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.
He was 34 and leaves behind a six-year-old daughter and a fiancée, according to his brother, Paddy Dzamara.
He (Dzamara) was scheduled to be operated by doctors following a successful fundraising by well-wishers who had up to the time of his death raised half of the required 28,000 USD.
Dzamara on numerous occasions had a brush with law enforcement agents here and was at one time abducted and severely beaten for his anti-government activism since the times of former late President Robert Mugabe.
But, taking to Twitter, other Zimbabweans like Edith Prisca have taken Dzamara’s cause of death with a pinch of salt.
“Is it me or there is a pattern to this madness? Detention by Zanu PF government, then colon cancer,” said Prisca.
Nigel Chanakira, a Zimbabwean business mogul and founder of the now-defunct Kingdom Bank, said ‘it is with profound sadness to advise you that Dr. Patson Dzamara has passed on this morning ahead of his scheduled cancer operation. Thanks to all those that had been contributing to the Fund where US$14k had already been raised. I am personally devasted.’
Dzamara’s brother, Paddy Dzamara, said ‘we are shocked and devastated as a family. We thank God for his life; we thank everyone who are standing with us and supporting us during this sad moment.’
Taking to Twitter, Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa said “I’m devastated. Just received bad news from the Dzamaras. The young Dr. Patson Dzamara gone too soon. This has been a terrible 2020!”
Itai, brother to the now late Dzamara went missing in March 2015 after suspected state security agents abducted him as he was having a haircut in the vicinity of his Harare home.
Since then, his whereabouts have remained a mystery.
Harare — Closer to a month after government foiled street protests, 24-year old Benson Chomuruva, a resident of Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, still winces because of injuries sustained from beatings by the country’s detectives who accused him of staging an unsanctioned demonstration.
But, when he was picked by cops, Chomuruva claimed he was only seated outside the gate of his house basking in the sunshine with his friends.
On the day of the protests, still in Harare, police also arrested Tsitsi Dangarembga, a Zimbabwean novelist who had decided to join the anti-government march.
She (Tsitsi) was charged with inciting public violence.
Yet, Zimbabwe’s Section 59 of the constitution allows peaceful demonstrations, which many like Benson only dream of enjoying.
“I’m not an activist, but still I can’t even risk watching demonstrations as they happen because police would beat me up even when I am within the vicinity of my home. I was arrested and beaten before; I don’t want that experience again,” Benson told Ubuntu Times.
As such, in Zimbabwe, fear of the government is growing every day.
For many like Jacob Ngarivhume, Zimbabwe’s opposition Transform Zimbabwe, now behind bars for inciting public violence after he made calls via social media for people to protest against the government, the right to freedom of speech seems long gone.
Yet, Ngarivhume had made frantic calls on Twitter for people to join the Jul.31 anti-government protests.
Civil society activists here have weighed in, blaming the Zimbabwean government of fueling human rights abuses.
“We are witnesses to the serious human rights abuses that the Zimbabwean government is perpetrating against its own people and now there is nothing like rights to talk about under Mr. Mnangagwa’s government,” Owen Dhliwayo, a civil society activist here, told Ubuntu Times.
A soldier armed with a gun is seen chasing a woman in the capital, Harare, amid the outbreak of anti-government protests in Zimbabwe, with other soldiers doing the same on other civilians. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Moved by the rights abuses here, in a rather frank letter to the Zimbabwean government, Catholic Bishops said ‘the country was suffering from a multi-layered crisis, including economic collapse, deepening poverty, corruption, and human rights abuses.’
“Fear runs down the spine of many of our people today. The crackdown on dissent is unprecedented. Is this the Zimbabwe we want? To have a different opinion does not mean to be an enemy,” read part of the Catholic letter addressed to the Zimbabwean government.
But, the Zimbabwean government has vehemently refuted claims of the existence of human rights abuses in the country, choosing rather to spew attack on the Catholic prelates.
Reacting to the Catholic Bishops’ letter, Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, said ‘its evil message reeks with all the vices that have perennially hobbled the progress of Africa.’
“It trumpets petty tribal feuds and narrow regionalist agendas so that it can sow seeds of internecine strife as a prelude to national disintegration,” charged the Zimbabwean Minister.
Ironically, to this, government earned a drubbing from one of its own commissions- the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), which rebuked the regime about its violation of human rights.
“ZHRC calls upon the government of Zimbabwe to respect, protect, promote and fulfill all the rights enshrined in the Declaration of Rights as provided for by section 44 of the Constitution,” said the Southern African nation’s statutory body in a statement.
ZHRC is one of this country’s five independent commissions provided for under section 232 of the Constitution to support and entrench human rights and democracy in particular.
Nevertheless, even before conviction, journalist Hopewell Chin’ono who has reported intensively on corruption and human rights violations in Zimbabwe, and politician Ngarivhume, languish at Chikurubhi maximum jail as the State continues to deny them bail.
On the streets across towns and cities here, armed soldiers have become common features working alongside police, ready to thwart any anti-government protests.
To many like Benson, ‘the site of armed soldiers is chilling even as government claims to be maintaining order.’
Like ZHRC, human rights defenders like Claris Madhuku who heads the Platform for Youth Development has not minced his words in implicating the government in the country’s worsening human rights record.
Soldiers in Zimbabwe of late have been on the offensive, armed with guns violating human rights in the Southern African nation as they attack anti-government protesters. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“Former President Robert Mugabe did worse things in terms of violating human rights, but the current regime has done the worst because now it heavily relies on the military to quell anti-government protests much as it relied on the same when it came to power,” Madhuku told Ubuntu Times.
For many jailed journalists like Chin’ono, even his right to legal representation has been snatched away from him by the Zimbabwean government, this after his lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa was barred from representing him.
This, prominent Zimbabwean law lecturer Alex Magaisa at Kent Law School at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, has branded ‘lawfare’ being used by the Zimbabwean government to silence opposition.
“It is lawfare in which law is a weapon used by the Mnangagwa regime to suppress citizens. Dictatorships rely on a combination of guns and the law. They engage in warfare against citizens and bludgeon dissenters into submission,” Magaisa said recently in his weekly column called Big Saturday Read found on his blog.
But, to this also, ZHRC said it ‘calls upon the government to safeguard and advance human rights as dictated by international human rights’ law and the obligations imposed by treaties and conventions Zimbabwe is party to.’
Meanwhile, ordinary Zimbabweans like 76-year old Tinago Marweyi, a resident of Highfield high-density suburb in Harare has had no kind words for government here which he has accused of turning on its own citizens.
“My son, we now live in fear of our own government more than thieves and robbers because if we raise our voices complaining about anything that we think government is messing up, we are treated as traitors. Colonial governments here were better than what we see under Mnangagwa,” Marweyi told Ubuntu Times.
Harare — Amid a mounting political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, pro-democracy activists and opposition leaders have dismissed prospects of rescue coming from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and African Union (AU).
In 2008, SADC helped to broker a government of national unity in Zimbabwe between then-President Robert Mugabe and his erstwhile political nemesis, late Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Party.
Although the MDC back then argued that it had won the 2008 elections, the opposition played out a junior role in Zimbabwe’s rather tense unity government.
Amid reports of rampant human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, South Africa which currently chairs SADC, recently sent an envoy to engage the leaders of the Zimbabwean government.
But, even as this did not irritate some members of the ruling Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), other pro-democracy activists and opposition leaders have cast doubt on whether or not SADC would help end the political acrimony bedeviling this country.
Taurai Kandishaya, who is National Coordinator of the Zimbabwe Citizens Forum, a civil society organization closely related to the governing Zanu-PF, said ‘AU and SADC never said the government of Zimbabwe should stop rights abuses, but they only encouraged the government to continue respecting human rights.’
On South Africa dispatching a special envoy to Zimbabwe following reports of acute human rights abuses, Kandishaya said ‘the special envoys are expected to engage the government of Zimbabwe and relevant stakeholders to identify possible ways in which South Africa can assist Zimbabwe.’
Yet, even as Zanu-PF diehard supporters like Kandishaya try hard to cover up for their party, South Africa which is also the economic superpower of Southern Africa, through the country’s governing Africa National Congress (ANC), acknowledged Zimbabwe is riddled with political challenges.
Lindiwe Zulu who is one of the leaders of the ANC in South Africa went on record in the media claiming that there is a political crisis in Zimbabwe. Ms. Zulu is also South Africa’s Minister of Social Development.
In a statement released on August 4, AU encouraged the government of Zimbabwe to uphold the rule of law ‘allowing for freedom of the media, freedom of assembly, freedom of association and the right to information.’
Even as AU said ‘violations of these rights are a breach of the African Charter on human and people’s rights,’ Zimbabwe’s opposition leaders have called for more action from the regional body to extinguish the political flames in the country.
“We continue to urge the AU to not only end issuance of statements, but to act decisively and save Zimbabwean lives,” Obey Sithole, MDC Alliance National Youth Chairperson told Ubuntu Times.
On SADC, Sithole said ‘their history of intervention doesn’t paint a good picture and that provides a justifiable reason for people to doubt their ability to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.’
Lashing out at AU and SADC, Owen Dhliwayo a Zimbabwean pro-democracy activist said ‘these are mere regional bodies making rather regional pronouncements that have no consequence on the member state.’
Referring to SADC and AU, Wurayai Zembe, leader of the opposition Democratic Party in Zimbabwe, said ‘the regional and continental bodies have not been effective when dealing with Zimbabwe’s electoral problems.’
“The two bodies have been clubs of friends of nationalists who fought for independence from colonialism, some through armed struggles. So, member countries have not criticized one another on matters of poor governance,” Zembe told Ubuntu Times.
Even civil society activist, Claris Madhuku, who heads the Platform for Youth Development, concurred with Zembe.
“AU is run on the basis of comradeship and brotherhood of sitting heads of states. This does not make it easy for this club to seriously chastise a member who has strayed. Zimbabwean problems are complex and will not be solved by these regional blocks,” Madhuku told Ubuntu Times.
Of late, police in Zimbabwe arrested and jailed journalist Hopewell Chin’ono who had become vocal in exposing high profile corruption scandals in Zimbabwe.
They (police) also arrested and incarcerated opposition leader Jacob Ngarivhume on charges of inciting public violence after he coordinated a social media drive calling for the Jul.31 anti-government protests against corruption.
Harare, July 29 — Zimbabwe’s Minister of Agriculture, Perrance Shiri has succumbed to the novel Coronavirus at the age of 65, becoming the first government minister to be claimed by the virus.
Shiri, notorious for commanding Zimbabwe’s Fifth Brigade army unit that massacred thousands of civilians in the 1980s across western Zimbabwe when government cracked down on opposition Zimbabwe African National Union party (ZAPU), allegedly contracted COVID-19 from his driver who also recently succumbed to the dreaded disease.
Before becoming the country’s Agriculture Minister, he (Shiri), who was commander of Zimbabwe’s Airforce for 25 years, is also known for helping plot the military coup that overthrew the Southern African nation’s former late longtime President Robert Mugabe in 2017.
Without mentioning what killed his minister, turning to his official Twitter account, Zimbabwe’s President, Emmerson Mnangagwa tweeted ‘I am deeply saddened to inform the Nation of the death of the Minister of Agriculture, Air Chief Marshall (retired) Perrance Shiri, a longtime friend and colleague.’
Shiri is reported to have died in the early hours of Wednesday at a hospital in the Zimbabwean capital Harare.
Although Mr. Mnangagwa did not mention in his statement what killed the Minister, Zimbabwe’s local media said Shiri succumbed to complications from Coronavirus, which has so far infected closer to 3,000 Zimbabweans and killed 40.
On his Facebook page, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Vangelis Haritatos confirmed the death of his immediate boss.
“Sadly this is true. Hon. Minister Shiri passed on this morning,” Haritatos said.
Meanwhile, the 1980s army massacres, notoriously known as ‘Gukurahundi’ a word in Shona native language which means early rains that wash away the chaff—which Shiri led, remain a source of bitterness for this country’s people in the Matabeleland regions, many of whom lost loved ones during the genocide.
Harare, July 20 — Police in Zimbabwe on Monday stormed and broke into the home of Hopewell Chin’ono a top freelance journalist in the Zimbabwean capital Harare before they abducted him, this following another arrest earlier on of opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume for inciting public violence.
Ngarivhume is the coordinator of the Jul.31 scheduled anti-government protests while Chin’ono has reported intensively on the scourge of corruption blighting the Zimbabwean government.
Earlier on in the day as cops stormed his home, Chin’ono tweeted, ‘they are breaking into my home. Alert the world!’
Prior to his arrest, Ngarivhume had also taken to Twitter claiming that hewas receiving death threats from persons sympathetic to the Zimbabwean government.
In arresting Chin’ono, detectives broke a glass door at his Harare home as they attempted to gain entry into the journalist’s house before they seized him while he was live-streaming the intrusion by the errant cops.
Later, Chin’ono was found at Harare Central Police Station despite the dramatic abduction.
Senator David Coltart of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance later took to Twitter writing, ‘I’ve just been informed by a reliable source that Hope is safe and that this is being done by one faction of the government, but it’s an action not supported by others in authority.’
Now, unbeknown to which faction of the government he belongs, upbeat about the journalist’s abduction, Zimbabwe’s Permanent Secretary for Information, Nick Mangwana also took to Twitter writing ‘there is no profession which is above the law. Journalists are not above the law. Lawyers are not above the law. Doctors and nurses are not above the law…’
In a statement, Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa said “the arrests of Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume are designed to intimidate and send a chilling message to journalists, whistleblowers, and activists who draw attention to matters of public interest in Zimbabwe.”
Chirundu — Outside Chirundu border post which stands out at Chirundu, a border town between Zimbabwe and Zambia, a fleet of haulage trucks loaded to the brim with various goods line up as they slowly drive out of the border town heading to Harare, the Zimbabwean capital.
As some of the trucks slow down about two kilometers outside the border, desperate commuters looking for transport scramble to catch the first haulage truck that grinds to a halt before they quickly jump in straight to the driver’s side.
One of the drivers, busy picking passengers at Chirundu border post hesitantly peers through the window, with a face mask partially concealing his face.
“15 USD to Harare my brother; just wear your mask and come and fit in and we hit the road home,” the driver said to Ubuntu Times.
Hesitantly revealing his name as 46-year old Justin Makuvire, he said ‘there are no cross border buses during this lockdown and as drivers, we have to cash in on the situation before the lockdown is lifted.’
As Makuvire was bending his head down through the window of his truck, about nine passengers streamed in his truck straight to the driver’s compartment and none of the passengers donned face masks even as the government here has made it a rule for everyone to wear face masks in public.
Cross border haulage truck drivers like Makuvire apparently are not afraid of contracting Coronavirus owing to myths he has come to believe.
Haulage cross border trucks head to South Africa, lining up at the border between the two countries. Zimbabwe’s cross border truck drivers stand accused of smuggling in and out more cases of Coronavirus. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“COVID-19 only infects white people; I have personally not seen a black person who has suffered from the disease, and so I don’t give transport to white people,” Makuvire told Ubuntu Times as he laughed off and drove away with his newfound treasure—the passengers to Harare.
With many desperate Zimbabweans in neighboring countries like Zambia and South Africa desperate to travel home by whatever means available, for cross border haulage truck drivers like Makuvire, this has become their turn to cash in on desperate travelers.
Heavy cross border trucks in Zimbabwe are considered essential services providers and therefore even as public transport remains banned during the lockdown in this Southern Africa nation, the trucks have taken advantage of the void left by public transport operators to cash in on desperate cross border travelers.
So, even undocumented cross border travelers like 25-year old Millicent Chatsauka who headed to Zambia back to her job as a housemaid on the 19th of June, she had nothing to worry about.
“As soon as I get on the truck, I know I will be sure to reach my destination; police don’t even bother passengers on the trucks because they just get bribes from the drivers,” Chatsauka told Ubuntu Times.
As such, according to healthcare officials working in Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health like Jonasi Sibanda, ‘truck drivers have money to spare and on getting at any roadblock they just pay their way through even if they may be transporting passengers already COVID-19-infected.’
To Sibanda, ‘this means then it’s easier for cross border truck drivers to smuggle in and out cases of Coronavirus.’
So, although nothing much is being done to stop cross border haulage truck drivers from smuggling in and out more cases of COVID-19, the government here is aware cross border truck drivers like Makuvire are only helping to derail the slight gains made in the fight against Coronavirus.
A fleet of heavy trucks head to South Africa from Zimbabwe at a time public transport for passengers was suspended by the government here to curtail the spread of the disease and as a result, desperate travelers are having to board cross border trucks with the help of cross border truck drivers. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“Yes, we know cross border truck drivers are smuggling travelers in and out during the national lockdown meant to surmount COVID-19, and police are on the ground watching out for any suspects into that business of bringing and taking out suspected cases of Coronavirus,” a top government official who spoke to Ubuntu Times on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to the media, said.
With Coronavirus pounding thousands across the African continent, child rights activists like Hilary Muchina highlights, ‘underage children have become the latest victims of trafficking by cross border truck drivers.’
“Highways are less busy during lockdown which gives an advantage to truck drivers who then smuggle in and out some unaccompanied minors even as COVID-19 cases are rising every day,” Muchina told Ubuntu Times.
Muchina claimed that ‘the people whom truck drivers smuggle, straightaway go in to blend with communities without being tested for Coronavirus because they avoid such processes hesitant to be quarantined.’
The Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) has also been on record in the local media claiming those truck drivers transporting maize from Zambia and South Africa were picking up passengers, creating fertile grounds for the spread of COVID-19.
GMAZ is a voluntary organization that represents the interests of local, large, medium, and small scale grain millers in Zimbabwe.
“The conduct of cross border truck drivers here violates the rules of the lockdown; they (cross border truck drivers) accelerate the spread of Coronavirus,” said Garikai Chaunza, the GMAZ spokesperson.
But, travelers like Chatsauka hear nor see any evil about what cross border truck drivers are doing.
“Everybody knows public transport for ordinary travelers is hard to come by during the lockdown and so cross border truck drivers are helping us and they make it easy for us to reunite with our families than getting detained at quarantine centers where people returning home from other countries are kept like bandits,” said Chatsauka.
Now, despite rising cases of Coronavirus virus across Africa, and in Zimbabwe in particular, in the absence of buses amid lockdown measures to curb the spread of the disease, travelers have switched to using trucks.
In Mutare, east of Zimbabwe, a border town with Mozambique, residents like 52-year old Dheliwe Ngwenya bewail the presence of cross border truck drivers ‘who move freely about endangering the communities in the town.’
Harare, July 7 — Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has eventually expelled the country’s Health Minister Obadiah Moyo after he was implicated in a 60 million USD corruption scandal related to COVID-19 material bought for government.
The arrest follows mounting pressure on Mr. Mnangagwa to quit by members of opposition political parties and civil society organizations who have set July 31 for crippling protests calling for the Zimbabwean leader to step down.
The disgraced Zimbabwean Minister’s alleged corrupt dealings were linked to Drax International LLC and Drax Consult SAGL, companies Zimbabwean prosecutors claimed were illegally awarded contracts by the country’s health ministry without a competitive tender process.
As Minister Moyo faced the boot, Delish Nguwaya, a local representative of Drax International, who had also been arrested as part of investigation into the Health Minister’s case, was on the same day granted bail of 50,000 Zimbabwean dollars by a Harare High Court Judge.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son, Collins, is said to be closely linked to Drax International which has grabbed tenders to supply other COVID-19 material to the country’s Ministry of Health, but no moves have been made as yet to bring the President’s son to book.
Meanwhile, the now former Health Minister here was alerted of his expulsion from his ministerial post by Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda in a letter.
“Please be advised that His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cde ED Mnangagwa, has in terms of section 340, subsection (i), paragraph (f), as read with section 104, subsection (i) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe removed you, Obadiah Moyo from the office of Cabinet Minister and Minister of Government with immediate effect for conduct inappropriate for a Government minister,” said Sibanda in the letter to Moyo.
He (Moyo) becomes Zimbabwe’s third government Minister so far expelled from government during Mr. Mnangagwa’s reign, this after former Tourism Minister Prisca Mupfumira and also former Deputy Information Minister, Energy Mutodi.
But opposition political supporters doubt Mr. Mnangagwa’s sincerity after he dismissed his Health Minister.
“He (Mnangagwa) will only be taken seriously if his son also involved in the COVID-19 scandal is arrested,” said Gilbert Mugari, an opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance backer in Harare.
Rusape, June 20 — Shingirai Manyengavana (25) opens a white coffin for people to pay their last respect inside a kitchen hut in Denhere Village, in Rusape, 174 kilometers southeast of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.
Mourners, inside this kitchen hut, are wearing homemade face masks, of different colors and they are standing about one meter apart.
As part of Zimbabwean culture, the dead should be taken to their rural home where the coffin is put inside a family kitchen hut to spend a night there while people pay their last respect.
Shingirai is here to bury his grandmother, Dorcas Manyengavana, who passed on early this month in Mutare at the age of 72 after battling high blood pressure and diabetes-related diseases for nearly 10 years.
He was here a decade ago to bury his grandfather at an event attended by hundreds of people but this time the environment is different as Zimbabwe, like the rest of the world, is fighting Coronavirus, a respiratory disease.
“We usually have huge gatherings at funerals but this time it is different,” he told Ubuntu Times.
“Many could not attend. We had to make sure that there is a sizable number adhering to Coronavirus regulations.”
Mourners at funerals in Zimbabwe are being encouraged by the government and health officials to observe social distancing in a bid to curb the possible spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
The southern African nation has been on ‘indefinite’ lockdown since mid-May to curb the possible spread of Coronavirus that has claimed the lives of seven and infected more than 590 people.
Globally, the respiratory disease has killed over 510,000 people while infecting more than 10 million people, according to Johns Hopkins University.
There is restriction in movement of people in Zimbabwe, putting on a mask is mandatory for everyone in public places, gatherings of more than 50 people are illegal and citizens are being encouraged to observe social distancing.
Zimbabwe is not the only country that has put restrictions on human traffic since the start of the pandemic in March.
Southern African Development Community countries have closed their borders for nonessential human traffic, only cargo and returning residents are allowed to enter.
These Coronavirus measures have forced a shift in Zimbabwe’s funeral culture.
In Zimbabwe, a funeral practice known locally as ‘Kubata maoko’ meaning visiting the grieving family, shaking hands with them while expressing condolences is important amongst the Shona people—the majority in the country.
Now with Coronavirus, this culture risks spreading this respiratory disease, and the Manyengavana family ditched it at their recent funeral.
“We avoided using handshakes. These measures were, however, in conflict with our cultural norms considering that people were used to the normative way of handshaking and consoling each other through hugging,” said Shingirai.
At the gate and all around the house, there were containers filled with water and sanitizers in the form of detergents for hand washing.
Shingirai Manyengavana washes hands through a container filled with water and detergents at a funeral in a rural area in Rusape to minimize the spread of Coronavirus. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
James Denhere, who is also the headman in Denhere Village, said most of his villagers were not turning out for funerals since March when the lockdown started in fear of contracting Coronavirus.
“They could not attend because of Coronavirus. Coronavirus is real,” he said.
The late Dorcas Manyengavana has three sons who are working in neighboring South Africa but they failed to attend the burial of their mother.
“I really wanted to attend. At first, I thought it was very inappropriate not to attend but because of the current travel restrictions due to Coronavirus, I made peace with the fact that I can not bury my mother,” Artwell Manyengavana, one of the sons, told Ubuntu Times.
“It is not easy but that is the reality at the moment.”
Usually, when close family members of the deceased are outside the country, the burial is often delayed to buy time for them to arrive.
Barely a month after Dorcas’s death, one of her three sons living in South Africa, Washington Manyengavana, passed on after battling severe headaches for nearly two weeks.
The late Dorcas Manyengavana. Credit: Manyengavana Family
With both South Africa and Zimbabwe on partial lockdown, repatriation of the body to the latter is going to be tough.
A Zimbabwean prolific writer Oscar Gwiriri said it is of paramount importance in Shona culture that one attends a close relative’s burial, bids farewell with the deceased through body viewing and mourning with others.
“If one fails to attend the funeral for whatever reason, it remains a social and spiritual debt, and worse still the spirit of the deceased may attack him or her in dreams or encountering misfortunes,” said Gwiriri who has penned a number of Zimbabwean cultural and traditional novels.
Prince Mutandi Sibanda, a secretary of education of Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association, said Coronavirus has affected African traditional and religious rituals practices especially at funerals, and limiting the number of attendees is against people’s norms and cultural values.
“If one fails to attend funerals of close family members one will be haunted by angry spirits of the dead and might experience bad luck,” he said.
Gwiriri, nevertheless, said safety of the living comes first considering the avenging spirits of the dead may be dealt with later.
Manyengavana family epitomizes the predicament of many Zimbabwean families who have seen a shift in the way funerals are held.
Tanaka Chidora lost his grandmother in early May and some of the family members who were in Harare and those outside the country failed to attend the burial in Masvingo.
He said they also had to shun away some of the cultural practices that could spread Coronavirus at the funeral.
“People were paying their condolences using handshakes. They constantly reminded each other there was Coronavirus out there and it is real,” said Chidora.
Another Zimbabwean writer, Aaron Chiundura Moyo, told Ubuntu Times that the newly adopted cultural practices will continue even after the world wins the fight against Coronavirus.
“This is beyond our control as Zimbabweans. It is changing the lives of many people locally and even beyond the borders. People have already adjusted culture at a funeral due to Coronavirus and I am sure this norm of handshaking will be abandoned even after this global pandemic,” he said.
Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya, a Zimbabwean writer, said people are likely going to normalize the new culture as their way of life.
“People may no longer respect the need for attending funerals. Such tragedies, unfortunately, may chart new ways in life and also normalize it. The fact that Coronavirus has made it possible, that may not be difficult for some in future, therefore, breaking our traditional customs,” she said.
Gweru, June 23 — A Chinese gold miner based in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province this week shot and injured two of his black Zimbabwean workers following a wage dispute before he was arrested by police facing attempted murder charges.
Zhang Xuelin, a 41-year old Chinese national, who doubles as owner and General Manager of Reeden Mine in Gweru, allegedly shot and injured 31-year old Wendy Chikwaira and Kennedy Tachiona aged 39, both of whom are Zimbabweans of African descent.
The two black Zimbabweans, Chikwaira and Tachiona were said to have confronted Xuelin demanding their dues before they got into a fight that made the Chinese national use a 9mm pistol to shoot at them.
Tachiona, one of the mineworkers, was said to have sustained several gunshot injuries and was admitted to a private hospital in Gweru, the capital of the Midlands Province while his colleague, Chikwaira was treated and discharged.
Following the shooting incident, the Chinese business community in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province visited the family of one of the injured, Tachiona whom Xuelin reportedly shot three times in both legs.
The Chinese government, shaken by the incident which they hoped would not dent the relations between Zimbabwe and their country, through their Embassy in Harare, issued a statement over the incident.
“Any possible illegal acts and persons who violate the law should not be shielded. China and Zimbabwe have long-standing friendship and cooperation. We call upon all relevant sides to safeguard it jealously and carefully,” read part of the statement.
The shooting incident by the Chinese miner follows a litany of incidents that have made international news headlines, with the case of George Floyd in the US top on the list followed by widely reported Chinese violence against Africans in the Asian country.
Harare, June 21 — Zimbabwe’s Health Minister, Obadiah Moyo who had been widely reported to have been fired after he was implicated in a 60 million USD corruption scandal related to COVID-19 material bought for government, is in fact still having his job.
Minister Moyo was arrested recently after he was implicated in a Coronavirus equipment procurement scandal which has since been termed Covidgate in this Southern African nation.
The Zimbabwean Minister’s alleged corrupt dealings were linked to Drax International LLC and Drax Consult SAGL, companies Zimbabwean prosecutors claimed were illegally awarded contracts by the country’s health ministry without a competitive tender process.
He (Moyo) was arrested on Friday facing three counts of criminal abuse of office.
The previous week, Delish Nguwaya, a local representative of Drax International, was arrested as part of the same investigation and was denied bail by a Harare magistrate.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son, Collins, is said to be closely linked to Drax International which has grabbed tenders to supply other COVID-19 material to the country’s Ministry of Health, but no moves have been made so far to apprehend the President’s son.
Collins stands embroiled in a one million USD Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) dispute while the president’s top bodyguard, Valdano Brown, clinched lucrative contracts to supply COVID-19 equipment to the country’s Ministry of Health without properly going to tender.
Now, Minister Moyo, who is very close to the Zimbabwean President, despite his alleged underhand dealings with a company linked to the Zimbabwean strongman’s son, was released from police custody and allowed to sleep at his home only to appear in court the following day.
In court, the state alleged that the Minister had awarded a tender to a company linked to a terrorist group, but with the National Prosecution Authority not opposing bail, the Zimbabwean politician was released on 50,000 Zimbabwean dollars bail, which is 2,000 USD.
The matter was remanded to 31 July 2020.
Following his appointment as Zimbabwe’s Health Minister two years ago, Moyo was exposed by different publications to have fabricated his education qualifications as a medical doctor.
Harare, June 17 — Clobbered into submission by simmering discontent among its civil servants, the Zimbabwean government today offered what it branded a COVID-19 allowance of 75 USD and a fifty percent salary hike to its workforce of over 500,000.
All government pensioners will also be paid a COVID-19 allowance of 30 USD on top of their 600 Zimbabwean dollars monthly payout, about 24 USD at the official exchange rate with the USD.
The monthly wages for the Southern African government workers have also been revised upwards by 50 percent, but remain in the local currency which is fast deteriorating in value against the USD.
Officially, 1 USD is equal to 25 Zimbabwean dollars, but trading at 1 USD at the equivalence of 82 Zimbabwean dollars on the parallel market, popularly known as the black market.
Zimbabwe’s lowest-paid government worker before the recent increment earned 2,033 Zimbabwean dollars, which would mean after the latest pay rise, a lowest-paid government worker would now earn 3,050 Zimbabwean dollars.
Zimbabwe’s police known for violating human rights in the country are set to benefit from the government’s offer of a 75 USD monthly COVID-19 allowance and a fifty percent salary hike. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Inflation is hovering around 765 percent in this country, according to statistics from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), the statistics agency of Zimbabwe.
Confirming the development, Nick Mangwana, the Zimbabwean government spokesperson, said ‘with immediate effect, all civil servants’ salaries will be adjusted upwards by 50 percent. Additionally, all civil servants are to be paid a flat non-taxable COVID-19 allowance of 75 USD. All government pensioners are to be paid a COVID-19 30 USD allowance.’
Despite the government announcement of the latest adjustments, Zimbabwe’s civil servants including police and army officers were today shocked to find their June salaries had been slashed, triggering tensions in the public service sector.
Ordinary Zimbabweans have taken the recent wages adjustment with a pinch of salt.
Commenting on Twitter, one DocLawo, wrote ‘a regime with an insatiable appetite to loot can never pay more than 300,000 workers a monthly cushion of $USD75 in an economy that is not producing. Mark this tweet. This is another lie…’
Striking Zimbabwean government workers last year wave placards in the Zimbabwean capital Harare as they deride their poor earnings while demanding improved wages. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Trade unions in the country are equally displeased by the recent developments because they were taken by surprise.
“Just on the 28th of May 2020, there was an undertaking from government that they would refrain from policy pronouncement without involvement of the TNF (Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF). The government has just dropped a bombshell, announcing civil servants incomes with far-reaching implications, minus the involvement of the TNF,” said Japhet Moyo, Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
Enacted by the Parliament and the President of Zimbabwe in 2019, TNF is a platform that brings together government, business, and labor to discuss challenges affecting the country.
Harare, June 15 — Zimbabwe’s youngest parliamentarian, 27-year old Joana Mamombe along with her other female opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance activists, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri were on Monday denied bail by Harare magistrate Bianca Makwande.
The trio stands accused of faking an abduction last month.
Their arrest last month followed their abduction after they led a demonstration organized by the youths from their party against the government’s failure to provide social protection for the poor during the current COVID-19 lockdown.
Now, the trio has been remanded in prison at the Chikurubhi maximum jail, Zimbabwe’s notorious prison until the 26th of June.
The MDC Alliance activists have leading positions in their party, with Marova as the Deputy Organizing Secretary and Chimbiri as the opposition party’s Youth Assembly Vice Chairperson while Mamombe is the legislator for Harare West Constituency.
In denying bail to the trio, Harare magistrate Makwande said the accused face very serious charges and are likely to be given custodial sentences if convicted, which may force them to abscond or commit a similar offense.
Apparently melancholic, one of Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC Alliance activists, Netsai Marova appears in court where together with her accomplices they are denied bail. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“It (bail) can only be denied if there are compelling reasons,” she said before postponing the case to 26 June.
State Prosecutors also argued that Mamombe and her accomplices committed a very serious offense and were likely to flee if granted bail.
To the magistrate, therefore, ‘the court is of the view that the State’s opposition for bail in the respect of propensity to commit a similar offense is acceptable.’
Following the denial of bail to Zimbabwe’s abducted opposition activists, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa, Muleya Mwananyanda, said ‘the continued arbitrary detention of Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri, and Netsai Marova amounts to persecution.’
“These women are victims of escalating crackdown on the right to freedom of expression and criminalization of dissent. Instead of persecuting them, the Zimbabwean authorities should focus their efforts on holding those suspected to be responsible for their horrifying abduction, torture, and sexual assault to account,” said Mwananyanda.
“Justice has been turned on its head. We expected the perpetrators of the abduction of these women to be brought to book. The State is at war with its citizens,” said Mahere.
Rutenga, June 5 — On a dusty plain, aging shops lie in a file opposite each other, abandoned, with few signs of life around, yet with few impoverished villagers selling trinkets to passing motorists by the roadside.
Rutenga stands out west of Masvingo, Zimbabwe’s oldest town and at this rural township domiciled in the country’s Mwenezi district, several shops have over the years stopped operating, beaten into submission by the country’s marauding economy.
A significant village in Masvingo Province, Rutenga has been commonly dubbed defacto capital of Mwenezi rural district, boasting of a railway station connecting the remote township to Sango border post between Zimbabwe and Mozambique and a local town called Zvishavane.
But, even as the township stands on vantage ground, there is no more life here.
Even 73-year old Hebert Chitova, who used to run one of the grocery shops at Rutenga Township, has not been spared by the life here as the once vivid township rides to extinction.
At Neshuro Township, not far from Rutenga, it is equally another tale of demise as the once-thriving township faces its eventual fall.
Once popular Mushambadzi Supermarket lies derelict and shutdown at Neshuro rural township in Zimbabwe’s Mwenezi district in Masvingo Province. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
For Tobias Mbiriyazvo who has worked as a bartender at one of the properties at Neshuro Township, the remote business center has become a shadow of its former self.
“There is no life at shops here now. What is left is for them to eventually curve in and collapse because there is no more activity taking place under these roofs,” Mbiriyazvo told Ubuntu Times.
Chitova, who has apparently traversed a rugged path to rugs-from-riches, said, ‘the economy over the years left me out of business and this means the township soon may be no more.’
Around 1997, Zimbabwe’s economy started to die away at the parceling out of thousands of dollars compensations to the country’s liberation warfighters, meaning the rural townships were not spared by the economic inferno.
Economists like Denis Chioko based in Masvingo, Zimbabwe’s oldest town, said ‘the 2000 land seizures by Zimbabwe’s war veterans did not bring good news to remote townships that thrived on farmworkers employed by displaced white commercial farmers.’
To Chioko, ‘remote townships lost business as white farmers lost their land because farm laborers who fed into the townships for goods and services were now out of work.’
Zimbabwe’s rural townships are falling apart at a time rural-to-urban migration has been on the rise here, according to development experts.
“Many Zimbabweans have been over the past years flocking to the cities in search of better life, meaning remote townships have been gradually deserted as well, hence the dilapidation,” Agness Msipa, a development expert in Zimbabwe, told Ubuntu Times.
A deserted and closed grocery shop stands out aging at Neshuro rural Township in Zimbabwe’s Mwenezi district in Masvingo Province. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Such is the dilapidation hitting Chachacha Township, a rural shopping center in Shurugwi in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province.
Although Chachacha township has a 12 km tarred road which was constructed by a Chinese company called China-Gansui, it is riddled with potholes while the buildings have aged and unkempt.
Yet, a few years back Chachacha Township was bigger than some of the small towns neighboring Shurugwi in the Midlands Province before deterioration pounded it owing to Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown.
Neshuro rural township, west of Zimbabwe in Mwenezi district in Masvingo province, has also not been spared by the dereliction pounding remote townships, this despite the township being an administrative center for the district.
Here, several shops have been abandoned and closed although the remote township used to act as one of the largest business centers in Zimbabwe’s drought-prone district.
A group of aging shops at Rutenga rural township in Zimbabwe’s Mwenezi district lies out on a dusty patch not far from the country’s popular Harare-Beitbridge highway. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Further west of Neshuro Township, still in Mwenezi district, is Maranda rural township, also crumbling, but ironically commonly known as Number One.
Number One (Maranda) is a small remote business center on the northern edge of Mwenezi district in this Southern African nation, home to the late popular musician Paul Matavire.
Dotted with crumbling buildings, Maranda rural township however still boasts of being a center of trade in Mwenezi district, with people coming to sell their cattle in week-long trade fairs while the township despite its fading structures also houses a clinic and the government agriculture and water offices.
Also known for being the rendezvous of village clubbers, Maranda Township has over the years been a destination for villagers descending on the business center to dance to sungura music from Zimbabwean singers like Alick Macheso and Khiama Boys.
With little or no business, most shops at Rutenga Township stand out on the dusty unpaved ground apparently awaiting their eventual collapse. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Sungura is the local genre of the Zimbabwe music industry which became popular in the early 1980s, pioneered by Ephraim Joe and his band Sungura Boys.
But, with the township now falling apart, so is the sungura mania at Maranda Township, according to local traditional leaders in Mwenezi district.
“The township is just dead now; most shops have long ceased to operate and this means our people now find little pleasure at the township,” headman Maranda, told Ubuntu Times on telephone.
Yet, Zimbabwe in 1980 established growth points which helped in the curtailment of rural-urban migration through the decentralization of services to the country’s remote areas, creating employment opportunities for the rural dwellers.
Mutare, May 23 — A medium build 35-year old Blaster Chemugaira is seated in a chair just outside the gate of a house he rents in Chikanga, a high-density suburb in Mutare—the fourth largest city in Zimbabwe.
A wooden placard nailed onto the durawall to his left side written ‘Carpenter available’ is visibly seen from a distance.
This is after sunrise and Chemugaira is hoping to get a part-time carpentry job from cash strapped Zimbabweans.
The father of four has been sitting on this spot daily since the week Zimbabwe eased restrictions on its lockdown which started in late March to curb the possible spread of global pandemic Coronavirus that has infected more than 55 people and claimed the lives of four in the country.
His workshop is in Mutare show grounds but there is no activity as these traders are adhering to lock down regulations.
“I always sit here looking for a part-time job. Most people are not comfortable inviting us to work in their homes in the wake of Coronavirus. So, it is hard to get one,” Chemugaira told Ubuntu Times.
“At my workshop, there is furniture that we had done before lockdown. At times we sell that. We cannot have new furniture at the moment as there is no material. This lockdown is interrupting the supply and delivery chain of our raw materials.”
In mid-May, President Emmerson Mnangagwa extended lockdown ‘indefinitely’ with review every two weeks and the informal sector remains closed.
On a normal day at Blaster Chemugaira’s workplace saw dust from wood working machinery and tools would have been all over the place. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
It is estimated that around 90 percent of Zimbabwe’s working population is employed in the informal sector, according to Supporting Economic Transformation, a program aimed at promoting economic transformation and job creation in low and middle-income countries.
Most of these people survive on a hand to mouth basis and not in operation for over a month puts their families at the brink of starvation.
“Part-time jobs and little money from my savings have taken my family this far. Only God knows our next meal,” said Chemugaira.
34-year old Selina Chapfotsoka, a vendor in Mbare, a densely populated suburb in Harare—the capital of Zimbabwe, said she is having hard times under lockdown.
“Harare is expensive to live in, worse when one is not going to work. It is tough, I am struggling to feed my family,” she said.
Wisborn Malaya, Secretary-General of Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Association (ZCIEA) said people in the informal economy are now vulnerable and hopeless as lockdown continues.
“These people are no longer able to sustain their families,” he said.
The southern African nation’s informal economy is the largest in Africa and second only to Bolivia in the world, according to the 2018 International Monetary Fund report.
Zimbabwe’s economy is largely dominated by the informal sector which takes 60 percent of its economic activity based on the 2018 International Monetary Fund report.
These young boys are selling sugar cane near a closed tuck shop in Mutare recently. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
Victor Bhoroma, an economist based in Harare, said Zimbabwe’s informal economy now has tentacles in every sector due to economic hardships and collapse of mainstream producers.
“The informal sector and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) sector employ (about) 7 million Zimbabweans while contributing over 65 percent to Gross Domestic Product so the extended lockdown will have disastrous consequences on employment and consumer spending,” he said.
Millions of livelihoods who depend on the informal sector for income, said Bhoroma, are sliding into poverty at the moment.
Prosper Chitambara, a Harare-based economist, told Ubuntu Times that the informal economy is largely survivalist in nature.
“What the lockdown does is that it drives many into poverty and hunger through loss of incomes,” he said.
ZCIEA is projecting that the percentage of the people working in the informal economy is going to increase further since companies in the formal sector have started retrenching workers as Coronavirus bites.
Local authorities, since last month, have been taking advantage of the lockdown to demolish structures used by people in the informal sector.
Booker Machingaidze, who operates a tuck shop in Chikanga, said he is not operating waiting for a time City of Mutare officials will come to demolish his tuck shop.
“I do not even know when they will come. I will just wait but in some areas, their structures were destroyed,” he said.
Tuck shop owners in some parts of the country are worried that City Council officials might arrive at any time to demolish their structures. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
William Muraicho, a sole trader based in Dangamvura, a high-density suburb in Mutare told Ubuntu Times his working place was not yet demolished but his worry was that any time City of Mutare officials might descend towards it.
“I do not know what the future holds for me. I am not even comfortable because informal sector structures in some places have already been destroyed. I am sure it is only a matter of time,” he said.
Hopes for some of these traders to get back to work after lockdown, said Malaya, were shattered as City Councils went on rampage destroying their marketing stalls across the country.
He said no alternative workplaces have been allocated to most of their members throughout the country.
In a letter addressed to Local Authorities in early April, Zvinechimwe Churu, a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government said Local Authorities “should take advantage of the lockdown to clean up and renovate SMEs and informal traders’ workplaces so that the areas will be more conducive to operate when business reopens.”
Local authorities are taking down informal sectors’ marketing stalls throughout the country in their latest campaign to bring sanity into the cities. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
Spren Mutiwi, a City of Mutare spokesperson, told Ubuntu Times that trading will continue but this time they shall require them to use smart modern and mobile wares.
“This is an ongoing program and we want to ensure that we come up with better markets that are of modern standards and that are environmentally friendly,” he said.
City of Mutare has designated vending sites across the city, said Mutiwi adding that the focus is to upgrade the available facilities.
Malaya said the welfare of their members have been worsened by the absence of a support relief allocated to informal traders.
In a televised address last month, Mnangagwa said he had set aside 500 million Zimbabwean dollars ($8 million) as a rescue package for SMEs.
But that package is yet to be distributed to these SMEs.
Bhoroma said the absence of social safety nets and a stimulus package aimed at SMEs means that most are finding the going tough.
Malaya said in some cities they were forging alliances with City Councils to provide sanitizers, masks, and disinfectants at informal sector’s trading places.
He said they were still pushing the government to reopen the informal sector considering that it is the chief player in the economic development and sustainability in Zimbabwe.
While the government, local authorities, and informal traders associations are in a dialogue to come up with solutions to Zimbabwe’s informal economy, Chemugaira will continue sitting outside their house hoping to get part-time jobs.
“I will wait. If they say we should reopen on condition of having personal protective equipment and other essentials in fighting Coronavirus at our workplaces; I am ready,” he said.
MARANDA, May 19 — 46-year old Livious Nhundugwa of Maranda township in Zimbabwe’s Mwenezi district and his one-time friend, 43-year old Taguta Chikondo, are now sworn enemies despite the two belonging to the country’s ruling Zimbabwe Africa National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF).
On 16 April this year, the two staunch Zanu-PF supporters exchanged blows at the remote township in their village, drawing a sizable crowd that was apparently surprised to witness the two die-hard Zanu-PF supporters pounding one another savagely.
What sparked their brawl was an argument about corruption which the former-Nhundugwa, blamed on party stalwarts, with the later-Chikondo having none of it, rather pinning the blame on the country’s biggest opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC Alliance).
“You are getting lost, I know you want to stray to MDC Alliance,” Nhundugwa shouted at the top of his voice in the midst of his argument with Chikondo.
“MDC brought sanctions to our country,” added Nhundugwa.
But, irate and impatient, Chikondo would have none of it.
“Everyone knows here that Zanu-PF leaders are corrupt and have kept us in this economic messy over the years stealing from us; we vote them into power because they have managed to sustainably lie to us, but this won’t last,” Chikondo told Ubuntu Times later after his brawl with Nhundugwa which was broken up by onlookers.
Yet, as the two little known Zanu-PF backers traded blows deep in this remote district, further up in Harare, just a week ago, the Zanu-PF government could not conceal the internal fights among government officials.
Zimbabwe’s military chiefs in November 2017 attend the inauguration of Emmerson Mnangagwa as President following the ouster of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe whom the military helped to depose. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Zimbabwe’s shortest-serving Deputy Minister of Information, Energy Mutodi recently came out on Tweeter claiming that he is living in fear following his public rebuke by Zimbabwe’s foreign affairs minister, who distanced the government from statements he (Mutodi) made on Twitter, suggesting that Tanzanian president John Magufuli is struggling to contain the Coronavirus crisis in the East African country.
Mutodi had said ‘living in fear of the Chris Mutsvangwa-SB Moyo coalition. I hope it won’t resort to wartime tactics. Appealing for prayers.’
Mutsvangwa is a Zanu-PF politburo member, also former advisor in the Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office, thought to be aligned to a Zanu-PF faction that include officials like Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo, a former army chief in this Southern African country.
Apparently sounding the triumph of the military factor in the Zanu-PF government, on the evening of May 20, Zimbabwe’s Minister Mutodi was dismissed from his government post although reasons of his expulsion were not mentioned by a government statement.
As ordinary Zanu-PF supporters like Nhundugwa and Chikondo fall out in typical fights that have apparently rocked the upper echelons of power in the Zanu-PF government, like in the days of former President Robert Mugabe, fresh divisions have erupted again, hitting Zimbabwe’s government harder.
Delegates throng what became a faction-ridden conference of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party in 2016 in Masvingo presided over by the then President Robert Mugabe months before he was ousted from power in a military coup the following year. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
But, Zimbabwe’s ruling party officials like Tafadzwa Mugwadi, have denied the existence of the political infighting, dismissing these as imaginary rather.
“I would not have wanted to comment on ordinary disagreements involving two government officials, but whatever their differences are, they have no bearing on Zanu-PF at all and do not reflect anything about ZANU-PF. Factionalism only exists in small minds,” Mugwadi who is the Zanu-PF Information director, told Ubuntu Times.
“There is no factionalism in Zanu-PF, rather, it exists at the house next door among the opposition,” added Mugwadi.
The divisions that have visited the Zanu-PF government in Zimbabwe are not new here.
For the first time after the removal of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe from power in 2017, army generals saluted their new commander-in-chief Emmerson Mnangagwa who they had put in power to replace the toppled old Mugabe. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Former late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was also ridden with divisions that eventually led to his ouster in a military-led coup in November 2017.
During Mugabe’s reign, two factions wrestled to succeed him—the Lacoste Faction which was linked to the army and the G-40, Generation 40, which was aligned to the then First Lady, Mrs. Grace Mugabe who battled it out then with the current President to succeed her geriatric husband.
Now, to ordinary anti-government activists here like Melinda Manwere, it seems history is fast repeating itself in Zimbabwe.
“The military factor keeps resurfacing here forming another faction yet again to fight Mnangagwa just as it did when it ousted Mugabe,” Manwere told Ubuntu Times.
Zimbabwean former President Robert Mugabe’s last 2016 ruling ZANU-PF conference in Masvingo, the country’s oldest town before he was toppled from power in less than a year. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times.
Even media experts like Rashweat Mukundu see nothing new about Zanu-PF factionalism resurfacing in the Zimbabwean government.
“The ruling party has never been cohesive post the coup more importantly over divisions on sharing spoils of the coup inclusive of mining rights, tenders, and other business deals; the latest spat between Mutodi and Moyo is not over ideological or political differences, but control of state resources more so a growing sense with some that Mnangagwa has monopolized the state with the support of a few individuals. And others feel edged out from the feeding trough,” Mukundu, who is the Africa Adviser at International Media Support (IMS), told Ubuntu Times.
Although both are top Zimbabwean government officials, typifying the deep divisions besetting the Zanu-PF government, the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister had hit back at the country’s Deputy Information Minister, Mutodi via Twitter.
“Mutodi’s remarks did not represent the views of the Zimbabwean government,” Moyo had said.
Mutare, ZIMBABWE — On a gloomy day in a squatter camp located near Sakubva, a filthy densely populated suburb in Mutare—the fourth largest city in Zimbabwe, 14-year old Mirriam Sundayi is taking down clothes from a hipped rust coated fence which they use as ‘washing line’ at their makeshift house.
This was the last household chore this young girl could do before taking an hour studying and later going to play with her friends at a neighboring makeshift house.
Sundayi is in Grade 6 at Sakubva Primary but she has not been going to school since late March when President Emmerson Mnangagwa gave a directive for schools and universities to close early to curb the possible spread of a global pandemic, Coronavirus, that has infected over 42 people and claimed the lives of four in Zimbabwe.
She said her teacher has since created a group on WhatsApp, the most popular social media platform in Africa, to help pupils study during this 63-day lockdown imposed by Mnangagwa administration.
Sundayi does not have a personal cell phone as her self-employed parents cannot afford to buy her one, so she uses her mother’s smartphone but it is hardly paid up with WhatsApp bundles.
When schools closed in March other teachers moved to online learning but the migration is hitting a brick wall as there are high digital inequalities in Zimbabwe.
“Each time I borrow my mom’s phone it is always without WhatsApp bundles. Therefore, I am not getting resources some of my classmates are getting online. My mom says she cannot afford to purchase Whatsapp bundles,” Sundayi told Ubuntu Times with a melancholic voice.
These young boys walk past the closed gate of Chikanga Primary School in Mutare recently. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
Most people in Zimbabwe access internet using their mobile devices but Zimbabwe’s biggest mobile service providers Econet Wireless and Netone have reviewed upwards more than three times their social media and internet data bundles since early March as inflation soars.
The Southern African nation is experiencing its worst economic malaise in decades. In March this year, its yearly inflation rate was at 810 percent, according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Recently, Econet Wireless hiked its monthly 25 Gigabytes private Wifi bundle, a favorite for many families, from 400 (8 USD) to 1,300 Zimbabwean Dollars (37 USD).
This is beyond the reach of many families as the average salary of civil servants in the country is Zim $2,000 (44 USD) per month of which the consumer basket as of April was at Zim $6,660 (148 USD), according to a survey conducted by the Industry and Commerce Ministry.
In April, Media Institute of Southern Africa–Zimbabwe Chapter (Misa Zimbabwe) launched the #DataMustFallZim campaign to push the government to intervene to ensure citizens access affordable data prices.
Tabani Moyo, a national director at Misa Zimbabwe, told Ubuntu Times that data is no longer for the privileged elite as it used to be but should be accessed by all citizens.
“Everything has changed due to Coronavirus. All services have gone online, hence, the need for the Government and other stakeholders to come up with a sustainable pricing for data and internet access in Zimbabwe,” he said.
“This is critical in that if you leave data and internet service price to profit interest alone it will lead to inequalities as profit-making does not do public good.”
Daisy Zambuko, a spokesperson for Zimbabwe Teachers Association, told Ubuntu Times that they were equally shocked by the hiking of data bundles at a time they were trying to introduce online lessons inclusive to all including the most vulnerable groups.
Some leaners in Zimbabwe are struggling to access online learning materials due to the high costs of internet data bundles in the country as inflation soars. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) Director-General Gift Machengete said the internet prices which were set by mobile service providers were within the prescribed charges of 0.30 cents per megabyte.
Another pupil, 13-year old Tawananyasha Dudzai, in the 5th grade at Murahwa Primary School, said her mother struggles to buy WhatsApp bundles.
“My teacher is giving us work via WhatsApp every day. Last week I did not have WhatsApp bundles and I was not doing work. Right now I am behind,” he said.
Obert Masaraure, Amalgamated of Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president, told Ubuntu Times that he believed online learning is fueling inequality among learners.
“The marginalized learners who barely have access to physical teaching instructions are completely shut out from learning,” he said.
Masaraure added that his union through their WhatsApp online classes that started in April had reached over 5,000 Primary and Secondary School students but it was becoming unsustainable.
“Our choice for WhatsApp classes was informed by the low bandwidth used for WhatsApp. Our teachers are now struggling to sustain the classes,” he said.
A grade 5 pupil, Tawananyasha Dudzai is behind in his daily work sent on a WhatsApp group by his teacher as his guardian did not have WhatsApp bundles last week. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is working extensively with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to develop alternative learning platforms for children during this pandemic, including the development of radio and television learning.
To date 52 radio lessons have been produced, said UNICEF Zimbabwe spokesperson James Maiden adding that they are being finalized for launch.
Fungayi Mandiveyi, an Econet Wireless spokesperson, said they had introduced an E-learning discounted data bundle for teachers and students to continue learning in the comfort of their homes.
“The average price of bundles is $1.83 per megabyte. The offer is for at least 50 mobile numbers (for students and teachers). Each school pays on behalf of its students and teachers and collects money from parents,” he said.
Lizwe Runoza, a student at Midlands State University, told Ubuntu Times that researching over the internet consumes much data of which that is the only alternative available to access literature since they cannot go to the library under the current lockdown restrictions.
Online learning is becoming more unsustainable for even tertiary education students due to the continuous increase of internet data bundles by Zimbabwe’s mobile operators. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
Ashley Pfunye, Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe National Students Union said the idea of online learning comes as another burden to students who are already in an impoverished state.
“Institutions and governments must stop to make announcements without carefully considering and preparing the affected constituency for the changes they intend to make,” he said.
Professor Amon Murwira, Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, said they were working with various stakeholders to come up with a workable solution to online learning problems.
“We are confronting this problem with solutions. We are trying to be systematic. First stage is to put the learning material online and the second stage is we come up with methods that enable students to access that material online,” he said.
Mirriam Sundayi is waiting for better solutions to her online learning challenges from the government and other civil society organizations. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times
It seems most learners particularly those who are not writing exams this year and non-final year at colleges and universities, will remain home for more weeks considering some of their learning institutions are being used as quarantine centers for citizens coming back home.
While the government is working with mobile service providers and non-governmental organizations to find solutions to online learning setbacks, in the meantime, Sundayi is reading notes from her exercise books and revising past exam scripts but her biggest fear is that she is lagging behind as her other classmates with access to WhatsApp and internet are moving along with the syllabus.
“I just pray we have lessons on radio. There is no electricity here but radio at least I can listen from my mom’s phone,” she said.
HARARE — She said her husband choked her, pounded her with open fists, and knocked her head on the wall before grabbing a thick leather belt which he used to whip her.
Today, over 21 days after Zimbabwe embarked upon a lockdown against COVID-19, Tracy Mukwende, who is aged 41 years, said her husband is languishing in jail.
The 48-year old husband, Denis was found guilty of causing serious bodily harm and sentenced to three years in prison in the middle of Zimbabwe’s lockdown.
For Tracy and Denis, a lockdown that was meant to be a time to bond rather turned into a conflict that has landed the latter in jail.
“I couldn’t do anything to stop my husband from constantly attacking me during the lockdown; I tried to endure, but failed and ended up reporting him to police; he abused me over very minor issues — for instance on the day I reported him he had beaten me for not serving him supper on time,” Tracy told Ubuntu Times.
Women in a community in Norton, a town 30 kilometers west of Harare the Zimbabwean capital end of 2018 gathered to demonstrate against rising cases of domestic violence in their area. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Yet, the two are not the only ones that have fallen apart during Zimbabwe’s lockdown.
There are ballooning cases of domestic violence as couples such as Tracy and Denis in Zimbabwe find more time together indoors, forced by coronavirus.
In less than two weeks into Zimbabwe’s initial 21-day lockdown, Musasa Project, a local non-governmental organization, said it had documented at least 782 cases of abuse compared to an average of 500 per month.
“We believe from the trends that we’re seeing that domestic violence is going to escalate,” said Rotina Musara, an advocacy program officer with Musasa Project.
Musasa Project concurs with the Women Coalition of Zimbabwe, a network of women rights activists and women’s organizations.
“As the lockdown continues we are concerned about the likelihood of an increase in gender-based violence (GBV) cases. At this stage GBV services need to be classified as essential services,” Ronika Mumbire, board chairperson of the Women in Zimbabwe Coalition, told Ubuntu Times.
A group of women from various civil society groups in October 2015 gathered in the Zimbabwean capital Harare demonstrating against sexual abuse in workplaces. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
A day before the expiration of Zimbabwe’s 21-day lockdown which begun on March 30, the country’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced a 14-day extension of the same saying the country had not yet met the World Health Organization benchmarks to warrant the lifting of a lockdown.
To couples confined in their homes by the marauding pandemic, the move has not been easy, resulting in many caught up in domestic conflicts.
Now, instead of fighting COVID-19, many Zimbabwean couples are fighting one another.
Catherine Mkwapati, a women rights defender and also director of the Youth Dialogue Action Network, a civil society organization here, said ‘arguments and conflicts are escalating among couples because they are living together 24 hours a day, forced to do so by the national lockdown.’
“You would realize that many men now confined indoors with their wives are not formally employed and because without income, they get angry when asked to make plans for the family’s food provisions, for instance, and this triggers violence,” Mkwapati told Ubuntu Times.
Even Musara of the Musasa Project, said ‘we have got young women who have been physically assaulted for asking for food to feed the family, especially in cases where the woman relies on the husband to provide food.’
With unemployment hovering above 90 percent in Zimbabwe, according to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, most people are dependent on daily informal trade to earn a living.
But, amid the continuing lockdown, even dependency on informal trade for survival is no longer possible, and couples have to bear the brunt of hunger confined in their homes.
In Zimbabwe, women have become top agricultural producers, yet oppressed by their male counterparts who rob them of the fruits of their labor. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
By the 23rd of April, Zimbabwe had 29 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with four deaths recorded since the disease pounced on the Southern African nation.
Coronavirus broke out for the first time end of last year in Wuhan, a city in Hubei Province in China, before it swiftly spread to several countries across the globe.
To Zimbabwean feminists like Musara, ‘as much as we say COVID-19 is an emergency, gender-based violence is an emergency as well.’
“Once gender-based violence is declared an emergency, at least we will have various actors coming together, sitting at the same table, and trying to come up with solutions to help especially women being victimized,” said Musara.
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a Zimbabwean legislator, said ‘I don’t necessarily agree with the fact that men are abusing women because they are confined; abusers have always been abusers.’
To many women rights defenders like Mkwapati, in Zimbabwe, ‘the lockdown is proving to be having far-reaching consequences because those who are in abusive relationships are now restricted face-to-face with their tormentors.’
Even as they have fought tooth and nail through mobilization by women rights organizations, Zimbabwe’s women and children remain topmost victims of domestic violence. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Even as Zimbabwean police have said people can still report to them cases of domestic violence during the lockdown, many victims of domestic violence like 28-year old Mavis Chitoro have said ‘it is hard to call police when you are locked down in the same house with your abuser.’
Other gender activists such as Chelesile Nyathi of South Western Region Gender Network (SWRGN), a regional gender-focused network, said ‘when people spend more time together, chances are high that they start having multiple incidents of violence at home.’
To Nyathi, ‘when there is added stress in the home it increases the frequency and severity of abuse. This, in turn, creates greater risk of domestic violence.’
But, to Mumbire of the Women in Zimbabwe Coalition, hope is all they can embrace in the fight against domestic violence as the lockdown continues.
“With the now extended lockdown being in place, we are hoping that perpetrators of domestic violence will be brought to book,” said Mumbire.
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