Philadelphia Medical Corridor (PMC) offered free medical services in Masvingo on May 7 and 8 in form of medical consultations and examinations, admissions, pharmacy, ultrasound scan, electrocardiogram, procedures, mental health and counselling.
Clinical director Dr Douitie Chiwororo said that it has become their habit to offer free medical services to the community.
“It has been our habit that two or three times a year we offer some wellness days where we will be doing medical consultations for free to our community. We feel that the community we serve is a low income community and it’s our wish that everyone should have at least once a year access to a medical doctor where they can talk concerning their illnesses or even just for a medical checkup,” said Dr Chiwororo.
He went on to say that everyone should have a chance to see a doctor and the turn up was impressive.
“We want people to have a chance to see a doctor. This year we scheduled our wellness on these days. We are proud of our brand, ourselves because of the numbers who turned out as it was impressive we saw multitudes of people coming for free consultations at PMC,” he added.
Dr Chiwororo said that they offered a number of services to the community which also included laboratory testing.
“We also did a number on laboratory tests which include HIV, pregnancy, screening for STI’s high blood sugar and medical education. I want to thank our staff as the turn up was very good and we managed to get some well-wisher nurses who offered their services for free so as to make this event fruitful,” said Chiwororo.
PMC is a private institution which is in the high density suburb of Mucheke located at 27026 Dare street close to Mazorodze Clinic.
The horticulture training event to be held on May 25, 2022 in Morningside, Masvingo is going to improve agriculture productivity as well as teach farmers about crop production, event host Tinaye Ponde has said.
Ponde said the event will be open to everyone who wants to attend including children.
“We want to make it a family event so children are encouraged to come along and charges are US$ 1 per child and on the tickets it will include lunch and refreshments. The training will focus on crop production, potato farming, cabbage farming, onion production, tomatoes farming, leafy vegetables and nursery management,” said Ponde.
He also said they are mainly targeting new farmers, students, and youths to come and participate at the event.
“We are targeting first time farmers, agriculture students, women, youth, plot holders and extension officers. We are also inviting Agro-houses to come and advertise their products, services and stalls are available at US$50 per stall.
“The event is going to be held at Plot 73 Morningside Masvingo on Africa Day (May 25) and we are going to be charging US$ 10 per person and if they bring their farm manager they pay US$ 15 for two people,” he added.
He went on to say that market crisis is one of the problems which hinders and reduces profit margins.
“Right now we have a crisis of market competition which devalues our produce and reduces our profit margins. But if we can collaborate our efforts and coordinate as farmers, we can all benefit from our various farming enterprise without flooding the market. I would also like to encourage farmers to formalize their business so that we can access international markets to grow the economy in line with vision 2030.
“Also farming is a lifestyle so it is important for children to be exposed to it at an early stage. So we are encouraging parents to bring their children along with them,” said Ponde.
Founder of Unique Farming Solutions (UFS) Pamela Kamuzonda who is also a host at the event said that UFS was found through her passion in farming.
“UFS was founded from my passion to breed my own new crop varieties and finding innovative ways to improve the farming sector in Zimbabwe and UFS training programmes and farming targeting single parents, widows, orphans and other farmers in an effort to empower them, so far we have trained more than 3000 farmers across Zimbabwe,” said Kamuzonda.
Kamuzonda won the award, of Best Agronomist in 2019 and she also writes agriculture article encouraging people to venture into farming.
ZAKA – People, mainly motorists in Jerera are furious over the delay in the resurfacing and tarring of the 1.8 km stretch along the busy road which links the growth point and Anthony’s Musiso Mission hospital and schools.
No meaningful development has been registered since the road whose construction is believed to be bankrolled by Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) was closed late last year prompting many to think it’s another case of corruption where tenders are given to incompetent and ill equipped contractors.
When the road was closed last year for the work to commence, it was expected to be officially opened on March 31, 2022.
However, half of the work has not been done though it’s close to five months and the local authority is now expecting it to be completed in less than a month.
When contacted for comment local (ward 19) councillor Peter Imbayarwo said everyone was worried by the pace at which the work is progressing saying the contractor returned recently after a long time but the pace is very slow.
He said motorists are complaining about the detour which they said was too long and the road is very bad especially when transporting pregnant women and other serious patients to Musiso which is one of the referral hospitals in the district.
“The contractor is slow, he was given the tender last year but nothing much has been done so far, we once raised the issue in a full council meeting but there is still no progress. Motorists are complaining of the detour which they said is bad and too long,” said Imbayarwo.
One motorist who spoke to TellZim News said they wanted to stage a demo at council offices over the matter saying the detour is very long and in very bad shape.
“We wanted to demonstrate, we shelved the demo after we saw the contractor coming back but we are monitoring the progress, if they continue with the slow pace we will demonstrate. The detour is times two the normal distance and the road is in very bad state to Musiso Hospital such that our vehicles are damaged.
“The road is critical, we can no longer rush critical patients to the hospital because of the state of the detour, we implore council to at least resurface the detour and make sure that the road is completed as soon as possible,” said the motorist.
Part of the road unfinished road that links St Anthony’s Mission and Jerera growth point
Local Member of Parliament (MP) Davison Svuure confirmed about the purported demo and said he was equally frustrated with the pace which the road maintenance is taking.
“They wanted to demonstrate but I stopped them saying since the contractor is back at the site, we have to wait a bit.
“I however don’t think the contractor has the capacity or competence to pull up the tender he got. He does not even have enough equipment on the ground and at some point I saw some young boys using shovels and picks to make culverts, a thing that should be done within minutes using modern equipment. Who in this era construct a road using shovels? I really don’t know if he was the best person whom they picked for the contract,” said Svuure.
He went on to say he is in constant touch with the local authority over the issue doing his over sight role.
“I am in constant touch with council authorities over the road, a lot of people are complaining and we want it to be completed as soon as possible to make life easier for us all,” said Svuure.
Zaka Rural District Council (RDC) chairperson Cornelius Mapuranga said as councillors they are also worried by the level of incompetence shown by the contractor saying they are not serious.
“The contractor seem not to be serious at all, I think he has no equipment, usually contractors are awarded tenders for work they cannot do relying on others and that’s where challenges emanate from,” said Mapuranga.
He went on to say they gave him the tender after recommendations from the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, (PRAZ) saying they didn’t even know if he had enough equipment.
“We don’t know the capacity of a contractor when we give tenders, we submit applications to PRAZ and we get recommendations from there. So that is what we did and I think we got the wrong contractor,” added Mapuranga.
He blamed the contractor of doing a shoddy job on gravelling which they ended up forcing him to redo after engineers from the Head Office of Ministry of local Government, Public works and National Housing, said the type of gravel he was using was not compactible.
“The contractor had gravelled a bigger part of the road and we asked for engineers from the Head Office who took samples and tested the gravel and concluded that it was not compatible with the type of soil. We then asked him to redo, but he wanted more money for that which we refused as it was his fault,” said Mapuranga.
Zaka RDC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Batsirai Majaura confirmed the damages on the detour road saying it was supposed to be maintained by council and currently their grader was out.
“We are supposed to maintain the detour road but now our grader is working somewhere and the road was damaged by the rains we received recently,” said Majaura.
On issue of the road, Majaura said they expect it to be complete by end of this month (May) and apologised on behalf of the contractor saying work was stalled by the rains.
“The works were affected by some heavy rains that were sometimes received during the rainy season. As a local authority, we want to apologize to our road users for the delay on completion of this road. The heavy rains have resulted into many technical issues which took some time to resolve but currently all issues are resolved and works have resumed,”
“The contractor has successfully completed sub-grade and one layer of gravel. There are some areas which need three layers as per our laboratory recommendations and the contractor has already started working on the second gravel layer. Stockpiling of gravel for these works was done. He is also working on the drainage system where three main culverts were constructed,” said Majaura.
He disputed the allegations that the contractor had already been paid all the money saying he is paid on stages and so far he had received only one part payment.
“The contractor has only received one part payment upon presentation of laboratory test results of the first layer. Other payments will be done when his works are competed and passed the laboratory tests. Most surfacing materials have already been procured and delivered to council offices by the contractor. The project is now expected to be completed by the end of May 2022,” he added.
Construction equipment: Wheelbarrows used during the construction
Majaura said council was also working on the construction and repair of culverts throughout the district with two major culverts having already been repaired along Chivamba- Svuure road while six more were constructed along Musenyereki-Njiva road.
He said work on Chivamba Business Centre drainage system will start this month while there is great progress on the construction of Gunguvo School Culvert.
Masvingo Covid-19 Provincial Taskforce spokesperson Rodgers Irimayi has said citizens in the province should take advantage of the second vaccination campaign blitz that kicked off on May 3, 2022.
The country launched a two phased vaccination campaign blitz with the first that began in March 2022 taking off to a slow response in vaccine uptake while the second that kicked off on May 3 is now in full swing.
Speaking to TellZim News Irimayi confirmed that the province is currently holding its second phase of the vaccination campaign blitz and urged citizens to take advantage of the blitz.
“Currently the country is prioritizing the second phase of the vaccination campaign blitz that started on May 3 and during this campaign blitz, we are saying all those eligible to be vaccinated should get their jabs, which means all those who are 12 years and above should be vaccinated.
“Our teams are all over the province carrying out the outreach programme, they are going where people are much concentrated like at work places, markets, town centres and in schools,” said Irimayi.
He encouraged all eligible people to get vaccinated and those who are fully vaccinated to go for the booster shot so that the spread of the deadly virus can be limited as the winter season is drawing nearer and cases are on the rise.
“We are encouraging people to get vaccinated to minimize the spread of the virus, we have those who have chronic diseases and those old ages, they should also get vaccinated as they are vulnerable to the virus.
“Those who had their first and second doses are also encouraged to go for the booster shot after six months from second doses. As we are entering the winter season, cases are on the surge and people need to be vaccinated to curb the spread, we lost a life in Chiredzi on May 10 due to Covid-19 so people need to take advantage of this outreach programme and get vaccinated,” added Irimayi.
As at May 11, Masvingo province had 521 PCR tests, 12 new cases with one recovery and no death recoded. Cumulative cases stands at 21 555 with 21 315 recoveries and 205 deaths.
Impetuosity Acts of Love (IAL) on May 14, 2022 donated blankets to people with disabilities in and around Masvingo Central Business District (CBD).
A 20 year-old Moreblessing Ruzive founder of IAL said that she was always passionate about giving people living with disabilities.
“IAL started last year (2021) to formally operate in Zimbabwe, Masvingo but l was always passionate about giving to people living with disabilities as well as the vulnerable. Since childhood, l have been involved in doing charity work,” said Ruzive.
She also added that besides donating in Masvingo CBD, she has also landed her giving hand to different areas in and around the province.
“Besides here in Masvingo CBD, l also donated at Alpha Cottage, Ratidzo Zim Care Trust, Mutemwa as well as in Mutoko. So far we have 78 members but we do not have a formal donor to help us with funds, it comes from our heart and we do not have any income generating projects though we are planning to do some.
“Our aim is to help those who are disabled, widows, street kids and orphans. We have future plans of building an orphanage with the help of donors,” said Ruzive.
One of the people who received a gift of blanket Sharon Charehwa said that she is very thankful for the blanket.
“I am very thankful for the gift which they gave me. Currently l had no blanket on my own, now l have one,” said Charehwa.
IAL has hopes of one day becoming a Non-Governmental Organization. It was founded last year the 20 year-old girl whose kindness has driven to help the needy.
They donated 10 blankets in the CBD which they said were bought by own money.
Former prominent government official Dr Sylvester Maunganidze has died.
He was 64.
Dr Maunganidze, who hailed from Chivi District in Masvingo is reported to have died in Harare at a private hospital on Sunday (May 15) evening.
He held several positions in government ministries including being permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality, as well as being principal director in the Ministry of Information in former President Robert Mugabe’s administration.
Contacted for further details, Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Kindness Paradza referred questions to the ministry’s Director of Media Services George Chisoko whom he said was preparing a statement.
Chisoko said he was going to send the statement once it was ready on Monday (May 16) evening.
Battle lines have been drawn in Masvingo West ward 21 as the electorate are set to take to the polls in a by-election on June 25, 2022 following the death of the councillor.
Former ZANU PF councillor Tinago Mupinga died on March 24 and the seat became vacant thereafter.
Three candidates were successfully nominated and ZANU PF will be represented by Chenjerai Mumbire, Onias Mawanire stands in for Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and Sister Nhando will be an independent candidate.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Masvingo Deputy Provincial Election Officer (PEO) Maxwell Ncube confirmed the by-election and said the three had successfully submitted their nomination papers.
“There is going to be a by-election for Masvingo RDC ward 21. This follows the death of the sitting councillor on March 24, 2022 so the by-election is going to take place on June 25, 2022 in the same ward.
“Three candidates successfully submitted their CVs on the nomination day May 9 and both were nominated,” said Ncube.
In the March 26 by-elections, ruling party ZANU PF maintained its dominance in rural areas while the main opposition CCC won all urban seats. At stake were two House of Assembly seats in which ZANU PF won all while there were also nine local authority seats in the province and ZANU PF won five rural while CCC won four urban seats.
Gweru– Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) currently operating at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) site near Swift and Metro Peech area have expressed concern over unjustified increase of rentals by the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ).
The development comes as the prevailing economic hardships continue to affect the business community as prices of goods and services have inflated due to the instability of the local currency.
Commenting on the development, one of the dealers who owns a car sales at the NRZ site, Grey Mutsambiwa said the initial agreement as of 2019 was based on the agreement that the tenants were to pay US$ 0.30 per square meter.
“Initially when we came here, we signed a lease agreement of US$ 0 .30 per square meter and that was in 2019 and that changed to US$ 0.40 per square meter before the first lockdown period. Soon after the lockdown most businesses accumulated debts and we then thought of coming up with payment plans for the debts.
“As we were paying our lockdown debts, we then saw officials from NRZ come and tell us that the rates had been increased to US$ 2.50 per square meter with immediate effect. I was paying US$ 1000 per month but things changed all of a sudden and on top of the lockdown; we saw the US$ 2.50 coming. As I am talking to you, am supposed to pay US$ 5000 per 2000 square meter, we then tried to engage our landlord but they did not come on the ground to assess the situation.
When we came here, there was nothing, we developed the area on our own as you can see and in the process we incurred extra costs on toilets and water but the landlord didn’t say anything about it. We once wrote to them but they didn’t reply and we are very worried about this situation,” he said.
Another business owner Edsome Gapare Nkiwane who runs a hardware company said as tenants they were pleading for rentals to be reviewed.
“Our plea is to meet with the landlord and engage with regards to this issue. At least we want them to know that in clearing these arrears, we also incurred a lot of costs as we built toilets. As for me, am operating on a 200 square meter area. I told them to regularize and they told me they would come but up to date nothing has materialized. Some tenants are paying US$ 0.50 per square meter in other towns but here we don’t know what is happening.
“If one wants to expand his/ her business they are saying pay deposit in US$ but you are receipted in bond notes. We really want to understand what is going on. We heard a directive was given that if one fails to pay, they should just leave everything and go, even the property one would have invested in. Is that fair though?” he said.
Another entrepreneur Langton Moyo who owns a hardware market said there was need for the landlord to review the terms and conditions of the lease agreement.
Gweru Chamber of SMEs chairperson Tafadzwa Mazorodze however said acts of corruption could not be ruled out on this matter.
“We are not sure how the landlords are dealing with this issue but what I can say is that we also suspect that there might be elements of corruption, the fees being charged are not justified.
“We are going to engage them as we are pushing for a meeting, the meeting was slated for Tuesday last week but it has since been changed to this coming Friday. We hope to meet with the board so that we can clarify the issue,” said Mazorodze.
Efforts to get a comment from the Acting NRZ Midlands Estates Manager Loice Mazadza on the matter were fruitless as her mobile phone was not reachable.
However the NRZ board is expected to give a way forward in resolving the situation.
A former Simply Wildlife animal sanctuary supervisor on May 10, 2022 appeared before Masvingo Magistrate Farai Gwitima where he pleaded not guilty to charges of being found in possession of a leopard skin without a license and was remanded out of custody to May 26.
The State represented by prosecutor Godfrey Mugondo alleged that Elastos Mazorodze was found by new manager of the game reserve, Livison Phikelele in possession of two lion skins which were licensed and one unlicensed leopard skin.
The leopard skin was found in a room that was being used by Mazorodze’s children.
Phikelele witnessed the matter saying that procedurally they only keep Lions and Buffalos at Simply Wildlife but do not have leopards in captive and every animal that dies is recorded by the National Parks and Wildlife Management.
The leopard was not in the records.
In defense, Mazorodze stated that he joined Simply Wildlife in 2001 and that he found animal skins there which were left by the Sparrows who once owned the resort.
Recently a carcass of a white Rhinoceros was found in Bikita with gunshot wounds suspected to have been shot by poachers as wildlife poaching cases escalate in the country.
The carcass was covered with a black polythene plastic and some tree branches.
Leopard skin is used in African Traditional Religion (ATR) ceremonies by various cultural groups while it can also be sold as finished skins for home decoration or use in the creation of luxury carpets.
Possession of wildlife skins is prohibited under Zimbabwean law (Parks and Wildlife Act (Chap 20:14).
A Chiredzi villager from Gwachara village under Chief Tshovani was once arraigned before the courts for possessing Python skins in 2017 and the case spilled into the High Court.
… Holds Thanksgiving Mass to dedicate results to God
…teachers, pupils rewarded
Faith Duri
Silveria High School, one of the Catholic Diocese of Masvingo academic powerhouses celebrated its 2021 impressive results through a Mass where they dedicated their results to God.
The Mass was graced by Masvingo Diocese leadership led by Reverend Doctor Father Michael Dixon Bhasera and the Vica General Reverend Dr Father Walter Nyatsanza and other Reverends.
Teachers, members of the responsible authority, ancillary staff and best pupils were rewarded with cash prizes.
At Ordinary level, Silveira recorded 96.90 percent pass rate, which is the best in the whole diocese, Bikita District and Masvingo.
At Advanced level, the Silver City as the school is nicknamed scooped grabbed second position in the province.
Giving the Word during the celebrations, Reverend Father Emmanuel Zengeya told the gathering that the results were a result of the school’s trust in God whom he said is ready to open eyes if people trust in him.
“2021 was a tough year for all, but like what God did to Hagari in the bible when he opened his eyes and he saw a well, that is the same way he opened eyes for pupils who trust in him.
“Teachers, libraries, e-Learning facilities are the wells God opened for the pupils who wrote last year and if they had no trust in God, they would have not managed to utilise them,” said Zengeya.
In his speech Father Walter Nyatsanza who spoke on behalf of Bishop ‘Sekuru’ Bhasera, sang praises for the school head Stanely Mutsambiwa saying he had managed to uplift the school standards since he took over.
“We comment in high regard the school head Mr Mutsambiwa and his team for a great spirit of team work which enabled them to produce such good results that have placed the school at the top of the ladder above all other schools, not only in the Catholic family of Masvingo Diocese but also in the whole of Masvingo province,” said Nyatsanza.
Fr Nyatsanza said Mutsambiwa’s demotion form Gokomere to a deputy head was a blessing in disguise for it finally led him to Silveira where he is showing his leadership capabilities.
“Mr Mutsambiwa was demoted by the Ministry of Education when he was at Gokomere High School for an insignificant issue and had to be transferred to Mutero High as a substantive deputy head. The ministry was later requested to transfer him to Silveria High as a head where his true colours and qualities of leadership once again manifested themselves,” said Nyatsanza.
He also said the results were a result of the morals instilled in the children by the church which he said was into education to produce good citizens for the state saying that is the reason why we request for 50percent Catholic teachers at their schools.
“At Catholic schools we request more than 50 percent of our staffs to be Catholics so that they create and endorse Catholic ethos which Pope the Second said is to create good citizens for the state,” said Nyatsanza.
Standing in for the District Schools Inspector James Mahofa, Inspector Aleta Makomeke said as a ministry and government, they counted on schools like Silveira for producing quality results which she said was a good base for the attainment of the president’s vision of making Zimbabwe an upper middle economy by 2030.
She went on to tell Sekuru Bhasera that as a ministry they also relied on the Catholic schools and said they needed more catholic schools and commented on the infrastructural development witnessed at the school despite economic hardships.
“I want to applaud the work being done here by Mr Mutsambiwa and his team, Silveira is one of the best schools we have and want to say thank you head Mutsambiwa for leading this school in a right direction and thank you our students for co-operating well.
“To you Sekuru Bhasera, in Bikita we only have one Catholic school can we please have more? We do not take you as a stakeholder, but as a stockholder and l am happy to inform you that in Bikita district we boast of Silveria High school,” said Makomeke.
On his part Mutsambiwa complimented his staff members and pupils that they are a beauty to work with because they co-operate and respect him.
“Firstly l would like to thank my staff members; we wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t because of them. My teachers you are a beauty to work with can you please keep the fire burning and to the students you cannot go wrong with these teachers can you please follow suit, I cherish your support,” said Mutsambiwa.
In 2017 the ‘O’ pass rate was 83.4 percent and recorded 98.4 percent at ‘A’ Level, in 2018 ‘O’ Level pass rate was 96.2 percent while ‘A’ level recorded 97.7 percent.
In 2019 the school recorded 95.92 percent at ‘O’ level and 97.9 percent for ‘A’ level and in 2020 ‘O’ level pass rate was 96.9 percent and 99.10 for ‘A’ level.
