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Plan to dispose of council houses hits snag

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Plan to dispose of council houses hits snag
 Moses Ziyambi

A controversial plan to sell council houses to tenants who have been leasing for a long time seems to have stalled after strong objections from councilors who feel the scheme lacks transparency.
Management had proposed to implement a “Home ownership Scheme” of more than 100 council houses for paid up tenants who have been occupying them on lease for a successive period 15 years or more.



           Town Clerk Adolf  Gusha

The plan has however faced stiff resistance from councilors who feel the process is open to corruption after management refused to shed light on the names of the intended beneficiaries, saying it is an administrative issue that councilors had no business knowing.
“We oppose the plan on the basis that it lacks transparency because a lot of information is hidden. There is a possibility of the scheme benefitting people with connections to powerful officials and not the intended beneficiaries,” said Ward 10 Councilor Lovemore Mufamba.
“If those houses could instead be given to council employees, we would serve thousands of dollars in housing allowances and redirect the money to service delivery,” continued Mufamba.
Mayor Hubert Fidze confirmed the idea was contentious, with a lot of issues not yet ironed out.
“It’s still under discussion, we have not yet agreed on several important details,” said Fidze, echoing concerns that the scheme would be subject to manipulation and corruption if it goes ahead in its current form.
“That issue concerns us as much as we want to bring in a new valuator to determine the actual value of the houses as we are not fully satisfied with the valuation that was done,” said Fidze.
Great Zimbabwe Realtors, the original valuator, valued the houses from US$5000 to US$15000 but there are concerns the houses could have been undervalued.
Council, nonetheless, is offering steep discounts of up to 100 percent to those who rented for at least 30 years, meaning up to 20 houses would be given off free of charge.
 Town Clerk Adolf Gusha, however, denied that the scheme is facing any opposition.
“There are essentially no disagreements with regards to the scheme per se; only some details that councilors feel need to be availed to them. That will have to be handled by the committee as well as the concerns that the scheme could be abused,” said Gusha.local

Chief Neshuro applauds WFP’s PAC Programme

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Chief Neshuro applauds WFP’s PAC Programme
Itai Muzondo

Mwenezi –Chief Neshuro of Mwenezi could not hide his joy yesterday as the World Food Programme (WFP) Secretariat donated foodstuffs and material for the Productive Asset Creation (PAC) programme and applauded the organization for bringing development to his homeland.
Speaking at an event where WFP’s chief partners, Japanese government represented by Ambassador Yoshi Tendai Hiraishi had come to witness the ongoing construction of Tsvimborume Dam being constructed under the PAC Programme, Chief Neshuro said the team has brought what they always heard of to reality.
“I am happy that development has reached my doorstep. Development had actually remained an elite tradition which only benefited town communities.
“The WFP and their partners from the Japanese government are ever welcome to my area as long as they hold such developmental projects for my people,” said the Chief.
“Besides just applauding our donor friends, a word of advice would be good to my people. Human participation is great when you are being given aid for such developmental projects and above all, we should shun corruption as you should maintain of using the resources you are given in a clear and transparent manner,” the Chief added.
Addressing people who are participating in the ongoing construction of Tsvimborume Dam, Japanese Ambabsodor to Zimbabwe, Yoshi Tendai Hiraishi said his government has injected USD1.5 million for WFP to facilitate the PAC Programme.
In supporting the WFP initiative, we have extended a grant of USD1.5 million. This programme seeks to strengthen the power of resistance of the local community to the natural disaster such as drought by helping the community to build viable assets such as this dam in collaboration with WFP, NGO Partners, in this case Mwenezi Development Training Centre,” said Hiraishi.
WFP National Director, Eddie Rowe said he was happy to implement projects appreciated by the community at large as he noted that the projects came after consultations with the locals on possible projects of their choice.
“When people appreciate the work we do like this, I even feel a sense of belonging. WFP is happy on the participation rate from the coordinating team way up to our funding partners.
“I assure you that if we continue with this spirit, Mwenezi will be with a new outlook in a period of two years’ time and as from our side, we will make sure that our footprints in Masvingo as a province are recognized and successful,” said Rowe.


From left, Mwenezi D.A Rosemery Chingwe, Japan Ambassador to Zim, Yoshi Tendai Hiraishi and WFP National Director Eddie Rowe
Meanwhile, Mwenezi district spans across agro – ecological zones four and five and experiences low annual rainfall making it subject to periodic droughts and severe dry spells during the rainy season. The ongoing project therefore aims to create, protect and rehabilitate productive assets that improve food security, income security and livelihood opportunities and buid resilience of vulnerable households to shocks.local

Masvingo to send ten men team to ZNA golf tournament

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Masvingo to send ten men team to ZNA golf tournament
         
By Moses Ziyambi

A fundraising tournament towards the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) Commander’s annual golf tournament was successfully held at Masvingo Sports Club last Sunday where it was revealed that up to 10 people will be send to take part in the main tournament to be held in Nyanga.
The tournament is held yearly as part of the ZNA’s social interaction programmes as well as to raise funds for charity work.
Chairperson of the Masvingo chapter, Lovemore Mandima said all proceeds generated at the fundraising event will be channeled to the main tournament.

“We are pleased to take part in this noble initiative that is part of a myriad other ZNA initiatives for social interaction with civilian communities. This fundraising tournament was part of other run up events being held across the country towards the main event in Troutbeck,” said Mandima.
The fundraising tournament, which saw young golfer Joseph Zawaira walking off with the first prize, was preceded by a fun shoot competition at Mushandike Gallery Range a week ago.
Zawaira, who plays off 14 Handicap, finished with an impressive 40 points, warding off a close challenge from Pascal Mudzikisi who, by the last tee, had amassed 39 points while the reigning club champion Cephas Ngwenya was a distant away with 32 points.
Masvingo Golf Club Captain Cassian Mutsambiwa praised the efficient way in which the event was organised.
“We would like to thank the organisers for a successful tournament. We hope it will grow even bigger in the future as more players continue to realize the significance of this tournament,” said Mutsambiwa.
While last year’s leg of the main tournament was held in the resort town of Victoria Falls, this year’s event will be held from 10-13 September in the plush Troutbeck Golf Estate in Nyanga.sport

HIT student releases android application

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HIT student releases android application
By Takunda Mandura
Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) student Kudzai Chasinda (20) doing Software Engineering has this week launched  an Android application which is a music player meant to operate as local music store.
Chasinda who is the developer and author of Chase music application said he started by developing a personal mini project which later transformed into a software which is going to be used by many people.
” I developed the application and it started as a mini personal project which I wanted to learn about android software development. I got better overtime and I worked to release Chase music application on Google Play Store which runs Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 devices,”  he said.
            Kudzai Chasinda

Chasinda further went on explain how he coded the application
” I used the Java script which is the preferred for the coding of language menu of android application,” he said.
He added, “I want it to be a music store which would be selling out local music content”.
Chasinda is going to upgrade the application so that it can be used in Internet work Operating Systems (IOS) programming.local

Foot and mouth, new castle worsens food situation

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Foot and mouth, new castle worsens food situation
By Moses Ziyambi

The food situation in drought  hit Masvingo province could be more desperate than previously thought as village economies face further decimation by Newcastle and foot and mouth diseases that have seen several farmers losing their livestock and chickens.
Reports of foot and mouth came as early as July with cattle in such places as Mwenezi and Chiredzi districts affected.
Coming a bit later, new castle has reportedly wiped out fowl in some places of Gutu and Masvingo districts, taking away an important component of village economies.

Although Provincial Veterinary Officer, Dr Enerst Dzimwasha could not shed light on the overall impact of the foot and mouth disease so- far, he confirmed that new castle was affecting the whole province.
“We are on the ground working to stop the spread of new castle and mitigate its effects. We have put a request for 30 million vaccines but not all vaccines have been delivered as yet. We urge the people to be pro-active in vaccinating their own fowl since the disease is not curable,” said Dzimwasha, referring questions on foot and mouth to his superiors in Harare.
Prominent livestock farmer and chairperson of Masvingo Beef Farmers Association Robert Makhado said he had received reports farmers around Masvingo had been affected.
“Farmers in Masvingo North and Shashe Block, Summerton have been affected. It does not bode well for food security but as farmers, we are doing all that we can to normalize the situation.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) Masvingo Provincial Manager Jeremiah Chimwanda said his organisation is working closely with veterinary authorities to address all notifiable diseases.
Most people in Masvingo are faced with food shortages after a poor rain season that have seen most districts receiving below average rainfall.local
   

USD 10m for irrigation development in Masvingo North

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USD 10m for irrigation development in Masvingo North
By Upenyu Silent Chaota
Masvingo North legislator Davis Marapira who is also the deputy minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development said US10 million dollars were set aside for upgrading all irrigation schemes in his constituency.
Rufaro, Stanmore, Doromore, Cheek farm and Marowa Irrigation Schemes will get state of the art equipment which will give villagers the opportunity to grow crops and maximise production in line with Zim Asset, Food Security and Nutrition cluster.
Marapira said that some of the equipment is already at sites awaiting assembly and construction.
“Some of the equipment is already in place awaiting assembly and construction so that the project will be up and running soon,” said Marapira.


                               Davis Marapira
Marapira added that the funding for the development of the irrigation schemes is not coming from his ministry but from well-wishing organisations from outside the country particularly Brazil and Switzerland.
“The funding for the irrigation schemes is coming from Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Brazil, Switzerland Development Corporation and others,” he added.
Masvingo falls under natural farming region five which receives little rainfall to sustain crop production but Marapira said that the irrigation schemes have their own sources of water which will make it possible for the project to be up and running soon.
“With the little rainfall received in Masvingo, irrigation is the only way out to secure food security for our people. They will be able to grow crops throughout the year,” Marapira said.
Villagers have welcomed the development saying that they hope the projects will materialise since they fear that politicians are good at coming up with ideas which lack practise.
“Irrigation schemes are the way to go in our almost dry area and we want to thank Marapira for facilitating the projects and hope that they will take shape soon,” said a villager who identified himself as Clemence.local

Government domination of ZIGF under spotlight

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Government domination of ZIGF under spotlight
 By Moses Ziyambi

The neutrality of the newly established Zimbabwe Internet Governance Forum (ZIGF) has come under scrutiny with journalists criticizing the structural composition of the group saying it is exposed to government manipulation.
Government, through the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PORTRAZ) holds the secretariat of the forum, giving it sway in much of the forums decisions and activities.
Attendees at this year’s Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe AGM were cynical of such a set-up.
“We are not sure the governments relatively strong presence in the ZIGF is well meaning; whether that will translate to a more liberal digital media space is doubtful,” said media consultant Admire Nare.

Limbikani Makani, who runs the online technology magazine TechZim, said the implications of a heavy state presence in matters of internet governance were usually dire for objective content.
“Net neutrality can only be guaranteed if there is no censorship of the web; we do not cherish a situation where somebody would decide for us which website to access and which one not to,” said Makani.
Rachel Sibande, from M-Hub in Malawi, said basing on her own countrys experiences, issues of internet governance must be a shared responsibility for different stakeholders.
“The Malawi Internet Governance Forum is constituted by divergent voices including civil society, the academia and government. Though we have challenges, we value net neutrality and want digital content to be accessed by everybody without any site being censored,” said Sibande.
The government, however, defended the composition of ZIGF, saying relevant stakeholders are adequately represented.
“The forum was established after wide consultations that were open for everyone to attend. The fact that the government holds the secretariat does not diminish the role of other stakeholders within the forum,” said Tichafa Mujuru of PORTRAZ.
The ZIGF came into being in June 2015 but critics are wary the government will leverage on its position in ZIGF to curtail free speech by blocking dissenting websites and snoop on peoples privacy using the Interception of Communications Act (ICA).local
  

Varsities don’t understand ZimAsset – Minister

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Varsities don’t understand ZimAsset – Minister
Tell Reporter
The Deputy minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Dr Godfrey Gandawa had no kind words for  universities on Friday afternoon saying institutions of higher learning were failing to understand the demands of the government’s economic blue print – the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset).
Speaking at the official opening of the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) Masvingo Regional Center where he was guest of honour, Dr Gandawa said he was more interested in few graduates who can address the problems of tomorrow than thousands who are being churned out by universities today who are stuck in the past.
He said universities should be leading in researches that inform government policy.
“I am tired of people who want to sound as if they understand ZimAsset as they often refer to it at any single gathering and yet they are far from comprehending that document. ZimAsset is not cheap talk…our people don’t understand ZimAsset.
“I am not impressed by the way universities are being run today. They (universities) are worried about numbers hence they train thousands to address problems of the past. Universities are dishing out PhDs that are not helping the nation,” said Dr Gandawa.

                                                     Godfrey Gandawa
“I want  PhD holders who provide solutions to the country. I want degrees that create industries for their graduates,” he added.
Dr Gandawa said academics should not shy away from policy formulation.
“Research on areas that propel ZimAsset and produce. Stop approving studies that concentrate on past and present problems. Universities are glued in their past – and that will never help in transforming the economy,” added Gandawa.
Dr Gandawa also took the opportunity to urge the Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education (Zimche) to avoid bureaucracy  in dealing with matters that call for urgent attention.
However, Dr Gandawa thanked ZOU for showing dedication to educating the nation but he was quick to say the institution has not yet exhausted all its potential.
“We expect ZOU to be a university of Africa. Just like UNISA, we want ZOU to build its own home and get recognized throughout the continent,” said Dr Gandawa.

Hope for small-scale miners

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Hope for small-scale miners
… as new bill is set to go before parliament
Upenyu  Chaota

Brighter days could be looming ahead for small scale miners whose plight to operate formally and legally could come to a reality this Tuesday when the Mines and Mineral amendment bill will be put before the parliament for debate to be law.
If this bill is passed, it will be able to repeal the current 1963 bill which criminalises small scale mining.
Addressing different stakeholders a National dialogue on sugarcane cutters, farm workers and artisanal miners hosted by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Organisation (ZimRights) at a local hotel recently, Mines and Mining Development deputy minister Fred Moyo said they are going to present the bill before parliament so that it can be debated to be law.
“This Tuesday, we are going to present the Mines and Mineral amendment bill to parliament and hopefully it will be passed into law so that we can do away with the 1963 one which we are currently operating under.
“The President (Robert Mugabe) told us to decriminalise or formalise artisanal mining with immediate effect so we decided to look into the matter because the current law criminalises artisanal mining,” Moyo said.
Moyo also vowed to deal with the irregularities which arises from the registration and acquiring of mineral claims.

                                           Fred Moyo
“We know there are instances where people falsify documents guaranteeing that they are the owners of the mineral claims found by the others. We want to create a computerised system so that no double allocations will occur,” he added.
Moyo said that small scale miners need to be engaged so that they can carry out their activities without doing harm to themselves and the environment.
He added that they are going to decentralise the school of mines to provinces so that small scale miners will get all the knowledge they require to safely exploit minerals.business

Vendors hospitalised after clashing with municipal police

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Vendors hospitalised after clashing with municipal police
Upenyu Chaota/Lloyd Shunje

Two vendors were hospitalised yesterday after they clashed  with button stick wielding municipal police officers who wanted to arrest them for illegal vending in the Central Business District (CBD).
Injured vendors who sustained serious injuries are still being treated at  Masvingo General Hospital.
Eyewitnesses to the incident said when municipal police arrived near N. Richards Wholesale, they started beating vendors who were refusing to have their potatoes confiscated.
 “They accused us of interfering in their duty but they were the ones who arrived and started pushing us around. In every action there is bound to be a reaction.
“We had to defend ourselves from the barbaric council officers. They even attacked a woman who was coming from doing her shopping,” said an airtime vendor who identified herself as Mai Tino.

 Vendors clashing with vendors in the CBD yesterday
The council officers managed to handcuff one man facing heavy resistance from the vendors leading to the cuffed man breaking away.
Feeling threatened, the council officers drove off to regroup before coming back after about twenty minutes, this time unleashing button sticks on everyone in the way.

        Vendors clashing with vendors in the CBD yesterday

The officers randomly attacked everyone including passer-byes which triggered heavy emotions leaving many people baying for municipal officers’ blood.
The people fought back and they outnumbered officers were left without option besides taking to their heels. Some officers had to seek  refuge in the nearby Steward Bank before the police came to calm the storm .
Two municipal police were arrested for beating people. two council officers at the scene.
The police could not be drawn into commenting about the incident.local
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