CHIREDZI – A Chiredzi man who was frightened with the possibility of going to jail, begged the father of a five-year-old girl he was caught sodomising to beat him up as penalty instead of reporting the matter to the police.
The Chiredzi Regional Magistrates Court heard that the father of the victim allegedly caught Dzingai Gwenzi of Plot 72 Zvidozvevanhu, Dhika, Buffalo Range in his (Gwenzi’s) bedroom having anal sex with his daughter.
The court, led by Regional Magistrate Judith Zuyu, heard that Gwenzi called the girl, who was in the company of her two little brothers, into his bedroom and ordered the brothers to vacate the room.
He then removed the girl’s pants and had anal sex with her once without the girl’s consent.
The court also heard that Gwenzi was not aware that the father of the girl was cutting bushes in a nearby field and the two little brothers, upset with being separated from their sister, cried out loudly and attracted the attention of their father.
The father then rushed to Gwenzi’s homestead only to find his two kids outside the yard and that was when he asked about the whereabouts of their sister and was told that she was in Gwenzi’s bedroom.
The father then opened Gwenzi’s bedroom only to find him abusing the little girl.
“I was shocked when I saw the state of my little girl, Gwenzi was having sex with my child from the back. He then pleaded with me to beat him and not report the case to the police…I was so hurt and I told him that if I were to beat him, I would kill him so it was better to report the matter,” said the father.
Gwenzi denied abusing the girl saying she was simply playing on his bed when her father arrived.
He was later remanded in custody waiting for his judgement tomorrow (Friday).
Moreblessing Rusere Prosecuted.local

GWERU – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Zimbabwe country representative, Cheikh Tidiane last week praised Midlands State University (MSU) for leading the fight against sexually transmitted infections.
Speaking during the launch of a state-of -the-art model health resource centre at the MSU Gweru campus, Tidiane praised the university for placing great importance on the sexual health of young people.
“Let me commend the leadership of this university for placing such great importance on equipping young people with the necessary life skills and information related to their sexual reproductive health and rights by opening this resource centre. UNFPA is extremely proud to be part of this because it strongly resonates with our mandate,” Tidiane said.
The health facility, which boasts pool tables, computers, HIV and Aids literature, a boardroom and counselling room, is the brainchild of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Students and Youth Working on reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT).
Tidiane also indicated many young people were exposed to the danger of STIs due to inadequate access to sexual and reproductive health information.
“Many young people in Zimbabwe continue to suffer from such problems as unwanted pregnancies, HIV and Aids, unsafe abortions and STIs due to, among many other reasons, lack of access to sexual and reproductive health information and services thus limiting their full potential,” Tidiane said.
Students also celebrated the efforts of the university in the fight against STI’s, and recommend that the model be replicated in other institutions with urgency to protect the country’s demographic dividend.
“As students, we are celebrating a library on sexual reproductive health and recreation centre in the same breadth. We thank MSU, Saywhat and UNFPA. It reminds us that rights come with responsibility. We are looking forward to the extension of this service to other tertiary institutions,” said Hastings Tengende, a student and peer educator at the university.
Youths constitute over 60 percent of the country’s 13 million population. The 2015 Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey states that one in 10 adolescent girls give birth each year while HIV prevalence stands at 6,7 percent in the same group.local

Cephas Shava

MWENEZI – The Mwenezi Rural District Council (RDC) last week embarked on a district-wide whirlwind sensitisation campaign for proposed by-laws with the public expressing divergent views on the matter.
Many contributors said they fully acknowledged the intended purpose of the proposed by-laws especially those that seek to protect the environment from further harm but pointed out that awareness has always been inadequate.
Among other things, they said many environmental offences were fuelled by lack of knowledge of the regulations.
“As council, you should vigorously disseminate information concerning the contents of the by-laws so that everyone becomes fully informed. You should not just come and arrest people for violating the by-laws they are not aware of.
“Besides that, some departments are merely existing in name; since we were resettled in 2000, the department responsible for pegging contour ridges in our fields has never visited us,” said a participant from ward 16.
Contributors who live in areas close to the Masvingo – Beitbridge highway expressed concern over cross border buses which they accused of being among the worst offenders when it comes to littering.
They pointed out that they often wake up to the sight of piles of scattered garbage that would have been dumped in the night by cross border buses that stop at undesignated points for recess along the highway.
The by-law sensitisation programme, which saw an interactive two-way communication between the community and the RDC, were also supported by the Ministry of Health and Child Care.local

CHIREDZI – The seeming reluctance on the part of government and the corporate sector to clear their rate arrears with Chiredzi Town Council is militating against efforts to improve service delivery, TellZim News has been told.
In an interview, town secretary Charles Muchatukwa revealed that council was owed in excess of five million US dollars mainly by government and the business sector.
“The business community owes us $3 047 225, government departments and institutions $332 883, the markets $872 666 and residents $833 684. Business seems unwilling to pay rates and we are suing those who do not want to pay what they owe,” said Muchatukwa.
He praised ordinary residents for making huge efforts to clear their rate arrears from a whopping two million US dollars last year to the current figure.
Muchatukwa also said council had a huge service delivery backlog especially in the neglected areas like Makondo and its workers were going for months without pay due to erratic revenue inflows.
Town chairperson Francis Mayo also lamented what he called was a propensity to quickly complain over perceived incidences of poor service delivery when no similar zeal is displayed when it comes to payment of rates.
“The problem we have as council is that the very people who complain over service delivery are the same people with high bills yet to be paid. We have workers with four months without pay and all that is caused by non-payment of rates; our main source of revenue,” said Moyo.
In most towns and cities, government departments like security services, education and health institutions owe millions of dollars’ worth of unpaid rates.
Earlier this year, City of Masvingo cut off water supplies to the provincial education offices at Wigley House due to continuous non-payment of rates.
As of January 2016, the city was owed in excess of 16 million US dollars by government departments, a factor that has contributed to the deterioration of service delivery in the city.local

Nashe Mahachi

MUTARE – Former Allied Timbers contract workers who camped at the company’s Nyakamete Industrial Area premises for almost three weeks demanding outstanding wages they are owed spent last Friday night in police cells after mine management decided to take drastic action against them.
They were later transported back to their respective bases awaiting payment of the money they are owed.
A total of 100 former workers from Chimanimani, Gwindingwi, Erin and Staplefod were camped at number 6 Hellens Drive, Nyakamete Industrial Area, Mutare.
They camped and slept in the corridors and in the company boardroom to pressure bosses to expedite payment of the outstanding money.
The former workers are being owed an average of 17 months wages and the group that camped at the premises also included women and children.
One worker from Chimanimani, Pfungwa Jakata attempted to commit suicide at the company’s premises.
Jakata was rushed to Mutare Provincial Hospital where he was treated and discharged.
Allied Timbers Public Relations (PR) executive Veronica Gutu said the company will pay the former workers their dues saying she regretted the attempted suicide case.
“We heard of one worker who wanted to commit suicide. As a company we are going through the financial challenges other company are going through.
“We tried to make payments arrangements but the former workers were not in agreement and we ended up calling the police for them. We will definitely settle everything, we will pay them in installments starting with their current salary,” she said.local

Cephas Shava

MWENEZI – A 34-year-old teacher who had been on the run for the past two years after seizing someone’s laptop for failing to pay a US$20 debt, was last week convicted of unauthorised borrowing by Magistrate Honest Musiiwa.
Life Takavada of Chikandiwa village under Chief Negari, whom others said taught at Results Oriented College in Harare, was convicted on his own plea of guilty and sentenced to twenty days behind bars or alternatively pay US$60 fine.
The State’s case, as presented led by prosecutor Patience Mutsikwi, was that on September 4, 2015 at around 10:00 hrs, Takavada took the Samsung laptop with a net value of US$400 from Alfred Beta who had failed to settle the debt.
After taking the laptop, Takavada disappeared and went on to ignore repeated phone calls by police at Rutenga instructing him to bring back the laptop.
Beta later told TellZim News that with the help of social media, he managed to locate Takavada who had been reluctant to divulge his whereabouts though he, on several occasions, would entertain some phone calls.
“I was sure that Takavada was in Harare but I was not certain about his exact location. So I sent messages to different WhatsApp groups pleading for anybody with knowledge of his whereabouts to assist me.
“I eventually received a tip off so I visited his workplace in the company of three police officers and we ambushed him during break time. He was really taken by surprise because when he saw me, he tried to flee and resist arrest but the police officers overpowered him,” said Beta.local

CHIREDZI – A man from Makonye village under headman Mupapa, Chief Sengwe, is in trouble for allegedly raping his then 13-year-old niece and infecting her with syphilis in January 2016.
Alex Sithole appeared before Magistrate Judith Zuyu who heard that sometime in January last year, Sithole allegedly met the minor, who is related to his wife, and dragged her into the bush where he raped her once, gave her a dollar after the act and ordered her not to report the case.
In the second count, it is alleged that at an unknown date but in the same month, Sithole raped the girl and threatened her with a knife, ordering her not to report the case to the police.
In the third count, but again on an unknown date, Sithole raped the girl and threatened to kill her if she ever reported the case to anybody.
The matter came to light in January 2017 after the girl’s aunt (Sithole’s wife) noticed that her niece was not walking properly before taking her to Chomupani Clinic where the girl was diagnosed with syphilis.
In his defence, Sithole, who seemed to be confident at ease with the proceedings, refuted all the three counts and said he had consensual sex with the girl.
“I did not rape her, I was in love with her. She came to my house while my wife and children were at the fields and I asked her for sex and she closed her face with both hands while smiling. I assumed she had accepted and we went on to have sex,” said Sithole.
Sithole also told the court that he himself had never been diagnosed with any Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) so he could not be the one who infected the girl.
However, Sharai Mationesa, a nurse who treated the girl, told the court that Syphilis was a long term infection so it was ordinary that the symptoms began to appear after one year of the alleged rape.
The case was later postponed to a later date for continuation of trial with Moreblessing Rusere standing for the State.local