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Shangani community fumes over police brutality, tribalism

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Shangani community fumes over police brutality, tribalism

…as journalists are chased from dialogue meeting

Beatific Gumbwanda


CHIREDZI – Journalists from four media houses, including the State-inclined Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) were last Wednesday ejected from a public engagement on police brutality  at Chibwedziva Primary School.
The incident happened in the presence of Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affair Ezra Chadzamira.
This was after the Shangani community had alleged that the Provincial Joint Operations Committee was responsible for the fatal shooting of a 24-year-old man at Chibwedziva Business Centre on Christmas Day last year.
Three drunk police officers, who were led by Constable Zingunde of Bravo Troop (Support Unit) allegedly shot Tapiwa Gocheke who was reportedly part of a mob that was demanding the release of one Liberty Makondo who had been arrested in connection with an assault case.
An AK 47 riffle, serial Number 0889 and a magazine with 24 rounds were later recovered from a nurse at Chibwedziva Clinic who claimed it had been left by unknown men.
At the engagement meeting, Alliance Church national overseer, Pastor David Hobwani gave his testimony in front of Chadzamira’s delegation, saying security forces in the Sengwe communal lands had turned police posts into torture chambers.
“The relationship between the police and the community here has never been cordial. Police officers at Gezani, Chambuta and Chibwedziva have what we may call instant justice, where people are tortured without being taken to trial.
“In 2010, at Chibwedziva Police Post, a criminal was arrested and tortured and died there. In 2014 at Gezani, another man was assaulted in full view of his family and died near the police post. Then last year, during Christmas, drunk people fought at Chibwedziva business centre and three drunk police officers arrested Makondo and decided to take him to the police post.
“Fearing that the suspect will suffer the same fate, people requested that he be released but police refused and they shot Gocheke in the leg,” said Pastor Hobwani.
As Chiredzi East Member of Parliament (MP) Denford Masiya made his presentation, alleging victimisation of Shangani people on tribal grounds, journalists were asked to leave.
“The Support Unit should not be entertained at the heart of the community like this. In fact, they should be manning the borders there. We, as the Shangani community, are being victimised on tribal grounds. I worked with some of you and we never took a soul,” said Masiya.
Chadzamira later met the family of the deceased who was still in mortuary and promised to help meet burial costs and look after the family.
“It is unfortunate that a soul was lost and we are still carrying out investigations on what really transpired on December 25, and justice is going to prevail against all those who committed the crime. We are going to take care of the funeral expenses and the family as well afterwards,” said Chadzamira.

AFM factionalism sucks in magistrates

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AFM factionalism sucks in magistrates

                                                            Rev Ndoni

… pastors write to Justice
minister over ‘corrupt’ judgements

…13 pastors barred from
church
Moses
Ziyambi
The factional battles
ravaging the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) church has taken yet another nasty
turn, this time with a group of pastors aligned to the Rev Cosam Chiyangwa’s
camp petitioning the Minister of Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi
Ziyambi over what they consider to be non-objective handling of their cases at
the Masvingo Magistrates’ Court.
The pastors claim that
some officials at the court are AFM members who are now caught in a conflict of
interest which has seen them taking sides in the legal suits.
The church has 39 ordained
pastors in the province, the majority of whom identify with Chiyangwa, who
leads a rebellion against attempts by Rev Aspher Madziire and Rev Amon Madawu’s
fervent attempts to introduce constitutional reforms that would drastically
reduce the power of pastors and give elders more leeway in church business.
At national level, the
case of the two factions’ claim to legitimacy is before the high court but
locally, a myriad of lesser cases have been before the magistrates’ court.
TellZim News saw a letter,
dated January 10, 2019 and addressed to Ziyambi, and copied to Minister of
State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs Ezra Chadzamira and Masvingo Provincial
Magistrate Langton Ndokera in which the pastors, under the banners of the AFM
Masvingo Provincial Pastors Forum, express serious misgivings about the
neutrality of the magistrates’ court.
The aggrieved pastors,
who include Masvingo overseer Rev Donard Ndoni, Rev Elias Jinjika of Judea
assembly (Runyararo West) and Rev Gilbert Charumbira of Greater Grace assembly (Rujeko),
are being represented by lawyers from Saratoga and Makausi Law Chambers.
They claim that the court
issued a number of dubious judgements that give undue favour to the reform
faction.
When contacted for
comment, Ndokera only acknowledged having received the letter but refused to
comment, saying only authorities in Harare could do so.
“We are doing our jobs to
the best of our abilities and in the best interest of justice. You can get a
comment from our superiors in Harare,” said Ndokera.
Between November and
December 2018, the Masvingo AFM reform faction served 33 pastors of the anti-faction
with dismissal letters, but the purported dismissals were ignored as the issue
of legitimacy was still pending in the high court.
The reform faction also approached
the Masvingo Magistrates’ Court and obtained ex parte interdicts against over a
dozen pastors, barring them from carrying out their duties and using church
property.
On November 08, the reform
faction had obtained another ex parte interdict barring the anti-reform faction
from going ahead with a three-day provincial conference organised at the
church’s provincial centre in Mucheke. The conference, however, went ahead
reportedly because the interdict contained gross errors.
“The pastors were of the
view that we are all equal before the Law but the events that followed the
handling of the cases have proved otherwise. The pastors feel that the Masvingo
Magistrate Court has not taken a neutral position in resolving the said dispute
due to the following:
“The first case on the
interdict (Case Number INT 76 18) barring the Anti-Reform from holding their
conference was heard on 20 November 2018 and the judgement was to be delivered
on 10 December 2018 but unfortunately it was not ready on the said date.
Repeated efforts were done by our lawyers to get the judgement from the Clerk
of Court as promised but that was to no avail.
“Despite our lawyers not
receiving the judgement, the lawyers from the Reform side, arguing a case on
the Second Case of interdicts heard on 08 January 2019, cited that judgement to
the surprise of everyone who was waiting for it. This proved that the Reform
side had received the judgement while the Anti-Reform side was still pursuing
that Judgement. The Reform lawyers had enough time to study and use it as their
base of argument on the interdicts trial while the other had not received the
judgment.
“After the court session,
the Anti-Reform lawyers went to request for the judgement. On receiving the
judgement, there are fundamental errors (sic) that show it was not done
diligently,” part of the document reads.
The errors, according to
the document, were that the place at which the hearing took place is different,
the number of cited respondents were inaccurate and that the judgement gave the
reform faction control of assets despite acknowledging the existence of the
legitimacy dispute.
“The judgement did not
have reasons why the interdict was granted and this has resulted in the
Anti-Reform pastors not being able to launch an appeal and are still waiting
for the reasons,” the document reads.
On the (second) case of
interdicts which was due on December 21, 2018, the reform faction is said to
have simply sent their lawyers to ask for a postponement which they were
granted.
“Anti-Reform lawyers
requested for a written judgement so that after studying the reasons, provided,
see if it was necessary to launch an appeal with the High Court. He was
promised that he would receive it but to no avail. The lawyers proceeded to write
a letter to the Magistrate Court requesting for the judgement but to no avail
until the 08th of January 2019 when the case was heard. In this case
the Masvingo Magistrate Court has robbed (the) Pastors the right to appeal to
the High Court since they did not have a written judgement with reasons why the
case could be heard on that day. Until now the judgement is still not
available…The pastors are of the view that…the judgment itself was not
substantive and there were no enough reasons to support it. Also, it was meant
to delay the process until the 8th of January 2019,” the document
further reads.
The pastors also accuse
an unnamed magistrate of dubiously recusing himself from a case he was supposed
to finalise as a way of sabotaging the anti-reform faction.
“Another worrying factor
is that some officials at the Masvingo Magistrate Court are members of AFM
church in Zimbabwe and in the said dispute are believed to be aligned to the
Reform side. This puts them as interested parties….One of the Magistrate (sic),
the lawyer of the Reform side and the most active members of the Reform side
are from the same AFM assembly in Masvingo.
“Given the above
arguments, we are of the opinion that the Masvingo Magistrate Court is siding
with one party through corrupt tendencies or other reasons best known to them,”
the document reads.

  

Shutdown: Masvingo Cllr flees to SA, Cotrad staff rounded up

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Shutdown: Masvingo Cllr flees to SA, Cotrad staff rounded up

                                                               Godfrey Kurauone


Moses Ziyambi
MDC
Masvingo Urban Ward 4 councillor, Godfrey Kurauone has reportedly fled his home
fearing for his life after apparently receiving death threats from Zanu PF
activists and security forces at the height of the shutdown last week.
Speaking
via WhatsApp, Kurauone only said he was ‘out of town’, but refused to state his
exact location although there are speculations that he is in South Africa.
“Some
people with malicious motives made false accusations that I blocked roads and a
nasty plot was being hatched against me. I could not ignore such threats in
light of the terrible things happening in Harare and elsewhere,” said Kurauone,
referring to the brutal crackdown against perceived instigators of last week’s
violence.
Several
opposition MPs have been arrested in the crackdown that followed the violent
stay-away and many activists across the country have been reported to have gone
into hiding.
On
the second day of the shutdown, a group of Zanu PF youths and National Youths
Service members besieged the offices of the Community Tolerance, Reconciliation
and Development (Cotrad) trust in Hughes Street and later brought in the police
to arrest the organisation’s staff members.
Seven
staff members were then taken by riot police at the supervision of the
vigilante group which accused the community-based peace and rights organisation
of inciting people to stay away from work and engage in violent activities.
The
group was led by Zanu PF Masvingo Urban Ward 10 councillor Sengerai Manyanga,
who is also the ruling party youth league provincial chairperson, and included
other active ruling party youth league members like Tavara Mudukuti and Zimbabwe
National Youth Service Graduates Association (ZNYSGA) public relations officer
Tariro Bwerinofa.
Cotrad
programmes manager, Zivanai Muzorodzi said he was surprised by the raid as the
group did not commit any illegal activity.
“They
forcibly got into our premises and held us hostage for some time before
Manyanga went out to bring riot police. Seven staff members were detained for
hours before being set free at the intervention of lawyers Collen Maboke and
Martin Mureri. They however held onto to our vehicle and only released it after
three days,” said Muzorodzi.
He
said Cotrad was a law-abiding organisation that has never done anything outside
its mandate of promoting peace and reconciliation in communities.
“We
are appalled by this kind of intimidation. There is no basis in all the
allegations they are making against us and that is why the police have not laid
any charge against us one week after the incident. We are ready to meet them in
court,” Muzorodzi said.
When
contacted for comment, Bwerinofa stuck to his guns saying Cotrad had been
caught ‘red-handed doing malign activities’.
“We
are working to make sure that justice is delivered against the organisation
which went around inciting people to barricade the roads and close schools. We
have strong evidence against them and we urge the police to thoroughly do their
job as we have done ours. As patriotic citizens, we could not just watch people
disturbing the peace we are enjoying in the country. It is our duty to defend
the country and its leadership,” said Bwerinofa.
He
accused Cotrad staff members of ‘driving around in a German embassy vehicle’,
apparently referring to the organisation’s Toyota D4D double cab that the
police detained for three days.
He
accused Cotrad of convening a meeting some few days before the shutdown to
encourage people to engage in violent demonstrations and later going around
intimidating schools from opening for classes.
Masvingo
was largely peaceful on the day of the shutdown with few incidences of road
blockages being reported in some high density residential areas. No looting
incident was reported during the three-day protests against the 150 percent
hike in the fuel price.



Zanu PF youths besieged Cotrad offices and called police to arrest Cotrad staff on the second day of the stay away


Chiredzi JOC summons activists over Chiredzi’s peaceful shutdown

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Chiredzi JOC summons activists over Chiredzi’s peaceful shutdown

                                                                    Dusty Zivhave



…local MDC Alliance leadership
targeted
Beatific Gumbwanda
CHIREDZI – After being unsettled
by residents’ overwhelming response to the national shutdown last week, the
local Joint Operations Committee (JOC) summoned MDC leaders and activists,
accusing them of forcing businesses to close.
MDC Alliance provincial spokesperson,
Dusty Zivhave, independent political activist Simbarashe Baloyi and MDC supporter
Brighton Dzvova were summoned for allegedly threatening business and warning
them not to open.
Zivhave told TellZim News in a
phone interview that he was shocked when he was called to explain what he said
were false allegations that he forced businesses not to open on the three days
of the stay away.
“I, Dzvova and Baloyi were summoned
at once. The issue was that we threatened business owners at the bus terminus to
close their shops. The Dispol first indicated that he condemned any acts of
violence before accusing us of engaging in violence.
“I told them to stop basing their
allegations on unverified facts and that I had never been to the bus terminus for
the past three weeks. I told them we only had a meaningful discussion on a non-violent
stay away which is what happened in Chiredzi,” said Zivhave.
Chiredzi responded peacefully to
the national stay away as all businesses in the CBD, the bus terminus and
locations were brought to a halt for two days, with children being sent back
from school.

Chiredzi is 2018 best cotton-producer

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Chiredzi is 2018 best cotton-producer

Beatific
Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI – The Cotton Company of
Zimbabwe (Cottco) has congratulated Chiredzi district for being the top
producer of cotton in the 2018 cropping season.
The district produced 35 000 tonnes
of cotton, with Ranganai Muzivirwa – who was named best farmer – winning a tractor,
a farm trailer and a three-disc plough worth more than $100 000.
Muzivirwa, who has won many merit
awards from Cottco over the past years, last season delivered a record 13.3
tons to Cottco from his 3.5 hectare dry plot; the best single production by one
farmer among all the country 400 000 cotton farmers.
At the prize-giving ceremony in
Ward 27, Chiredzi District Administrator (DA), Lovemore Chisema said government
was serious about revamping the agricultural sector.
“Cottco has four business units in
the whole country which are Sanyati, Honde Valley, Gokwe and Chiredzi. In the
last season, more than 400 000 farmers participated in the presidential cotton
input scheme in which Mr Muzivirwa was confirmed to be the best farmer of the
year,” said Chisema.
 Chisema said the decision to award the price
was reached after considering many issues.
 “Cottco considered so many things before
giving Mr Muzivirwa this prize. They considered the size of the yield, cotton
grade and tonnage per hectare. On the 3.5ha he planted, he produced 60 bales
with an average weight of 250kg. This translated to 13 200kg and this happened
in the Lowveld which is in natural farming region 5.
“This is a clear testimony that
government through the Cottco is committed to the upliftment of the lives of
our farmers. Good farmers must be supported; Mr Muzivirwa has set an example that
even if we are in region 5, it is possible to produce the best cotton yields in
the whole country,” Chisema said.
Cottco Chiredzi business manager, Munyaradzi
Chikasha urged local cotton farmers to emulate the good work which done by
Muzivirwa.
“This is a clear testimony that if
you follow what your extension workers teach you, it becomes possible to
produce more tonnage per hectare. As we enter into the new season, let us press
on and double our production capacity,” said Chikasha.

Clap nearly lands teacher in jail for murder

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Clap nearly lands teacher in jail for murder

                                                              Wright Masunda
Moses
Ziyambi
A Zaka teacher, who is a
father to four children, has his lucky stars to thank for being a free man after
the State and the defence team unanimously agreed to alter a murder charge he
was facing at Masvingo High Court to assault.
In July last year, Wright
Masunda (49), a teacher at Rudanda High School who runs Skippers Sports Bar at
Rudanda business centre, slapped Tarirai Chakona (42) after a dispute at the
bar.
Little did Masunda know
he was soon to be arrested for murder after Chakona died under almost unclear
circumstances a few days later.
As fate would have it, Masunda
ended up appearing before Justice Garainesu Mawadze facing a murder charge.
However, his lawyer Knowledge
Mabvuure of Chihambakwe Law Chambers, successfully argued that a mere clap could
not possibly have caused Chakona’s death under the given circumstances, leading
to the alteration of the charge from murder to assault.
On January 18, Masunda
was convicted of assault and was given 30 days to pay a $200 fine or face a
custodial sentence.
The facts, as agreed by
the defence lawyer and the State’s Takunda Chikwati, are that on July 31, 2018
at around 21:00hrs, the now deceased was drinking at Skippers Sports Bar when
Masunda slapped him once on the face for allegedly harassing other patrons.
After being slapped,
Chakona, who was heavily drunk, fell down and Masunda, with the help of the now
deceased’s brother Marufu who was also in the bar, helped him back onto his
feet and he later on continued drinking.
When it was time to close
the bar, Marufu tried to convince his brother that they should go home but he
refused and spent the night at the business centre, only for Marufu to find him
the following morning, shivering and warming himself on a fire in the open.
Marufu took Chakona to
his work place where he gave him a warm place to sleep but the now deceased
began to sweat and he took him home.
The following day, Marufu
asked Masunda to help him take Chakona – whose health had deteriorated – to
Musiso Hospital in his car. At the hospital, Chakona was admitted and treated
of epilepsy and was referred to Masvingo Provincial Hospital for further
treatment.
Chakona died on his way
to Masvingo Provincial Hospital, and a postmortem report listed subdural
hemorrhage (a condition when blood collects on the
brain’s surface beneath the skull as a result of head injury), severe
skull contusion and head trauma as the causes of his death.
Among other things, the
defence argued that the post-mortem did not attribute Chakona’s death to
assault and that many other things could have happened to him after the
slapping incident since he spent the whole night in the open at the business
centre.

Masvingo Poly in HEXCO exam scandal

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Masvingo Poly in HEXCO exam scandal

…students refuse to re-write, threaten legal action
Upenyu
Chaota
Masvingo Polytechnic is reportedly embroiled in a
Higher Education Examination Council (Hexco) exam cheating scandal which has
seen some results of the November 13, 2018 being suspended.
Students from commerce, diesel plant fitting,
technical graphics and engineering among others could not get their results.
The disaffected students have now refused to re-write and they have threatened
to approach the minister before taking legal action.
On November 13, 2018, students across various
disciplines used the Masvingo Poly’s dining hall as the examination venue and
during the course of the examination, Hexco external assessors are said to have
caught some students cheating.
The cheating students are said to have written
formulas on rules and the external assessors are said to have taken down the
names of those students but had to let them proceed with the examination.
Under normal examination rules, if a student is caught
cheating, they are immediately withdrawn from the examination and suspended from
school, with all other results nullified.
Though Masvingo Poly vice principal Albert Somerai professed
ignorance on the matter, various sources at the institution complained that
Hexco external assessors’ own ineptitude were disadvantaging many innocent
students.
A source close said the assessors should have punished
the students at that instant not to suspend the results of all students.
“They tried to put the blame on our lecturers here but
they are the ones who failed to do their job. They discovered an anomaly and
decided to let it go. They did not even have the names of the students they
said they had caught cheating. Masvingo Poly was against the idea of punishing
all students for the crimes of a few.
“So the institution decided to give everyone the
benefit of the doubt and offered to have them write another paper which would
be marked quickly and results published,” said the source.
Hexco Masvingo board member, Mbewe admitted he knew of
the matter but distanced the examination body from the scandal saying when it
happened, their people were not there.
“We only got to know about the matter after it had
already happened. We are yet to sit down with Masvingo Poly to map the way
forward. Our people were not there as is being said,” said Mbewe. 
Results for those who wrote their examination on
November 13 in the dining hall came with an R which means deferred.
Higher and Tertiary Education minister Amon Murwira
could not be reached for comment by the time of going to print.
TellZim News has, however, been informed that the
disgruntled students have refused numerous offers to re-write the exams.
“After the publication of results, all the students
who wrote their exams on November 13 in the dining hall had an R symbol on the
result slip which means deferred.
“We then asked why this is so and they lied to us
saying our results were still being processed. On January 15, they called some
students saying there was a rewrite on January 18. We asked why a re-write and
they told us that some of us cheated.
“We refused to re-write and we are going to approach
the minister and take legal action against them. They should not play with our
future like this,” said one student.
Another student weighed in saying it was instead, the
assessors who should face disciplinary action because they failed to do their
jobs properly.
“Imagine police officers getting into a club searching
for drugs and find them. They leave the drugs there and go away only to come
back saying we do not remember who had the drugs so we are arresting everybody.
That is our situation,” said the student.

Mukuru launches WhatsApp Business Solution

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Mukuru launches WhatsApp Business Solution

TellZim Reporter

Mukuru has announced that they are one of the first money transfer
companies in South Africa to allow customers to use
WhatsApp to initiate transactions.
The WhatsApp Business API integration adds
immensely to the world class service Mukuru provides to customers.
“We have integrated with the
WhatsApp Business API to allow our customers to both create money
transfer orders as well as managing their account details”
says Oliver O’Brien, head of strategy and
business development at Mukuru.
“It has taken a few months, and being one of
the first to market, the overall process of integration has been relatively
smooth sailing,” he said.
Mukuru customers can be in any country in which the company
operates and still interact with Mukuru through WhatsApp. The service is
multilingual and has been translated into French, Shona, Ndebele, Chewa,
Sesotho, and Portuguese. Customers can easily
request to chat with an agent in their home
language.
WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption applies to all interactions, which means that even WhatsApp
cannot see the contents of a user’s messages to Mukuru.
“The introduction of WhatsApp will not replace our existing
methods of sending money, rather this is a new and innovative use of existing
technology that helps to replace inefficiencies of the old (SMS/USSD),” said O’Brien.
Adding to Mukuru’s long list of industry firsts, the
addition of the WhatsApp Business Solution allows the company to provide more
convenient and reliable as well as safer services to customers.

Presidential inputs distributed at Zanu PF offices in Zaka

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Presidential inputs distributed at Zanu PF offices in Zaka

A recent Presidential Input Scheme distribution exercise in Zaka

Brighton Chiseva


ZAKA – Agricultural inputs under the Presidential Input Scheme are being distributed at Zanu PF district offices in Zaka, with widespread conceptions that the move was meant to side-line non-ruling party supporters.
At its national conference held in Matabeleland South recently, Zanu PF adopted – as one of its resolutions – the fair and none partisan distribution of agricultural inputs.
Zaka RDC Ward 19 councillor, Peter Imbayarwo, however, confirmed that the ruling party was not practicing what it preached but added that he was not shocked as that had always been the ruling party’s approach in rural areas.
“I was not surprised when they started distributing inputs at their party offices because the programme is done by Zanu chairpersons since. Since the programme reached my ward, I was never consulted because I am from the opposition. Where the councillor’s signature is required, Zanu PF ward chairpersons sign on my behalf and do the rest,” said Imbayarwo.
Some people in Jerera accused Zanu PF ward chairpersons, Milton Chikwenhere and Gladys Chari of politicising the distribution of inputs.
Asked why the programme was being undertaken at ruling party offices, District Administrator (DA) Ndeya Nyede said he was not aware of it.
“When the programme started, we only gazetted the number of bags each ward was supposed to get and the rest is done at ward level. We don’t know how they transport their allocations and from where they carry out the distribution,” said Nyede.
The matter was raised in the Zaka RDC full council meeting held on Tuesday, December 18, with the three MDC Alliance councillors complaining that they were being excluded from the programme.
The DA and other councillors, however, remained silent and failed to give an answer.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has never missed an opportunity to emphasise his so-called ‘new dispensation’ as a reminder to his perceived departure from former president Robert Mugabe’s approach, but this claim is proving to be largely hollow.

Married Mwenezi teacher bashed over ‘affair’ with Catholic priest

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Married Mwenezi teacher bashed over ‘affair’ with Catholic priest



Cephas Shava


MWENEZI – A 33-years-old man recently assaulted his wife for allegedly having an extra-marital affair with a Catholic priest.
Appearing before magistrate Mandlenkosi Ndlovu, Makhosini Mangena who resides at Stand Number 35 Neshuro growth point, pleaded guilty to a charge of domestic violence.
He admitted that he assaulted his wife Sikhanyisiwe Msiza who is employed as a teacher at the Roman Catholic-run’s St Vitalis Primary School in Mwenezi.
Mangena was sentenced to two months imprisonment or alternatively to pay a fine of $100. Three months of the sentence were suspended on condition that he did not commit a similar offence within the next five years.
The State’s case was that in October, the accused came home and began to accuse his wife of having an affair with a priest who also works at St Vitalis. A misunderstanding ensued and Mangena assaulted his wife several times using a whip.
Immediately after the assault, Msiza rushed to the police where she filed a report leading to Mangena’s arrest.
Caroline Pasipanodya prosecuted.

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