Home Blog Page 565

Conflict over control of St Engenas Zivavose High

TellZimNews
-
0
Conflict over control of St Engenas Zivavose High

Brighton Chiseva

ZAKA – The Chikato and Mawewe
families are at each other’s throats over custodianship of Zivavose High,
creating serious fissures that are having serious implications on cohesive
administration of the school.
Parents
have begun to complain that the school was no longer serving the interests of
pupils and parents due to endless squabbles.
The
family members are divided as to who should be recognised as the responsible
authority and they accuse each other extorting the 10 percent of the school
proceeds which the responsible authority must get.
One
of the groups, led by Alletah Chikato, claims that Phanuel Fana Chikato, who is
the Archbishop of a breakaway church called St Engnas ZCC Rugare, is side-lining
other family members.
Alletah,
who took over from Maxwell Mawewe as education secretary, and her group is
alleged to have tried to close down the school a few weeks ago in a bid to
force the head to recognise them as the responsible authority and Chikato as
the education secretary.
Zaka
District Schools Inspector (DSI) Samson Chidzurira confirmed the troubles at
the school but was quick to say they had no power to interfere.
Provincial
Education Director (PED) Zadius Chitiga said the families should come together
and resolve their differences then appoint an inclusive responsible authority
board which they will present to the ministry.
“The families are disturbing the smooth running of the school. They should sit down
and unite, form the responsible authority board which will then be presented to
the ministry and we will work with that,” said Chitiga.
Other
disgruntled family members accused Phanuel of fraudulently annexing the school
using an illegitimate responsible authority board formed a few years ago under
his church which was formed as recently as 2014.
“Initially
the school was not under the ZCC. It was only named under ZCC for smooth registration
as the then colonial government did not approve blacks to own schools. However,
Fana formed and registered his school under the new name in 2014 after the
death of his father and forged documents and claimed that the school is under
his church,” one family member said
She
said building of the school began in the 1970s but it opened in 1982, adding
that the church and the school were two different entities.
“Fana
is forcing himself onto the school under the guise of the church thereby
depriving the rest of the family board members their inheritance rights of
ownership,” she said.
When
contacted for comment Phanuel dismissed all allegations against him, saying he
was not getting any financial benefit from his role.
“It’s
all lies. I am not getting any money from the school though it belongs to my
church. My father was the responsible authority before he died and now that I am
in charge of the church meaning the church I lead is the responsible authority.
The matter is before the courts and I will wait for the outcome,” he said.

‘Zim elections dividing people’

TellZimNews
-
0
‘Zim elections dividing people’

                                            Thomas Mbetu
Anymore Magawa

Masvingo
United Residents and Ratepayers Association (MURRA) board chairperson Thomas
Mbetu has said the country’s winner-takes-all electoral system was
retrogressive, calling for a new system that accommodates election losers.
Speaking
during an inter-generational dialogue meeting organised by Youth Forum and TellZim
News at Charles Austin Theatre recently, Mbetu said the current system was
serving no purpose except dividing people and stunting development.
“We
should change the electoral system because it is dividing people. The
winner-takes-all-system means that the winner will have control over everything
and will ignore those who lost regardless of their numbers.
“This
creates polarisation as the losers will resort to opposing for the sake of it due
to the feeling of alienation. This means the people will remain divided and
bitterly opposed,” said Mbetu.
He
said it was critical that those who lose elections are not shunted out of the
system as they might have something positive to contribute.
Zanu
PF Ward 10 councillor, Sengerai Manyanga claimed his party valued political
dialogue, saying President Emmerson Mnangagwa had acknowledged that by creating
a platform of engagement with those who lost the 2018 presidential poll.
“We
should have dialogue all the time despite our political differences. This is
the reason why President Emmerson Mnangagwa called for dialogue with losing
presidential candidates,” said Manyanga.
He
praised the dialogue meeting for creating a chance for people to interface,
saying as a councillor, he was eager to take advantage of such arrangements to
report back to the people.
“As
long as I am in council, I will fight hard to expose corruption. We recently
exposed another corruption scandal and I want to thank TellZim News for the
work they are doing in exposing corruption,” said Manyanga
He
was referring to recent news stories on how council management failed to
surface a short strip of road despite having received over US$40 000 payment
for the road from Nyaradzo Funeral Services company over three years ago.

Pregnant women fetching own water at Chingwizi Clinic

TellZimNews
-
0
Pregnant women fetching own water at Chingwizi Clinic

Cephas Shava

MWENEZI – Chingwizi
Clinic, the only health facility for thousands of people displaced by the
flooded Tugwi – Mukosi Dam back in 2014, is struggling to give quality health
services as it does not have running water.
Located
in Ward 13 Mwenezi East under Chief Chitanga, the facility was built by the
army after years of struggle.
The
clinic also serves many expectant mothers, making the water shortages all the
more serious a problem.
The
clinic currently depends on water supply from a borehole which is outside the
facility’s fence. The borehole produces salty water and is too heavy to operate
for pregnant women.
Ward
councillor Takura Mudavose said he had raised the issue with the Minister of
State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs, Ezra Chadzamira.
“The
absence of water there is a worrying problem given the number of people who
rely on that clinic. The borehole that is closest by is not efficient; it is too
heavy and it doesn’t produce good water. You can imagine the trouble,” said
Mudavose.
He
said he hoped plans by the National Aids Council (Nac) to pump water from
elsewhere directly to the clinic will materialise.
TellZim
News recently visited the remote area and spoke to many expectant mothers who
had bad stories to tell.
“You
have to go to the borehole with a container and fetch your own water for use.
The water is not good and you can hardly drink it. There is often not enough
water to wash your hands after visiting the toilet,” said one pregnant woman.
Since
their relocation to the area after the floods of February 2014, people in
Chingwizi have remained largely without access to basic necessities of life
despite endless promises by politicians.
Many
primary school children learn under deplorable pole and grass makeshift
shelters that make them vulnerable to the slightest changes in weather.

Advert: Change management

TellZimNews
-
0
Advert: Change management

       
Down-loadable jpeg.

Outcry over ‘lenient’ sentences for unlicenced drivers

TellZimNews
-
0
Outcry over ‘lenient’ sentences for unlicenced drivers

…as killer driver gets freed for a fine in Zaka
Clayton
Shereni
With road carnage continuing to rock the roads, many
people are becoming increasingly unconvinced that the courts of law have what
it takes to fight the problem especially with regards to the punishment of
unlicenced drivers.
Unlicensed drivers continue to wreak havoc on the country’s
dilapidated road network with little worry of what the law could do to them.
Although a lost life cannot be recovered, families of
victims of fatal road accidents always hope for justice to be carried out
especially in case where the accident involves an unlicenced driver but if
truth is to be told, the courts are no longer reliable dispensers of justice in
that regard.
On September 19, 2018, tragedy struck along Roy-Chiredzi
highway near Mashingaidze Primary School when a Toyota Ractis side-swiped a
Mazda Titan causing the untimely death of Tinovonga Gwitima who died upon
admission at Masvingo Provincial Hospital. The accident also claimed the life
of Agricultural Extension Officer Abigail Mhumi who succumbed in Harare four
days after the fateful day.
According to a detailed evaluation and observation done
by Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Sergeant (Sgt) Erinos Kuzipa which is in
possession of TellZim News, Maxwell Magazine (28) who was driving the Toyota
Ractis was speeding and encroached into the lane of Lardslous Madzvamuse who
was driving the Mazda Titan lorry.
After a thorough investigation, it was discovered that
the complainant Madzvamuse was a holder of a clean class four driver’s license
but it was unearthed that Magazine did not have any driver’s licence.
Considering that the law did not allow Magazine to drive
in the first place, and that he was the one who failed to drive properly, he
faced charges of negligent driving and culpable homicide.
The case was presided over by Zaka magistrate Florence
Nago whom the community had logically expected to hand down a stiff sentence
against the offender. On February 19, 2019, Nago, as expected, convicted
Magazine on charges of driving without a licence and culpable homicide but went
on to pass a judgement that everybody would be forgiven for questioning.
Nago fined Magazine $100 for driving without a license
and a $400 fine for culpable homicide. She also handed down two months and eight
months jail sentences but conditionally suspended them. She also prohibited
Magazine from driving a motor vehicle for one year and ordered him to not commit
any offence involving negligence driving in the next five years.
In 2011 and 2012, Gutu resident magistrate sentenced more
than four unlicensed drivers to a minimum jail sentence of four years each. In
all these cases at least one passenger succumbed to injuries sustained in these
accidents.
In December 2018, a 33-year-old Harare tout, Chrispen
Magaya appeared before a Harare Magistrate facing charges of culpable homicide
and driving without a license after knocking down Joseph Munyame who was trying
to cross Lomagundi road in the capital.
Magaya was given an effective five year jail term and was
banned from driving public transport.
Masvingo provincial magistrate, Langton Ndokera was not
available to give a comment on the Zaka case by the time of writing but an official
at the magistrate’s court who spoke on condition of anonymity said cases of
that nature tended to vary depending on their gravity and the level of
recklessness of the driver.
“Each case depends on its own facts. In every case, we
should consider the degree of negligence before passing a judgment,” said
the official.
Road safety gospel crusaders Traffic Safety Council of
Zimbabwe (TSCZ) spokesperson, Tatenda Chinoda shared his sentiments on the
issue of justice delivery concerning road carnage saying people should engage
the legislature in their quest for justice over road carnage.
“There is nothing wrong if the judiciary is
implementing the laws of the State. What could be wrong is the level of fines
which are gazetted against serious road traffic offenses. In this new
dispensation why can’t we lobby our parliament to do an upward review of all
traffic offenses and their penalties so that we have very punitive measures
against offending road users?” said Chinoda.
He also urged people to rise up and speak with one voice
so that there is an upward review of the legal framework concerning issues to
do with traffic offenses and penalties so that they become stiffer and punitive
for any perpetrator.
“As a nation people must speak on the need to review
road traffic offenses and penalties to make sure that they are punitive. This
would also make sure that such serious offenses like driving without a license
should attract a custodial sentence. The judiciary simply speaks to the legal
framework because we have the rule of law,” said Chinoda.

Bere chieftainship revived after 125 years

TellZimNews
-
0
Bere chieftainship revived after 125 years

Peter
Chawapiwa
MASHAVA
– History
was revived recently when Chief Bere was installed at a colourful ceremony held
at Bere High School.
The installation of
Phineas Tafirei as the inaugural leader of the revived Bere chieftaincy marked
the end of 125 years of its abolishment.
The chieftaincy was
destroyed by early colonial settlers because the then chief was resisting
occupation by repeatedly cutting telegraph wires between Masvingo and Bulawayo.
The Minister of State
for Masvingo Provincial Affairs, Ezra Ruvai Chadzamira, who presided over the
installation ceremony, said Tafirei was appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa
in July 2018 in terms of the Traditional Leaders Act.
“We are here today
to witness and celebrate the appointment of Phineas Tafirei as Chief Bere by
President Emmerson Mnangagwa. His ancestor Chivungavunga lived here until 1925
and he was removed because of the fertile farming land.
“The Land Apportionment
Act of 1930 finally abolished his chieftainship which had earlier been taken
away from him by the white settlers,” said Chadzamira.
After being expelled
from their ancestral land, the Bere clan went to settle in various parts of the
country including Chirumanzu, Gutu, Zaka and Hwange.
Before his appointment as
chief, Tafirei, who was born on January 12, 1936, was living in Zaka district.

Mwonzora attacks Masvingo executive

TellZimNews
-
0
Mwonzora attacks Masvingo executive

                                       Douglas Mwonzora

… as disgruntled Matutu team plans parallel programmes

Diana
Gondongwe
MDC president Nelson Chamisa has all but created deep
fissures of divisions within his party supporters in Masvingo province after
superintending over a chaotic provincial congress which saw the James Gumbi-led
executive retaining power.
Commenting on the provincial congress held a fortnight
ago, MDC secretary general Douglas Mwonzora told TellZim News that Masvingo had
retained a weak leadership.
“Masvingo should have done better. There are a lot of
people with good leadership qualities in the province. Gumbi and Tongai Matutu
were not the best to keep the party afloat and win back the popular vote used
to be enjoyed by the MDC,” said Mwonzora.
Under the Gumbi-led executive’s previous term, the
party’s visibility in the province was very low because all key people were based
in Harare and were out of touch with the structures.
As a consequence, Zanu PF won 25 out of the 26
parliamentary seats in the province and Mwonzora said the same tragedy was likely
to repeat itself in 2023.
“Gumbi does what he wants when he wants. He does not
follow procedure and it will be difficult if not impossible for him to unite
the deeply-divided province.
“Zanu PF will harvest all the parliamentary seats
again in 2023 because we have no capable provincial leadership. Matutu had
people and we cannot dispute that. All those people can easily be lured to Zanu
PF. The people had high hopes but they were disappointed,” said Mwonzora.
Many members of the MDC were left disgruntled and
dejected after the disqualification of Matutu at the eleventh hour after
Chamisa reportedly invoked the party congress template where Matutu came short
of the continuous five-year membership threshold.
The Matutu team had to quickly find a replacement and
Simon Mupindu stood in but was defeated by Gumbi under murky circumstances,
prompting his loyalists to stage a mini protest denouncing the Gumbi victory.
Gumbi polled 1 040 votes against Mupindu’s 966 and
after being declared winner, Gumbi said what lied ahead was a huge task of
uniting people and he will work with everyone to reclaim the lost glory.
“The people have voted and I came out victorious. In
every contest, there is one winner and I am the winner in this case. This does
not mean we are shutting other contestants out, we are going to work as a
united front to build our party,” said Gumbi.
MDC provincial spokesperson Derrick Charamba said the
provincial executive will have their first meeting today (April 26) to map the
way forward.
He refuted claims that the executive was based in
Harare.
“We are going to have our first meeting today to map
the way forward. We are going to do things differently this time. We will be
giving a full statement after our meeting,” said Charamba.
Meanwhile, the Matutu team has maintained its
narrative that the polls were rigged, vowing to organise parallel programmes.
“Masvingo we thank you for voting the Matutu team. We
will not surrender. We are the leaders of Masvingo while the Gumbi team are
imposters. We will not abandon the people who nominated us.
“As the leaders of Masvingo, we must not donate the
province to Zanu PF. Gumbi is a product of rigging and is illegitimate. We are
prepared to drive party programmes in districts and wards. Masvingo knows we
are the most popular team and will look to us to proffer strategies that will
dislodge Zanu PF in the province,” said the Matutu team in a statement.

Chiredzi nurses, doctors fingered in illegal abortion trade

TellZimNews
-
0
Chiredzi nurses, doctors fingered in illegal abortion trade

Beatific Gumbwanda 
CHIREDZI – Local commercial sex
workers have briefed various parliamentary portfolio committees and claimed
that local nurses and doctors were carrying out illegal abortions many of them
on child sex workers driven into the vice by poverty.

They also accused the police of mishandling cases to do with sex work, saying women
in the illegal trade were being victimised.
The committees that visited
Chiredzi on a fact-finding mission through a consultative forum on sexual and
reproductive health were Health; Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs as
well as Women Affairs.
This was after Marko Shoko,
a resident and social activist, petitioned Parliament on the upsurge in child
prostitution in Chiredzi.
The committees that came as
a team comprised the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health, Ruth Labode,
Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs chairperson
Misheck Mataranyika, acting chairperson of Women Affairs Portfolio Committee,
Brian Dube, and Bulawayo proportional representation Member of Parliament (MP)
Jasmine Toffa.
The meeting was attended by
many people including sex workers, the police’s Victim Friendly Unit,
representatives from Right Here Right Now as well as several civic groups and
government departments.
Paidamoyo Manika, a youthful
sex worker, said some young girls were driven into the trade by the conduct of
their mothers who bring in boyfriends in their presence while others are pushed
in by poverty and orphanage.
“Some of us saw the
experiences of our mothers making what we thought was easy money by selling
their bodies. We then took the business to be lucrative. Others join after
being kicked out by their mothers who consider them old enough to fend for
themselves as their presence at home is considered a distraction against their
sex work,” said Manika.
Rosemary Chiguvi said other
sex workers joined the trade due to orphanage or after being left by their parents
who migrated to South Africa to look for work.
“Some of the children
we meet in this work are bread winners. They were left by their parents who are
mainly employed at the small-holder sugarcane plots where they earn a pittance.
Many of them left their jobs for South Africa where they hoped to get better
paying jobs,” said Chiguvi.
She also said a lot of
illegal abortions were taking place, with nurses and doctors being involved.
“Although we don’t know the
number of pregnancies terminated and the number of those who died in the
process, we admit that we use unorthodox abortion methods like shoving fresh chilies
up our private parts or using hooked wires, but nurses from Chiredzi General
Hospital and doctors from private institutions have carried out most of the
abortions in this town,” she said.

Madzibaba sends women to collect soil from grave

TellZimNews
-
0
Madzibaba sends women to collect soil from grave

                                                      Rumbidzai Rudita
Cephas Shava
MWENEZI – A
woman was recently hauled before Chief Chitanga’s court where she was fined a
cow for allegedly conspiring with a friend to take soil from a grave at her
neighbour’s homestead for use at church as had been instructed by a so-called
prophet.
Rumbidzai
Rudita of Helani village under Chief Chitanga is, however, disputing the
verdict and has launched an appeal at the Mwenezi Magistrates’ Court.
She
argues that she was wrongly convicted because it was only her friend Olipa who
took the soil on her own as had been instructed by the self-styled prophet.
“One
day my friend Olipa, who works at Livison Magweva’s homestead, and I went to
church (Masowe) at Lundi where Madzibaba had a revelation on Olipa. He called
me closer so that I could also hear what he wanted Olipa to do. He told her to
go take some soil from the graveyard at the homestead where she works.
“I
was therefore shocked to be implicated in all this. Olipa went alone and took
the soil from the grave and I was nowhere near that.
“Yes,
I was there when she was given the instruction by the prophet but I was not
there when she went and collected the soil. I have therefore filed papers at
the higher court to appeal the conviction and judgement,” said Rudita.
No
comment could be obtained from Chief Chitanga as his phone was not reachable by
the time of going to print.
Under
Zimbabwean law, it is illegal to temper or desecrate a grave or tomb where the
dead have  been buried.
    
  

Mwenezi East villagers up in arms against MP Joosbi Omar

TellZimNews
-
0
Mwenezi East villagers up in arms against MP Joosbi Omar


MWENEZI
–
Mwenezi East villagers have condemned their Member of Parliament, Joosbi Omar
saying he had done very little to improve the lives of the marginalized
families in the constituency.

In racially-charged
statements, villagers say they regret electing Omar, a Coloured, into office,
claiming he was not in touch with the real issues affecting ordinary people in
the constituency.

“The problem is that
Omar is a Coloured and as such he does not understand our issues. Cases of
pregnant women walking kilometers to fetch water away from the clinic and hospital patients
eating sadza with sugar are real. We tried but in vein to engage the MP but
since he won the elections he became slippery,” said one villager.
Responding to questions
from TellZim News regarding these issues and others that include his apparent failure to fix
the water crisis in Chingwizi, Omar said those who were not happy with his pace
were insignificant.
He heaped contempt on
the growing dissatisfaction with his performance, saying he was pleased with
his own work and will therefore not listen to ‘two or six’ villagers.
He also accused people
of being ungrateful for the work he claimed to have done, saying on many
occasions he used his own money to help others.
In the run-up to the
harmonised elections last year, Omar promised many things including bringing an
end to the suffering of Chingwizi people who have lived without easy access to
many basic needs including potable water.
“Ndezve kwavo izvo. I still have five years to prove a point. So I
am not worried by two or six people who are politicking. I have done a lot for
the people of Mwenezi so for someone to complain is simple politicking and not
politics,” said Omar.
This week, TellZim News
ran a story about pregnant women in Chingwizi being sent to fetch their own
water at a borehole as Chingwizi Clinic, the only health facility in the
expansive area, does not have water three years after the clinic was opened.
After numerous
complaints that Omar and other authorities are failing to hold businessman
Billy Rautenbach to account for his violation of villagers’ rights by denying
them access to water and grazing, Omar promised to find an urgent solution but
little has happened to date.
When asked about when
he will fulfill his promises and ensure that people do not continue to be
squeezed by Rautenbach’s exploitative business practices, Omar resorted to
blame-shifting.
“It is Billy, not me,
who is the one who is being stubborn. He, not me, promised to give people
access to grazing but he did not fulfill that. He, not me, promised to give
people water but he again didn’t do it. I have in many instances used my own
money to help people but it is not the duty of an MP to spend their own money
on constituents. After all, you can’t please everybody.
“Those who think they
can cause malice and de – campaign me ahead of 2023 can forget it. The ground
is open and we will see who will be defeated,” said Omar.
On recent media
revelations of serious nutritional deficiencies at Neshuro Hospital which has
seen patients being fed on sadza and sugar, Omar said he was concerned with more
pressing issues like servicing the ambulance fleet.
“I have found donors
from South Africa who will repair five ambulances. That is one of the many
other issues I am attending at the hospital,” Omar said.
He, however, refused to
say who the donors were and when could the work be expected to be done.
Many people, however,
say Omar was good at empty talk and they regretted electing him into office.
“He promised much but
hasn’t done much. We made a mistake by electing an outsider during our primary
elections and letting down our own people with homes in Mwenezi East. Omar is
an outsider and is not in touch with our genuine needs.
“If he was active
enough in communities and even in parliament, we could be seeing at least one
school being built especially here where pupils are learning under trees. Most
of our primary schools here are satellite schools with no classrooms and
benches,” said a villager in Ward 13, who claimed to be a member of Zanu PF.

1...564565566...968Page 565 of 968