The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) leader Morgan Tsvangirai bemoaned the collapse of social and educational standards when he met Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) students at the party provincial offices in Masvingo last Sunday.

Tsvangirai castigated President Robert Mugabe and his government for failure to improve students’ welfare and vowed to improve the social and educational standards of tertiary education in the country.

“The social and educational standards at universities have deteriorated like never before in the history of this country. University programmes being offered these days are not different from literacy adult education due to lack of resources and we want to transform that so that our institutions are well-resourced in order to deleiver quality education. We want universities to produce students that are compatible with the labour market,” Tsvangirai said.

“We are going nowhere as a country because the graduates we are producing every year are roaming the streets and they have no jobs. Our priority is to create jobs as soon as we get in government,” Tsvangirai added.

MDC students’ council treasurer, Cheers Chiutsi, told Tsvangirai that they are being suppressed by other students especially from Zimbabwe Congress of Students Union (ZICOSU) who are being financially assisted by some Zanu-PF members.

“Students are being robbed by being made to pay full fees while on attachment when they don’t use some of the things they pay for. ZICOSU members always disrupt our activities on campus and they overestimate their powers simply because they are being funded by some members of Zanu-PF. Recently we clashed with them when they tried to interrupt our meeting and some of our people were arrested. The university security and the police are biased so we have no security,” said Chiutsi.

He added that most tertiary graduates are not compatible with the ever advancing technological innovations of the labour market.

Tsvangirai said the future of the students is bleak if they do not stand up and defend their rights.

“When I was with the workers, Mashava was a thriving mining community and now it’s a university, what a contradiction. If you close a mine and establish a university, what are you producing? That is the problem with our economy, it’s not able to produce because it has been destroyed systematically by the Mugabe regime,” Tsvangirai said.

He added that the government should go back to giving student grants not as charity but as a demonstration that the government is investing in its future.

“It’s not an act of benevolence for the government to give students grants. Every university in the world gives grants to students so that there is no class distinction at institutions”, he said.

The meeting was conducted with riot police roving the vicinity.news

A shocking incident took place in Chatsworth as a lifeless body was found lying in the middle of Chatsworth-Kurai road in what is suspected to be a hit and run case.

The incident took place between 13 and 14 April when Funmore Munyaki (30) of plot 10 Swaaveden in Chatsworth was found dead in the middle of the road, with scars on the skull, hands and several injuries on his body at the 4km peg along the Chatsworth-Kurai road at around 5 in the morning.

The deceased had been seen the previous night at Magejo Sports Bar where he had left late only to be found dead the next morning.

The body of the deceased was seen by Joseph Tavingei who lives at the plot where the deceased lived, and reported the issue to Chatsworth Police and Gutu traffic police.

Acting Masvingo Provincial Police Spokesperson Kudakwashe Dhewa confirmed the incident and said the police were suspecting the cause of his death to be a hit and run.

“His body is still in Gutu for a post-mortem but investigations to establish the cause of his death are still underway” said Dhewa.

“We urge drivers to exercise care on the roads and to watch out for pedestrians when driving as they are also rightful road users” he added.news

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week described Chiredzi as a potential green belt of Zimbabwe with a capacity to provide food security for the entire country.

Speaking during a tour of the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) Nandi Estate in the district, Mnangagwa said Chiredzi could feed thousands of people through efficient use of its flat lands and full exploitation of its untapped water resources.

“Chiredzi can be a green belt of Masvingo Province or even Zimbabwe because the area is blessed with many flat lands, good weather and many wetlands. There are many unused water bodies which when utilised will turn Chiredzi into the bread basket of Zimbabwe,” said Mnangagwa.

The Vice President toured the Nandi Estate which now has 150 hectares of developed land after Arda entered into a partnership with Mangwa Quip to resuscitate the estate which had been lying derelict for almost five years.

Mnangagwa urged other companies to emulate Mangwa Quip and quickly develop the area.

He praised Mangwa Quip Director Denford Masiya, saying if more farmers and business people with his spirit could be found, Chiredzi would become the bread basket of Zimbabwe.

“Let us have more people like Masiya; look at this estate which has been lying fallow for close to five years being developed in less than one year,” said Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa said government was determined to develop Chiredzi and Mwenezi through full utilisation of water bodies, saying government will provide the necessary equipment.

“The government is committed to the development of these two districts. The farming equipment which will be provided will be paid for over a specific period,” said Mnangagwa.news

A Zvishavane police officer stationed at Dzivaresekwa in Harare is in serious trouble after he appeared before Zvishavane magistrate for defaulting paying maintenance for his child since October  2014.

Tinodaishe Kayeni (28) failed to pay $145 maintenance stipend per month for a child he sired with a Zvishavane woman since October 2014.

Magistrate Story Rushambwa told Kayeni that the court was going to be tough on him because he deliberately defaulted despite him being a law-enforcement agent.

“I’m going to punish you accordingly because you deliberately chose not to maintain your own child” said Rushambwa.

He sentenced him to 12 months in prison before he wholly suspended the sentence on condition that Kayeni paid the outstanding maintenance amount of $2 030 on or before May 15, 2016. 

Talent Tadenyika prosecuted.news

Bad blood between Zaka District Administrator (DA), Tapson Chivanga and Zaka Rural District Council (ZRDC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Majaure which played itself in a closed- door council meeting, threatens to derail service delivery efforts, TellZim News has learnt.

At the meeting, Chivanga complained that the CEO was undermining his authority and demanded remedial action, lest he disrupts the smooth running of council business.

Minutes of the meeting reveal that Chivanga is not pleased with Majaure whom he accuses of provoking him by sending negative reports to his superiors.

“The DA reported that he is under attack from the CEO further revealing that the C.E.O never recognises the DA as his supervisor. The DA highlighted that the CEO attacked him through the Provincial Administrator’s (P.A) office before he went on leave. It was reported that the CEO wrote a letter to the PA attacking the DA but he was acting as if he was defending council against the newspaper article which was written in the Herald in early December (2015),” reads part of the minutes.

“The DA also said if the CEO intended to defend the statement he should have consulted him (DA). He further made the house aware that he is under charge in the PSC office since the CEO wrote again some allegations that he cannot work with council properly,” the minutes read.

The minutes further reveal that Chivanga threatened to disrupt council business if they did not resolve the sour relations in time.

“The DA therefore requested the human resources committee to handle this issue and said if the issue is not handled properly, it would affect the smooth running of Council, he promised. He further went on to say the CEO resists advice from the DA which shows negligence and incompetence,” read the minutes.news

City of Masvingo has blamed the poor state of roads in the city on the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA), whom they allege are not honouring their duty to disburse funds for road maintenance.

Council last year made a survey on the state of roads and the findings suggest that there is a grand total of over $25 million needed for the rehabilitation of the city’s roads.

City Engineer Tawanda Gozo told TellZim News that council has three accounts, ZINARA, council rates and roads levy, from which they get money to rehabilitate roads in the city but there is not much coming from these accounts.

“ZINARA has let us down by failing to disburse adequate funds for us to upgrade and maintain our roads. You find that all our roads are full of potholes and we are trying to remove the rugged strips of tar left in some of them so that we remain with dust roads.

“Many residents are however, complaining of dust. The rains received in the last few weeks left the roads in worse shape but council has no money to attend to all the roads,” said Engineer Gozo.

He said the little money they are getting from the roads levy is being channelled towards rehabilitating the main roads, with some being resurfaced and others being patched.

“ZINARA has completely failed us. Since 2012 we have been receiving very meagre disbursements and we could not do much with that. In 2012 we received $51 000 in the first half which we used in the rehabilitation of the industrial roads and $47 000 which we used to do touch ups on all the other roads.

“In 2013, we did not receive anything. In 2014 we received $28 000 in the first half and $50 000 in the second half which we used in road markings and drainage system in the city,” Gozo added.

Until 2014, ZINARA did not have a stipulated amount of money that they were supposed to disburse to local authorities.

“Over the years ZINARA just determined the amount which they wanted to give to us without telling us the criteria used in the allocation. It was only in 2015 when they decided to come up with proper allocations of $345 000 but again, only 50% of the money was released in two tranches.

“This year we received only $51 000 and nothing has been said over the remaining balance from last year and we are trying to engage them so that we get the disbursement,” said Gozo.news

A Zvishavane man was left with egg on the face after the local magistrate’s court threw out his application for maintenance from his wife, Chipo Mainge, whom he accused of leaving him without following proper divorce procedures.

Innocent Hungwe was seeking a $150 monthly stipend from his ex-wife saying he needed the money for survival as he was no longer employed and since he was the one who sponsored her college education when they got married. 

Magistrate Shepherd Munjanja, however, dismissed Hungwe’s request after it was revealed that it was Mainge who was staying with the former couple’s three children.

To support her refusal to pay, Mainge said she was the one catering for all the needs of the children and she produced her pay slip showing that she earns only US$133.78 per month.

After seeing Mainge’s pay slip, Hungwe revised his maintenance demands down to any amount of money which could help him to survive or even buy a loaf of bread.

Innocent Hungwe had also demanded that Mainge repay him the money he had used to send her to college saying had been intended at securing their future together.

Mainge however argued she owed Hungwe nothing since she was the one staying with the children and paying their school fees.

“We both have equal duties to look after our children but he is not doing anything for his children and now he wants to be ‘maintained’. This shows how selfish he is because he even earns more than I do from rental proceeds off his late parents’ house,” said Mainge.

Mainge also dismissed Hungwe’s claims that he had sent her to college, saying it was her own brothers who had helped her through college.news

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week stunned war veterans in Chiredzi when he dismissed their requests for a free reign over agricultural land, saying like everybody else, war veterans must follow the law and proper procedures if they want land.

The drama started when Killer Makuni, the ZANU PF Chiredzi District Chairman who also claims to be the district’s war veterans chairman, stood up and read a speech which was directed to the president bemoaning the long processes of applying for land.

Makuni requested that war veterans to be exempted from the application process, and be allowed to take any land they want anytime.

Mnangagwa, however, would have none of it, openly telling the present war veterans that like everybody else, they have to observe the constitution and other systems in place if they want land.

“I understand you fought for the land but you didn’t fight so that the land will benefit you alone but all the people of Zimbabwe so I urge you to apply for land and get offer letters just like any other people,” said Mnangagwa.

The Vice President told the gathering the law does not have any exemptions when it comes to procedural application for land.

“The constitution requires that everybody follows the law with no exceptions,” said Mnangagwa.

Prior to Mnangagwa’s response, Makuni had displayed confidence, expecting the VP’s support.

“We as war vets are against the fact that we have to apply to get the land which we fought for. It’s our benefit and we should access the land without any hindrance because it’s ours and some of our comrades died for that land so we, the remaining ones, should be left to enjoy our benefits.

“These estates like Arda should be given to us since we are the exact people who should benefit from this because we are the ones who fought for this land,” said Makuni.

Makuni complained for the lack of attention to widows of war veterans, stressing that government is doing nothing for them.

“We are not happy with what the Ministry of lands is doing and most widows of war vets tend to lose their allocated land once the husband has passed on and we do not know the criteria the Ministry of Lands is using in allocating offer letters,” said Makuni.news