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‘We have enough PPE for exams’

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‘We have enough PPE for exams’
Masvingo district education offices in Mucheke

TellZim Reporter

Masvingo Provincial
Education Director (PED) Zedius Chitiga has said parents and guardians need not
fear for the safety of their children that are sitting for examinations saying
schools have enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and social-distancing
will be enforced.

Chitiga told TellZim
News that he personally visited some schools before the commencement of exams
early this week to make an assessment on the state of preparedness.

“We have taken all the
necessary precautions to ensure the safety of pupils and teachers and I am
happy by the level of preparedness of schools in the province.

“I would say there is adequate
Personal Protective Equipment for invigilators and candidates are required by
the rules.

“Before getting into
the examination venue, candidates are required to sanitise or wash their hands.
In the examination venue, there is social distance so there is no need to
panic. All the safety measures have been put in place,” said Chitiga.

Chitiga highlighted
that every other basic precautions have been put in place for the success of
the examinations but called on both candidates and teachers to play their part
in preventing the spread of the coronavirus in the examination venues.

“The ministry has done
its part but obviously we may not meet the best of standards. This pandemic
requires each person to play their part. We will try our best to ensure the
safety of candidates and invigilators,” said Chitiga.

Church of Christ’s
Masvingo Christian College head Edson Muresherwa said that the exams are going
on smoothly as his school had enough PPE for both invigilators and candidates.

“Exams started well and
we do not have any problems. As a school, we have enough PPE for our
invigilators and candidates. We are giving free masks to candidates who come
without their own and we have managed to put in place all the basic precautions
as a school,” said Muresherwa.

Inmates condemn police heavy-handedness at Mushagashe

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Inmates condemn police heavy-handedness at Mushagashe
Inmates at Mushagashe sleep in dormitories

Star
Matsongoni

People quarantined at
Mushagashe Training Centre outside Masvingo town along the road to Harare have
complained that police and soldiers deployed there are using heavy-handed
tactics whenever they try to raise issues that concern them.

The training centre was
recently approved to hold people coming from neighbouring countries like
Botswana and South Africa in quarantine for a maximum of 21 days.

Authorities had
initially indicated that the centre was not suitable for use as a quarantine
centre as its accommodation facilities were dormitories that made it difficult
to make sleeping arrangements respecting social distancing rules.

Some of the people held
there, however, complain that they have spent over 21 days at the centre but
they have not been tested and there is no showing that they could be released
any time soon.

This, they say, has
fomented grievances as inmates want to know progress being made towards testing
them.

“The police and army
officer deployed here, however, are overly strict and paranoid. Whenever we try
to register grievances or get clarifications from social services and health
authorities here, we are met with brute force.

“Yesterday, the people
we chose to represent us tried to initiate engagement but it all ended in grief
as we were all rounded up and locked-up in one big room for the rest of the day
where social-distancing was impossible. Our leaders were then detained in a
separate room for questioning,” said one inmate who contacted TellZim News.

Another female inmate
said they were once locked up and starved for the rest of the day after they
complained about the bad state of sanitary facilities at the centre.

“The police and
soldiers accused us of planning to stage demonstrations and they locked us up
and denied us food for the rest of the day. This was after we raised concerns
that the toilets and bathrooms were not being properly cleaned and maintained.

‘Besides that, a new
inmate is added to the existing group so we end up mixed-up; those that came
weeks back and those that are arriving now. How do you expect us to tolerate
that when the focus should be on keeping people from different places apart,”
said the inmate.

Others complain that
the health authorities that visit the place do not bother talking to them
either individually or to address them as a group.

When contacted for
comment, Masvingo Provincial Medical Director (PMD) Dr Amadeus Shamu disputed
inmates’ claims that they had spent several weeks in quarantine, saying most
have been there only for a week.

He also claimed that all
the people were tested upon arrival at the quarantine and were not yet due for
retests.

Shamu also referred
questions about mixing of new arrivals with those that have been there for long
to the Social Welfare department but no comment could be obtained there by the
time of publishing.

 

Korean church boosts efforts to find Covid-19 cure

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Korean church boosts efforts to find Covid-19 cure

About 4,000 recovered Covid-19 patients from South
Korean-based Shincheonji Church of Jesus will donate their blood, also known as
convalescent plasma, for use in the research and development of a new therapy
that could reduce deaths related to the illness.

Antibodies found in the blood of recovered
Covid-19 patients could help fight off the disease. A recent pilot study
conducted at three hospitals in China found that immune antibodies harvested
from recovered patients appeared to shorten the duration of symptoms, speed up
recovery and improve oxygen levels in those infected.

Researchers hope the blood of recovered
patients can be used to treat the critically ill and that it may curb current
death rates. To progress this research and develop the treatment scientists
need the blood of individuals who have healed but battled to find willing
donors. A previous trial was called off due to low participation.

To aid in the global search for a safe and
effective treatment for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus,
Shincheonji Church has urged its members to become donors, with roughly 4,000
are expected to give 500ml of blood.

Shincheonji leader Man Hee Lee, who is an
advocate for world peace, personally advised recovered congregants to donate
their plasma for the general good of humanity. “As Jesus sacrificed himself
with his blood for life, we hope that the blood of people can bring positive
effects to achieve a world of peace for future generations,” said Mr. Lee.

After discussions with South Korean health
authorities which highlighted the need for resources to progress treatment
research, the church decided to create a plan for the donation. “Some of the
recovered members have already donated individually, feeling thankful for the
assistance from the government and medical teams,” a Shincheonji representative
said. “They expressed their willingness to make this contribution to society.”

There is currently no vaccine or drug proven
to be widely effective in limiting the spread of the coronavirus pandemic,
though various nations are researching treatment options. A breakthrough in the
search for a cure from South Korea would help to lower the mortality rate in
Southern Africa, and to contain the economic damage suffered from lockdown
measures.

African nations have mostly reported lower
infections and more slowly than their global counterparts, meaning the full
impact of the virus on the continent remains to be seen. With vulnerable
healthcare systems throughout the region the discovery of an effective
treatment would be lifesaving.

 

Bikita RDC registers over 120 informal traders

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Bikita RDC registers over 120 informal traders

Ratidzo
Munembi

BIKITA
– A
total of 120 informal traders some of whom had been operating illegally prior
to the Covid-19 induced national lockdown have now registered their operation
with the Bikita Rural District Council (RDC), TellZim has learnt.

The local authority is
on a drive to encourage more informal traders to register their operations so
as to avoid future inconveniences should the lockdown be fully lifted.

In an interview with
TellZim News, Bikita RDC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Chibhi said
council wanted orderly and lawful informal trading going forward.

“We are pleased that a
significant number of our people in the informal trade have come forward to
regularise their activities. We encourage others to come forward as this is a
continuous process allowed as per the SI 136 (Public Health [Covid-19
Prevention, Containment and Treatment] [National Lockdown] Amendment Order,
2020, No 10).

“Council is working
hard to improve market stalls at Nyika growth point and other business centres
to make sure that people do their business in dignity and with decreased
chances of contracting the coronavirus and spreading it to others,” said
Chibhi.

He warned that the
future was bleak for those who fail to take advantage of the existing
dispensation to register anybody who wants to get into the informal trade.

“Our desire is to give
our people a chance to fend for their families in a lawful manner since things
will never be the same even if we are to have a post-Covid-19 era. Council
wants to maintain lawful control of informal traders so that we can plan
accordingly and be able to provide optimum service delivery as per our mandate,”
he said.

He also said those that
have already registered were being allowed to do some business at stipulated
timeframes with a requirement that they strictly adhere to maximum hygiene
standards possible and social distancing rules.

In April, the Ministry
of Local Government Public Works and National Housing ordered local authorities
to take advantage of the lockdown to destroy illegal market stalls and build
proper market places.

 

 

New TV licences application deadline lapses

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New TV licences application deadline lapses

 

Monica Mutsvangwa


…new TV stations on airwaves by August?

Ratidzo Munembi

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ)’s call for television
licences application lapsed today, June 30, with bids expected to be processed
in the next few weeks, TellZim News can report.

The Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica
Mutsvangwa yesterday released a media briefing after a meeting of the national
Covid-19 taskforce in which she wishes the new applicants well.

“Government has embarked on a media
reform programme. This includes legislative reforms, media cultural reform and
registering new players in television.

“I wish to inform the nation that the
deadline for applicants to lodge their applications for television players is
tomorrow, 30 June 2020. We take this opportunity to wish applicants all the
best. The Second Republic means what it says on the media landscape reform,”
she said.

In February, the Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) made a call for interested parties to make
applications. This was after government promised that the country will have 12 new
national free-to-air television channels by August this year.

A total of six of these channels will
be owned by the state-controlled broadcaster ZBC while the remaining six will
be run by private enterprise.

The application fee stood at a
non-refundable $42 500, with the licence valid for a total of 10 years at a
cost of $306 000 per year.

Meanwhile, government has also called
for application for 10 language-based community radio stations which are
expected to be based in areas perceived to be culturally marginalised.

Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) made history
on June 07 when it because the first university to be awarded a campus radio
licence.

With only one TV station, Zimbabwe’s
broadcasting space is tightly controlled by BAZ which is a statutory body
appointed by government in terms of the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA). This
has seen the country’s broadcasting industry lagging behind its regional peers
despite being one of only two African countries to have a TV station by 1958.

Provisions of the BSA allow
interested players to apply only if and when BAZ has called for applications at
moments it deems necessary.

Government has been accused of
manipulating the authoritarian licensing regime to benefit only private players with deep
political connections to the ruling Zanu PF party.

Rights defenders arrested for ‘insulting’ ED at Zupco queue

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Rights defenders arrested for ‘insulting’ ED at Zupco queue
Ephraem Mthombeni
Clayton Shereni
Police in Masvingo recently arrested freelance journalist and Zimbabwe Union of Journalist (ZUJ) vice president Godfrey Mtimba and activist Ephraim Mtombeni on charges of undermining the authority of President Emmerson Mnangagwa at a Zupco bus queue.
Mtimba and Mtombeni were accused of addressing people at a Zupco queue where they are alleged to have said Mnangagwa and his sons were behind the suffering in the country.
When Mtimba was arrested, the police first charged him of taking pictures of queuing people as Mthombeni allegedly address the commuters.
The charges werelater upgraded to undermining the authority of President Mnangagwa.
Advocate Phillip Shumba, who is representing Mtimba, confirmed the arrest and said his client had been released into his custody awaiting to appear in court.
“We went to CID Law and Order this morning. I can confirm that he (Mtimba) has since been released into my custody pending our appearance in court anytime this week. 
“He is facing criminal allegations of contravening Section 33 (2) (a) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act,” said Shumba. 
Mtombeni, who is the programmes manager for Masvingo Centre for Research and Community Development (Macrad), was picked up by the police yesterday and is remand awaiting trial on June 30.
He is being represented by Martin Mureri on behalf of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).

Lockdown: Chiredzi Town Council fails to pay salaries

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Lockdown: Chiredzi Town Council fails to pay salaries
Icod Zim service delivery meeting in Chiredzi

Beatific Gumbwanda

Chiredzi Town Council has
accumulated more than $2.5 million in debt from its various service providers
since the beginning of the Covid-19 induced lockdown, it has been learnt.

The debt is owed to such
stakeholders as Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe (THZ); Zimbabwe Electricity
Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) and Zimbabwe National Water
Authority (Zinwa).

Due to that difficult state of
its finances, the local authority has now gone for two months without paying
salaries.

This was revealed at a recent
service delivery indaba organised by the Institute for Community Development in
Zimbabwe (ICOD Zimbabwe) in collaboration with the Public Rights Forum (PIRF)
and United Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association (UCHIRRA).

In his address, Chiredzi Town
Council Chairperson Gibson Hwende said council operations had been severely
affected, with revenue collection having dropped from 56 percent before the
lockdown to five percent currently.

“Our debt ballooned as a result
of a sharp drop in revenue collection and we now have salary arrears for the
months of May and June. Our refuse truck is also currently down, and we are
failing to procure the required spare parts,” said Hwende.

From the council’s $52 million
budget for 2020, $433 333 was supposed to be collected from residents and rate
payers monthly, but only 56 percent ($242 666.48) of that figure was managed in
the first month.

The figure dropped to $21 666.50
during the ensuing months after the lockdown was pronounced.

UCHIRRA advocacy officer, Bernard
Dhachi hailed the local authority for improving water reticulation during the
lockdown.

“There has been a notable
improvement on water supply this lockdown regardless of the challenges being
faced and we appreciate council for that. Most residents are, however, now in a
more difficult financial position as the informal trading sector is closed.
They can’t pay their bills and poverty has increased,” said Dhachi.

Chiredzi West Member of
Parliament (MP) Farai Musikavanhu said it was unfortunate that Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) were the most affected by the lockdown.

 

New market structures take shape in Masvingo

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New market structures take shape in Masvingo
The under re-construction Civic Centre flea market

Ratidzo
Munembi

City of Masvingo is
rapidly building new market stalls in place of some of the old, shoddy structures
that had become a terrible eyesores for the time preceding the Covid-19
national lockdown.

In April, the Ministry
of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing ordered all local
authorities to take advantage of the lockdown to clean up their informal market
places by destroying illegal structures and building proper stalls.

Masvingo responded to
the call by destroying illegal extensions on the shanty Chitima market which is
made up of the fresh produce section and the miscellaneous section, before razing
down much of the main market in town situated adjacent to the Civic Centre.

Part of the vegetable
section of Chitima market is now undergoing reconstruction, with better
materials being used than the makeshift wood and plastic that had covered the
place before.

Part of the veg section of Chitima market under re-construction


Similar work is also
being done on part of the Civic Centre flea market, where some more acceptable
materials are being used in the rebuilding process.

In October 2019, City
of Masvingo Housing and Community Services director, Levison Nzvura had told
TellZim News that council planned to upgrade Chitima market into a better place
of doing business by properly enclosing it and regularizing traders’
operations.

[ read similar story here https://tellzim.com/2019/10/no-more-free-reign-at-chitima-vendors.html ]

“We have been unable to
keep track of the exact number of people doing beusines there because there is
no consolidated database of traders. People come and occupy a stall for a day
or two and then go away. Nobody pay for the bays except for a few so council is
making huge losses there.

“We have done a lot to
make sure conditions there are good but sometimes the people themselves make a
mess of their own market. People use the strangest of objects in the toilets
leading to blockages, and it’s council that has to unblock them despite that
most of the very same people do not pay anything to use the market,” said
Nzvura then.

He also said council
wanted to rationalise operations at the market so that proper services could be
provided.

“There are about 700
bays there and we want to know who owns which bay so that we can make follow
ups in terms of rentals. We will than use the money collected to improve
facilities and put a good shade starting with the vegetable section. We want a
proper market where people can go and shop with confidence,” he said.

Bail for Arrested ARTUZ leader Chisirimunhu

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Bail for Arrested ARTUZ leader Chisirimunhu

Progress
Chaya

MASVINGO
– The
Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) Masvingo provincial
secretary for gender and social welfare, Shilla Chisirimunhu, who was arrested
on June 22 after allegedly staging a demonstration at the district education
offices in Mucheke, has been released on $500 bail.

Chisirimunhu was
arrested after police pounced on a group of Artuz members who had submitted a
petition to the Masvingo district education leaders demanding that teachers
receive their salaries in US dollars.

Represented by Martin
Mureri of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), she appeared before Magistrate
Patience Madondo after spending a night detained in cells at Chikato Police
Station in Mucheke.

According to the State
outline, Chisirimunhu participated in a gathering with intent to promote public
violence, breaches of peace or bigotry as defined in Section 37(i) (a) (i) of
the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.

She alternatively faces
a charge of contravening Section 4(a) (i) of Statutory Instrument 83/20 as read
with Section 3(a) of Statutory Instrument 110/20 which prohibits ‘unnecessary
movement during the national lockdown’.

The State represented
by Unice Shoko, alleges that Chisirimunhu, in the company of 50 other
colleagues that were still at large by the time of writing, went to the
education offices chanting songs that denounced the local currency while
raising placards.

Through her defence
lawyer Mureri, Chisirimunhu denies the charges, arguing that she was not part
of the said group and that she was arrested one kilometre away from the venue
of the purported gathering.

Meanwhile, the Artuz
national Executive Committee has condemned Chisirimunhu’s arrest as a case of a
growing pattern of the State trampling on the rights of citizens though
intimidation and victimisation.

The organisation has
also threatened legal action against one female police officer Chabaya who
allegedly assaulted Chisirimunhu severely during the arrest.

 

 

 

 

ED sent by God to fight Covid-19, says Makwarimba

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ED sent by God to fight Covid-19, says Makwarimba
Clemence Makwarimba

Upenyu Chaota

Zanu PF central committee member
and former senator Clemence Makwarimba last week pulled all bootlicking stops
and went on an unhinged praising spree of President Emmerson Mnangagwa,
describing him as God-sent as proven by his ‘remarkable’ response to the Covid-19
pandemic.

Makwarimba said that God knew
that coronavirus will come to Zimbabwe and send President Mnangagwa to fight it
and protect the people.

Makwarimba, who was given a
platform to give a vote of thanks after Vice President Mohadi’s visit to Masvingo,
said Mnangagwa’s government was anointed by God, adding that the coronavirus
will not devastate the country as it did to others.

“God send us President Mnangagwa.
It was God’s will that he is in power and people did as God wanted. If you look
at the number of our Covid-19 cases, they show that President Mnangagwa has
conquered.

“Most cases are imported and we
have only recorded four deaths which were all a result of imported cases. There
are very few local transmissions and that is not by chance but by wisdom from
the man that God sent us.

“We should thank this government
because if it were not for them, we would have all perished,” said Makwarimba.

He said President Mnangagwa will
not campaign for the 2023 elections as his efforts in the fight against
Covid-19 had already earned him clean victory.

Makwarimba once served as
Masvingo Rural District Council (RDC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

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