Font miss Chief Ndiweni today on the Final Countdown pic.twitter.com/LCN0LnwRUX

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) December 31, 2021

By Daniel Molokele| In his now anthemic song, ‘Badlala njani’, that he sung in praise of Highlanders football club; the iconic and legendary Lovemore Majaivana mentions several names outside those actively playing soccer on the pitch.

However, the very first of all the names that he chose to highlight and appreciate is that of the late Ndumiso Emmanuel Gumede.

“Ndumiso Gumede kalamathambo. Ubaphethe njani engelamathambo!”
Such was the successful impact of Gumede on the oldest premier league club in Zimbabwe; Highlanders FC Bosso, which was founded in 1926.

Indeed, few will argue when it is asserted that Gumede is by far the most influential leader that Bosso has ever had in its entire 95-year history.

Gumede devoted most of his adult life into selfless service towards the iconic and legendary soccer club.

He was first asked to serve his beloved Bosso as its representative at Harare in 1974.

Later on, in 1978, at a rather tender age of 33, Gumede was elected as the club’s Executive Chairman.

This was his first stint at the help of the Bosso ship.

His first term only lasted for two years until 1980, when he was called to serve at a national level.
However, Gumede later returned to Bosso when he was elected once again as its Chairperson in 1983.

It was during his second stint that he managed to establish himself as a visionary and innovative leader. Under his impressive leadership, Bosso managed to buy its Robert Mugabe avenue offices, camping house in Luveve known as “Hotel California” and also to take over Queens Bowling Club, which is now famously known as the Highlanders clubhouse.

I first became fully conscious of Bosso during Gumede’s second stint as the Chairperson of Bosso.

I come from a very soccer loving family. Both my parents were passionate soccer personalities.

My late father, Godfrey Mguni was a well-known soccer personality in my hometown of Whange.

During the 1970s, he initially built his reputation as a footballer and later on in the 1980s, he firmly established himself as an administrator.

My late father was the leader and inspirational force behind one of the most successful soccer teams in the early 1980s that played under the local Wankie Football Association (WAFA)

His team was known as the Zulu Royals football club.
Some soccer players used to stay at our home.

Added to that, the team players used to have some of their meals at our home.
Their jerseys or kits used to be washed at our home.

I also used to accompany the team when it was playing its matches.
In fact, I recall that I used to be part of the half-time team talks by the time I was five years old.

I also remember looking forward to eating some oranges during the same half time pep talk. During those days, it was normal for the soccer players to be given oranges at halftime as organic energizers.

It was because of both my parents heavily involvement with the Zulu Royals that my early childhood is replete with vivid memories of these unique soccer experiences. Those memories go back to the time I was barely three years old.

I think I first caught a glimpse of the iconic Gumede in person around 1983. I was only 8 years old at that time. This was the time I attended a Bosso match that I fully recall in my memory. Bosso travelled over to the Colliery. Unfortunately, on that day, they were totally outclassed by the coalminers, popularly known as Chipangano.

I do remember myself weeping inconsolably after Bosso was defeated on that day.

One of my late father’s friends tried to console me but it was in vain. I remember him remarking loudly about my passionate love for Bosso.

Throughout my primary school years, I keenly followed the meteoric rise of Gumede as a soccer administrator. I was able to share the joy of one of his most successful years in 1986, when Bosso did well and won all the domestic cups except the league title.

The 1986 team that was led by the late Willard Khumalo is one of the most talented squads that Bosso has ever assembled. It boasted some of the club’s most famous players such as Madinda ‘Khathazile’ Ndlovu, Peter ‘Captain Oxo’ Nkomo, Fanuel ‘Ncane’ Ncube, Douglas ‘British’ Mloyi, Alexander ‘The Cool Ruler’ Maseko. Mercedes ‘Rambo’ Sibanda, Titus ‘Zee, the Yellowman’ Majola, Richard Ndlovu, Nhamo Shambira, Dumisani Ngulube, among others.

Gumede went on to hold several administrative posts in the national soccer stage. He is a former ZIFA Vice President, CEO and Committee.

In the later part of his life, Gumede returned to his first love, Bosso. It was during this time that I managed to have a personal experience with him.

In particular it was between 2015 and 2017m when I served as the Chairperson of the Highlanders FC South Africa Supporters branch that I had the privilege to work closely with him.

At that time, he was now serving as the club’s CEO.

In February 2016, I worked closely with Gumede when he organized a trip for a special delegation that travelled to the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. In particular, I was so privileged to personally host the entire delegation from Bulawayo at my home in Johannesburg, during their brief stopover while they were on their way to Grahamstown.

The delegation consisted of the club’s administrators, executives and also the royal traditional leaders that included Chief Nyangazonke of Kezi and Prince Peter Zwidekalanga Khumalo, among others. The delegation visited the grave of one of the iconic club’s co-founders, Prince Njube Khumalo. The special visit was part of the club’s commemoration of its 90th birthday.

Gumede used to tell me that he was hugely inspired by some of the ideas that I had shared with him that I had hipped would help to transform Bosso into a modern club. In particular, Gumede used to encourage me to fully pursue my passionate idea to help commercialize Bosso as a brand.

I do vividly remember that in my last personal conversation with him during one of my regular visits to the Bosso offices along Robert Mugabe avenue in 2017; he challenged me to seriously consider running for the post of CEO since had decided to retire.

I briefly considered the idea but it was soon overtaken by another opportunity that arose for me to return to my hometown of Whange and serve as its next Member of Parliament.

I do remember how Gumede responded to me, when I informed him of my decision to retrain to active party politics. He had mixed feelings. On one hand he was so sad that Bosso was going to lose one of its most promising administrative leaders. At that time, I was also serving as the Secretary of the club’s institutional reforms Committee. In particular, I had volunteered to take the lead in the process of coming up with extensive changes to the Bosso Constitution.

On the other hand, Gumede was also happy for me that I had decided to return to Zimbabwe and help to build a new future for our beautiful motherland. He encouraged me to pursue my political career in the same selfless and passionate manner I had served Bosso.

Gumede eventually retired as the CEO and later on agreed to serve as his beloved club’s President. This was the position he was still having when he passed away
It is also fitting that Bosso hosted a special event to honour his legacy on the 22nd of December 2021. This was a few days before he passed away. It was indeed a fitting tribute and send off for one of the club’s most famous personalities.

Rest in peace Ndumiso Emmanuel Gumede. We will forever appreciate and cherish your life-long contribution towards soccer in Zimbabwe especially towards your beloved Highlanders football club.

Bayethe! Lala ngokuthula qhawe la maqhawe ethu!

By A Correspondent- Armed robbers pounced on a white farmer in Beatrice killing one.

The robbers, allegedly attacked the Mitchell family at 2am last night and shot dead a lady only identified as Rene.

Said a notice issued in a Beatrice whatsapp group:

Hi Beatrice Community

There’s been an armed robbery at Mantlavina.

Our friend Warren is in a critical condition and is enroute via ambulance to Harare

I so terribly regret to advise that Rene is no longer with us. Please lets all keep Warren and Helena in our prayers. Helena praise God is fine, but understandbly traumatised.

It seems a group came to the farm at 2am this morning. They disarmed the guards and put their uniforms on. They then went to the house and called Rene pretending to be the guards.

She went out and they shot her twice from behind. They then beat Warren badly and he is now at Health Point in a critical condition.

Helena is traumatised but ok. This looks like a ht not a robbery as Rene was pretty cheeky and was involved in a conflict with poachers recently. They threatened to return.”

The Mitchell family are dairy farmers.

Warren and Rene moved back from South Africa a couple of years ago

THE PROVINCIAL ELECTORAL DIRECTORATE MASHONALAND CENTRAL PROVINCE
BINDURA

30/12/2021

RE: GROSS IRREGULARITIES IN THE PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS HELD ON 28/12/2021: RECOMMANDATION FOR A RE-RUN

We write to you in connection with the recently held ZANU PF Provincial Elections in
Mashonaland Central Province.

There is a serious outcry over the way the elections were conducted and the clear evidence of rigging which renders the results not a reflection of the wishes of the people of Mash Central.

This will most likely pose serious challenges for the new administration to effectively unite the and run the province most effectively, a challenge the outgoing administration has perennially encountered. More so as we edge towards 2023 with our 5-million vote vision.

Amongst issues of grave concern are the following.
Election Officers were seriously compromised resulting in many of them disregarding the rules of conduct set by the party. For example, campaign agents of candidates were allowed to distribute voting material on their own resulting in ballot papers missing especially in Mt Darwin, Muzarabani, Mbire and Guruve.

Some candidates, especially those in the DCC’s, were allowed to run elections in direct
violation of the election rules and regulations. This was more rampant in Mbire and Guruve
where these interested candidates influenced the direction of elections in favour of their
preferred outcomes. Some candidates’ names were not appearing at some polling stations
suggesting a deliberate strategy to exclude them from contesting.

These unruly and conflicted ‘officials’ barred other candidates’ election agents from entering the polling stations. The clear intention was to ensure they could not witness what was taking place inside the stations where processes were being manipulated.

The barring of agents from accessing the polling stations resulting in many results sheets not being signed as required by the regulations.

Vote-buying and intimidation was rife at some polling stations especially in Mbire and Guruve and this contributed to eligible voters not being able to cast their votes. Despite most eligible voters failing to vote, the results sheets reflected a massive turnout which is clear evidence that the election process was seriously manipulated.

There is irrefutable evidence that some ballot papers in Muzarabani and Mbire, were taken
home overnight and only brought to the centres the following morning. These papers were
being worked on overnight to ensure a preferred outcome.

In Mbire, ballot papers were only delivered at midnight on the election day long after the voting period had expired. Most voters had already gone home without voting but the manipulated papers reflected a massive turnout.

Voting also continued on 29/12/2021 up to around 1000hrs without polling agents or police as required. No voters’ roll was used as these rogue officials sought assistance from their rigging teams to fill-in voting slips.

The deliberate lack of the presence of the police in most districts, particularly Mt Darwin,
Muzarabani, Mbire and Guruve opened the whole process to manipulation by uncouth and
abusive officials resulting in wrong results being sent to the command centre.

There is evidence of connivance between district centre officials and counterparts at the
Provincial Centre. Reports already abound, implicating senior members of the Provincial
Centre in manipulation of the voting process for the benefit of ‘partners in crime’.

The Provincial Director in particular, behaved very suspiciously when results started trickling in and started chasing away people from the centre including barring security officers (CIO, MID and PISI) from entering the centre.

This is clear proof that this official had issues to hide from the system which by nature should be very transparent. He barred security officials from accessing data on the election results. It later turned out that data submitted from the district centres was completely different from that inputted at the Provincial Command Centre.

This triggered an outcry and serious claims of corruption and rigging from all corners against these district and provincial officials.

Observations

It is our observation that the election results from this heavily compromised and manipulated process does not reflect the wishes of the electorate. This is the kind of behaviour that causes endless intractable conflicts in the party which unavoidably ends up affecting national elections.

An election is a sacrosanct process that is supposed to culminate in the voice of the
majority. That a few power-hungry people with narrow interests are allowed to replace the true wishes of the electorate is a very dangerous proposition that threatens the credibility of the whole electoral system and reflects badly on party leadership. ZANU PF is the only true custodian of the people’s democracy in this country and therefore we must be seen to be living the values that we espouse. T

his kind of vote manipulation should never be tolerated if we are to retain credibility as the true custodians of democracy and progressive values. The level of manipulation, intimidation, corruption, system abuse and lack of transparency destroys the
credibility of these elections and obviously deprives the electorate of free expression of theirwill.

RECOMMENDATION.
Considering the foregoing, and in the interest of protecting the people’s voice, we hereby
strongly recommend that these elections be re-run especially in the most affected districts like Guruve and Mbire.

Ignoring this level of system abuse will have a negative impact on future elections. Our people will obviously shun elections as they perceive the processes to be worthless. We will suffer voter apathy that can impact even on national elections and obviously hamper our efforts to garner a minimum of 5 million votes for 2023.

Already this is coming on top of perennial disgruntlements over the way the current administration has been doing business that resulted in failure to unite our people and rally them behind the party leadership.

In any case, how do we hope to successfully run this province under these circumstances? Its always much easier to lead people who respect us than to force people to respect us.

We pray that our observations and recommendation will be given due consideration.

Signed
A G MUTASA (077286383) S PARERENYATWA (0772949094)
PSG MASH CENTRAL CHAIRMAN MASH CENTRAL
CC War Veterans National Chairman

1/3 THEY TOO WERE IN GOVT, some as the PM's advisors, for over 4 years; and they had a majority in Parliament to make all the reforms they wanted; they nominated commissioners to @ZECzim, setup under their watch in 2013; what did they do? Alas, some had fun snatching girlfriends!

— Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) December 30, 2021

2/3 So, yes, the current @ZECzim was setup in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe (2013), when they were in Cabinet and Govt with a majority in Parliament. They say elections are stolen but don't know how; yet the last deputy @ZECzim chairperson, a nice guy, was their deployee!

— Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) December 30, 2021

3/3 So if it's not the system but individuals, like "G40", what do the self-proclaimed do gooders have to show for their individual input in the 4 years they were key govt advisors?

Meanwhile, their deployees at @ZECzim, as commissioners, should reveal how elections are stolen!

— Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) December 30, 2021

THE PROVINCIAL ELECTORAL DIRECTORATE MASHONALAND CENTRAL PROVINCE
BINDURA

30/12/2021

RE: GROSS IRREGULARITIES IN THE PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS HELD ON 28/12/2021: RECOMMANDATION FOR A RE-RUN

We write to you in connection with the recently held ZANU PF Provincial Elections in
Mashonaland Central Province.

There is a serious outcry over the way the elections were conducted and the clear evidence of rigging which renders the results not a reflection of the wishes of the people of Mash Central.

This will most likely pose serious challenges for the new administration to effectively unite the and run the province most effectively, a challenge the outgoing administration has perennially encountered. More so as we edge towards 2023 with our 5-million vote vision.

Amongst issues of grave concern are the following.
Election Officers were seriously compromised resulting in many of them disregarding the rules of conduct set by the party. For example, campaign agents of candidates were allowed to distribute voting material on their own resulting in ballot papers missing especially in Mt Darwin, Muzarabani, Mbire and Guruve.

Some candidates, especially those in the DCC’s, were allowed to run elections in direct
violation of the election rules and regulations. This was more rampant in Mbire and Guruve
where these interested candidates influenced the direction of elections in favour of their
preferred outcomes. Some candidates’ names were not appearing at some polling stations
suggesting a deliberate strategy to exclude them from contesting.

These unruly and conflicted ‘officials’ barred other candidates’ election agents from entering the polling stations. The clear intention was to ensure they could not witness what was taking place inside the stations where processes were being manipulated.

The barring of agents from accessing the polling stations resulting in many results sheets not being signed as required by the regulations.

Vote-buying and intimidation was rife at some polling stations especially in Mbire and Guruve and this contributed to eligible voters not being able to cast their votes. Despite most eligible voters failing to vote, the results sheets reflected a massive turnout which is clear evidence that the election process was seriously manipulated.

There is irrefutable evidence that some ballot papers in Muzarabani and Mbire, were taken
home overnight and only brought to the centres the following morning. These papers were
being worked on overnight to ensure a preferred outcome.

In Mbire, ballot papers were only delivered at midnight on the election day long after the voting period had expired. Most voters had already gone home without voting but the manipulated papers reflected a massive turnout.

Voting also continued on 29/12/2021 up to around 1000hrs without polling agents or police as required. No voters’ roll was used as these rogue officials sought assistance from their rigging teams to fill-in voting slips.

The deliberate lack of the presence of the police in most districts, particularly Mt Darwin,
Muzarabani, Mbire and Guruve opened the whole process to manipulation by uncouth and
abusive officials resulting in wrong results being sent to the command centre.

There is evidence of connivance between district centre officials and counterparts at the
Provincial Centre. Reports already abound, implicating senior members of the Provincial
Centre in manipulation of the voting process for the benefit of ‘partners in crime’.

The Provincial Director in particular, behaved very suspiciously when results started trickling in and started chasing away people from the centre including barring security officers (CIO, MID and PISI) from entering the centre.

This is clear proof that this official had issues to hide from the system which by nature should be very transparent. He barred security officials from accessing data on the election results. It later turned out that data submitted from the district centres was completely different from that inputted at the Provincial Command Centre.

This triggered an outcry and serious claims of corruption and rigging from all corners against these district and provincial officials.

Observations

It is our observation that the election results from this heavily compromised and manipulated process does not reflect the wishes of the electorate. This is the kind of behaviour that causes endless intractable conflicts in the party which unavoidably ends up affecting national elections.

An election is a sacrosanct process that is supposed to culminate in the voice of the
majority. That a few power-hungry people with narrow interests are allowed to replace the true wishes of the electorate is a very dangerous proposition that threatens the credibility of the whole electoral system and reflects badly on party leadership. ZANU PF is the only true custodian of the people’s democracy in this country and therefore we must be seen to be living the values that we espouse. T

his kind of vote manipulation should never be tolerated if we are to retain credibility as the true custodians of democracy and progressive values. The level of manipulation, intimidation, corruption, system abuse and lack of transparency destroys the
credibility of these elections and obviously deprives the electorate of free expression of theirwill.

RECOMMENDATION.
Considering the foregoing, and in the interest of protecting the people’s voice, we hereby
strongly recommend that these elections be re-run especially in the most affected districts like Guruve and Mbire.

Ignoring this level of system abuse will have a negative impact on future elections. Our people will obviously shun elections as they perceive the processes to be worthless. We will suffer voter apathy that can impact even on national elections and obviously hamper our efforts to garner a minimum of 5 million votes for 2023.

Already this is coming on top of perennial disgruntlements over the way the current administration has been doing business that resulted in failure to unite our people and rally them behind the party leadership.

In any case, how do we hope to successfully run this province under these circumstances? Its always much easier to lead people who respect us than to force people to respect us.

We pray that our observations and recommendation will be given due consideration.

Signed
A G MUTASA (077286383) S PARERENYATWA (0772949094)
PSG MASH CENTRAL CHAIRMAN MASH CENTRAL
CC War Veterans National Chairman

By A Correspondent- The Government has postponed the First Term opening day for Form One classes as the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) Grade Seven results have not been released.

Form One classes were expected to start school on Monday 10 January with the rest of the learners but this will not be possible.

In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education said the opening date for the 2022 Form 1 classes will be announced in due course.

Read the statement:

Due to the still pending processing and finalisation of the 2021 Grade 7 examination process, the 2022 Form One cohort of learners will have their opening date deferred until the Grade 7 national results are released.

… Parents and guardians who wish to send their children to boarding schools are advised to apply on the ministry’s electronic platform www.emap.co.zw.

The selection of learners for both boarding and day schools will be done by school heads as soon as Grade 7 results are out.

The Ministry also said that only 2021 Ordinary Level and Advanced Level candidates who still have examination papers to write will return to school on 3 January while the rest of the learners will be back on 10 January.

The statement read:

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education would like to inform the nation and its stakeholders that only 2021 O and A-level candidates with outstanding examination components will be going back with effect from Monday 3 January 2022 for the purposes of continuing with the examination process.

-statemedia

By A Correspondent- Kadoma businessman Kudakwashe Taruberekera is set to represent Zimbabwe in a series of global meetings under the United Nations Global Compact banner early next year.

The UN Global Compact is a non-binding UN pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation.

It is headquartered in New York, United States.

“In 2021, the UN Global Compact launched an array of successful programmes, strategies and events that helped spread our message and encourage companies around the world to sign on and align their priorities toward sustainability,” a UN Global Compact statement reads in part.

The mini-summit brings business representatives from across the globe including government, civil society, academia and the United Nations officials to tackle the world’s greatest challenges.

“This year I attended a number of such global meetings and represented the country. I also made presentations on a number of issues, including gender equality,” Taruberekera said

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has confirmed the arrest of a Beta bus driver who disappeared when the bus he was driving was involved in a head-on collision with a fuel tanker and killed five (5) people.

Police say Philip Tawanda Chirindo surrendered himself to the police on Wednesday. Pindula News presents a police statement on the development:

The ZRP confirms the arrest of Philip Tawanda Chirindo (34), the driver of a Beta Bus who escaped after a fatal road traffic accident involving a Freightliner fuel tanker and a Yutong bus which occurred on 24/12/21 at the 242 km peg along Harare- Mutare Rd.

The suspect who is being charged for Contravening Section 49 of the Criminal Law (Codification & Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 a.r.w section 64 (3) of the Rd Traffic Act Chapter 11: 13 ‘Culpable Homicide’, surrendered himself to the Police on 29/12/21 and will appear in court soon.

Witnesses said Chirindo encroached on the oncoming traffic lane in a bid to avoid a drunken pedestrian and in the process the bus collided with the tanker.

The tanker burst into flames torching the bus that was also reduced to wrecks.

By A Correspondent- Exiled former minister Saviour Kasukuwere says President Emmerson Mnangagwa has no option but to return Zanu-PF to constitutionalism to douse factional flames in the ruling party.

Mnangagwa admitted at an extra-ordinary session of the Zanu-PF  politburo on 20 October that factionalism was tearing the party apart.

Infighting, which has sometimes resulted in violent running battles, has been laid bare during campaigning for the district and provincial elections. Zanu-PF now has two main factions, one supporting Mnangagwa and the other behind Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.

Mnangagwa is also having headaches after party member Sybeth Musengezi dragged him to the High Court challenging the constitutionality of processes that saw him assuming the leadership of the party after the November 2017 coup.

But Kasukuwere, who is also Zanu-PF’s former political commissar, said all this was expected.

“The party must return to constitutionalism. It’s simple. If any leader wants to prevail and work for the party, with the support of everyone, he has to respect the law. It is very simple. He has to follow the law. The party has a constitution and that constitution requires adherence to constitutionalism,” Kasukuwere said in an interview.

“There are processes that have to be carried out every year, two years, three years, four years and five years. Every year, cells must be renewed, every two years branches must be renewed, every three years districts must be renewed, and every four years it’s the provinces and every five years a congress must be held.

You cannot postpone that which is constitutional (district and provincial elections). You have to respect and uphold the law as it is. The rank and file are very disillusioned because of this illegality. Just get back the party to its legal foundation; otherwise everything else remains an illegality, hence the chaos in Zanu-PF.”

Kasukuwere is now based in neighbouring South Africa. “That is what and how the party must function so that there is clarity, and that is how it functioned from 1980. It’s only now that there has been a departure from the legal framework to a completely individual-driven process where there is no respect for party structures, processes,” he added.

“Individuals are just running riot. It destroys the party because the party is run on certain fundamentals. It is not run on the whims of individuals. That is not how the party is run. The leadership must provide, and should provide direction at national level.

“If we can’t respect the law, at party level, how do we respect the law at national level? Charity begins at home. I am not criticising anybody, or looking for favours. The law is the law.”

War veterans have also been dragged into the Zanu-PF fights with a faction reportedly linked to Mnangagwa now pushing for the removal of his deputy Chiwenga.

Chiwenga allegedly has his camp of war veterans pushing for Mnangagwa’s ouster.-newshawks

By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) holders in South Africa reportedly suffered a major blow on Tuesday when the High Court in Pretoria struck their two applications off the roll of urgent matters.

Desperate ZEP holders made the urgent court applications to overturn the decision taken by the neighbouring country’s Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi not to renew the permits which expire today.

The South African cabinet last month resolved not to renew the permits, asking the ZEP holders to apply for a special visa regime or face deportation at the expiry of the 12-month grace period in December next year in the event that their applications are rejected.

Various human rights and civic groups have been lobbying President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government to reverse its decision, describing the cabinet resolution as a human rights abuse.

Pretoria gave the permit holders until December 31, 2022 to regularise their immigration status or face deportation.

In both applications, the permit holders wanted the court to order the Department of Home Affairs to stop implementing the decision until the matter has been finalised by the courts.

In a statement, government said: “The minister and department rigorously defended both applications and argued that the applicants in both matters failed to comply with the practice manual and directives and lack of urgency.

“The court ruled in favour of the minister and removed the African Amity’s matter from the roll. Costs were reserved. The minister and department intend to insist on punitive costs against African Amity.

“In the matter of Bongani Nyathi, Gaston Ngulube and Njabulo Ncube, the court ordered the applicants to pay the minister and department’s costs.”

Said Motsoaledi: “We are determined to defend any spurious court actions aimed at undermining the lawful and reasonable decision which I took in my capacity as the minister of the department. We are doing this while we acknowledge the rights of individuals and groups to approach the courts to seek remedies if they feel aggrieved.

It is common cause that there are many other groupings who are poised to take on review the decision on ZEP in the courts of law in the New Year. And as a result, the department will defend the lawful, rational and reasonable decision taken in my capacity as the minister of the department.”

But the ZEP holders’ lawyer Simba Chitando dismissed the government statement as “false news”.

“Firstly, the High Court did not dismiss any urgent application regarding the ZEP. That is false news. The application was not even heard by the court because of various reasons including the fact that the minister’s lawyers said that they were not served,” he said.

“The case before the court had nothing to do with the reversal of the ZEP. It was to assert the rights of ZEP holders during the 12-month grace period.”

Chitando said the main case about the ZEP rights to residency shall not be heard on the urgent roll, but would be on the ordinary roll in the fullness of time.

“All that happened was that the case was not considered because of various technical reasons, including the allegation that the minister was not properly served during the festive season,” he said.

At the beginning of the programme 12 years ago, 300 000 people applied for the Dispensation of Zimbabwean Permit, which provided for the documentation of qualifying Zimbabweans for a five-year period.

Pretoria then renewed them under the Zimbabwean Special Dispensation permit in 2014.

The number of applicants shrunk to 182 000 under the ZEP in 2017.

Over three million Zimbabweans are believed to be in South Africa, a huge number being undocumented.

Most of those in the neighbouring country are believed to have fled economic collapse and political persecution in Zimbabwe in the past two decades.-newsday

THE PROVINCIAL ELECTORAL DIRECTORATE MASHONALAND CENTRAL PROVINCE
BINDURA

30/12/2021

RE: GROSS IRREGULARITIES IN THE PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS HELD ON 28/12/2021: RECOMMANDATION FOR A RE-RUN

We write to you in connection with the recently held ZANU PF Provincial Elections in
Mashonaland Central Province.

There is a serious outcry over the way the elections were conducted and the clear evidence of rigging which renders the results not a reflection of the wishes of the people of Mash Central.

This will most likely pose serious challenges for the new administration to effectively unite the and run the province most effectively, a challenge the outgoing administration has perennially encountered. More so as we edge towards 2023 with our 5-million vote vision.

Amongst issues of grave concern are the following.
Election Officers were seriously compromised resulting in many of them disregarding the rules of conduct set by the party. For example, campaign agents of candidates were allowed to distribute voting material on their own resulting in ballot papers missing especially in Mt Darwin, Muzarabani, Mbire and Guruve.

Some candidates, especially those in the DCC’s, were allowed to run elections in direct
violation of the election rules and regulations. This was more rampant in Mbire and Guruve
where these interested candidates influenced the direction of elections in favour of their
preferred outcomes. Some candidates’ names were not appearing at some polling stations
suggesting a deliberate strategy to exclude them from contesting.

These unruly and conflicted ‘officials’ barred other candidates’ election agents from entering the polling stations. The clear intention was to ensure they could not witness what was taking place inside the stations where processes were being manipulated.

The barring of agents from accessing the polling stations resulting in many results sheets not being signed as required by the regulations.

Vote-buying and intimidation was rife at some polling stations especially in Mbire and Guruve and this contributed to eligible voters not being able to cast their votes. Despite most eligible voters failing to vote, the results sheets reflected a massive turnout which is clear evidence that the election process was seriously manipulated.

There is irrefutable evidence that some ballot papers in Muzarabani and Mbire, were taken
home overnight and only brought to the centres the following morning. These papers were
being worked on overnight to ensure a preferred outcome.

In Mbire, ballot papers were only delivered at midnight on the election day long after the voting period had expired. Most voters had already gone home without voting but the manipulated papers reflected a massive turnout.

Voting also continued on 29/12/2021 up to around 1000hrs without polling agents or police as required. No voters’ roll was used as these rogue officials sought assistance from their rigging teams to fill-in voting slips.

The deliberate lack of the presence of the police in most districts, particularly Mt Darwin,
Muzarabani, Mbire and Guruve opened the whole process to manipulation by uncouth and
abusive officials resulting in wrong results being sent to the command centre.

There is evidence of connivance between district centre officials and counterparts at the
Provincial Centre. Reports already abound, implicating senior members of the Provincial
Centre in manipulation of the voting process for the benefit of ‘partners in crime’.

The Provincial Director in particular, behaved very suspiciously when results started trickling in and started chasing away people from the centre including barring security officers (CIO, MID and PISI) from entering the centre.

This is clear proof that this official had issues to hide from the system which by nature should be very transparent. He barred security officials from accessing data on the election results. It later turned out that data submitted from the district centres was completely different from that inputted at the Provincial Command Centre.

This triggered an outcry and serious claims of corruption and rigging from all corners against these district and provincial officials.

Observations

It is our observation that the election results from this heavily compromised and manipulated process does not reflect the wishes of the electorate. This is the kind of behaviour that causes endless intractable conflicts in the party which unavoidably ends up affecting national elections.

An election is a sacrosanct process that is supposed to culminate in the voice of the
majority. That a few power-hungry people with narrow interests are allowed to replace the true wishes of the electorate is a very dangerous proposition that threatens the credibility of the whole electoral system and reflects badly on party leadership. ZANU PF is the only true custodian of the people’s democracy in this country and therefore we must be seen to be living the values that we espouse. T

his kind of vote manipulation should never be tolerated if we are to retain credibility as the true custodians of democracy and progressive values. The level of manipulation, intimidation, corruption, system abuse and lack of transparency destroys the
credibility of these elections and obviously deprives the electorate of free expression of theirwill.

RECOMMENDATION.
Considering the foregoing, and in the interest of protecting the people’s voice, we hereby
strongly recommend that these elections be re-run especially in the most affected districts like Guruve and Mbire.

Ignoring this level of system abuse will have a negative impact on future elections. Our people will obviously shun elections as they perceive the processes to be worthless. We will suffer voter apathy that can impact even on national elections and obviously hamper our efforts to garner a minimum of 5 million votes for 2023.

Already this is coming on top of perennial disgruntlements over the way the current administration has been doing business that resulted in failure to unite our people and rally them behind the party leadership.

In any case, how do we hope to successfully run this province under these circumstances? Its always much easier to lead people who respect us than to force people to respect us.

We pray that our observations and recommendation will be given due consideration.

Signed
A G MUTASA (077286383) S PARERENYATWA (0772949094)
PSG MASH CENTRAL CHAIRMAN MASH CENTRAL
CC War Veterans National Chairman

By- Out-spoken entertainment promoter-cum- politician and president of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Paddington Japajapa has challenged service chiefs to urgently find effective ways to combat the rampant armed robberies and other criminal activities involving uniformed forces.

In a statement, Japajapa, who is a former liberation war detainee and war collaborator, implored Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) Commander Phillip Valerio Sibanda, Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) Commander Lieutenant General David Sigauke, and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga to implement security sector reforms as a matter of urgency. Said Japajapa:

CSOs are calling upon the government of Zimbabwe to urgently make security service sector reforms, otherwise, Zimbabwe shall continue to be one of the most dangerous places to live in.

Reorient and reintroduce strict disciplinary measures to all serving soldiers and police officers.

Many officers in the ZNA and ZRP have become a security risk to the nation’s citizenry.

Instead of citizens feeling confident and comfortable to co-exist with ex and serving members of the security forces, the opposite is now happening.

Japajapa’s comments come after several serving members of the ZNA have been implicated in a number of armed robbers across the country.

Earlier this month, retired police detective Joseph Nemaisa was engaged in a fierce shootout with five armed robbers at his home in Chadcombe, Harare.

Three of the robbers were serving members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, including one who was on duty.

Nemaisa shot and killed three of the robbers, while the two who escaped were eventually arrested.

More: NewZimbabwe.com

By A Correspondent- Parents and guardians are urged to always ensure the safety of their children. This follows three recent sudden death cases involving children in Binga, Harare and Gwanda.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) reports that on the 29th of this month, an infant was killed in a fatal Road Traffic Accident when an animal-drawn vehicle ran over the child along Georgia-Garanyemba Road, Guyu, while her mother, who had left the child lying by the roadside, was harvesting Mopani worms.

In a related case, a one-year-old infant who had followed her mother to the garden, drowned in a well whilst her mother (18) was fetching some vegetables on Tuesday 28 December 2021 at Manjolo, Binga.

Meanwhile, an 8-month-old baby drowned in a dish full of water placed beside a bed on which the baby was lying in Dzivarasekwa, Harare yesterday whilst her mother (24) was doing her laundry outside the house.

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) said they have opened an investigation into the case of a Harare City employee who allegedly jumped from the 7th floor of the Cleveland House building in Harare CBD and died.

Below is the police’s statement:

We are investigating circumstances surrounding the death of an unknown male adult who fell from the 6th floor of the Cleveland Building in Harare on 29/12/21 at around 1200 hours.
The now-deceased who was witnessed seating on the balcony dropped to the ground and died instantly with serious injuries. Relatives with missing persons to visit ZRP Harare Central for identification and anyone with information to contact any nearest Police Station.

By A Correspondent- A Bulawayo bound South African-registered haulage truck overturned near Esigodini business centre along the Bulawayo-Gwanda Road on Monday and spilled tonnes of hydrogen peroxide gas.

Fog fumes caused by the spillage resulted in another accident involving a Toyota Hilux truck that crashed into the overturned haulage truck due to poor visibility.

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) acting chief fire officer Jabulani Ndlovu confirmed the accident yesterday.

Ndlovu said plastic tanks filled with the hydrogen peroxide were damaged, resulting in the release of dangerous fumes that pose a danger to the environment.

“On December 27 a Red cargo haulage truck coming from South Africa destined for Bulawayo overturned near Esigodini business centre and blocked one traffic lane after it landed on some of the tanks it was carrying, while others were thrown on the roadside,’’ Ndlovu said.

The containers later caught fire.

“The driver of the haulage truck was rushed to Esigodini Hospital to seek medical attention.”

The cause of the accident had not been established yet.

Environmental Management Agency (EMA) spokesperson Amkela Sidange said the agency activated its systems to prevent the contamination of the environment around the affected area.

“A clean-up has been conducted and we are investigating the case to find out if the transportation of the chemical was done within a specific time,” Sidange said.

“We have witnessed several accidents involving spillages during this festive season and we suspect that transporters were taking advantage of the festive season to transport their chemicals disregarding the specific times.”

Accidents along the Bulawayo-Gwanda Road are often blamed on the poor state of the road which links Bulawayo with South Africa and Zambia.-newsday

By -Zanu PF senior officials who were monitoring the party’s Masvingo Provincial Coordinating Committee, elections have rubbished the party’s defeated former Chairman for the area and Masvingo Provincial Minister, Ezra Chadzamira’s election rigging claims.

The Mirror reports that the Minister of Information Monica Mutsvangwa and the Foreign Affairs Minister Frederick Shava who were overseeing elections in Masvingo, refused to accept the appeal letters forwarded by Chadzamira.

The appeals come after Chadzamira was humiliated in Gutu where he got 508 votes while his opponent and Zaka North MP Robson Mavhenyengwa got 8 098 votes.

Mavhenyengwa has since been declared the winner of the Zanu PF’s Masvingo Chairman elections.

Chadzamira is believed to be an ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa while Mavhenyengwa is said to belong to the other faction that supports Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.

-Mirror

By A Correspondent- Armed robbers pounced on a white farmer in Beatrice killing one.

The robbers, allegedly attacked the Mitchell family at 2am last night and shot dead a lady only identified as Rene.

Said a notice issued in a Beatrice whatsapp group:

Hi Beatrice Community

There’s been an armed robbery at Mantlavina.

Our friend Warren is in a critical condition and is enroute via ambulance to Harare

I so terribly regret to advise that Rene is no longer with us. Please lets all keep Warren and Helena in our prayers. Helena praise God is fine, but understandbly traumatised.

It seems a group came to the farm at 2am this morning. They disarmed the guards and put their uniforms on. They then went to the house and called Rene pretending to be the guards.

She went out and they shot her twice from behind. They then beat Warren badly and he is now at Health Point in a critical condition.

Helena is traumatised but ok. This looks like a ht not a robbery as Rene was pretty cheeky and was involved in a conflict with poachers recently. They threatened to return.”

The Mitchell family are dairy farmers.

Warren and Rene moved back from South Africa a couple of years ago

By A Correspondent- Police in Bulawayo said they are deploying heavily armed police in the street that would arrest anyone found loitering after 9PM.

This is happening after just next door in South Africa yesterday dropped curfew and opened bars.

Police in Bulawayo said they want the streets to be clear during curfew hours and those found on the wrong side of the law will be arrested and prosecuted.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Abednico Ncube said:
“On 31 December all roads will be closed to the public from 9pm to 6am so no crossover celebrations are allowed. Anyone who will be seen driving during curfew hours will not just be arrested but his or her vehicle will be impounded. Pedestrians who will be seen walking on the streets will also be arrested,” said Ncube.

-State media

By A Correspondent- Zanu PF has failed to release official results for the provincial elections held on Tuesday amid fears the announcement would further destabilise the already fractured party ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections.

Party sources yesterday said the unconfirmed results were indicating that a faction linked to President Emmerson Mnangagwa was sharing control of the 10 provinces with one aligned to Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, some of whose candidates were controversially disqualified from the race.

Party commissar Mike Bimha yesterday said the results would be announced when they are ready.

“It (releasing of results) will depend on whether we have received all the results. We are still waiting for some results which are still outstanding,” he said.

“Definitely tomorrow morning (today), we are hopeful that we would have received all of them because some of the results were collated today (yesterday).

“There were challenges because of the rains and some areas were not accessible, so we have to wait for everything to be in position. We cannot announce any results when they are not all available,” he said.

However, party supporters said delays in announcing the election results had caused unnecessary anxiety.

“The delays have caused unnecessary anxiety because so many groups and social media platforms are releasing results while we are anxiously waiting for word from headquarters in Harare,” said a senior party executive who declined to be named.

Bimha on Tuesday released a statement indicating that all results would be released from the Zanu PF national headquarters in Harare after collation and verification.

Unconfirmed reports indicated that Mary Mliswa-Chikoka had trounced her three rivals for the Mashonaland West provincial chairmanship to become the first woman to lead the ruling party in a province.

She was battling it out with Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services deputy minister Kindness Paradza, former provincial youth chairman Vengai Musengi and ex-Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation chief executive officer Happison
Muchechetere.

Acting chairperson Abia Mujeri reportedly withdrew from the race after facing resource challenges, with sources indicating that he lost the vehicle allocated to him as acting provincial leader on the eve of the polls.

Other candidates who were reported to have won the chairmanship include Robison Mavhenyengwa (Masvingo), Kazembe Kazembe (Mashonaland Central), Jabulani Sibanda (Bulawayo), Mangaliso Ndhlovu (Matabeleland South), Godwills Masimirembwa (Harare), Albert Nyakuedzwa (Manicaland) and Richard Moyo (Matabeleland North).

Mnangagwa’s alleged preferred candidate Larry Mavhima was elected unopposed in the Midlands province amid allegations that he was imposed by the President to avoid widening divisions and possible heavy loss in his home province.

In Mashonaland East, party sources claimed that Ozias Bvute, who had covered ground in the province, was removed from the list of candidates a day before the polls because he belonged to a faction linked to Chiwenga.

Housing and Social Amenities minister Daniel Garwe is reported to have snatched the provincial chairmanship in Mashonaland East.

Other party heavyweights who fell by the wayside in the polls include Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Ezra Chadzamira, Home Affairs deputy minister Mike Madiro (Manicaland) and Local Government deputy minister Marian Chombo (Mashonaland West) who contested in the basket system while angling for the provincial vice-chairperson’s post.-Newsday

By A Correspondent-The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) said they have arrested the driver of Beta bus who disappeared after involving in a head-on collision with a fuel tanker.

The accident happened last week near Mutare and claimed five lives.

The driver, Philip Tawanda Chirindo, the police said, surrendered himself on Wednesday.

Below is the statement by ZRP on the Beta bus driver’s arrest:

The ZRP confirms the arrest of Philip Tawanda Chirindo (34), the driver of a Beta Bus who escaped after a fatal road traffic accident involving a Freightliner fuel tanker and a Yutong bus which occurred on 24/12/21 at the 242 km peg along Harare- Mutare Rd.
The suspect who is being charged for Contravening Section 49 of the Criminal Law (Codification & Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 a.r.w section 64 (3) of the Rd Traffic Act Chapter 11: 13 ‘Culpable Homicide’, surrendered himself to the Police on 29/12/21 and will appear in court soon.
Witnesses said Chirindo encroached on the oncoming traffic lane in a bid to avoid a drunken pedestrian and in the process the bus collided with the tanker.

The tanker burst into flames torching the bus that was also reduced to wrecks.

1/2 The ZRP confirms the arrest of Philip Tawanda Chirindo (34), the driver of a Beta Bus who escaped after a fatal road traffic accident involving a Freightliner fuel tanker and a Yutong bus which occurred on 24/12/21 at the 242 km peg along Harare- Mutare Rd.

— Zimbabwe Republic Police (@PoliceZimbabwe) December 30, 2021

By A Correspondent- Bulawayo City engineering director Simela Dube died on Wednesday and the cause of his death was not disclosed.

He was 56.

Dube’s death came shortly after the city lost another luminary — soccer administrator Ndumiso Gumede, who succumbed to kidney failure at Mpilo Hospital on Wednesday.

Mayor Solomon Mguni confirmed Dube’s death, describing it as a huge blow to the city’s turnaround strategy.

Mguni said:

The City of Bulawayo would like to advise the public, residents of Bulawayo stakeholders and fellow local authorities of the untimely death of our director of engineering services on the morning of Thursday, December 30 in Bulawayo.

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association chairperson Ambrose Sibindi described Dube’s death as shocking news. Sibindi said:

We are shocked after hearing about the sad news. I met him last week and we spoke. He was fit and strong. I never heard about anything wrong with his health.

Mourners are gathered at number 11 McCollough Road, Matsheumhlope in Bulawayo. Burial arrangements are yet to be advised.

More: NewsDay Zimbabwe

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has admitted that the available voter registration centres are not adequate and inaccessible to aspiring first-time voters.

The admission comes after Zec commissioner Jasper Mangwana on Tuesday disclosed that the commission only registered a paltry 2 000 first-time voters the whole of this year.

Zec commissioner Joyce Kazembe told NewsDay in an emailed response that the electoral body plans to add 73 new voter registration centres and embark on a countrywide voter registration blitz early next year targeting mainly the youth.

“It is true that the current registration centres located at the 63 Zec districts and 10 provincial offices centres are inadequate and, for some, are located quite far from their residential locations,” Kazembe said.

Civic society groups have been lobbying the electoral body to decentralise its services to the wards for easy access.

Kazembe added: “Zec is planning to conduct a voter registration blitz during the first quarter of 2022 across the whole country whereby 900 voter registration units will be deployed close to where people actually reside, thus lessening drastically the distances people have to get to the mobile registration centres. These will be additional to the 73 centres already mentioned above.”

Kazembe said the commission was aware that the majority of eligible first-time voters did not have identity documents needed for registration. Zec suspended a planned voter registration blitz because of the Registrar-General’s incapacitation to produce IDs.

However MDC Alliance secretary for elections Ian Makone said the opposition party was not amused by Zec’s admission that available voter registration centres were inaccessible.

“Zec has been fully aware of the call by stakeholders, including MDC Alliance, that they should facilitate voter registration by establishing registration points within reach of target voters,” Makone said.

“Zec is aware that the target registrants are mostly young unemployed youths. It is irresponsible to blame low registration statistics on voter apathy by persons who are eager to exercise their democratic right to vote.”

MDC-T spokesperson Witness Dube chipped in: “Zec needed to have worked with the Registrar-General’s office in order to facilitate an accelerated national identity card registration process. It is usually new voters who spike the voter registration exercise and they need IDs in order to become first-time voters”

Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) chairperson Andrew Makoni said Zec’s revelations of having registered only 2 000 voters this year were worrying, and disconcerting after 22 656 deceased voters were removed from the voters’ roll this year.

“It points to either apathy or the absence of continuous voter education on the importance of registering as a voter, targeting especially those who turn 18 years every day and become eligible to vote.

“Given that elections are due in about 17 months, it has become even more urgent to intensify voter education followed by an extensive voter registration exercise across the country. This must start now,” Makoni said.

More- Newsday

By News24- The South African government has dropped movement restrictions ahead of the new year’s eve and said bars with full licences could operate on full throttle.

 A special Cabinet meeting held earlier today, 30 December 2021, has approved several changes to the Adjusted Alert Level 1 Covid-19 regulations.

This follows meetings of the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) and the President’s Coordinating Council (PCC), which received updates on the management of the current 4th wave of Covid-19 in South Africa, which is mainly driven by the Omicron variant.

The information gathered through the system used by the Department of Health has reported a 29.7% decrease in the number of new cases detected in the week ending 25 December 2021 (89,781), compared to the number of new cases detected in the previous week (127,753).

All indicators suggest the country may have passed the peak of the fourth wave at a national level.

Cases declined in all provinces except the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, which recorded increases of 14% and 18%, respectively. There has been a decline in hospital admissions in all provinces except the Western Cape.

While the Omicron variant is highly transmissible, there has been lower rates of hospitalisation than in previous waves. This means that the country has a spare capacity for admission of patients even for routine health services. There is a marginal increase in the number of deaths in all the provinces.

Changes to Covid-19 regulations 

Based on the trajectory of the pandemic, the levels of vaccination in the country and the available capacity within the health sector, Cabinet has decided to make the following changes to Adjusted Alert Level 1 with immediate effect:

– The curfew will be lifted. There will therefore be no restrictions on the hours of movement of people.

– Gatherings are restricted to no more than 1 000 people indoors and no more than 2 000 people outdoors. Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, then no more than 50 per cent of the capacity of the venue may be used. All other restrictions remain in place.

The risk of increase in infections is still high given the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant. Government therefore calls on all organisers of these gatherings to ensure that all health protocols are observed at all times and that all attendees are encouraged to be vaccinated.- Alcohol establishments that have licences to operate beyond 23h00 will revert back to full licence conditions.

The NCCC will continue to closely monitor the situation and will make further adjustments as necessary, particularly if pressure on health facilities increases.

The wearing of masks in public places is still mandatory, and failure to wear a mask when required remains a criminal offence.

South Africans are urged to continue observing basic health protocols to prevent the transmission of the virus.

Vaccination remains the best defence against severe illness, hospitalisation and death from Covid-19. All people in South Africa who have not yet done so are encouraged to vaccinated as soon as possible. 

This includes people who are eligible for booster shots.

Parents are reminded to support their children aged 12 years and older to use this opportunity to vaccinate before schools open. 

This will avoid learners losing school time as a result of testing positive or as a result of contact with people infected with Covid-19.Government wishes to commend all South Africans who have observed the health regulations and protocols over the festive season. Government urges everyone to continue to act cautiously and responsibly over the new year and for the remainder of the holiday season.

-News24

Tinashe Sambiri|The People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa has donated basic items to the socially disdvantaged people in Nkayi, Tsholotsho and Umguza.

People from the said areas have been neglected for decades by Zanu PF.

In a statement MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson, Gift Ostallos Siziba said:

From President Advocate Nelson Chamisa with love and solidarity.

Fellow Africans in Nkayi, Tsholotsho & Umguza we hand over Christmas hampers to the elderly & the disabled, this is part of our tradition.

The President fulfills part of his moral and ideological responsibility to stand shoulder to shoulder with the oppressed.

We thank everyone, the leadership, party supporters and well wishers for the support and contributions to make this a success.

It’s a month of giving and the President is showing some love.

Let’s give, let’s show love and embrace change.
Happy holidays

By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa has sent his condolences to the Sibanda family following the passing on of liberation war hero Siwanda Kennedy Mbuso Sibanda.

Sibanda, a veteran of the liberation struggle and lawyer, died in South Africa.

Below is Mnangagwa’s condolence message:

The demise on 22nd December 2021 in South Africa of Advocate Siwanda Kennedy Mbuso Sibanda, robbed our Nation of a leading lawyer, professional mentor and veteran of our Liberation Struggle. Ranking among an early crop of black legal practitioners in the then Rhodesia, Advocate SKM Sibanda will forever be remembered for saving the lives of many captured guerrillas who, except for his legal skills, would have met their death at the hands of the cruel Rhodesian regime. He would make it his mission to locate these condemned cadres and nationalists from secretive Rhodesian dungeons in order to avail legal defense, often pro bono.
I had the privilege of working closely with late Advocate Sibanda who was part of the Patriotic Front legal team as we put together the framework for the Lancaster House Agreement which enabled political settlement and delivered our Independence in 1980 after a protracted War for our National Independence. He was a fine legal mind who knew how to use his legal skills towards the defense of captured cadres and detained nationalists, thus furthering the ideals of our National Liberation Struggle. After Independence and as then Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, I would again work closely with him as a member of our Bench which he served with characteristic integrity and honour. Both before and after his stint on the Bench and on a number of Com tow Sibanda mentored many young lawyers into professional adulthood.
May his dear soul rest In eternal peace.

By A Correspondent- Zanu PF is working flat out to block former Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Peter Mutasa from chairing the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, ZimEye has learnt.

Sources privy to the development confirmed that the ruling party has since recruited some members of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition to derail Mutasa’s ascendancy to the post of chairing the CiZC.

Confirmed the sources:

“Zanu PF activists with the help of the rowdy Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition members were behind the disruption of the CiZC AGM after it became clear that Mutasa was headed for victory.”

Mutasa became a thorn in the flesh for Zanu PF during his days as the President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) where he openly endorsed the opposition movement MDC.

“The state worked hard to ensure he loses the Presidency during the trade unions congress held in October 2021.”

The new ZCTU President Florence Taruvinga romped to victory after polling 73 votes against Mutasa’s 59.

Added another source:

“Zanu PF invested huge amounts of money to ensure Mutasa loses the ZCTU Presidency. The same modus operandi was employed during the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition AGM held in Bulawayo on December 15, 2021.”

The source alleged that a group of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition members led by Pride Mkono and Leo Chamahwinya (ZimRights) employed violent tactics to disrupt the voting process at the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition AGM. This was after it had became clear that their preferred candidate, Samuel Wadzai was headed for defeat.

“They had to regroup during break time and that is when the strategy to use violence was mooted. There is a group of the Crisis Coalition members who had been given money by State security agents to ensure Mutasa does not clinch the post of Chairperson. It is true that money exchanged hands and that same money was used to hire thugs to disrupt the voting process.

“Zanu PF fears a strong Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition under the leadership of Mutasa hence they are working hard to derail his ascendancy to the post of Crisis Chairperson,”

The source added that Wadzai was viewed as a weak candidate by Zanu PF but this remains largely unknown to him.

Controversial activist, Pride Mkono who fell out of favour with the US Embassy after embezzling Young Africa Leaders Initiative (YALI) funds is widely believed to have links with state security agents and who was at the centre of wars that rocked Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition some years back is believed to be at the centre of the Zanu PF ploy.

His task is mainly to mobilise and cause divisions that would lead to a weak leadership of the Coalition.

Mkono is part of the smear campaign against outgoing Crisis Chair Rashid Mahiya and the Coalition at large.

“The plot is to ensure that Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition members are divided and this is being fronted by Mkono and Chamahwinya. So there are members pushing the Zanu PF agenda quite aware of what is going on while others are in the dark but pushing the same agenda.

Zanu PF is keen to weaken civil society ahead of the 2023 elections hence their concerted efforta to weaken Crisis Coalition which has been instrumental in the fight for democracy in Zimbabwe, ” said the source.

It has also emerged that Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance leader Anoziva Muguti is also part of the ploy and is reportedly trying to manipulate his Information Officer, Godfrey Mtimba, who is also a Journalist to write stories decampaigning Mutasa.

It could however not be immediately established if Mtimba was engaged. ZimEye is however in possession of a whatsapp chat suggesting that Mtimba must be engaged to counter and decampaign Mutasa. (see attached screenshot).

Said Wadzai Mangoma:

“Godie ngaanyore tomuona meaning Godie must write and we will appreciate him.”

Sources alleged that a member of the donor community, identified as Jack Zaba is also part of the Wadzai camp and is believed to be the Kingmaker in the camp and was in Bulawayo on December 15 canvassing votes for Wadzai.

It is alleged that Zaba has been calling some organisations promising them funding from NDI should they vote for Wadzai.

Senior government officials including George Charamba and Nick Mangwana are working hard to derail Mutasa’s campaign.

At one time ahead of the Crisis AGM, there was an attempt to arrest Mutasa ahead of the Crisis AGM and sources said that after this strategy failed, Zanu PF resorted to infiltration. ”

“This is a call for Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition members to resist infiltration and manipulation. The Coalition needs bold leadership and members should not fall into the trap of Zanu PF working in cahoots with rowdy members.

Generally Crisis Coalition members are agreed that they need a leader of the calibre of Mutasa and despite efforts to convince them, the Wadzai camp remains resolute with their plot and this could be because of the reason that they have to account for the money from Zanu PF and also the fact that there are Zanu PF proxies that have been recruited to ensure the Coalition is weakened ,” added another source.

Efforts to get a comment from Mkono and Wadzai was work in progress by the time of writing.

ENDS//

By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa has sent his condolence message to the Gumede family following the passing of yesterday respected football administrator Ndumiso Gumede.

Gumede, whom Mnangagwa in his message titled Cde, died at Mpilo Hospital after a short illness.

Below is Mnangagwa’s condolence message he sent to the Gumede family:

I received with grief and sadness news of the tragic and unexpected demise yesterday of Cde Ndumiso Gumede after a short illness. A sports administrator of distinction and a veteran teacher, the late Cde Gumede will be remembered by many for transforming the popular game of football through his competent leadership and professional administration of the iconic Highlanders Club, and when he served on the ZIFA Board soon after our Independence. As its chairman and president, Highlanders Football Club scaled to higher heights, transforming into a household name it is to this day. Above all, his strong African roots turned professional sporting into a cultural carnival for which football fans will miss him sorely.

Always genial and full of jokes, the late Cde Gumede ensured integrity and professionalism in a game which is often mired in controversies of corrupt match-fixing and related ills. Those of us wedded to the game will miss him, keenly feeling the yawning gap he leaves behind. 

Always genial and full of jokes, the late Cde Gumede ensured integrity and professionalism in a game which is often mired in controversies of corrupt match-fixing and related ills. Those of us wedded to the game will miss him, keenly feeling the yawning gap he leaves behind.

On behalf of Government, the football fraternity and on my own behalf, I wish to express my deepest condolences to the Gumede Family on this saddest, unexpected loss. May they continue to draw inspiration from the late departed’s meritorious service to his country, his people, and to the sporting discipline of football.

May his dear soul rest In eternal peace

By- Bulawayo City Council (BCC) director of engineering services, Mr Simela Dube has died.
He was 56.

In a statement, Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Solomon Mguni confirmed Eng Dube’s death.
“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise members of the public, residents of Bulawayo, stakeholders and fellow local authorities of the untimely death of our director of engineering services Engineer Simela Dube on the morning of Thursday, 30 December 2021,” he said.
“The City of Bulawayo joins the Dube family and the entire Bulawayo community in mourning the sad loss of Eng Dube.”
Clr Mguni said further details will be announced in due course.

-Chronicle

By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa has sent his condolences to the Sibanda family following the passing on of liberation war hero Siwanda Kennedy Mbuso Sibanda.

Sibanda, a veteran of the liberation struggle and lawyer, died in South Africa.

Below is Mnangagwa’s condolence message:

The demise on 22nd December 2021 in South Africa of Advocate Siwanda Kennedy Mbuso Sibanda, robbed our Nation of a leading lawyer, professional mentor and veteran of our Liberation Struggle. Ranking among an early crop of black legal practitioners in the then Rhodesia, Advocate SKM Sibanda will forever be remembered for saving the lives of many captured guerrillas who, except for his legal skills, would have met their death at the hands of the cruel Rhodesian regime. He would make it his mission to locate these condemned cadres and nationalists from secretive Rhodesian dungeons in order to avail legal defense, often pro bono.
I had the privilege of working closely with late Advocate Sibanda who was part of the Patriotic Front legal team as we put together the framework for the Lancaster House Agreement which enabled political settlement and delivered our Independence in 1980 after a protracted War for our National Independence. He was a fine legal mind who knew how to use his legal skills towards the defense of captured cadres and detained nationalists, thus furthering the ideals of our National Liberation Struggle. After Independence and as then Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, I would again work closely with him as a member of our Bench which he served with characteristic integrity and honour. Both before and after his stint on the Bench and on a number of Com tow Sibanda mentored many young lawyers into professional adulthood.
May his dear soul rest In eternal peace.

By A Correspondent- MDC-Alliance President Nelson Chamisa has sent his team to deliver Christmas presents to the elderly and disabled homes in Matebeleland Provinces.

The party’s deputy spokesperson, Gift Ostallos Siziba said the food hampers were delivered in Mat South and Bulawayo metropolitan.

” As part of the democratic culture and tradition, we close the year in extraordinary acts of love and solidarity with the oppressed.

‘ Under President Chamisa, the alternative government is envisioned to creating a welfare state, a social democratic developmental state anchored in the values of Justice, freedom and solidarity,” he said.

So what's ZEC doing with the budget being allocated year in ,year out?Alllowances for themselves?Auditor General Chiri and ZACC should visit ZEC .These social media enthusiasts campaigning for voter registration for free should be encouraged as noone should be left behind.

— UpToDate (@PETERDATE2) December 30, 2021

@zanupf_patriots is targeting 5million votes in favor of @edmnangagwa and we're targeting 6 million votes in favor President @nelsonchamisa but @ZECzim is registering a maximum of 2000 people per year and we only left with 12 months to go for national election @ZimEye pic.twitter.com/nIi8rEfBTH

— Innocent Nhira (@NhiraInnocent) December 30, 2021

1. Electoral institutions like @ZECzim did not become inefficient & corrupt after the coup. They were always like that. They were enabled by the ZANU PF regime & its enablers. Efforts to reform them were strongly resisted by the same characters that now moan re: ZEC’s failings.

— Alex T Magaisa ?? (@Wamagaisa) December 30, 2021

2. They had opportunities to make these institutions fair & efficient. But when you are in a position of power & benefiting from politically corrupt institutions you forget that one day you might end up in opposition. And that the system you enabled will be there to bite you!

— Alex T Magaisa ?? (@Wamagaisa) December 30, 2021

By A Correspondent- The MDC-Alliance has delivered its 2022 message and said that next year will be a year of encouraging citizens to register to vote in the 2023 national elections.

The massage highlighted their major 2021 events, including their disturbed rural meet the people tours.

The party said the movement was still alive.

The opposition also said they would be running with the #RegisterToVote campaign.

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Professional Nurses’ Union (ZPNU) has warned members of the public against procuring pharmaceutical products from unregistered retailers and dealers to avoid being sold counterfeits that may pose serious health hazards.

Manica Post quotes ZPNU president, Mr Robert Chiduku as saying people must buy medical drugs from reputable outlets only to prevent acquiring fake or expired medication. Reports the state-run publication:

We have noted with concern the emergence and increase of unregistered institutions and individuals selling medical drugs. This is against the law as these are not regulated and may not be accountable.

We are urging the public to desist from dealing with such people and outlets as doing so jeopardises their own health as they may be sold fake or expired products.

He added that due to the high cost of some medication, peddling of pharmaceutical products has seen the proliferation of unregulated street vendors and backyard outlets that sell medical drugs.

Meanwhile, public health institutions that provide medical products at reasonable prices have not been stocked enough to satisfy demand. 

Zimbabwe’s health sector is recovering at a painstakingly slow pace following decades of rot that has been attributed to negligence and looting by political elites.

In 2019, antibiotics, painkillers, contraceptives, dermatological creams and body enhancement supplements were readily available on the streets after being smuggled into the country.

By A Correspondent- Exiled former Cabinet minister and Zanu-PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo has said he will not return to Zimbabwe anytime soon as he feared for his life after allegedly surviving an “assassination attempt” during the November 2017 coup.

Moyo is among key G40 members, such as Saviour Kasikuwere, Walter Mzembi and Patrick Zhuwao, who fled the country after a military coup that toppled the late former President Robert Mugabe.

The vanquished G40 was reportedly aligned to a camp linked to former First Lady Grace
Mugabe.

Zanu-PF-aligned cleric Trevor Manhanga on Sunday urged diasporans, including the exiled politicians, to return and help rebuild Zimbabwe.

He made the comments during a national thanksgiving and dedication service held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo.

But Moyo said he would not risk his life returning to the country when President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other military leaders who fronted the coup are still in power.

Like compatriots elsewhere in the diaspora, I am ancestrally and, therefore, existentially Zimbabwean and Zimbabwe wherever I am, as such I did not and cannot flee Zimbabwe, but I fled murderous Gukurahundists that Bishop Manhanga was praying with and for,” Moyo said in an emailed response to the NewsDay.

Mnangagwa attended the thanksgiving ceremony in the second capital.

“… they were baying for my blood and they had put my family on harm’s way, falsely accusing me of treason, causing disaffection in the army and working for the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] through the then United States ambassador in Harare, Harry Thomas, whom I never met nor spoke to even for one second during his entire tenure in the country.

“Today, they are the illegitimate government. If I fled them when they were not in government, it is preposterous for anyone, let alone a whole bishop who ought to know better, to say I should go back to the murderous Gukurahundists today when they are the government. It’s like inviting me to a slaughterhouse. Hell no!”

But academic Alex Magaisa accused G40 members of “overestimating” their worth after they were dribbled out of their comfort zones by a faction linked to Mnangagwa in 2017.

This followed reports that the exiled politicians, Kasukuwere in particular, were plotting a comeback to grab power in Zanu-PF.-newsday

By A Correspondent- ZESA Holdings has announced that the prepaid electricity vending system will be unavailable from the 31st of December to the 1st of January 2022 as the authority will be conducting scheduled maintenance.

We present the statement:

NOTICE ON UNAVAILABILITY OF THE PREPAID ELECTRICITY VENDING SYSTEM DUE TO SCHEDULED ANNUAL MAINTENANCE

ZESA Holdings would like to advise its valued customers countrywide that the Prepaid Electricity Vending system will not be available on 31st December 2021 at 1700hrs to 1st January 2022 at 0600hrs to facilitate for scheduled annual maintenance.

The scheduled maintenance is meant to ensure the integrity and reliability of the prepaid electricity vending system for continued efficient service delivery.

The power utility advises customers to purchase adequate electricity to ensure that they do not run out of credit during the maintenance period.

The inconvenience caused is sincerely regretted.

It is advised that consumers buy their electricity in time to avoid spending New Year’s Eve in the dark.

You can buy your ZESA Tokens via *405# before ZESA’s system undergoes its annual system maintenance.

Also, you can reach out to Techzim customer support staff via WhatsApp wa.me/263715068543 (+263 71 506 8543)].

By A Correspondent- Opposition MDC Alliance Gweru urban legislator Brian Dube has spoken out against food politicisation in the province amid economic hardships facing many regardless of political affiliation.

Dube condemned politicians who politicise food aid when the majority of citizens had been condemned to abject poverty, with no income to meet their basic food requirements.

He made the remarks yesterday during the handover of groceries to about 100 people, including widows, orphans and the elderly, in Mtapa and Ascot suburbs.

“As much as almost everyone is feeling a pinch of hardships due to the economic challenges facing the country, we know there are people who are far less privileged compared to others,” Dube said.

“As community leaders, we must identify such people, particularly in high-density suburbs with low or no income at all. The most important thing to note is that we don’t consider anyone’s political affiliation when helping.”

In March, the Zimbabwe Peace Project and Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum called for legislation which criminalises food politicisation.

They made the recommendations in a report titled The Politics of Food: A Contextual Analysis of the Distribution of Food Aid in Zimbabwe.

The report noted that the right to food could not be viewed in isolation as the realisation of that right was dependent on a broad range of socioeconomic and political factors.-newsday

It's a no brainer that @ZECzim has 10 provincial & 63 district voter registration centres. Inadequate, everyone knows that. But if any civic group, church or political party got more people than 2,000 registered in these centres: publish the slips; add the numbers and expose ZEC! https://t.co/efXOQo7Swb

— Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) December 30, 2021

By A Correspondent- Professor Jonathan Moyo has rallied Zimbabweans to expose ZEC over its recent statement that only 2000 new voters presented themselves for voter registration in 2021.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) yesterday revealed that it registered only 2 000 new voters in 2021, a drop in the ocean in the face of various campaigns by political parties and civic groups to register first-time voters.

The ruling Zanu-PF and opposition parties rolled out voter registration campaigns during the course of the year to register millions of first-time voters ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections.

Zanu-PF has set a target to increase the number of its registered voters to five million to ensure a 65% election victory.

The main opposition MDC Alliance is targeting six million voters.

A number of voter registration awareness campaigns running under various hashtags were launched in November ahead of the suspended Zec mobile voter registration blitz which was supposed to kick off on December 6 and run for six days.

The electoral management body suspended the voter registration blitz following reports that the Registrar-General’s Office was incapacitated to issue identification documents.

A national ID or valid passport is a requirement for one to be eligible to register to vote.

In Bulawayo, civic groups launched EkhayaVote2023 campaign to mobilise virgin voters in Matabeleland after Zec warned that the region risked losing a number of constituencies in the next delimitation exercise — the redrawing of electoral boundaries.

Zimbabwe last carried a delimitation exercise in 2007 ahead of the 2008 harmonised election.

Zec will conduct a delimitation exercise in next year as provided for under section 161(1) of the Constitution on delimitation of electoral boundaries.

But Zec commissioner Jasper Mangwana yesterday dropped a bombshell during a virtual rally for the youth that the commission had so far only registered 2 000 first-time voters.

“We have activated our social media platforms to send out voter registration information and we are trying as a commission during these times of COVID-19,” he said.

“Imagine Zec offices have been open even though we have been in COVID-19 and had scaled down our numbers, but we only registered 2 000 new voters this year out of our 63 district and 10 provincial offices in the country.”

Zec had also announced plans to roll out a second voter registration blitz to run for 35 days, which started two days ago.

Voter registration is provided for in section 17A of the Electoral Act.

The revelations by Mangwana came at a time when the country is headed for by-elections to fill 133 parliamentary and local government seats, which fell vacant following the recall of MDC Alliance representatives by a rival faction led by Douglas
Mwonzora.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week said he would announce the by-election dates early next month.

Virgin voters, who register after the dates have been proclaimed, will not cast their votes in the by-elections.

Wilson Mbanga, a youth who participated in the virtual rally, said: “There is a greater need for education on the importance of voter registration.

“Why do I have to vote? Yes I know it’s part of my rights to vote, but why do I have to vote? I think that is what is making us youth and other people not to register and vote because that education is missing.”

Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba bemoaned the lack of adequate funding for the rollout of voter registration campaigns.

Election watchdogs such as the Zimbabwe Election Support Network have, on several occasions, called on Zec to decentralise voter registration to ward centres.

Mnangagwa and his main challenger, Nelson Chamisa of the MDC Alliance have in the past few months been conducting whirlwind tours across the country drumming up support ahead of next year’s do-or-die polls, with both politicians banking on the youth vote which they touted as the game changer.-newsday

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) yesterday revealed that it registered only 2 000 new voters in 2021, a drop in the ocean in the face of various campaigns by political parties and civic groups to register first-time voters.

The ruling Zanu-PF and opposition parties rolled out voter registration campaigns during the course of the year to register millions of first-time voters ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections.

Zanu-PF has set a target to increase the number of its registered voters to five million to ensure a 65% election victory.

The main opposition MDC Alliance is targeting six million voters.

A number of voter registration awareness campaigns running under various hashtags were launched in November ahead of the suspended Zec mobile voter registration blitz which was supposed to kick off on December 6 and run for six days.

The electoral management body suspended the voter registration blitz following reports that the Registrar-General’s Office was incapacitated to issue identification documents.

A national ID or valid passport is a requirement for one to be eligible to register to vote.

In Bulawayo, civic groups launched EkhayaVote2023 campaign to mobilise virgin voters in Matabeleland after Zec warned that the region risked losing a number of constituencies in the next delimitation exercise — the redrawing of electoral boundaries.

Zimbabwe last carried a delimitation exercise in 2007 ahead of the 2008 harmonised election.

Zec will conduct a delimitation exercise in next year as provided for under section 161(1) of the Constitution on delimitation of electoral boundaries.

But Zec commissioner Jasper Mangwana yesterday dropped a bombshell during a virtual rally for the youth that the commission had so far only registered 2 000 first-time voters.

“We have activated our social media platforms to send out voter registration information and we are trying as a commission during these times of COVID-19,” he said.

“Imagine Zec offices have been open even though we have been in COVID-19 and had scaled down our numbers, but we only registered 2 000 new voters this year out of our 63 district and 10 provincial offices in the country.”

Zec had also announced plans to roll out a second voter registration blitz to run for 35 days, which started two days ago.

Voter registration is provided for in section 17A of the Electoral Act.

The revelations by Mangwana came at a time when the country is headed for by-elections to fill 133 parliamentary and local government seats, which fell vacant following the recall of MDC Alliance representatives by a rival faction led by Douglas
Mwonzora.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week said he would announce the by-election dates early next month.

Virgin voters, who register after the dates have been proclaimed, will not cast their votes in the by-elections.

Wilson Mbanga, a youth who participated in the virtual rally, said: “There is a greater need for education on the importance of voter registration.

“Why do I have to vote? Yes I know it’s part of my rights to vote, but why do I have to vote? I think that is what is making us youth and other people not to register and vote because that education is missing.”

Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba bemoaned the lack of adequate funding for the rollout of voter registration campaigns.

Election watchdogs such as the Zimbabwe Election Support Network have, on several occasions, called on Zec to decentralise voter registration to ward centres.

Mnangagwa and his main challenger, Nelson Chamisa of the MDC Alliance have in the past few months been conducting whirlwind tours across the country drumming up support ahead of next year’s do-or-die polls, with both politicians banking on the youth vote which they touted as the game changer.-newsday

By A Correspondent- Three Catholic Priests died in a road accident on Christmas Day while the fourth one had to be hospitalised after sustaining life-threatening injuries.

The Church announced that that the trio was buried on Wednesday 29 December 2021.

The Redemptorist Region of Zimbabwe said the three deceased priests are “brother novices” Bradburne Kamundiya, Edwin Chipangura, and Tariro Keith Thulani Samusodza.

Former Tourism Minister, Walter Mzembi sent his condolences.

He said:

As a practising Catholic am deeply pained by the loss of these three Brother novices no doubt our faith has been left impoverished by this irreplaceable loss. May their dear souls rest in peace.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) this week released a statement that shows that accidents that happened between 15 and 27 December rose from 1216 last year to 1295 this year.

This year, 77 people died in road accidents compared to 66 last year.

Police say most of the road traffic accidents occurred on highways as a result of speeding, inattention, misjudgement, following too close, complete disregard of road rules and regulations, and recklessness on the part of drivers.

By A Correspondent- Home Affairs Minister, Kazembe Kazembe, has won the ZANU PF Mashonaland Central Province chairmanship after defeating Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) president, Tafadzwa Musarara in this week’s polls.

Kazembe retains the chairmanship after garnering 20 968 votes against Musarara’s 17 709.

The polls were not without controversy amid reports that the former ICT minister manipulated the electoral process.

Reports say Collen Mharadzano, a senior elections officer, allegedly received US$25 000 from Kazembe to turn figures for him after his rival Musarara raced ahead of him.

Riot police had to fire warning shots to disperse Kazembe’s and Musarara’s supporters who violently clashed after the latter’s supporters prematurely celebrated victory in some constituencies attracting the wrath of their ‘opponents.’

By A Correspondent- Riot cops reportedly fired warning shots to disperse ZANU PF supporters after violent clashes erupted in Centenary, Mashonaland Central province Tuesday night.

The cops were called after camps belonging to bitter rivals, Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe and businessman Tafadzwa Musarara, viciously attacked each other in the immediate aftermath of the election.

Sources from Mashonaland Central province confirmed that the violent clashes started after Musarara defeated Kazembe at the local district, prompting jubilant street celebrations by his supporters.

Sources said Musarara’s supporters, upon getting wind of the favourable result, broke into song and dance as they raced through streets in the farming town.

This did not go down well with Kazembe’s supporters, who – armed with logs and stones – descended on them.

Musarara’s supporters, however, stood their ground and fought back, briefly turning Dandamera suburb into a battlefield. An official from the province who witnessed the drama said:

Riot police fired shots yesterday to quell violence at Dandamera. Musarara’s supporters started to celebrate on the streets of the high-density suburb, and this incensed the Kazembe supporters who then pounced on them. 

Mashonaland Central Province is considered by the ruling party to be its stronghold of power.

Tinashe Sambiri|The People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa has donated basic items to the socially disdvantaged people in Nkayi, Tsholotsho and Umguza.

People from the said areas have been neglected for decades by Zanu PF.

In a statement MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson, Gift Ostallos Siziba said:

From President Advocate Nelson Chamisa with love and solidarity.

Fellow Africans in Nkayi, Tsholotsho & Umguza we hand over Christmas hampers to the elderly & the disabled, this is part of our tradition.

The President fulfills part of his moral and ideological responsibility to stand shoulder to shoulder with the oppressed.

We thank everyone, the leadership, party supporters and well wishers for the support and contributions to make this a success.

It’s a month of giving and the President is showing some love.

Let’s give, let’s show love and embrace change.
Happy holidays

By- A City of Harare worker Wednesday committed suicide by jumping from the seventh floor of Cleveland building.

The deceased was working in the council’s traffic department.

A close workmate of the deceased said he was “a quiet person who rarely shared his personal issues.”

Those who were with him on the field said he was his usual quiet self and nothing looked suspicious.
“He jumped off the sixth floor and landed on the windscreen of an NP 200 company vehicle

“Some were saying he was holding a ticket that he had presumably issued to a driver on the field but we can’t find it. It must have flown off his hand when he jumped.”

Mr Mnangagwa Has Not Achieved Anything Positive In 2021 – True Or False?

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) December 30, 2021

By -Reports coming from Masvingo suggest that the province’s Zanu PF chairman, also Masvingo Provincial Minister, Ezra Chadzamira, has lost the party’s Tuesday elections.

The reports said Chadzamira had since challenged the results alleging rigging.

Chadzamira was Masvingo Zanu PF provincial chairman, until the structures were disbanded ahead of the elections.

The Mirror reports that the Minister of Information Monica Mutsvangwa and the Foreign Affairs Minister Frederick Shava who are overseeing elections in Masvingo have refused to accept the appeal letters.
Sources say Chadzamira appealed after seven districts in Masvingo West constituency were barred from voting.

The appeals come after Chadzamira was humiliated in Gutu where he got 508 votes while his opponent and Zaka North MP Robson Mavhenyengwa got 8 098 votes.
The districts were barred after it emerged that they do not have cells and branches and were doctored up during the recently held chaotic district elections.
Elections held in Masvingo Urban Ward 2 yesterday were nullified and started afresh today after it emerged that 18 of the 40 voters were not in party structures. Said one of the sources:
The matter is arising from unverified district election results which believed to have been doctored. The structures that were allegedly doctored up in Masvingo West do not have cells and branches and were disqualified on that basis.
The elections overseers refused to accept his letters because he has no grounds of appeal.

Chadzamira’s aides were recently seen offering food hampers to the electorate, a gesture viewed as meant to buy votes.
The result is considered as a reflection of factionalism in the ruling party. Chadzamira is believed to be an ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa while Mavhenyengwa is said to belong to the other faction that supports Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.

-Mirror

By- MDC-Alliance youth league senior officials Joana Mamombe and Cecilia Chimbiri would soon approach the courts seeking acquittal on allegedly faking abduction charges.

Mamombe and Chimbiri, through their lawyer Mr Jeremiah Bamu, said that they would make an application for an exception when they return to court on January 14.

This is an objection to facing the charge in the first place, and the application must be made before the person facing trial has pleaded guilty or not guilty. The act of pleading recognises that the charge is valid and their defence can sink it, while an application for exception wants the charge declared invalid.

The two said they would proceed with that application when they appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Mrs Faith Mushure after she threw out their earlier application requesting for further particulars relating to their case from the State.
Mrs Mushure ruled that the documents, which Mamombe and Chimbiri were furnished by the State after an even earlier application were enough to prepare for their trial. They are charged with publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the State.
Mr Michael Reza appearing for the State had told the court that the two had been given all the particulars they had requested for in September.
Allegations facing Mamombe and Chimbiri are that on May 13 at around 12.30pm, in the company of Netsai Marova who is on the run, they gathered at Choppies Supermarket in Warren Park 1, Harare, with other MDC-Alliance youths.

It is alleged they then staged a demonstration against the recalling of their legislators from Parliament by the MDC-T and the alleged misuse of the Covid-19 pandemic funds. On the same day, they allegedly called their friends, families and lawyers, saying they had been arrested at a roadblock near the Exhibition Park in Harare and were taken to Harare Central Police Station.
Upon receiving the communication, their lawyer Mr Jeremiah Bamu reportedly went to the police CID Law and Order.

-Herald

By -President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s top ally and Masvingo Provincial Minister, Ezra Chadzamira, has appealed against the outcome of the Tuesday party’s provincial elections alleging rigging.

Chadzamira was Masvingo Zanu PF provincial chairman, until the structures were disbanded ahead of the elections.

The Mirror reports that the Minister of Information Monica Mutsvangwa and the Foreign Affairs Minister Frederick Shava who are overseeing elections in Masvingo have refused to accept the appeal letters.
Sources say Chadzamira appealed after seven districts in Masvingo West constituency were barred from voting.

The appeals come after Chadzamira was humiliated in Gutu where he got 508 votes while his opponent and Zaka North MP Robson Mavhenyengwa got 8 098 votes.
The districts were barred after it emerged that they do not have cells and branches and were doctored up during the recently held chaotic district elections.
Elections held in Masvingo Urban Ward 2 yesterday were nullified and started afresh today after it emerged that 18 of the 40 voters were not in party structures. Said one of the sources:
The matter is arising from unverified district election results which believed to have been doctored. The structures that were allegedly doctored up in Masvingo West do not have cells and branches and were disqualified on that basis.
The elections overseers refused to accept his letters because he has no grounds of appeal.

Chadzamira’s aides were recently seen offering food hampers to the electorate, a gesture viewed as meant to buy votes.
The result is considered as a reflection of factionalism in the ruling party. Chadzamira is believed to be an ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa while Mavhenyengwa is said to belong to the other faction that supports Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.

By-MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has taken time off party activities and headed to his rural home in Masvingo to “re-energise” ahead of the by-elections scheduled for next year.

“I am in the villages, renewing and re-enegising,” Chamisa said in a short message.

The country will have by-elections for 133 local government and parliamentary seats in the first quarter of 2022.

Zanu-PF has said it will use the polls to test its popularity.

MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson Gift Ostallos Siziba said the party would use the polls to “build its mass movement”.

“The by-elections will expose the pretenders and stooges of the oppressors,” Siziba said in an interview.

“We are building our mass movement from the ground, so be rest assured that it will be a season of new strategies, new tactics and new outlook as we brace for the watershed elections in 2023.”

While MDC Alliance leaders appear to have taken a festive break, Zanu-PF has been busy conducting mass mobilisation and provincial elections.

MDC-T’s Douglas Mwonzora said he would use the MDC Alliance tag in the polls, leaving Chamisa with no option, but to adopt a new name.

-Newsday

By A Correspondent- A 1 19-year-old man was kidnapped and robbed by people in a Honda Fit he boarded intending to go to Harare from Chinhoyi.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police announced in a statement Wednesday that After robbing the victim of his phone and cash, they held him captive the whole night and later dumped him along the Harare-Bulawayo road.

Below is the police statement on the case:

The Police are investigating a case of Kidnapping, Plain Robbery and Aggravated Indecent Assault which occurred between 25/12/21 at 1700 hours and 26/12/21 at 0400 hours.
The complainant (19) boarded an unregistered Honda Fit motor vehicle which had three female passengers and a male driver in Chinhoyi travelling to Harare.

After passing the Harare-Chinhoyi tollgate, the four suspects robbed the complainant of his cellphone, other personal belongings and cash amounting to USD67. The suspects then drove to a certain house in Westgate, Harare where they held the victim captive for the whole night.
The victim was placed in a car boot and dumped along the Harare-Bulawayo Road in the morning. Anyone with information to contact any nearest Police Station.

By A Correspondent- Police in Norton is investigating a murder case involving a body of a female adult, which was Tuesday found along the railway line near Family 24 in Norton.

The body had a deep cut on the head and bloodstains.

“Anyone with information to contact any nearest Police station,” said ZRp Norton.
In a different case, the ZRP is investigating circumstances surrounding the death of Simani Nyathi (12) of Mkubo Village, Nkayi that occurred on the Boxing Day around 1400 hours. Pindula News presents a police report on the case:

The victim is said to have been playing a swing game with his cousin sister (9) when he was allegedly trapped and strangled to death by the swing rope. The body of the victim was found hanging from a tree in a kneeling position with a rope tied around his neck.
Some bruises were observed around the victim’s neck and froth coming from the mouth.

Responding to the report, Zimbabwenas on social media expressed concern and called upon the government to take necessary action to address the issue.

MORE FOOTAGE(including post mortem): Army honours the so called Chadcombe robber with hero gun salute | How do you explain all this evidence which you deny George Charamba ? pic.twitter.com/MdMfSeFPTK

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) December 29, 2021

By A Correspondent | ZimEye | The Zimbabwe National Army has honoured a soldier who was shot dead by former cop Joseph Nemaisa, granting the soldier turned robber, a gun salute and an official burial.

Charles Chirara was gunned down at Nemaisa’s home following a suspected robbery earlier in the month.

It was reported that Chirara is also one of the ZB bank robbery suspects. Following his burial, the below are 8 things which the Chadcombe condemned robber Chirara’s family disputes to ZimEye in an interview:

1. The ZB Bank robbery their loved one, Charles, the solder was charged for, pertains 2.7 million US dollars and that money belongs not to the bank but the oligarch, Kuda Tagwirei: it was money that was for gold buying from mines scattered around the country. The vehicle raided, was not headed for one destination, the vehicles were moving around the country doing gold buying. This suggests direct links with ex cop Joseph Nemaisa himself, because so far he has testified that he does legal work for a Tagwirei linked firm, Better Brands Jewellery.

2. Their loved one received a gun salute that means a hero burial, by the military, and the footage is available.
3. The number of Chadcombe robbers was previously reported to be 5 but now suddenly the police say that they are seven of them and two have already fled to Mozambique.
4. When he was alive, Charles Chirara told one of his brothers that he is in deals with an ex police officer. Quizzed by ZimEye on the identity of the ex cop, the brother says he does not have a name, but he believes this points to Nemaisa.
5. The family dresses that the Shoot to kill policy is not just because a person is condemned on-site without trial this means that people who are innocent are and will be killed. That cannot be justice.
6. The events leading to the shooting at the former police officers house as they are described by him and by his wife and children do not match, and this creates more doubts on the credibility of his allegation that he truly shot at real robbers.
7. During his last few years, Charles Chirara was described by my work colleagues and community friends as someone who had a heart for others. There is no taint to his character. The family believe that there is politics behind the killing.
8. The narration of events adopted by the police is that of Nemaisa alone. Why not other witnesses? Why the rush?

FULL INTERVIEW FOLLOWS….

By A Correspondent | INVESTIGATIVE | Just as ZimEye exclusively revealed in 2021, Zanu PF informer and socialite Susan Mutami has come out into the public with one only child, contrary to previous claims that she has twins with Norton Law-maker Temba Mliswa.

Last year, the controversial Australian-based Mutami went to town claiming that she was having torrid times with pregnancy carrying Mliswa’s twins.

ZimEye.com early 2021 exposed Mutami’s several bedroom scandals, which included  government ministers and top Army Generals.

The below is a trail of event twists that involved high profile ministers caught between two scandals, one on the sale of stands, and one of trappings using a self proclaimed anti-terrorism expert, Susan Mutami.

It was all triggered when earlier in the year, the Special Anti Corruption Unit head, Thabani Mpofu was close to arresting Local Govt Minister, July Moyo over the alleged sale of stands in Harare, Kwekwe and Gweru for his own benefit.

There were several beneficiaries listed on this reported scandal who are in the ministry of Justice; so to hide this, a quick plan was hatched to get Mpofu fired.

Mpofu, who leads the controversial taskforce, was swiftly accused of authoring letters for MDC Alliance Vice President Tendai Biti advising the opposition icon on ways if navigating through the justice system.

Close sources allege that, when this was about to happen, the Norton MP Temba Mliswa went over to president, Emmerson Mnangagwa to advise him to ignore the calls to fire Mpofu, doing this in order to settle scores with the enemy of an enemy (Mliswa had heard that Thabani Mpofu had been set up by July Moyo, Owen Ncube, and Virginia Mabhiza). Mliswa has had several bones to chew with Thabani Mpofu. Mliswa reasoned with Mnangagwa saying: how could Thabani Mpofu author letters for MDC Deputy President Tendai Biti in this age and time when he could simply pick a phone call.

Parallel to all this, Temba Mliswa was the subject of an ongoing probe in which he was entangled with an ex girlfriend Susan Mutami.

Facts became clear mid February that, Susan Mutami, the centre of the axis, was used to incriminate Mliswa.

Mutami is an enigma. She claims she bedded the late SB Moyo, Killer Zivhu, Temba Mliswa. She is even openly  announces saying she has bedded the President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

She says she has Mliswa’s twins, while at the same time naming her son after his arch enemy, Owen Ncube.

5 LOVERS, 2 PREGNANCIES TO 2 DIFFERENT MEN, ALL IN ONE YEAR

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Last year alone she dated at least four different men who include the Foreign Affairs Minister SB Moyo, one after the other:

Polite Kambamura, the Mining Deputy Minister (they were engaged). Walter Chikwana, Secretary for the Judicial Commission (they had a civil partnership in 2020), and ZANU PF MP, Hon Kenneth Musanhi (see pictures).

Furthermore, an affidavit seen by ZimEye states in addition that she was already pregnant way before bedding Mliswa last year.

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The affidavit, certified by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), shows that as at around March 2020, she was still engaged to another man, who works inside the JSC, Mr Walter Chikwana.

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The man was reached for a comment but wouldn’t speak or respond to questions.

Meanwhile, the affidavit states that Mutami was carrying a pregnancy to another man at the end of March 2020. In the affidavit, her boyfriend, Mr Chikwana says:

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‘ I am Susan Vivian Mutami’s partner and in case of emergency I can be contacted on the above mentioned address or on my mobile number, +263772***********”

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He then goes on to say he is the legal guardian of SB Moyo’s Child (full name redacted-in accordance with the Children’s Act on the paper).

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” I am also the legal guardian of (name withheld), and our unborn child as of date. Attached hereto is a copy of my identification.”

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The affidavit was signed on the 24th March 2020.

The development puts burden on Mutami to explain the timing drama surrounding her two pregnancies (to different men) which are within months of each other.

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She also says that she is the holder of two Australian degrees of which she has none, and also makes false claims that she is the winner of Australia’s CEO awards. During interviews with Mutami, ZimEye reveals how that her claims to university courses are baseless.

VIDEO LOADING BELOW

Asked to state which universities issued her 2 degrees, Susan Mutami says: the @AusEmbZim performed all verification checks. She says: "There is no way a whole embassy would just leave and accompany me to go and donate, and hand out donations without doing proper checks on me…" pic.twitter.com/deBmXUv4St

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) February 27, 2021

Susan Mutami Says Australian Embassy Verified Her 2 Fake Degrees | IS SHE TELLING THE TRUTH?

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) February 27, 2021

She is also put to task on her CEO Awards claim, and it is revealed that she was only a passerby at the function who posed in front of a camera holding someone else’s award. (SEE RGM INTERVIEW BELOW)

Her ex lover, Mliswa has maintained his allegations that he was set up by the Central Intelligence Organisation in order to incriminate him using Susan Mutami.

After all this she is lawfully stopped while trying to leave the country, and then she is put under the custody of the Central Intelligence Organisation.
Mutami is held for possessing details on the attempted assassination of the president and killing of three aides at the White City Stadium, then she is whisked out by two powerful ministers who have close links to the president, July Moyo (local governments), Owen Mudha Ncube, minister of state security. After being whisked out without knowledge of the mother body of the CIO, she then starts to attack to the Director General of the CIO, who she claims she once dated, then threatening to release secret information on the cabinet, Politburo and a number of other official secrets, while on the same tweet, absolving the two ministers, July Moyo and Owen Mudha Ncube.

At this time, July Moyo is under investigations for parceling out land, a case being probed by Thabani Mpofu’s SACU organisation.

July Moyo is very close to permanent Secretary Mrs Virginia Mabhiza and Kumbirai Hodzi, the prosecutor General. At the same time, Thabani Mpofu’s SACU is having clashes with the Prosecutor General. There was a collusion between the Prosecutor Gen and July Moyo to get Thabani Mpofu fired. The PG and July Moyo then approached the president Emmerson Mnangagwa to pass allegations that Thabani Mpofu has advised Biti.

The event trail is as follows:

Thabani Mpofu is accused of writing WhatsApp letters to MDC Alliance MP Tendai Biti giving him advice on how to return to parliament, and this makes the president very angry. At this time, Mnangagwa has also been told by Perm Sec Virginia Mabhiza, and Prosecutor Gen Kumbirai Hodzi, to ignore the request to arrest Minister July Moyo on land fraud.

Mnangagwa then summons Thabani Mpofu to State House where he is dressed down. It is reported that Mpofu has been fired. ZimEye contacts Mpofu who tells this news network, it’s not true at all. Are you my employer?, Mpofu fires a question while answering to the report.

Soon afterwards, Temba Mliswa who is naturally against Mpofu, comes to the rescue of Mpofu to tell the President that Mpofu has been set up. Thabani Mpofu also gets support of the CIO DG Isaac Moyo. This angers July Moyo who together with Owen Ncube sponsor Susan Mutami to tweet ‘some dirt’ on Isaac Moyo while absolving July Moyo and Owen Ncube publicly, on the Twitter website.

State security sources report saying Mutami was whisked out of Zimbabwe through the Beitbridge Border post. ZimEye requests paperwork to confirm that the escape was truly through that border post. No date is provided, but by end of April 2021, she is now safely in Australia.

Both Owen Ncube and July Moyo are contacted for a comment, and their phones are put down soon after hearing the interview questions.

Responding to the state security reports, Mliswa denies ever approaching Mnangagwa to assist Mpofu. He tells ZimEye: “Mpofu, Matanga, Mudha, July Moto, and Ziyambi Ziyambi are all one and the same, working hand-in-hand.”

It surfaces that Mutami is an agent of July Moyo and his team to settle their matters with Director General, Isaac Moyo. Thabani Mpofu then suddenly comes out the victim of the two warning camps.

The development has raised questions on how safe Zimbabweans are when ministers and two officials are using a woman to settle their personal scores. Is Zimbabwe is being run by people controlled by bottom power, or is it that Susan Mutami has some ability to capture all these people, or she is so dazzling to control the nation’s top government officials?

By A Correspondent- Police has announced the death of three infants who perished after inhaling pesticides.

In a statement posted on their Twitter handle, Wednesday ZRP said the infants’ parents survived the catastrophe.

” 1/3 Members of the public are urged to be cautious when using pesticides. On 25/12/21, three female infants aged seven, one and five years died in their sleep whilst their parents, aged 42 and 27 escaped death by a whisker at Jowa Village, Inyati,” said the ZRP.

By-MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has taken time off party activities and headed to his rural home in Masvingo to “re-energise” ahead of the by-elections scheduled for next year.

“I am in the villages, renewing and re-enegising,” Chamisa said in a short message.

The country will have by-elections for 133 local government and parliamentary seats in the first quarter of 2022.

Zanu-PF has said it will use the polls to test its popularity.

MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson Gift Ostallos Siziba said the party would use the polls to “build its mass movement”.

“The by-elections will expose the pretenders and stooges of the oppressors,” Siziba said in an interview.

“We are building our mass movement from the ground, so be rest assured that it will be a season of new strategies, new tactics and new outlook as we brace for the watershed elections in 2023.”

While MDC Alliance leaders appear to have taken a festive break, Zanu-PF has been busy conducting mass mobilisation and provincial elections.

MDC-T’s Douglas Mwonzora said he would use the MDC Alliance tag in the polls, leaving Chamisa with no option, but to adopt a new name.

-Online