Barely two weeks after marching around Harare blasting his former employers, Buhera South MP, Joseph Chinotimba has staged another one man demonstration against the City of Harare complaining against garbage.
Chinotimba started removing garbage at the corner of Mbirimi and Dumbutshena street in Mbare, loading into his official vehicle ready for the dump site. He took a swipe at the City of Harare for concentrating on petty issues yet exposing the lives of many people to diseases.
“It is high time that we as a country set aside a day for cleaning as other countries do. If there is a Cholera outbreak in Mbare, it does not end there. Mbare is the traditional home for black visitors, so it must be kept clean. We don’t want a situation where council officials spend time chasing kombis, while garbage and potholes are being ignored,” said Cde Chinotimba.
Mbare residents applauded the legislator for leading by example.“This is not political, cholera and death don’t care whether you are Zanu PF or MDC so what Cde Chinos has done is commendable,” said one Mbare resident.
“The MP has shown that he is a true representative of people, not just a leader of his constituency in Buhera but a leader of the people of Zimbabwe,” said another resident.Cde Chinotimba has also staged a one man demonstration against arrest of taxi drivers and the impounding of pirate taxis in the past.

A number of lawyers, who have reportedly refused to represent a quest by liberation war pioneers and veterans to sue Zanu PF over its damp squib and “unconstitutional” congress last year, say they are actually ready to take up the case.
This comes as the State media has relentlessly sought to vilify former attorney-general Sobusa Gula-Ndebele and lawyer Addington Chinake for alleged involvement in the contest against many of President Robert Mugabe’s acolytes.
Lewis Uriri, a renowned advocate and one of the lawyers allegedly approached by the two senior counsels to argue the case in court, said he would represent the group if approached.
The threat to sue Zanu PF was issued by the group in a damning statement signed by the party’s former secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa who insists he has not been removed from his post.
“I am a lawyer (and) not a politician,” Uriri said.
“I operate within certain professional and ethical norms, and parameters. Assuming that I was approached, which I cannot deny or confirm, I would not… discuss a client’s case without his consent.”
While Uriri said he had never met Mutasa before, he emphasised that he had taken an oath to “represent all manner of people without fear or favour”.
“The duty of a lawyer is to take instructions from clients and act if there is no conflict. Your question seems to suggest that it is wrong to represent Mutasa and the group.
“I see nothing wrong in representing him or anyone for that matter,” he said.
In a series of articles since January 16, the State media has not only sought to give an impression “no one was willing to touch the lawsuit because it was long on politics than the law”, but out rightly engage in scare-mongering and suggest that Uriri, and others had broken the attorney-client privilege.
Fortune Chasi, another lawyer who was allegedly approached by the ex-Zanu PF bigwig, also poured cold water on suggestions that the group was finding it hard to secure a lawyer.
“I think this is some form of mischief aimed at allocating lawyers who they can represent or not.
“As a lawyer, I represent anyone and that includes murderers,” the former deputy Justice minister said, emphasising, though, that he had not been approached to handle the case.
Chasi not only indicated that he was “still furnishing his Advocates’ Chambers offices”, but it would be difficult for him to take up any cases with such high “conflict of interest” since he was one of the recently fired ministers.
Yesterday, Mutasa railed at his detractors for claiming he was failing to get a lawyer and dismissing it as “mere propaganda aimed at dampening their spirits”.
“Vanonyepa, hapana zvakadaro, vanorambirei (There is no reason for them to snub us), a case is a case what is required is legal evidence and there is plenty of that,” he said.-DailyNews

Bulawayo was yesterday plunged into a black-spell of rage from an uproar of parents whose children’s school uniforms were robbed in broad daylight by tricksters who have invaded Zimbabwe’s second largest city school roads as they strip naked vulnerable infants on their way to school.
The tricksters prey on newly enrolled grades zero and one, by waylaying them on their way from school and deprive them off their school uniforms, shoes and satchels before giving them sweets and freezits (popular plastic drinks which cost $1 for twenty packets).
Furious parents of mugged children told ZimEye.com narrated their ordeal since money in the current economy is hard to come by to buy another uniform. “This is the same as killing because, if one can ambush children and steal school wear, killing can also be easy for such people,” said a visibly angry Mrs Thobekile Sibanda.

Her sentiments concurred with those of another parent Mrs Josina Gwati, whose daughter came home wearing a long dirty t/shirt, while licking a lollypop. “I am thinking of seeking the guidance of a witch doctor to recover my stolen school wear,” she said in a dejected mood.
According to Aaron Ncube, a grade one student from Lotshe primary school, whose uniform, shoes and satchel were stolen, the muggers would give them sweets and biscuits before stripping them of their school wear.
“They gave us very nice sweets and I gave them my shoes and uniform because they told me that mama asked them to go and wash them for tomorrow,” he said before asking for sweets.
Another 6 year old Thandeka Khumalo from Nkulumane’s Queen Elizabeth primary school was also robbed by the same terror group, who took her shoes, satchel and dress before giving her freezits and sweets. “Malume gave me freezits and sweets and told me to come and collect my uniform tomorrow from our teacher,” she said.
Several Bulawayo parents’ kids have been robbed school wear by tricksters, who waylay unsuspecting infants by luring them with sweets and toys.
Mrs Faustina Ngwenya of Pumula South had to buy a double uniform, after her twin boys were all robbed their school wear on their way from school yesterday.
Parents have since called for a meeting with school heads on the issue, but the outcome was still a task for parents, who were asked to accompany their kids to and from school, as the teachers have resolved not to release children before a parent or guardian is available.
“We have found it best to ask parents and guardians to accompany their kids to and from school, as more than 90% of grade zero and one have lost their new school wear to these unscrupulous thugs who resell their loot to the same parents on the flea markets,” said Mrs Moyo a school head at Pelandaba’s primary school.
Police have also been put on alert following the outcry from parents. Pumula’s neighbourhood Police watch is now on full alert and on patrol during the school going peak hour and also after children’s knock off time.
Asked to comment on the issue, the Bulawayo Police press and liaison office could neither confirm nor deny the crime, but opted to warn parents against sending their infants to school unaccompanied by elders.
Bulawayo’s police spokesperson Inspector Madlenkosi Moyo could not be reached for comment as his mobile was continuously unreachable by the time of going to press.

A  man from Pumula North suburb in Bulawayo yesterday morning gruesomely killed his father by strangling him with a wire, before gouging out his eyes with a screwdriver and then cooking food for himself as if nothing has happened.
Trust Moyo (27) used a wire to strangle his 61-year-old father  a local barber. He tightened  the wire around his neck  using a pair of pliers, and residents have described the killing as cold-blooded murder.
Provincial police spokesperson  for Bulawayo, Mandlenkosi Moyo confirmed the murder, without providing any further details.
“I can confirm that a man killed his father in Pumula North, but I cannot give any further details,”  Moyo said.
Residents expressed shock and disbelief at the manner in which Moyo killed his father, with others saying he was possessed.
When the reporters arrived at the Moyo residence, scores of people where gathered outside the house, clearly shocked, as they discussed what they saw in the coming.
The neighbours claim that, the deceased, Mbolandi Moyo and his son, Trust, had an on-going dispute about cattle, which they suspected to be the cause of their fight that led to the father’s death.
“Trust had been demanding that his father share his cattle between him and his stepmother so that hecould sell his share and spend the money on alcohol,” Khulekani Nkomo, a tenant at the family home said.
“They had been fighting a lot on this issue and now we suspect that it is the reason he killed him.
“We heard him (Moyo) cry that his son was about to kill him very early in the morning today, but we ignored it thinking it was one of the disputes they have had almost weekly.”
Nkomo said because they had become accustomed to the fighting, they did not think it was anything out of the usual and did not
intervene.
A local vendor, only identified as MaNcube, claimed Trust had a mental illness, which seemed to have worsened over the past days, as sometimes he would lock his father outside the house until the wee hours of the morning.
“Trust was becoming scarier by the day, as he continually fought his father over food, alcohol, cigarettes and other petty issues,” she said.
“He even acted normally today, cooked himself isitshwala in the morning, after performing such a gruesome act, an indication that he is not normal.”
Trust reportedly went to the police after killing his father and told them his father was terminally ill and they should come and intervene. The police took him home only to find his father’s body in a pool of blood and this led to his arrest. -Southern Eye

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s continued absence in the country has reignited speculation around the ageing leader’s health.
Chief Reporter
Mugabe, who turns 91 in a month, left the country on December 14 destined for Asia and scheduled to return on January 15.
Five days after he was due back in the country, there is no official word on when Mugabe is likely to return.
This could be Mugabe’s longest stay outside the country in recent years.
Further fuelling speculation around Mugabe’s health was his failure to attend the inauguration of Felipe Nyusi, the new Mozambican president, as in the past he has not missed such functions.
Already, Mugabe’s diary is filling up as he is scheduled to attend an African Union summit in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, on January 30 and 31, where he will assume the organisation’s chairmanship and a Sadc Troika on Politics, Defence and Security meeting aimed at resolving the political crisis in Lesotho also slated for January.
Commentators yesterday said Mugabe was prolonging his stay hoping that challenges he was facing would have cooled down.
Political commentator Dumisani Nkomo said the nation was being held to ransom due to Mugabe’s absence, but said he hoped he was in good health.
“His absence is increasingly becoming worrisome to the nation,” he said.
“While we acknowledge that he is entitled to his annual leave, this time he has been away for a long period.
“He changed ministers while on holiday and there is doubt whether the new ministers got proper induction into their portfolios. It is always good for a chief executive officer to personally brief his immediate staff whenever there are new appointments.”
Nkomo said Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa was constitutionally hamstrung, as he could not make binding decisions. Cabinet has not sat for several weeks bringing government business to a standstill.
MDC spokesman Nhlanhla Dube said Mugabe’s in-tray was probably ladened with tricky matters and he “would rather deal with the matters in absentia than confronting them head on”.
“It’s an indication that the president has decided to extend his holiday in the Far East, but conveniently forgetting that he carries the hopes of the nation on his shoulders,” he said.
“So, Mugabe would rather extend his holiday, hoping that the situation back home would cool down.”
On his return, Mugabe would be faced with escalating chaos within Zanu PF, particularly on how to handle his former Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa, an imploding economy and strike threats from civil servants.
Mutasa and a host of other sacked Zanu PF members have demanded an explanation from Mugabe on their demise and have since written a letter to him and Sadc. – SouthernEye

Over the weekend, mourners in Mhondoro district of Mashonaland East province were forced to run for their dear lives, during Gogo Chihera’s burial, as big cats, two baboon like animals and four hyenas rushed into the grave of the late grandmother.
Witnesses who include the village head Bobias Jonhera, described the circumstances that took place when the coffin of the late 89 year old grandmother of 11 was being lowered into her final resting place as unfortunate.
“I thought these kind of events were only found in Zaka and Gokwe, but I am at a loss of words as how to describe this and for the first time in my village, this is happening. I saw the size of a cat that I never saw since I was born,” said village head Jonhera.
Pallbearers also ran and left the coffin landing in the grave as they were terrified by the appearance of wild animals during the burial process. The animals are said to have disappeared inside the grave after jumping in forcing close relatives to finalise the burial.
Gogo Chihera’s 42 year old granddaughter Sally Nyamupambiwa told ZimEye.com that her grandmother was looking after these peculiar creatures and she also used to see her feeding baboons and big cats at one of their maize fields. “Gogo Chihera whose real name is Pamhayi Jamhu is my grandmother and all those animals that caused discomfort to mourners were her pets.
She liked them so much that everyone in our family is aware of the existence of these pets and that she used to feed them at night and in the early hours everyday,” she said with confidence.
Gogo Chihera died in Kadoma after a long illness and her body was taken to Mhondoro for burial where the drama took place during her burial. The Jonhera villagers were left wondering and tongue tight by the incident at the burial.
According to Pastor Xavier Muguti who was at the funeral, he also described the incident as shocking a nd unbelievable. “I tell you what I saw with my own eyes was just unbelievable. I saw the baboons and the cats jumping into the grave. This needed a novelist and a photographer to describe what I saw as I am failing to narrate it and also those who were there could not believe it as they were perturbed,” said Pastor Maguti.
However, Gogo Chihera was laid to rest after her granddaughter Nyamupambiwa knelt at the grave performing some rituals and shouting on top of her voice, “Enda ne zvinhu zvako Chihera, tora zvese uende nazvo kunyika dzimu isusu hatingazvigoni,” literally meaning that the late old woman must go with her pets spiritually, as no one is able to look after them.
Efforts were made to find out what happened to these animals after they entered the grave, but it was not clear as relatives and other mourners could not shed more light besides saying the animals disappeared.
 

The ZRP has released some names of those who died in yesterday’s accident, which has since been declared a national disaster.
The accident, whose death toll has since risen to 26, occurred along the Harare-Nyamapanda highway yesterday and it involved a ZUPCO and Unifreight, now Pioneer, buses.
Those who perished in the accident are: Nyaradzo Chihowa (32), Sylvester Mudzengerere (14), Belinda Mutize (18), Lydia Nyakabau (17), Patrick Mupemhi (30), Nyasha Matika (45), Lovejoy Chabota (45), Munashe Mudzengerere (17), Tawengwa Matyora (10), Fortunate Mukunyere (9), Movert Chikata (6), Lucia Chababa (12), Agnes Sakurangoma (26), and Tafadzwa (12), Tanaka (7) and Tashinga (7) all form the Chinyama family.
The Minister of Local Government, Public Service and National Housing, Dr Ignatius Chombo confirmed government’s decision to declare the accident a national disaster.
He said this when he visited those injured at Parirenyatwa hospital, in the company of the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Dr Obert Mpofu.
So far, 13 of the injured are still admitted at Parirenyatwa hospital with three said to be in a critical condition.
Dr Mpofu expressed concern on the continued road carnage, saying government will in the next few days review the maximum speed limit pending the on-going rehabilitation of the country’s roads. – ZBC

Chipinge – A top magistrate for Chipinge Magistrates’ Court was killed in a head on collision in the wee hours of Sunday morning after his car swerved across into an oncoming (so called Gonyet) truck’s path.
Emergency responders found at around 00:30 a.m. a mangled scene after the bridge at Wengezi, where his car collided with the truck, which was loaded with transported goods.
Magistrate Waeni Makamera died on his way to Mutambara Hospital after being rescued by an ambulance.
Present in the car was the magistrate’s friend by name “Simba” a CBZ Chipinge employee and one Sam Semwayo who works for Chipinge Town Council.
The driver of the truck was unhurt.
Investigators are still unsure what caused magistrate Waeni’s car to move into oncoming traffic.
A small amount of diesel fuel was spilled in the crash.
The late magistrate had been on his way to Mutare while the truck was coming from that city.
The accident comes barely a few hours before the Nyamapanda road one in which 27 people were slain. ALSO READ-WARNING: DISTURBING PICTURES – 25 Dead In Nyamapanda Road Accident

A baby girl was said to have been found dumped in Avondale on Monday morning.
The child, stuck in grass and leaves on the ground was spotted through her loud crying, the report said.
Details were sketchy at the time of writing as the announcement was made by a member on Harare Pastor Godfrey Kudita’s church’s WhatsApp profile.
Pastor Kudita told ZimEye.com, “I saw it on our profile when someone posted and said that is what had happened…”
Efforts to get further details were fruitless as the phone was abruptly cut and call attempts failed.

Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries (PHD) leader Walter Magaya says his prophecy about a fire gutting a building near First Street in Harare two weeks ago has come to pass.
This follows a mysterious fire that broke out in the security guardroom at the entrance of the High Court in Harare on Thursday.
Police confirmed the inferno saying it broke out after a security guard at the High Court left an electric heater turned on in a wooden guardroom and it exploded.
The fire, according to police spokesperson Charity Charamba, destroyed issue vouchers, files, two chairs, one table, two heaters, one steel cabinet, a telephone handset, cell phone, seven cases of soft drinks and a window to the deputy registrar’s office.
Magaya told the Daily News yesterday that he was glad that no-one was injured in the inferno after he and his congregation had prayed hard to avert disaster.
“I spoke about it recently and I am happy that there were no fatalities.
“We prayed for it when we were given the prophecy and God responded to our call. Glory to the Almighty,” he said. Magaya had told thousands of his congregants during a church service in Waterfalls that he had been shown a vision of a building catching fire and immediately asked his flock to pray hard so that there would be no deaths or injuries.
The celebrity preacher said the building, which he did not identify at the time, would be gutted by a mysterious fire.
“I have been getting this vision for some time,” Magaya said.
“I see a fire, a fire that will destroy a building near First Street. May we all raise our hands in prayer so that danger will be averted so that there will be no deaths, no injuries,” he added to thunderous applause from his church faithful.
The prophecy comes less than a week after he predicted good fortunes for the economy this year. In his New Year message delivered on the eve of 2015, Magaya said the country would experience an economic boom as more minerals would be discovered.
“So there shall be ways of discovering Africa, for instance I see new minerals being discovered in Africa…I am saying we have reached a point whereby you are going to be fruitful rather than going down as the previous years, but in 2015 the world is going to recognise Africa more and Zimbabwe in particular,” Magaya said. – Daily News

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is set to fly into a storm as tensions are reaching boiling point in Zanu PF, with Didymus Mutasa insisting he is still a member of the party and cannot be expelled by an illegal structure.
Reports indicated that Mugabe was due to arrive in the country last Friday from his year-end holiday, but indications are that he is not yet back.
Mutasa upped the ante at the weekend, saying he expected a response from Mugabe to a letter he and other axed Zanu PF members sent to Sadc.
Mugabe is the chairman of the regional body and he will be expected to handle a grievance against himself and the party he leads.
The axed Zanu PF secretary for administration wrote to Sadc leaders and the chairman about his grievances with the party and its conduct of the December congress.
“No, I have not yet received the response,” he said.
“The response will come from the chairman of Sadc (Mugabe).”
Mutasa could not be drawn into speculating whether he foresaw Mugabe responding to his letter.
However, South African President Jacob Zuma’s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, said he had not seen the letter Mutasa had written to his principal complaining about the congress.

A 52-YEAR-OLD Pumula man has been arraigned before the courts facing allegations of raping his own daughter twice and infecting her with HIV.
The man appeared before Western Commonage provincial magistrate Willard Mafios Moyo on Friday, where he was charged with contravening Section 65 of Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge.
However, he was remanded in custody to January 30 for continuation of trial.
“I never raped my daughter. My wife and I are currently not in good books, so it is a way of getting back at me,” he said.
The man reportedly raped his 17-year-old daughter on two occasions. On the first count, he allegedly asked his daughter to sweep her brother’s bedroom and he later followed and raped her once.
On the second count, the man approached his daughter as she was sleeping on the floor with her younger brother and asked her to join him in bed and she complied.
On both counts, the juvenile did not report the case to anyone until she visited her mother and told her what was happening.
The mother said that she was disheartened to hear such news and she immediately reported the matter to the police.
“How can someone who knows he is HIV-positive rape his daughter and infect her?” she asked.
“I am so hurt, I wish the justice system will do its best to deal with such inhumanity in our communities.”
Mufaro Mageza prosecuted. -SouthernEye

Gokwe’s entire community has at this moment resolved to summon the Zimbabwe Defence Forces to exterminate witches, who are as said wreaking havoc in the agro district causing unnecessary suffering to the villagers.
According to Nemangwe, Njelele, Nembudziya, and Jiri inhabitants, witches in their areas are showing off their evil acts scoffing  the authority and control of Chiefs.
The indaba which was set down and discussed by more than 13 village heads from around Gokwe’s chiefdoms, is said to be the only solution to destroy witchcraft empires, that have seen the deaths of several residents, village heads and traditional leaders.
“We have resolved to petition our chiefs as village heads, to request the Zimbabwe National Army to rescue us from this harsh situation. In 2010 a village head was bewitched after a village court passed a sentence to a witch and he died after he was flattered by a butterfly,” said headman Mombo of Nemangwe.
According to Headman Kunguva of Gokwe, witches in Gokwe use butterflies, owls, cats, lightning bolts, snakes and cockroaches, as their tools of trade.
Last week, villagers in Dzvoritsvo under Chief Njelele, were sent scampering for cover after two witches allegedly exchanged lightning bolts during a traditional ritual ceremony to sniff out evil doers[READ MORE – Gokwe Lightning Strike Witches on the Prowl, Mystery Man Resurfaces in Bulawayo.
“The spark from the bumping lightning bolts, as eye witnesses said, scared away the traditional healer, who fled from the scene, and never returned. The two old men who had agreed to surrender their tools of evil trade, started quarreling before the official ceremony started, and their dispute spilled into the exorcizing time, thereby causing the exchange of lightning bolts (as claimed) in a bid to exhibit their strength against one another.
The traditional healer who resurfaced in Bulawayo told ZimEye.com that the two are involved in the 26 panties saga and the owl that grabbed a matured male dog during a village indaba in headman Pauro’s area, under Chief Njelele.
Another village head, from Nembudziya, Tongoona Mavoyo told ZimEye.com that their quest to have the army involved is the only remedy to what he described as a continuing and rising plague of witchcraft.
“I think the army will do justice. In the early 60 here in Gokwe, we used to deal with these kinds of issues at our place called Gandavaroyi. The Gandavaroyi as its name speaks was for drowning all witches in this deep river pool and that way we cleansed our community. Now the evil is back again, certainly this time we need the army and nothing else.
Last year, Chief Njelele and his counterpart Chief Jiri were quoted by ZimEye.com, planning an indaba to deal with all witchcraft issues and also to expel from their jurisdictions anyone found practicing Satanism and witchcraft.
ZimEye.com contacted Gokwe Police to get their comment on the situation that has rocked the district and they said they deal with criminal issues not traditional issues.
“We are Zimbabwe Republic Police not Zimbabwe Traditional Healers Association and so I think you need the traditional chief for comment not a Police one,” said a police spokesperson in Gokwe.
However, an ex-soldier and veteran of the armed struggle, who identified himself as retired Lieutenant Dudzai Mambira said they used to eliminate witches during the war. “We used to kill these witches in the war, because they are an evil society, who will even poison fighters. I think it’s a noble idea to consult their chiefs and maybe revisit the Gandavaroyi as the army cannot do that unless under orders,” he said.

Expelled Vice President Joice Mujuru plans to start her own party and challenge Robert Mugabe on the Presidency.
Sources told The Standard that plans to launch a political party were at an advanced stage and there was serious lobbying among Mujuru loyalists to embrace the idea. The party, the sources said, was likely to be launched before March this year.
“The plan is for Mujuru to form a political party. The push is coming especially from her supporters in Parliament. The idea is that if Mujuru forms a party, they (MPs) will either mobilise to resign enmasse or pass a vote-of-no-confidence in Mugabe. Parliament would then be dissolved and fresh elections called. Mujuru will then challenge Mugabe.”
“Mujuru will be the leader of the party whose active officials would be new and young party members while those old and experienced members would form the elders’ council, giving direction to the youngsters.”
But War veterans leader and Minister of Welfare Services for War Veterans, Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa said Zanu-PF would not lose sleep.
Said Ambassador Mutsvangwa: “That will be a party of discredited renegades who spent more than 10 years at the centre of power in Zimbabwe who did everything in their capacity to ruin the economy as a ticket to power.
“They are really beyond their last political tether and completely wasted because there is no hope of a political party coming from the useless bunch. Anyone who would ever want to associate with them is assured of political suicide. Zanu-PF is too strong and resilient, so there is no future outside Zanu-PF.”
He said Mujuru should shoulder the blame for economic problems bedevilling the country. “She is the actual author of the economic meltdown which involved an engineered gigantic capital flight, hyper- inflation and subsequent disappearance of the Zimbabwean dollar as national currency,” he said.
“Her ex-Rhodesian business associates were the main culprits. They were assisted by suicidal monetary policies of a complicit RBZ which was under influence of CATO INSTITUTE of extreme right Tea Party Movement.
“The ideological godfather of the economic meltdown is Steve Hanke whose Zimbabwe disciple is Dr Gideon Gono, a political associate of ex-VP Joice Mujuru. She superintended all sectors of the economy during that fatefully painful period of unprecedented economic pain for the general populace of Zimbabwe. She had wrestled away all important decisions of Cabinet during that epoch.
“All the pain the nation was subjugated to lies squarely on her lap as the woman czar at the helm of the Zimbabwean economy. Her illiteracy ,both literary and economic, plunged Zimbabwe into economic hell.”
He added: “Now Zanu-PF is in good riddance of this rubbish prone to treacherous tendencies. It is moving fast to revive the economy, fast Gross Domestic Product growth and bright employment opportunities of a hardworking, well-educated youthful population.
“There just won’t be any more space for political ciphers of the likes of Mujuru, (Didymus) Mutasa and (Rugare) Gumbo.” – The Standard

Daily News –  Zimbabwe is once again fast-descending into debilitating political and economic chaos, with President Robert Mugabe and his misfiring Zanu PF Cabinet trapped in the deadly jaws of the ruling party’s savage and seemingly never-ending infighting.

The Daily News on Sunday, as the authoritative voice of the voiceless, once again poses the same question we asked last year: where are these people taking us to?
Both political and economic analysts who spoke to the Daily News on Sunday yesterday agreed that the Cabinet changes that were made by Mugabe late last year were unlikely to help resolve Zimbabwe’s myriad crises as the country was apparently following “toxic” policies.
In addition, the mooted fresh Cabinet changes said to be in the offing when Mugabe returns from his holiday were also unlikely to help matters as they will be dealing mainly with factional fights more than a quest for development.
As a result, said the analysts, ordinary citizens would continue to pay a heavy price for the ruling party’s lack of prudent policies coupled with the internecine intra party fights — which were seeing them having to make do without basic necessities such as water, electricity and access to affordable health facilities, among many other issues.
“Yes, this old crop of ‘new’ ministers will take Zimbabwe to another level. A deeper and worse level of mediocrity and economic mismanagement because with Mugabe firmly in control, there is simply no room for new thinking or innovation,” political analyst Dewa Mavhinga said.
He noted ruefully that people in Zanu PF were elevated to high positions based on their loyalty to the nonagenarian leader, as opposed to what they could do for their country.
“All these ministers know that political loyalty is ranked higher than the capacity to resolve Zimbabwe’s deep-seated economic problems.
“In any case, it is unlikely that international investors will come to the party because there is no evidence that Zimbabwe is taking a new political path, if anything, the impression one has is that hardliners and bootlickers have taken over,” Mavhinga said.
Amidst all this, government sources say that Mugabe — the only leader Zimbabweans have known since the country’s independence from Britain in April 1980 — is increasingly heavily reliant on members of the so-called “Clean Dozen” to help him resolve the current political and economic crises.
But the analysts and Zanu PF insiders who spoke to the paper felt that the group, that includes Saviour Kasukuwere, Jonathan Moyo, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Edna Madzongwe, Prisca Mupfumira, Oppah Muchinguri, Monica Mutsvangwa, Makhosini Hlongwane, Ignatius Chombo and Josiah Hungwe, had “little to nothing” new to offer the country.
Political analyst Pedzisayi Ruhanya agreed with Mavhinga’s views saying that the “recycling of deadwood” by Mugabe would neither revive the country’s comatose economy, nor bring food on the table — as the same “political crew” had failed to deliver similarly in the past.
“The change that is required is the system the he (Mugabe) governs not the change of individuals. We need to reform the system. There is need for the transformation of electoral laws and the alignment of the laws with the new Constitution,” he said.
Ruhanya also noted that there was need for a complete overhaul of the institutional framework that governed the State.
“This requires that there must be a clear separation between the operations of Zanu PF and the government. As it stands now there is a conflation between the party and the State.
“The State is larger than the political party. How many reshuffles has Mugabe made since 1980 and to what effect?
“The regime of Mugabe is bankrupt of both ideas and money,” Ruhanya said.
He added that Zimbabwe’s problems were also premised on the dichotomy between what he called “the will to power and the will to transform”.
He said some of the government’s policies like indigenisation and the land reform programme were solely aimed at looting by Zanu PF bigwigs and their acolytes.
He gave as a stark example of this the much-criticised evictions of poor families that were currently taking place at Manzou Farm in Mazowe, where First Lady Grace Mugabe is to establish an animal sanctuary.
He said it was clear that the affected villagers had been allocated the land at the height of Zanu PF’s chaotic land reforms, but were now being evicted to pave way for Grace and the animals.
“The change of individuals must be a product of an overhaul of the governance system in Zimbabwe.
“When Zanu PF took over power in 1980, it did not democratise the State,” he said, citing the example of how security and law enforcement agencies conducted their operations in the country.
Ruhanya said the way the law enforcement agencies did their work was not in any way different from the Ian Smith regime era.
It was thus expected that the newly-appointed ministers would not proffer any tangible solutions, beyond empty slogans, to the country’s problems.
“How can they have a solution when their master does not have any solution? Do you think a soon-to-be 91 leader will bring in new ideas? He has reached his political dead end,” Ruhanya said.
Another analyst, Francis Mukora, wryly said while the so-called Clean Dozen members were credited for rescuing the Zanu PF Women’s League congress, by providing food and other logistics, the group lacked the requisite skills and resources to save the country’s economy from collapse.
“Going forward, I don’t see any prospects of progress under the current leadership.
“In fact, the relative socio-economic stability we witnessed during the government of national unity era is quickly evaporating by the day,” he said.
“ZimAsset is yet to kick off, and on the contrary since the last election, we have witnessed massive company closures and thousands of people losing their jobs, resulting in an ever dwindling government revenue base — which makes it impossible for the government to deliver in almost every sector,” he added.
Mukora noted that in an effort to satisfy its leaders’ huge appetite for resources, the Zanu PF-led government would soon introduce more taxes aimed at robbing the poor out of their hard-earned meagre incomes.
“From what we have seen so far, it’s most probable that the poor will continue to be milked even further, through increased numbers of toll gates and fuel levies. Nothing new should be expected this year, or until 2018,” he said.
Over the past 35 years, Mugabe and Zanu PF have transformed Zimbabwe from once being seen as the breadbasket of Africa to a basket case — poverty levels continuously rising and the unemployment rate hovering around 90 percent. – Daily News

Harare – Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s secret to a long life is simple: no cigarettes or alcohol and lots of exercise, his sister said in an interview published on Sunday.
Mugabe turns 91 next month and is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.
“He has always known that things like alcohol and smoking are debilitating and degrade the body,” Regina Gata, Mugabe’s only surviving sister said in an interview with the Sunday Mail.
“Even up to now, he exercises a lot,” Gata told the state-controlled publication in an interview from her home in Mabelreign, a modest suburb in the capital Harare.
“I always hear from Amai [Mother] Grace Mugabe that he exercises a lot everyday and he remains disciplined in this respect,” Gata, 68, said.
Gata is Mugabe’s half-sister from his father’s second wife.
Mugabe’s asceticism is well-known. He has previously revealed that he takes a long walk every morning at 5 am, eats very little meat and lots of vegetables. His wife takes pride in growing her own for the family.
He regularly travels to Singapore for what the authorities insist are “eye check-ups”, and, despite a very occasional stumble, appears to be in remarkably good health.
Gata said Mugabe had used his savings to pay for her nursing course in the UK in the 1970s, when he was still in prison.
– SAPA

The death toll in the accident which occurred along Nyamapanda, Mtoko – Harare road has risen to 27[Click here for the earlier story].
ZimEye.com’s Correspondent Blessing Marezva was told by a rescue team officer attending the scene “the number of the deceased has risen to 27.” The announcement came just before 7PM. PICTURES:

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Support Unit arrested 79 704 offenders in 2014 compared to 39 091 for the same period in 2013, translating to a 100% increase in arrests.
Speaking on behalf of Deputy Commissioner General Levy Sibanda during the Support Unit belated end of year party, ZRP Commissioner – Human Resources, Nonkosi Ncube commended the Support Unit for recording notable success in arresting offenders in the country.
The occasion also saw different police officers who excelled in various areas receiving awards.
Major sponsor of the event, Business Optimisation Systems Managing Director, Mr Herbert Dandadzi said his organisation will continue to support the police as it is playing a pivotal role in making sure people leave in a crime free society.
The belated end of year party also accorded members of the force to share experiences not only as the police family but with stakeholders and clients as well.- ZBC

President Robert Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao writes attacking prominent ZANU PF cadre Kerina Mujati claiming that she is in a treason plot. This was all following a short social networking comment  Mujati had typed on Zhuwao’s portal saying Zhuwao’s uncle Mugabe is sabotaging national progress.

FULL TEXT:

Shallow minded people, of the likes of Kerina Mujati, are oblivious of the tremendous strides that Zimbabwe has made in various fields. Such ignorance therefore means that they cannot relate some of the innovations in far off lands that they encounter to real-life conditions and circumstances in Zimbabwe. An awareness of the wonders of Zimbabwe becomes the foundational basis on which we can be able to further develop our country.
A few weeks ago, the Zhuwao Brief diverted from expounding on the values that guide the appointments of the Vice Presidents and Second Secretaries of Zanu PF as espoused in Section 35 (1)(b) of the Zanu PF Constitution as amended in 2014. These values are stated to be values of “skill, experience, probity, integrity and commitment to the Party, its ideology, values, principles and policies”.
The Zhuwao Brief undertakes to come back to these values shortly. Hopefully, there will be no major event more worthy of the nation’s attention.
The delusional rantings of a former Secretary of Administration that seeks to censure an organisation whilst signing himself off as the Secretary of Administration of that same organisation will not be sufficient to warrant a diversion from such an explanation.
Such actions are typical of those who are one finger short of five senses.
In this article, the Zhuwao Brief submits that the prerequisite for a person to be adjudged to have the values of a National Leader such as the President and First Secretary is an abiding sense of nationalism and patriotism that facilitates for visionary leadership.
That visionary leadership needs to envision “an empowered society and a growing economy”; in line with ZimAsset (that cliché once again!). This calls for an imagined community, and its concomitant partner, an imagined identity.
This article will firstly recount a spirited debate by a certain Kerina Mujati for her perceived need for a sea-life aquarium in Zimbabwe as a basis for discussing Benedict Anderson’s concept of created communities and imagined identities.
The article will submit that the Zimbabwe’s development and transformation needs to build on the success of the National Constitution by imagining a progressive community and a progressive identity in the future.
The imagining of our community and identity needs to focus on providing better lives for ourselves and our compatriots.
The narratives of regime change have been forcing us to imagine communities based on factionalism and tribalism.
These concepts are divisive and retrogressive.
However, because as human beings we are highly creative and imaginative, the Zhuwao Brief posits that our imagining must revolve around empowering our society and growing our economy.
“You don’t need a sea to have sea-life” – Kerina Mujati
Last week, my wife and I went on a holiday to Dubai as part of commemorating her birthday and l photographed her as she stood in front The Dubai Mall Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. After posting the picture on my Facebook wall, a certain Kerina Mujati posted as follows; “If your uncle was organised we could have those as well in Zimbabwe without travelling abroad for that …..”
I responded to Kerina Mujiati’s post by sending her images of the holiday that my wife and I had just come from at Malilangwe Game Reserve, Chiredzi in December.
The images included inspiring pictures of buffalo, elephants, giraffes and views of the Malilangwe Dam from the pool deck and from the bathroom of the suite we stayed in.
The images were accompanied by messages that highlighted that Zimbabwe believes in conservation that enables wildlife to live in their natural habitat as opposed to confining them in zoos and enclosures.
I went further to highlight that we don’t do aquariums in Zimbabwe because we are land locked.
I have chosen to reproduce Kerina Mujati’s re-joinder to my responses in full without editing it, lest I misrepresent her:
Do you need a sea to create a sea life? Patrick Zhuwao you got the message about miserable uncle Bob who has turned Zimbabwe into a village…why travel all the miles …..just get it your uncle is an incompetent man who is holding on yet the nation is suffering, remember every dog has its day.”
I am sure you are asking yourself what all of this has got to do with narratives of regime change.
Kerina Mujati represents the loss of identity that has been occasioned by narratives that have sought to eliminate the reality of our existence as the indigenous Bantu people of Zimbabwe.
These narratives hark for anything foreign to the point of wistfully wishing to create sea-life adventures that ignore such stubborn realities that we are land locked.
These narratives ignore such facts as the pre-eminent role that Zimbabwe has played, continues to play and will play in the future with regards to the conservation of natural resources and bio-diversity. Zimbabwe created the world recognised concept of the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE).
Shallow minded people, of the likes of Kerina Mujati, are oblivious of the tremendous strides that Zimbabwe has made in various fields.
Such ignorance therefore means that they cannot relate some of the innovations in far off lands that they encounter to real-life conditions and circumstances in Zimbabwe.
An awareness of the wonders of Zimbabwe becomes the foundational basis on which we can be able to further develop our country.
But what is it that blinds us to ourselves, our achievements and our opportunities?
Why do some, within us, become poster boys and poster girls for afro-pessimism?
What stops us from being proud of whom we are?
The Zhuwao Brief believes that we may be able to understand this malaise by interrogating Benedict Anderson’s concept of imagined communities and imagined identities.
Imagined Community and Imagined Identity
Benedict Anderson came up with the concept of imagined communities where an imagined community differs from an actual community in that there is no direct face-to-face interaction between members of the community.
An imagined community is socially constructed and imagined by the people who perceive themselves as part of that group.
When Anderson coined the term in the early 1980s, he specifically referred it to nationalism.

He defined a nation as “an imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign”.
A nation’s citizens hold a mental image of their affinity to their nation. They may have similar interests or identify as part of the same nation.
According to Anderson, the community of being, say, Zimbabwean is imagined in the minds of all Zimbabweans because we never know most of our compatriots, meet them, or even hear of them.
However, in all of our collective minds live an image of our communion as Zimbabweans.
In most instances, that mental image is positive, but in a few cases it is negative.
But what form does your image of being Zimbabwean take?
What are the implications of those images?
Do they further and support the vision of the nation as encapsulated in the ZimAsset vision statement for example?
Anderson opined that the media created imagined communities by generalising, targeting mass audience and addressing citizens as the public.
Even though we may never see anyone in our imagined community of the nation of Zimbabwe, we still know they are there through the media and communication.
According to Anderson, creation of imagined communities became possible because of what he referred to as “print capitalism”.
Capitalist entrepreneurs printed their books and media in the vernacular (instead of exclusive script languages, such as Latin) in order to maximize circulation.
As a result, readers speaking various local dialects became able to understand each other, and a common discourse emerged.
Anderson argued that the first European nation-states were thus formed around their “national print-languages.”
It therefore follows that language becomes a central part to the imagining of community and identity.
The creation and invention of tribes according to dialects emphasizes the imagining of communities and identities within Zimbabwe.
Dialects such as Karanga, Zezuru and Manyika took on a bigger role than was required as they came to define identity.
An individual whose roots and origins can be traced to the Shawasha people took on their totemic identity of Ncube as their name because they sought to fit in amongst mostly Ndebele speaking neighbours.
As is the norm with most pretenders, such individuals appropriate a so-called Ndebele cause to levels higher than those of the so-called proper Ndebeles.
The imagining of communities goes beyond intra-national delusions.
The late comedian, Safirio Madzikatire, did a magnificent sketch of Mukadota coming back from a trip in America having been Americanized.
He changed his dressing. He changed his accent.
He changed his diet and could only eat American Goulash.
This is the same with poor Kerina Mujati except that there is no comic element.
Poor Kerina Mujati is imagining herself as a Briton in the sea-enclosed island.
For her, it is natural to have aquaria and underwater zoos.
The absence of such entities in a land locked country conjures in her poor mind images of under-development and primitiveness.
Shame.
She fails to appreciate that Zimbabwe is landlocked, in the African tropics and has a vast wealth of wildlife.
She bemoans the absence of sea-life and requires that President Mugabe creates it.
How foolish.
Imagining Community and Identity for Progress
Kerina Mujati is a very important person. She is influential and powerful. She has a circle of influence that starts around her and grows outward to her family, community and work place.
Kerina Mujati is just as important as you and I.
She has the power to influence the success of Zimbabwe in the same manner that you and I have.
But does Kerina Mujati have the where-with-it-all to influence the direction of Zimbabwe in a positive way?
The Zhuwao Brief believes that she does.
The Zhuwao Brief also believes that you, yes you the reader, have the power, capacity and capability to influence the direction of Zimbabwe in a positive manner.
What is required is for all of us to recognize the endowments that God gave to us when He placed us on the piece of ground that is now known as Zimbabwe.
It is on this piece of ground that God requires us to subsist and thrive.
The Good Lord also gave us brains to think with. It is now incumbent upon us to figure out how we will survive and prosper on this Zimbabwe that our God gave to us.
As social creatures, we are given to imagining communities and imagining identities.
But as we imagine these communities and these identities, we must imagine them in ways that add value to our lives.
We must imagine communities and identities that are real; we cannot have sea-life in a land locked country.
We must imagine communities and identities that unite us and not divide.
We must imagine communities and identities that resonate with our value system of Hunhu/Ubuntu.
We must imagine communities and identities that give life and effect to our national aspiration as encapsulated in the National Constitution. We must imagine communities and identities that exalt the Good Lord our Creator and give thanks for the endowments He has bestowed upon us as Zimbabweans.
To imagine communities and identities that are contrary to the exaltation of God would be blasphemous.
To imagine communities and identities that are contrary to our national Constitution would be treasonous. Imagined communities and identities based on the created and invented notions of tribe and tribalism are both treasonous and blasphemous.
Are you being tribal?
Are you being treasonous?
Are you being blasphemous?
Zvibvunze!
Icho.
 
About the writer
Patrick Zhuwao is the Chairman of Zhuwao Institute which is an economics, development and research think tank that focus on integrating socio-political dimensions into business and economic decision making, particularly strategic planning. Zhuwao is the holder of a BSc honours degree in Computer Systems Engineering and an MBA degree in Information Technology Management (City University, London). He also holds BSc honours and MSc degrees in Economics (University of Zimbabwe), as well as a Master of Management (with distinction) degree in Public and Development Management (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg). [email protected] or [email protected]

At Least Twenty Five (25) people died after two buses sideswiped each other along the Nyamapanda-Harare road Sunday afternoon, while heading the opposite direction.
The accident, which left several others battling for life, involved the ZANU PF controlled transport operator ZUPCO bus and another which is privately owned by the Unifreight bus company.
It was not clear at the time of writing who was in the wrong.
It took place shortly after 11.30am, near the Mutoko-Harare tollgate according to witnesses

The Fire Brigade Service department said they received a call from the accident that there might be an explosion just as many people were said to be in “a serious or critical condition”. It emerged by the time they arrived that 23 had already died on the spot, with two others dying on the way to the hospital.
One of them was said to be one of the bus drivers.
A police statement had not been issued at the time of writing.

OUSTED Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa has been booted out of the party by the Manicaland provincial coordinating committee (PCC), following his hard-hitting statement on Monday denouncing the December congress and the appointments of Vice-Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko.
This comes as Acting President Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxillia, yesterday increased her chances of taking over her husband’s parliamentary seat after she submitted her CV to contest in the Chirumanzi-Zibagwe by-election on a Zanu PF ticket.
At the PCC meeting in Manicaland, chaired by Energy minister Samuel Undenge, the motion to expel Mutasa was moved and seconded by politburo members Oppah Muchinguri and Patrick Chinamasa, respectively.
Zanu PF national youth affairs deputy secretary Kudzai Chipanga spoke strongly in support of Mutasa’s expulsion. Earlier, the Youth League issued a statement calling for Mutasa’s expulsion.
National secretary for youth affairs Pupurai Togarepi said: “Zanu PF Youth League feels annoyed and disturbed by some members of the party who are failing to
uphold its fundamental principles. We, therefore, view Mr DNE Mutasa and his cabal as unrepentant people in the party who have no respect for our president, Cde RG (Robert Gabriel) Mugabe and the party constitution.”
He added: “We would like to call upon those that are behind Mr Mutasa to stop abusing this weak old man for their selfish, counter-revolutionary and destructive agendas that have already destroyed the likes of the former vice-president, Cde Mujuru.”
Senior party officials who attended the meeting included Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandi Chimene.
Mutasa becomes the fourth high-ranking Zanu PF official to be expelled from Zanu PF since the purging of the Mujuru faction started in October last year ahead of the congress held in December. Former party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo, War veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda and Chipinge South legislator Enoch Porusingazi have all been booted out
The politburo will at its next meeting make the final determination on the expulsion.
Zanu PF officials who attended the meeting said Mutasa was expelled from the party for writing to Sadc leaders a strongly-worded letter in December imploring them to intervene in the country’s deepening political crisis spawned by the brutal internal fighting in the party.
The Manicaland provincial leaders accused Mutasa of being disrespectful to Mugabe and the party in the statement he released on Monday.
A top Manicaland provincial leader told the Zimbabwe Independent yesterday: “I can confirm that Mutasa was expelled at the PCC meeting. Many people spoke in support of Mutasa’s expulsion.”
Meanwhile, Midlands Zanu PF spokesperson Cornelius Mpereri confirmed yesterday after a PCC meeting that Auxillia, Zanu PF’s deputy secretary for environment and tourism, was the only candidate to submit her CV.
A source at the meeting said the party’s national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere introduced Auxilia and told other aspiring candidates that they should look at themselves in the mirror first before submitting their CVs for consideration.
It is understood that over 10 Zanu PF party cadres were eyeing the seat left vacant following Mnangagwa’s appointment as Vice-President last month.
There were also unconfirmed reports that Mnangagwa’s eldest son Emmerson Jnr, who represents Kiekie district in the provincial structures, was also interested in the vacant seat, whose by-election has been set for March 27.
Another by-election is set to be held on the same date in Mt Darwin West previously held by Mujuru.
Mnangagwa officially bade farewell to the Midlands province saying he was now “a bigger servant of the people”. – Independent

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa created loud whispers Saturday when he bunked the burial of the Deputy Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Engineer Simon Musanhu, who died on Thursday.
While a sombre atmosphere engulfed the cemetery as government officials, as relatives and friends converged to pay their last respects to Musanhu, Mr Mnangagwa was conspicuous by his absence.
The development has added wings to wide reports and rumours that Mr Musanhu was poisoned to death (READ MORE– Minister Killed “Over Mujuru Secret Tapes”) as punishment for his alleged role in the so called Mujuru plot in which he was named in a secret tapes investigation that fingered him at the helm of efforts to as claimed by the state, topple Robert Mugabe and replace him with Joicce Mujuru.
When contacted, Mnangagwa’s office defended him saying he had already been to the funeral two days before.
“Yes he didn’t to the burial but remember he is a busy man and had already gone to the funeral at the family house “kundobata maoko” did you not notice?,” his secretary told this reporter.
Musanhu who passed away in Harare in Greystone Park was buried at Glen Forest Cemetery and was treated as a cast-away due to his alleged role in the Mujuru secret tape saga.
Meanwhile Zanu PF National Political Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, who is also the Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, who worked with Engineer Musanhu, described him as a loyal servant of the people.
He was the Zanu PF National Assembly member for Hwedza North.
Relatives of the late Deputy Minister said the void left will be difficult to fill.
 

Zanu PF National Political Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere took a swipe on expelled Vice President Joice Mujuru and Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa saying the revolutionary party will not hesitate to expel members who defy party policies and directives irrespective of one’s position.
Addressing Zanu PF Mount Darwin inter-district meeting held in Dotito, Kasukuwere said no individual is bigger than the party saying those with deviant agenda are not fit to remain in the leadership echelons.
He said those who believe are bona-fide Zanu PF members should accept censure and show contrition rather than try to rebel against party policies and ideals.
Kasukuwere added that focus should be now on meeting Zanu PF election promises, chief among them enhancing development and empowering people.
Zanu PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairman Dickson Mafios told the State Media saying they have started receiving CVs of people wishing to contest the vacant Mount Darwin West constituency once held by former Vice President Joice Mujuru.

Two Roman Catholic priests died on the spot when their Nissan twin cab truck hit Mupfure bridge rails at the 67 kilometre peg along the Bindura-Mt Darwin road near Mt Darwin Business Centre early Saturday morning.
The deceased who were the only occupants in the vehicle have been identified as Father Ignatious Kariati (36) and Father Alfred Matonhodze (35).
It is suspected that the driver lost control of the vehicle before crashing into the bridge overhead rails.
In separate interviews people who were first at the scene of the accident said it took Bindura municipality fire brigade over two hours to cut through the wreckage to retrieve the bodies.
Kriste Mambo Mt Darwin Priest-in-Charge Father Rongai Chasarira and the Chairperson of the National Council of Priests Father Clifford Nhetekwa said the death of the two priests is a great loss to the Mt Darwin community.
The late Father Kariati was ordained in 2013 while Father Matonhodze was ordained last year. Burial arrangements will be announced in due course.

Three men were on Saturday injured when a policeman described as ‘stupid and unstable’ nearly caused the death of more than 10 innocent passengers in a Glen Norah A kombi along Shiriyedenga road when he applied the handbrake whilst a commuter omnibus driver was accused of speeding.
The cop who operates from Glen Norah A police station was sat next to the driver when he attempted to stop the kombi.
The accident occurred around 4 PM. Among the injured is the driver and conductor and instead of taking them to hospital the policecman took them to Glen Norah police station for questioning. PICTURES:

 

More than 30 Travel Agents have slapped on Zimbabwe travel sanctions through their businesses protesting over government’s kidnapping of baby elephants to go on sale in the European Union and China.
In a development that is set to hit hard on the tourism industry as thousands of tourists are blocked, bosses of at least 31 agents have reportedly instructed their  employees to block Zimbabwe visits for their clients. This came following revelations that Zimbabwe is planning to sell about 60 elephants to foreign buyers.
This comes at a time when some environmentalists are attacking the country for selling baby elephants to China and other countries.
Chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce, Johnny Rodrigues, said most tourists are upset about the sale of baby elephants, which has been strongly defended by Acting Environment Minister Walter Mzembi. Click to listen
Each elephant is expected to fetch a paltry $6,000.
But Mzembi tells Studio 7’s Ntungamili Nkomo there is no going back on selling the elephants, adding Zimbabwe has even exported animals to countries like the United States.
 
– VOA

Police officers under First Lady Grace Mugabe’s command have once again openly defied the courts after being ordered for the second time to stop evictions at Manzou Farm where Grace is preparing to offload animals and start operating an animal farm.
Four villages who filed an urgent chamber application yesterday suing police commissioner Augustine Chihuri and the minister in charge, Sydney Mombeshora after they revealed that numerous police officers came in lorries armed with rifles, batons and also with dogs threatening to beat up anyone who resists the evictions, had pain added to their misery yesterday when they were told they will have to wait for two weeks despite their petition being an urgent chamber application.
Aspinas Makufa, George Musa, Gift Chikowore and Dhaisi Musekiwa, said the police are continuing with evictions ignoring the twofold court order despite also the new court challenge which however they will have to wait until January 30 when it is finally heard.
The move comes shortly after a second ruling was made by the high court Monday declaring that the evictions violate several of the key protective provisions such as the right to shelter and freedom from arbitrary eviction as enshrined in Section 28 and Section 74 of the Constitution among other rights.
 
One of the villagers, Makufa, who is a ZANU PF member, said police must be held accountable for defying all the court orders by demolishing their houses.
He wrote in his affidavit, “since we had an order of the court and as law abiding citizens, we proceeded to rebuild our homes and prepared fields and planted various crops ranging from maize, beans, groundnuts, tobacco,” submitted Makufa.
“On Wednesday Wednesday the 7th of January (2015) the morning five UD trucks came full of police officers in uniform, some in riot gear, armed with guns, logs, iron bars, dogs and baton sticks. They started demolishing and destroying the homes and property.
“It is clear that by having officers under their command and control, demolish and destroy our homes and property, respondents willingly or intentionally failed to comply with the court order.
“I aver that the disobedience of the court order by the respondent is wilful or reckless and also mala fide.”
Makufa said Mohadi and Chihuri must be punished as they have disrespected the country’s constitution and the courts.
“Their conduct is contemptuous as it is intentional. Their conduct is reprehensible and punishable,” he said.
The villagers however will have to wait until January 30 when their urgent chamber application will be heard by Justice Bhunu. They are being represented by Tonderai Bhatasara and George Mtisi, of the ZLHR(Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights).

The residents of Mangarame under Chief Gampu were left shell shocked as a man from Tsholotsho fired five bullets into his wife, shouting “I’m done with you dog”. Reports say that the woman surprisingly survived and is fighting for dear life at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) while the man has vanished
It is alleged that 34 year old Ludo Dumani recently had an undisclosed domestic dispute with her husband Austin Tshuma, 40, and was forced to run away and seek refuge at her parents’ home in Mangarame area, Bulilima District.
Dumani took her three children aged 10, 13 and 15 with her.
Last Wednesday night, Tshuma followed his wife and found her sleeping in the same room with her three children and their grandmother, Zale Moyo, 64.
Tshuma forced himself into the house by breaking down the door and attacked his wife.
Dumani tried to hide under the bed, but Tshuma pushed it away and opened fire and shot her five times, then Tshuma fled from the scene leaving her wife for dead.
The village headman Marudo Ndlovu, confirmed the shooting that took place on Wednesday night as it was reported by Moyo.
Ndlovu said he rushed to Moyo’s homestead and found Dumani lying on the floor in a pool of blood and unconscious,while her three children were wailing by her side.
“I quickly called a neighbour who has a car and we ferried Dumani to Ntoli Clinic and she was then referred to Plumtree Hospital. When I arrived at the homestead Tshuma was nowhere to be seen,” Ndlovu said.
Moyo, Dumani’s mother said her daughter arrived at her home from her marriage in Tsholotsho complaining that she and her husband were always quarrelling. She never disclosed the cause of their arguments except citing that they were having marital problems
“My daughter arrived together with her three children told me that her husband had been threatening to kill her. She requested to live with me until the matter was settled,” Moyo said.
Talking about the day his daughter was shot she said his son in law arrived and banged loudly on the kitchen door.
“We woke up to the sound of banging against the kitchen door. Then there was a bang on our bedroom door a few minutes later and we asked who it was but there was no response,” said Moyo.
She said when the bedroom door was knocked down she saw her son- in-law standing there holding a gun and a torch .Moyo described the incident as a horrifying ordeal for her family, and said she tried to stop him from harming her daughter but she was pushed to the ground.
Moyo said Tshuma approached her daughter who tried to hide under a bed, but her agitated son in law threw off the bed and started firing at her.
“I assume that Tshuma believed that he had killed my daughter because after shooting at her he said ‘sengiqedile ngawe nja’ (I am done with you dog)”, narrated Moyo.
After the incident Moyo said that she had to  gather her courage to get help for her daughter whom she said is now admitted and fighting for her life at United Bulawayo Hospitals .
She described the whole incident as traumatic and terrifying especially to her grandchildren who witnessed their father brutally firing shots at their mother.

As a State Media ambush on former Zanu PF Secretary for Administration, Didymus Mutasa, continued, Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday dismissed Mutasa as a sick man who cannot be taken seriously.
Mnangagwa who was speaking at the Zanu PF Midlands Provincial Coordinating Committee in Gweru said contrary to Mutasa’s misplaced sentiments, the 6th National People’s Congress was democratic.
Mutasa’s political career continues to disintegrate with the Acting President Mnangagwa being the latest to tear into his battered image.
Mnangagwa described Mutasa as a sick man who is discrediting the congress despite inviting the people himself.
“No one is above the party’s constitution and principles…loyalty and perseverance are key for one to rise in Zanu PF,” said Mnangagwa.
Mutasa’s constituency wants him recalled while Manicaland province wants him expelled from the party.
Zanu PF National Political Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere told the PCC the politburo will not stand in the way of people’s wishes.
Meanwhile, Mnangagwa said the party should demonstrate unity at the by-elections by winning resoundingly.
Elections will be held in Chirumanzu-Zibagwe constituency which fell vacant after its legislator Mnangagwa was elevated to be vice president.
The other by-election will be held in Mt Darwin West following former Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru’s removal from government. – State Media

Community based organisations condemn police action in Chisumbanje
A group of community based organisations has rapped police heavy handedness when they descended on defenceless villagers from Chisumbanje involved in a land dispute.
The Alliance of Community Based Organisations accused the police of using tear smoke on the villagers who are claiming what they insist is their land from Green Fuel, a fuel producing company based in Chisumbanje.
“We are appealing to the police and Zimbabwe National Army who are reportedly now a permanent feature in (the) Chisumbanje disputed land to retreat from torturing unarmed innocent citizens and families, and treat them with the human dignity they deserve as guaranteed in the constitution of Zimbabwe, until a lasting solution to this problem is found.
“The villagers have not been informed through proper government structures that they should stop using their plots and farmland. There is no question, however, about the unacceptability of the police to resort to use of force,” reads part of the solidarity statement.
According to the statement, Chisumbanje police descended on the Chinyamukwakwa and Chisumbanje communities from December 27, 2014, barring them from tilling their land because of the unresolved boundary dispute with Green Fuel.
Affected villagers sorely depend on the land for livelihoods. Police have since barred them from planting crops.
“The police reacted violently and beat up the unarmed villagers who were not even protesting, but only doing what they have been doing for years, to earn a living from subsistence farming.
“Police is expected to protect civilians in the face of such unresolved disputes until the matter is resolved at the courts of law. We are greatly concerned about the rights and livelihoods of women, children, youth and the generality of the farming communities affected by the wrangle,” said the alliance.
Some10 villagers have since been arrested and on January 8, 2015, prosecutors at Chipinge Magistrates Court and lawyers dismissed the case on grounds that it was irresolvable.
“On the Chisumbanje-Green Fuel dispute, we expect government to intervene and bring the dispute to finality as any further delay will have a huge impact on the already compromised livelihoods of the Chinyamukwakwa and Chisumbanje communities.
“Already, because of the current wrangle, some villagers have failed to plant any crops and this will result in hunger and starvation among the affected families,” said the CBOs.
The dispute between villagers and Green Fuel has been dragging on for the past five years.
The alliance called on the state and non-governmental organisations in Chipinge to facilitate training programmes on non-violent conflict resolution mechanisms.
Involved parties were urged to get into an all-stakeholder dialogue as initially suggested by the Platform for Youth Development. – The Zimbabwean

• Grace offloads lions, elephants and hyenas right next to the poor orphans.
• Lions will be separated from children by a mere fence

The blatant lies by senior Zanu PF political figures and government officials regarding Manzou Farm in Mazowe are finally over after the minister of State for Provincial Affairs for Mashonaland Central, Martin Dinha, finally confirmed that the farm will be given to First Lady Grace Mugabe after all, who will run it as a wildlife sanctuary and will now offload lions, cheetahs, elephants and hyenas right next to the poor orphans she claims to be keeping.
The lions and other ferrocious beasts which include hyenas and cheetahs, will only be separated by a fence. This also comes at a time when there have been numerous lion attack deaths in the country caused by compromised fences. Moreoever the latest wildlife safety reports have revealed lions can jump zoo fences with ease. A brief tour of Grace’s orphanage (pictured below) shows it is an open area easily pernetrable. But this is besides the point:

All this has confirmed widespread reports all along that Grace will replace the poor families of Manzou with wild animals.
In a sudden about-turn on Wednesday night, Dinha confirmed that Grace had applied for a licence to run an animal sanctuary and had been duly awarded the vast and fertile farm bordering her other multi-million business and farming interests in the area.
He did not say how much this project of moving animals to the farm and repairing infrastructure such as the fencing would cost, and whether Grace would pay for all this.
Hundreds of desperate families have already been removed from the farm, notwithstanding a court order barring the police from ejecting the poor peasants.
“Affirmatively, the first lady has applied for a permit to run part of  Manzou. We have recommended that she be given a permit,” the exposed Dinha told VOA’s Studio 7 — after spending days denying that the controversial, illegal and callous evictions were for the benefit of Grace.
He said by next week, the National Parks department would have already released lions and elephants onto the farm.
“As we speak, the Department of National Parks is already putting a fence and by Monday next week lions and elephants will be on that farm.”
Last week, heavily armed police descended on Manzou Farm, indiscriminately and arbitrarily demolishing homes, slashing crops and setting on fire personal belongings of the villagers.
At the time Dinha, along with Zanu PF, denied vehemently that the First Family was in any way involved in the evictions, arguing falsely and rather self-servingly that Grace was a “philanthropist” who would never destroy people’s livelihoods.
This was after High Court Judge Erica Ndewere had on Monday granted a provisional order stopping the evictions if no alternative places of residence were not availed by the state.
A chorus of condemnation to the callous removals, including the displacement of children from their school, as well as the wanton destruction of crops and property, had fallen on deaf ears.
In his new tune, Dinha claimed yesterday that 1 200 families from Manzou had already been resettled, and that only a handful of people were resisting the resettlement.
“These people are mischievous. We have already found them land to settle elsewhere and they are trying to stop us. The relief they got from the High Court was only temporary and not final,” he said.
Former Justice deputy minister and Mazowe South legislator, Fortune Chasi, told the Daily News last week that the government needed to be sensitive to the plight of the affected families.
“I have been to my constituency and have witnessed evidence of the displaced people. Given that the atmosphere is charged and tense, I was unable to do anything.
“There were armed police evicting people and what can I do under those circumstances as I become powerless since the whole matter involves the First Family,” Chasi said.
Grace, in her vitriolic attacks on Chasi in August last year, accused the legislator of “terrorising” her in the area, where she owns a number of farms and runs her Amai Grace Mugabe Children’s Home.
She also disclosed then, and the video of this is available on YouTube, that she wanted the Manzou Farm.
“Zvazvakaita ndakaita apply pane conservancy iri kuseri uko (said to be Manzou) which was being run by the whites,” she said. “Ndikangoona yakagara, then I applied to use it to raise mari yekuchengeta vana pano apa ndobva ndapiwa tsamba inini.
“Saka vanhu vakangozvigarisa vaichera chera imomo vakanzi vabude, iye (Chasi) akati ‘muri kuvaburitsirei? Mugabe nemukadzi wake vari kuda kutora land yese.’ Akaenda kucourt nevanhu vaye kuti kana hazvimboite.
“Iye akapiwa farm naVa(Martin) Dinha akariramba. Akatengwa nemurungu akapiwa mari akati handiride,” she said.
(I applied for a conservancy in this area (Manzou) which was being run by whites. I had seen it lying idle and I applied to use it to raise money to look after children at the Mazowe Children’s Home and I was given an offer letter by authorities. The people who were squatting on that conservancy were then ordered off the property, but Chasi queried why these people were being kicked off the land. He alleged that Mugabe and his wife wanted to take all the land. Chasi went to court with these squatters to resist the takeover of the conservancy. But he was given land by Martin Dinha and he refused because he had been given money by the white owner. – VOA/ Daily News/ ZimEye

Bulawayo – Pastor Tapiwa Maponga, a founding Director of Educate a Child Foundation, a Bulawayo based non-profit making organisation, was on Monday captured by ZimEye.com lenses buying school uniforms and paying school fees for orphans he adopted in December last year, after he was touched by a news article on the dumping of orphans by the City Council.
The orphans and their guardians have thanked journalists for uncovering their plight and also for the assistance in touching the pastor’s heart. “Thank you ZimEye for your determination in assisting us, God bless you and the man of God Pastor Maponga,” said Mrs Ndlovu of Sidojiwe.

The Bulawayo based and Masvingo born man of the cloth yesterday paid school fees and bought school uniforms for the orphans and also promised to improve on their upkeep, as soon as he secures more funding from well-wishers.
“When I read about this sad story from your publication last year, I made efforts to visit the mentioned places, and found out that there are kids with the ability to go to school. I worked hard to ensure that their basic right is filled. I also visited Sidojiwe flats where a good number of orphans are staying and also found heart breaking scenarios. I will soon be taking the fight to help the orphans acquire birth certificates with relevant authorities,” said Pastor Maponga.
Last year ZimEye.com carried a story on the dumping of street children at Bulawayo’s biggest dumping site. Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo, vehemently denied ever carrying that exercise, but a quick early morning visit to the area found hundreds of street children dumped, with a number of vagrants also dumped there, in what the city fathers claim is an effort to clean the city while they were preparing for the just ended youth games.
Pastor Maponga who has taken it upon himself to attend to the needs of the disadvantaged, has now gone on a fundraising preparation, that will attract a good number of churches and well-wishers to commit themselves to his noble cause.
The Pastor has since paid school fees for the first group of Sidojiwe and Ngozi dumpsite orphans, with some still waiting to acquire birth certificates soon.

The MDC condemns the reported statement by Obert Mpofu to a gathering of Zanu PF supporters in Binga to the effect that the people of Binga District would be denied development assistance because they have consistently voted for the MDC since the year 2000.
In a democracy, national leaders have a fundamental obligation to respect the electoral views of all Citizens – no matter how diverging. Not only has Mpofu violated this principle, but in doing so, he is also violating the spirit and the terms of the new National Constitution.
However, his remarks simply confirm what the MDC has said for many years, that Zanu PF deliberately restricts the provision of essential services, food aid, social support and infrastructure maintenance and development in those areas of the country that do not support their Party.
Matabeleland and Masvingo Provinces have suffered at the hands of Zanu PF since they came to power in 1980. Every town and city that has voted for the MDC since 2000 has been actively discriminated against in the distribution of national resources.
The people of Binga will not be swayed by his threats and the MDC will continue to serve the people of those Districts where they hold elected positions, no matter what their political affiliation. Zanu PF supporters in MDC Districts need never fear that they will be marginalized or their needs neglected by the MDC in any way. When an MDC leader is elected by a Ward or District they are instructed to serve all the people of their Districts and Wards without regard to their Party affiliation.
It is time that Zanu PF recognised the days of power based on patronage, threats and coercion are over in Zimbabwe. The people are going to judge leaders and parties by their fruits. National resources are for all Zimbabweans – not just the blinkered followers of Zanu PF, any national leader who deliberately withholds national resources and development from the people, for whatever reason, is violating the most fundamental principles of his or her office. In an MDC led Zimbabwe this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.
MDC: Equal Opportunities for All
Hon Eddie Cross
MDC Secretary for Local Government

A 29 year old bodyguard at Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Midlands farm recently died after President Robert Mugabe’s deputy reportedly accused him of snooping for Joice Mujuru, an online report says.
Nehanda Radio indicated that its sources informed the online publication that Kudzai Celeb Chirenje from the Central Intelligence Organisation’s close security arm was apparently murdered and dumped in a bushy area along Munyati River near Kwekwe on Tuesday.
He was stationed at Sherwood Farm in the Midlands city.
His phone was reportedly seized from him and “incriminating” evidence found that he was spying for Mujuru, Mnangagwa’s bitter foe in the Zanu (PF) succession battle.
She was dramatically removed from her position at the ruling party’s congress in December last year and replaced by Mnangagwa.
The suspected murder is said to have occurred two days after Chirenje was reportedly involved in a heated argument with Mnangagwa.
The online stable also reported that Chirenje is the third security operative working under Mnangagwa to die this month alone.
Mugabe’s current VP, nicknamed Ngwena (Crocodile) is a feared man.
He was in charge of Mugabe’s election campaign in 2008 when scores of people linked to the opposition MDC were murdered in a June runoff. – Agencies

IT never rains but pours for Transport minister Obert Mpofu as only a week after his Allied Bank was closed, it has emerged that his other company, Trebo and Khays, is failing to pay more than 100 guards it employs.
The guards have reportedly gone for more than six months without pay.
An employee at Trebo and Khays, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they last received their salaries in June and were struggling to make ends meet.
“We have been working for Mpofu within the security department, but the situation is very bad as it doesn’t look like any efforts are being made (to pay us),” he said.
“Bulawayo security guards are not the only ones affected, the others include those from Nyamandlovu and Gwanda.”
The employee said some of the workers had been evicted from their lodgings over non-payment of rentals as they had not received their salaries for half a year.
“Schools have been opened and children need fees and uniforms,” he said. “They should lead by example as leaders, but they are treating us like this.”
Another employee said the management should come out in the open and address workers.
“We need the management to tell us if our services at the company are no longer required,” he said.
“As a result of the non-payment, we are failing to make ends meet and have been surviving on handouts from friends and relatives.”
Trebo and Khays human resources manager, only identified as S Dube, declined to comment on the matter yesterday.
“I am not aware of all those allegations and we do not normally talk about our internal issues to the press,” she said.
“They know where to go if they have any complains.”
Efforts to get a comment from Mpofu were fruitless as his mobile phone went unanswered.
Mpofu is considered one of the richest people in the country and has in the past boasted he had never been poor.
However, his companies seem to be struggling as there have been several reports he was failing to pay his staff.
Mpofu’s Allied Bank recently surrendered its operating licence to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe immediately closing its doors to the public and bringing to an end its turbulent operations. – SouthernEye

Ex-Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporatio(ZMDC) boss, Goodwills Masimirembwa has been stringed into the Nehanda Housing Cooperative scandal which has seen $3Million swindled by war veterans and army bosses.
Mr Masimirembwa who is the ZANU PF provincial chair assigned to address the complaints of the fraud victims who are demanding the Cooperative’s bosses be fired or at the least suspended, soiled his reputation and that of ZANU PF when he refused to take action saying he would rather have the matter heard at court.
This occurred when members of the cooperative on Wednesday stormed the ZANU (PF) Harare provincial head offices appealing for the party’s intervention in the alleged corruption and fraud by the cooperative leadership.
The housing cooperative is being run by former freedom fighters and senior members of the security forces.
Among the complaints raised included misappropriation of over $3 million dollars in fees which the members have been contributing since 2002 for housing development, nepotism and favoritism in stands and housing allocations.
The disgruntled members have revealed the cooperative leader Never Kowo has failed to hold annual general meetings for seven years running.
“We have not been holding any meeting with the leadership which has become arrogant and invisible”, said one of the members at the ZANU (PF) provincial head offices before they were addressed by Godwills Masimirembwa.
“We want transparency and accountability in the management of the money we have been contributing. We want them to show us how the funds are being used and this can be done on an AGM which we have not been holding for years. We also want leadership renewal because the current committee is corrupt and has been there for more than ten years now”, another angry middle aged women said.
The housing cooperative members who have already taken their leadership to the courts on corruption and misappropriation of funds findings firmly supported by audit reports, said the case is being delayed.
“We now think that Kowo and company are paying bribes to the courts because we are being made to see only government officials. We have tried to go to the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development, Sithembiso Nyoni’s office with our complaint and we were told several times that she was on sick leave,” he said,
“We also sought audience with the Prosecutor General Jahannes Tomana and again were blocked”, he said.
ZimEye.com was however barred from the meeting by the party’s security officials who it was confidential.
During that meeting Masimirembwa said that the meeting was not going to address the members’ concerns’ because the case was before the courts.
“It is unfortunate that you cannot attend the proceedings here because of the confidentiality of meeting .But we want to tell you that we have agreed to hold this meeting because the complaints are coming from our party members and as a party we have to hear them. What we cannot do is to give any solution because the case is being heard by the courts. What we can do here and what they are going to be told by the chairman is that they should not be violent but wait for the courts,” two security details told ZimEye.com
When contacted, Masimirembwa claimed he had no knowledge of what was taking place.
“I don’t know anything you are talking about,” he claimed despite having addressed the disgruntled members on the same day.

Founding president of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai was viciously knifed with obscenities and unprintable words flung at him while visiting victims of Sunday attacks in the notorious Budiriro suburb in Harare today, Thursday.
Tsvangirai, on Thursday visited some victims of political violence in Harare’s Budiriro high density suburb following weekend clashes between his party’s members and some Zanu PF supporters.
As Mr. Tsvangirai’s motorcade negotiated its way through the potholes to local legislator Costa Machingauta’s house where some victims of the weekend violence had sought refuge, some MDC-T supporters followed it and sang revolutionary songs as the opposition leader was speaking with the victims.
In no time, hundreds of people had gathered at Machingauta’s house prompting Tsvangirai to address them.
The former prime minister took a swipe at suspected Zanu PF supporters who allegedly attacked members of his party at the weekend.
One of the victims, Doesntmater Mawana, told Tsvangirai that most MDC-T supporters are now living in fear.
Machingauta told the gathering that some unidentified police officers are allegedly working in cahoots with Zanu PF supporters to victimize suspected MDC-T members.
He alleged that Zanu PF had set up a base at Budiriro 5 shopping Centre where commuter omnibus operators are forced to pay a certain figure daily for them to be allowed to ply the City-Budiriro.
Machingauta also alleged that some vendors were being forced to attend Zanu PF meetings at the makeshift base.
But Mr. Tsvangirai said all this was unnecessary, saying the primary focus of the sitting government is to create employment opportunities for its people.
After addressing the gathering, Tsvangirai visited some vendors at Budiriro 5 Shopping Centre to get the information first hand. There, he was followed by several people who were praising him for visiting them but the joy was short-lived when he passed through the Zanu PF base where some of the ruling party’s members clad in party regalia hurled insults at him.
Some of the Zanu PF activists used words that cannot be published.
Meanwhile, some MDCT supporters blamed the weekend violence on Godfrey Gomwe, the Zanu PF provincial chairperson for Harare. However, Gomwe has shifted the blame to Machingauta.
President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai have repeatedly called for an end to violence but their calls seem to be falling on deaf ears. – VOA

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is in breach of the constitution in many ways key of which he is delaying the installing of an Attorney General, failures which the MDC-T party under its legal chief-whip Jessie Majome condemns and calls for urgent action on.
Furthermore Zimbabwe’s Chief Justice must also urgently employ a code of conduct for judicial and allied officers, and provide a safe whistleblowing facility to expose and no corruption, the party says in a statement.
 
FULL TEXT:
 
MDC T PRESS STATEMENT ON THE OPENING OF THE 2015 JUDICIAL YEAR
The Movement for Democratic Change MDC T welcomes the official opening of the judicial year, is heartened by the judiciary’s cognizance of its authority deriving from the people and commends the Chief Justice for therefore accounting to the people of Zimbabwe on the judiciary’s performance. The MDC T congratulates the judges cited as having performed admirably, and exhorts the Hon. Chief Justice to expose the names of those who did not, in the interests of greater accountability and transparency.
The MDC T expects the judiciary to indeed fulfill its aim ,as the Honourable Chief Justice said, to improve justice delivery for the populace, through the addressing, by all stakeholders of the following failings and issues that undermine access to justice and the rule of law:
1. the unconstitutional failure of the Head of State to date to appoint an Attorney General in terms of section 114 of the Constitution compromises the independence and efficiency of the Prosecutor General who is the former Attorney General and illicitly doubles up as the Acting Attorney General AND the Prosecutor General. It is no wonder that the Chief Justice has had to lament delays in criminal trials originating from the prosecution. The MDC-T is aghast that two Cabinet reshuffles have been effected without any attention to the need to appoint the Attorney General. The MDC-T demands that the Head of State complies with the Constitution and urgently appoints an A. G. upon his return from leave.
2. The delay in gazetting the date of coming into operation of the National Prosecuting Authority Act despite its being assented to last year, unconstitutionally undermines its independence as it continues to operate under the administration of the Ministry of Justice. The MDC-T demands the immediate gazetting of the coming into operation of the NPA.
3. The unconstitutional failure of the 2015 national budget to provide separately for the NPA as required by Section 305(3)(c) and the attendant under resourcing of the NPA.
4. The more open system of judges should be made more democratic by affording members of the public an appropriately managed opportunity to pose questions or raise issues regarding candidate judges, thereby making public access more meaningful.
5. The dissatisfactory conditions of service of judicial officers that disquiet the Hon. Chief Justice so much can only be funded for adequately if the Judicial Service Commission had been given an opportunity to make representations to the Parliamentary Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs as required by section 325 (2) of the Constitution. The MDC-T condemns this rampant level of unconstitutionality even in the administration of the justice delivery system and begs the question: who will guard the guard?
6. The MDC-T is appalled by the toxic levels of corruption in the judicial system, which often manifest in the form of political partisanship, and demands that the Judiciary, Executive and Legislature deal with it decisively and comprehensively. The MDC-T demands that the Judiciary in particular urgently employs a code of conduct for judicial and allied officers, and provides a safe whistleblowing facility to expose and no corruption.
7. The MDC-T condemns in the strongest terms the rampant corruption exposed in prisons’ administration by the Auditor General’s Report , which is contributing to the mortal suffering of prisoners by causing them deprivations which grossly violate their human rights, and contribute to epidemic prison escapes.
8. The MDC-T does not miss the irony that the mistaken expectation of the Hon. Chief Justice that the 2013 elections would result in fewer constitutional electoral challenges, is in fact evidence that the election was not free and fair, in spite of the courts finding the opposite. The MDC T is vindicated in its position that the 2013 elections were not free and fair and warns that unless the courts exercise their constitutional duty to be unflinching in being impartial, even in caustic political disputes before it, they will squander an opportunity to be instrumental to the peaceful resolution of Zimbabwe’s political and therefore economic woes, which are hampering the functions of even the judiciary itself.
9. The absence of an effective framework of the constitutionally mandated legal aid and access to justice is contributing to ignorance of the law and the falling backlogs and under-utilization of the Administrative Court. The MDC-T demands that the Judicial Service Commission and the Executive conducts awareness and legal & constitutional literacy campaigns, as well as evaluating the reach of the court in order to empower citizens to utilize the Administrative Court, rather than abandoning it.
10. The MDC-T is alarmed by the silence of the judicial performance report on the traditional and customary law courts yet for a significant proportion of the population this is the only accessible jurisdiction and which often metes out drastic, unmitigated outcomes. The MDC-T demands an immediate alignment of the traditional and conventional justice system.
11. The MDC-T is also vindicated that its position to have an immediate separate Constitutional Court bench in the constitutional negotiations was correct. The present position of a 7 year delay was a compromise to avert a collapse of the process by accommodating the ZANU PF position of having the same judges sit in the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court, that is already evidently prejudicial of justice.
12. The MDC-T is encouraged by the steady flow of cases to the Constitutional Court but is disappointed that the cases are few given the Executive’s failure to implement the vast majority of provisions of the Constitution. The MDC T warns the Constitutional Court to brace harder for more constitutional applications as long as the Executive continues avoiding implementing the Constitution.
13. The continuing chronic constitutional crisis arising from failure, running into a second year, of implementing the new Constitution and deliberately delaying the alignment of statutory provisions to the Constitution must come to a screeching halt if the judiciary is to use its niche to meaningfully contribute to ‘make our lives as Zimbabweans better’ as the Hon. Chief Justice yearns for.
Fungayi Jessie Majome
Secretary for Justice and Legal Affairs
Movement for Democratic Change MDC T
12 January 2015

WHEN the violin and the mbira clash! – Zimbabwe’s Hope Masike is tomorrow Friday smashing her oriental thumber with Truth holding the sweet violin at Alliance Francaise in Harare.
Time: 7.30PM till late.
Fee: $10

A Deputy Minister investigated under shocking allegations of plotting to remove President Robert Mugabe who the CIO claimed they have a secret recording naming him being part of a plan to oust Mugabe, Simon Musanhu has died.
Engineer Musanhu was by the State Media suggested to have collapsed and died yesterday at his private offices at DHL in Belgravia, Harare, but investigations have disproved the report. Forensic experts have declared that he could only have been assassinated while speculation was rife that it was an attack in retaliation following the so called secret tapes.
Musanhu was the MP for Hwedza North, and was appointed deputy minister in September 2013 in a Cabinet announced by President Mugabe. He was an inlaw of the prolific former Zanu-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa, also accused of driving the so called anti- Robert Mugabe plot.
The Central Intelligence Organisation accused Musanhu of campaigning for Joice Mujuru and he was barely three weeks ago named together with Mutare South legislator Nyasha Chikwinya as having “actively supported the treacherous campaign for ex-Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru to topple President Mugabe.”
He was implicated via a so called “leaked tape” in which the state claimed his campaign manager made disclosures on how they would prop up Dr Mujuru, while also denigrating Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwenga.
Furthermore the State Media claimed it was in possession of calendars of Eng Musanhu and Dr Mujuru, which display the two prominently but do not feature the President and First Secretary of Zanu-PF.
“The calendars were distributed in Hwedza district and appear designed to project Dr Mujuru as the ruling party leader,” an earlier report claimed.
The report published in December continued stating, “on the other hand, Chikwinya sponsored and distributed bottled mineral water emblazoned with slogans and pictures promoting Dr Mujuru.
Contacted for comment Eng Musanhu said the materials were generated by Hwedza South MP Eng Michael Madanha as part of a smear campaign.
“Madanha thinks that if I am removed from Government he will get the position (of deputy minister). I serve my constituency; I work for the people and I don’t play dirty politics. We printed many calendars some of which had President Mugabe’s poster,” he said.
“Over the past two weeks, Eng Musanhu failed to give a single sample of the calendars with the President, only providing pictures of himself with the Head of State and Government at State House last year. Eng Madanha refused to comment.”
 
 
SECRET TAPE

The report narrated on the secret tape stating, Eng Musanhu’s campaign manager, Mr Fungai Mahumadi, is recorded implying Gen Chiwenga was a liability and a non-factor. Gen Chiwenga hails from Hwedza.
“In the recording, Mr Mahumadi said he was working closely with Dr Mujuru, Eng Musanhu, Agriculture Deputy Minister Paddy Zhanda and Goromonzi South MP Petronella Kagonye to unseat President Mugabe. Mr Mahumadi made the remarks while working as emissary to a Mr Jeche, who the faction earmarked to replace Eng Madanha in the 2018
elections because he did not support the plot to unseat President Mugabe.
“We want to replace Madanha in Hwedza South. Honourable Musanhu wants to talk to you (Jeche) but he searched for your information on the Internet and failed to get any. And because Madanha supports Mai Chadhi in Hwedza North, Musanhu also wants to plant his man in Hwedza South; that’s the deal.
“So we were looking for a candidate to plant in Hwedza South and you are the right person. Honourable Musanhu is the one who introduced Madanha in Dendenyore and Chigondo … although he later opted to stand in Hwedza North.
“Madanha is related to Chiwenga but he is also closer to (sacked Zanu- PF Mashonaland East chair Ray) Kaukonde. But you will see that Chiwenga is not the panacea of politics in Zimbabwe, iye atori nema struggles ake because ane ma weaknesses ake…
“Musanhu has gone to Tokwe Mukosi with Mai Mujuru but we will talk when he is back on Saturday.
“Manje if you are seen in our alliance in Hwedza South you are automatically an MP because you will know that ana Musanhu vakuku supportai, ana Paddy Zhanda, ana Kagonye, ana Mai Mujuru will support you; tiri kwaa Mai.
“Mai vakasimba muma structures eku ground but vamwe vakasimba ku top chete nema DCCs ndivo anga ari avo,” he said.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku yesterday questioned the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on why it was employing members of the security forces as prosecutors, as opposed to engaging civilians.
He asked law officer Sharon Fero from the Prosecutor General’s office why the NPA insisted on employing police officers and other members of the security forces as public prosecutors in various courts nationwide at the expense of qualified lawyers.
This followed a Constitutional Court application filed by the Zimbabwe Law Officers’ Association through its secretary-general Dereck Charamba challenging the use of members of the security forces as prosecutors.
Chief Justice Chidyausiku asked Fero to give him one good reason why it was important to employ members of the security forces as prosecutors.
“Why do you really want the police to do your job, when you don’t do their job?” he asked. “We cherish our independence. We don’t want the police to be judges. Give me one advantage of using a police prosecutor as opposed to a civilian prosecutor.
“In principle, I don’t see the reason why the Prosecutor General would want his job done by the police.”
Chief Justice Chidyausiku said it was difficult to maintain fairness, considering allegations that police officers sometimes beat up suspects in police custody while soliciting confessions.
“If that person who was once beaten by the police sees the same police officer prosecuting, will that person see a fair trial coming his way? Would that person freely express himself/herself in court being prosecuted by a police officer, against the beating background?”
Fero said the Chief Justice had asked her a difficult question, but said employing police prosecutors was not a new phenomenon.
“My Lord, this has gone over the years, it’s not a new thing. When these people were employed probably there weren’t enough qualified job seekers or maybe it was about the working conditions which the qualified people shunned.”
Fero said once they were under the Prosecutor General’s Office, the members of the security forces would take instructions from the office.
In her submissions, Fero said in other countries it was common for police prosecutors to be engaged to perform prosecutorial duties without any apprehension that their work could interfere with the administration of justice.
She gave examples of countries such as Australia and New Zealand which she said used police prosecutors and said the fear of compromising the justice delivery system by merely engaging members of the security services in prosecution duties was far-fetched.
ZILOA lawyer Tawanda Zhuwarara said the use of members of the security forces in prosecution was a threat to the fair trial rights of accused persons.
He said Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana should disengage all members of the security services within its ranks, although he could use them in cases of national emergency.
The NPA, the Prosecutor General, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Police Commissioner-General were cited as respondents in the application.
The full Constitutional Court bench of nine judges reserved ruling on the matter.

Expelled Vice President Joice Mujuru has received a major boost in her challenge against Robert Mugabe as deposed secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa yesterday whipped down and humiliated ZANU PF secretary for the commissariat Saviour Kasukuwere, now referred to as a mafikizolo.
This came just as Mujuru obtained a fresh round of support from hundreds within the new Mugabe-centric faction with axed spokesman Rugare Gumbo insisting at the end of the day that he was still a member of the party shrugging off his ouster which occurred just before last year’s congress.

Kasukuwere on Tuesday said they were ready for Mutasa, but the former Zanu PF honcho says he will not be cowed by the new party secretary for the commissariat.
Kasukuwere said Mutasa’s statement that they did not recognise outcomes of the congress showed that he was always against President Robert Mugabe.
Mutasa yesterday hit back, saying Kasukuwere’s response to his statement betrayed desperation for power and positions.
“I am working for unity in Zanu PF and in the country as a whole,” Mutasa said.
“These are the same lies they have told people before.
“We have never been against our president, but we are against omafikizolo like him who have misled our president.”
On Monday, Mutasa issued a statement to the media accusing party newcomers, whom he described as omafikizolo, of being vultures who have hijacked the party with the intention of destroying it from within.
Kasukuwere, Information minister Jonathan Moyo, Higher Education minister Oppah Muchinguri and former legislator Patrick Zhuwao have been accused of pulling the strings in Zanu PF and determining the ouster of several members, charges they deny.
Mutasa threatened to take the party to court over the congress, describing himself as the bona fide secretary for administration.
Mutasa, Gumbo, former Vice-President Joice Mujuru and 11 ministers were sacked from their positions in Zanu PF and the government for allegedly plotting to kill Mugabe and replacing him with Mujuru.
Mujuru was accused of corruption and abuse of office.
Mutasa has been the most vocal of the fired members and has written to Sadc to have a look at the congress procedures.
On the other hand, Gumbo yesterday said he was still a Zanu PF member and supported Mutasa’s statement calling for the nullification of the party’s December congress.
Gumbo was initially suspended for five years, but was later fired from the party a few days before the congress on charges of conniving with Mujuru in a plot to unseat Mugabe.
He said he and several other vilified party officials, purged for their perceived association with Mujuru, were still operating and fighting for internal democracy from within Zanu PF.
“We want to revert to collective leadership,” he said.
“We have concentrated power on one person and we want to address that.
“We are operating within Zanu PF to find ways of addressing these issues.
“We have argued and said we want to keep the original Zanu PF and we agree with Cde Mutasa on that one.
“The party has departed from the principles and values of Zanu PF, so we are saying let’s return to the values of the party that brought democracy and one man, one vote.”
Gumbo said Zanu PF made a mistake of concentrating power in Mugabe in the last three decades and there was need to correct the anomaly.
The former Zanu PF spokesperson’s utterances come at a time some retired army officials and war veterans, who have also been victims of the Zanu PF purge, were reportedly burning the midnight oil in various provinces plotting to “rescue” the party from omafikizolo.
Mutasa’s statement has reportedly caused unease among Zanu PF members amid fears it could trigger a split in the party.
However, other party hardliners who include Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandi Chimene and Information minister Moyo have dismissed Mutasa’s statements as inconsequential and a sign of desperation.
Political analyst Ibbo Mandaza said Mutasa’s statement was likely to shake the corridors of power in Zanu PF, as it was a direct challenge to both Mugabe and the congress outcome.
“They are saying the congress was null and void and that the pre-congress status quo should be retained,” he said.
“What happened before congress was the illegal dismantling of elected committees and irregular amendments to the constitution.”
He described Mutasa’s statement as “strong, well-written and obviously prepared by very qualified lawyers”.
Impeccable Zanu PF insiders yesterday said Mutasa’s statement came as a result of a series of meetings by party cadrés who felt the party had been hijacked by those who did not subscribe to the party’s ideologies.
Mujuru, who prior to her ouster appeared a strong contender to succeed Mugabe, has now reportedly extended an olive branch to former party gurus, among them Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn leader Simba Makoni and Zapu president Dumiso Dabengwa to form a grand coalition. – SouthernEye/Additional Reporting.

ONE person died while four others were seriously injured when a Toyota Estima they were travelling in burst a tyre, veered off the road and plunged into the riverbed of the dry Gwayi River near the 25km peg along Plumtree Road on Tuesday.
Bulawayo chief fire officer Richard Peterson confirmed the accident and said it happened at around 3pm when the Botswana-registered car, carrying five people and destined for the neighbouring country, rolled several times before plunging onto the riverbed.
The driver lost control of her vehicle and it rolled twice before landing on its wheels, trapping two passengers who were later rescued by firemen from the Bulawayo Fire brigade several minutes later.
The driver, (name withheld, because her next of kin have not yet been informed) died on the spot and her body was taken to Figtree Police Station.
The other passengers who were who were trapped inside the vehicle were seriously injured and were taken to Cyrene Hospital for medical assistance.
Matabeleland South Police spokesperson Philisani Ndebele could not confirm the accident as he was not at work, but referred questions to Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi, who was not reachable.
Meanwhile, a man sustained serious injuries after the truck he was driving veered off the road and hit a tree near the 42km peg along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road, as he tried to avoid a pothole at around 10pm on Tuesday.
He was trapped inside the damaged truck for hours before being rescued by firemen, who ferried him to Mpilo Central Hospital. – SouthernEye

Mashonaland Central Provincial Minister Martin Dinha has confirmed in an interview with Studio 7 that First Lady Grace Mugabe has applied for a license to run Arnold Farm also known as Manzou Farm as an animal sanctuary.
Dinha this week had claimed that the first family was not involved in seizing the farm from villagers, who settled on it in 2000. Police moved in last week to evict the villagers despite a court order to halt the evictions without offering the villagers altenative land.
Dinha tells Studio 7’s Blessing Zulu that by next week national parks will release lions and elephants onto the farm. More to follow… – VOA

 
Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed to prove his capability of ruling the country by failing ‘to bring about a country that conforms to its rule of law’; lawyers from a leading rights watch dog have complained.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights gave the vote of “no confidence” to Mnangagwa on Wednesday in Harare when it was raising concern to reporters on the eviction of more than 200 families at Mazowe’s Manzou Farm by government last week.
Last week the police stormed on the farm, destroying houses while attempting to evict around 200 families from the property, which is near First Lady Grace Mugabe’s dairy and orphanage in the central Mazowe district.
Dzimbabwe Chimbga the organization’s Programmes Manager said had Mnangagwa stood by and upheld the new constitution as Head of State, these evictions would have been stopped.
Mnangagwa is the acting President since December after President Robert Mugabe embarked on his annual leave which ends this month.
“We have got government actors who are busy focused on evicting people; Government actors who are focused on acquiring huge tracts of land instead of implementing the new constitution so to us that is a problem,” said  Chimbga ,“The acting President has not done anything to bring about a country that conforms to its rule of law. His term might be ending as the President is coming back. All we can say is that he has not given us confidence that he is up to the task as President of this country.”
Commenting on recent reports that government had started moving wild animals in to the farm so that it becomes a national park, Chimbga warned that they will continue fighting for the rights of the affecting citizens.
“It is a national problem which requires a solution from all people and in a fair world political actors who are the government, would protect people against arbitrary evictions but as you know the opposite is happening,” he said.

MDC-T activists who were brutalised in Budiriro Sunday afternoon have had salt added to their wounds after the ZANU PF controlled police manufactured a story against them that they attacked ZANU PF and with blood gushing from their wounds, their own Spokesman Obert Gutu, now stands accused of turning a blind eye to their plight on the day of the attack.
Mr Gutu ignored submissions from witnesses of the attack and when presented with information on the very day, he to date has not acted to sufficiently support the tortured activists four of whom are awaiting trial on trumped up chargers, despite the seriousness of their plight.

One of the brutalised activists is Johana (pictured) who was attacked on Sunday. Jail awaits her as soon as she can be taken to court. But the Zanu PF victims the state media has claimed that MDC youths beat are nowhere to be seen.
Six of the victims instead of the attakers were arrested on the very day. The attack saw a man bludgeoned with a metal object in full view of the Budiriro MP Costa Machingauta.
The rest, four MDC-T supporters yesterday appeared in court on allegations of assaulting Zanu-PF supporters in Harare on Sunday. Amos Mudondo (32), Doesntmatter Mawana (32) and Trust Muchena (32) appeared before Mbare magistrate Ms Anita Tshuma facing assault charges, while their accomplice Malvin Tinarwo (32) appeared in court on Monday. Mudondo, Mawana and Muchena were represented by Mr Obey Shava and lodged complaints against the police.
“My clients were beaten up by Zanu-PF youths, abducted and (bundled) into a Nissan Sunny vehicle before being taken to Budiriro 2 Police Station,” said Mr Shava.
“The youths ordered the police to open a docket against the accused and they complied despite suffering from fresh bleeding wounds.
“The accused complain that they were denied equal rights to protection enshrined in the Constitution and access to treatment.”
Prosecutor Mr Fanuel Madanire has since opposed bail. Ms Tshuma will make a ruling on the bail application today.
The State claims that on Sunday, the four MDC-T supporters – who were clad in their party regalia – approached the complainant who was leaving the Zanu-PF offices located at an open space near the shopping centre.
The report claims they started accusing the complainant and his fellow Zanu-PF supporters of setting up their offices in the wrong place. An argument ensued and Muchena allegedly struck the complainant with an axe on his left hand thumb, causing a deep cut.
It continues, “the gang later approached another complainant who was coming from the same shopping centre. They ordered her to chant an MDC-T slogan but she refused which did not go down well with the group who started assaulting her.
“The MDC-T supporters allegedly punched her on the shoulders until she fell and stamped her on the chest, causing injuries.”
But on Sunday ZimEye.com readers who witnessed the attack in full view reveal the MDC-T activists were attacked by ZANU PF activists in full view of the public and all this was during a meeting with the Budiriro MP. A ZimEye correspondent shortly after the attack supplied this information to Mr Obert Gutu seeking corroboration, who only responded via text message saying, “which publication do you report?” and since Sunday evening to date, no effort has been seen from his desk to gather the witness evidence which vital for the courts to rule on the bail application.

The mystery man who caused a scene when he fled as claimed “a lightning strike” sparked by two Gokwe witches in full view of the public last week, has resurfaced from hiding.
Salimo Kwangware secretly crept out of the thick bushes of Gokwe South, travelled via an unknown private car and safely landed in Bulawayo on Monday, after being chased by the witches who are to date still baying for his blood.

ZimEye.com caught up with the Tsikamutanda on Tuesday morning who narrated his dramatic escape.
The traditional healer who was last year hired by villagers to help them sniff out witches from the troubled village of Dzvoritsvo which is about seven kilometres from the newly conferred Gokwe town, resurfaced in Ntabazintuna about 35 km east of Zimbabwe’s second largest capital before heading to Bulawayo.
Kwangware had successfully exposed the witches, who were now brought before a gathering during the final exorcising process. The witches allegedly sensing danger from the traditional man, began arguing and swearing at each other and in the heat of the argument, witnesses say flashes of bright lightning went forth from the palm of their hands towards the Tsikamutanda causing the man who was the villagers’ ‘only hope’ to flee for his life with the crowd equally shocked dispersing in almost-instant terror.
“These two have been in my radar and I was keeping a spiritual eye on them that they were after my head. I kept telling the village head to be careful when dealing with the two as they own powerful lightning bolts, thousands of hyenas and owls,” said Kwangware.
He also told ZimEye.com that the two are involved in the infamous 26 panties saga three years before and the owl that grabbed a matured male dog during a village indaba in headman Pauro’s area, under Chief Njelele in 2012.
According to Danmore Kunguva, who was standing in for the village head at the ceremony, trouble started when the two accused witches, were pointing fingers at each other, for having caused the death of three people, whose spirits were said to be seen roaming at night several months after their burials.
“We started having strange situations here, of seeing people we buried long time ago, and sometimes running away from them when they try to talk to us. That is when we asked for the help from the Tsikamutanda,” said Kunguva
The two old men who had agreed to surrender their tools of evil trade, started quarrelling before the official ceremony started, and their dispute spilled into the exorcizing time, thereby causing the exchange of lightning bolts in a bid to expose their strength to one another.
According to village head Kunguva, the spark from the two lightning bolts that collided in front of the gathering villagers left everyone speechless, and scampering for cover, causing the Tsikamutanda to run for dear life.
“The spark from the bumping lightning bolts scared away the traditional healer, who fled from the scene, and never returned. We are now in a very difficult situation that needs to be solved without delay. We are now waiting for another consultation process with Chief Njelele so that we can chart the way forward on the fate of the two warring families, and their future in our village, since villagers are now unsettled,” said Kunguva.
After the resurfacing of Kwangware in the outskirts of Bulawayo, ZimEye.com caught up with the village head Kunguva, who said he is still to meet Chief Njelele for dialogue on the matter.
“I am still to meet the Chief to discuss the way forward, because if a traditional healer is afraid, then that means we have to find other methods,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from Chief Njelele hit a brick wall as his cellphone was not reachable at the time of going to press.

The Zanu-PF faction backing ousted party Vice President Joice Mujuru says it has engaged lawyers to explore ways to challenge the party’s December congress which they allege was illegal.
Some political analysts predict the party is now headed for a split.
Former secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa released a statement Monday saying the congress was null and void.
Mutasa, who was referring to himself as the party secretary for administration though he was replaced by Ignatius Chombo, claims to be representing the majority of Zanu-PF supporters irked by the lack of internal democracy in the party.
Attempts to reach party spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo were futile. Studio 7’s Blessing Zulu spoke with expelled former Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo.
Political analyst, Alex Magaisa, of Kent University in London says it will be interesting to watch the Zanu-PF race in the by-elections. -VOA

The cash strapped government has shifted this month’s pay date for the uniformed forces from today to Friday.
 
Recently, nurses and doctors threatened to strike over their unpaid bonuses and finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa, was quick to reassure them that government would honour its obligation.
According to Chinamasa, medical staff will receive their bonuses tomorrow while the rest of the civil service that has not received their thirteenth cheque for 2014 will be paid on January 23 and grant aided institutions on February 6.
Chinamasa said the staggering of the payments was due to serious financial challenges that the government was facing.
Soldiers who spoke to The Zimbabwean on condition of anonymity said they failed to access their salaries today after which they were told at their various work stations that they would get their salaries on Friday.
No reason was given for the shift in their pay date.
“We were supposed to get our salaries today while others were supposed to be paid tomorrow but we have been told to wait until Friday,” said one of the sources from the military.
Another soldier based at One Commando in Harare said: “We were told by our superiors that we would get our salaries on Friday but no reason was given to us for the delay. So we will just wait to see what transpires”.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Prisca Mupfmira’s number was not reachable while Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, said he was in a meeting when contacted for comment.
He did not reply to a text message sent to him over the issue.
The development comes amid threats of a strike by civil servants over poor working conditions and the government’s reluctance to improve them.- The Zimbabwean

Buhera legislator Joseph Chinotimba conducted a one man demonstration across the Harare CBD on Tuesday morning furiously charging at his former employers, Harare City Council.
Chinoz who recently received a Human Rights award, marched across the streets on his own shouting onto trees and brickwalls that his former bosses must address the worrying pothole crisis among several failures.
Chinoz is a former City Council Security guard.
After ZimEye.com readers alerted reporters on the development Chinoz confirmed to ZimEye.com, “It was a one man band, demonstration against the council, against the police protesting the road situation, and chaos at the market and kombi areas”.AUDIO-click here  : 
When Mr Chinotimba was however pressed on the ZINARA scandal, the latter parastatal led by a Robert Mugabe relative, Albert, who is responsible for the country’s roads and whose managers have mismanaged at least $40million, if he will soon carry out a similar protest, Chinotimba replied indicating he was not concerned since even former British Prime Minister Tony Blair  has allegedly “done the same  – that is,appointed friends and cronies to government positions,” according to Chinotimba.  AUDIO-click here  :