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Chief Bere sets sight on late minister Mudenge’s farm

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Chief Bere sets sight on late minister Mudenge’s farm

Upenyu
Chaota
Chief Bere, born Phineas Tafirei, has stirred the
hornet’s nest after his subjects, early this week, tried to take over the farm
belonging to former Higher and Tertiary Education minister and late national
hero Stanislaus Mudenge’s 500 hectares farm.
Mudenge’s farm is now being managed by his daughter
Rumbidzai who is said to have sought help from Chief Charumbira and the
Masvingo provincial Joint Operations Command (JOC) to force Chief Bere’s people
out of the farm and allow negotiations to take place.
Chief Bere was installed in April this year after a
fierce battle with the Charumbira clan over boundary demarcations.
It is said that a group of 16 people who claimed to
have been armed with a blessing from President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is
related to Chief Bere, stormed the property saying they wanted their chief to
take over the farm.
Rumbidzai told TellZim News that she did not want the
matter to go public before saying that the matter was minor and had been
resolved.
“You want to do a story about it? I prefer to keep the
matter private so I am not going to comment,” said Rumbidzai.
When pressed further, she said she had a minor dispute
with her neighbour over water and the issue had been resolved.
“It was just a water dispute with my neighbour but it
has been resolved. You can come to my farm and see for yourself,” said
Rumbidzai.
It is said that JOC and Chief Charumbira managed to
intervene and Chief Bere’s people were told to leave the farm until the
negotiations were completed.
When Chief Bere was installed, his territory took a
huge chunk from Chief Charumbira’s territory and it has been a turf war ever since.
Prior to his installation, Chief Bere had been staying in Zaka.
His spokesperon David Jani Masomere said Chief Bere had a right to choose where
he wanted to stay in his chieftaincy.
“Chief Bere currently rents a single room in Victoria
Ranch and this Mudenge farm you are talking about is in our area and the chief
chose to stay there.
“We do not want to chase away the current occupant but
we are saying let us share the land because it is too big for one person. The
chief will take half and the Mudenges will take the other half.
“We have been knocking on doors for this arrangement
to be approved but we realised that we were not being taken seriously that is
why we decided to go to the farm and camp there.
“We are law-abiding people and we obeyed when we were
told by JOC to hold our guns and give room for negotiations. We are going to
negotiate but we want a part of that farm,” said Masomere. 

Tongaat Hulett fights Zimra over VAT inconsistencies

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Tongaat Hulett fights Zimra over VAT inconsistencies

                                                    Hippo Valley Estates
Beatific Gumbwanda
CHIREDZI-
Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe has taken sugarcane farmer associations to task for allegedly
working in cahoots with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) to dodge Value
Added Tax (VAT) which was remitted from their 23 percent Division of Proceeds
(DoP)
The
company got into milling agreements with many small-scale ‘A2’ farmers represented
by such organisation as Zimbabwe Sugarcane Development Association, Mkwasine
Sugarcane Farmers Trust, Zimbabwe Cane Farmers Association, Commercial
Sugarcane Farmers Association of Zimbabwe, Hippo Valley Productive Sugarcane
Farmers Association, Zimbabwe Sugarcane Development Association Royal Trust,
Chipiwa Mill Group, Chiredzi Productive Cane Growers Association.
A
total of 23 percent of the value of the sugarcane taken to the mill is taken by
Tongaat Hulett to cover milling costs while the remaining 75 percent is
remitted to the farmer in an arrangement known as DoP.
According
to the summons served to the sugarcane associations by the two Tongaat Hulett
holding of Triangle Limited and Hippo Valley Estates through their lawyers Scanlen
and Holderness, the arrangement is that valued added tax (VAT) is also levied and
added on top of the milling costs and the total is then invoiced to the farmer.
In
the summons, Tongaat Hulett is challenging Zimra, accusing the tax collector of
double standards by backtracking from its authorization that the company should
collet VAT on its behalf.
“The
first respondent (Zimra) acknowledged as correct the position that the
applicants may meanwhile charge and collect VAT on the alleged milling service
charge from the farmers. However, in a meeting the applicants had with the
commissioner and other officers of the first respondent, they were surprised to
be instructed by the first respondent that they were not entitled to charge,
levy and collect VAT on the alleged milling service be it for past, present or
future supplies. The reason given for it was allegedly that VAT is already
included in the supposed price of charge for the milling service.
“Factually,
that would not be correct as the milling charge under the DoP is exclusive of
VAT. Put differently when the formula for determining the attributable value in
the provision of a milling service in processing or beneficiation of sugarcane
to sugar is considered, the resultant 23% value which is payable by the farmer (under
cane milling agreement) and that is determined by applying the DoP on the
proceeds is the actual cost associated with the milling of sugarcane before any
value added tax (VAT) which the first respondent may consider applicable to
it,” the summons read.
The
sugar producer is seeking to recover about six million dollars which it was
directed to pay as VAT but which it now believes was supposed to be paid by
farmers.
“The
applicants sought to recover from the farmers the VAT which they (applicants)
were directed by the first respondent to pay. The applicants believed that it
was only reasonably proper in the circumstances that assuming without conceding
that it is correct as decided by the first respondent that they were considered
as providing to the farmers a service which attracts VAT, then they will be
entitled and required by the same token to charge, levy and collect it from the
recipient of the service who is the farmer as would be the case anyhow with a
regular cane milling agreement,” the summons further read.
Chiredzi
West Member of Parliament (MP) Farai Musikavanhu and his Chiredzi North
colleague Roy Bhila are listed as 10th and 11th
respondents respectively over their alleged role in advocating for Zimra to get
VAT remittances of farmers directly from Tongaat Hulett.

Methodist Church builds Marota Primary School

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Methodist Church builds Marota Primary School

                                               Bhishop Chakanya      
Tendai Mange
MASVINGO – The
Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (MCZ) Masvingo district has started building
Marota Primary School close to Bhuka business centre.
A
church member from Mucheke Methodist Society revealed that there was a
fundraising function on October 19 at Marota where the Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs Ezra Chadzamira officiated.
“We
are pleased that a fundraising event was held and there were choir competitions that done among sections of Masvingo South circuit,” said the member.
Masvingo
Methodist Church district bishop Victor Chakanya said he was pleased with the
progress at the project site.
“Two
classroom blocks are already up. The church intends to develop Marota into a fully-fledged
boarding school with both primary and secondary facilities. We will soon
construct teachers’ houses,” said Chakanya.
He
said the church saw it necessary to build a school since children around the
area walked for more than 10km to Rumwanda and Nyanda primary schools which are
the closest.
“There
are multiple of rape cases reported in 2017 whereby victims were targeted in
the bushy area on their way back home. The church therefore saw it fit to
assist especially for the sake of the girl child,” Chakanya said.

Nyaradzo Masvingo opens building to events

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Nyaradzo Masvingo opens building to events

Diana
Gondongwe
Nyaradzo Life Assurance Company recently sponsored a
tour of their Masvingo office where representatives of different other
organisations were given an opportunity to appreciate the company’s expanding services
of offer.
Addressing people who had come for the tour,
Nyaradzo Masvingo branch manager Fortune Mawoyo said the organisation was
diversifying its business by venturing into such areas as events management and
planning.
“As Nyaradzo, we are now moving away from focusing solely
on funerals by expanding to events; be they weddings or church gatherings. This
branch has excellent facilities to host different kinds of parties in a very
clean and comfortable environment,” said Mawoyo.
People who participated in the tour were taken
through the building’s three floors and the facilities that are available on
each of the floors.
The first floor has a bar, boardroom and sufficient
space for people to hold conferences and training workshops while the second
floor has a hall which Mawoyo said could be used for workshops, weddings and
church gatherings.
Mawoyo said the company had a 250kv generator always
on standby and giant water storage tanks.
Mawoyo called upon all organisations and families to
take advantage of the space in the building and use it for their functions,
saying the company offered very reasonable charges.
Nyaradzo has two house boats in Kariba and a lounge in Inyanga which can be
used by customers during their vacations.

Masvingo journalists denounce ZMC bill

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Masvingo journalists denounce ZMC bill

Courage Dutiro
Journalists in Masvingo have expressed their vehement opposition to a host of provisions of Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) Bill which is one of the three bills meant to replace the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa).
In their submissions during an outreach on the bill conducted by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Information, Media and Broadcasting Services at the Civic Centre on Wedensday, October 16, media practitioners said the bill, if passed in its current form, would be detrimental to media freedom and freedom of speech.
Participants were particularly worried by Section 10 (4) of the bill which provides for the involvement of the police in investigating professional journalistic mistakes.
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (Zuj) first national vice president Godfrey Mutimba said the section was meant to criminalise the profession.
“The bill should not criminalise the work of journalists. If a journalist can be prisoned for six months for a professional blunder, it simply means the profession is being criminalised. We are saying section 10 (3) and 10 (4) should be removed from the Bill so that journalists can operate without any fear,” said Mutimba.
Another journalist, Walter Mswazi said there was need for the bill to recognise the possibilities of self-regulation.
Misa Zimbabwe Masvingo chapter Chairperson Passmore Kuzipa said journalism was guided by ethics that amount to a code of conduct which renders the involvement of police both unnecessary and unacceptable.
“The code of conduct is enough a regulatory framework for the media as is the case with other professions that are already regulating themselves. The other professionals can deal with their own challenges on a peer review level; with room for them to investigate complaints, discipline colleagues and even deregister those who are incorrigible,” said Kuzipa.
Other participants said the bill had many frightening errors of omission including failure to spell out the term limits for commissioners.

Noisy, overcrowded Runyararo house upsets residents

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Noisy, overcrowded Runyararo house upsets residents

Star
Matsongoni
Tendai Kubatana Street
in Runyararo West has become a living hell for residents due to tenants at one
of the houses who have made it a routine to fight and quarrel noisily early in
the morning every day.
A resident told TellZim
News the street had become a nightmare in which parents are no longer comfortable
bringing up their children.
“We no longer enjoy our
sleep as the people there fight noisily every early morning. They shout at each
other using the worst obscenities imaginable. Tenants of the house have become a
nuisance and a bad example to children,” said one resident.
Other residents said
the owner of the house needed to do more to bring his tenants to order.
“They argue and fight
for small things like cleaning duties and electricity voucher purchase
requirements; something they can sit down and discuss peacefully.
“I think the property
owner should replace the tenants with decent families. The house is overcrowded
and there is no self-respect there,” said a worried resident.
One of the tenants at
the house blamed others for being selfish and not giving others a chance to
fetch water on the rare occasions that it flows through the tap.

Lawyers must work for people not for money, says Chief Justice

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Lawyers must work for people not for money, says Chief Justice

                                       Malaba (right) greest GZU vice chancellor Rungano Zvobgo
Heather Buzuzi
MASVINGO – Chief
Justice Luke Malaba last week called upon legal practitioners to be driven not
by the love for money by the need to advance the cause of justice.
Addressing
law students and other people who gathered at Great Zimbabwe University (GZU)’s
Herbert Chitepo Law School for a memorial lecturer of the late national
liberation war hero, Malaba said it was incumbent upon everybody in the legal
sector to improve citizens’ access to justice.
“We
must find a way of ensuring equality among Africans; citizens should be
protected and their rights must be respected. Lawyers must be there to
represent people and not to simply work for money. The law should create the
person and no person should create the law, only then can we be free,” said
Malaba.
The Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ)
recently deregistered several lawyers for committing various professional
indiscretions including corruption and failure to represent clients.
Malaba praised the late Chitepo as
an exemplary lawyer who fought for the rights of the downtrodden and oppressed
majority people of the country at the most difficult of times.
Chitepo become the first black
barrister in the then Southern Rhodesia back in the 1950s after graduating from
Fort Hare University in 1949.
He
represented many nationalists including Ndabaningi Sithole and Joshua Nkomo who
were fighting the colonial government.
He
was assassinated by a parcel bomb in Zambia in 1975 while serving as Zimbabwe
African National Union (Zanu) chairman during the liberation struggle.
                                      

Chivhu prophet rescues woman from mermaids

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Chivhu prophet rescues woman from mermaids

                                Claris (right) with her family members

…woman
emerges from under water after two weeks
Elliot
Jinjika
CHIVHU–
In a stranger than fiction case, a 34-year-old woman from Zenda village under Chief
Makumbe in Buhera claims that she was whisked away by a paranormal whirlwind
into a deep cave while taking a bath in Sebakwe River only for a self-styled
Chivhu prophet popularly known as Madzibaba Edborn to come to her rescue.
Claris Chuma narrated her ordeal to TellZim News in
the company of her four family members; her mother, aunt and two siblings.
She broke into tears as she described how she spent two
weeks under water with strange being that she described as mermaids.
Chuma said she was whisked away by a strong
whirlwind in the company of her sister as they bathed in the river.
She said she found herself deep in a strange cave in
the company of three mermaids; long-haired beautiful women with half human and half
fish bodies.
“I and my sister Melody had visited our uncle and we
decided to take a bath in the river. Melody saw a fish and we decided to try
and catch. In trying to do so, an unexpected whirlwind whisked me away and took
me into a deep cave underneath the water where I found three ladies who had half
human and half fish bodies.
“I survived for the two weeks eating raw fish and
the ladies threatened to kill me I refused to eat them so I had no option but
to listen to their orders,” Chuma said.
In the normal world, her younger sister Melody and
other family members spent all the time trying to get assistance from different
prophets with some of them telling them that Claris was already dead.
Another prophet demanded two cattle in order to
bring her dead body back.
“We visited many prophets who told us that she had
been taken by a mermaid but none of them had any good news for us. They all said
she was already dead and another one demanded two beasts so that he could help
bring my sister back. We then became luck and came across Madzibaba Edborn who
upon hearing our issue, said he was going to help us free of charge,” said
Melody.
The family said on Sunday October 06, Madzibaba
Edborn in the company of the family and some church members went to the scene where
a mini service was held.
Claris then appeared floating on top of the water and
the prophet instructed the family members to spit on her body so that she could
regain her consciousness.
“The mermaids told me that I had to return home as some
people were looking for me. They handed me a basket and an arrow with a lot of
medicines and instructed me to heal people and return with gifts of money at
the cave as thanksgiving. I was shocked to see people gathered around with my
family present and my body was so powerless. The prophet then burnt the basket
to ashes and I don’t know how to thank him for saving me,” said Claris.
Angeline Nyamande, Claris said he did not have
enough words to thank the prophet for serving her niece.

Vet Dept under fire as tick-borne disease wipes entire herds in Gutu

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Vet Dept under fire as tick-borne disease wipes entire herds in Gutu

…provincial veterinary
officer dismisses crisis as ‘non-issue’

Moses
Ziyambi
GUTU
– Masvingo Provincial Veterinary Officer Enerst
Dzimwasha has been criticised for his alleged ineffectual handling of a
tick-borne disease which is wiping entire herds of cattle in several areas
under Gutu district.
The disease, commonly
known as January Disease, has wiped entire heads in such places as Guni,
Makore, Chiwara in Gutu South and Makumbe in Gutu North.
The disease is also
present in such parts of Gutu West as Serima as well as Munyikwa in Gutu East though
it is not much prevalent.
Villagers from some of
these areas who spoke to TellZim News blamed poor educative communication from
the Masvingo Provincial Veterinary Office which is headed by Dzimwasha.
They also blamed the
department for prioritising the collection of livestock tax without providing
the requisite dipping services at regular intervals.
They said communication
between communities and the veterinary offices that are scattered at selected
centres in the district was largely non-existent.
“There are no more
cattle in this village and we have become poorer than ever before. Cattle mean
a lot for the village economy and if you take away that, you create paupers,”
said one villager under Chief Makore who lost his entire herd of seven cattle
beginning from April this year.
Villagers under Chief
Serima said the Veterinary Services Department rarely supplied dipping
chemicals, a problem which they blamed for the outbreak of the tick-borne
disease.
“Whenever you see a
veterinary officer, he is coming to talk about the money we must pay for every cow
in the pen. They claim that if we pay the money, they are then able to buy
chemicals so that our cattle can go to the dip tank regularly, but that is not
happening. We are just paying but we are not getting the service,” said one
villager who lost three cattle in three months.
Other villagers said
they rarely receive information on how to keep their cattle safe in light of
the many diseases affecting livestock.
When Dzimwasha was
contacted for comment, he dismissed concerns about the disease saying it was
now a ‘tired’ issue.
“That is a very old
issue which is no longer urgent. I don’t have time for that because I am busy
attending a workshop at a hotel in Bulawayo and cannot keep on talking about
those issues,” said Dzimwasha.
A veterinary
practitioner in Masvingo urged people to buy their own dipping chemicals and
spray their cattle.
“It’s likely to get
worse as we approach the rainy season where new grazing will sprout. The ticks
thrive in good pastures. People can buy such chemicals as Butachem which can
treat affected cattle. It is also recommended that people immunise their cattle
using such chemicals as Parasite and Tick Guard,” said the vet practitioner.
The Provincial
Veterinary Office is located within the Division of Veterinary Field Services
under the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services in the Ministry of
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development.
Some
of the department’s listed duties include providing extension and advisory
services on good animal health care, hygiene and husbandry as well as carrying out surveillance, prevention, control and eradication of
specified animal diseases and pests.

New snooker association seeks to develop game

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New snooker association seeks to develop game

                                                   Martin Makweza
Courage Dutiro
A
new snooker association has vowed to take the game to greater heights in
Masvingo province, taking advantage of the rapidly growing interest in the game.
The
Masvingo Pool Tournaments Association (MAPTA) says there is vast potential to
grow the game to international competitive levels.
MAPTA
secretary general Martin Makweza, who is also a member of the Southern African
Universities Sports Association (SAUSA), said the organisation aimed to identify
and nurture talent among all those interested in becoming competitive players.
“MAPTA
seeks to identify and nurture talent among the province’s young and old pool
athletes through creation of recreational and competitive tournaments and
leagues in Masvingo. We will organise pool tournaments the last weekend of each
month.
“We
want to take Masvingo pool to another level as we seek to be a leading pool
association in the country and beyond by the year 2030. We intend to reach a
point at which we will be able to invite schools and colleges to participate in
our tournaments,” said Makweza.
Makweza
also said they were in the process of introducing a female category of the
tournaments they are currently running.
“On
our first and second editions, we had no female participants. We now want to
have a female category in our third edition going forward. We encourage those
who want to participate in our tournaments to register within the stipulated
time for them to be eligible to participate,” he added.
The
association is currently run by four executive members namely Solomon Feya
(chairperson), Makweza, Kudakwashe Mudekunye (administrator) and Mr Pasi (treasurer).
Top
10 winners in the pool tournaments walk away with trophies and prizes in form
of cash.
“We
call upon all those interested in sponsoring this initiative to come forward
with their assistance. We want this to be a unique and rewarding sporting
initiative,” said Makweza.


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