Health minister David Parirenyatwa has said economic hardships coupled with drug abuse has significantly contributed to the increase in Zimbabweans suffering from mental disorders.
An estimated 1, 3 million Zimbabweans have some form of mental illness, according to government data.
Speaking during the launch of the Zimbabwe mental health strategic plan for 2014-2018 today, Parirenyatwa said it is unfortunate that the illness is still not given the attention it deserves despite its growth.
“Sometimes we do not understand why some people go into some tempers unexpectedly,” he said. “The harsh economic situation, zvikwereti unenge uchitotadza kudaira phone, people asking for money after money that you can’t pay.
“The post traumatic disorders, a lot of our soldiers were not counselled post-war and we just assume it’s over but in reality we still have a lot of problems. Another major problem is drug abuse; we need to deal with the issue of illicit drugs.”
Ministry statistics show that there are 91 390 mentally-ill patients in Zimbabwe.
“7 763 new mentally ill patients were seen in our hospitals from January to October 2014… The problem has been increasing in Africa and Zimbabwe has not been spared,” said the minister.
“We haven’t as a ministry managed to put much emphasis on the condition but we now seek to do that through the plan.”
The four-year strategic plan seeks, among other things, to guide the implementation of the Mental Health Policy of 2004 by harmonising activities, improving drug provision, training more professionals and rehabilitation of infrastructure to improve the quality of life for those living with the condition.
Notwithstanding the stigma and marginalisation of such patients in Zimbabwe’s communities, support and scope of services remain limited owing to serious funding challenges that have left institutions operating with skeletal staff.
The country has two dedicated mental hospitals, Ingutsheni in Bulawayo and Ngomahuru in Masvingo, while other major referrals have units for such patients.
“At Ingutsheni there is one instead of eight psychiatrists and Ngomahuru there is none but they need five. About 20 are needed at both Parirenyatwa and Harare Hospital but they have around 10,” Parirenyatwa said, further appealing to implementers of the plan to engage traditional leaders in the policy implementation.
“We have to deal with the root causes of such illnesses but how are we going to do that with the economic hardships?” queried the minister.
David Okello, World Health Organisation representative, said the organisation has noted with concern the relegation of mental health, prevention and substance control to mediocre subjects.
“I also feel there is need to train a lot more other support professionals and I’m appealing for the expansion of staff retention allowances to psychiatric services,” he said.
Paula Morgan, Centre for Disease Control deputy director, said, “The plan will promote the rights of such people, fight stigma and help the integration of services in Primary Health care and HIV services.”

In a move set to demonstrate the strength of and exonerate the Joice Mujuru (Gamatox) faction, the motion to expel Former Zanu PF secretary for Administration, Didymus Mutasa was squashed by the politburo Wednesday.
Wednesday’s Politburo meeting was chaired by VP Emmerson Mnangagwa instead of President Mugabe.
A committee has since been set up to address Mutasa’s concerns.
But the committee set up comprises of Mutasa’s prominent enemy Grace Mugabe. It will be chaired by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, and also includes Saviour Kasukuwere (Secretary for the Commissariat), Patrick Chinamasa (Secretary for Legal Affairs), Grace Mugabe (Secretary for Women Affairs), Pupurai Togarepi (Secretary for Youth) and Kembo Mohadi.
Mutasa, who was reduced to an ordinary card-carrying member in last December’s Zanu PF congress, has been accused of attempting to involve SADC and the African Union in Zanu PF’s internal affairs, granting interviews to hostile private media, denigrating the party and the outcome of the 6th Zanu PF congress held in December.
An earlier press release yesterday saw Kasukuwere signalling that Mutasa would be dealt with harshly. See below:

The MDC-T Chivi Central district chairperson, Tyavanai Chibhebhe, was over the weekend assaulted by a soldier at Huruyadzo growth point in Chivi for wearing his MDC T-shirt, the party says.
According to the party’s information department, Chibhebhe sustained head injuries and had to seek medical attention at a local hospital.
He reported the matter to Huruyadzo police but the soldier was not arrested, the report further said adding that,
“the soldier, one Eliphas Gava claims to be part of the Presidential guard in Harare and is always threatening people in the area. This is not the first time that this notorious man has assaulted known MDC members without provocation.”

‎There was drama Tuesday morning outside the official residence of Zimbabwe’s nonagenarian President, Robert Mugabe as he was reportedly hurriedly evacuated for medical treatment.
Sources living a stone’s throw from the Presidential residence described what they called a scene of pandemonium as aides scrambled to get Mugabe out of State House. The cavalcade that transported Mugabe out of his official residence was missing his signature black armoured Mercedes, Zim1‎. Instead security vehicles flanked
‎the President’s ambulance.
Normal protocols for the Presidential motorcade are that it travels at 74miles per hour (120km/hr)‎ in residential areas, however, witnesses living near Chancellor Avenue reported that the cavalcade was burning rubber at speeds exceeding 170 kilometres per hour (106miles).

Also Read – Kasukuwere speaks on Mutasa expulsion meeting.

A highly placed government source has said that the President was indeed taken ill and was exfiltrated to an as yet undisclosed medical facility within Zimbabwe. But efforts to obtain further confirmation from the President’s office were fruitless as the phone number was being abruptly cut when answered.
The source however went on to say that Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for almost 35 years, was too ill to be flown aboard and medical personnel were being flown into Zimbabwe to treat the 90 year old.
Robert Mugabe’s illness comes at a time when his partner, Grace is receiving emergency treatment abroad which the husband said was appendicitis.
It was not clear how Mugabe was later in the day as communications with State House were failing.
ZimEye.com will continue to update readers as details unfold.

A 16-year-old Rujeko maid allegedly sexually assaulted her employer’s four-year-old son before forcing him to be intimate with his five-year-old sister at knifepoint, police confirmed yesterday.Acting Masvingo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa said the incident happened on Monday at around 4PM.
“We can confirm receiving a report to that effect but we’re yet to get full details of what exactly transpired. The suspect is expected to appear in court to answer charges of sexual assault,” said Asst Insp Dhewa.
The maid (name withheld to protect the minors) was left in the custody of two minors, a boy, 4, and his sister, 5, while their parents went to work. At around 4PM, the maid called the boy into the spare bedroom where she allegedly removed her panties before forcing him to be intimate with her.
“The maid was doing this in full view of the boy’s sister. After the ordeal, the maid called the two siblings before ordering them to be intimate. The two are said to have resisted but the maid allegedly threatened them with a kitchen knife forcing them to comply,” said a neighbour.
The neighbour who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she was attracted by the girl’s screams and went to investigate.
“I heard the girl screaming and went to investigate what the problem was. Upon arrival, I saw the boy mounting on top of her sister, with the maid standing aside holding a kitchen knife in her hands. I asked what she was doing but she couldn’t give me a satisfactory answer and I learnt later that she had earlier on abused the innocent boy.”
The neighbour said she left the scene and headed straight to Rujeko Police Post and reported the matter leading to the maid’s arrest.
“I reported the abuse at Rujeko Police Post and she was arrested. When police went to arrest the maid, the children’s parents had returned from work and were also told what had happened,” she said. chronicle

IN an incident that has sent tongues wagging, thieves broke into Gwanda Prison on Monday night, stealing cash and cellphones.
Although officials were tight-lipped about the incident, sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said an undisclosed amount of cash and a number of cellphones belonging to inmates were stolen during the break-in.
By the time of going to print prison officials were reportedly still taking stock of what was stolen. The thieves, suspected to be former inmates, broke a window from outside at the front end of the prison, almost 40 metres from the main gate, raising serious security concerns at the prison.
The latest incident comes less than a month after an inmate escaped from the prison, but was later apprehended by members of the public.
It remains a mystery how prison guards could not detect the incident, considering an axe was used to cut the burglar
bars.
The daring thieves allegedly used an axe to cut down the window’s burglar bars before getting inside and ransacking the cashier’s office where property belonging to inmates is kept.
Cash belonging to the prison was reportedly stolen.
The prison runs a number of income-generating projects that include farming, a restaurant and car wash.
The destroyed window was yet to be repaired by late yesterday afternoon. – SouthernEye

Zimbabwe’s recently appointed second vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, has been ruled out from the government role of national healing and reconciliation, after allegations surfaced on his alleged involvement in Gukurahundi terror.
Mphoko has been rendered “unfit for the Government Job” because of his name’s association with the infamous Gukurahundi massacres which has triggered a spell of lack of trust from countless Matabele people who have slapped him with various negative titles.
According to Dzikamai Bere, who is a Human Rights Researcher on Transitional Justice, “if a Commissioner is appointed, he or she must not have a spot on the back, or any allegation. (CLICK HERE for full audio interview)
Now that we have a Vice President who is supposed to be in charge of National Healing, but with allegations from the community he is supposed to be working with on national healing, it is not a good idea to politicise the healing process. Because of these allegations, levelled against him; he is no longer the right candidate to be appointed into national healing commission, thereby automatically not appropriate for the job,” he said.
Bere also added that the Human Rights Commissioners must also be people with a smart track record and a clean record on human rights issues. “The Commissioners must also hold confidence in people’s minds that this process will be a success away from political influence,” he said.
The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission is appealing to victims of the 80s Gukurahundi atrocities, to come in their numbers to register, and openly speak about their victimisation without fear, as this is their only opportunity to heal and move forward.

In Harare, music piracy has become a nagging concern. As the issue continues to intensify, one man has been noted as the chief culprit of this illegal activity and it will not be weeks before he is nabbed. For fear of prejudicing upcoming police investigations, ZimEye have decided to keep the man’s name under lock and key. But many already know the man who drives a Pajero on the streets of Harare and pushes stolen music to the streets using desperate street vendors trying to survive by hustling.
As Zimbabwean musicians continue to cry foul over lack of protection on music piracy issues, the situation has denigrated into an even more depressing situation in Harare where any set of three musical cds can be found on the street for as low as $1 for a set of three. Such give-away prices tend to disrespect the work of the artists while sending a message that the musicians can keep singing for other people to keep harvesting where they never sowed.
According to one of the illegal vendors interviewed by a ZimEye reporter in Harare this week, “The piracy in Harare is now an established chain of conspirators where some top guys steal the music even before official release dates and illegally copy musical cds that are pushed onto the streets at get-away prices. Some desperate street vendors sign up and jump on such offers to help push the music to the thirsty public who will buy anything affordable to entertain themselves.”
Some prominent names in Harare were this week mentioned as evidence for such unscrupulous theft of the work of others.  Many concerned music fans have responded with outrage as to how authorities have looked the other way in the face of such abuse of copyrighted materials that go on sale in public places and streets as vendors take everything as normal.
According to an anonymous street vendor, “Even some have pointed to the Ministry of Arts and Culture as not doing enough to protect musicians. Despite paper policies on plans and goals to contain music piracy, no practical or visible action has been done by the ministry as yet. That has been the reason why most musicians hardly make good sales through cds.”
Maxwell Mugadza a concerned music fan who was shocked to see a music album on the street ahead of official release last Christmas said, “It is quite insulting to find that some dealers have the audacity to steal this kind of music and push it on the streets ahead of the owners’ official album launches. Then we have a Minister of Arts and Culture who must address these issues and keep the situation under control. It now appears like the open theft of some musicians’ talent has become norm. This must be stopped.”
Many other fans have also denounced such an illegal practice of piracy.
One other fan also said, “These musicians take lots of time practicing their music to produce quality music. Someone just appears from around the corner and steals the music to sell it for profit while robbing the owners of the work.”
With such a continued trend, one notable man in Harare has been pointed to as making loads of money by stealing music and selling it through illegal vending on the streets. The same man is now under investigation because most of the interviewed vendors are pointing at him as the supplier of the stolen music. While he brags that he is well connected with authorities, the next few weeks will prove him right or wrong because most musicians have now started putting their heads together to see to it that this man is brought to book.
A well respected ZiFM DJ also added that , “The issue is all about protecting our musicians and giving them value for their efforts so that we all get value for our entertainment as they also are able to feed their families. Imagine widows and orphans left behind by great singers like Leonard Dembo, System Tazvida, James Chimombe, Tongai Moyo or Andy Brown. How are these families going to make it when their breadwinners are no longer alive to perform live shows and maybe cover up for these losses?. This is a sad reality.”

A gang of four ex-convicts went back to court on allegations that they robbed a Hope Fountain miner of his pistol and goods worth nearly $1,000 at gunpoint.
Andrew Mutamba 31, Phillip Mubonesi 35,and Agreement Sibanda 27,appeared before senior Bulawayo regional magistrate Trynos Utahwashe facing armed robbery charges yesterday. The accused gang was only released from prison in 2013 for armed robbery again.
The three pleaded not guilty.
However,Knowledge Mutizwa one of their alleged accomplice pleaded guilty and implicated the three in mitigation after he was charged separately.
Magistrate Utahwashe remanded Mutamba, Mubonesi and Sibanda,in custody to tomorrow.
The court heard that on August 23 last year, the trio hatched a plan to attack and rob Ronald Ngwenya who owns Coronation Gold Mine in Hope Fountain.
When they reached the mine, Mutizwa was the first to come out of the vehicle and he met a herdboy at Ngwenya’s gate.
Mutizwa, who was armed with a firearm and an iron bar, hit the herdboy with an iron bar on the head.
Mubonesi then fired one shot into the air and they tied the herdboy’s hands with a string, before force-marching him to the bedroom where Ngwenya and his wife were having supper.
They forced the herdboy to ask for kitchen keys and although Ngwenya responded saying the kitchen was open, he continued knocking until Ngwenya opened the door.
At that moment, Mutizwa used a metal bar to strike Ngwenya and who fell down. They then used the same metal bar to assault Ngwenya’s wife once on the head and then tied her hands using a string.
They demanded money and were later directed to a container which had $300.
The men then ransacked the house and stole mobile phones, clothes, blankets, bags, door handles, a mirror, a car cleaning spray and a bottle of hair spray. They fled the scene afterwards.
Ngwenya and his wife sustained serious head injuries and were rushed to hospital.
Only property worth $233 was recovered.-chronicle

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Former Zanu-PF secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa is set to be expelled from the party today following recommendations by his home province, Manicaland.
The Politburo is expected to endorse Mutasa’s expulsion from the party in a special meeting at the shake shake building, party Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere announced.
Mutasa’s expulsion comes only a few days after Mugabe launched a scathing verbal attack describing him as a “stray braying ass who cannot be corrected”, a statement largely interpreted as signalling the end of Mutasa’s membership in Zanu PF.
Mutasa is facing Mugabe’s full wrath after he wrote a letter to SADC challenging the recent Zanu pf congress which sidelined him and others alligned to Joice Mujuru.
Zanu-PF Secretary for the Commissariat Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday confirmed the Politburo had Mutasa’s case high on the agenda, adding there was little chance of survival given the manner in which he had brought the name of the party into disrepute.
Following Mugabe’s unrestrained verbal attack on Mutasa, expelled Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said their ‘faction’ won’t be silenced.
“We have a legacy of fighting for freedom and bringing the one-man-one-vote principle to the country and that is what we should preserve for the future generations, not this culture of castigating fellow comrades just to stay in power,” Gumbo said.
“We don’t want high positions in the party and neither do we want to oust anyone. What we are simply demanding is accountability, democracy and transparency in our party and, therefore, we stand by the statement that was made by Mutasa,” he said, describing his expulsion from Zanu PF last month as a legal nullity.
“Nobody can just come and fire me from Zanu PF. It is our party, it belongs to the people. Those who think they can just sit and fire us are lying to themselves,” he said.

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Police have arrested a man suspected of murdering a 15-year-old girl from Lupane.
Chief police spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed the arrest of Casper Mhlanga (29) of Fatima village, under Chief Mabikwa in Lupane.
Mhlanga is alleged to have murdered a female student, Eudisha Ncube (15) at Fatima High School on 21 January 2015.
The student was asleep in one of the rooms in the farm house used as a hostel outside the school premises when the murderer unlawfully entered the room and raped her before strangling her to death.
The suspect stole several items some of which were recovered by police in his possession. – ZBC

ZimEye.com is receiving reports that an untold number of Apostolic Faith Ministries (AFM) church members were on Tuesday afternoon killed and several others seriously injured when their bus bus swerved off on the Mutare – Harare road at the Christmas Pass.
Of the 8 injured passengers about half of them have sustained serious injuries, a source said.
But other sources revealed there was indeed an accident but the claim that people died is not true. A witness, Mr Sydney Barson of the Zim Dialogue Institute told ZimEye.com the claim that 26 people were dead was not true. Other reports even claimed the number was 33.
“There was an accident at the pass but the claim that 26 perished is not true; I am at Mutare Provinial Hospital right now,” he said without going any further.
Witnesses claim that the bus driver lost control due to over speeding.
Meanwhile efforts to obtain a comment from the police hit a snag when cops denied the accident ever happening. Sources at Mutare Provincial Hospital however confirmed that there was indeed an accident and they were attending to casualties. They however could not divulge on the statistics.
ZimEye.com will keep our valued readers informed of developments.

Two women accused of entering South Africa carrying ingredients associated with drug manufacturing appeared in the Musina Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, Limpopo police said.
“The two women, Memory Maphosa, 39, from Zimbabwe, and Vuyiswa Mabasa, 23, from Lesotho, appeared… on a charge of the possession of drugs,” Colonel Ronel Otto said.
The matter was postponed to February 3 for further investigation, and the women would remain in custody.
The two women were arrested at Beitbridge border post on Sunday night, as they entered the country from Zimbabwe.
Otto said they were carrying more than 18kg of a substance believed to be ephedrine.
The substance would be tested to determine exactly what it was.
Ephedrine is a controlled substance with a similar chemical structure to amphetamines, and is sometimes used to manufacture methamphetamine.
Police estimated the value of the substance at about R8 million.
“Investigations to determine where the women were coming from, and where they were heading to, are still being (carried out),” Otto said. –

The Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai has dismissed as unfounded state media reports that some political parties have snubbed calls for an all-stakeholders conference to tackle Zimbabwe’s social, economic and political challenges.
MDC-T pokesman Obert Gutu says there are plans by some concerned Zimbabweans led by churches, political parties and civic organisations to hold an all-stakeholders’ conference in the next 30 to 90 days to which his party will be invited to participate.
The stakeholders conference is meant to find ways of addressing most problems bedeviling the country.
Gutu says the national convergence will be guided by eminent opinion leaders drawn from churches, business community and student movements who are leading in the planning stages.
Interview With Obert Gutu –

– VOA

Zimbabwe’s National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, has started taking the bull by its horns, by entering the most affected communities of Matabeleland North, South and Midlands.
Matebeleland must be compensated and the murders acknowledged and documented so that these things do not take place again. Until this month when some of Zimbabwe’s finest lawyers announced they are taking the matter up for the first time ever since the atrocities were committed, the healing and reconciliation on Gukurahundi had been a pipe dream for the people of Matabeleland. [-Click to listen – AUDIO: RIGHT Click to download]

The Matabeleland people have been crying foul over the deaths of 22 000 of their relatives, who were massacred by notorious 5^th Brigade, a process carried out in the name of restoring normalcy. Pressure groups and opposition politicians have been lobbied by the people of the region, who demand the offenders to be brought to book.
 
The first consultation which started in Bulawayo today, at the Large City Hall Car Park, has opened the first phase into healing process, as evidenced in this comprehensive interview with Human Rights Researcher on transitional justice, Dzikamai Bere.

Zimbabwe’s Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko has caused another stench after he insultingly attacked vendors.
Mphoko who once claimed Gukurahundi was a Western conspiracy, said he did not understand why able-bodied people should engage in subsistence trading.
The VP whose wife recently refused a $3Million house saying it is too small, this time while addressing Zanu PF supporters at provincial party headquarters at Davies Hall during his maiden “Meet the People” tour in Bulawayo on Sunday, went against the concept of self-help vending when he decried the practice which has become a last resort for the growing number of jobless people in towns and cities to eke out a living.
“I have got my own views regarding vending where you find an able-bodied man seated selling tomatoes. There are better things to do for someone who is fit except for those who are indisposed and physically-challenged,” the vice president said.
He was responding to a question by a woman only identified as Ma Sibanda who wanted to know of what help was the VP to the vendors in the city who have had several running battles with municipal police officers and law enforcers.
“You should wake up and see what you can do for a living. We cannot tolerate a man who is fit, sitting down and selling tomatoes. No, let’s do something better,” he said without suggesting an alternative. His utterances come at a time when Zimbabwe has been virtually turned into an informal state as the once thriving industries have been turned into shells due to decades of political and economic mismanagement.
Currently, the country’s unemployment rate is estimated to be hovering above 90 percent. An estimated $400 million is needed if efforts to ensure a complete recovery of Bulawayo, once the hub of industry in Zimbabwe, are to achieve meaningful results.
Last year, during her “Meet the People” tour, First Lady Grace Mugabe became a darling of many after she came out guns blazing against law enforcers whom she ordered to stop harassing vendors. However, speaking on the revival of the second largest city, Mphoko said Bulawayo would rise again.
He said the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) should be booted out of the city if proper roads management has to be achieved. “As for Zinara, it should be there but it should go outside the city and leave Bulawayo alone,” Mphoko said.
“There used to be a Road Department which we grew up knowing. We now pay for vehicle licences at Zinara which is a national institute. Why not let Bulawayo maintain its own roads. We used to pay for vehicle licences at Revenue Hall and that money was used to maintain local roads.”
This comes after the Bulawayo City Council has challenged Zinara over its failure to allocate funds to the former for road maintenance.
Mphoko, who described Bulawayo as a stand-alone city, said it was time everything that belonged to the city should be returned.
This, he said included the Bulawayo Power Station which was compulsorily handed over to Zesa.
“Bulawayo must be Bulawayo again. The electricity generated at power stations here belongs to Bulawayo, therefore it should revert to its original owners as should electricity generated from power stations in Harare and that is the kind of efficiency we know,” Mphoko added. Daily News/Additional Reporting

Reserve

ZANU PF has made a U-turn on earlier threats to expel and recall from Parliament more than 100 MPs reportedly linked to ousted former Vice-President Joice Mujuru.
The recall may have forced President Robert Mugabe to dissolve Parliament and call for fresh elections.
Mujuru, who was stripped of both her government and party positions following allegations she harboured plans to unconstitutionally topple Mugabe, is believed to have the support of more than 100 Zanu PF MPs.
In an interview yesterday, after addressing the Zanu PF Manicaland provincial co-ordinating committee in Mutare, Zanu PF national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere denied that there had been a push to recall and expel the alleged “rebel MPs”.
This was despite the fact that Manicaland acting provincial chairman Samuel Undenge had briefed him about the province’s plans to axe the MPs.
“Our position has been very clear that all those who have not been expelled from the party remain members and will not be recalled from Parliament unless one has been expelled and the party decides to go for a by-election,” Kasukuwere said.
He said no resolution had been made to fire the legislators from the National Assembly, despite calls by provincial party structures to recall the MPs for allegedly identifying with the Mujuru camp.
Kasukuwere, however, said the fate of outspoken former Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa was being handled at the party’s highest level.
“On the Mutasa issue, the province has made a resolution and that will be discussed within the party at the highest level,” he said.
“The rest of the colleagues are members of the party.
“They are being disciplined within the party structures and it doesn’t follow that they are being expelled.”
He cited the example of Chipinge South MP Enock Porusingazi, who was recently suspended, but remains a Zanu PF MP.
Several ministers, provincial chairpersons and top party officials linked to Mujuru were purged in the run-up to, and after the ruling party’s congress in December 2014 after they were labeled traitors.
Kasukuwere later took a dig at Mutasa describing him as a self-proclaimed “godfather” and warning him to zip up or risk facing severe punishment from the ruling party. He warned party members to desist from organising shadowy meetings without following proper channels.
“We did not come to Zanu PF to help our grandmothers to get rich, but we came to build the party,” Kasukuwere said.
“For those who want to organise meetings, whether you are in the central committee or not, you should follow procedures.
“Let your chairman know about it, if you organise your own meeting what will people say about it?
“Zanu PF is not for one person, Nyati (Mutasa), the party is for every district and not Makoni. There is no godfather.
“Yes, we worked with them, but when you go wrong you face the consequences.”
Kasukuwere added: “You gave him (Mutasa) respect where it was not necessary.
“He later came with trumped-up charges against Dorothy Mabika and she suffered because of this.
“It was no longer a party issue, but it was a game.”

FORMER Zanu-PF secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa could be arrested anytime from today for alleged theft of named “party documents and files from the office he was using”, which his lawyers used to prepare an application expected to be filed at the High Court in Harare today.
The State Media in a sensational 31 paragraph spit-licking stretch reports stating : the discovery of the theft of the documents comes at a time when mystery abounds over the whereabouts of the letter Mutasa purportedly wrote to Sadc as both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Harare, and the Sadc secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana, do not have a record of the letter.
Except for reports that the letter was lodged with the South African Embassy in London, its whereabouts remains a mystery whose authorship deepens in light of the fact that South Africa has an embassy in New Delhi, India, where Mutasa claimed to be when he claimed to have written the letter.
Mutasa, who was fired as Presidential Affairs Minister for working with former Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru’s putschist cabal that sought to depose President Mugabe, has been threatening to challenge Zanu-PF constitutional amendments and the outcome of the watershed 6th National People’s Congress in court, claiming it was a legal nullity.
Highly-placed sources yesterday revealed that the embattled Mutasa abandoned his Zanu-PF Headquarters office when he lost his bid to have a Central Committee seat in Makoni District, but looted all essential party documents from the office he was using in the President’s Department where he had been generating, receiving and filing party correspondence over the years.
Lawyers yesterday said Mutasa committed a theft case and would be arrested if Zanu-PF reported the matter to the police.
Said a source close to developments; “He took all the documents from the party. He used the party papers for the frivolous and vexatious litigation.”
Zanu-PF has since advised Mutasa to return the documents, failing which a theft charge will be filed with the police.
“When he was defeated in Makoni for the Central Committee seat, he went to the party headquarters where he was not operating from since he was now using the Government offices at Chaminuka Building. He said he was handing over the office to those to come after him, but he did not hand over the stuff, he took it to the Chaminuka offices.
“ Mutasa has been generating, receiving and filing correspondence on party matters from the office he was using at the President’s Department at Chaminuka Building. He had a secretary identified as Mrs Sabina Chiteme, who is also believed to be one of his wives,” said the source.
Zanu-PF director of administration Dickson Dzora, yesterday confirmed the party was handling Mutasa’s theft of documents issue, but declined to disclose more detail.
“I will comment on the matter at the appropriate time. I do not want to geopardise our investigations,” said Dzora.
However, highly placed party sources disclosed to the Herald yesterday that Zanu PF was determined to retrieve the documents stolen by Mutasa amid fears he might be tampering with them to abet his case that legal experts said was thin on the law but thick on political allegations.
“There are documents he has been receiving, we want them. We also want to see the documents that he has been generating after leaving office. He is guilty of theft of party documents and a demand has been made that he return the documents, failure of which a police report will be made,” said the Zanu-PF official.
Prominent city lawyer, Mr Jonathan Samukange, yesterday said the law was clear that taking away some important company documents when leaving the office was a criminal offense.
“The law is very clear. Taking with you company property including documents after your term office is a criminal offence. He stole those documents. He intended to deprive the owner of the documents. Zanu-PF can report him to the police,” said Mr Samukange.
Said another lawyer who declined to be named; “He stole the party’s property; he must return it or risk arrest.”
To prove that Mutasa had been stealing party documents, his lawyers Gula Ndebele and Partners on January 19 this year wrote to him requesting documents to prepare an application (D. Mutasa and others V Zanu-PF).
“I make re reference to the discussion we had this afternoon and wish to state the documentation we need to found our case as below;”-
“1.The facts in sequence and the dates when the events alleged happened. We shall then reduce to supporting or founding affidavits depending on their content.
2.The organs of the party from the lowest level, their hierarchy and functions.
3.The procedure for holding elections at the various levels from the highest to the lowest.
4.A detailed narrative of how these were done this time round at all the relevant levels. This relates with paragraph one above.
5.Events surrounding elections within the party from the low level to the highest level. This ties in with 1 and 4 above.
6.The new constitution, and the old constitution, which we have.
7.Resolutions of the Central committee, the politburo and congress, leading up to the congress of 2014.
8.Resolutions of the congress before last.
9.Any and all supporting documentation to support the factual issues we will raise in court.
10.Any decisions, deliberations and resolutions of an ad hoc committee set up to deal with pre-congress events, and minutes appointing such ad hoc committee.”
Observers say the fact that Mutasa stole these documents last year meant that his court case had been pre-meditated and that he had been criminally-minded all along.
Sources close to developments said the authorities were now treating Mutasa as a suspect in all break-in cases at the Zanu-PF and government offices were various documents were stolen.
In early September last year, thieves broke into the chamber of Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku at the Supreme Court and stole a desk top computer and a television set.
A few days after the break in, four judges reportedly lost keys to their offices.
Vice President and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Emmerson Mnangagwa’s offices at the Zanu-PF headquarters were also broken into in September, while there was an attempted break in at Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development Obert Mpofu at his Kaguvi Building office this year.

A Gwanda man, caught in his brother’s bedroom at night chatting to his sister-in-law, stabbed his elder sibling several times with a knife after being asked about his intentions.
James Gandidzanwa, 25, of West Nicholson, was yesterday arraigned before Gwanda magistrate Olivia Mashava Mashaire facing charges of assaulting his brother, Justice Ndlovu, 32. He pleaded guilty and was remanded in custody to today for sentencing.
Prosecuting Getrude Zvidzai told the court that on January 21, at around 8PM, Gandidzanwa approached his brother’s wife demanding his money. Zvidzai said Ndlovu’s wife told Gandidzanwa to wait for her husband’s return as he was not around.
“The accused person then insisted on sleeping with his brother’s wife as a way of recovering his money. Gandidzanwa started quarrelling with his brother’s wife and that is when the complainant arrived and inquired what the noise was all about. This angered Ndlovu who then drew a knife and stabbed his brother several times on the back, twice on the left arm and once on the right hand. Gandidzanwa sustained injuries,” Zvidzai told the court.
The magistrate ordered the State to clarify whether the injuries sustained by Ndlovu would cause permanent disability.
In his defence, Gandidzanwa said he was provoked by his brother into attacking him.
“Your Worship, I admit that I stabbed my brother several times with a knife on his back but he was the aggressor. He attacked me after learning that I’d been chatting to his wife in their bedroom, which angered him.
“My brother’s wife is the one who called me into their bedroom indicating that her husband was away. What I don’t agree with is that I intended to have sexual intercourse with my sister-in-law,” he said.
Gandidzanwa said he had taken the knife from his brother after disarming him.
“He grabbed me armed with a knife and an altercation ensued. I disarmed him but in the process, injured my palm. I can’t remember how many times I stabbed him but it was more than four times,” he said.
He pleaded for the court’s leniency in passing the sentence, saying that he had given his brother $20 for medical attention. Chronicle

State Media: Two lawyers have renounced agency in a case in which jailed RMG Independent End Time Message leader Robert Martin Gumbura, is contesting conviction and the 40-year prison sentence at the High Court.
Advocate Thembinkosi Magwaliba and Ms Rekayi Maphosa, withdrew from the case for undisclosed reasons, a development that resulted in Gumbura instructing new lawyer Mr Tapson Dzvetero.
Justices David Mangota and Felistus Chatukuta, who were set to hear the appeal, deferred the matter indefinitely to allow the parties to file heads of argument.
The prosecutor Mr Editor Mavuto, indicated that the State had been served with Gumbura’s heads of argument on the eleventh hour by the previous lawyers, hence he sought more time to respond before the court hearing.
Adv Magwaliba said Gumbura just decided to choose a new set of lawyers.
“Yes we have renounced agency, but we did not dump the client. The client simply chose an alternative set of lawyers,” he said.
Gumbura was jailed for 40 years for raping women from his church.
He is appealing against both the conviction and sentence imposed on him by the Harare Magistrates’ Court last year.
The man of the cloth, who was denied bail pending appeal, wants the higher court to set aside the lower court’s decision and acquit him of the charges.
Gumbura faced nine counts of raping six women and one of possessing pornographic material. He was cleared of four counts relating to three other women for lack of evidence.
In his grounds of appeal, Gumbura accused the trial magistrate of negating his duties, arguing that he did not evaluate evidence of the witnesses to come up with an appropriate decision.
He insisted that the acquittal was the competent verdict under the circumstances.
Gumbura argues that there was need, on the part of the magistrate, to evaluate each piece of evidence and the position of the appellant, setting out why his evidence was not acceptable compared to that of the complainants.

Zimbabwe’s Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko who once claimed that the infamous Gukurahundi massacre of 22,000 people was a western conspiracy, has denied charges by critics that he participated in the massacre of an estimated 20 000 innocent civilians in the early 1980s, mainly in Matabeleland and the Midlands
Mphoko told Zanu PF supporters gathered at Bulawayo’s Davis Hall yesterday that his hands were clean after he was criticised by a disapora based news reader Nomazulu Thatha.
Mphoko who was on his maiden “Meet the People” tour in the second city, said allegations that he was a member of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) during the Gukurahundi era were both “disturbing and malicious”.
During the speech he passively reinforced his earlier comments that Gukurahundi was a western conspiracy.
“There is a woman called Nomazulu Thatha, I think she is based in the UK. She has really given me a torrid time.
“She alleges that I joined CIO in 1980. I am not a liar, in my entire life, I have killed no one. I repeat no one was killed by these hands,” Mphoko said, displaying his palms.
“I have not killed anyone, direct or indirect,” he said.
The VP said he was a God-fearing Christian who would not dare end someone’s life.
Now grey and looking all of his 74 years, Mphoko further dismissed reports that he was a CIO operative at independence in 1980 — a time that he said he had been unemployed.
Human rights groups accuse President Robert Mugabe’s government of carrying out the much-criticised atrocities in western Zimbabwe —
through the North Korea-trained Fifth Brigade — that left an estimated 20 000 civilians dead, in what has been described as the darkest period in the country since 1980.
The government claimed at the time that it wanted to crush an alleged rebellion in the region by former Zipra combatants — with Mugabe since having described the period as “a moment of madness” in the history of the country.
Government apparatchiks have recently attempted to defend the massacres, in addition to disputing the number of people killed during the offensive.
Curiously, these officials have shied away from giving details about what the offensive was really about, how many people were killed at the time and why a number of reports into the massacres have never been released despite crass threats to do so — with most of this done under the cover of anonymously-written opinion articles in lickspittle State newspapers.
“In 1980, I was not employed. I was staying at my plot where I was farming cabbages,” Mphoko said, going on to briefly narrate his history until 1987 when he was attested into the CIO.
“When I joined the CIO, I joined as a diplomat. Back then in 1987 in the CIO there were many branches of which I fell under the Diplomats Branch,” he said.
Mphoko said that year marked the start of his long journey as a diplomat, which saw him being deployed to Mozambique first and later to other countries such as Austria, Botswana, Russia and South Africa.
Mphoko was appointed second vice president of the ruling party and of the State by Mugabe last month.
Later in the meeting, he also took a swipe at those who were accusing him of being a traitor, after he allegedly jumped ship from Zapu to Zanu.
“We started unity with Zanu PF in 1972, so during that time we regarded each other as comrades and allies. Talk of JMC (Joint Military Command) and I was one of the members in charge of it,” he said.
“From there we joined (James) Chikerema’s party which was a flop. We joined Zipra, then later the Patriotic Front. Zanu had always been seen as an ally, so for people to say I jumped ship and crossed over to Zanu, that’s a grave lie,” he added.
Mphoko accused his enemies of being guilty of trying to tarnish his image since he landed the VP post.
He also told the gathering that his appointment was not going to be a stroll in the park as he faced a mammoth task of working towards the development of the country’s failing economy.
“I have come to thank the people of Bulawayo for placing me on this high position. I am not on leave.
“This is a job that is very tough considering that it was held by a person of such stature like the late John Nkomo,” he said.
However, he said, no problem was insurmountable as long as people worked together for one cause.
He also said that he was going to work tirelessly to ensure that the city of Bulawayo was restored to its lost glory as Zimbabwe’s industrial hub.
He immediately ordered Provincial Affairs minister Sandi Moyo to set up a special meeting with stakeholders, including former mayors, to map a way forward for the revival of the city.
 
Below is Mphoko’s 2009 comments on the Gukurahundi massacre.
 
“When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980, Apartheid South Africa was under threat from the ANC through Zimbabwe. Western intelligence together with the South African intelligence BOSS and the out-going Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) designed a strategy to destroy the lines of military supply of the ANC and MK under the pretext that the newly independent Zimbabwe was under threat of being attacked by former ZAPU/ZPRA in Matebeleland. That falsehood was intended to create a military force to deal with the perceived threat. That is how Gukurahundi was formed and that is how it became a Western conspiracy”  – Daily News/ ZimEye

Harare preacher who last year suffered a brain tumour (CLICK HERE TO READ MORE) is said to have been healed after releasing a book on Finances.
Uebert Angel released his book titled, “What God Told me About Money,” on Friday.
He appeared in a photograph hands-in-pocket standing behind a banner advertising the book.

Efforts to obtain a comment from his UK office were fruitless at the time of writing. He relocated to the United Kingdom seeking vital medical attention last year.

There was drama last week when a 35-year-old Congolese man, Nitta Didier, was arrested after being caught with with over 600 pieces of diamonds worth $31 843.
Police raided Didier’s Eastlea house on Wednesday after receiving a tip off from as earlier claimed “unidentified members of the public”.
However drama unrolled when it emerged that the man who reported him, is a top ZANU PF activist and a business partner actively involved in the illegal trade but who decided to turn against him after an altercation. The man, name withheld, soon went on a run following the raid.
“He disappeared and we haven’t seen him since Thursday,” said an officer only identified as Chuma. It was not clear at the time of writing if police intend to pursue the man.
However Didier appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe facing charges of contravening section 3 (1) of the Precious Stones Trade Act Chapter 21.06 as read with section 3(2) of the same Act which prohibits possession of precious stones without a licence.
Didier, of Number 26 Cumberland Way in Eastlea, Harare, was denied bail.
Didier is an asylum seeker in Zimbabwe whose papers are due to expire in April.
Prosecutor Ms Francesca Mukumbiri told the court that when she perused Didier’s docket, she assumed that he would enter a plea of guilty.
“The accused was caught red-handed and granting him bail will be a ticket to flee.
“He is a flight risk since he is a refugee in Zimbabwe and his expiry date is April this year. He was in Zimbabwe since 2007,” she said.
Ms Mukumbiri alleged that last Wednesday, Minerals and Border Control Unit Headquarters detectives received information that Didier was in possession of diamonds and was looking for buyers.
It is alleged that Didier was driving a light green Nissan vehicle with registration number ADK5638.
The court heard that he later parked the car outside house number 34 Fereday Way, Eastlea in Harare.
Detectives managed to locate the vehicle and pounced on Didier who was in the company of a passenger.
Didier was searched and 678 pieces of diamonds were recovered in his trouser pocket wrapped in a khaki envelope.
Detectives also searched the passenger but found nothing of police interest. Didier failed to produce a licence authorising him to possess the diamonds and he was arrested.
The diamonds were taken to the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe and 675 of them were found to be real diamonds valued at US$31 843,04.

ZANU PF spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo faces a fresh threat to his political career after a group of disgruntled Matabeleland South party members reportedly started circulating a petition for his ouster from the central committee.
Moyo had seemingly survived a purge of party members loyal to ousted Vice-President Joice Mujuru, but the latest twist could be a threat to his floundering political career.
Zanu PF’s national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere on Friday was told of the tension and cheating within Matabeleland South provincial structures, with reports some war veterans wanted Moyo’s election into the central committee reversed.
Baton-wielding cops monitored the meeting that was attended by senior police officers, among them, the officer commanding Matabeleland South, Assistant Commissioner Goodwill Musariri.
Kasukuwere, who is on a countrywide tour of Zanu PF structures and was accompanied by Moyo, warned the party to guard against divisions.
“We lost direction towards congress, but now it is time to take stock,” he said.
“I come with the message of peace, unity and development.”
However, some members of the party said they were not yet ready to forgive those who challenged their nominations to the central committee.
“I understand that you come with a message of peace and unity, but how do we work with those that are challenging our election into the central committee?” Mafesi Ncube of Mangwe district asked.
“The local MP (Obedingwa Mnguni), working with some war veterans, has sent a petition to you challenging the election of Simon Khaya Moyo and myself saying it was unprocedural. How then do we work with such people?”
Mnguni, however, later defended himself saying he had only offered the said war veterans transport and had nothing to do with the petition.
Gwanda senator Alma Mkhwebu said she was shocked at congress to find out that her name had been struck off the list of central committee members and replaced with that of the party’s provincial administrator (PA) Rennie Kibi.
“I campaigned and was elected into the central committee, but when we got to congress the PA’s name was called out,” she said.
“Now l have been suspended for no reason.”
Kasukuwere said Mkhwebu should put her complaint in writing and the matter would be looked into.- SouthernEye

As the First Lady Grace Mugabe illegally offloaded a hundred zebras onto the Manzou farm she grabbed from poor black farmers last week, it has emerged the UK government has become unnerved by her activities.
Last week Grace defied two High Court orders and violently removed small scale farm beneficiaries of the Manzou farm-fields, a move that has led Lawyers for Human Rights to stand in for the victims in an urgent High Court chamber application.
In the latest country analysis, the British government indicated it is highly concerned by Grace Mugabe’s violations beginning with her October threats to shed blood.
“We are particularly concerned by incidents of reported hate speech used by the First Lady Grace Mugabe,” a government announcement read.
It continued, “On 6 October, Grace Mugabe was quoted as saying that she would “spill blood” if anyone attempted to remove her from her Mazowe farm, illegally appropriated from a white commercial farm owner
“We continue to remain concerned by the general lack of respect for the rule of law in Zimbabwe, particularly over property rights and security of land tenure
“Individuals, particularly those with a high profile, remain encouraged to take the law into their own hands
“The UK government remains concerned about politically-inspired violence and harassment, repressive legislation and limited media freedom
“Progress to align legislation with the constitution remains disappointingly slow and limited to less sensitive areas
” We are concerned by the continued use of oppression by police to stop legitimate peaceful protests and to limit freedom of expression.”

A school girl who disappeared after she was sent home from school for non payment of US$15 school fees has been found dead. The  girl  Miriam Chabvuma  from Kondo Village in Guruve and was starting Grade Three at Kondo Primary School, was discovered last Sunday in a small pool near her homestead. She had bruises on the head and shoulders, and a cut on her lips.
The young girl’s underwear had been lowered, raising suspicion she was raped and then murdered. According to family spokesperson Mr Letious Karembera, Mariam’s parents started panicking around 6pm on January 14 when their daughter did not return from school. Her classmates informed the parents that Miriam had been sent home before school ended due to non-payment of fees.
“The parents then reported the matter to the police and a missing person docket was opened,” said Mr Karembera.
It is alleged that four days after the girl went missing a herdboy from the area asked neighbours to help him look for the missing girl.
“What is puzzling is that the herdboy led the neighbours to a small pool and instructed them to conduct a search, but the search party failed to locate the body,” said Mr Karembera.
“The suspect repeatedly instructed the neighbours to look carefully into the ditch until they saw the floating body.” The herdboy was taken in for police questioning but released without being charged. Results of a post-mortem could not establish the cause of death because of the advanced state of decomposition of the body.
“It is worrying to note the doctor wrote that the body had decomposed when pictures taken on the day we discovered the body (shown to The Sunday Mail) show the body was still intact,” said Mr Karembera. Acting Mashonaland Central provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Petros Masikati could not be reached for comment as his phone went unanswered.
Last week Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Prof Paul Mavhima reiterated that no pupil should be sent home for non-payment of fees as access to an education was a constitutional right.
In 2013, Government barred schools from sending pupils away due to non-payment of fees and urged parents to come up with payment plans. -sunday mail

Zanu-PF Politburo member and war veteran Oppah Muchinguri has exposed former Vice-President Joice Mujuru and ex-minister Didymus Mutasa’s dubious Second Chimurenga heroism claims, alleging the duo never engaged in real combat.
Muchinguri made the damning revelations in an address to party supporters at Vengere Hall in Rusape last week, also alleging that Mujuru was at the forefront of coercing young women to sleep with male combatants.
She also said Mujuru never shot down a helicopter during the Second Chimurenga as was often claimed.
“Let me tell you: we were together during our days in Mozambique; Joice came to the war front accompanied by her husband (before she married General Solomon Mujuru). The man is the one who died during an incursion and then she claimed and lied that she had shot down the helicopter,” said Muchinguri.
“Those who aided in peddling those falsehoods of downing a helicopter were Mr (Webster) Shamu and Mr Mutasa. Their agenda was to prop Mujuru’s war credentials.
“When Joice came back from Zambia, in fact she did not undergo any form of training. A few days after she joined us in Mozambique, Joice physically assaulted me. I,  Duri and  Chitsotso, resisted sleeping with the likes of Mr Mutasa, Mr Bhombandiani; and I was whipped for that. Imagine, Joice was there!
“We want you to understand how other young female soldiers suffered as Joice engineered all these abuses,” said Muchinguri.
The Zanu-PF Politburo member said Mutasa attempted to assassinate her when he was State Security Minister by engineering suspicious road accidents involving her vehicle.
She went on, “The late Edgar Tekere is the one who brought Mutasa who was already in Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s camp. He came to Maputo, he never trained saying he was scared that his wife Getty would be killed. He is not part of our liberation struggle.
“He told Tekere to leave the party so that he would join him to form their own party. Mutasa is the one who betrayed Mr Maurice Nyagumbo and lied to us that he was not a good person and in the end Nyagumbo committed suicide. He is the one who got the late Mr Kumbirai Kangai arrested. His war credentials are soiled.”
Muchinguri said Zanu-PF’s leadership was aware of the havoc wreaked by Mutasa during his tenure in public office.
“He was impregnating women and I have my uncle who has a wife who was impregnated by Mr Mutasa. Didymus boasted to me that he impregnated her. He is a man who has no respect for other men,” she said. -sunday mail

Zanu PF Mashonaland Central is resisiting attempts to have ousted Joice Mujuru expelled from the party.
Acting provincial chairman Dickson Mafios told The Standard in an interview yesterday that the province would not recommend Mujuru’s ouster from the party although he said they would stand guided by the politburo’s decision.
Mafios said Mujuru had done nothing to deserve the boot ever since she was emasculated during the party’s December congress, which kicked her from the party’s second top post and subsequently the office of VP.
“We haven’t heard her speak anything contrary to the party position so we are only waiting for the politburo position on that one,” Mafios said yesterday.
Mafios said he would give more detail after yesterday’s provincial meeting in Mt Darwin but efforts to contact him later failed up to the time of going to print. His phone was no longer reachable.
The Mujuru camp has however vowed to fight from within the party, an indication they intend to resist expulsions. It is however not clear how they intend to achieve this as expulsion is the prerogative of the politburo from whence they have already been removed.
Expelled former spokesperson of the party Rugare Gumbo yesterday maintained that the Mujuru camp would not form a party but would live to fight for the restoration of order from within the party. 
“We don’t intend to form a party at all. We are fighting from within and Mai [Mrs] Mujuru has said she is not leaving the party, no one will push her out of the party. Mutasa has said he is not going to be pushed out of the party and my views have always been clear on that one,” said the veteran politician yesterday.
Recent developments in the party however point at more expulsions taking place in the party. Upon his arrival from holiday last Thursday, President Robert Mugabe spoke of possible expulsions telling supporters that had gone to welcome him at the airport that he would advise them of any new expulsions that would take place on recommendations. 
Impeccable sources said yesterday that Mujuru’s political foes, led by the so-called “Gang of Four” was working day and night to permanently remove Mujuru from the party’s succession matrix by stripping her of her party membership.
As of now, Mujuru stands a chance of bouncing back through nomination for election in the event that Mugabe resigns or gets incapacitated. Mujuru is believed to command massive following in the party despite her purging, a situation that threatens her enemies in the party.
Chances of her constitutionally landing the presidency in the event of Mugabe being unavailable to lead the country for any reason are believed to be high – making it an urgent necessity by her enemies to make her ineligible for contest.
Professor Jonathan Moyo, who is believed to be a member of the G4, all but revealed at a Sapes debate series last Thursday that he and a fellow member of the group, Saviour Kasukuwere were scheming to floor Mujuru completely. The Information minister said Mujuru would never resurrect.
Referring to a possibility of Mujuru’s resurrection, Moyo said: “I am very sure, we have a very long way before the next election and those of us like the PC [Kasukuwere] here and others are at work and just watch the space and see what that work is going to be.”
Moyo, whose strategy before the congress included roping in Mugabe’s wife Grace to prevail over Mugabe to fire Mujuru, said he would make sure that the former VP would fall, never to rise again.
“Tactically, the Gang of 4 believes Mujuru has chosen not to respond leaving all the work to Mutasa who would fight to get her sacked from the party,” a Zanu PF insider said. 
“They fear that they can’t manage her from within. The plan now is to push her out so that she is ineligible to contest if Mugabe decides to leave or is incapacitated.” 
Several Mujuru loyalists have been purged from the party and more are likely going to be fired as infighting continues in Mugabe’s party, judging from the president’s tone on Thursday – Standard

ENVIRONMENT, Water and Climate Permanent Secretary Mr Prince Mupazviriwo and suspended Allied Timbers Zimbabwe boss Dr Joseph Kanyekanye are embroiled in a dispute concerning a US$20 000 donation the firm made towards Zanu-PF’s December 2014 National Congress.The money allegedly never reached Zanu-PF.
Dr Kanyekanye accuses the permanent secretary of misappropriating the funds, while Mr Mupazviriwo says the embattled executive should explain what he did with the money.
The ATZ board has suspended Dr Kanyekanye on allegations of corruption, among other issues. Dr Kanyekanye denies the charges.
According to papers submitted on January 16, 2015 to the Labour and Social Services Ministry (Department of Labour Administration) by Dr Kanyekanye’s lawyer Mr Alex Mambosasa, Mr Mupazviriwo allegedly failed to account for the US$20 000 donation.
“I also wish to relate to another recent incident that happened on 26 November 2014, in which again in the presence of a witness, the Permanent Secretary, Mr Mupazviriwo, suggested that donations of US$20 000 released by ATZ for the Zanu-PF Congress be explained as money that went to purchasing dinner tables.
“I listened to him but then immediately wrote a letter confirming the true account of what happened.
“This incident and supporting documents are available from the outgoing (finance director) Caroline Moyo and my (personal assistant) Yollander Chibanda.
‘‘What Permanent Secretary Prince Mupazviriwo asked me to do was falsification of documents. I am curious as to why he wanted me to do this especially when his ministry had written to me indicating that they had not received the US$20 000 donation made by ATZ towards the Zanu-PF Congress,” reads part of the document.
Mr Mambosasa said the ATZ board should launch an independent investigation as to what happened to the money.
Mr Mupazviriwo yesterday denied misappropriating the US$20 000 and said he had documentation proving his innocence.
“Kanyekanye should tell you whom he gave the US$20 000; as a ministry we asked for the donation because we are a shareholder. Documents can be traced to prove what really transpired,” he said. -Sunday Mail

ZANU-PF national commissar Mr Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday warned the party’s Matabeleland North province to avoid unnecessary and divisive fights.Addressing a Provincial Co-ordinating Committee meeting in Lupane, Mr Kasukuwere said the vindictive attempt late last year to oust senior party members in the run-up to the party’s National People’s Congress should not be repeated.
Mr Kasukuwere said he expected order from a province with the double honour o f having the highest number of Zanu-PF Politburo members and hosting President Mugabe’s 91st Birthday celebrations next month.
Ahead of the December 2014 National People’s Congress, some officials tried to withdraw Mr Jacob Mudenda, Sithembiso Nyoni, Fati Mpofu and Elias Mavule from the Central Committee list.
“Let’s turn a new page in 2015. ‘Let’s respect our members of the Politburo, war veterans, ministers and senators but even us, the elders, let us respect those below us,” the commissar said.
“We should unite and respect each other. We must stop being frivolous. The province must not be a frivolous province which pursues trivial matters…
“I’m saying so because I know this province to be a very stable province. We were very pleased when we heard that in Matabeleland North, there were no problems in provincial and Central Committee but at some point problems started to show.”
Mr Kasukuwere urged the province to concentrate on delivery, and expressed satisfaction that Matabeleland North remained loyal to President Mugabe.
“Let’s continue in that good direction. ‘Don’t get swayed. Don’t sell your souls,” he said.
Mr Kasukuwere said Zanu-PF was stronger after ridding itself of elements who thought they were bigger than the party.
“You have one President, how dare you say I have a province. Whose? Yours? The provinces must belong to the party,” said Mr Kasukuwere.
“Those are President Mugabe’s provinces and should support him. As chairman, you belong to President Mugabe – you are not anyone’s. You are chairman of Zanu-PF under President Mugabe.”
He said provinces were being run by “godfathers” with Dzikamai Mavhaire and Didymus Mutasa controlling chairpersons in Masvingo and Manicaland, respectively.
Mr Kasukuwere called on Matabeleland North to ignore attention-seekers like sacked party secretary for information Rugare Gumbo and Mr Mutasa, who were challenging the legitimacy of the 6th National People’s Congress.
The meeting also learnt from the national youth leadership that preparations for the 21st February Movement celebrations were well on course.  -Sunday Mail

STATE MEDIA: Zanu-PF Manicaland province has instituted proceedings to have former Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa arrested on allegations of murder, corruption, abuse of office, fraud, and sexual abuse of underage girls. Mutasa, once the influential ruling party secretary for administration, is now an ordinary member of Zanu-PF after being linked to the cabal that last year tried to unseat President Mugabe.
Zanu-PF Manicaland province tasked a team led by Zanu-PF secretary for legal affairs Patrick Chinamasa to investigate and prepare a report to be submitted to the police on Mutasa’s alleged illegal activities over the past few years.
It is understood that Mutasa used his official positions to allegedly act with impunity over the years.
Addressing hundreds of party supporters at Vengere Hall in Rusape last Friday, Chinamasa, a lawyer by training, said his team was probing allegations of sexual abuse, corruption and violence.
He said they had so far unearthed evidence showing Mutasa infiltrated the police in Manicaland to ensure all criminal reports made against him died a stillbirth.
Zanu-PF Politburo member Oppah Muchinguri, who attended the meeting, said once the investigations were complete a police report would be made.
“We have cases of sexual abuse, fraud, and abuse of party and Government funds. He (Mutasa) was allocating A2 farms illegally to his girlfriends and relatives,” said Muchinguri.
“ Chinamasa, who is a legal expert, is heading a special task force that is now finalising its findings on these allegations that has been brought to our attention by the people.
“It is said he was abusing underage girls from the local secondary schools. Police reports were made on these cases and from our findings we have noted that the dockets have disappeared.
“He was so powerful and investigating officers would be transferred from local police stations if they attempted to look into reports made against him.
“He was operating as a mafia boss and people were beaten up around the Makoni area. We understand that his lieutenants are said to have killed a man and the body was later found in a dam at his farm. He is said to be the one who ordered the kill.
“He would adopt young girls and end up sleeping with them, and as we speak one of the girls (name withheld) has sired a child with him. We are also going to look at all the farms he distributed to his lovers and whites.”
Manicaland Provincial Affairs Minister Mandi Chimene said her office, together with other departments, had since repossessed 12 farms Mutasa had illegally allocated to white farmers.
“He was protecting a clique of white farmers around the Headlands area who were staying on gazetted farms. We have since retaken them for proper distribution.
“Mutasa with the aid of his bodyguards who operated under the party’s youth group dubbed Simudza Makoni physically assaulted party members. We have Chitura who was beaten by these thugs; she almost died.
“We have since established that he is collecting US$8 500 monthly from party properties. The money is being collected by one Mandi Majoni, his alleged girlfriend.”
According to information gathered by The Sunday Mail, illegal land allocations to his lovers and friends by Mutasa are said to have begun in 2005 when was appointed Minister of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement in the President’s Office.
Chinamasa said the Manicaland Province executive was expecting the next Politburo meeting to endorse their call to have Mutasa fired from the ruling party.
“He committed a series of offences. He is probably sick, he still claims to be the secretary for administration. We noted that in his statement published in the private media that our congress was illegal.
“Mutasa further says that we are corrupt and have a record of being a violent party. It is shocking he is the one who has blood on his hands. People in Makoni know who the father of violence is. He is the one butchered people here who soiled the party’s name through his gang Simudza Makoni.
“He is undermining the authority of President Mugabe and we will not sit and watch him continue with his behavior,” he said.
Mutasa’s mobile phone went unanswered when The Sunday Mail sought his comment yesterday. sunday mail

The Municipality of Gwanda has resumed eviction of some residents from the Old Jahunda Township council rented houses.
A number of tenants in the town’s oldest township have been served with eviction notices to leave the house by the 5th of March 2015. The notices sent to tenants by council indicate that council passed a resolution HH1531 on the 27th of November 2014 to evict the said “defaulting tenants” from the council houses.
According to the minutes council resolved to evict all tenants who were not complying to the regulations of the lease agreement the tenants entered into with council on occupation of the houses. Most of those affected by the evictions are tenants who have sublet the councils houses against the terms of the lease that prohibit subletting the premises.
Asked for details on how the people to be evicted from the houses were decided, a council employee at the housing department who would not be named said that most of the people being “evicted” from the houses are people who are no longer living in the houses and have let out the houses to other people. According to the council official, council requested the lease holding tenants to report to the offices to renew their leases and all those who failed to turn up in person have been issued with eviction notices as they have failed to renew their lease agreements.
Some of the residents who have been served with notices however dispute the council statement saying that they never received notices calling them to renew their lease agreements. Some claim that they received the notices to renew their lease but there was no deadline when to do so and were out of town at the time the papers were served.
On investigation, ZimEye.com established that indeed some of the occupants in the houses were not the lease holders. Some occupants claimed to be descendants of the original lease holders who signed the lease agreements some thirty years ago. The lease holders were either now deceased or living in rural areas coming to town regularly.
Asked on what they will do in the wake of the eviction notices the occupants said that they will not move out of the houses unless Council has alternative accommodation for them. The occupants claim to have reported the matter to the Gwanda Residents Association which has promised to meet them soon to map a way forward.
Asked for a comment, the spokesperson of the Residents Association Mr Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo confirmed receiving complaints from the residents about the evictions. He however would not be drawn to comment further saying that the Association is waiting for report from the ward committee and the outcome of the meeting between the affected residents and the committee. Fuzwayo also confirmed knowledge of council notices asking residents to visit the council offices to regularise their lease agreements. He expressed disappointment that some of the tenants did not respond to the call.
“This matter is not a new development, it started last year and we held meetings with council and residents asking the matter to be reconsidered and done more transparently. Council agreed to defer it on condition that residents visited the council offices to regularise their leases. We expected all affected residents to take advantage of that amnesty but if some didn’t then it makes it difficult for us. We will tackle the matter when all the information is made available to us and make sure that those who are not meant to leave the houses are not evicted,” said Fuzwayo.
“We will do our best to advocate for the residents especially those who are occupying the houses as children of the original lease holders as some of them were born and grew up living in those houses,” added Fuzwayo.

As part of security measures to make it suitable for habitation by the “big five” animals, the cash-strapped Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority would have to fork out at least US$1 million to fence Manzou Estate in Mazowe, where First Lady Grace Mugabe is setting up a private wildlife sanctuary.
This comes after Environment, Water and Climate minister Saviour Kasukuwere last week said that the National Parks had taken control of Manzou farm, formerly known as Arnold Farm, and would soon be translocating the “big five” animals from other sanctuaries to Mugabe’s private game park.
Kasukuwere said the authority would soon be bringing the big five (elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards and buffaloes) to Manzou, despite a High Court order stopping the evictions of more than 200 families in the area.
Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) chairperson Johnny Rodrigues this week said the big five needed high security fencing, which would cost at least US$1 million per 2 000 hectares.
Manzou farm, where 200 families were evicted to make way for the private game park, is estimated to cover over 1 800 hectares.
Rodrigues said two layers of fence would be required for the area to accommodate the big five.
This would put a further strain on the parks authority, which was allocated US$4 539 450 in the 2015 budget.
“Double fencing is needed for such dangerous animals and there has to be three metres in between the fences, with the other being electrified,” he said.
“What I can tell you is it’s very expensive to acquire the fence as it is not ordinary fencing; about 16 lines of wire would be needed from top to bottom although it is still possible for the big five to tear the fence,” Rodrigues said, adding that this would pose a great danger to villagers in the surrounding area.
He questioned where National Parks would get funding to undertake such a huge operation as they are already struggling.
“It doesn’t make sense that National Parks has been failing to pay workers but they want to fence a private wildlife sanctuary; where are they going to get the money from?”
In addition to the financial crunch, the authority faces transport, fuel and staffing problems. Contacted for comment, National Parks spokesperson Caroline Washaya-Moyo asked for questions to be e-mailed to her, but had not responded by the time of going to print.
Rodrigues said Manzou farm is not fit for the big five as Mazowe is highly populated by people meaning such animals could pose serious danger to humans.
“Government should consult ecologists to get advice on which animals are fit for such a place. Animals such as impala, kudu and zebra would be more suitable as they are less harmful.”
One of the villagers facing eviction at Manzou farm, Aspinas Makufa said they have been living in the open and life is more difficult due to the incessant rains.
Makufa also said National Parks had on Tuesday brought zebras which have been destroying their crops.
“The National Parks brought zebras on Tuesday and they have been destroying our crops and even if we are not evicted, we would not harvest anything,” said Makufa.
On Tuesday, police joined the National Parks team which has been camped at the farm since last week. The police, like the parks authority officers, pitched tents close to where the villagers are staying in plastic shacks.
“Takangoona mapurisa auya musi weTuesday and vakaisa matents avo (police came on Tuesday and pitched their tents). Hapana zvavarikutaura, takangotarisana navo (They are not saying or doing much),” said Makufa.
Police demolished properties at Manzou a fortnight ago despite a court order last year. The demolitions only stopped last week on Monday after the High Court granted a provisional order barring the evictions as directed by last year’s court order. – The Independent

ZANU PF youths have warned Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries leader Walter Magaya against attacking apostolic sect members, some of whom have publicly declared their allegiance to President Robert Mugabe and have religiously attended all major party events in their thousands.
Speaking after Mugabe’s address to hundreds of party supporters gathered to welcome him at Harare International Airport on Thursday, Zanu PF Harare provincial youth chairman Godwin Gomwe warned Magaya not to “tread on dangerous ground” by attacking the sect members.
This came after Magaya, in his booklet titled Marine Spirits, Mweya Yemumvura: Teaching by Prophet W Magaya, claimed that members of the apostolic sect derived their doctrine from spirits that reside in the marine kingdom and that they do not believe in the Bible.
“It is from these Orion and Leviathan spirits of the marine kingdom where false, non-Bible believing white garment churches (mapositori ekumasowe) are derived,” Magaya wrote.
“It is also unfortunate that many people have been deceived to follow or visit these kinds of shrines (masowe) in an effort to go over their problems, yet to no avail.
“Many people who have visited these non-Bible believing churches have had their problems worsened, while others have been permanently hooked to them after receiving various continuous serious threats including death (zviga zverufu netsaona), thereby becoming members,” he added.
Gomwe described the narrative in the book as a direct
attack on “Zanu PF’s all-weather friends”.
“You heard President Mugabe say ‘Pamberi neMapostori edu? They made us win elections by their continued support of the party. Magaya blasts them even on the podium. His church is not special. His church is not perfect and he should leave Vapostori alone,” Gomwe said.
“We are not happy with what he said and we are warning him as a party to stop attacking Vapostori.”
Magaya’s controversial remarks have already drawn a sharp rebuke from the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe — which represents at least 700 Apostolic Christian churches in the country.
Magaya could not be reached for comment yesterday.- Newsday

INFORMATION, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo has communicated a bold denial that he once vocalised that the best way to destroy Zanu-PF was from within.
Moyo told journalists yesterday that he actually stated the opposite, which is that the best way to reform ZANU PF is from within.
He hurled bitter insults at journalists saying his statement on reforming the revolutionary party had been taken out of context by “uneducated media minds”.
Moyo, who is also Zanu-PF Secretary for Science and Technology, said this while officiating at the Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum annual general meeting held in Harare, as he challenged the journalists present to go into the archives to see if he ever uttered such a statement.
“It will be absolutely nonsensical for a person like me to say the best way of destroying Zanu-PF is from within,” he said.

Mazowe South legislator Fortune Chasi has demonstrated he dreads helping members of his constituency who have been illegally displaced by President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace.
Speaking to ZimEye.com, Chasi said ‘I feel’ for the over 150 families who were displaced by the police from Arnold Farm which falls under his constituency to accommodate wild animals but said he could not help the situation because ‘it is before the courts’.
This came as Mrs Mugabe defying two High Court orders offloaded 100 zebras onto the agricultural farmland.
The former Justice Deputy Minister was fired by President Robert Mugabe after he clashed with his Grace over land in the constituency.
“I have never been there since they were displaced, but I can feel pity for them .I can imagine how they are coping especially in this chilly weather,” Chasi told ZimEye.com
He continued,
“Even if I go there I will find no one to address and also because the case is before the court. I think you appreciate that there were court orders and it is my feeling that the courts deal with the case, and if I get involved I will be interfering with the courts, ” he timidly replied.
 
The villagers who are being represented by Tonderai Bharasara of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights are now living in makeshift houses constructed using plastics after their 14 year old houses were demolished with neither notice nor protocol.
 
Government last week claimed it was going to find some alternative land for the villagers, but Chasi said he was not aware of such developments.
 
“I do not know what the plans are at the moment and I am not even aware of what is going to happen to them”, he said.
 
The villagers last week said officials from the National Parks and Wild Life management authority visited the farm and advised them that they were going to drive in some wild animals. This is despite the existence of two court orders interdicting government from evicting the villagers.
 
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has vowed to continue defending the villagers.

A 15-year-old pupil at Fatima Mission High School was raped and strangled by an unknown assailant who broke into the school on Wednesday night, Radio Dialogue has learnt.
ZRP national police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident and referred further inquiries to Matabeleland North police who are handling the case.
The police said they have since deployed police with sniffer dogs at the scene to carry out investigations.
“The police are busy with sniffer dogs on the scene trying to sniff out the suspect who allegedly raped and killed the 15-year-old girl,” said the police.
However, the police said they will give a full official comment after gathering more facts of what transpired, adding that the body of the deceased pupil has been taken to United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) for postmortem.
Sources at the school say on Wednesday, a suspected rapist cum murderer tripped power at one of the staff quarters where the Form 1 pupil was staying with a relative.
“This happened at about midnight. The rapist got into the house after having tripped power and raped the girl before strangling her to death,” said the official, who declined to be named.
He said the suspect then went into the next room with the intention of raping another girl who was sleeping there.
“As he tried to rape the girl, she managed to scream thereby alerting everyone in the house who woke up to assist the screaming girl. That’s when they discovered that he had raped and killed one of the girls,” said the official.
He said by the time people woke up, the suspect had run away.
“It is still a mystery even up to today. We don’t know how the rapist managed to get into the house,” said the official.
The school’s senior master, Gladness Ndlovu could not shed more light on the matter, referring all questions to the headmaster who was not immediately available for a comment.

Zanu PF will hold primary elections in Mt Darwin West constituency on Sunday the 25th January 2015 in preparation for the March 27 by-election.
In a statement, Zanu PF National Political Commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere said all polling stations will open at 7am and will close at 7pm.
He, however, said voters who will have arrived at the station before closing time and are still awaiting their turn to vote will be allowed to vote.
“Cell/Village membership registers approved by the province are to be used as the voters roll and only those members appearing on the voters roll, having proof of their National Identity Cards and are known by fellow party members, are to vote,” he said.
There are 46 polling stations in the constituency and 11 teams, each comprising of members of the Central Committee, National Consultative Assembly, and Provincial leadership, War Veterans, ZEPPDRA and War Collaborators will be drawn from each Administrative District of Mashonaland Central Province to constitute the core of the Presiding and Polling officers who will be deployed at Ward Command Centres and Polling stations.
The returning and deputy returning officers are Prisca Mupfumira and Edna Madzongwe respectively.
Once voting is complete, counting shall immediately commence and presiding officers shall, after first forwarding results to the party headquarters, announce results at the Polling Station.
In terms of the constitution, the seat became vacant after the elevation of ousted former Vice President Joice Mujuru. – State Media

 
The wait is over for candidates who sat for Advanced Level exams last year and 82, 61 percent of them reserve the right to celebrate after passing two or more subjects with an “E” grade or better.

As a way of celebrating the passes ZimEye.com in this issue, calls on news readers to submit the full names of those who have passed. (Please type the person’s name in the comments section below)

Meanwhile the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (ZIMSEC) said Thursday out of 30, 614 examinees, 25, 291 had passed.
This slightly increased the ZIMSEC “A” Level pass rate from 81,6 in 2013 to 82,6 percent last year.
ZIMSEC director, Esau Nhandara, said in a statement that of the 7,324 private candidates who set for the same exams, 4,217 of them had passed. (VOA/ZimEye)

Zanu-PF Politburo member and Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Oppah Muchinguri, is now officially married to a Pentecostal clergyman – Bishop Anthony Kashiri. With that new matrimonial status she will assume a new title, “Mai Mufundisi”. The two are believed to have been love-birds for some time but did all they could to put the relationship under wraps to avoid unnecessary publicity.
Muchinguri paraded her new-found love around in public last Thursday at Mutare Polytechnic during the provincial co-ordination committee meeting and Headlands Hall where thousands of Zanu-PF supporters from Headlands constituency had converged to petition the party leadership to expel their representative in the National Assembly, Didymus Mutasa, from the party and august House.
She confirmed Bishop Kashiri as the apple of her eye. “Where is he? My better half, where are you? Oh, there he is!  This is my husband, and we are happily married,” said Muchinguri, to some wild ululations and whistling from the jubilant crowd. “I am now Amai Kashiri,” she added. “You continue to refer to me as Amai Muchinguri because probably you did not know that I am now married. “I am now Amai Kashiri,” she said with a radiant smile.
The lovebirds posed briefly for a photo-shoot from journalists. “We have all along been keeping a low profile as we tried to avoid paparazzi.” she said referring to journalists’ snoopy appetite for titillating news.
Reliable sources maintain that a big wedding was on the cards soon for the Cabinet minister after a recent  conclusion of customary proceedings between the two families. Bishop Kashiri has been in the USA for years and is believed to have had his own family as well. Muchinguri was previously married to Botswana-based trader Mr Tapiwa Rushesha and their marriage ended in the late 1990s. She opted to drop her marital last name as she switched back to her maiden name, Muchinguri.

AFTER almost 30 years of being denied his conjugal rights, a 77-year-old man from Old Magwegwe has had enough and has decided to divorce his wife.
The only problem, however, is that the wife Thenjiwe Ndlovu (76) is refusing to be divorced.
The man, Rasha Ndlovu, told the court that Thenjiwe left for South Africa several years ago and when she returned, she sought a a protection order against him, claiming he was physically and verbally abusing her.
“How can someone claim she is my wife when we last had sex 30 years ago?” he asked the court.
“Where do you think I was getting my conjugal rights from all these years you were away?”
Ndlovu was in court facing a charge of failing to comply with the protection order his wife had against him.
It is alleged that he budged into her home and poked her on the chest with a knobkerrie, demanding they should divorce and sell the house.
Ndlovu appeared before the Western Commonage magistrate Tancy Chipumha Dube, where he was charged with contravening Section 10 of the Domestic Violence Act.
He pleaded not guilty to the allegations. Thenjiwe told the court that she did not want to divorce because she was left in custody of her three grandchildren, whose father died a few years ago.
“If I agree to be divorced by Ndlovu, it means our grandchildren will become homeless for the rest of their lives,” she said.
Rasha said he never poked his wife using a knobkerrie, claiming he only went to her home and demanded that they divorce the following morning so that they could sell their house and share the money.
He further lamented that his wife had been reporting him to the police on crimes he had not committed, before asking her to “grow up”.
“When are we going to grow up and start behaving like people in their 70s?” he asked.
Prosecutor Kenneth Shava told the court that the two had been married for more than 40 years. However, the wife relocated to South Africa in search for employment, where she stayed for more than 30 years. When Rasha’s wife returned, she filed a protection order against him, alleging he was physically and verbally abusing her.
Rasha alleged that his wife had followed her ex-husband who stayed in South Africa.
“I know she went to South Africa to meet up with her former husband, that is why she forgot I was her husband,” he claimed.
“If she cannot satisfy me sexually, then what is the reason to stay married?”
The matter was remanded to January 28 for continuation of trial.

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday clashed with medical staff at Hopley Clinic in Harare South over rampant reports of MDC members being denied treatment.
Numerous reports say that the clinic has been discriminating against MDC-T supporters denying them medication.
While visiting Hopley in Harare South constituency yesterday Tsvangirai and the mayor Bernard Manyenyeni visited Hopley Clinic, the only medical institution in the area, where the sister-in-charge revealed diseases like diarrhoea are prevalent in the area and that the clinic has a huge task to service a population of 118 658 people.
He then confronted the sister in charge over reports of her staff discriminating against MDC-T supporters. The nurse who asked not to be named, together with her staff however denied the charges and referred Tsvangirai to the Health and Child Care ministry.
“We have no such cases reported. Everyone who comes in pays $5 that covers five days,” she said.
During the visit Tsvangirai was accompanied by the Mayor of Harare, Clr Bernard Manyenyeni.
Meanwhile the residents said they needed Harare city council to regularize and properly service their settlement, fix the road network, as well as water and sanitation provision. The residents said they greatly appreciated the visit by the MDC leader and pleaded with the mayor that they needed his urgent intervention to help avert the many deaths occurring in the area due to poor and unclean water sources.
After the tour, Tsvangirai urged the mayor to take action and ensure that the people’s health and safety are top priority. He also urged the residents to allow the process of layout of roads and sanitation to be conducted without disruption when council begins work there. He bemoaned the squalid condition in which people lived and outlined that leaders had an obligation to ensure that the people’s lives are improved, regardless of their political affiliation.

Villagers in Zimbabwe are taking legal action after animals were released on a farm they are living on, which the president’s wife Grace Mugabe reportedly wants to turn into a game park.
Children from Manzou Estate in central Mazowe district were too afraid to go to school after nearly 100 zebras were brought to the farm this week on the back of large trucks, lawyer Tonderai Bhatasara said on Thursday.
“They [the zebras] are now causing children to abandon school. Kids are afraid to go to school because they met a herd of zebras and they had to run for dear life,” Bhatasara, of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) told Sapa.
“We have consulted with our clients and we have received instructions for us to act on that new development.”
Villagers say the zebras are being herded by rangers because no fence had been erected yet.
“They are basically herding them like cattle herders,” Bhatasara said.
Last week, the ZLHR won a high court order barring police from evicting the villagers. Some of them had lived on the farm for 15 years.
Police had already allegedly burned some houses there.
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party initially denied that Grace Mugabe had anything to do with the evictions, saying the farm was a national heritage site.
Grace Mugabe reportedly told a rally in the district last year that she wanted to take over a nearby conservancy. The Mugabes are still on their end-of-year holiday and not in Zimbabwe at the moment.
Zimbabwe’s National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said a day after the court order was granted January 12, that they intended to move wild animals, including lions, buffalo, leopard, elephant, and rhino, onto the farm.
“At least there’s no evidence on the ground of those other animals, but the clients confirm there are plans to bring in some elephants soon and some lions soon as well,” Bhatasara said.
“So we are taking this seriously, and we’re on it.”

IN what could be a Zimbabwean record, a couple wedded and divorced four days later.
The couple were married under the Marriage Act (Chapter 5:11) at the Bulawayo Magistrates’ Courts on May 2 last year and sought divorce four days later after the wife discovered that her husband was already customarily married to another woman he had a child with.
This was heard by the Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva when Sostina Ncube nee Chikanga (28) of Nketa 9 in Bulawayo, through her lawyer Bruce Masamvu, filed an application for divorce against her husband Melusi (29) of Lakeview Township in Plumtree.
Ncube, who reportedly lives in South Africa, did not challenge the divorce. Takuva granted the application yesterday, indicating that although the increase in the number of divorce cases was worrying, the case in question was exclusive and a clear case of unfaithfulness of the defendant.
He said in normal circumstances, the marriage which the couple undertook forbade polygamy and as a result, the court was left with no option, but to nullify it on the grounds presented by the plaintiff.
In her declaration for divorce, Masamvu submitted that the two were legally married in terms of the Marriage Act Chapter 5:11 at Bulawayo Magistrates’ Courts on May 2 2014 and the marriage still subsisted.
“I aver that the marriage relationship between the parties has irretrievably broken down to such an extent that there are no reasonable prospects for restoration of a normal relationship,” Masamvu submitted.
He said this was because Ncube had lied to his bride that he was a bachelor, yet he was customarily married.
“Plaintiff could not stomach the issue of being married to a married man and to be under polygamy,” submitted Masamvu.
“The marriage only lasted five days because of defendant’s behaviour and lies despite having taken oath.
“The defendant and family betrayed me because even the family meetings in preparations for the wedding were held, but no one gave me a hint of his wife until on the eve of the wedding celebration.”
Sostina said Ncube’s parents later warned and advised her that they would not welcome her since their son had another wife, who stayed with them.
“The defendant has supplied me with false information and I believe he is not an honest man,” submitted Masamvu for Sostina.
“He has betrayed my trust, embarrassed me and left me in lots of debts. The plaintiff is so angry with the defendant’s false stories. During subsistence of the marriage the parties acquired nothing.” -SouthernEye

President Robert Mugabe yesterday caused a scene when the Head of State’s tongue lost its anchor uttering unprintable words as he attacked former Minister of State Didymus Mutasa.
In his address shortly after arriving, Mugabe, who turns 91 in a month, defiled his long time friend Didymus Mutasa who he has since expelled from the party in a purge against allies of former deputy Joice Mujuru.
“A stupid fool cannot be corrected,” Mugabe said referring to former presidential affairs minister Mutasa.
“There is nothing you can do to a straying grey ass. It’s a graying ass just braying. We have no time for individuals of little brains, disorganised, mentally deranged if not close to being insane.”
Mutasa issued a statement last week threatening a legal appeal against the expulsion and demotions of several Zanu-PF party officials including Mujuru and party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo.
Mujuru and Mutasa were accused along with several others of plotting to topple Mugabe in a sustained campaign of attacks by the first lady. AFP/Additional Reporting

A chairperson of a housing co-operative allegedly forged 239 signatures of fellow members to obtain a registration certificate from the Co-operative Societies of Zimbabwe. Sikumbuzo
Munyawarara (45), the chairperson of Hillarious Housing Co-operative, allegedly forged the signatures in their by-laws booklet following a disagreement with the 239 members after they refused to sign.
A by-law is a rule that an organisation such as a club or company makes and that its members must follow. Munyawarara appeared before a Mbare magistrate last week charged with fraud. She was remanded to January 29 on $100 bail.
It is the State’s case that Munyawarara as the chairperson wanted other members to sign the by-laws booklet in which she had drafted the dos and don’ts. The court heard that she had a misunderstanding with fellow members after they challenged her on some of the rules and they refused to sign.
Munyawarara then forged signatures of the members and signed the booklet.
Using the booklet with the fake signatures, the court heard that Munyawarara went to register the co-operative with the Co-operative Societies of Zimbabwe. She then obtained a registration certificate, the State alleged.
On October 7 last year, police detectives received information from Edwin Ringwa that Munyawarara had forged signatures in order to obtain a registration certificate. The detectives then proceeded to the Registrar of Co-operative Societies of Zimbabwe and requested for Hillarious Co-operative’s file.
That is when the offence was unearthed leading to her arrest.

A Zanu (PF) youth group, Vana vaChaminuka, has started mobilising people to endorse newly-appointed National Commissar and Environment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere to take over as party leader after President Robert Mugabe.
“There is nothing to hide any more. The president is old and the party needs a capable leader to take it forward. Kasukuwere is the right person for the job,” the group’s chairperson, Eliard Mhangami, told The Zimbabwean this week.
“We have engaged our structures countrywide to push this drive and the response so far is very positive. Kasukuwere is still young and has a vision for a better tomorrow. He understands our grievances as young people and has good relations with party leaders and elders.”
The group has dismissed vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa as a “factionalist and boot-licking leader” who is impotent in terms of leadership qualities. “Let us not forget that before the congress there were two factions. One (Joice Mujuru) has been destroyed but we still have to deal with the one headed by Mnangagwa. He has failed as a leader since 1980. We have to recall how he has been vicious from the days of Gukurahundi. Our country no longer needs such people. It needs visionaries who are prepared to deliver and the see a successful nation,” added Mhangami.
During the build up to the congress last year the group called on Mugabe to clip Mnangagwa’s wings, claiming he had become a “de facto Prime Minister”. They said they would present a petition to Mugabe soon urging him to be wary of Mnangagwa’s alleged underhand mechanisations to usurp power.
The group is further lobbying Zanu (PF) founder members to hand over the party leadership to the Young Turks, among them Information minister Jonathan Moyo, Tourism minister Walter Muzembi, Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao, Makhosini Hlongwane, Philip Chiyangwa. – TheZimbabwean

A top Mutare businessman Alexander Maruni has died barely 24 hours after being attacked by a mystery illness nurses claimed was malaria.
Maruni, a Christian, was a well known property development mogul, and sources say that malaria could not have ended his life in less than a day.
Health experts say Malaria can last up to four weeks after symptoms begin.
“He only complained of feeling feverish and with a cold temperature yesterday and then went to the hospital where he was told it was malaria,” a family source told ZimEye.com
He died just around midnight on the same day.
He was in his mid 40s and is survived by his wife, two girls and a boy.
Mourners are gathered at his house in Fern Valley.
More to follow…

A storm is brewing between Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries founder Walter Magaya and the country’s Apostolic churches after the celebrity preacher controversially described the latter as “marine spirits from the dark kingdom”.
In response, Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) president, Archbishop Johannes Ndanga, has retorted by accusing Magaya of being possessed by demons.
In his booklet titled Marine Spirits, Mweya Yemumvura: Teaching by Prophet W Magaya, excerpts of which are broadcast on his Yadah TV channel, the popular preacher claimed that Vapositori, as they are popularly known, are derived from spirits that reside in the marine kingdom and that they do not believe in the Bible.
Magaya also claimed that Apostolic preachers had a propensity to threaten congregants with death. “It is from these Orion and Leviathan spirits of the marine kingdom where false, non-Bible believing white garment churches (mapositori ekumasowe) are derived,” Magaya said in his booklet.
“It is also unfortunate that many people have been deceived to follow or visit these kinds of shrines (masowe) in an effort to go over their problems, yet to no avail.
“Many people who have visited these non-Bible believing churches have had their problems worsened while others have been permanently hooked to them after receiving various continuous serious threats including death (zviga zverufu netsaona) thereby becoming members,” he added.
Magaya’s controversial remarks have already drawn a sharp rebuke from the ACCZ — which represents at least 700 Apostolic Christian churches in the country.
Ndanga, ACCZ executive president, came out guns blazing yesterday, accusing Magaya of launching “unrestrained and unprovoked attacks” against them. Ndanga also provocatively accused Magaya of being possessed by demons.
“He has gone out of bounds. That area is not in his constituency, so he must not provoke us. We have never said that he and TB Joshua are witchdoctors who are also adulterous and are in the business of cheating people and making money in the process,” fumed Ndanga. TB Joshua is Magaya’s spiritual father.
The angry Ndanga said if Magaya was “a real man of God”, he should have foreseen the Kwekwe stampede that killed at least 11 people and injured dozens others in a stadium in Kwekwe, 213 km west of Harare, in November.
However, at the time of the incident, Magaya said he had foreseen the disaster and had warned authorities who did not take heed of his advice. The Accz founder further claimed that white garment prophets would not have their churches struck with such calamity without foreseeing it.
“God is much greater than what Magaya thinks as people worship in various ways and no one can master the mind of God. “Jesus healed the blind using mud. He used water and we never heard of oil. He is a new comer in the Christian religion and cannot tell us how to worship God,” Ndanga said.
In his booklet, Magaya claims that 80 percent of the white garment Apostolic sects do not use the Bible “and for those who use it, they do so for deceptive purposes.”
He warned people against seeking deliverance from such churches as “darkness cannot push away another form of darkness”.
“First of all, the ‘prophet’ goes out to the rivers, lakes, coasts or beaches of oceans, mountains and caves to acquire the supernatural powers usually of the mermaid spirit (mweya wenjuzu) before they start their own church while others are groomed within an existing church (Masowe) to become a prophet,” Magaya said.
He said the marine kingdom was all about water and claimed that it is the reason why the environs of Vapositori’s shrines resembled a marine kingdom. “In most cases, there are planted reeds, water lilies and other water-related plants on the ‘altar’ (kirawa).
“The plants are regularly watered to maintain a marine environment. On both sides of the ‘altar’ are large calabashes (makate) filled with some small ones by the sides…
“The members undergo regular visits to waterfalls for baptism to cleanse them of ‘bad spirits’ but unknown to them, they will be further dedicated and initiated into the marine kingdom,” Magaya said.
But Ndanga was adamant that the practice was well within the confines of the Christian gospel, saying most orthodox and Pentecostal churches believed in baptism by water.
“Jesus Christ used water to heal. He was baptised by John the Baptist.
The Romans use water just as do Pentecostal churches, yet we know he uses the head of a vulture to prophesy.
“I have had to restrain several of our prophets who wanted to be given permission to unmask him because we feel it is out of bounds for us,” Ndanga said. – Daily News

VICE-PRESIDENT Phelekezela Mphoko is reportedly shopping for an official house and his wife, Laurinda, has so far rejected three houses, among them a mansion in Harare’s affluent suburb of Ballantyne Park worth $3 million, claiming that it was small.
Mphoko was appointed vice-president of Zimbabwe by President Robert Mugabe in December 2014 alongside long-time faction leader Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Impeccable sources revealed that Mphoko was initially scheduled to move into a house left by late Vice-President Joseph Msika in Harare’s leafy suburb of Mandara, but Laurinda refused, saying they wanted a house of their own, not the one vacated by others.
She started shopping for another house and last week went to view houses in Glen Lorne, Borrowdale Brooke and Ballantyne Park, refusing to take any of them for varying reasons.
“She rejected one in Glen Lorne that was going for $1,5 million saying it was small,” the source revealed.
“Before she rejected the $3 million house in Ballantyne Park, she had rejected another in Borrowdale Brooke worth $2 million, claiming many government ministers lived in the place.”
Ironically, Mugabe’s blue-roofed house is in the same neighbourhood.
Efforts to get a comment from Mphoko yesterday were fruitless, as he could not be reached on his mobile phone.
Presidential press secretary Regis Chikowore said he was out of the country and referred our sister paper NewsDay to Ivanhoe Gurira, the director for international communication services in the Information ministry, who was not picking calls.
Mphoko, who is National Healing minister, hails from Matabeleland and reportedly does not have a house in Harare.
Before his appointment to the post of VP, he was reportedly staying at Meikles Hotel on his frequent visits to meet Mugabe.
Very close sources said Mphoko’s wife Laurinda was still moving around shopping for a lavish and spacious mansion of her choice after snubbing the $3 million home to be financed by the cash-strapped government.
The government is struggling to pay civil servants’ salaries due to dwindling revenue collections.-SouthernEye

One of Masvingo’s senior magistrates, Jabulani Mzinyathi has been found guilty of misconduct by the Judiciary Service Commission after he posted on social networking website Facebook “insinuating” material on a case running in the courts and led rowdy demonstrations against an employee who worked for an organisation where he was a treasurer.
The rowdy toyi-toying was done in front of school kids attending a theatre arts function at Charles Austin Theatre in Masvingo last year.
Chief magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe confirmed the developments to The Mirror last week and said Mzinyathi was as a result being transferred to Marondera at his own cost and was warned of sterner disciplinary measures if he is found guilty of a similar offence in future.
Mzinyathi did not dispute the cases brought against him as he pleaded guilty.
Mzinyathi must be at Marondera Magistrates’ Court by February 2, 2015.
He was charged under Section 48 (1) of the Judiciary Service Regulations and Section 53 (1) (i).
The disciplinary action came after a complaint raised that Mzinyati was interfering with a court case to the extent that he was allegedly threatening lawyers in Masvingo who wanted to represent the complainant, Leeroy Gono. He is also accused of having bragged that he “was a big dog” in town and would deal with anyone who messed around with him.
He is said to have told the complainant that he was going to teach him a lesson. Mzinyathi is also  alleged to have predicted that the complainant would lose his cases in court.
This disciplinary action came after Guvamombe, an immensely respected magistrate warned his juniors late last year that it will be folly for them to get involved in corruption or wayward behaviour.
“I want to emphasise that corruption and unprofessional conduct will not be tolerated and we will deal with all cases and complaints brought before us,” said Guvamombe.
Mzinyathi was charged last October after embattled Masvingo Drama Circle director, Gono wrote to the chief magistrate complaining that the senior magistrate was interfering with his court cases by posting prejudicial material on facebook. Mzinyathi was the treasurer of Charles Austin Theatre at the time that Gono was fired.
Mzinyathi was ordered to step down from the Drama Circle late last year after The Mirror also complained against the magistrate’s comments on facebook where he vowed to bring down the newspaper. He threatned the newspaper after it reported about problems the develling the  Drama Circle.
The Mirror also complained that it lost a $10 000 lawsuit after Mzinyathi made the threats. However, no evidence was found that could link him to interference in that case. Mzinyathi also apologised for his unprofessional conduct towards The Mirror.
On the second charge, Mzinyathi was accused of leading a rowdy group to do toyi toyi at the Youth Cultural Arts Festival (YOCAF) mainly attended by school children.
The magistrate wore a T shirt inscribed 44 000 dreams when he toti-toyed at the arts festival. The disciplinary ruling established that he wore the T shirt to spite Gono who had won a $44 000 lawsuit against Masvingo Drama Circle.
“On several encounters with him, he openly told me that I was messing with the big dogs and that he was going to teach me a lesson that I will never forget. A vicious battle ensued with  Jabulani Mzinyathi bragging both in public and on social media that I was going to lose both cases,” wrote Gono to Guvamombe.
Meanwhile, The Mirror has established that Gutu Resident Magistrate Nyasha Vhitorini is being transferred to Mutoko. The reasons for his transfer are not clear.
A  magistrate only identified as Mareche who is coming from Mutoko will replace Vhitorini. – The Mirror

A Malawian Prophet,Austin Liabunya, who said that Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is dying in a matter of a few months’ has seen another of his predictions on Zambia’s 20th January elections, failing to come to pass.

During a new year’s service in the early hours of the 1st January, Liabunya told his followers that contestant Hakainde Hichilema, will emerge as the new President of Zambia. The United Party for Development leader would beat Patriotic Front leader Edgar Lungu who recently flew to Zimbabwe to consult with President Mugabe, according to Liabunya.
Of Zimbabwe Liabunya said, “[Robert]Mugabe’s biological clock will not tick beyond this year ” after which Zimbabwe will be “restored” to be in the top five of the richest countries in Africa.
The prophet also added that First Lady Grace Mugabe “will never win in Zimbabwean politics” and had simply joined politics to “protect her ill-gotten wealth.”
 
Yesterday Hichilema was shown being beaten by a landslide 54% margin trailing behind Lungu of the Patriotic Front at the time of going to print.
However observers said that Lungu who obtained support from President Robert Mugabe, had nikuved his way to win the election.

“Prophet Liabunya told us all this that Hichilema would be cheated in the counting so this is nothing new,” said one Gertrude Mumba Wednesday night.
This was however dismissed by the Patriotic Front. ” If Lungu cheated, can you explain any such cheating in between 92,000 and 44,000?,” said a party official in Lusaka.

Amid an aura of calculated menace, Joel Biggie Matiza, State minister for Mashonaland East, announced today government’s intention to press ahead with plans to seize Zimbabwe’s remaining white-owned commercial farms.
“We have invited all the chiefs in the province to this ceremony where we are honouring the chiefs by returning land to the ancestor and rightful custodians,” Matiza said.
“In this province, we were protecting the very people who yesteryear were our erstwhile oppressors.”
Matiza was speaking in Marondera during the hand-over of A2 offer letters to 19 of the province’s 33 chiefs.
“This event is going to give a fresh outlook and perception in the way the land reform is going to be conducted in the province,” he said.
“Freshly mandated from a cultural perspective, the province will conduct an orderly programme of land allocation. Chiefs, youths, war veterans, detainees, women, civil servants, diplomatic service and ordinary people will be considered.
“The white farmers who are carrying out farming activities on gazetted land will not be tolerated as it is illegal in terms of the laws of the country. Farms that exceed the recommended sizes will also be down sized starting February so that their sizes comply with government legal requirement on maximum size.”
The chiefs got between 60 to 80 hectares of land. According to Matiza, the province has over 20 000 people on the waiting list.
Only white commercial farmers into dairy and cattle breeding or those who openly support Zanu PF will be spared.
“The remaining letters will be ready in a week after we withdraw from those occupying your land including whites appearing in our system,” he said.
“We are not racists because there are whites who are here because they have complied with our policies in line with the President’s expectations to spare those into breeding and dairy farming,” Lands minister Douglas Mombeshora said.
Chief Musarurwa welcomed the development and appealed to government to set up a revolving fund for chiefs.
Fortune Charumbira, the Chiefs Council president, lauded Matiza and blamed former Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa for denying them land.
“I am happy although it is 34 years late,” he said. “Mutasa was the minister for lands and security and had more than enough powers to give us land but instead he said he also wants to be a chief. Aaah how many offices do you want?” – Daily News

In a classical movie style operation, Bulawayo’s Fire Brigade yesterday broke a record for excellence, since independence, after they responded to a fire alert call, within less than five minutes effectively saving a restaurant from destruction.
A thick cloud of smoke and a blistering flame were seen bursting from the inside Ubuntu restaurant which is at the corner of 6^th Avenue and Lobengula Street amid rising flickering flames, prompting witnesses to call the Bulawayo Fire Brigade.
The fire service swiftly drove to the scene in less than 190 seconds. As witnesses gathered around the building, the sudden arrival of the fire service was if they had smelt the flames from afar.
Their station is more than 5 kilometres away and it was not clear if they were coming straight from the depot.
“I just called them and within a timeframe of five minutes, they were here and they quickly extinguished the fire before any damage occurred. The fire which was caused by an electric fault was put off in seconds of their arrival,” said Mrs Vhuramai Mhofu a vendor who was at the site.
According to the Chief Fire fighter who was at the scene, “Bulawayo Fire fighters do not waste time on such calls. We are a professional department and we also aim to avoid losses at all levels; that’s why we respond swiftly to calls,” he said.
In 2011, Bulawayo Fire fighters received specialist training including five fire fighting vehicles from Manchester, UK, after one of their former staff members who is now based in Leicester Davie Ndlovu facilitated the donation.
The owner of Ubuntu restaurant who arrived at the shop after a while could not respond to ZimEye.com, as she was caught in a state of shock by the unexpected incident.

Dear Editor.
The city of Mutare pumped out black coloured water to many residents on Monday. (Armature Video)

Emmerson Mnangagwa, one of the most feared politicians in Zanu (PF), is seen as the architect behind the ouster of former Spokesperson Rugare Gumbo and his allies linked to former VP Joice Mujuru in December last year towards the ruling party’s congress. Gumbo was one of the most senior members of the then Zanu during the anti-colonial war that ended in late 1979.
 
In an interview with the US based exiled radio, VOA, Gumbo described the man President Robert Mugabe made his immediate deputy at the 2014 congress as corrupt and a terror monger.
“Mnangagwa! I have said time and again. As far as I am concerned I have nothing personal against Mnangagwa as Mnangagwa. But I do not agree with his style of operation and he knows it himself, we do not want people who tend to use military tactics, people who threaten people and so on. I do not believe in that, I believe in democracy.
“I believe in discussing issues. I want to make sure that matters that affect the party and the people should be dealt with by the people. We have to commit our people to proper ways of doing business in the party. People must be given freedom to vote for whoever they like, they must also compete for whatever position and these are things Mnangagwa doesn’t like,” said Gumbo.
His statements are seen as implying that Mnangagwa has been manipulating internal and national elections.
He headed Mugabe’s election campaigns in 2008 and 2013.
In 2008, scores of people were killed in a military campaign in the run-up to a run-off in which Mugabe stood alone after Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC pulled out citing widespread political violence.
Tsvangirai had won the first round of elections in March of the same year.
While there was no widespread violence in 2013, the opposition still accuses Zanu (PF) of massive electoral fraud that gave the party a landslide victory that shocked even members of the party.
Gumbo comes from the Midlands, the same province as Mnangagwa, but the two have not seen eye to eye for a long time.
“We know it from experience, because we come from the Midlands. We know what he has done. He buys people, organizes threats and so on and we can’t operate like that. I have nothing against him. He was appointed Vice President but we do not agree with that constitution which appointed him to be Vice President and we will continue to oppose as we are opposing right now,” said Gumbo.
Mnangagwa was in charge of national security from the early years of independence attained in 1980 and has been accused of being one of the masterminds of Gukurahundi, a genocide that claimed more than 20,000 innocent lives, according to a report by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP).
The crack campaign in southern Zimbabwe was carried out purportedly to flush out dissidents who the government led by Mugabe claimed were organising an insurgency. – TheZimbabwean

A teacher at Matizha Primary school in Gutu, William Nhidza (54), has appeared at Gutu Magistrates’ court facing charges of performing indecent acts on a 15 -year-old who is doing form 3 at Chikwerengwe Secondary School in Chief Serima’s area.
Nhidza is facing three counts of indecent assault including causing the girl to caress his erect private part.
He is also accused of fondling the 15-year-old’s breasts.
It is the State case that during the month of May last year, the complainant who stayed in the school staff quarters went to the school garden to buy vegetables and met Nhidza who proposed love to her and she turned down the proposal.
The accused lured the complainant by buying her soft drinks, biscuits and zapnacks on different occasions whenever he met her at the local shops.
Sometime in October, the complainant went to fetch water at the tap where she met the accused and requested money to buy school uniforms and he promised to give her.
Nhidza then walked into the cooking shed which is a few meters away from the tap and asked the complainant to join him and she complied. He allegedly fondled the complainant’s breasts and she did not resist since she was in critical need of school uniform.
On the second count, the accused again invited the complainant into the cooking shed, allegedly her breasts, caressed her body and told her that he was going to take money from his office and give it to her and she remained in the shed.
 
On the third count, the complainant followed the accused after realizing that it was too late and that he was taking too long to come out of the office. Upon arrival at the accused’s office, she was requested to enter into the office and she complied and was told that she will be given money the following day.
While in the office, he sucked her breasts and made her caress his erect penis with her left hand and asked her to have sexual intercourse with him but she refused.
 
On the following day, the accused met the complainant whom she requested to come to his office and she complied. Allegedly gave her $10 and told her not to reveal the matter to anyone but she went on to inform her young sister aged 11.
 
The complainant’s father interrogated her and she disclosed that Nhidza had bought her uniform, fondled and sucked her breast and was also proposing love to her. Mirror

MDC-T Morgan Tsvangirai leader is facing a massive internal revolt against his leadership. Impeccable reports stretching from State and Independent media sources say that Mr Tsvangirai is struggling to hold his party together a year after Elton Mangoma and Tendai Biti staged a challenge to his power-hold.
Report by Newsday

A FRESH storm is brewing in the MDC-T with party leader Morgan Tsvangirai threatening to dissolve the party’s provincial structures accused of waging a social media campaign to hold another elective congress next year to choose a new leadership.
The push for a fresh congress comes three months after the main opposition party held an extraordinary congress in Harare following the defection of several top officials to the MDC Renewal Team.
Tsvangirai’s party was due to hold its congress in 2016, but had to bring the dates forward following the departure of some of its top executives who included secretary-general Tendai Biti and deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma, among others.
MDC-T insiders told NewsDay yesterday that a group of disgruntled party members was lobbying through social media platforms — WhatsApp and Facebook — for the party to hold another congress in 2016 in line with the party’s original plans.
The party members claimed they were not happy with some of the constitutional amendments adopted at the congress, especially the decision to give Tsvangirai wide executive powers to run the party.
Tsvangirai is alleged to have read the riot act when he met the Harare provincial executive last Friday and threatened to wield the axe on party members involved in the alleged campaign.
“Tsvangirai started by accusing the structures of mooting to have another congress in 2016 and questioned why some of the members had profile pictures of the losing standing committee candidates on their WhatsApp profiles,” an MDC-T insider said.
“Tsvangirai told the provincial members that this was a final warning and next time he would be forced to dissolve the committees if these matters continued
being discussed on the social media networks.”
Several MDC-T stalwarts, chief among them former national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa and deputy secretary-general Tapiwa Mashakada, lost their posts at the congress although they had an upper hand in the run-up to the congress held in Harare last October.
Sources said the campaign was being fuelled by some of the losing candidates to ensure they bounced back into the political limelight.
Contacted for comment yesterday, MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu could neither deny nor confirm the alleged plot, saying he was not at liberty to discuss the party’s confidential matters with the media.
“Deliberations of party structures are confidential and, therefore, I cannot comment on what was said in the meeting, but what was resolved,” Gutu said.
Gutu, however, described the push for a fresh congress next year as mischievous.
“The next congress will be held after four years, that is in 2019. Any talk of a congress in 2016 is misguided, frivolous and vexatious, and, as such, that type of bar talk must be dismissed with the contempt it deserves,” he said.
The MDC-T is yet to recover from the rifts created by its last congress and is also battling to maintain its relevance as the government-in-waiting following its crushing defeat by Zanu PF in the 2013 general elections.
Addressing party members from Harare at the Rajiv Gandhi Hall at the Harare Showgrounds on Saturday, Tsvangirai said: “Desist from communicating information on intimate party deliberations on WhatsApp because you will be giving Zanu PF free intelligence.” – Newsday

Expelled Vice President Joice Mujuru was anointed President of Zimbabwe by a friend of disgraced Robert Martin Gumbura, Pastor Godwin Chitsinde of the End Time Message, according to a report presented by church members.
 
This came to light during the prosecution of Gumbura last year after it became clear Chitsinde and Gumbura were indeed colleagues from the End Time Messages cult who eventually fell out and Chitsinde is said to have turned against Gumbura resulting in the latter’s arrest for rape. Gumbura had for years been a polygamous preacher and “so why now all of a sudden?”, church members queried.
 
This was because Gumbura who was also a top ZANU PF official, opposed to Zimbabwe being run by a woman and he was punished for it, the church report says.
 
When contacted by ZimEye.com pastor Chitsinde admitted being Gumbura’s colleague adding that he had himself even “baptised him.”
 
He begged reporters not to publish his submissions before Gumbura’s application is heard lest court procedures are compromised and now that Gumbura’s application failed last year this reporter now seeks to reveal the truth.
 
It is claimed with the ouster of Joice Mujuru, there may be hopes of Gumbura being released through a presidential amnesty by Robert Mugabe’s successor likely, Emmerson Mnangagwa, also said to be a serial polygamist.
 
A Gumbura follower who refused to be named said of Gumbura’s incarceration in 2013: “This is the work of Mai Mujuru who hates polygamy and also working on behalf of Pope Chitsinde who anointed her president (of Zimbabwe). The judiciary said these are weak cases . In a real democracy they would have been thrown out. A VP who interferes with the judiciary should be forced to resign. But again this is like Somalia dysfunction is the norm,” they alleged.
However Chitsinde, of the Spoken Word Ministries, denied causing Gumbura’s arrest. He last year told the courts that he began receiving reports of Gumbura’s sex escapades in 1988, before receiving information in 1997 that he had raped his cousin. He said he first knew Gumbura in 1978, after baptising him in Westwood, Harare. Chitsinde denied ever influencing anyone to report rape charges against the embattled clergyman.
“We are not rivals,” Chitsinde said. “We are not in the same league. My ministry does not depend on his (ministry).”
Gumbura was early last year jointly convicted with his secretary Tendai Ganyani who allegedly assisted him rape a minor he had adopted.