By Staff Reporter

Masvingo City is grappling with a severe sewer crisis, as rampant vandalism of sewer infrastructure poses a significant threat to public health and the environment.
The city’s aging sewer system, already plagued by frequent blockages and leaks, is further compromised by acts of vandalism targeting manholes and sewer lines resulting in an increase in sewer bursts across various suburbs.
Masvingo City Council recently issued a statement condemning the vandalism and warning of legal consequences for perpetrators.
“The City of Masvingo wishes to bring to the attention of all residents that there have been recent incidents of vandalism targeting our sewer infrastructure. These acts have caused significant damage to sewer lines and manholes, leading to service disruptions and potential environmental and health hazards.
“Vandalism of public infrastructure is a criminal offense and carries severe penalties. Residents who witness any unusual activity or threats to the sewer infrastructure are urged to report to the Municipal Police,” reads part of the statement.
TellZim News recently reported recurring sewer bursts at the Hillside suburb homestead of Zaka South Member of Parliament (MP) Clemence Chiduwa. The issue has been recurring for years without any meaningful intervention from authorities.
Vandalism appears to be becoming a troubling trend in Masvingo. In 2024, residents of Runyararo West and Rujeko suburbs were hit by a bizarre string of thefts in which thieves targeted septic tank covers, an unlikely but dangerous target.
The stolen lids are reportedly being sold to iron smelters who manufacture three-legged pots and other metal products. The thefts have left open pits in residential areas, posing serious hazards to children and pets.
Children also throw stones in the open manholes which promote blockages in the sewer line.

By Beverly Bizeki

In a long-awaited move, the Masvingo City Council has finally allocated 10 stands to families who were perennially affected by recent floods in the city on Davis Mugabe Street in Runyararo West, bringing relief to the affected families who had been living in temporary shelters during rains.
The council’s decision comes after years of getting empty promises and enduring flooded homes and losing property along the way.
A total of 29 families are being affected and the city council said they are allocating the stands in batches starting with the most affected.
Masvingo City Council Spokesperson Ashley Jinjika confirmed the development to TellZim News and said the stands were being allocated in phases starting with the most affected.
“Council has allocated 10 residential stands to the severely affected flood victims in Davis Mugabe Street as part of ongoing recovery efforts. The serviced residential stands are being allocated in phases beginning with the 10 severely affected followed by 15 which are moderately affected and eventually 14 which are least affected,” said Jinjika.
Jinjika said the move was supposed to provide a permanent solution to the long standing issue and restore stability for the affected families.
“The council’s resolution to allocate stands to flood victims is a significant and compassionate step in the ongoing recovery process. It offers displaced families a fresh start and a sense of security allowing them to rebuild their homes and lives,” said Jinjika.
The Davis Mugabe residents had been getting empty promises from responsible authorities for quite a long time with the relocation promise becoming a pipeline dream.
During the 2022-23 rainy season due to fear that the houses may collapse, Masvingo City Council evacuated affected residents to the District Development Fund offices (DDF) as a temporary measure.
Four mayors, namely Femius Chakabuda (the late), Hubert Fidze, Collen Maboke, Shantiel Chiwara, though short-lived came and left the issue unresolved with residents still suffering the same ordeal of flooded homes.
The Alec Tabe led council becomes the first to come up with tangible efforts to assist the affected families as this comes shortly after the local authority had widened the banks of the stream which passes through the wetland on which the properties were built on.
The families were allocated stands at the confluence of two small streams in the area and the situation is said to be worsened by construction activities in Victoria Ranch.
Some sources said at the time when the stands were allocated, in the mid-2000s, an engineer who was working at townhouse advised against it.

By Tatiana Mhararira

Masvingo residents have called upon the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to intensify awareness programmes particularly in rural areas and churches to educate people on coruption effects to promote increased reporting.
The residents complained that information on corruption was not clear to them and most people think corruption only involved people in higher offices.
Speaking at a community engagement meeting hosted by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) in partnership with TellZim in Masvingo on April 8, 2025 Masvingo resident Sungano Zvarebwanashe said ZACC was supposed to escalate education and spread into remote areas.
“We encourage ZACC to take their education and community engagement programmes to rural areas since Masvingo is mostly constituted by rural areas. People there need to be enlightened on these issues as they are also affected,” said Zvarebwanashe.
She said most programmes mainly targeted the urban population but the rural folk was being abused corruptly by officials and traditional leaders hence the need to take awareness there.
Another resident Pastor David Vurayayi said ZACC should also educate religious and community leaders on corruption so that they cascade the message to their followers.
“As a religious leader I also recommend ZACC to teach pastors as well as community leaders on transparency and corruption so that they educate their followers instead of using the Police, residents are afraid and have no confidence in the police so they won’t listen,” said Vurayayi.
People with disabilities also voiced concern saying the education should also spread to their constituents as they too were affected by corruption.
Prazen Jakata said ZACC as a commission had not organised any programme targeting them and said they only hear about it in the media.
“Have your education as ZACC gone down to PWDs communities? We have never seen you. We actually hear about you from the media and somewhere else.
“We are saying come let’s have a dialogue as PWDs; we have issues that we want to share with you and I can count many issues that we do not know where to refer to because if we go to the police they will say this is not a matter that we should address then we go to the courts which then becomes very expensive for us to start igniting the issue with the courts due to lack of resources,” said Jakata.
Jakata said there was a pending case which involved Masvingo City Council which he said he thought ZACC could look into.
“We have an issue with our council whereby five residential stands were allocated to PWDs and they disappeared within the council chambers and we were told to report to ZACC by the council members but we did not know where to find you,” said Jakata.
On its part, ZACC representative, Masvingo Office Investigating officer Langton Shayanowako said they had taken note of the concerns and said it was work in progress having started by decentralising to provincial offices.
“We have taken note of the concerns, we will recommend to the superiors but I want to assure you that its work in progress and ZACC used to be centralised and now you can see we now have a provincial office, it means we are doing all we can to reach all areas,” said Shayanowako.
TIZ representative during the engagement said they had taken note of the need and with resources permitting, they would engage TellZim and other organizations to facilitate similar programmes in the rural areas.

…family appeals for assistance for corrective surgery

By TellZim Reporter

A family from Mwenezi is appealing to well-wishers for financial assistance to cover medical expenses for their 10-year-old son, who mistakenly drank a cleaning disinfectant at school, severely damaging his digestive system.
Zile Samuel Jazi, a grade five pupil at St Vitalis Primary School, has been out of school since the incident on February 27 and is currently receiving medical treatment at home awaiting corrective surgery.
His father, Leonard Thembani Jazi, confirmed the incident to TellZim News and said the family had already spent US$2,400 on treatment, with an anticipated additional medical bill of no less than US$3,500.
“When we consulted the surgeon, he estimated that we should be prepared to pay up to US$3,500, excluding dressing materials and feeding needs,” said Leonard.
The family is also struggling to afford the special feed Zile now requires, which costs US$18 per 400 grams and lasts only about two and a half days. The boy is currently being fed through a tube, and the surgery to correct his condition is expected to take place after four weeks.
“The water must be purified with lots of dressings and bandages required. He has already gone for his reviews but cannot sit in public transport. He has been using Doctor Manjeya’s (the doctor that has been attending him) family car and support from the family too” said Leonard.
Recalling the incident, Leonard said Zile drank the chemical after he and his classmates asked their teacher for water during a sports session.
“Zile together with his classmates were involved in some sports training at St Vitalis Primary. It was a very hot afternoon. After the training I am told the boy and others were thirsty and consulted with their teacher and were told to find water in one of the rooms.
“Zile together with his friends went into the room and picked up some five litre containers with water. Zile unfortunately picked up a container which contained some toilet disinfectant drank it. He felt the burning effects of the liquid and spat some but unfortunately some went down his alimentary canal,” said Leonard.
The school rushed Zile to Mwenezi Hospital where he was treated and discharged with prescriptions. However, his condition worsened after returning home.
“While at home he kept spitting and later started vomiting. After a week we went back and got drugs to stop vomiting which did not work. We had to seek further medical checks but resources did not permit. On March 27 after getting my salary we sent him to Masvingo where he was referred to a surgeon.
“Diagnosis showed that the whole alimentary canal was bleached and then closed. This was sad for us. The option was to operate him by puncturing the stomach,” said Leonard.
Zile has missed school and exams as his recovery continues.
Anyone willing to assist the family can contact Leonard Jazi on 0776775858 directly or reach out to TellZim News on 0777355808 for more details.

By Meditation Mposi

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has noted rampant corruption in government departments, especially in procurement.
This came out during a Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) engagement meeting held in collaboration with TellZim News in Masvingo town on April 8.
Speaking at the event, ZACC Masvingo Investigations Officer, Langton Shayanewako said the commission had noted that cases of corruption were more prevalent in government departments especially in the procurement departments.
“Cases of corruption are common in government departments especially in procurement, mining claims and land distribution,” said Shayanowako.
He went on to say they were however facing challenges in politicization of cases as well as public perception on the commission.
“We have recorded several successes and we can say we manage to solve about 70 percent of cases that we deal with. In 2024 alone we recovered a total of 202 vehicles that were illegally brought in the country through abuse of the civil servant rebate system
“Some of the people managed to pay duty and got their vehicles, however some are still in courts,” said Shayanewako.
He however said despite recording such successes, the commission faced several challenges including politicization of cases as well as public perception.
“We have challenges like politicization of cases, public perception where people don’t trust us as a commission as well as victimization of whistle blowers and witnesses who end up reluctant to give evidence,” said Shayanowako.
He went on to say people were indicating that ZACC was failing to convict people or delay processes but the delay would have been from the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) whom they work with.
NPA representative at the engagement meeting Tarisai Muvengi said they failed to prosecute or secure convictions in several corruption cases because of lack of evidence.
He said corruption being a sophisticated crime, it was mainly done by people in higher offices and it was difficult to get evidence since in most cases it would have been destroyed.
“The reason why in most cases we fail to prosecute or secure convictions in most corruption case is lack of evidence, the crime is mainly done by people in higher offices and the time investigators try to get evidence, it would have already destroyed.
He also said another challenge was hostility from witnesses who decline to stand in court despite having reported the matter themselves.
“Another challenge we fail to prosecute is hostility from witnesses. They mend their relations during the course of investigations with the perpetrator and the time you invite them to witness, they refuse,” Muvengi said.

By Staff Reporter

The National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe NPAZ has called for decentralization of resources to promote efficiency in dealing with cases at local level.
Speaking during an engagement meeting organized by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) in partnership with TellZim News in Masvingo, NPAZ representative Tarisai Muvengi said the centralization and lack of resources was affecting how they work.
He gave an example of forensics which he said were only done in Harare thereby making cases with forensics requirements take time.
“We have a challenge of limited resources and centralization of departments that we work with. Forensics are only done in Harare, so all cases that have forensic requirements take time to deal with because the evidence is send to Harare from across the country and it takes time for them to come back.
“So it is our hope that areas like that will be decentralized. If we have a forensic department here in Masvingo to deal with our cases, that would improve our efficiency,” said Muvengi.
He went on to say another challenge was lack of knowledge and information in the general citizenry which he said makes them not eager to come forward with evidence to help prosecute matters.
“There is lack of societal awareness. People do not know what is and what is not a crime and you find out that someone from town goes to Bhuka area there and discovers that village heads are corruptly selling land and reports.
“When investigations are done, it becomes difficult now to have a person from the area to testify, which means we will rely on information from a non-resident further complicating the matter,” said Muvengi.
He however said they were recording several successes in prosecution in corruption related matters saying the year 2023 had the highest number of corruption related matters which they dealt with.
“I don’t have the statistics at hand but I can confidently say we have success stories in ZACC related matters especially in the year 2023 when we recorded the highest number of convictions,” said Muvengi.
However, residents raised concerns on the treatment of witnesses after testifying where they are given transport reimbursement in local currency at bank rate despite them using US$.
Muvengi however said it was a challenge they were lobbying with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to address.

By Staff Reporter

Zaka District is breathing a sigh of relief as it welcomes a new District Development Coordinator (DDC) Gift Machukele.
Machukele who is not new to the district having served as assistant DDC to then substantive Tapson Chivanga before he was transferred to Chiredzi where he held the same post deputizing, was introduced to Zaka RDC during a full council meeting held on April 1.
The new DDC is expected to bring an end to the long-standing feud between the Council Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Majaura and the Council Chairperson Fungai Maregedze.
The rivalry has been fingered as one of the major issues that were hindering development in the area, and locals especially councilors said they were hopeful that the new DDC will bring some much-needed stability.
The previous DDC, Memory Dhliwayo, was demoted after only eight months on the job due to allegations of failing to meet security clearance requirements and poor performance. Her tenure was also marred by controversy, including accusations of corruption and meddling in council operations.
The new DDC will have their work cut out for them, as they’ll need to navigate the complex web of relationships between the CEO, Majaura, and other stakeholders. However, with a fresh perspective and a commitment to development, there’s hope that Zaka District can finally start moving forward.
One councilor who chose to be anonymous told TellZim News that they hoped that Machukele would be able to keep the two in their lines for the development of the district.
“Machukele has been here so he knows what the district needs, we are confident that he will defuse the situation between the CEO and the Chair that his predecessor failed,” said the councilor.
Ministry of Local Government and Public Works carried out an investigation on Zaka RDC and established that there were no trio meetings between the DDC, CEO and Council Chair.
“There were no trio meetings where the CEO, DDC and Council Chair met. Those three should regularly meet to discuss the running of the district. The DDC speaking on government position, chair on council business and council CEO on implementation,” reads part of the report.
The investigation also established a rippling knowledge gap among district leaders which was identified as the major obstacle to development, with the ministry recommending urgent training and reorientation for councilors, management, chiefs, and the District Development Coordinator (DDC), as they lack understanding of their roles.
Another role of the DDC is to put the traditional leaders in council in their place as it was revealed that they did not know their roles in full council meetings.
A classic example was during the full council meeting held on April 1 where Chief Bota born Tafirenyika Bwazvo appeared in the council chambers visibly drunk and caused a scene interjecting the meeting and refused to leave when assistant DDC Victor Zinanga tried to intervene.