu PF factions fought ugly and open battles to have their preferred candidates take over from Chidyausiku.
In the end, Makarau came second to the country’s new CJ, Luke Malaba, while George Chiweshe — who was preferred by Team Lacoste pulled out of the selection process after it was challenged in the High Court.

Former deputy prime minister in Zimbabwe’s short-lived inclusive government, Arthur Mutambara, was among those who have claimed that Makarau may have been forced to resign from Zec due to factional interests in the ruling party.

“The electoral agenda should be to enable and facilitate free, fair and credible elections, and not settle Zanu PF factional disputes. The regime must reach out to civic society and the opposition parties and establish a clear and inclusive roadmap to free, fair and credible elections in 2018,” Mutambara said.
According to the Constitution, the head of Zec must be either a judge or a former judge, or a person who qualifies for appointment as a judge.

Professor of World Politics, Stephen Chan, said yesterday that the position of chairperson of Zec was pivotal, and required an appointment of the highest calibre and integrity.
“The international community will be looking to the elections as the clinching signal that Zimbabwe is climbing its way upwards to probity and transparency.

“If Zimbabwe wants to rejoin the Commonwealth and attract wider investment, there will have to be a Commonwealth Observer Group and, ideally, a European Observer Group, and they will scrutinise the Zec and its chair with attention to minute detail.

“The shortcomings of observer groups were exposed in Kenya, so they will arrive in Zimbabwe having upped their own game,” Chan told the Daily News On Sunday.

The country’s main opposition party, the MDC, said while it welcomed Makarau’s resignation, its suddenness was both a surprise and a concern.

“Rita Makarau’s resignation opens a can of worms. Why is she resigning just a few months before Election 2018?

“Has she been forced to resign? Was she pushing a factional agenda during her term of office as ZEC
chairperson? Is she really her own person?” MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu queried.
Makarau’s resignation came as Zec, as well as local election observer groups, are intensifying their efforts to have millions of prospective voters register in the ongoing biometric voter registration (BVR) exercise, which is now approaching its final phase.

Zimbabwe is using the BVR system for registration for next year’s elections for the first time.
Zec is targeting seven million voters for the current BVR registration exercise — ahead of the much-awaited 2018 polls, which could see Mnangagwa facing a grand coalition of opposition parties in that plebiscite.

The opposition and civic groups have also been agitating for sweeping electoral reforms ahead of the crunch elections which they say must be held in an environment which doesn’t promote disputes like what happened during the 2008 and 2013 polls.

In the hotly-disputed 2008 elections, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat former president Robert Mugabe hands down.

However, the results of those polls were withheld for six long weeks by stunned authorities, amid widespread allegations of ballot tampering and fraud which were later revealed by former bigwigs of the ruling party.

Mugabe’s defeat was widely blamed on an internal rebellion which was said to have been led by officials loyal to former vice president Joice Mujuru and her late husband Solomon — a plot that came to be known as Bhora Musango.

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

Mugabe went on to stand in a widely-condemned one-man race in which he declared himself the winner.

However, Sadc and the rest of the international community would have none of it, forcing the nonagenarian to share power with Tsvangirai for five years, to prevent the country from imploding completely.

https://youtu.be/fwDDOyezvXY

By Shiellah Sibanda| On Saturday the 9th of December MDC-T members came together with families and friends for a Christmas party. Around 80 people braved the bad weather and came to the fundraiser.

The sole reason for the party was to fundraise for the upcoming 2018 elections. The party started around 14:30pm and went on until around 23:30hrs with a lot of activities taking place.

Speaker after speaker they talked about the situation back home, noting how people celebrated when Mugabe resigned but that was not what the Zimbabweans wanted. Zimbabweans want a complete change of government. Therefore it is important that people get out and register to vote next year.

The chairman, Mr Tonderai Samanyanga emphasised that Mugabe is now gone as every body wanted him gone, but was replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa who is more or less what Robert Mugabe is.

He said “Zimbabweans need a change and that change can only be seen when Zanu-PF is gone and that can only be achieved by voting for change next year.”

Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo| A Zimbabwe National Army officer wreaked havoc at a local bar and threatened to shoot a patron yesterday.

Two loud gunshots were fired by the soldier as he was being restrained.

Lance Corporal Albert Alifeyo of Four Brigade Intelligence Unit stormed the bar and had an altercation with one, Tendai Nguwo.

Alifeyo produced his service pistol and threatened to kill Nguwo. An official police memo titled, “UNLAWFUL DISCHARGE OF A FIREARM AT MODERN SPORT BAR, HILLSIDE, MASVINGO BY A ZIMBABWE NATIONAL ARMY MEMBER,” reads as follows:

This memo serves to put on record circumstances surrounding the above subject matter:-
ACCUSED PERSON
Albert Alifeyo Age – 29 years
NR : 79-127602-M-79
RES : House number 226 Chitepo Street, Pangolin, Masvingo
BUS : 4 Brigade Intelligence Company, Masvingo
Force number: 835044F
RANK : lance corporal
INFORMANT :

Tendai Nguwo Age – 22 years
NR : 22-173211-Q- 22
RES : House number [DETAILS REDACTED].
BUS : Not Employed
Phone : 0777 *** ***

CIRCUMSTANCES
On 8th day of December 2017, at around 2230 hours, accused was on his way home from work at Zimbabwe National Army 4 Brigade, Masvingo dressed in ZNA uniform and armed with a Makarov Service Pistol bearing serial number ZA 0283. Same got to Morden Sports Bar, Pangolin, Masvingo where he started drinking beer together with other unknown civilian people.

Whilst in the bar, the accused had an altercation with other patrons who were defending one known as Gono, a lunatic whom he suspected of smoking Dagga in the bar. In the process, the accused disturbed informant who was playing snooker.

When the informant tried to reason with him, the accused challenged him, took his beer and smashed it on the floor. A misunderstanding developed between the accused and informant.

One civilian patron offered to buy informant another pint of beer to replace the broken one, but the accused barred him from doing so and a misunderstanding ensued between the accused and informant.

Accused withdrew his afore-stated service pistol and threatened to kill the informant. The informant realised that the accused had produced a pistol and grabbed the accused’s arm to avoid being shot.

Both wrestled against each other for about twenty minutes and in the process the service pistol discharged two rounds. One discharged round hit the floor near the counter and the other one hit the wall beside the door.

In the process the accused got injured by the firearm on top of his left hand and he sustained two grazed wounds on the injured part.

However, the two continued struggling until informant called for rescue while still grabbing the accused’s hands firmly. Patrons who were around rescued him through holding the accused and disarmed him. A report was made at ZRP Chikato Police Station, and the accused was arrested and taken to that station.

INVESTIGATIONS
The scene was attended by ZRP Chikato, CID Masvingo and ZNA 4 Brigade members. Two spent pistol cartridges and one bullet head residue were recovered inside Morden Sports Bar, Pangolin, Masvingo.

Smears of accused’s blood were seen on the floor. Accused was ferried to Masvingo General Hospital under the heavy guard of the ZNA Military Police. His condition is stable.

You will be apprised of any new developments. ZRP Chikato RRB 3372530
DATE: 09/12/17
CID MASVINGO / CHIREDZI DISTRICT

https://youtu.be/fwDDOyezvXY

Staff Reporter| Chikurubi inmate (2005- 2008 ) and fraud convict, Wicknel Chivayo has finally confessed on why he is failing to commence works on the Gwanda Solar project for which he received an instant $5million payment from the state owned power utility, ZESA more than 2 years ago.

Chivayo who last night dodged answering questions to ZimEye, recited the same answers he gave ZimEye early 2016 to a local publication.

In April last year, Chivayo reported saying he needs a bank loan in order to begin the project. This time he has told the Daily News that “delay of the project is the issue of funding.

He said he will not be returning the $5 million in dispute — blaming a lack of funds on the part of Zesa for delays in the commencement of works at his Gwanda site.

“There is a contract and there is no need to return the money, but to complete the project. This is a multi-million dollar project and I have to do the job, and right now there are people on the ground. CONTINUE READING…

https://youtu.be/ehMSgIgD_r4

“The $5 million is only for the pre-commencement works. The delay of the project is the issue of funding, but work on the ground will be complete in three weeks.

“I stand guided by obligations in the contract, not any speculation and wishful thinking from the media,” a defiant Chivayo told the Daily News On Sunday yesterday.

Chivayo, who is often referred to by his associates as Sir Wicknell, was awarded a $200 million tender for the Gwanda Solar Project. He was also awarded a further $73 million for the refurbishment of the Harare Power Station, $163 million for the restoration of the Munyati Power Station, and $248 million for the Gairezi Power project by the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) — a subsidiary of Zesa Holdings.

https://youtu.be/p-T_CAmrwP4

ZPC senior management stands accused of advancing $5 million to Chivayo for the Gwanda Solar project’s pre-commencement works, despite him not providing a performance guarantee as required by law.

The performance guarantee acts as financial security and is supposed to be presented by the contractor before commencement of works. It insulates the client if the contractor fails to fulfill obligations set out in the contract.

Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo| Former MDC MP for Zaka North Constituency, Ernest Mudavanhu who is credited with coining the “Chinja Maitiro, Maitiro Chinja” slogan has rejoined the country’ s biggest opposition party.

Mudavanhu, the former MDC provincial organising secretary and several party officials defected to Zim PF in 2015.

In a letter written to the MDC Provincial Executive Committee on December 7, former MDC officials Mudavanhu, Heya Shoko, Wicklif Matindike, William Zivenge Herbert Mundigo, Boniface Chibele, Vincent Jaricha, Nzombe Jemitias and several officials indicated their intention to rejoin the Morgan Tsvangirai led party.

“We have followed with keen interest the ongoing developments in the political environment in Zimbabwe as a country, state and nation, particularly the delayed MDC and people’s victory at the hands of the repressive Zanu PF regime.

The much pronounced public discourse of the reunion of all former MDC cadres so as to rejuvenate the party as it steps up preparations for the 2018 elections is crucial.

After serious considerations of all the aforementioned issues, we have seen the logic in submitting ourselves to the calls for reconciliation,” read part of the letter.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s own business acquaintance, Dr. Nkosana Moyo is best option for Finance Minister, analyst David Coltart has said.

The former Education Minister made these comments speaking of the recent cabinet appointments.

Dr Nkosana Moyo, a technocrat, is the secret brains behind the Econet brand which is now worth billions of dollars. When Strive Masiyiwa approached him in the 90s for funding assistance, he is the one who dictated the brand identity to Masiyiwa and the rest was history – Zimbabwe’s first billionaire black owned company was born.

He told the UK based Violet Gonda, Coltart said:

“Well, I actually take a contrary view because the reality is that whilst Tendai Biti, the former Finance minister, stabilised the economy. Under his tenure, as you know, the economy grew, bank deposits grew.

“Since Patrick Chinamasa took office as Finance minister, there has been a run on bank deposits. He is the person responsible for this massive budget deficit, which has been funded by the issuance of Treasury Bills.

“He is the person responsible for issuing Bond notes. So he, more than anyone else, must take responsibility for the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy.

“I would have thought, if ever there was ever a position that needed a sound technocrat, someone like a Nkosana Moyo or a Simba Makoni, it was the Ministry of Finance.

“So, I disagree with that. I don’t think it does inspire confidence in the public confidence in the Banking sector to have Patrick Chinamasa in that position.”  – The full article on this was first published in The Standard.

By Dorrothy Moyo| Below is evidence that the ousted Education Minister Lazarus Dokora was given money by mostly Islamic sponsors – the OPEC Fund. The OPEC Fund  is an intergovernmental development finance institution established in 1960 by Member States of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) the founders who are mostly Islamic nations. The below article appeared in the state owned Herald in 2016.

By Farai D Hove| Barely 3 weeks after her husband was made President of Zimbabwe, Auxillia Mnangagwa has been turned into another Grace Mugabe. When she was a mere MP, she was never labelled as a mother supreme. The state owned Sunday Mail this morning carried a flashing headline portraying her as a champion of maternal concerns. The story said Mnangagwa’s Harare Central visit was a “response to her maternal instincts.”

Already the development has seen Auxillia being labelled “Amai.”

Is Zimbabwe quickly returning into another Bedroom State? What stops has ZANU PF put in place to ensure that Emmerson Mnangagwa’s leadership will not be a dynasty? A recent projection of the trend events pointed that Mnangagwa will be 91 when he becomes due for retirement, if he serves three terms and if they are 2, he will be 86, still putting him into the same age group with Robert Mugabe.

Staff Reporter| As Zimbabwe wakes up to a new CIO boss, people have begun asking questions on what is now to be of the nation particularly under a new President who is however not so so new since he is the very man who presided over the massacre of more than 20,000 Zimbabweans in the early 1980s, Emmerson Mnangagwa – are we thus now to see more being abducted and killed?

President Mnangagwa appointed the country’s new Director General, Ambassador Isaac Moyo during the week.

Who is Isaac Moyo and what is he likely to do in the next 5 years, particularly during the upcoming 2018 elections knowing that previous elections since 1980 have been characterised by voter intimidation and even the killing of political opponents? Is the CIO now to transform into a professional force that investigates real security crimes not political spoofs? It is for these fears that many Zimbabweans suspect that a personal choice of Mnangagwa’s (a Karanga man, Moyo) could only be a brutal character. This is one side of the viewpoint.

Others however have a different story. One acquaintance of Moyo’s writing on ZimEye.com on Friday said Moyo is a respectable family man. Mr Godfrey Chimutashu said “Isaac Moyo a true son of Zim. Graduated at the then university of Rhodesia in 1979 and joined government service soon after 1980, and has served as a servant of the people.”

Isaac Moyo is “a family man,” concluded Mr Chimutashu as he wrote on ZimEye.

To appear to strengthen that belief, a ZANU PF leader, the current party chairman for the UK, Nick Mangwana also quipped in in Moyo’s support. “I think the new CIO DG, Ambassador Isaac Moyo is a decent person,” wrote Mangwana on his Twitter portal during the week.”

Latest CIO Boss Will Be GOOD or/ AN EVIL, CRUEL man?

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) December 10, 2017

He continued stating that, “during the Xenophobia attacks in SA, he was hands on, responsive and could answer texts and phone calls anytime of the day.

“If he brings this care for humanity to the job then the President is into something great.”

What are your own views? 

https://youtu.be/ehMSgIgD_r4

https://youtu.be/ehMSgIgD_r4?t=2m48s

State Media – Zanu-PF’s Extraordinary Congress in Harare this week will not elect leaders, but largely endorse Central Committee resolutions passed on November 19, 2017.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa will be endorsed as party President and First Secretary and 2018 presidential candidate, and he will use his discretion whether or not to appoint his deputies and a National Chair then as Zanu-PF gears for the 2018 harmonised elections.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail yesterday, Zanu-PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo said, “This is an Extraordinary Congress and as such, it will discuss only that business for which it has been convened.

“There are basically three issues that will be on the table. The first one is to confirm our President and First Secretary of the party. The second one is to endorse His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, as our candidate for the 2018 harmonised elections. The third aspect is to endorse Central Committee resolutions that were made by the last committee which met on November 19.”

Ambassador Khaya Moyo said President Mnangagwa would appoint his deputies and a National Chair at his discretion.

“What is also important to note is that we are not going to have thematic committees. There will also be no elections at the Congress. In general, it is a non-elective Congress. However, there are vacancies in the party, which are that of the two Vice-Presidents and the National Chairperson.

“The President of the party may decide to appoint these during the Congress, but he is not obliged to. He can choose to announce the appointment at the Congress or at another stage.

“There are also other vacancies that have arisen in the Politburo, so the President may also decide to appoint them, but it is all up to him.”
On the one centre of power concept, he said: “That is not an item on its own. It was one of the resolutions of the last Central Committee, so the Congress will decide whether to pass it or not.

“…Congress will just set the tone for the elections. Then after Congress, we will go ahead to officially start our preparations for the elections.”

Ambassador Khaya Moyo said the Congress would start a Politburo meeting on Tuesday, followed by a Central Committee meeting the next day. The main indaba will be on Friday.
“All preparations for the Congress are going on well. The sub-committees are going at full throttle to ensure that the Congress starts and ends well as per schedule.

“Currently, accreditation is going on in all provinces, and other delegates who are not from the provinces will be accredited at party headquarters.

“Dates for the Congress are December 12th to 16th. On the 12th, there is going to be a Politburo meeting while the Central Committee meeting will be on the 13th. The 14th is reserved for the arrival of guests. Congress proper will take place on the 15th, and on the 16th the delegates will depart.
“Sub-committees are working flat out on their areas of responsibility. They will report their progress to the Politburo, which will then report to the Central Committee.”

The number of days for Congress and budget were cut in keeping with President Mnangagwa’s vision to commit more time to real work while limiting expenditure.
The budget was slashed from US$8 million to US$3 million.

About 6 000 delegates drawn from the Central Com­mittee, National Consultative Assem­bly, National Council of the Women’s League, National Council of the Youth League, Provincial Executive Coun­cils and the main, women’s and youth wings will attend.

The Central Committee meeting of November 19 recalled former President Robert Mugabe, and expelled G40 cabal members ex-First Lady Grace Mugabe, Phelekezela Mphoko, Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere, Ignatius Chombo, Walter Mzembi, Kudzanai Chipanga, Mandi Chimene and Letina Undenge, among others.

It decided against Central Committee elections, meaning the present committee will provide delegates to the Extraordinary Congress.

Further, the meeting resolved to improve the standing of war veterans and reinstate District Co-ordinating Committees which had been abolished.

By Shiellah Sibanda| President Emmerson Mnangagwa is in a credibility crisis following the deployment of soldiers who have been filmed in separate incidents attacking citizens. The latest of these was at a business premises where two soldiers are seen on video terrorising workers, chasing them out of the building. (SEE VIDEO BELOW)

If this matter is not addressed, it could severely dent Zimbabwe’s international image and particularly that of ZANU PF, analysts and MPs have warned. “If this kind of behavior keep on happening in Zimbabwe I will not vote for ZANU PF,” wrote one Simba Marimo. 

Mnangagwa was on Wednesday also questioned on his motives and particularly why he has not explained to the nation as required by the law on why soldiers are still manning the streets like policemen.

MDC Chief Whip Innocent Gonese said, “Mr. Speaker, the reason why I am raising this matter is because whilst the President has the authority to deploy the Defence Forces, I believe that when this happens, there is an obligation by the President, as Commander-in-Chief to inform the nation and from my recollection we have not been informed by the President himself of the need for the deployment of the Defence Forces. – CONTINUE READING BELOW VIDEO –

Do you know this business location? Contact ZimEye right now on +447426863301 

https://youtu.be/o-KzTry_Zeg

“I have no problem Mr. Speaker Sir, if that is done in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.  My worry is that at this point in time, and because that deployment specifically must be authorised by the Head of State.  I believe Mr. Speaker Sir, that this is not something which must be done willy-nilly – it is something which must be done after due consideration.

“In that regard, the nation should be informed from the highest office in the land and this does not seem to have happened.

“What we have had Mr. Speaker, there are pronouncements which have been made by members of the Defence Forces and members of the Police Force jointly but I believe that, if we are to follow the dictates of our Constitution, it is imperative that the Head of State informs the nation of the need to have the Police Force to be assisted by the Defence Forces.”

Zvishavane Senator Lilian Timveos also voices the same concerns as she said that many are living in fear because of the heavy military presence which has continued despite the installing of President Mnangagwa last month.

By Dorrothy Moyo | Mystery surrounds the resignation of the controversial Zimbabwe Electoral Commission boss Rita Makarau.

Makarau’s sudden resignation comes within two weeks of the appointment of Emmerson Mnangagwa to the Presidency.

Makarau was former President Robert Mugabe’s favourite of sorts having served at various posts directly appointed by Mugabe.

Her resignation was confirmed today by the Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi who professed ignorance of the reasons.

“Yes, she sent her resignation yesterday (Thursday) and I saw it today in the morning as I spent the day in Parliament on Thursday. She just indicated she wants to resign from ZEC, but she did not give any reasons,” said Minister Ziyambi.

Before her resignation, she was holding three different senior posts, something MPs and analysts questioned as to her ability to avoid a conflict of interest.

She will now remain a Supreme Court judge, and also secretary for the Judicial Services Commission (JSC).

When grilled by MPs recently, former Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Retired Major General Happyton Bonyongwe said conflict of interest did not arise, as the appointments were Constitutional.

“If elections were to be contested in court, there is only one role which Justice Makarau will play,” he said while responding to MPs’ questions.

Bonyongwe continued saying, “the issue of Justice Makarau being Secretary of the JSC and head of ZEC has not interfered with the decisional independence of judicial officers seized with such matters and neither have appointments of contact or conflict been created.”

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed Zimbabwe’s new Director General of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). Isaac Moyo who was serving as Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa and Lesotho has been given the post in terms of Section 226 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

Mnangagwa also re-assigned and appointed permanent secretaries.

The appointments and re-assignments are as follows:

Mr Ringson Chitsiko-Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement

Mr Martin Rushwaya-Defence, Security and War Veterans

Mr Melusi Matshiya-Home Affairs and Culture

Mr Willard Manungo-Finance and Economic Development

Ambassador Joey Bimha-Foreign Affairs and International Trade

Mrs Virginia Mabiza-Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs

Mr Ngoni Masoka-Labour and Social Welfare

Dr Desire Sibanda-Higher Education, Science and Technology Development

Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango-Primary and Secondary Education

Mr George Magosvongwe-Local Government, Public Works and National Housing

Mrs AbigailShonhiwa-Industry, Commerce and Enterprise Development

Mr Munesu Munodawafa-Mines and Mining Development

Dr Thokozile Chitepo-Tourism and Hospitality Industry

Mrs Sibusisiwe Zembe-Women and Youth Affairs

Mr George Charamba-Information, Media and Broadcasting Services

Brigadier General Dr Gerald Gwinji-Health and Child Care

Mr Prince Mupazviriho-Sport, Arts and Recreation

Engineer Sam Kundishora-Information Communication Technology and Cyber Security

Ambassador Grace Mutandiro-Environment, Water and Climate

Dr Judith Kateera-Presidential Affairs, Monitoring and Implementation of Government Programmes.

Engineer George Mlilo-Transport and Infrastructural Development.

Presidential spokesman George Charamba has for the first time given insights into some of the factors that contributed to the frosty relationship between former president Robert Mugabe and his war time colleagues.

In his last days in office, Mugabe had been cut off from the old guard in Zanu PF, and put on a short leash by members of the Generation 40 (G40) faction, which drew clout from former first lady, Grace.

Charamba, who served as Mugabe’s spokesperson and has continued with the same duties under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, spoke of how perceived foes of the first lady were denied recognition even when they clearly deserved it.

He narrated how the concept of a memorial institution for Mugabe was presented to the nation as if it was a product of former Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo when it was, in fact, conceived by Mnangagwa.

Moyo broke the news in August that government had approved the idea of establishing a university named after Mugabe at a cost of $1 billion.

He said the institution would concentrate on science, technology and engineering and would also have a research institute.

On Wednesday, Charamba lifted the lid on what had happened behind the scenes.
He said he was privileged to have been part of a meeting convened by the then vice president (VP) to discuss the concept and the architectural drawings done by architect, Joel Biggie Matiza.
The meeting was also attended by General Constantino Chiwenga, of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

“The first time I saw it was when he (Mnangagwa) invited me and army general Chiwenga to look not only at the concept of it but also the drawings of that institute, which papers ED — then as a vice president — had discussed with the former president Mugabe,” said Charamba.

“It was at that meeting, where I was wearing my hat as an academic, suggested that to create an institution that was dominated with the notion of museum would freeze RG Mugabe yet RG Mugabe was much more than legacy. He is a continuing set of ideas that must not only shape the present but must also be imparted to the future — making him a living force by asserting and elaborating his ideas. That evening, the concept was revised to incorporate a university element,” he added.
At that meeting, it was suggested that Mnangagwa was to engage Grace so that she becomes part of the project.

Charamba had reasoned at the time that by bringing Grace into the project, it would help mend the fence between the former first lady and Mnangagwa.

Relations between Grace and Mnangagwa had started to deteriorate, with the former first lady using public platforms to humiliate the man who had lived in her husband’s shadows for nearly six decades.
She accused Mnangagwa of plotting to unseat Mugabe — an allegation that has since come to pass.
Charamba also became the target of her insults due to her closeness to Mnangagwa.

Cap in hand, he was publicly humiliated by Grace at a rally in Chinhoyi for being an accessory of Mnangagwa’s Team Lacoste faction that did not see eye-to-eye with G40 over Mugabe’s succession.
Charamba narrated how he tried to have Mnangagwa and Grace smoke a peace pipe with his effort coming to naught after the university project was handed to Moyo to run with.

“I knew that she (Grace) had envisaged an orphanage that would morph into a primary school, then a high school and ultimately a tertiary institution. That was before the concept of an RG university came. So I had that in my mind and said to the then vice president, shefu Amai had the same idea, and given the bad blood that was already evident between the two I counselled that it was wise for the then vice president to take his proposal at the formative stage to the first lady so that he would not be seen to be excluding her from plans that sought to consolidate the legacy of the then president who, after all, was her husband,” said Charamba.

“At the back of my mind, I was mindful of two things. One, my deteriorating relations with the then first lady, based on a misconception which she had developed that I did not respect her and she narrowly interpreted my mission as the communications officer to cover the then president while excluding her,” he said.

“My second calculation was in fulfilment of my role as a public relations officer. Realising the growing estrangement between the then VP and the first lady, which seemed to gather fury with every interface rally, my calculation was such a good gesture, which the then VP had thought voluntarily and invested so heavily at a personal level as a sign of goodwill to the then first family,” he added.

“…What I cannot say with certainty is when the former vice president then approached the then first lady with the drawings, I think the drawings were done by (former Mashonaland East provincial minister Joel Biggie) Matiza and the horror, the horror, I later read and heard that chinhu chiya chatorwa (it had been taken away) from the then vice president chikapihwa Jonathan to mind which, by the way, could still have been correct to the extent that Professor Moyo was still the minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, except what I could not understand the expunging of ED’s role in this whole project on the one hand and the exaggerated extolling of a late comer in the project.

“I got to know about this strange outcome through Cabinet minutes when I read that Jonathan Moyo had made the presentation making the then vice president a guest in a project he had started. My efforts at restoring communication between the two had backfired,” said Charamba.
Interestingly, Grace has also previously lashed out at Mnangagwa for taking her ideas and presenting them to the nation as if they were his.

She claimed at one of the youth interface rallies that she was the brainchild of the Command Agriculture programme, profiled as one of the signature projects of Mnangagwa.
On Wednesday, Charamba also revealed that the 21st February Movement musical galas had to be stopped for fear of creating another platform that would have been used by the former first lady to create divisions in the party.

“We stopped the commemorations because Ambuya vaka complainer. I could see the same being used against the VP,” said Charamba.
The presidential spokesman also revealed how Grace and her allies also gate crashed into the writing of Mugabe’s biography.

He said following the death of former Information minister Nathan Shamuyarira in June 2014, a decision was made to resuscitate the writing of Mugabe’s biography under the management of historian, Phyllis Johnson.

“Then one fateful day that project was rudely taken from her, and I use the word rudely advisably. You should have seen the poor woman, she just got a sharp plain instruction kuti dzosa, and who was going to do that it was again Jonathan,” said Charamba.

He said these incidents gave him the impression that Mugabe’s legacy had morphed from being the business of Zanu PF to that of a few individuals around his wife, Grace.
He said Mugabe had become a captive of the Generation faction now scattered across the world in the wake of his fall.

“So looking at these seemingly unrelated matters, I got a distinct impression that the then president’s legacy had ceased to be a matter for his party, Zanu PF but for preferred members working with the first family — it was a family affair,” he said.

“If you consider that vakuru had picked Shamuyarira (to write the biography), you notice it was not just a choice based on his attributes but it was a gesture of symbolically surrendering his life and legacy to the party he had served and led, after all his life and legacy was to a large measure the life and legacy of the party, which is why it could only be written by the spokesperson of the party in the form of Shamuyarira. This was a classical case where competence and loyalty coincided,” said Charamba.

He said instead of talk about a life well lived, there were in fact talking about how that life was being misappropriated for a future political project — changing from retrospective to being prospective.- Daily News

By Farai D Hove| Former Higher Education Minister, Prof Jonathan Moyo has spoken following the decision by government this week, to freeze his financial assets.

Writing Friday afternoon Prof Moyo said, “a coup needs a cure.”

What does Jonathan Moyo mean?

This was interpreted by many to be a statement made in direct reference to last month’s coup which saw his nemesis Emmerson Mnangagwa parachuting to become President Of Zimbabwe. Below were some further comments by some Zimbabweans:

Norton MP and Mnangagwa nephew, Temba Mliswa has spoken his views out on army generals being ministers. He says there is nothing unusual with this development.

“Zimbabweans this is for us, it’s not for His Excellency Cde Mnangagwa, to be able to champion this, he can’t do it alone….” FULL VIDEO BELOW –

https://youtu.be/rjg_MAwJExE

Following the spirited news coverage against convicted fraudster Wicknell Chivayo, the power utilility ZESA has decided to meet to demand he returns the tender $5million loot he obtained for the Gwanda Solar project.

This comes amid revelations exposed by ZimEye.com for the last 2 years, that Chivayo was just a briefcase businessman who illegally obtained the cash disbursement using ministerial access. He would weeks later travel around the world boasting that he is a successful businessman and many times feature in photo shoots with former President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace, and even the current President Emmerson Mnangagwa. ZimEye has exposed the government for failing to detect the simple facts that Chivayo is a convicted fraudster who even stayed at Chikurubi maximum prison for over 3 years.

SEE THE VIDEO BELOW-

https://youtu.be/p-T_CAmrwP4

Meanwhile, the weekly Independent has revealed the development stating:

The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority Holdings (Zesa) board will meet next week to deliberate on energy contracts awarded to dodgy businessman Wicknell Chivayo amid reports parliament will soon move a motion requesting the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) to cancel energy deals that were awarded to his Intratrek company, the Zimbabwe Independent has heard.

This comes at a time ZPC is moving to mobilise resources for the project as announced by Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa during his 2018 budget presentation in parliament yesterday.

Furthermore, implementation of the Gwanda Solar Energy Project will commence in 2018, following the granting of incentives to the ZPC to enable it mobilise funding from the market. At least $66,7 million will be mobilised during 2018, focusing on construction of a 25MW solar plant under Phase I of the project,” Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said. Chivayo was awarded the $200 million Gwanda solar project, the $73 million refurbishment of the Harare Power Station, a $163 million project to restore Munyati Power Station as well as the $248 million Gairezi Project, but has failed to deliver.

The Energy ministry in October ordered ZPC to subcontract the Gwanda project after Intratrek failed to implement the controversial deal, despite receiving a $5 million advance payment without a bank guarantee – against the standing rules. ZPC wants the $5 million back.

The Gwanda Project is part of three controversial solar projects, each generating 100 megawatts, which were approved by government.

The initial cost, as of 2014, was $183 million for each of the projects, bringing the total cost to $549 million.

Soon after being awarded the tenders, the winning companies demanded price escalations, resulting in the projects ballooning to a total cost of $720 million.

In an interview this week, the Zesa group chief executive officer Josh Chifamba said his organisation will meet next Friday to deliberate on Chivayo’s deals.

“The board is meeting next week and top of the agenda are the Chivhayo deals,” Chifamba said. “The tender process was above board but we are not happy with the way the former minister (Samuel Undenge) pushed for the advance payment of $5 million without a bank guarantee.”

Investigations by this newspaper revealed that despite being given an advance payment of $5 million, Chivayo did not commence any work at his Gwanda solar project site.

Parliamentary sources this week said a motion will soon be moved to direct ZPC to cancel the deals controversially awarded to Chivayo. Parliamentarians will also request that he pay back the $5 million he was paid in advance without a bank guarantee.

“We will summon ZPC to parliament so that they explain how they issued Chivayo the energy contracts and also urge the power company to make sure that Chivayo pays back the $5 million,” said a legislator.

Chivayo was paid $5 million upfront before commencing work at the behest of Undenge, despite failing to do any meaningful work on site.

A year after winning the multi-million-dollar tender and despite getting the $5 million payment for pre-commencement works, Intratrek Zimbabwe reportedly abandoned the project site after only three months’ work, it has emerged.

The $5 million covered feasibility studies, topographical surveys, borehole sinking, site clearance, geo-technical surveying, site fencing, wayleaves and construction of administrative structures.

Last year, the Independent reported that Zimbabwe’s power generation projects have been inflated by more than $500 million, raising suspicion that Zesa managers and senior government officials could have corruptly benefitted through price escalations.

Zesa has been endlessly rocked by massive tender scandals in which government entrusted the country’s critical multi-billion-dollar energy projects to dodgy businessmen who have criminal records, ranging from fraud to drug trafficking.

By Farai D Hove| President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been questioned on why soldiers are still deployed on the nation’s streets when yet Zimbabwe is not at war and the country now has a sitting President. The questions were raised by the MDC Chief Whip Innocent Gonese on Wednesday.

Mnangagwa must by law explain to the public why the army is still deployed.

Said Gonese, “Mr. Speaker, the reason why I am raising this matter is because whilst the President has the authority to deploy the Defence Forces, I believe that when this happens, there is an obligation by the President, as Commander-in-Chief to inform the nation and from my recollection we have not been informed by the President himself of the need for the deployment of the Defence Forces.

https://youtu.be/cTsifYzE9fU

“I have no problem Mr. Speaker Sir, if that is done in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.  My worry is that at this point in time, and because that deployment specifically must be authorised by the Head of State.  I believe Mr. Speaker Sir, that this is not something which must be done willy-nilly – it is something which must be done after due consideration.

“In that regard, the nation should be informed from the highest office in the land and this does not seem to have happened.

“What we have had Mr. Speaker, there are pronouncements which have been made by members of the Defence Forces and members of the Police Force jointly but I believe that, if we are to follow the dictates of our Constitution, it is imperative that the Head of State informs the nation of the need to have the Police Force to be assisted by the Defence Forces.”

Below was the full text of the exchange  –

HON. GONESE: Hon. Speaker, I rise on a matter of privilege.  Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir.  I will begin by saying that Zimbabwe is a constitutional democracy.  My matter of privilege is related to the provisions of our Constitution and in particular, I am referring to the provisions of Section 119 on the role of Parliament as read with the provisions of Section 213.  Mr. Speaker, I am sure that you are familiar with the provisions of that Section but for the benefit of all Hon. Members, I will just highlight what the Section provides.

          In terms of Section 119 of our Constitution, Parliament is obligated to protect this Constitution and promote democratic governance in Zimbabwe.  Further to that, Parliament also has the power to ensure that the provisions of this Constitution are upheld and that the State and all institutions and agencies of Government at every level act constitutionally and in the national interest.

Having read the general provisions Mr. Speaker Sir, I will now revert to the matter which is of concern and that is in terms of Section 213; in respect of the deployment of the Defence Forces.  It is clear in terms of that provision that the President as the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces has the power to authorise the deployment of the Defence Forces or the power to determine the operational use of the Defence Forces.

Further to that, with the authority of the President, the Defence Forces may be deployed in Zimbabwe as follows;

1. a)In defence of the country
2. b) In support of the Police Service in the maintenance of public order or
3. c)In support of the Police Service and other civilian authorities in the event of an emergency or a disaster.

Mr. Speaker, the reason why I am raising this matter is because whilst the President has the authority to deploy the Defence Forces, I believe that when this happens, there is an obligation by the President, as Commander-in-Chief to inform the nation and from my recollection we have not been informed by the President himself of the need for the deployment of the Defence Forces.  I have no problem Mr. Speaker Sir, if that is done in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.  My worry is that at this point in time, and because that deployment specifically must be authorised by the Head of State.  I believe Mr. Speaker Sir, that this is not something which must be done willy-nilly – it is something which must be done after due consideration.  In that regard, the nation should be informed from the highest office in the land and this does not seem to have happened.  What we have had Mr. Speaker, there are pronouncements which have been made by members of the Defence Forces and members of the Police Force jointly but I believe that, if we are to follow the dictates of our Constitution, it is imperative that the Head of State informs the nation of the need to have the Police Force to be assisted by the Defence Forces.

That is the reason why I am rising Mr. Speaker, that as Parliament, it is our duty and obligation to ensure that at all times as a nation; we follow the dictates and the provisions of our Constitution.  Where there is an element of doubt and where there is lack of clarity, it is important for us as Parliament to ascertain, verify and clarify so that all of us are in the picture as to whether we have indeed followed the provisions of the Constitution.  That is my concern Mr. Speaker and that is the reason why I have reason with this matter of privilege, to have this clarified for us as to whether in fact it was the Head of State who gave that authority because it does not appear to have been done in accordance with the Constitution.  I thank you Mr. Speaker.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:   While you are upstanding, can you clarify which deployment you are talking about.

          HON. GONESE: The deployment in the country Mr. Speaker.  We have members of the Defence Forces – they are assisting the police as I have already pointed out. The Constitution allows for that, but only in the circumstances where the Head of State has authorised that course of action.  I am saying that as Parliament, we have not been officially informed by the Head of State, and the nation at large has not received any notification.  I believe that if that happens, due process must be followed.  The Head of State could have addressed the nation in that regard or a Statutory Instrument could have been gazetted or a general notice to inform the nation at large – that does not seem to have happened and that is what is the gravamen of the matter.  Because, when that happens Mr. Speaker, I would like to assume that things must be done transparently and openly.  For it to be done transparently and openly, the public must be notified in some way which I am not aware of Mr. Speaker.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, order.  You have not contextualised your observation Hon. Member.  Can you be more specific?

          HON. GONESE:  I will do so Mr. Speaker. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

          HON. GONESE:  Let me go back to the provisions of the Constitution.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, order.  I am very clear of the provisions of 213.

          HON. GONESE:  Thank you Mr. Speaker.  So, in view of those provisions which are very clear, my submission is that when you have members of the Defence Forces performing the duties that they are performing, that amounts to a deployment.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  You mean now?

HON. GONESE:  Yes, I mean now Mr. Speaker.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Okay.

          HON. GONESE: I mean now Mr. Speaker.  We have a Head of State who was inaugurated; His Excellency the Hon. Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, who is the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces in this country.  I am saying Mr. Speaker, that in terms of the provisions which I have adverted to, it is my respectful submission.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  I am very clear, I am very clear now.

          HON. GONESE: You are very clear, yes.  So I am saying, at this point in time Mr. Speaker, we have members of the Defence Forces who have been deployed  and in my understanding, they are definitely assisting the Police Service.  We obviously have the Police Service whose primary responsibility is to maintain law and order.  There are circumstances …

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  I thought you have made your point.

          HON. GONESE:  Yes, thank you.  I thought you wanted me to clarify.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, order.  I have two observations.  Hon. Chinotimba, I had not recognised you; that is one.  Hon. Members at the back there, yes, can you stop your tete-a-tete please.  The second thing is that you cannot rise before the Chair has responded to the point of privilege.

Yes, I hear you Hon. Gonese – I will engage His Excellency the President and I should be informed accordingly and will advise accordingly.

          *HON. CHINOTIMBA: On a point of order Mr. Speaker.  My point of order is on privilege.  If you can see on your left and on your right, you can see that it is a bright day.  We want to congratulate the Ministers.  We usually had challenges pleading with the Ministers that they come to Parliament to answer our questions but today, you have just seen yourself that we should thank them and it should continue like this.

We want to congratulate people like Hon. Perrance Shiri, Hon. Moyo for the new appointments and I wish them well in their new deployments.  Even people are saying what is not proper in this House but the truth of the matter is that our President, Hon.  Mnanagwa did a sterling job as you can see.  So I stood up to thank His Excellency Hon. Dambudzo Mnangagwa that whatever he has done, we should be thankful.  We usually have problems with Ministers who do not attend Parliament on Wednesdays to answer questions but today all the Ministers are here.  Thank you Mr. Speaker.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order!  Thank you Hon. Chinotimba.  However, the coming of the Hon. Ministers also implies that the Hon. Members of Parliament must attend and not disappear, leaving out certain motions undebated.  Thank you.

• “Live” charges
• Flying back to meeting Mnangagwa?
• When they were arrested

By Staff Reporter| The Ret Army Captain, who still has “live” charges on his head for allegedly organising a coup to remove Robert Mugabe and install Emmerson Mnangagwa, has disowned President Mnangagwa.

The man, Albert Matapo endured the longest prison stay (without trial) since independence 1980. He was jailed in 2007 purely on Mnangagwa’s account in a series of events that were set to see President Mnangagwa himself being slapped behind bars.

On 29th May 2007, the Robert Mugabe led Zimbabwean government claimed they had foiled an alleged coup d’état attempt led by Matapo involving almost 400 soldiers and high-ranking members of the military set to happen on June 2 or June 15, 2007.

10 years later, ZimEye has besides interviewing Matapo himself, followed up with prison officers who handled Captain Matapo during his time inside the filthy Chikurubi maximum prison and one senior male officer told ZimEye he to this day still believes that Matapo was “clearly” Mnangagwa’s agent.

“I know he was later released and exonerated, but vanga vari vese avo naMnangagwa tinozviziva,” the officer who cannot be named as he is not allowed to speak with the media said.

Flying back to meet Mnangagwa?

Since the latest coup happened last month in November which swiftly and successfully ushered Mnangagwa into State House, many now expect Captain Matapo to fly back to Zimbabwe and serve his “boss” Mnangagwa’s government.

But an irate Matapo told ZimEye.com he does not want to have anything to do with Mnangagwa. He went further and declared that he has actually never had anything to do with Mnangagwa.

“I was accused of doing a coup for Mnangagwa, I would like to make it clear now that he has made it to become President that I have nothing to do with him, I have never had anything to do with  him, and I will never want to do anything with him,” declared Captain Matapo on the LIVE ZimEye program.

In another program filmed in July this year, Matapo screams out saying:

“Mnangagwa belongs to Chikuribi, Mugabe belongs to Chikurubi!”

It has now become convincingly clear that when he was arrested in 2007, Captain Matapo had actually started a political party, The United Crusade For Achieving Democracy (UCAD) and CIOs randomly rounded him up together with other members who had gathered in his offices in Harare; they then drove them away for torture under charges of attempting to remove Mugabe and install Mnangagwa. But years later inside Chikurubi, they failed to successfully convict Matapo of the crime. He was eventually released in 2014 following intervention of his lawyers and now lives in the diaspora.

When they were arrested.

On the day they were arrested in May 2007, another witness Gilbert Kagodora, treasurer for the MDC, says he and Matapo were arrested by men suspected be CIOs on May 29.

“We had gone to meet Matapo for business together with three other party activists at Winston Court along Fourth Street. Initially, they told us that we were being arrested for dealing in foreign currency and they then proceeded to blindfold us with masking tape. They also tied our hands and took us into a van downstairs. I could not tell exactly where they were driving us to.”