Davison Marenga

Zvishavane – Informal traders in the mining town of Zvishavane have been hit hard by the recent ban of imports by ZIMRA and many are seeing an uncertain future lying ahead if the authorities stand by their decision.

South Africa offered cheap goods like food, clothing, building materials and furniture to the already struggling Zimbabweans, and ZIMRA decided to close the avenues of those goods to the suffering people  urging them to buy local manufactured goods which are expensive and beyond the reach of many. Zvishavane has no industry except mining and, many relied on imported goods for their daily livelihood. 

Traders mostly from the flea markets and grocery shops are the most affected as they got most  of their wares from  neighboring countries South Africa, Zambia and Botswana. They are now forced to buy local goods which are expensive and at times below standard.

“They are denying us the right to live.. They want to promote local goods but where are the local goods. If they happen to be there they are sold at exorbitant  prices and who would want to buy expensive things nowadays”, said one of the vendors.

Most residents of Zvishavane believe that the authorities are only concerned about their welfare and not the people they profess to protect.

“The only reason they have taken this stance is to promote their businesses nothing else. All they want is to see us suffer and then they come pretending to be the Messiahs of this world,” said an irritated Blessing Phiri.

“I’m worried now about what happens when I exhaust my wares. I  hope they will revise their decision in the near future because its causing unrest in the country”, he added.

Some informal traders  in furniture manufacturing welcomed the move by ZIMRA saying this will help them realise bumper sales as people will  buy from them instead of importing.

“I am a happy man now. I look forward to improving my sales. Life was a bit hard as people were importing most of their furniture from South Africa and Botswana”, said one of carpenter.news

Enough is enough! We are now tired of this government. They can’t pay teachers and other civil servants, they have banned imports so that our mothers and brothers who were making a living out of cross border trading can starve and die. They have deployed police officers in every road; even dust roads so that they can take the little money we have been saving. They are so heartless. But this time povho yaramba zvemadhisinyongoro! A-ah kusiri kufa ndekupi? Vanhu vepi vanotsindira mwena unobuda neishwa? You want cross border traders to die; you want civil servants to die save for the police and army ka? 

Mapombi is very bitter how government has reduced this once noble profession, teaching. When we were growing up kwedu kwachiri mudombo uko every pupil would say I want to be a teacher when I grow up. E-eh why not when teachers were the only ones driving Peugot 504s, Renalt and Datsun 120ys. Kkkkkkk matakadya kare havaraidze vana zvawo but kabasa kaimbobhadhara aka. But the government has reduced it to nothing. Kkkkkkk even vendors kutoita chiseko chaticha? Hanzi putseke kumba kunodyiwa maputi sekwa teacher kkkkkk kufanana naMapombi here anorarama nemaputi and rotten bananas.

Some of us we condemn violence; we believe in peace but please don’t stretch our patience too, too far. Mapombi heard there was chaos in beitbridge and Harare this week and people are disgruntled over the continued misrule. Mapombi saw a number of police trucks ferrying twuma junior officers going to Beitbridge to help restore order. Who cares that the junior officer are not paid? They simply have to go and execute their duties as per instruction. Period! Kana vakanzi rovai vanhu vanozvambaradza whether they have money to pay rentals and buy food that is something else vanongozvambaradza. Ko ungadii wakapinda basa nekumhanya – hapana ende hapana zvaunoita.

But $100 advance salary for teachers was an insult to say the least. Hanzi transport allowance – nonsense! You mean they have to go kubasa vasina kudya or kuwacha? Why being so selfish that one things transport allowance will solve teachers’ problems? Kkkkkk imika imi mutiitire mushe manzwaka? Tikwanirei apo!

Nemiwo mateacher munazvo – Mapombi saw thousands in bank queues taking turns to withdraw that insult. Kkkkkk some even twisted Shinsoman’s song to suit their situation vanwa zvavo zvima Super paLand Mark apo. Kkkkkk hanzi VaMugabe vatikandira mawaya waya…. Waya wayaa vaMugabe vatikandira mawaya wayaaa. Kikikiki gore rino muchatambiriswa zvihuta chete sekererai government muchidaro. 

Mapombi really sympathises with teachers; these gusy are educated and they should be treated with respect. If government was messing around with police and army, Mapombi wouldn’t care much because ava vakapinda basa nekumhanya havo not our teachers some with degrees from as far as Cuba? Some have Masters degrees and others PhDs kkkkk from UZ of course. But salary pepepe hwaaa muchadya madegree iwayo vakapinda basa nekumhanya vachiiwana nenguva Kkkkkk DJ ridzai zvenyu Shinsoman mapurisa nemasoja vapinde joy. ‘Waya wayaa…waya wayaa’ Kkkkk hurii kuseka zvangu nhamo serugare. Zvinoda isu vana Mapombi izvi we are used to eating rotten bananas and maputi manje kusoti a degreed person naye kundodya rotten bananas hameno.

By the way, before I forget, Mapombi is very sure Masvingo police boss got the message because it was very loud and clear – Zvemapurisa 14 paroadblock ngazvipere lest you want to turn that organization into a revenue collection organization tobva taziva. Kana zvekuita zvapera kune amwe maSections ngavaende paoff than to cause unnecessary congestion paMucheke Bridge apo and even delaying people vanotoita production vacho. And what the hell you call TARGETS? For what? Zvichi zvebasa here izvo kana vanhu vava kushanda nematargets? Motorists are being swindled because officers have targets to meet. Shame on you! Anyway, Mapombi rest her case asi mazvinzwa shoko harivhikwi.

And after that we blame sanctions kkkkkk it’s pathetic. Zvinonzwisa tsitsi izvi! Even the chaos at Beitbridge Border Post is because of sanctions kkkkkk. Sanctions forced our government to unjustly impose imports ban kkkkkk haaa masanctions akatiparira! By the way what happened to those millions of anti-sanctions signatures we signed at Mucheke Stadium gore riye? Kkkkkk Josaya Hungwe wakati hazvina mature zvatava kuita izvi zvemasignature. 

Zanu PF is so obsessed with millions hey; talk of two million jobs, million-man march, war vets million march kkkk they just do their things in millions. Zvinozongoramba hazvo but these Cdes are really obsessed with big figures. No wonder they want to introduce Bond Notes they miss those big figures – you all know what happened during Gideon Gono’s tenure as RBZ governor – One million, billion, trillion, quintillion, haaa nxaa!

Anyway, that is always the case when the company is being run by an incompetent CEO. Ya-ah CEO kana pasina zvinozikanwa the company will sink in debts. Kkkkkk imagine borrowing for consumption ndokunonzi kudya zvamangwana nhasi ka uku! Vakangwara they borrow to boost production not consumption. Imagine a cabinet full of Doctors (PhD) but they have no clue to solve the economic woes we are facing as a country. Kkkkk but Mapombi once told you that you can rig the elections but not the economy. Never! Mapakura mbodza ehe mapakura mbodzaaa kkkk Mtukudzi ishasha.

The demonstrations that engulfed the country is a sign of disgruntlement. People are disgruntled, people are hungry and they need food. Teachers need their salaries. Cross border traders are angry because government irikuvharisa mukoto unovararamisa. This government is heartless! People are saying ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Anyway, it is almost lunch time regai ndiende kundokanga maputi angu for lunch. Rotten bananas are hard to come by these days; my hope is that teachers get their salaries because ndivo vanotombotionawo pavanouya kuzotenga machunks, matemba nematomatisi kwedu kwaGrace Trading Centre uko. Kkkkk I heard Mphoko was forced out of the hotel room hanzi mumbopinda vakakosha vanobva Sierra Leone kkkkkk ndakambozvitaura kuti zundu rikagara mundove rofunga kuti nairo ratovawo mombe kkkkkkk. Mukadarika nekwaChirimudombo muvaudze kuti Mapombi zveaccommodation zvakaramba ava kugara muma plastic kwaDr Gire arikukanga waya chaiko. Mboko imboko!mapombi

Brighton Chiseva

Zaka Rural District Council Chief Executive Officer, David Majaura,  is lucky to be alive after he escapied uninjured when he was involved in an accident  soon after the 60 km peg along the Mvuma-Kwekwe road last week.

Majaura said he heard a sound from under the car like he had hit a stone after cresting a hump like uprising in the road. Because of ripples in the dust road the car swerved to the right and he managed to turn it back before it veered off the road and hit a tree beside the road.

He also said he suspected that his rear wheel had a puncture and went flat as he noticed after the accident.

“When I got out of the car I noticed that the rear wheel was flat and I think this was the reason why the car lost balance,” said Majaura

He, however, managed to continue with the journey after reporting the accident to the police. He had to complete the journey in  Gutu RDC CEO, Alexander Mutembwa’s car who was driving ahead and had to come back looking for him after noticing that his friend was no longer following him.news

Kennedy Murwira

Incoming Masvingo-Kernen Association chairman, Pascal Mudzikisi, says he is raring to go and will leave no stone unturned in his quest to improve the lives of the people of Masvingo by creating employment through income generating activities.

Mudzikisi, who replaced Simon Chireshe at the helm of the association, said he is prepared to engage his counterparts in the Kernen-Masvingo Association in Germany to come in with assistance to kickstart the projects. He also said he will convince the City Council to allocate part of the land on one of its farms for the projects.

“The aim behind the projects is to remove our youths from the streets and keep them occupied in income generating projects. 

“I am looking at getting one hectare of land on council owned Standard Farm where we will embark on a poultry project. 

“I will personally convince our friends in Germany to provide us with funding for the roofing sheets and the diamond mesh wire for the fowl runs while we will mould the bricks ourselves on site.

“Poultry feeds and other requirements will be sourced locally and other members of the committee will be expected to play their part to make this project a success,” said Mudzikisi.

Mudzikisi added that by-products from the poultry project will be used as manure in a gardening project that will be expected to run side by side with the poultry project. He said he will personally ensure that products from the activities have a ready market in the city.

“There are fast food outlets that are operating within the city and some which are expected to open soon. We will convince them to give our youths the first right of refusal to supply them with live birds or alternatively poultry products.

‘If we fail to agree then we can always use the legal route by convincing the council to craft by-laws which allow these outlets to source for their products locally before resorting to other centres.

“If they fail to agree on prices we will ask them to come back to us so that we can convince our youths to put in place a pricing structure that is in line with other existing suppliers in other centres,” Mudzikisi said.

He said vegetables from the gardening project will be easily absorbed by local markets which do not enjoy the services of a ready supplier at the moment.

“I will visit stallholders at the markets, especially the Chitima Market, and convince them to buy their vegetable produce locally,” he said.

The identification process for the youths to participate in the projects, Mudzikisi said, will be done at ward level while some of the youths who spent their time on the streets selling airtime will also be targeted.news

Patricia Makubaro 

ZVISHAVANE – Rodrick Chigede will rue the day he posed as a Criminal Investigation Department officer after he was slapped with a two and a half year-jail term for robbing a firearm from a police officer.

It was the state case that Rodrick Chigede (32), who stays in Kadoma, pretended to be a member of the CID Minerals Department and robbed Allan Kanhema, a police officer stationed at Zvishavane.

Chigede had come for gold panning in the mining town of Zvishavane before he engaged in criminal activities. He assaulted Kanhema many times before snatching his pistol and vanished from the scene.

The court heard that Chigede went to his hometown and started to threaten gold panners in Kwekwe with the pistol, posing as a CID officer.

He, however, approached some licensed panners who then became suspicious of Chigede’s actions and reported the matter to the police leading to his arrest.

Zvishavane magistrate, Sherpard Munjanja, told Chigede that Zimbabwe is not a banana republic where ordinary people can do whatever they want.

“No one is above the law,” said Munjanja before he sentenced Chigede to two and half years. 

Shiela Mpindu prosecuted.news

Goden Marume

CHIVHU – Chivhu residents and Chikomba Rural District Council (RDC) are at loggerheads over payment of outstanding debts with the former saying they will not pay until council improves on service delivery.

Council issued letters of demand of payment through its lawyers, Mangwana and Partners Legal Practitioners, recently but residents insist that they will not pay their outstanding balances until the local authority improves service delivery.

The letter of demand gave residents a two weeks ultimatum of which failure to pay will see the council dragging them to court.

“We hereby demand that you pay the said amount, plus $13 for this letter of demand and 10% collection commission within fourteen (14) days from date of this letter. If you fail to pay, we shall take this matter to court and you will be made to pay more legal expenses,”  reads part of the letter.

Ratepayers who spoke to TellZim News, however, vowed that they will not pay until the council improves service delivery.

“There is breach of contract from both parties. When the town council promised to deliver adequate services it failed and the ratepayers stopped paying. Residents used to pay rates, but they stopped after council failed to provide quality service delivery,” said Fungai Mamvura from M-section. 

Another ratepayer identified as Mafika said; “The council never gave us notices neither did they consult us first before rushing to engage lawyers, after all what services are they offering?”

Chikomba RDC Chief Executive officer (CEO), Luckson Mutara, declined to comment on the matter but hastened to say they have scheduled a meeting with ratepayers to discuss the matter.

“I ca not disclose most of the information over the phone because of security reasons. Last time there were issues of abductions so I prefer face to face conversation. We have agreed to hold meetings with ratepayers to discuss the matter,” said Mutara.news