A court in Zimbabwe has further delayed passing a ruling in a matter in which Ubuntu Times correspondent Jeffrey Moyo is seeking refusal of remand.
The ruling which was expected to be passed between July 22 and July 25 has been indefinitely postponed and the matter remanded to September 10.
Moyo’s lawyer, Doug Coltart, has said the postponement of his client’s ruling is a typical example of how the courts in Zimbabwe deal with politically sensitized matters.
“We are yet to receive the ruling and the matter has been remanded to September 10. We were anticipating the ruling between July 22 and July 25 but the court has not communicated to us what has prompted the delay,” said Coltart.
Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana recently told this publication that Moyo is neither a victim of political persecution nor free expression but should face the law.
A recent report showed that Zimbabwe has dropped two places on the World Press Freedom Index from number 129 to 131.
Harare — Donning mini-skirts, popular for being dress codes for the oldest profession here, girls as young as 12, file past the railway tracks towards Harare-Chinhoyi highway, where one after the other, they are picked by motorists to unknown destinations.
Behind the girls, lies a slum settlement that stretches closer to Westgate, a medium-density residential area in Harare, where the girls brag, they have had a constant customer base for their sex services.
In fact, some of the girls claimed, posh vehicles every day in the evenings, often at sunset, drive up to their settlement to fetch them.
So, to quench the pleasures of the men frequenting their settlement, the girls are every day picked and later after business, dropped, to them a sign of thriving business even as they look underaged to be in the oldest profession.
“We have no choice. You can see the conditions we live under – poverty defines our daily living here and if we don’t sell sex, we can’t have food. As for me, I have no parents and I live with my little nine-year-old sister whom I have to feed because our parents died some three years ago,” 15-year-old Pegina Muzhandi, told Ubuntu Times.
Pegina made no secret about what killed her parents, saying they both died of AIDS, a disease she said neither spared her nor her little sister as they both acquired HIV at birth.
She (Pegina) said condom use is a rarity each time she engages her clients.
“More often, my clients who are much older than me – some men in their forties, just prefer not to use condom protection when they sleep with me. There is nothing I can do about it because at the end of the day what I need is money,” said Pegina.
In the slums where Pegina and her sister live with many other girls of her age, there are apparently scores of other grown women also in the business of sex trade – many in fact like 43-year-old Marian Chihoko who openly said sex workers of her age were facing competition from very young girls.
“Underage girls have put us out of business here because they are often preferred by almost every client who comes here because they look young and more attractive than some of us, but also because these young girls charge very little for their services,” Chihoko told Ubuntu Times.
Unidentified two teenage sex workers ready themselves for potential clients by the street in the dark corners of Epworth, a poor township 25 kilometers east of Harare, where poverty has pushed many underage girls into sex work. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
At Caledonia informal settlement, approximately 30 kilometers east of Harare, child sex workers are not a strange phenomenon.
Here, much-grown women like 63-year-old Memory Mhere, admitted that she was making brisky business hiring out desperate young girls to much-grown sex predators.
“The girls here now know I have a wider customer base and so they (girls) come to me asking me to connect them to the rich men who want sex services and I do that and payment is given to me and then I pay a smaller percentage to the girls,” Mhere told Ubuntu Times.
So, a pimp guru in her own right, Mhere admitted to making a killing trading out underage girls for sex – 50 to 65 dollars on a good day.
She however vehemently denied that she was responsible for fanning underage prostitution in her locality, saying in fact the girls approach her on their own.
“I don’t move around calling the young girls to come and sell their bodies. It’s them who come here knowing I am well connected to well-to-do men who frequent this area searching for young girls to sleep with,” said Mhere.
For development experts like Hebert Ruhaka based in the capital Harare, slums across Zimbabwe’s towns and cities have become fertile grounds for child prostitution.
“Poverty is rampant in slums and more often than not, girls there have no access to life’s basics and in order to get the basics, the girls have had to join the oldest profession whether they are in school or at home,” Ruhaka told Ubuntu Times.
According to Ruhaka, who is a holder of a degree in development studies from Zimbabwe’s Midlands State University, ‘slum settlements across the country here are infested with underage sex workers, who are as young as 13 years of age.’
Sadly, Ruhaka said, more often than not, elderly women hire very young girls to engage in sex with grown men, something seasoned pimps like Mhere did not dispute.
“The elderly women who lure young girls into sex work get paid by their clients who sleep with the poor underage girls more often without condom protection, with the girls rewarded with very little money by their pimps. At times they are not paid at all or if lucky they are instead rewarded with food handouts,” said Ruhaka.
According to many experts like Ruhaka, many underage sex workers in this Southern African country have dropped out of school, as their poverty-stricken families cannot pay school fees for them, with many of the girls like 15-year-old Pegina apparently orphaned.
In 2019, about 60 percent of Zimbabwe’s children in primary school were sent home for failing to pay fees, according to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee.
“We are seeing a spike in social vices like child prostitution and domestic violence,” says Father Martin Nyadewo of St. Peter’s Parish in Mbare, a high-density southern suburb of Harare. “Young girls are increasingly taking to the streets to sell their bodies to be able to feed themselves and their families.” Nyadewo’s remarks appeared in a July 2020 article in America, the Jesuit review magazine.
Harare, Zimbabwe — There are mounting fears of violent 2023 elections after government on Tuesday announced the return of the notorious National Youth Service dubbed the ‘Green Bombers’.
The militia that made up Zimbabwe’s so-called Green Bombers, was two decades ago famed for violent election campaigns and killings during the reign of former President Robert Mugabe.
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, Nick Mangwana, Zimbabwe’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, said ‘Cabinet has approved the re-establishment of the National Youth Service Programme.’
Claris Madhuku, a pro-democracy activist in Zimbabwe said the moves to bring back the country’s controversial National Youth Service program, ‘sparks fears that the ruling Zanu-PF may be plotting a bloody general election in 2023.’
Dubbed the Green Bombers known for the green military fatigue donned by the youths, the National Youth Service was founded by the late Zimbabwean Minister of Youth, Border Gezi in the year 2000.
Also known as the Border Gezi Youth Training, the program has served as a platform for the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) to indoctrinate youths and use them to unleash terror against opposition members often during elections.
Youths conscripted into the National Youth Service back in the 2000 to 2008, stand accused of committing some of the most heinous crimes during the reign of late former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information Monica Mutsvangwa hailed the revival of the country’s National Youth Service program, saying it was “crucial in nurturing young people into becoming responsible and resilient citizens with a clear sense of national identity and respect for national values.”
Mutsvangwa also said youths graduating from the National Youth Service “will qualify for further training, assistance in starting businesses, and for enrollment for careers in the police, the army, the air force, nursing, and teaching, among others.”
But the country’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change see only evil about the initiative.
“The desperate regime presses yet another disparate note of discontent. They want violence in 2023. They want another genocide in Zimbabwe. They have an itch that needs scratching. Shame on them and their false gods,” said MDC Alliance Vice President Tendai Biti on Twitter.
Chegutu, Zimbabwe — Nick Mangwana, Government spokesman in Zimbabwe has moved in to evict resettled black farmers in order to take over the farm in Chegutu, a Zimbabwean farming town in the country’s Mashonaland West Province about 100 kilometers west of the capital Harare.
In fact, on March 21, the Southern African nation’s information tsar stormed the farm with a gun which one of his victims at the farm said was deliberately exposed in a bid to scare him.
Now, Mangwana has enlisted the services of his brother Paul’s law firm to quicken the eviction of 70 families resettled on the farm he grabbed from the black resettled farmers.
Paul Mangwana is the governing Zimbabwe Africa National Union Patriotic-Front’s secretary for legal affairs.
Over two decades ago, Zimbabwe embarked upon chaotic land seizures of white-owned farms, leaving more than 4000 commercial white farmers displaced from their land.
The indigenous farmers at the farm grabbed by Mangwana said they occupied the land during the time the government spokesman was in the diaspora during the reign of former President Robert Mugabe.
But Mangwana, who says he was allocated 102 hectares of the sprawling 2,000-hectare farm last November, showed up with an offer letter in January this year ordering the villagers, who settled on the farm six years ago, to “harvest their crops and leave.”
As such, his lawyers from Mangwana & Partners Legal Practitioners have served the resettled farmers with a five-day-notice to tear down their homes and vacate Thorndike Farm seized by Mangwana.
“Our client is intent on fully utilizing the farm in accordance with his offer letter, but cannot attend to the same on account of your unlawful occupation and utilization of the farm without his consent and or authority,” an eviction letter from Mangwana’s attorneys read.
“We are, therefore, instructed to demand as we hereby do that you vacate our client’s land within five days of receipt of this demand.”
“You are further required to take down structures you have erected and remove any and all your belongings thereon,” the lawyers added.
But the villagers on the farm grabbed by Mangwana have dared to challenge him, saying they occupied the farm when Mangwana was still based in the United Kingdom and applied for formalized settlement between 2014 and 2016.
However, the villagers said their applications have not been granted yet nor have they been rejected.
The 2000-hectare farm was once owned by late resettled farmer Gilford Rukawo who had signed up for a voluntary farm downsizing scheme which saw him retain about 800 hectares, leaving the remainder with the other villagers who have faced the boot from Mangwana.
Nyazura, Zimbabwe — With Zimbabwe’s railroad network in a massive state of disrepair, a goods train killed the driver and injured three crew members last week, 9th March, after it derailed owing to breaks failure in Nyazura in the country’s Manicaland province as the goods train headed to Beira in Mozambique loaded with chrome ore.
The fatal accident occurred at a curve along a steep stretch at Tsungwezi in Nyazura.
The goods train loaded to the brim with chrome ore was coming from Mutorashanga, apparently a small ferrochrome mining town in Mashonaland West province in Zimbabwe.
Police spokesperson for Rusape district in the vicinity of Nyazura where the accident transpired, Assistant Inspector Muzondiwa Clean, confirmed the accident which happened late on Tuesday.
“The driver of a goods train tried to apply brakes as he approached the curve on the steep stretch around Tsungwezi, but it failed, resulting in the accident,” said Muzondiwa.
Over the decades, Zimbabwe’s rail infrastructure has faced dilapidation due to lack of regular maintenance, resulting in a series of railroad accidents that have claimed hundreds of lives.
Just in December last year, two National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) employees died while seven others were injured when a goods train traveling from Hwange to Bulawayo derailed at Redbank Siding, approximately 40 kilometers outside Bulawayo.
On March 9, 2015, Sheffra said unidentified men outside the barbershop in the vicinity of the couple’s home in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, seized her then 35-year-old husband accusing him of livestock theft before bundling him into one of their unmarked vehicles and sped off.
Since then, Itai’s whereabouts have remained a mystery.
“My message today is we will not forget Itai and we pray that we get answers and we hope the government of Zimbabwe will help us to find him or to find the abductors,” said Sheffra.
A journalist by profession and founder of a pro-democracy movement called Occupy Africa Unity Square that campaigned for the resignation of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Itai had become a thorn in the flesh of the country’s ruling party, the Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF).
Days before his abduction, Itai had urged thousands of people at a rally organized by the late Movement for Democratic Change party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, to topple Mugabe.
Robbed of her husband, with her two children — a 13-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl, she (Sheffra), said ‘the children know what happened, so we just pray for him to come back to us one day.’
“Life without him is hard. It’s hard to live for six years without knowing where (Itai) he is or what happened to him, especially when l look at our two young kids; it’s hard.”
“My boy and girl can’t wait to see their dad. They talk about him most of the time, saying that when dad comes, we will run to meet and embrace him,” Sheffra told Ubuntu Times.
Itai’s brother, Paddy Dzamara, said ‘my message is directed to those who took Itai and also to Mr. ED Mnangagwa (the President) to provide us with closure of his whereabouts.’
“Itai’s abduction and disappearance has been hard for the family and we all miss him. His children Nokutenda and Nenyasha always ask about his whereabouts and when he will come back to them,” Paddy told Ubuntu Times.
Gladys Hlatshwayo, the opposition MDC Alliance secretary for external affairs, said ‘we remember the courageous Itai Dzamara who was abducted on this day six years ago.’
“He is still unaccounted for to this day. Sadly, his brother Patson Dzamara passed away before he could get answers,” said Hlatshwayo.
Harare, Zimbabwe— Embroiled in a litany of sex scandals accusations, Zimbabwe’s Vice President Kembo Mohadi on Monday this week resigned from his job.
Mohadi, aged 71, handed his resignation to his boss, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa pinning the blame for his disgrace on his unrevealed political foes in government for making up bed-hopping allegations against the deputy president.
He (Mohadi) even before resigning, had issued a statement last week vehemently denying the sex scandals allegations, vowing to fight the claims through the country’s courts.
In a four-page document detailing his resignation, Zimbabwe’s former Vice President made claims that he was a victim of a “grand strategy” by his “political foes.”
Mohadi rose to become Zimbabwe’s Vice President after the 2017 coup that overthrew the country’s longtime strongman Robert Mugabe.
Before then, he (Mohadi) was Zimbabwe’s State Security Minister.
“My decision to relinquish the vice president post is also a way of respecting the citizens of this great nation, and my party comrades, some of whom would have been affected by the falsehoods and character assassination in the digital ecosystems,” said Mohadi.
He also said his resignation was ‘necessitated by my desire to seek clarity and justice on the matter in which my legal team will pursue and deconstruct this pseudo-paparazzi and flawed espionage to achieve cheap political points.’
Falling short of admitting his sex scandals with a number of married women, one of whom worked in his office, Mohadi apologized to Zimbabweans for “those tasks I failed to do well.”
In leaked phone call recordings, which went viral on social media, which he claimed were results of voice cloning, Mohadi was heard at one time organizing to bed one of his married lovers in his office.
Yet in one of the phone call recordings, the former Vice President was heard coaxing a formerly underprivileged woman whom he had paid tuition for in college to join him at his Bulawayo hotel room for sex.
Bulawayo is Zimbabwe’s second-largest city.
Miffed by Mohadi’s sex scandals, Zimbabwe’s opposition parties and civil society organizations demanded Mohadi’s resignation, calling for Mr. Mnangagwa to replace him with a woman.
Harare — His house stands out in the midst of water, with the entire driveway concealed under water, apparently with nowhere to step on, yet for 15 years, 50-year-old Jimson Ruvangu in Westlea suburb in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, has managed to evade censure from the city’s local authorities.
Ruvangu claims he acquired the piece of land on which he built his home through a local housing cooperative.
But climate change activists, even as many like Ruvangu are apparently getting away with murder, warn that illegal construction of homes and commercial buildings is fueling climate change impacts across Zimbabwe.
Yet, many like Ruvangu even as they dwell in the midst of wetlands, he (Ruvangu) is happy that he has somewhere to lay his head.
Makeshift homes are rising rapidly on undesignated pieces of land in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, with pieces of land being cleared of trees prior to the erection of the temporary homes as people invade vacant land in Zimbabwe’s towns and cities, this fueling climate change impacts. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“I have a home; that is what matters. Whether it was built illegally or not, that is another matter, but look, I am nearing two decades living here and nothing has happened to me,” Ruvangu bragged.
For climate change activists here like Happison Chikova, it is illegal construction that particularly fuels climate change impacts across this Southern African country.
“The haphazard construction of houses in the major cities and towns in Zimbabwe has contributed immensely to climate change in Zimbabwe. The unplanned housing schemes has contributed to high emissions of green-house gases into the atmosphere due to rampant deforestation and destruction of wetlands,” Chikova told Ubuntu Times.
As construction occurs on undesignated places, according to Chikova, ‘the destruction of biodiversity and the ecosystems reduces carbon sequestration as huge amount of carbon dioxide is lost into the atmosphere as vegetation acts as carbon sinks.’
That in fact has not moved illegal urban land occupiers like Ruvangu who claim nothing will move them, but in the eyes of climate change experts like Chikova, many like Ruvangu have brought more harm than good.
Hundreds of illegally built yet luxurious homes are emerging on undesignated pieces of land, with climate change experts saying this is often taking place on wetlands thereby fueling climate change impacts as the construction of such homes dries up groundwater. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“The haphazard construction of houses in urban areas is resulting in increasing the heat in the cities, thereby creating heat islands. This is because the houses are not built according to the city standard as well as following green cities foot prints,” said Chikova.
He (Chikova) also said as construction is often done illegally, ‘the destruction of wetlands has affected local climate as the wetlands are responsible for cooling the environment hence increase in temperature.’
Apart from being a holder of a degree in environmental studies from Zimbabwe’s Midlands State University, Chikova is a student at the University of Edinburgh in the UK studying global food security and nutrition.
For Harare Wetlands Trust, a conservation group here, disorderly constructions across Zimbabwe’s wetlands have also fueled climate change impacts.
Incomplete luxury spacious homes stand out on undesignated land pieces in the capital Harare, where climate change experts say trees important for retaining water vapor in the atmosphere for the accumulation of rains are wantonly cut down paving way for illegal construction of properties. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“Construction covers wetlands with hard surface. The water can no longer seep into the soils to be stored. So, water runs off and floods on hard surfaces downstream. It is not available underground to keep streams flowing during droughts and dry seasons and we blame climate change when we changed a crucial landscape and contributed to climate change,” Selestino Chari told Ubuntu Times.
To him (Chari), ‘it is effectively an ecocide to build (homes) on something that supports us when we can build elsewhere. And where will all this built-up area get its water from after it runs off the hard surface down to the sea?’ Chari said.
Even the country’s top academics have weighed in, apparently irked by the growing climate change impacts emanating from rife construction on undesignated points here.
One such intellectual is Professor Johnson Masaka, the executive dean at the Midlands State University’s department of Land and Water Resources Management, who has spelt out the harm wrought by the chaotic constructions.
“Firstly, the unplanned constructions will necessarily require that trees, bushes and grasslands are cleared on construction sites. The vegetation that fixes carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas or global warming gas, in photosynthesis is destroyed in the site,” Masaka told Ubuntu Times.
With haphazard construction all over Zimbabwe’s towns and cities, Masaka said climate has had to suffer the results amid wanton cutting down of trees as people in illegally built homes have no access to electricity.
“Provision of electricity in such haphazard settlements is almost impossible due to legal requirements; so, people resort to use of fuel wood. Upon burning, the wood releases a series of global warming gases such as carbon monoxide and methane into the atmosphere where they cause warming of climates,” said Masaka.
But many urban dwellers like 56-year-old Hector Ruvende based in Masvingo, Zimbabwe’s oldest town, see nothing amiss dwelling on a wetland upon which he built his home two decades ago.
“Electricity will be connected to my home one day; what matters is that I have a roof above my head; of course, we use firewood which we buy from wood poachers,” Ruvende told Ubuntu Times.
A foundation is laid out for a home being illegally constructed in one of the suburbs in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, unlawful acts of which climate change experts blame for the rising climate change impacts across Zimbabwe’s towns and cities. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Such actions by Zimbabweans like Ruvende, to Professor Masaka, ‘participate in loading the atmosphere with global warming gases.’
Yet even climate change activists in Zimbabwe like Kudakwashe Makanda who is the programmes manager for the Youth Initiative for Community Development (YICD), a youth civic organization, blame disorganized construction for worsening climate change impacts in the country.
“I think you understand that most local authorities have been allocating housing land on wetlands mostly; this then undermines the crucial role that is played by wetlands which is to service the water sources that we do have across the country and also to clean the water; by constructing houses on wetlands, it means the water being reserved or kept there will stop being available,” Makanda told Ubuntu Times.
For Makanda, chaotic urban construction of homes has in fact brought more harm than good.
“Cutting down trees so as to pave way for residential areas also reduces the amount of vegetation that is necessary to supply the atmosphere with water vapor and that alone then leads to less rains being experienced,” said Makanda.
To Makanda, ‘the major challenge is that most local authorities are prioritizing development at the expense of environmental consciousness and the way that they are apportioning the land is not being done in a well thought out manner.’
Yet for independent climate change experts like Gilbert Musungwa in Zimbabwe, corruption in the country’s urban local authorities has fueled illegal construction of homes, subsequently leading to noticeable climate change impacts.
“In other sectors like the construction industry, the issue remains a sub-issue and often overshadowed in the offices; whenever there is an intention to have some infrastructural development, oftentimes environmental impact assessments (EIA) are requested. It boggles the mind how some developments pass the required EIA,” Musungwa told Ubuntu Times.
Harare — Zimbabwe was on Monday hit by 60 COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours, this at a time the country has lost a total of 773 people since the first case was confirmed almost a year ago.
A late night Covid-19 update by Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health on Monday also said 689 new positive cases of Coronavirus were recorded on the same day the 60 people succumbed to the dreaded pandemic.
“60 COVID-19 deaths were reported today (Monday). 37 of the deaths occurred at institutional level with 23 at community level,” a statement from the country’s Ministry of Health reads.
The Ministry of Health here also added that ‘National Case fatality Rate now stands at 2.8% as at 18/1/21.’
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s Coronavirus mortality rate is relatively far lower than other countries that have so far experienced skyrocketing deaths due to the rampaging pandemic.
Yet the country’s democracy activists like Elvis Mugari of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance worry the deaths could be a sign of worse things to come.
“Our country’s dysfunctional health care facilities could mean much more Covid-19 deaths are in the offing,” Mugari told Ubuntu Times.
On Wednesday, COVID-19 killed the country’s foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo, the former army general who went on state television and announced a coup that toppled former President Robert Mugabe in 2017.
Zimbabwe is currently in a 30-day national lockdown period ordered by the government in order to throttle the further spread of Coronavirus.
Binga — With its classrooms thatched, its walls built using home-made bricks and located in Binga, a remote area in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland North Province, Zumana Secondary school apparently stands weighed down by leaking roofs, with the grass thatch gradually falling apart.
Approximately 436 kilometers from Zumana school South-East of Binga, lies yet another perishing school — Melisa secondary, which is in Silobela, an agricultural village located in Kwekwe district in this Southern African nation’s Midlands Province, about 60 kilometers west of Kwekwe town.
One of the classroom blocks with ages-old fading greenish paint stands out without half of its asbestos roofing sheets, blown away by the wind in the previous years, according to local pupils.
“I remember I was doing grade three when the roof was taken away by the wind and I’m in grade seven now,” a 15-year-old school pupil who identified himself as Melusi Mpabanga, told Ubuntu Times.
A wide crack that has taken shape at a classroom at Melisa Secondary School in Silobela in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province signals the imminent fall of one of the school’s classrooms. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
A teacher who preferred to remain anonymous saying he was forbidden to speak to the media, said, ‘here at Melisa, most of my students have to sit on the cracked floors each time during lessons conducted in classrooms with broken window pens.’
Fearing victimization, yet another teacher at Binga’s Zumana secondary school who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said ‘we have four thatched classrooms which we use for teaching and learning.’
“The thatched classrooms all have leaks and during rainy seasons, learners’ books get destroyed. Teaching at such an institution is really a bad experience. The teachers’ cottages are also grass-thatched and they leak, which makes life unbearable for us,” the Zumana school teacher told Ubuntu Times.
A typically worn-out thatched classroom block at Zumana Secondary School in Binga is pictured in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland North Province. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Yet the sorry state of Zimbabwe’s schools is not only in the remote areas but has also cascaded down to urban areas amid a comatose national economy.
Civil society activists blame authorities for not prioritizing education, instead directing government revenue towards fattening their own pockets.
“For selfish reasons, government leaders are clearly paying zero attention to the sad developments in schools in terms of infrastructures which have collapsed,” Claris Madhuku, who is director of the Platform for Youth Development, a Zimbabwean civil society organization, told Ubuntu Times.
A classroom at Nyatsambo Secondary School in Mhondoro in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West Province has grass growing inside it after years of negligence by authorities even as pupils still use the classroom for lessons. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Touched by the state of Zimbabwe’s deteriorating schools’ infrastructure seven years after he left office, David Coltart who was the Minister of Education back then, pinned the blame on lack of prioritization of the country’s education system by the authorities here.
“For years, in fact for decades, schools’ infrastructure has been deteriorating because to be frank there is simply insufficient budget being allocated to education; government boasts about the fact that the bulk of the budget goes to education, but in my experience, the amount actually paid out, there is no relationship with the theoretical budget figure; and even that theoretical budget figure is insufficient,” Coltart told Ubuntu Times.
For 2021, Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education received a total allocation of $55,221 billion (in local currency), an equivalent of about 55 million United States dollars.
This to Coltart, is a drop in the ocean.
“If we wish to make education a priority, that needs to be reflected in the amount of money that we spend and there need to be dramatic cutbacks elsewhere, in govt spending,” said Coltart, who is now treasurer-general of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC Alliance).
One of the schools in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province in Silobela, Melisa Secondary School stands out with a classroom ridden with cracked floors. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
The Zimbabwean government has however been on record in the media claiming to be making major boosts of the country’s infrastructure in schools.
Earlier this year, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Edgar Moyo told parliament government was aware of the run-down infrastructure at some schools in the country, saying government continued to prioritize revamping them.
But even as dilapidation haunts Zimbabwe’s schools, government instead boasts of having more schools, about 6,000 primary and secondary schools, according to statistics from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT).
At Zumana Secondary School in Binga in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland North Province south of Kariba dam, thatched residence of teachers stands out apparently worn-out, this development way into the 21st century. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
For teachers’ trade unions, even as the regime brags about having multiple schools, it amounts to nothing amidst dereliction of the infrastructure.
“The level of dilapidated infrastructure in schools is not only worrisome but rather pathetic and in a sorrowful state. The infrastructure is basically from the colonial era and not much changes have been effected to go with modern time and in most instances, especially in rural areas, the infrastructure is virtually nonexistent as teachers and learners are forced to conduct lessons in makeshift structures and under trees,” Robson Chere, secretary-general of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), told Ubuntu Times.
Yet as they earn little, Zimbabwean teachers want the best to help them deliver service to the country’s learners.
The lowest-paid teacher in Zimbabwe now earns a monthly salary of $19,975 in local currency, which is the equivalent of 245 USD, with the highest-paid teacher earning 281 USD.
A thatched lanky classroom block built using home-made bricks at Zumana secondary school in Binga in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland North Province stands out under the weight of an almost curving roof, this as the school undergoes dilapidation for years now. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“As a union, we are advocating for an educational equalization fund; our dream is to see a Zimbabwe which provides equal opportunities in education regardless of the location of a learner or school,” Munyaradzi Masiyiwa, ARTUZ deputy Secretary-General, told Ubuntu Times.
But amid dilapidated infrastructure across Zimbabwe’s schools here, Masiyiwa’s may remain a pipe dream, for before, some like Coltart tried with little success to revamp the country’s citadels of education.
“I last made an attempt to tackle the deteriorating schools’ infrastructure in my last year in cabinet in 2013; I developed the schools development project working between UNICEF on the one hand and individual schools on the other and we devised a program whereby money went straight from donors to schools committees and headmasters; I’m not sure how that is running now, but driving around the country, it seems to me there is very little taking place and schools’ infrastructure is collapsing everywhere,” Coltart said.
Harare — There are growing fears that Mozambique’s terrorism insurgents could spill into several countries across Southern Africa.
In Zimbabwe, many fear terrorists operating in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, which is over 1,000 kilometers away from Harare, could soon hit the country.
“It’s difficult to rule out the fact that the terrorists haunting Mozambique will soon be here in Zimbabwe especially as our government has already made its intentions to step in to help Mozambique fight the terrorists,” Claris Madhuku who heads the Platform for Youth Development, told Ubuntu Times.
On the 14th of this month, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa traveled to Mozambique to meet his counterpart President Filipe Nyusi over the destabilization there.
Last month, Mnangagwa said acts of terrorism in Mozambique were shocking, pledging to help the eastern neighbor in any way possible to counter the acts.
Madhuku also said ‘terror attacks in Mozambique are a threat not only to SADC but Africa as a whole.’
“Military intervention to thwart the vigilant group is not sustainable. The regional leaders must invest more in understanding these conflicts that are sometimes sponsored by economic interests and greed,” said Madhuku.
Mnangagwa made calls earlier last month to have soldiers deployed to neighboring Mozambique to crush terrorists in that country.
Turning to Twitter after militants beheaded over 50 people in northern Mozambique during attacks on several villages, Zimbabwe’s strongman said: “These acts of barbarity must be stamped out wherever they are found.”
Now, Zimbabwean students like 23-year-old Phineas Mbiza of the University of Zimbabwe are openly deriding the terror conflict in Mozambique.
“To me, these are mere Jihadist extremists searching for converts to their cruel belief system,” said Mbiza.
Yet, the government of the United States of America has also recently said it feared the spillage of terror attacks from Mozambique into nearby countries.
The US Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Nathan Sales briefed journalists following his recent visit to Mozambique, warning that the on-going violence in the neighboring country could spill over into neighboring countries and destabilize the SADC region.
With the entire Southern Africa region under threat from terrorists, in Zimbabwe, Mbiza said ‘loss of African lives through terror attacks confirm how threatened we are.’
Zimbabwean political analysts like Farai Gwenhure who is a law student with the University of Southern Africa, said ‘when you have a region in which unemployment is very high it can easily be a breeding ground for radicalization and extremist recruitment especially of young people.’
Speaking of terror spillage in SADC, Gwenhure also said ‘there is a high risk of the spread of terrorism, yes; we all know how ISIS started to spread in Iraq and Syria.’
A known anti-government political activist in Zimbabwe, Elvis Mugari, said ‘I foresee instability in the whole of SADC if there would be military intervention in Mozambique.’
“Rather, Mozambique government must engage the extremist leaders, map a way forward with them, try to address their concerns in a humane and diplomatic way,” Mugari told Ubuntu Times.
Harare — In a move that has been taken with a pinch of salt by local pro-democracy activists, the Zimbabwean regime on November 20 announced that it had dished out broadcasting licenses to six more television stations out of the 14 that had applied to be licensed.
Presently, just the Zimbabwe Television run by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation is the only national television station in Zimbabwe.
Amongst the successful applicants for a license, was the State-controlled, Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN).
ZTN is a sister company of the Zimbabwe Newspapers 1980 Private Limited, controlled by this country’s government notorious for stifling media democracy for decades.
Owned by business tycoon James Makamba, Zimbabwe’s only privately owned broadcasting station, Joy TV, which started in July 1998 was shut down on 31 May 2002 after a lease agreement the TV station had with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation was annulled on the grounds that it desecrated the 2001 Broadcasting Services Act of this country.
Two decades later, Zimbabwe’s regime has licensed other players in the television broadcasting industry, however with pro-democracy activists skeptical about the government’s sincerity in its move to license the new players.
“The regime has merely licensed its own TV stations that will further step up praise-singing for it (the regime) as it perpetuates more rights abuses here,” Claris Madhuku who heads the Platform for Youth Development, told Ubuntu Times.
Under Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s rule, journalists like Hopewell Chin’ono have been arrested ostensibly for inciting public violence although he had mid this year exposed alleged government corruption involving Coronavirus supplies implicating the President’s son Colin Mnangagwa.
However, announcing the licensing of the six TV stations, Charles Sibanda, chairman of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), hailed the move which he said was the liberation of airwaves in the African nation.
“The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe would like to express appreciation to all those who showed interest and indeed the general public for actively participating in this historic process of facilitating the opening up of broadcasting airwaves for multiplicity in television services,” Sibanda told reporters in the capital Harare.
But other applicants like Heart & Soul Television which is owned by Trevor Ncube one of President Mnangagwa’s advisors, was not amongst the successful applicants although Jester Media trading as 3K TV managed to get a license despite the fact that the company falls under the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) which publishes the Daily News, an anti-government newspaper.
Ncube is the owner of Alpha Media Holdings which publishes newspapers deemed to be hostile to the Zimbabwean regime — Newsday, The Zimbabwe Independent, and The Standard.
Other TV stations that were given licenses are Rusununguko Media’s NRTV, Acacia Media Group’s Kumba TV, Fairtalk Communications’ Ke Yona TV, and Channel Dzimbahwe’s Channel D.
Mberengwa — As a teacher, she has had very few associates. Back home, visiting relatives whisper behind her back apparently disgusted by her condition of albinism. Now, 43-year old Lindani Zhou based in Mberengwa, a Zimbabwean rural district in the country’s Midlands Province, has had to stomach growing discrimination against her each day of her life.
She (Zhou) is a high school History teacher at one of the district schools in the province.
Her woes with discrimination owing to her condition are even worse at school, where Zhou said ‘my only friend is my job.’
“I find solace in my job. In class, I have learnt to live with the contemptuous glares from most of my students and I just ignore, with some even giggling when they think I won’t be noticing,” Zhou told Ubuntu Times.
Zhou has even claimed in the villages closer to the school where she teaches, villagers believe she is a mystery figure.
Coupled with acts of giving and charity, people with albinism and their colleagues lead awareness on the condition during International Albinism Awareness day in 2017. Credit: Alive Albinism Initiative
“People here actually think I’m unlike other human beings, claiming I can disappear and reappear; imagine such primitive thinking in this 21st century, and because of those false beliefs they associate with albinism, very few have the courage to even greet me,” said Zhou.
For many other Zimbabweans living with albinism like Agness Gurume, the Coronavirus pandemic has even spelled out worse woes for her lately.
In an episode that captured the attention of the entire national media here, just last month, she (Gurume) was barred by security guards from entering Pick n Pay Supermarket in Masvingo, Zimbabwe’s oldest town after she had requested to wash her hands with soap instead of sanitizers which she had said affect her skin.
Not only security guards have turned to discriminating against people with albinism like Gurume.
People living with albinism in June 2017 as conduct a campaign against the discrimination of people with their condition during the International Albinism Awareness Day three years ago. Credit: Alive Albinism Initiative
In fact, four decades after Zimbabwe gained independence from British colonial rule, even little children born in this age ridicule people living with albinism like Gurume and Zhou.
“Little children openly giggle when they see me and they gather around me as if I have become some tourist object of attraction,” Zhou said.
Indigenous businessmen like 57-year old Gift Mhara in Harare who runs some shops in downtown Harare, openly shun working with albinos.
People living with albinism in the Zimbabwean capital Harare are in August 2019 captured shopping for sun cream to protect their skins from the heat. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
To him (Mhara), people with albinism are a cost.
“If you employ a person with albinism you must be prepared to get excuses of absenteeism from work because they fall sick anytime and they need to constantly visit medical specialists to attend to them, meaning their production time at work is minimal,” Mhara told Ubuntu Times.
Based in Harare, 31-year old Gamuchirai Uzande has also battled with discrimination as she lives with albinism.
Uzande said, “there is discrimination in all sectors of life, health, education, employment, socially, you name it.”
“Because of cultural beliefs, many people’s mindsets are corrupted; hence for a person with albinism to be employed in a formal sector is a challenge. Some employers are not even ashamed to show it on the day of the interview instead. If by any chance you get employed in a formal sector, chances of stigma between employees is very high,” Uzande told Ubuntu Times.
Faced with escalating discrimination of people with albinism in Zimbabwe, pro-albinism organizations like Alive Albinism Initiative, have spoken with vehemence against the rising trend.
“I always say people often get scared of what they don’t understand or what they don’t know. That’s the same reason why persons with albinism still face discrimination in Zimbabwe and in Africa. Some people are of the belief that albinism is a result of witchcraft or that it is some form of a punishment from God,” Ms. Gwenlisa Mushonga, who is the director for Alive Albinism Initiative in Zimbabwe, told Ubuntu Times.
Officials from various pro-albinism organizations pose for a group photo after a pro-albinism campaign during 2017’s International Albinism Awareness Day. Credit: Alive Albinism Initiative
Founder of Alive Albinism Initiative, Mushonga herself lives with albinism and has over the years become a disability activist with a focus on the rights and empowerment of persons with albinism.
According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately 33,000 people with albinism in Zimbabwe.
Of these, based on statistics from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, only about two percent are gainfully employed, meaning approximately 660 people with albinism across this Southern African nation have jobs.
ZCTU is the primary trade union federation in this country.
With the escalating segregation of people with albinism in Zimbabwe, Mushonga apparently is pessimistic about the employment of people with the condition.
“Employers do not like employing people with albinism as they are declared that they might chase away their customers. We have a couple of persons often called for interviews, but once they show up that’s the end of it; they will not get the job simply because they look different,” said Mushonga.
Yet as Zimbabweans with albinism like Zhou and Gurume endure discrimination because of their conditions, many like Mushonga have pinned the blame on people’s backwardness.
Director of Alive Albinism Initiative, Ms. Gwenlisa Mushonga who lives with albinism presides over the proceedings in 2017 during International Albinism Awareness Day. Credit: Alive Albinism Initiative
“There is high level of discrimination of persons who have this condition in Zimbabwe. This is caused by the fact that Africa is mostly populated by black people and for black parents to give birth to a white child causes confusion, mistrust, and in the search of a cause, superstitious beliefs,” said Mushonga.
In fact, Mushonga said ‘people are scared of what they do not understand and instead of searching for answers and correct information, they just assume that they know it all.’
But even as they face discrimination, many Zimbabwean albinos like Tapiwa Musoni who work as a radio presenter have swum against the odds, beating segregation and becoming one of the country’s top radio personalities.
According to the United Nations, the physical appearance of persons with albinism is often the object of erroneous beliefs and myths influenced by superstition, resulting in their marginalization and subsequently discrimination.
Zimbabwean sociologist Mike Musawu based in the capital Harare said, ‘generally, people here are stuck in the olden belief that albinos are a curse from God or in fact punishment from ancestors.’
Yet human rights defenders like Elvis Mugari foresee the need for the Zimbabwean government to economically empower citizens living with albinism in order for them to become self-reliant.
A person living with albinism in the Zimbabwean capital Harare is captured having her blood pressure checked by a nurse. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“Instead of watching albinos being discriminated against, government should act swiftly and make sure they have things to do to support themselves economically,” Mugari told Ubuntu Times.
So, for many Zimbabweans living with albinism like Uzande, a lot still needs to be done to fend off discrimination.
“I would say there is still much work to be done in order to raise awareness on albinism,” Uzande said.
Harare — Faced with a restive civil service that has for long demanded to be paid in USD amid the country’s comatose economy, the Zimbabwean government has pledged to pay its workers an equivalent of 500 USD each as funeral cover upon death.
The development that has received a backlash from furious government workers like the country’s striking teachers, comes despite most civil servants having their own funeral policies, subscriptions of which are deducted from their monthly earnings.
According to the government, the 500 USD for funeral cover which comes at the courtesy of the cornered regime here, will be paid to a surviving spouse, adult children, or agreed dependent.
But, infuriated by the development, leaders of the country’s teaching union, the Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, Obert Masaraure, said ‘we demand USD 520 per month in our lifetime; the livelihoods of our families can’t be deferred to our graves.’
Even as government workers fumed at the development, government officials appeared adamant about the development.
“Starting immediately, government will pay an equivalent of US500 in funeral assistance for any civil servant who passes away. This is regardless of any funeral policy the member may have. The money is paid to a surviving spouse, adult children or agreed dependent,” Nick Mangwana, Zimbabwe government’s Permanent Secretary of Information, said in a statement.
Yet, the Southern African nation’s civil servants have been demanding their wages to be paid in US dollars or at a rate equivalent to the country’s local currency—the Zimbabwe dollar.
Currently, Zimbabwe’s government workers like teachers earn an equivalent of 35 USD monthly, a situation that has seen teachers countrywide downing tools claiming they have become incapacitated to keep reporting for duty.
Reacting to the announcement to reward government workers at death, Zimbabwe’s former Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi who is in exile in South Africa, said ‘an incentive for dying has been pronounced by the Zimbabwe government. Shall we say congratulations?’
Besides Mzembi, another irate Zimbabwean took to twitter lashing out at the government move to reward its dead.
“What will we do with the money when we’re dead?”, tweeted one Van Lee Chigwada.
Harare — Former Chief Executive Officer of the Zimbabwe Football Association, Henrietta Rushwaya was on Monday nabbed by cops as she attempted to smuggle six kilograms of gold to Dubai.
Based on a police internal memorandum gleaned by Ubuntu Times, Rushwaya who is the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president was arrested Monday at Robert Mugabe International Airport for contravening section 182 of the Customs and Excise Act.
The arrest of Rushwaya comes at a time Zimbabwe reels from corruption at the behest of the ruling elite.
This is not the first time 53-year old Rushwaya is courting controversy in the Southern African country.
In 2016, she (Rushwaya) was embroiled in a match-fixing scandal dubbed Limpopogate, which linked her to a match-fixing syndicate that had been fixing games for the past 6 years prior to 2016, a year later plotting again to fix the Zimbabwe 2017 Nations Cup qualifiers game against Swaziland.
Amongst a slew of other corruption scandals, in yet another match-fixing scandal as ZIFA boss, Rushwaya in 2009 stood accused of having organized a trip by the Zimbabwe national team to Malaysia in December during which matches were said to have been manipulated.
Now, with the leopard apparently not shedding its spots, Rushwaya has hit again, this time attempting to smuggle gold while ironically, she heads the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF).
ZMF is the brainchild of Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Mines whose formation was marked to represent and contribute to the development and growth of small-scale miners.
According to police, upon her arrest, Rushwaya claimed she obtained the gold from someone only identified as Ali living at number 32 Lanark Road, Alexandra Park, Harare, whom she also claimed was a licensed gold buyer.
But a day after her arrest, Rushwaya appeared in court where she was remanded in custody to the 28th of this month, with the magistrate Ngoni Nduna saying he wanted to consider the conditions agreed by the State and the accused’s defense team.
Meanwhile, the State led by Charles Muchemwa complied that Rushwaya be given $90,000 bail (Zimbabwean dollars).
Harare — Two years ago, his then 53-year old mother succumbed to colon cancer. A year later, his 24-year old sister was diagnosed with the same disease, yet earlier this year, 28-year old Tapfumaneyi Hwengwere also turned into another colon cancer patient in the family.
Hwengwere said now doctors have told him his cancer has reached stage four, meaning his case has leaped beyond redemption.
“I’m just taking medication to ease the pain although it’s clear my condition has gone beyond what the doctors can do to save my life,” Hwengwere told Ubuntu Times.
So, as Hwengwere and his sister contend with colon cancer, he (Hwengwere) said they find solace meeting many other cancer patients at the cancer clinics they often visit here.
According to Zimbabwe’s Cancer Registry, from 6,548 registered cases of cancer in 2013, figures have skyrocketed to 9,220 two years ago, with Hwengwere and his sister comprising the Southern African nation’s alarming cancer statistics.
Many Zimbabweans like Hwengwere and his sister bear the dreaded cancer illness at a time the country also faces the ravages of Coronavirus which has claimed over 200 lives since it struck this country.
Now, health experts here like Jason Utete, a private oncologist in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital have said as doctors they are attending to increasing cases of cancer on a daily basis.
“People are not aware of this; cancer cases we attend to daily are rising more than ever before; it’s scary,” Utete told Ubuntu Times.
A critically-ill cancer patient is photographed in 2014 being pushed on a stretcher bed by an unidentified man into a hospital ward at Parirenyatwa hospital in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Yet, with cancer deaths on a gradual rise in Zimbabwe, the country also suffers a scarcity of cancer specialists like Utete, who said owing to that, ‘prospects of detecting cancer early are minimal here.’
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe only has four cancer specialists, according to the country’s Ministry of Health and Child Care although the country is laden with over 7,000 cancer patients.
As such, besides the ravages wrought by Coronavirus, in Zimbabwe, cancer is gradually overtaking several deadly diseases, becoming the country’s number one killer.
Of the types of cancers that have become common among Zimbabweans, is colon cancer, which has affected many like Hwengwere and his sister, and even orphaned them after their widowed mother was killed by the same disease.
Even Zimbabwe’s young children have become victims of the deadly disease, according to this country’s Ministry of Health and Child Care, which has been on record in the media claiming over 700 underage children succumb to cancer each year.
Nurses are photographed in July 2014 tending women suffering from cervical cancer at hospital in the Zimbabwean capital Harare. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
As if that is not enough, an average of 5,000 new cancer cases are recorded annually, according to Zimbabwe’s National Cancer Registry, but more than 80 percent are only diagnosed at a very late stage.
“In both adults and young children here, cancer is often diagnosed late, which has resulted in rising cancer deaths in the country,” said doctor Utete.
Yet, more superstitious Zimbabweans like 73-year old Danisa Chambati who lives in Highfields high-density suburb in Harare has dismissed the existence of cancer, instead, scapegoating witchcraft for such diseases.
“There is nothing called cancer; people are bewitching each other, causing mysterious illnesses and deaths,” Chambati told Ubuntu Times.
But, despite his denial, Chambati’s children confirmed that their mother, his wife, in this case, was killed by colon cancer three years ago.
In Zimbabwe, nurses have been going on strike demanding better wages as the country’s economy teeters on the brink of collapse, a move that has nonetheless worsened the situation of cancer patients seeking treatment in government hospitals. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
One of the children, 41-year old Letwin, who is a single mother living with the aging Chambati even claimed the father was suffering from prostate cancer, a condition she also claimed their father has frantically dismissed as untrue.
“Our father has prostate cancer, which is now at its advanced state, but even as doctors diagnosed him of the disease, he has vehemently stayed in denial, claiming that his illness is due to witchcraft in the family,” Letwin told Ubuntu Times.
As such, with many like Chambati clinging to myths related to cancer, many more Zimbabweans are perishing unknowingly to the disease.
In Zimbabwe, therefore, the rich and the poor, celebrities and politicians alike, are succumbing to cancer at an alarming rate.
On Valentine’s Day in 2018, Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s former Prime Minister in the government of national unity between 2008 and 2013, succumbed to colon cancer at a top medical center in neighboring South Africa.
Last year in September, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe who ruled this country for closer to four decades, also succumbed to prostate cancer at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore.
Nurses and visitors jostle in action in and outside the hospital in July 2014 during the busiest hours at Parirenyatwa hospital in the Zimbabwean capital Harare. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
In 2014 alone, 2,474 people succumbed to cancer in Zimbabwe, and in the same year, 7,018 new cancer cases were recorded, this based on figures from the Cancer Association of Zimbabwe.
But, Zimbabwe’s few cancer specialists like Utete have said ‘such figures are only related to recorded cases in health institutions.’
To him (Utete) ‘most patients could be dying because of cancer within their homes without access to health services due to exorbitant costs.’
In fact, according to government officials, even killer diseases like AIDS in Zimbabwe are being outpaced by cancer as the top killer disease.
“Cancer has turned out to be the topmost killer than HIV and because of this, several people are shunning seeking cancer screening services because they fear to be found with the now dreaded disease which they say is difficult to be treated compared to HIV,” a top official in the Ministry of Health in Zimbabwe, told Ubuntu Times on condition of anonymity as she was unauthorized to speak to the media.
“Apparently, there is now a stigma tag to cancer illnesses, subsequently making it difficult to make sure cancer is diagnosed and treated early,” added the Zimbabwean government official.
Gweru, September 22 — Former Provincial Minister for Midlands Province in Zimbabwe was this Tuesday sentenced to four years in jail following accusations of criminal abuse of office, this after he parceled out State land to desperate home seekers in Gokwe, one of the towns in the province.
A day prior to the sentence, Mr. Machaya and his accomplice, former Midlands physical planner Chisayinyerwa Chibururu were found guilty of abuse of office involving the sale of state land in Gokwe.
Sentencing the former Midlands Minister alongside his accomplice, Magistrate Charity Maphosa handed the two four-year jail term each, however suspending 18 months for each on condition that the pair does not commit a similar offense in two years.
The two would therefore serve 30 months in jail.
Machaya faced charges of parceling out 17,799 residential and commercial stands to land developers, with the developers, in turn, handing the former Midlands Minister 1,791 stands of which the accused sold 1,185.
But last year when his trial commenced in Gweru, the Midlands Provincial capital, Machaya and his accomplice denied the charges.
Mr. Machaya also faces charges of unlawfully parceling out 192 residential pieces of land to the Apostolic Christian Church of Zimbabwe (ACCZ).
Machaya and Chibururu’s defense lawyer Alec Muchadehama has however filed for his clients’ bail pending appeal against the sentences handed down by the magistrate.
Harare, September 9 — A delegation from South Africa’s governing African National Congress party has evaded meeting Zimbabwe’s opposition political parties and civil societies which anticipated to brief the regional superpower about this country’s mounting political and economic crisis.
This is the second time this year officials from South Africa have dashed engaging opposition parties over the ballooning crisis in Zimbabwe.
Last month, Zimbabwe’s immediate Southern neighbor’s government delegation was in the country, but only managed to meet the ZANU-PF government before it left without meeting the opposition parties.
Barely a month later, through its governing ANC, South Africa has repeated the snub of Zimbabwe’s opposition parties and civil societies.
“We have received requests from other stakeholders namely Dr. Simba Makoni, the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC Alliance), US Ambassador, but we have jointly decided with ZANU-PF that we will come back and meet with these organizations,” said Ace Magashule, secretary-general of South Africa’s ANC.
“Following inquiries from various quarters and our friends from the media in particular on the purpose of this meeting, ZANU-PF wishes to make it categorically clear that this is a meeting between ZANU-PF and the ANC delegation only,” said a statement from ZANU-PF prior to the arrival of the ANC delegation.
But, all the same, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had deployed the governing ANC officials to meet all concerned parties in Zimbabwe over the country’s deteriorating political and economic situation.
Instead, come Wednesday meeting between South Africa and Zimbabwe ruling parties, among other things, they agreed to engage in programs to empower youths and women in their countries while they also agreed to convene and meet regularly to discuss issues of mutual concern and interest.
Harare, September 8 — South Africa’s delegation from the country’s governing Africa National Congress (ANC) dispatched by the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa to meet Zimbabwe’s governing party and opposition parties have been barred from neither meeting the latter nor the civil society organizations.
The delegation from Zimbabwe’s Southern neighbor was expected to arrive in the country on Tuesday evening.
Although Ramaphosa, South Africa’s President had deployed his governing ANC officials to meet all concerned parties in Zimbabwe over the deteriorating political and economic situation here, this country’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party has been adamant that the meeting would only take place between itself and the ANC delegation.
“Following inquiries from various quarters and our friends from the media in particular on the purpose of this meeting, ZANU-PF wishes to make it categorically clear that this is a meeting between ZANU-PF and the ANC delegation only,” a statement from Zanu-PF reads.
Last month, South Africa’s government delegation was in Zimbabwe, but only managed to meet the ZANU-PF government before it left without meeting the opposition parties here as was widely anticipated.
Meanwhile, Obert Mpofu, ZANU-PF’s secretary for administration told journalists in Harare that ANC’s delegation led by the party’s secretary-general Ace Magashule, would be welcomed in Zimbabwe.
“They are the ones with issues, so we will hear from them,” said Mpofu to reporters.
Zimbabwe has featured in the international media of late following reports of rife human rights violations by the State here amid abductions, brutalization, and jailing of government critics.
On July 30, a day before the country’s scheduled anti-government protests, Tawanda Muchehiwa, Zimbabwe’s Midlands State University journalism student and nephew to the country’s top scribe Mduduzi Mathuthu, was abducted from his home in Bulawayo, the country’s second-largest city.
However, following a high court ruling demanding his immediate release, two days after his abduction, Muchehiwa was found dumped two kilometers from his family home in Bulawayo, heavily ridden with injuries.
With ANC blocked from meeting Zimbabwe’s opposition amid a crisis that the country’s ZANU-PF-led government has vehemently denied, in South Africa, former DA opposition leader Mmusi Maimane took to Twitter, displeased apparently by the developments.
“The ANC delegation must meet all the key stakeholders in Zimbabwe, otherwise we are wasting time. They must meet the MDC Alliance, they must meet the key civil society groups, they must meet journalists who have been victimized by Zanu-PF,” said Maimane.
Harare, September 2 — Zimbabwe’s renowned freelance journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume have both been released on bail this Wednesday after spending over a month in the country’s notorious Chikurubi maximum jail after the pair faced charges of inciting public violence ahead of the foiled Jul.31 anti-government protests.
He (Hopewell) was granted 10,000 Zimbabwean dollars bail, an equivalent of approximately 120 USD by high court Judge Tawanda Chitapi while Ngarivhume was granted 50,000 Zimbabwean dollars bail, also an equivalent of approximately 602 USD by another high court judge Justice Siyabona Msithu.
As part of his bail condition, Hopewell was ordered to continue residing at his last given address and to report in person to the police thrice weekly while he was also ordered to continue residing at his last given address.
But, both Ngarivhume and Hopewell, with their cases presided over by two different judges, were also barred from using their Twitter social media accounts as part of their bail conditions.
Hopewell’s freedom bid follows an appeal he had lodged with the High Court after several failed attempts to secure his freedom.
“The appeal be and is hereby granted. The reasons given by the magistrate in denying him (Hopewell) bail are hereby set aside,” High Court judge Tawanda Chitapi said in his ruling Wednesday.
Both Hopewell and Ngarivhume faced charges of incitement to commit public violence or alternatively, incitement to participate in a gathering with the intent to promote public violence by posting messages through their Twitter handles between March 1 and July 20.
As such, it was alleged in court that while in Harare city centre, Ngarivhume posted several messages on Twitter in an attempt to influence many people to engage in public violence or participate in a gathering that would disturb peace in the country.
The release on bail of the two follows a recent joint statement issued by heads of missions from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, UK, and the USA, denouncing rights violations by the Zimbabwe regime.
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