Brighton Chiseva

ZAKA – Villagers of Svovonho village under chief Nyakunhuwa in Zaka have been left ashamed after a young man impregnated his half-sister following a long period of incestuous sexual encounters between the two orphaned siblings.
The boy and girl (names withheld) aged 18 and 17 respectively, were staying with their grandfather after the passing on of their father and are said to have maintained a suspiciously tight relationship that eventually got people talking.
A close relative of the two told TellZim News that when people began to raise suspicions, the two flatly denied the rumours only for the matter to come to light after the girl fell pregnant in April this year.
“At first we thought it was just a friendship since they were orphans but we started to receive tip offs from villagers who would have seen them in the bushes. The two then became the talk of the village,” said the relative.
It is said when the girl began to develop signs of pregnancy she again refuted people’s suspicions but later confessed when it became all obvious that she was pregnant.
Their grandfather is said to have been so ashamed of the disgraceful development in his family that he tried to bury the story.
He is, however, said to have at once thoroughly beat the two and ordered them to keep away from each other but the two continued with the girl saying she loved her brother and would marry him if she were allowed to do so.
Some villagers, however, blamed the family elders for aiding the taboo, saying the two were given leeway to do as they pleased after they were given their own kitchen.
This was reportedly after their grandfather had complained that they were so troublesome and disobedient that he could not stand them being in the same house with the rest of the family.
Meanwhile the girl has been taken to Masvingo where she lives with an aunt while the boy was left at home in Zaka.
Efforts to get a comment from the grandfather were futile as his phone was not reachable by the time of going to print.
Incest is not only taboo in local culture but illegal in Zimbabwe and much of the world where it is punishable by a jail sentence.news

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MASVINGO – A special council meeting which sat as an appeals committee on July 28, 2016 resolved to dismiss two council Stores workers on charges of breaching Section 5.5.2 of the City of Masvingo Code of Conduct.
They were found to have breached the code of conduct which prohibits “Habitual/ substantial unsatisfactory performance.”
Helper Ncube, a Stores Controller in the Stores Section of the Treasury Department and Allen Pisirayi, a buyer in the same department, were first charged by the Head of Department, Thandiwe Dube, on May 16, 2016.
Ncube was charged of neglecting his duty of supervising Pisirayi who allegedly breached council procurement procedures by issuing a verbal instruction to Errant Management Pvt Ltd and Praymost Pvt Ltd to provide services to council.
However the two appealed their dismissal with the Manpower Appeals Committee, chaired by Councillor Godfrey Kurauone of ward 4.
The appeals committee, sitting on June 27, 2016 controversially reversed the dismissal and substituted it of final written warning valid for 12 months.
Dube then appealed against the decision of the committee citing various inconsistences leading to the convening of a Special Council Meeting sitting as the appeals committee.
The Special Council Committee overruled the decision of the Manpower Appeals Committee and resolved to uphold the duo’s dismissal from council.
City of Masvingo mayor, Hubert Fidze confirmed attending the Special Council Committee meeting but said the dismissal of the two was a collective council resolution.
“The special council meeting overruled the decision by the manpower committee of cautioning the two for 12 months and resolved to dismiss them. The decision was made by the council and no one can challenge it,” said Fidze.
Ward 10 councillor, Lovemore Mufamba said there was no need to caution them since it was proven beyond reasonable doubt that they had breached the Code of Conduct.
“These are the same people who are behind the diesel scandal which happened a month ago. The council did a good job because we have to adhere to the principles. I know there may be other councillors who may have disagreed with the decision but the council ruled to fire them, so it stands. When it comes to these matters, we have to put politics aside and deal with the problem,” said Mufamba.news

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MASVINGO – The Zanu PF Bikita West primary elections to replace incarcerated Munyaradzi Kereke ended in tears for perennial loser, Elias Musakwa after Beauty Chabaya emerged victorious from the crowded primary field last Saturday.
Chabaya will battle it out with candidates from opposition parties in the by-election to replace Kereke who was jailed 10 years for raping his niece at gun point.
Musakwa was initially disqualified from contesting in the primaries for a cocktail of transgressions including perceived links to Joice Mujuru’s ZimPF and refusing to return a party vehicle. He hoped to win the contest to reverse a series of political setbacks.
It was, however, Chabaya who carried the day after polling 1423, a massive 883 votes more than Musakwa’s paltry 540.
Chibaya is now almost certain to take the seat as no opposition party has so far shown interest to contest in the by-election.
Many were however shocked by the results of the primaries as Musakwa had entered the race as the favourite, with others claiming Chabaya did not have as much political clout as Musakwa.
Chabaya is suspected to be in the G40 faction which is embroiled in a bitter tussle with Team Lacoste to influence Zanu PF’s unpredictable succession path. She is also rumoured to be a close confidante of Jeppy Jaboon, the provincial political commissar who has also emerged as the G40 frontman in the province.
The primary field had 10 contestants including Daniel Makusha who took third position with 418 votes and Tichaona Delight Mandebvu who emerged at number four with 382 votes.
Other contenders were Gibson Mashingaidze 212, Wellington Mutisi 123, Douglas Makuku 114, Joshua Dehwa 75, Simon Masosonere 56, Geoffrey Murire 18 votes.
After the elections, some messages circulated on social claiming Musakwa was unsatisfied with the result and was mulling mounting a challenge with the party provincial executive.
Zanu PF Provincial Chairperson, Amasa Nhenjana, however, dismissed any talk of dissatisfaction with the primaries, saying everything was done smoothly.
“We don’t care about him (Musakwa). Is there anything that he has ever been satisfied with in Zanu PF? We told him to return the party vehicle but he refused. What then does he want to be satisfied with now?” said Nhenjana.
Provincial war veterans chairperson, Tendeukai Chinooneka, who is suspected to be fighting in Team Lacoste’s corner, also gave the conduct of the primaries a clean bill of health.
“Of course you are bound to find some instances of dissatisfaction in every contest but the process was generally good as everything went on well. Though I didn’t visit every polling station, the information I have at hand point to a fairly good process,” said Chinooneka.
This becomes Musakwa’s third failed bid to take the seat, after losing by nine votes to the opposition MDC in 2008 and to Munyaradzi Kereke in 2013.news

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CHIREDZI – Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri has called for the maintenance of Save Valley Conservancy fence amid reports that people who live in surrounding areas have lost more than one thousand cattle to wild animals this year.
Muchinguri-Kashiri was speaking to chiefs, councillors, conservancy owners at a meeting to explore ways of reducing human-wildlife conflict in the Lowveld.
Muchinguri-Kashiri said the conservancy owners should do a re-fencing of the conservancy so that animals can stay within their bounds.
“During my tour I realised that the Save Valley Conservancy fence is very old and has not been maintained since inception of the conservancy, so you should maintain the fence so that people will not continue losing their animals and crops,” said Muchinguri-Kashoiri.
She lamented reports from parks and wildlife officials that while people continue to lose their crops and livestock to wild animals like lions, there was no compensation plan for the affected villagers.
“I also have many reports of people losing their cattle to foot and mouth diseases which are mainly contracted when cattle mix with buffaloes. This is happening because Save Valley Conservancy is not properly fenced,” said Muchinguri.
Some farmers who spoke during the meeting complained that government was not showing adequate concern for their plight saying it has been a very long time since the problems were first raised with authorities.
“It’s so sad that our government is doing nothing about it. We are not compensated for the losses we suffer. I have many hectares of land now lying fallow because wild animals killed all my cattle. We also have wild pigs coming to destroy whatever crops we would have planted,” said the farmer.
Muchinguri-Kashiri said the government was working to rectify the problem by creating new campfire programmes to limit human-wildlife conflicts while spreading the economic benefits of wildlife to local communities.
The derelict Save Valley Conservancy fence was last maintained in the 1960s enabling wild animals to freely roam into surrounding communities.news

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Davison Marenga

ZVISHAVANE – Former  Shabane Mashava  Mines  (SMM) employee is suing the company for placing the company under reconstruction saying they are now incapacitated to claim their salary arrears and terminal benefits.
Tonderai Zunzanyika through his lawyers Mutendi, Mudisi and Shumba Legal Practitioners sued Shabani Mine with Arafus Gwaradzimba the company administrator as the first respondent while SMM and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa are second and third respondents respectively.
In the afidavits submitted at Bulawayo High Court, Zunzanyika argued that the placement of SMM company  under the ‘Reconstruction of State-indebted Insolvent  Companies Act CAP 24:27 in 2004, incapacitated former employees to claim their salary arrears and other terminal benefits.
A company  under the reconstruction  act is protected  from  losing its asserts and is immune from  being  sued by its former  workers  as stated by section  6 of the act.
During this period, Zunzanyika argued, SMM company started to lease some of its properties to Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) and Midlands State University (MSU) at Mashava and Zvishavane respectively, and some mine workers who have been staying in these premises were forced out.
  Zunzanyika said by so doing, SMM was no longer reconstructing but was now in a different business altogether with top officials benefiting at the expense of the employees.
"I have been employed by the company  for nine year until  I officially  resigned  in April  2014. During the period  of resignation  I was owed salary  and terminal  benefits amounting to over  $4500, but now I cannot claim it since the company is said to be under reconstruction,” Zunanyika said in the afidafits submitted at Bulawayo High Court.news

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