Brighton Chiseva
BIKITA – Stray lions, rhinos and elephants are reportedly causing apprehension in wards 24 and 25 un-der Chief Budzi, with some nine cattle have been killed this month while dozens of acres of crops have been destroyed.
Bikita East Member of Parliament (MP) Johnson Madhuku (pictured) said he was very worried that responsible authorities were failing to address the problem which has long been reported.
“People are so disappointed because cattle is the mainstay of people’s livelihoods in this arid region. Zimparks is not helping matters at all. We phoned the principal director recently and he sent a team with a vehicle and did some rounds in Ward 25 but returned after a few hours saying the car was needed somewhere,” said Madhuku.
He said people in the area, who are already in dire need of food aid, were seeing the little they had cultivated getting destroyed by the wild animals.
Madhuku said Zimparks should show some seriousness with their work by coming to track the animals so that people and their possessions could be safe again.
“These lions are now staying and breeding in the resettlement areas and are a menace and the only lasting solution is to erect an electric fence. People are fed up with these animals because they are not deriving any benefit from them. There is no beneficial Campfire programme to help people appreciate the importance of wildlife,” said Madhuku.
He said the human/wildlife conflict has been going on for a long time, with an estimated 122 cattle hav-ing been killed in 2018 alone.
Lions, elephants destroy livelihoods in Bikita
10 years on, Chiredzi family finally gives up on missing 2008 violence victim
Upenyu Chaota
MASVINGO – After a decade of hope and continuous searching, the Hapazari family in Chiredzi has finally come to terms with the almost certain fact that their relative and former Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) senior customer services officer who went missing on June 4, 2008 could possibly be dead.
Zimbabwe experienced the worst form of political violence in 2008 after the late MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai defeated then president Robert Mugabe in the March 29 presidential polls which resulted in a runoff Dumisani Hapazari (pic) election on June 27.
Zanu PF unleashed its terror machine terrorising real and perceived MDC supporters in an operation famously dubbed, ‘June 27, Mugabe muoffice’.
According to reports, many opposition supporters were tortured, raped, maimed and killed resulting in Tsvangirai pulling out of the runoff saying he was saving his supporters.
Dumisani Hapazari, who was a staunch supporter of Tsvangirai’s MDC, is one of the many people who disappeared during the reign of terror and has been reported in various media outlets, back then, to have been found dead but his family says his body has never been found to date.
TellZim News accessed Dumisani’s wife, Doreen’s court declaration on the presumption of her husband’s death. She says her family is devastated by the disappearance of her husband and has been searching for a decade. She says they have since decided to file a presumption of death notice with the courts so that they can make claims from his employer.
“I married Dumisani Hapazari in 1992 and we were blessed with two daughters. My husband was an electrician by profession employed by Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company as senior customer services officer stationed in Chiredzi.
“My husband became interested in politics in early 2000 and to my knowledge was a staunch supporter of MDC led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai albeit he did not hold any official position.
“There was to be a runoff of the presidential elections in 2008. What happened during the period leading to the runoff is well-documented. There was unprecedented political violence in Zimbabwe with allegations of main political parties’ supporters fighting and reportedly killing each other,” said Doreen.
She said that on the day of her husband’s disappearance, June 4, she was attending lectures at Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) and received a call from her husband informing her that he had a work meeting in Mutare.
“That morning he gave me a phone call. He told me he was going for a business meeting in Mutare and on Saturday we were to go to South Africa where he wanted to buy me a motor vehicle.
“We were a couple that communicated regularly and around midday I called his cell phone but it was not reachable. I kept trying to no avail.
“In the morning, I called our children to inquire if dad was home and they said he had not returned home from work the previous day. They also told me that before he left for work on June 4, he had packed his clothes and toiletries as he was going to come back and collect them for his Mutare meeting. That bag was still in the house,” said Doreen.
She said she received a call from ZETDC inquiring about the whereabouts of her husband as he had not showed up for the meeting in Mutare.
“I also received a phone call from his workplace inquiring where my husband was as he was supposed to be attending a meeting in Mutare. I told them we were also not in the know and wondering. For three days, I incessantly tried to call his number and I also called his relatives and friends but no one knew anything,” said Doreen.
She said she got worried and left her studies in search for her husband until she received a call from her husband’s assistant that Dumisani left work in the company of two man dressed in suits and dark glasses and drove off in one of the company’s recently-purchased vehicle.
“I went to my husband’s workplace and inquired from the receptionist who told me that two men arrived at their office in broad daylight and asked to see my husband. I was told they went away together in the ZESA Mazda BT50 motor vehicle which had recently been purchased.
“He never came back to work that day. His other workmates only had the story that he got out of the office with some smartly-dressed men in dark glasses and they never saw him again,” said Doreen.
Doreen went to the police to file a report and was told that her issue was complicated and the police refused to take the case and she went back again and the case was finally accepted under CR 49/07/08.
“The police told me that even the ZESA motor vehicle could not be traced. They said it was not registered. They also said they could not get its particulars like engine and chassis numbers,” said Doreen.
Three days later, Doreen says she woke up to shocking news from both print and electronic media suggesting that her husband has been murdered with her body discovered.
“The media reports were correct that my husband could have been murdered but were inaccurate that his body was discovered because we haven’t been able to and we have been engaging the police but nothing until we have decided to file a presumption of death so that we can claim something from his employer and also wind up my husband’s estate,” said Doreen.
Dumisani’s brother, Moses said that after a decade there is no hope that there is any sign of life and believes that the two smartly dressed man who went out with Dumisani are the ones who killed him on June 04.
Zifa president pledges fairness in grants allocation
Felton Kamambo
…says Chiyangwa era of fake promises is over
Clayton Shereni
MASVINGO – The Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) Eastern Region leadership on Tuesday, December 18, breathed a sigh of relief after the organisation’s newly-elected president Felton Kamambo, promised to walk the talk and deliver Football Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) grants to all regions.
The Eastern Region had endorsed Phillip Chiyangwa for the football mother body presidency over Felton Kamambo but Kamambo emerged victorious after garnering 35 votes against Chiyangwa’s 24 votes in an election held last Saturday.
Speaking to TellZim News through a telephone interview, Kamambo said he will not segregate anyone but will make sure that every region gets their bite of the cherry.
“There are grants that are coming and we sourced them before these elections when I was still in the board. The board will seat and decide how to distribute the grants. No one will be left behind so all our affiliates will get their share,” said Kamambo.
Kamambo also took a dig at Phillip Chiyangwa whom he said would just make promises when election time comes but would deliver nothing.
“We don’t want a repeat of the Chiyangwa’s era where candidates would just come to promise things during election period. This time around, it’s definite that our affiliates will get something every year,” said Kamambo.
Zifa Eastern Region chairperson, Nobioth Magwizi said he was optimistic of a good journey with Kamambo. He stressed that the region acknowledged the new leadership which he said he hoped will work with them in good spirit.
“We hope to work well with our new president and his board just like we were doing with the previous board for the development of our football in the province and at the same time we would like to congratulate him for winning the elections,” said Magwizi.
Eastern Region affiliate, Manica Diamonds secretary general, Sugar Chagonda was also elected a board member alongside Philemon Machana, Brighton Malandule and Chiyangwa’s top ally Chamu Chiwanza.
Another Chiyangwa ally and previous term vice president, Omega Sibanda who was targeting to retain his post, fell on the wayside after losing to Gift Banda who landed the second most powerful position in Zimbabwe football mother body.
Pay only half your arrears this festive season, Chiredzi pleads with residents
Charles Mushatukwa has said council is giving residents and ratepayers a 50
percent discount on all their arrears to incentivise debt clearance.
need to pay only half of what he owes to council, is valid from 06 December
2018 – 06 January 2019.
Council is owed around $10 million in unpaid rates, and the latest measure is
meant to help residents clear their debts and start afresh.
thanking residents for supporting the local authority throughout the difficult
year.
percent relief this festive season. We are not just slashing the debt but the
debtor should first pay half in order for us to slash another half.
regular paying up residents; we have a bonus for them but they should contact
our management to get the details of the bonus,” said Muchatukwa.
Gibson Hwende said council was only collecting 30 percent of its targeted
revenue.
collecting 30 percent of our targeted revenue and that explains why we are failing
to operate efficiently. This is a clear indication that residents are
struggling to settle their bills so we have come up with the generous discount,”
said Hwende.
African parliament laments Horn of Africa chaos
‘ill-treating’ African refugees
Reporter
Pan-African Parliament (PAP), Fortune Charumbira has bemoaned the plight of
African refugees seeking sanctuary in the Europe Union (EU) as modern-day
slavery and accused the bloc of treating the refugees who make it to its shores
as animals.
People: Peace in the Horn’ conference in Brussels recently, Charumbira said during
the course of the event, he received shocking firsthand testimony of the
inhuman experiences that refugees suffer on their way to Europe and in their
quest to integrate.
refugees; it has been shocking to hear their stories. Their testimonies reveal
modern-day slavery in Africa. Heart-breaking and horrific stories that I have
been hearing here are totally a reflection of the violation of human rights of
highest order. We need to do all in our power to stop slavery on the African
continent,” said Charumbira.
violation of the rights of the mostly Eritrean refugees, saying the bloc was
abetting their suffering.
Europe’s invisible hand is ever present in funding Coastal Guards who
discriminately harass our brothers and sisters at borders. Another shocking
revelation is that of the whole cartel and network of very powerful rich people
who are involved in the human trafficking trade in Europe and in Africa.
that in the manner that EU preaches the respect for human rights as enshrined
in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), their voices must be
louder in calling for the end of ill-treatment of migrants. Europe which
projects itself as champion and policemen of human rights, risks losing dignity
and integrity if they continue to respect the free movement of goods and
commodities across continents and also respecting the rights of wildlife on the
African continent but at same time contributing to the inhuman and degrading
treatment of African migrants,” Charumbira said.
take more responsibility for the crisis which he said had its roots in slavery
and colonial dislocations.
being seen as nuisance in the West with many of brothers and sisters perishing
as they try to run away from their countries…. the problems that we have in
Africa at large and in the horn in particular, it’s a creation of the
Westerners who decided to sit somewhere in Berlin in 1884 and divided our
motherland. The rest that followed only worked to brew chaos in Africa.
were the first to be illegal migrants in Africa and they did it with clear
conscience but today, they are treating our brothers and sisters like animals,”
Charumbira said.
thinly-veiled attack against repressive governance systems and security
heavy-handedness in Eritrea.
force, coercion and brutality to achieve political goals has remained indelibly
enmeshed in the Horn of Africa. Such use of violence to quell real or perceived
threats to national security has left deep scars among the communities in
Africa. There is apparent lack of open dialogue on the need to correct past and
on-going threats to peace resulting in the sustenance of both open and latent
strife among the citizens,” Charumbira said.
come up with a clear action plan for presentation to PAP and African heads of
state.
PAP, I can assure you that we are going to compile all the sad stories that I
have heard and present them to our parliament so that this issue will be put on
the agenda on our next meeting session in February 2019,” he said.
Gender Based Violence, the disease that won’t end
woman sits under the shade of a kitchen hut with her head buried in her palms
while her young daughter looks at her with apparent concern.
a short while, the woman shifts focus to the child and wipes tears flowing down
her cheeks. She calls the youngster to her and the two souls embraces each
other.
young daughter innocently asks her mother, “Why did father beat you?” to which
the woman replies, “It shall be alright.”
account is one of the many Gender Based Violence (GBV) experiences that women
across Africa face, with Chipinge being one of the worst affected districts in
Zimbabwe. The district’s population is multi-cultural with most of the people
identifying themselves as Ndau and Tsonga (Xangani) and Karanga.
productive men in Chipinge tend to cross illegally into neighbouring countries
especially South Africa for greener pastures, leaving their marriage partners
at the mercy of abusive in-laws and relatives.
cultural norms, most traditional African communities do not believe in the
socio-economic and political empowerment of women. This leaves the men with the
financial muscle over women.
an interview, Chipinge District Aids Committee chairperson, Alex Chimedza said
many cases of domestic violence seem to have an economic outlook, with victims
being women who cannot provide for themselves and rely on men for their upkeep.
expect women to be reasonable when asking for money, something which is not
practical given the economic hardships the country is currently facing. Another
problem is that men neglect their families and most of them concentrate on
spending the little money that they earn on beer. This ultimately leads to
domestic violence as the men will no longer have money to provide for the
family when the need arises,” said Chimedza.
said there was need to eliminate cultural norms that prevent women from working
and earning income to sustain the family without necessarily asking men for
assistance.
violence requires a strong response from communities. It is vital that communities
empower women financially to help them complement the usual male breadwinners’
incomes. This would help reduce tension at home and give everybody some
financial breathing space,” he said.
the 16 days of activism against GBV which began on November 22 and ended on December
10, this publication gathered that a larger population of girls in rural areas enter
into child marriages and their communities tend to turn a blind eye on that.
officer in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Kudzai Chiripasi said poverty contributed
immensely to GBV at household level.
are often the ones at the receiving end when people lack basic commodities at
home. Men abuse their wives emotionally and even physically whenever the women
asks for money to buy what is needed in the house,” said Chiripasi.
said the ministry was making some interventions by coming up with empowerment
programmes so that chances of women getting abused in homes can be lessened.
Chipinge our ministry has helped reduce Gender Based Violence through such
initiatives as the Women Development Fund which required some six women to form
a group and partake in income generating projects. Under the fund, women were
given an egg hatcher and this is helping them to generate income,” Chiripasi
said.
urged women to join income-generating projects that she said were one way of
protecting them from abusive relationships.
a ministry, we are raising awareness campaigns on Gender Based Violence and hope
that affected women shall be empowered to reduce their chances of being victims
of abuse by men,” Chiripasi said.
Soldier convicted for beating wife
soldie recently appeared in the Mwenezi Magistrates’ Court and was found guilty
of assaulting his wife using a belt.
Banana (29) of Mativenga village under Chief Neshuro pleaded guilty to
Contravening Section 4(1) as read with Section 3(1) (a) of the Domestic
Violence Act Chapter 05:16 ‘Physical abuse’.
was sentenced to 20 days imprisonment or to alternately pay a fine of $60. In
addition to that, one month imprisonment was also suspended on condition that
for the next five years, he will not commit a similar offence.
by magistrate Honest Musiiwa why he assaulted his wife, Banana refused to open
up and maintained that it was a minor misunderstanding.
just beat her out of anger because we had a misunderstanding over something,”
said Banana.
was the State’s case that in the early hours of October 26, Banana was at his
rural home together with his wife Belinda Mativenga (20). A misunderstanding
arose between the couple and Banana took his belt and began to assault his wife
several times all over her body. He further used open hands to beat his wife.
to State papers, Mativenga was bashed for no apparent reason. Immediately after
the assault, Mativenga went to Neshuro Police Base where she filed a police report
leading to Banana’s arrest.
Pasipanodya appeared for the State.
Gutu RDC purchases refuse compactor
Rural District Council (RDC) has bought a refuse compactor from Dulys AMC in
Harare, a development which will result in a cleaner environment in the rapidly
expanding town.
000 on the purchase which is expected to help improve service delivery in the
area of refuse collection and management.
RDC Chief Executive officer (CEO) Alexander Mutembwa said the vehicle will
improve refuse collection efficiency.
we have managed to mobilise our own resources towards this asset which will be
put to use as soon as the minister has come to commission it,” said Mutembwa.
RDC chairperson, Cllr Nicholas Zambara said council had made a wise investment which
will serve the local authority money in the long run.
people we represent in council are the beneficiaries of this substantial
investment. This is the kind of progress we want to see in our council,” said
Zambara.
battling to keep a litter-free environment in the sprawling new town of
Mpandawana, but low levels of rate payments have meant less money than required
to fulfill that critical service delivery mandate.
council has been using a tractor to collect refuse in the whole town.
Gutu district profile
province, lying some 225 kilometres south of Harare, along the Chivhu- Chiredzi
highway and bordering other districts like Bikita to the south and Chirumhanzu
to the west.
referred to as a growth point all along until 2015 when it was given town
status in recognition of its massive growth in recent years.
with the government`s initiative of opening up the country and improving the
ease of doing business.
District Council (RDC), as the local authority, employs 61 people who work hard
to maintain optimum service delivery.
RDC prides itself in offering a favourable payment plans and quick approval of
development applications for permits, building plans and trading licences.
land developers who are serious about adding value to any suitable piece of
land in the district can do so at affordable cost, and they are assured of
priority attention as well as quick processing of the requisite documents.
district is one of a few others that have consistently managed to provide an
efficient sewerage reticulation system and a waste disposal system.
RDC has recently moved to improve capacity in waste management by purchasing a
refuse compactor to the tune of tens of thousands of US dollars.
local authority is also in charge of hundreds of kilometres of relatively
well-maintained tarred, gravel and dusty roads as well as water infrastructure
which serves Mpandawana residents.
Council also manages Woodlands Dam, which, apart
from providing water for consumption, provides a scenic place for leisure.
Cholera patient escapes from hospital
Gumbwanda
recently escaped from Chiredzi General Hospital and took his medication with
him, TellZim News has learnt.
said nurses were shocked to find the patient’s bed empty when he had not yet
been formally discharged.
patients were still admitted at the hospital following a cholera outbreak which
was first reported some two weeks ago.
from the hospital and he took away all the drugs. Currently we still have some
three female cholera patients at the hospital who are recuperating well and
they are all from Triangle,” said a source.
from Village 11B, Monyoroka in Triangle.
(DMO) Dr Brian Dhlandhlara, however, said the patient did not escape but was
properly discharged.
discharged as he was in a stable condition. He didn’t escape,” said Dhlandhlara.
mobilised resources from various stakeholders including the Population Services
International (PSI), Plan International, Kapnek and SolidarMed to fight the
cholera outbreak.