Shingirai Vambe

RUSAPE – Lameck Manyanga (38) of Mandindi Village under Chief Makoni last week appeared before Rusape senior magistrate Shane Kubonera facing charges of murdering his wife Tendai Mafuranyuri in December of 2014.
Manyanga was not asked to plead but was remanded in custody to October 18, 2017.
It is the State’s case that on December 8, 2014, Manyanga had a misunderstanding with his wife Mafuranyuri who had refused him sexual intercourse.
Manyanga then struck Mafuranyuri with a hoe on the neck and she died on the spot. Realising that he had killed his wife, Manyanga then wrote a suicide note claiming he was going to kill himself.
He then set the hut on fire with the deceased’s body inside. The remains of the charred body was discovered the following day and a post mortem was done leading to the conclusion that Mafuranyuri was murdered.
The police then launched a man hunt for Manyanga who had left the suicide note but never found his body. Manyanga has been running from the law since 2014 until now when the police received a tip off from someone about the whereabouts of Manyanga.
He was arrested on October 3, 2017.local

MWENEZI – A polygamous man showed more affection to his second wife and this enraged the first wife who then severely assaulted her love rival and injured her in the process.
Thirty-two year-old Takesure Munyarari of Chikiti village under Chief Maranda was recently convicted, on her own plea of guilty, of domestic violence when she appeared in the Mwenezi Magistrates Court.
Magistrate Honest Musiiwa sentenced her to 20 days behind bars or alternatively to pay a fine of US$50.
Asked by the magistrate why she committed the offense, a tearful Munyarari admitted she was jealousy of the younger wife.
“Musiwekutanga ndaimurovera phone ye light ye murume wedu yaairamba nayo— pechi two ndakamurova nokuda kwekuti ainditi hee handichadiwa ne murume saka ndofanira kuchibva pamba nokuti iye ndiye akanga avapakati pemoyo womurume,” she told the court.
The State’s Angelinah Makonya convinced the court that on August 22 around 8 pm, Munyarari sent her younger sister to go and collect her husband’s phone which was being used by Matilda Rugwe, who is the second wife to Munyarari’s husband.
Rugwe refused to let go of the phone and this angered Munyarari who then went and severely beat the complainant using her bare hands until their husband restrained her.
Rugwe was taken to the hospital where she was medically examined and established that she suffered injuries on her face and other parts of her body. A police report was made leading to Munyarari’s arrest.local

CHIVHU – A 70-year-old man who hails from Mutambudzi Village, Chief Mutekedza, last week appeared before Chivhu magistrate Fadzai Mtombeni facing allegations of raping his 12-year-old niece on two occasions when his wife was absent, having travelled to the bank.
The accused person, who lives at the same homestead with the complaint, denied the rape allegations saying he could never do such a thing.
The State, led by Nicholas Mabvongodze, alleged that sometime in February 2015, the accused person entered into the dining room where the complainant was sleeping.
He pulled away her blankets and removed complainant’s clothes and instructed her to enter in to his bedroom but the complainant refused.
The accused person threatened to assault the girl and chase her away from his homestead before grabbing her by the hand, pushing her into his bedroom where he had sexual intercourse without her without her consent.

The complaint felt sharp pain during the sexual attack and she cried but the accused person closed her mouth with a cloth and threatened her.
One day June last year at around 05:00 hrs, the accused person called the complainant into his bedroom and ordered her to take keys from his trousers and when she was about to hand them to him, he twisted her hand pushed her on the bed and sexually abused her.
The girl later revealed the matter to his father on July 21 last year and he helped her to open a case at Masasa police station, leading to the arrest of the suspect.
The case was due to continue in the Chivhu Magistrate Courts by the time of going to the press.local

MASVINGO – Chikwanda Primary School head Emmanuel Shumba (46) of Plot Number 6 Marowa under Chief Chikwanda, Gutu was on Monday dragged to court after he allegedly raped his 15-year-old niece.
The accused, who was not asked to plead when he appeared before Masvingo magistrate Takawira Mugabe, was remanded in custody to October 17 for trial.
The State, led by Edmond Mapope, claims that Shumba and his wife Marcie Sithole were taking care of the victim at their home in Chikwanda when the alleged offense was committed on August 23 this year.
On the day in question, Shumba, allegedly connived with his wife Sithole to commit the crime and they persuaded the victim to share the bedroom with Shumba for the night.
Sithole then locked the two inside and left for her neighbour’s house that night.
While in the bedroom, Shumba undressed the complainant and ordered her to lie on the bed with her legs open and she complied. The accused allegedly mounted onto the accused and raped her once.
Makomo screamed for help but Shumba threatened to assault her.
After the alleged offence, Sithole and Shumba started to closely monitor the complainant’s move to make sure she could not reveal the case to anyone.
It was only on October 5 that the complainant managed to sneak out to make a police report at Chikwanda police base.local

Timon Tandi (left) with other some attendants of the meeting including Masiya (3rd from right)

Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI – The Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (TUZ), which is believed to be pro-Zanu PF, has urged teachers to withdraw de-subscribe from unions that attack the government without offering solutions to the problems faced by teachers.
The attack is believed to have been directed at the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta), the biggest teachers unions with standpoints that have been described by some as ‘anti-government’.
TUZ held its 18th information and communication technology workshop where 113 teachers were trained at Mwenje Primary School in Chiredzi East constituency.
Addressing undergraduate trainees at the event, TUZ president Timon Tandi labelled the rival unions ‘unpatriotic and unruly’ for allegedly criticising government without offering any solutions to solve the problems.
“I advise teachers to avoid unions which are unpatriotic, who always criticise the government without giving solutions. We are here to offer solutions to the government as we have already responded to its call for the new curriculum,” said Tandi.
Chiredzi East Member of parliament, Denford Masiya also weighed in saying teacher organisations always shout at politicians for alleged failures but without offering solutions to counter those shortcomings.
“These teacher organisations are known for shouting at the government. They shout at us MPs and the President that we are failures but no one has ever come with a solution like what I am witnessing here. TUZ joined the struggle for the teachers to be computer literate,” said Masiya.
The union has trained 1190 teachers across the country on computer basics like Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point ‘to complement the government’s new curriculum’.local

Itai Muzondo

“I have always wanted to venture into what are generally perceived as domains of masculinity and I feel women can do it too despite the odds being heavily stacked against them within the kind of society I grew up.”
These are the words of Hellen Venganai, an Information and Communication Technology guru who attributes her success and the progress of the charitable work she does in Bikita to her attitude towards her own personal life experiences.
Venganai runs a charity organisation called Mambure Trust which works to help mainly young rural girls with ICT skills.
She says her life has been a tale of overcoming obstacles and she is now committed to the goal of advancing the rights of marginalised girls especially those living in rural areas.
At high school, a mathematics teacher discouraged her from studying sciences saying those were difficult areas that girls could not possibly hope to do well. That alone was an eye opener to what she calls a repugnant world which employes stereotypes to undermine the potential of the girl child.
“My desire to get into the sciences was nearly shattered when a maths teacher told me sciences at ‘A’ level were for males so I grudgingly studied arts subjects and ended up as a journalist.
“Working as a journalist did wonders for me because the vast information at my disposal made me realise that I still had a chance to pursue whatever dream I still had to get into the sciences.
“It was then that I went to Netherlands for further studies in Gender and ICT before coming back home, not to find a job, but to help young rural girls with relevant ICT skills,” Venganai said.
She says only voluntarism can change the fortunes of such communities as those that she works with because most of the people there cannot afford to buy computers, let alone to hire an expert to train them.
Her basic computer skills programme for primary schools like Jaravaza and Nyemba in Bikita has helped hundreds of children, mainly girls.
“Getting hired skills is out of reach for communities I targeted so I understand the importance of volunteerism, having stayed abroad for long. It is important that people work to spread ICT skills to communities with no other chance of getting them.
“The programme was primarily targeted at girls but boys later complained that they were being excluded so we created their own classes so that they too could gain from the programme.
“Besides now involving young boys, the programme has also gone further to train teachers after a realisation that teachers themselves had no basic ICT skills. All this I do because I don’t want young girls in rural communities to face the problems that I myself faced,” said Venganai.
On the future of her programme, she says it is her wish to see children from more disadvantaged communities being included.
 “I don’t have much resources but I would like to see the programme growing. The world is moving fast and it is leaving behind those who lack skills and access to information. We want to change that by leveraging on the little that is available to make a difference. With hard work and the determination that has always underlined this idea, all that I wish for can come to reality,” she said.local