Russell Mapuvire

ZVISHAVANE-Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo has described the late Chief Wedza born Kenias Moyo who passed away on January 3, 2022 as a dedicated traditional leader who spearheaded development in his area of jurisdiction since his installation three years nine months ago.
Wedza (72) was laid to rest at his homestead in Mdonga village in Rusvinge on January 8.
In a speech read on his behalf by Deputy Director in the office of the Ministry for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Isaac Mutambara, Minister Moyo described Chief Wedza as a hardworking man and good leader.
“Chief Wedza was an upright community leader whose leadership qualities will be cherished by generations to come. He had no record of abusing his office and authority for personal gains. He shunned corruption and traditional mal-practices; strove to provide for his family and above all assist the most vulnerable among his folk. Government appreciates his selfless leadership and his commitment to impartial and fair traditional leadership. He actually led by example,” read Moyo’s speech.
He also commended the late Chief for partaking in developmental issues in the community.
“Late Chief Wedza presided over 23 village heads and 7,300 households. He also contributed in many developmental programmes and projects that include the development of Chemumvuri Rusvinge road ,establishment of nutritional gardens, procurement of Masarasara Hall Building material and supported government’s health initiative and programmes such as Covid-19 vaccination campaigns among other things,” he added.
Moyo also urged people who were there to support their traditional leaders so that developmental needs are promoted and realized.
Traditional leaders including Chiefs Mapanzure, Ngungubani, Ngabeni, Mazvihwa, Mazivofa, Bvute and Mafala who worked with the late Chief Wedza gathered to bid farewell to their late colleague.
Companies like Mimosa Mining, Pote Holdings and Nyaradzo also came and helped at the burial of the Chief and some government officials were present. Some government officials who were supposed to have attended the funeral did not turn up as they were tied up on government business.
During the funeral, his nephew Vasko Ngole gave people a brief background about his uncle Chief Wedza.
“My uncle Kainos Moyo’s birthday is not written and he does not know the actual day he was born, but from imagination he was born between 1939 and 1940. He then went to school in 1952 but he did not finish school, that is grade 2 and by then it was called sub B. He dropped out due to various reasons which I cannot mention here because they are family matters.
“He then went to Zvishavane town and worked for a white man, who took him to Bulawayo then Zambia. After coming back from Zambia, he married Lucia Mpofu and started to work at Relay Construction Company and that is the company that constructed the railway line from Bulawayo to Gwanda and Beitbridge. Chief Wedza had eight children four boys, four girls and his father had seven boys and Mdonga chief Wedza was the last born,” said Ngole.
The late Chief Wedza succeeded the late Philip Hlati Tumbudzuku of the Zibanayi house and he hails from Mdonga house.
Wedza chieftainship follows the rotational succession whereby turns devolve from one house to another.
Wedza chieftainship is ascended to by three houses namely Mdonga, Musiwedzingo and Zibanayi and the next turn goes to Musiwedzingo family.
Moyo is survived by his wife Mrs Lucia Mdonga, eight children and twenty-eight grandchildren.

Melinda Kusemachibi/ Kimberly Kusauka

Masvingo city council has unpacked the Service Delivery Charter that was recently launched with the help of Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance (MURRA) and their funding partner Local Governance Trust.
Masvingo Public Relations Officer (PRO) Ashley Jinjika said council remains committed to providing adequate water supplies to all residential areas for six hours a day and the whole day for industrial areas, Central Business District (CBD) and hospitals.
“We commit to provide best service delivery to all our clients and in terms of water provision; we are going to stick to our mandate of providing portable adequate water for six hours in residential areas.
“The challenges that we were facing last year were as a result of the power shortages and transformer which broke down, therefore we had to pump half of the required mega litres on a daily basis,” said Jinjika.
She went on to talk about residential stands which she said council is committed to sell well serviced stands whenever they engage in the business.
“Currently there are no serviced stands. As a council we commit to provide serviced stands whenever they are available. However, in some instances we may have provisional allocations whereby council identifies land and offer provisional offers whilst servicing stands which will be allocated thereafter.
“These provisions ones can change on the cost of stands due to unforeseen costs of servicing,” said Jinjika.
She encouraged residents to follow the proper channel when reporting sewer and water burst so as to promote efficiency.
“Residents should report sewage and water burst to council through engineering departments because council works with house numbers which would have been reported. We gave numbers where residents can call engineering departments directly.
“We urge residents to know where to report to for effective service delivery,” said Jinjika.
Masvingo city council is responsible for most of raw sewer disposal in natural water bodies; an issue the PRO referred to the engineering department.
“On the issue of raw sewage disposal into natural water bodies you can get in touch with the engineering department,” said Jinjika.
Masvingo promises to improve on service delivery as compared to the previous scenarios in which such an area proved to be a nightmare for the residents.

Faith Duri

Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority [ZESA] Holdings has warned stakeholders country wide that load shedding is expected to intensify for the next two weeks to allow the resumption of maintenance work on Kariba Dam hydro-power plants.
According to ZESA some units at Kariba South power station will be taken out of service to allow the completion of the critical works on the dam wall.
The works had been temporarily shelved over the festive season last year on December 16, resulting in the increase in load shedding during the festive season resulting in a large number of industries scaling down operations.
In a statement released on January 11, ZESA stakeholder relations department said the power utility would like to advice its stakeholders country wide on the resumption of rehabilitation works for the Kariba dam Rehabilitation project.
“Following the Zambezi River Authority’s request to reduce generation levels at the Kariba North and South power stations, some units at Kariba south power station will be taken out of service daily to allow completion of critical works on the dam wall resulting in reduced generation levels and load curtailment,” read the statement.
The rehabilitation on the dam wall involves two processes which are renovating flood gates and reshaping the plunge pool downstream.
The plunge pool was largely coursed by erosion of the old river bed from water flowing through the floodgates.
ZESA said the expected completion date of the rehabilitation January 25, 2022.
Stakeholders will be notified on the progress in due course.
Recently ZESA pushed up electricity tariffs by 12,3 percent with effect from January 1,2022 resulting in stakeholders on prepaid metres buying 200 units a month which is $1 265.11including the six percent rural electrification levy.
There was only a slight change from $1 127 which consumers were paying before. There are five bands of discounted tariffs before the full $14.31 a unit comes into effect on all purchases over 400 units.
“Consumers are urged to use available power sparingly to minimize effects of curtailment,” read the statement.
Load shedding has become a common in the country despite the power authority promising to create more hydro-power generation stations in large water dams like Tugwi-Mukosi in Chivi South.

Brighton Chiseva

Supreme Court Judge Justice Paddington Garwe has lamented shortage of office space and Judges at Masvingo High Court saying the two matters needed urgent attention.
Justice Garwe was officiating at the official opening of the 2022 legal year at the Masvingo High Court on January 10.
He said the court building was small and the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) was aware hence the need to follow up so that the matter gets attended to.
“I am aware that Masvingo High Court building is small and there is a serious shortage of office space. At some stage there will be need for the expansion of the court premises so that the court can fully discharge its mandate.
“This is a matter I believe the JSC is fully aware of but, out of abundance of caution, I will also ensure that the extent of the problem is once again brought to the attention of the commission so that the matter can get some priority,” said Justice Garwe.
He went on to say the High Court also had a shortage of judges and is being manned by only two judges with the third one having been transferred to Harare.
“An unfortunate development is that one of the three judges who were manning the Masvingo High Court has now been transferred to Harare. This, sadly, means considerable pressure on the two remaining judges who must continue to deal with all the civil and criminal cases, as well as criminal reviews. One hopes that the situation will be addressed shortly so that the court can continue to operate normally,” said JusticeGarwe.
He said it was his hope that the shortage of one judge will not lead to the increase in number of outstanding cases.
“The judges have been working hard and I hope that the temporary loss of one judge will not see a rise in outstanding cases in the High Court,” he said.