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NAZ brings financial aid to Mwenezi’s most vulnerable

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NAZ brings financial aid to Mwenezi’s most vulnerable

Cephas
Shava

MWENEZI-
Nutrition
Action Zimbabwe (NAZ)’s monthly financial support to 691 households in the
semi-arid Mwenezi district has brought a remarkable reprieve to vulnerable
families which are at the messy of perennial droughts that frequently rock the
constituency.
The cash transfer programme is being funded by the Swedish International Agency (Sida)  through Action Against Hunger and is being implemented in
Mwenezi’s Wards 4 and 12.
Since September last
year, the organisation has been catering for at most five people per poor
household with each person getting US$13.
NAZ acting programs director,
Calvine Matsinde, told TellZim News that in Masvingo province, besides supporting
disadvantaged families through monthly allowances, there are also some on-going
nutritional education programs which are being spearheaded in Chiredzi and in other
provinces.
“Our organisation is
responsive to needs. Besides operating in the two districts, we also have
nutritional education programmes specifically targeting infants and expectant
mothers in two other provinces.
“In Matabeleland South,
we operate in Beitbridge while in Manicaland we have nutritional education
programs in Mutasa and Chipinge districts,” said Matsinde.
Mwenezi East Ward 4 councillor
Passmore Madzudzu expressed gratitude over NAZ’s helping hand in his area.
“In the face of the
current drought, NAZ has come in handy to help our people. Our people are in
dire straits and we welcome any form of assistance that is available.
“We hope NAZ will stay
with us longer and expand their reach to other Wards because as it stands, a
number of people really need help,” said Madzudzu.
An 88-year-old NAZ
beneficiary, Mananga Sando of Chimbudzi village pockets a monthly allowance of
US$39 for his three dependencies.
“I am old and no longer
have the energy to work. Before the intervention of NAZ, I faced challenges to
even get a single meal for my grandchildren. They look up to me for everything
and it was a big challenge.
“I want to thank God
for sending us NAZ because we can now afford to put something on the table. It
is our hope that NAZ will stay with us for much longer,” said Sando.
 
     

Ex- lover tries to poison food at former boyfriend’s wedding

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Ex- lover tries to poison food at former boyfriend’s wedding




Elliot Jinjika
CHIVHU– The saying ‘all is fair in love and war’ proved to be true after a
jilted ex-lover gate-crushed the wedding of her former boyfriend and allegedly
tried to poison the food but was caught red handed.
Long time sweethearts Christopher Chitongo, an inspector with
Chikomba Rural District Council (RDC), and a Muganyi, a computers teacher at
Runyararo Primary School, had a nasty break up which resulted in the former
seeking a peace order after the latter had refused to let go.
Chitongo, who was customarily married by the time he had an affair
with Muganyi, decided to end the relationship and focus on his marriage.
Chitongo wedded his wife on December 21, 2019 and the news of the wedding
did not go well with Muganyi who is alleged to have sneaked into the wedding
venue in violation of the peace order.
Muganyi is said to have visited Chitongo’s wedding venue as early as
04:00hrs and went straight to the kitchen where the catering team was busy
preparing food.
She is said to have been spotted by one of the people in the
catering team who went on to alert others. The team went and confronted Muganyi
who is said to have been in possession of some poison which she allegedly
confirmed that she wanted to sprinkle on the food.
The police was called and Muganyi is said to have spent the whole
day locked in police cells to allow the wedding to proceed.
Sources said that Muganyi wanted to disrupt the wedding by poisoning
people but her plan was quickly foiled.
“There was a peace order barring Muganyi from coming anywhere near
Chitongo’s place but she violated it. Chitongo himself saw the poison and
called the police on her ex-lover,” said the source.

Drama as Chivhu AFM factions clash at crossover night

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Drama as Chivhu AFM factions clash at crossover night



Elliot Jinjika

CHIVHU – The Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe (AFM)’s royal rumble is
raging on here as there was drama at the Devotional Life Centre where, for the
second time, none of the two factions managed to use the church premises to
hold a crossover night service.
The crossover service from 2019 to 2020 brought the two AFM factions
head on as both wanted to do their service the Devotional Life Centre church
and the police had to intervene by banning both factions from conducting their
services at the church premises.
The AFM church is embroiled in deep factional fights that have seen
the church being divided into two groups, one led by Rev Cossam Chiyangwa and
the other by Rev Amon Madawo and is waiting for the supreme court to decide the
legitimate leader of the church.
Before the crossover night, the police summoned both factions for a
meeting because there were clashes on who will use the church venue for the
service.
The police had a long meeting with both factions but nothing was
agreed upon as both factions refused to bow down prompting the police to ban
both factions from using the church pemises for the cross over night service.
The Reformist faction tried to defy the police directive by forcing
themselves onto the church premises before being dispersed by police officers
armed with button sticks and dogs.
Sources who spoke to TellZim News said that the reformist approached
the police seeking intervention against the anti- reformist who were said to be
planning to bar the former from using the church premises.
“Efforts were made as early as December 15, 2019 to agree on the use
of the venue on the crossover night but the Reformists did not want to discuss
the matter only to report to the police on the day of service that they were
being barred from the church premises,” a source said.
AFM pastor, Tavonga Masawi said that no faction used the church
premises during the crossover night as the police manned the venue.
“We were summoned to the police to deliberate on the matter.  Tuesdays are often meant for the anti-reformists
and we were expecting to see our brothers looking for a separate venue but
their refusal led to this standoff until the police manned the premises with dogs,”
said Masawi.
It is said that the reformists led by elders Sithole and Musarurwa
pushed for the police to lock out both factions to avoid confrontation.

Mnangagwa ‘unaware’ of school fees hikes or ignorant?

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Mnangagwa ‘unaware’ of school fees hikes or ignorant?



…as parents groan
under prohibitive increments

TellZim Reporter

President
Emmerson Mnangagwa has proven to be out of touch with reality on the ground as
he professed ignorance over the steep fees increments affected by the majority
of public schools across the country, a move likely to see a growing number of
school dropouts.
Addressing the
public after a clean-up campaign in Kuwadzana 2 in Harare last week, President
Mnangagwa said that he is unaware of the school fees increments by schools and
reads from the newspapers that there is no such thing.
President
Mnangagwa said that his education minister is always in the newspapers saying
the fees have not been increased but the reality on the ground shows that the
majority of public schools have made education a preserve for the elite.
It costs parents
pound and flesh to send their pupils to Form One as most schools are giving
cover charge of uniforms and tuition to the tune ranging from $8 000 to $11
000.
The country’s
universities have also joined the band wagon by increasing their fees to
unimaginable heights.
Teachers, who
are also parents, say that they are not reporting for work when first term
opens because their salaries are peanuts and cannot even buy a set of uniforms
for their children, let alone pay for tuition.
Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Dr Takavafira Zhou said that they
are not reporting for work unless their demands are met.
“We agreed we
would not be reporting for work until we get salary increments that resonate
with the prevailing situation in the economy.
“Our present
salaries are not even enough for us to travel to our work stations so how does
the government expect us to survive. Right now schools have increased their
fees to unimaginable amount and we wonder where parents will get that money
from.
“Everything else
is going through and increment phase except our salaries. I will not teach a a
school whose fees i am not able to pay,” said Dr Zhou.
The Amalgamated
Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) president Obert Masararure said that
schools are now a preserve for the elites and a no go area for the poor.
Masararure
warned the government that it risks mass protests as most of the basic things
are becoming unattainable.
“Schools are now
a preserve for the elites, a no go area for the poor, just like meat. Social
services such as education, healthcare, water are non-negotiable.
“A government
which denies its people basics will be inciting protests,” said Masaraure.

MDC youths up for breaking Mnangagwa portrait

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MDC youths up for breaking Mnangagwa portrait



Emmaculate Mukokoromba

ZAKA – As the economy continues to sink, public anger towards the
President Emmerson Mnangagwa-led administration continues to grow as was
evidenced by two MDC youths who were irked by the ubiquitous Mnangagwa portrait
which was hanging in a bar.

Shepherd Manyanga and
Francis Machisani were facing charges of undermining the authority of the
President when they appeared before Zaka magistrate Florence Nago who granted
them a $200 bail.
The duo was supposed to
receive their judgement on December 30, 2019 but they were nowhere to be found
with some sources claiming they eloped to neighboring South Africa.
Manyanga and Machisani
were drinking beer at Northend Bar in Jerera when they directed their anger and
frustrations towards the President Mnangagwa portrait.
It is said that the duo
reached out for the portrait which was hanging on the wall and they destroyed
it.
Sources said that the
duo was throwing all sorts of obscenities at President Mnangagwa accusing him
of being the chief architect of the people’s suffering.
“People are angry and
everyone knows who is behind their suffering. They are enjoying themselves at
our expense and we all have our limits.
“Manyanga and Machisani
reached their breaking point and they took their anger out on President
Mnangagwa’s portrait which invited trouble to their doorsteps. They shouted at
the portrait and called the President a failure while recognising MDC leader
Nelson Chamisa as the legitimate leader,” said one source.
Another source claimed
that the duo started to denigrate President Mnangagwa before they charged on
the portrait.
“They were drunk and
they started to insult the President. They threw a lot of insults and told the
bartender that they should not hang the portrait of the person who has made
them suffer on the wall.
“They said the portrait
belongs in the bin and they reached out for it and destroyed it. The police
were called and they were arrested,” said another source.



Masvingo pumps ‘untreated’ water for Masvingo

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Masvingo pumps ‘untreated’ water for Masvingo

Bushmead Water Works
…officials
watch as chemicals store gets empty

…city
engineer’s job hangs on the balance

…council
risks lawsuit from affected residents

Moses Ziyambi

City
of Masvingo recently pumped half treated water to residents after staff in the
engineering department negligibly watched as one of the critical water
purification chemicals in the stores run out, TellZim News can report.
From
the last days of November 2019, TellZim News has been investigating the cause
of the decline in municipal water quality.
Many
residents contacted claimed that on many incidences from the end of November,
municipal water had failed to convincingly pass the eye test as it had done in
the past
Information
at hand shows that the city’s engineering department slept on the job and
deliberately ignored as aluminium sulphate supplies in the stores dwindled.
To
get to the bottom of the matter, council has since formed a commission of
enquiry made up of all departmental deputy heads whose findings are expected to
be tabled any time this month.
In water purification processes, aluminium
sulphate is used as a coagulant which causes suspended impurities to coagulate
into larger particles and then settle to the bottom of the clarifying tanks to
be filtered out more easily through a process called backwashing.
At
the end of November, senior city managers and councillors were taken by
surprise when they were informed that at least a day’s water supplies had been
pumped half treated as aluminium sulphate had run out of stock.
Shocked
and disappointed, acting town clerk Edward Mukaratirwa rushed to the Zimbabwe
National Water Authority (Zinwa) where he borrowed three tonnes of the chemical
as part of emergency measures to avert a full-blown crisis.
Under
normal circumstances, the city procures the chemical from Chemplex Corporation
in Harare.
Meanwhile,
the city had continued to pump inadequately treated water to the residents, but
would at times stop all pumping as the emergency plans were being made.
Sources
said city officials exaggerated the effects of power cuts by the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) for the prolonged stoppages in pumping as
they made frantic efforts to replenish the chemical stores.
“There
is gross incompetence in council especially in the engineering department where
there seems to be a reluctance to take responsibility for anything that goes
wrong. The city engineer (Tawanda Gozo) is particularly underfire as he
continues to preside over the worst performing department. There are
indications that the chemicals debacle was deliberately created as part of
cheap in-house politics, sabotage and point-scoring,” said a close source.
Other
key chemicals that council often uses in water treatment throughout the year
include activated carbon to remove taste and odour, lime for PH correction and
chlorine gas or calcium hypochlorite for disinfection.
Depending
on need, council sometimes uses sodium silicate as a flocculant aid which
densifies unwanted particles.
TellZim
News contacted five of City of Masvingo’s 10 councillors who, speaking on
condition they are not named, all confirmed that council had on some occasions
pumped semi-raw water as ‘some chemicals’ had ran out of stock.
The
rest said they had no finer details about the matter but pointed out that it
was an embarrassing development coming from the ‘same department that often
gives council many problems’.
“It
is disappointing that people could be that negligent. We could have understood
had it been a case of shortage of money to buy the chemicals. The money was
there and people knew our usual suppliers yet they chose to ignore the usual
stock-taking routines for reasons best known to nobody but themselves. We
eagerly await the outcome of the enquiry before we can take measures. What I
can assure you is that it would be a gross dereliction of duty on our part as
councillors if heads do not roll,” said one councillor.
Another
one said it was high time council took stern measures against acts of gross
negligence by council employees.
“We
hear that some people are mobilising each other to sue council. That would be
costly to us and the only recourse would be for some people to go home. We
cannot continue paying people who deliberately put residents’ lives at risk,”
said the councillor.
When
contacted for comment, Mayor Collen Maboke professed ignorance of the debacle,
saying no report of such error of omission had reached his desk.
“Nothing
of that sort has reached my office. If it indeed happened, it probably then all
happened behind my back,” said Maboke.
On
the town clerk borrowing chemicals from Zinwa, Maboke said council and the
water authority had a working relationship allowing them to lend each other
chemicals in times of need.
However,
when Mukaratirwa himself was contacted for comment, he hesitantly confirmed the
debacle and said disciplinary procedures were in progress.
“We
had to take emergency measures to contain the situation. Disciplinary processes
are happening and we would not have wanted this to be in the media
prematurely,” said Mukaratirwa.
He
made assurances that the city now had enough chemicals in stock to meet its
daily requirements.

SolidarMed rescues Masvingo Hospital with solar lighting

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SolidarMed rescues Masvingo Hospital with solar lighting


…NGO
says it was moved by TellZim story

TellZim Reporter

MASVINGO – Non-profit
health NGO, SolidarMed, recently funded the installation of solar lighting
system for the Masvingo Provincial Hospital maternity ward in response to a
TellZim story highlighting poor lighting caused by power cuts.
TellZim
reported in in its August 16-22 edition how patients and nurses were being
asked to bring their own candles to the hospital as the rolling power cuts made
work more difficult especially during the night.
SolidarMed
then mobilized resources to the tune of US$8000 which they used to install a
2kW solar system which lights up the whole ward and powers the Information
Technology (IT) system there.
The
system was commissioned on December 19, 2019 in the absence of hospital staff
led by medical superintendent, Dr Julius Chirengwa.
The
organisation also installed an electronic partograph, a computer system which
monitors pregnant women’s laboring and helps with early detection of maternal
complications thereby helping to reduce maternal mortality. 
In
an interview later on, Chirengwa said the hospital was already feeling the
relief brought by the solar system.
“We
are grateful for that help. The maternity ward is one of the most critical at
the hospital and it had been a big challenge operating without proper lighting
as electricity supply from the national grid is not reliable,” said Chirengwa.
He
also said he hoped the hospital will find help to build a bigger solar system
to light up the rest of the facilities and power up critical equipment.
Under
country director Dr Janneke van Dijk, SolidarMed has made several outreaches to
equip health institutions in the country.
The
organisation recently donated a modern X-Ray machine to Chikombedzi District
Hospital which had operated for many years without one.
SolidarMed
is also leading innovative efforts to find medical solutions faced by local
communities by leveraging on the potential of digital technology to solve those
problems.

Disabled Mutare man needs wheelchair

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Disabled Mutare man needs wheelchair

Heather
Buzuzi
MUTARE
–
A 38-year-old man has pleaded with well-wishers to buy him a wheelchair which
will enable him to move around looking for food and money for rentals.
Bernard Mlambo stays with his wife and kids in Hob
House suburb and he makes some little money begging on the streets mainly at TM
Pick n Pay supermarket in the CBD.
His daily routine involves crawling from Hob House to
town where he begs for alms.
Mlambo, who stays with his heavily pregnant wife, said
he faces challenges raising his rentals and bringing food onto the table for
his family.
“I face challenges raising rentals since I do
not have my own place to live. I only survive through begging because it is
difficult to even start a business without a wheelchair.
“It is also very difficult and painful to crawl
to town every day. If I get a wheelchair, it would be a bit easier for me to do
a small business and stop begging on the streets,” he said.

Innovative youngsters make own snooker table

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Innovative youngsters make own snooker table

 Star Matsongoni
MASVINGO – Due to the economic hardships, some innovative children
have come up with creative ideas of enjoying their time by hand-making some
pool table which is keeping them productively occupied.
Speaking to TellZim News, the
children said they saw it possible to use the available resources which are
wood and cloth to manufacture their own pool table as the cost of using the
ordinary pool tables is beyond their reach.
“We have tailor-made our own pool
table using what we have. Tokens to use the ordinary pool tables are now going
for two dollars and we cannot afford them, so it’s the situation that inspired
us,” said one of the children.
The children are now using the sport
to mobilize themselves and encourage each other to stay clear of mischievous
behavior that often leads to trouble.
“We gather and play our game
after school and during weekends, we use our time creatively to avoid the petty
mischief that often gets other youngsters in trouble,” said Craig Ndaruza.
He said they each contribute some
money towards the maintenance of the pool table that they made while raising
more money by selling tokens at a ‘reasonable’ price of 25 cents.
“We usually play friendly matches
for free but if others from different streets want to play, they are required
to buy tokens for 25 cents. The money is used to buy sticks and marbles in case
we lose the ones we already have,” said Ndaruza.
      

Business complains over proposed licence fees

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Business complains over proposed licence fees

                                  Masvingo City Council offices
Ruvarashe Chichera
MASVINGO – The local business community is fuming over the 2020
proposed licence fees proposed by Masvingo City Council and that are likely to
be put to effect starting in January.
The business community is urging
each other to write formal objections to the town clerk or else the new rates
will be instituted starting from January 01, 2020.
Council has proposed an average 4
000 percent licence fees hike which will see 
juice card vendors’ fees rising from 
$210 to $3360, EcoCash agents from $510 to $8 160, traditional healers
from $300 to $4 800, barbershops and for phone shops from $510 to $8 160.
The business community is arguing
that the proposed rate increases are grossly exorbitant, thus unfair.
“The proposal of the council is
unreasonable. They should consider that the business community is playing its
part to the nation by employing people. They therefore should not make life
hard for the business people but rather complement their efforts,” said one businessman.
Masvingo City Council chamber
secretary, Vitalis Shonhai told TellZim News that council felt the proposals
were justified but was quick to add that people had the freedom to make formal
objections.



He went to advise that people
should not waste time complaining from outside but should rather follow
procedure by writing to the town clerk before deadline.
“That budget is only a proposal
and it will only work if people agree to it. I urge people to take the right
channel and communicate through formal processes rather than to waste time
talking about it in WhatsApp groups. I can confirm some people have already
sent their letters,” said Shonhai.
Business person Loveness Chimera,
in her letter of objection to the town clerk, makes it clear that she cannot
afford the proposed fee hikes.
“I cannot afford paying the
money. We did not agree to the budget the day you came to meet us so I reject
the proposal,” she argues.

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