Prince Danda

ZVISHAVANE – A man has appeared in court for attempting an unlawful break-in into his ex-girlfriend’s house after she had refused to let him in.
Saymore Negore aged 25, appeared before Zvishavane magistrate Archie Wochiunga for attempting to gain forced entry into his former girlfriend’s house in Isiah Park.
An outline which was read by the court interpreter, Ashleigh Gougoh alleged that Negore went to Ruramai Mashunye’s house around 02: 00 hrs and started swearing and shouting at Mashunye ordering her to open the door but she refused.
Negore proceeded to grab a brick and smashed a window pane but vanished after realising that he had alarmed Mashunye’s neighbours.
Negore pleaded guilty and told the court that he had been insulted through an anonymous phone call which he suspected to be the work of Mashunye.
He was expected to be back in court to receive his judgement.
Meanwhile, a man from Mandava was sentenced to 135 hours community service after he pleaded guilty to having sex with his 14-year-old girl friend.
Twenty-year-old Runesu Shumba, appeared before Zvishavane magistrate Archie Wochiunga for having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl.
Shumba told the court that he was love with the girl and claimed that he had the right to satisfy his partner’s sexual desires but Wochiunga told him the law criminalises sexual relations with minors.

GWERU – A Somabula man found himself on the wrong side of the law after he allegedly set on fire the hut where his mother and siblings were sleeping following a dispute over an ox.
By the time of writing, Blessed Mudzi (28) was on the run following the incident which happened after a fight over an ox left behind by his late father.
Mudzi’s mother Prisca Manyemba escaped with serious burns and was admitted at Gweru Provincial Hospital while the other two victims survived with minor injuries.
Mudzi’s younger brother Prosper saved the day when he broke the exit using an axe.
Manyemba then reported the matter to the police.
She told TellZim News that ever since her husband passed away, she had been having endless disputes with her son Mudzi.
“I am a widow and since the death of my husband, I have been having problems with my son. He is always away doing gold panning and each time he returns home, he harasses me and his siblings.
“On that day, he left home grudgingly because I had told him to leave and find somewhere else to stay with his wife whom he says should not do any work at home just because she holds an ‘A’ level certificate,
“This is what angered him and he then decided to try and kill us by burning the hut in which we were sleeping,” she said.local

Itai Muzondo

GOKWE – A notorious Kwekwe burglar who terrorised business people at gunpoint over the past years was recently slapped with 23 years’ imprisonment after he was convicted on several counts of armed robbery.
The accused is part of a gang linked to a spate of armed robberies in Zhombe, Kwekwe and Silobela where they terrorised businesspeople, getting away with electrical gadgets and groceries.
Tafadzwa Magarisanwa (26) of House Number 1398/17, Mbizo, pleaded not guilty to all the 43 counts when he appeared before Gokwe regional magistrate Solomon Jenya.
Magarisanwa was convicted of 28 counts after nine were withdrawn by the State because witnesses had failed to come to testify. He was acquitted on six other charges after full trial.
On behalf of the State, Robert Ndlala said between the months of February and March 2015, the accused together with his accomplices who are still at large, terrorised shops mostly in Zhombe, Kwekwe and Silobela, robbing them of electrical gadgets and groceries.
“Magarisanwa and accomplices would produce a pistol and threaten to kill shop keepers whom they would force to hand over electrical gadgets and groceries.
“The robbers were targeting mostly shops in Zhombe, Kwekwe and Silobela where they robbed radios, digital video players and laptops,” Ndlala said.
He also told the court that the accused was caught after he stole property at a school where he was performing community service for a different offence.local

Clever Taperamoyo

The Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (Viset) has condemned recent utterances by President Robert Mugabe to the effect that vendors should be cleared off the streets.
Addressing members of the Zanu PF youth league national assembly from all the 10 provinces of the country at the party’s headquarters in Harare on October 7, President Mugabe spoke against the deplorable state of the capital and said government must move with speed to move vendors off undesignated selling points.
The statements almost immediately saw vendors being driven off the streets of many towns by a combination of municipal and riot police.
In response, Viset described the move as irrational and inhuman, arguing that it ran contrary to the national constitutional objective which obliges the State and all its agencies to promote private initiatives of self-reliance.
This also comes as Mugabe has failed to create the 2.2 million jobs he promised in the run-up to the 2013 elections.
“We are in the streets not because we want but your administration’s Machiavellian macro-economic policies have brought us to this stage.
“The right to human dignity, right to food and right to life cannot be realised if people are denied opportunities to earn livelihoods,” Viset said in a statement.
Viset also challenged City of Harare to take full responsibility for its failure to provide adequate designated sites for vendors.
The organisation said the forceful eviction of informal traders will not solve the current vending morass for as long as the evictions are not met with equal provision of proper sites for informal traders to do their work.
The move to drive vendors off the streets was also condemned by other organisations like the National Vendors Union Zimbabwe (Navuz).local