GUTU – A popular council bar at Chinyika business centre has been shut down, renovated and converted for use by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) which is on a drive to reach out to more people to register to vote.
The building is now being used by the Registrar General’s office to issue birth certificates and national identity card as well as by the electoral body to register people as voters.
During an interview with TellZim News, Member of Parliament for Gutu North, Ticharwa Madondo said it was pointless to have a bar when people were not registered to vote.
“This renovation was done so as to help citizens to acquire the required documentation needed for one to vote,” said Madondo.
He told residents that he hoped the building will continue to serve its new purpose even after next year’s elections, saying a bar was less important than identity documents and the right to vote.
“I am going to raise an issue in Parliament that government should allow all citizens to have a national identity card even those without birth certificates. This will boost people’s morale and many will go to register to vote,” said Madondo.
Some people who spoke to TellZim News, however, expressed disappointment with the change of use, saying the bar used to be their favourite drinking joint where friends will find leisure after a hard day’s work.local

MASVINGO – Charumbira Primary School recently held an official opening ceremony for a two-classroom block which was constructed using resources from the Central Emergency Respond Fund (CERF) which created by Unicef to assist schools repair facilities destroyed by bad weather.
Speaking on behalf of the Provincial Education Director (PED) Zedius Chitiga, Masvingo District Schools Inspector (DSI) Ishmael Chigaba thanked parents and the school head for working together for the success of the project.
“On behalf of the Ministry, I would like to thank our parents and the school for a job well done. I encourage the parents and the school leadership to now focus their attention at upgrading other blocks,” Chigaba said.
He urged the school head to take advantage of the US$27 000 that will be distributed towards building Early Childhood Development (ECD) facilities in schools.
Chigaba also emphasised the need to start embarking on homegrown school feeding programmes, saying it was the responsibility of parents to feed their children.
Charumbira Primary School head Choice Mazhata thanked her staff, the School Development Committee (SDC), Chief Fortune Charumbira, Chitiga and CERF for their work which saw the project succeeding.
Established in the 1940s, the school has an enrollment of 491 pupils but most of its facilities are in need of urgent upgrades.local

GWERU – Council has admitted that it lacks capacity to collect refuse across the city owing to broken down waste removal vehicles and will soon outsource the service to private companies, TellZim News has learnt.
This comes shortly after council announced it was putting back to tender the supply of service delivery vehicles because the company that won the initial bid failed to do the job citing foreign currency shortages.
In a circular drafted after a special council meeting held recently, the city said it will contract private transporters to collect waste.
“Following the challenges experienced in the collection of solid waste due to inadequate refuse compactor trucks and frequent breakdowns due to ageing, the City of Gweru invites interested members of the community owning trucks ranging from 3.5 tonnes to 10 tonnes to submit their bids to the director of health services for consideration and possible hire of their vehicles for solid waste removal,” reads part of the circular.
Residents who spoke to TellZim News, however, were of the opinion that the plan will breed more corruption and patronage.
“No promise given to us residents has ever been fulfilled and all they think about is fattening their pockets. Think of how many of them or close relatives own such trucks? It’s those people who will be given the tenders and none of the plans are meant to serve us,” said a resident.
Learnmore Tafirenyika of Ascot said he expected nothing to improve as all council initiatives in the past have shown to be either ill-conceived or were made to promote self-interest.
 “We have experienced poor service delivery by city council for a long time now and as the people, we have no confidence that their latest plans are well-meant. The people are throwing waste everywhere because they don’t have a choice,” said Tafirenyika.
The council has targeted areas like Woodlands, Ascot, Northleagh, Athlone, Nashville and KMP-Senga for waste collection by the private truckers.local

Lloyd Shunje in Mutare

MUTARE – Council is set to deal with water woes that have affected high density suburbs following a resolution to resume construction of the US$1.1 million Dangamvura water pipeline.
The State Procurement Board (SPB) recently approved continuation of the project which started in 2011 but abruptly came to a halt due to financial constraints.
Speaking to TellZim New, Mayor Tatenda Nhamarare said council was determined to see the project through.
 “We resolved as council to resume the work using internal resources while plans are being made to source more funds from elsewhere.
“The pipeline will link Chikanga and Dangamvura and once the required materials have been acquired, we will then start the project which is set to bring an end to water problems that have affected Dangamvura residents for a long time,” said Nhamarare.
 Residents who spoke to TellZim News said they hoped that the project will be completed quickly to bring an end to their misery.
“It is a good thing that council has taken the stance to put an end to water problems that have affected us as residents. Many people had lost hope that anything will be done to solve the water shortages they have faced all along,” said Ignatius Tivatye of Dangamvura.local

ZVISHAVANE – Two Mberengwa men have appeared before the Zvishavane Magistrates Court for making false witchcraft claims on ZTV.
Sifelani Dube (27) and Soton Dube from Chief Chingoma in Mberengwa appeared before magistrate Archie Wochiunga facing charges of criminal nuisance as defined in section 46 (2) (v) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
The duo appeared on ZTV on the October 19, 2017 and made false claims that they practiced witchcraft.
They also claimed that they were in possession of a hyena, an owl, a baboon, a snake and cats that they claimed to use in their witchcraft business and to recover their money from bad debtors.
State prosecutor, Stanley Ncube told the court that they confessed that they made their false statements in order to alarm the nation for the sake of attention and possibly to make money from the mystified public.
He said when investigations were done in the wake of their TV appearance, it was proven that the two were scammers who possessed none of the things they claimed to have and that they actually were not wizards.
Magistarate Wochiunga found them guilty of fraud and interfering with public comfort and peace.
They were both remanded for mental examination and will be sentenced when the results are out.local