GWERU – The European Union (EU) Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Phillippe Van Damme has warned civic society organisations (CSO) against what he called was a tendency to wait to be spoon-fed by donors without making any initiative of their own towards self-sustenance.
Speaking to representatives of many civic groups during an EU – CSO Roadmap meeting held at Gweru Memorial Library American Corner recently, Van Damme said the EU did not wish to have organisations that work only to please the union but wanted them to formulate good ideas for the benefit of the country.
“Civil society mustn’t be dependent. They should have self-sustaining programmes or initiatives that will help the nation to develop outside funding. We also don’t encourage people to come here and try to please us instead of generating ideas that have a long term life span.
“We don’t want and won’t accept a dependent civil society but would accept that which eman-cipates itself from dependency and improve the society,” Van Damme said.
He also said the donor community was trying to harmonise funding processes in a bid to redirect funds towards sustainable projects.
“A situation by which one organisation gets funds from different donors for different pro-grammes has also been a challenge when it comes to accountability. I will accept that harmonis-ing donor processes will be hard but donors will try work on that.
“Once this challenge is dealt with, it will help improve CSO technical capacity and deal with in-ternal governance challenges,” he added.
Van Damme who also spoke on how the EU was looking forward to a free and fair election, condemning political violence at all levels.
“We know Zimbabwe is currently in a transition and is going for an election under a new admin-istration. It is our hope as the EU that the political landscape is made free and fair before, during and after election.
“We also condemn intra and inter-party political violence at all levels and political parties should really work hard to achieve a violence-free election in few months to come. We have seen what has been happening in the MDC-T and we condemn that,” Van Damme said.local

MPANDAWANA – Gutu magistrate Edwin Marecha recently remanded boy (18) from Hwicho village under Chief Gutu in custody to March 26 on charges of raping his two years eight months-old sister.
He was charged for contravening Section 65 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
It was the State’s case that on March 09, Chevecheve was left in custody of the child as her mother had gone to Gona School to attend a meeting.
He then took the child to his bedroom, removed her pant, lied her on his bed and raped her.
The matter came to light when the mother found a discharge on the child’s private part whilst bathing her.
The mother managed to get the child to speak about the alleged rape and she made a police report, leading to the arrest of the accused.local

GWERU – The Environmental Management Agency (Ema) wants traditional leaders in rural local authorities to pay more attention to environmental health and sustainable land use patterns when parcelling land to their subjects.
At an engagement meeting held recently in Redcliff, Ema Midlands provincial manager Benson Bhasera said under the new approach, local authorities will be expected to craft by-laws that govern land allocation by traditional leaders.
“We are meeting with traditional leaders and councils so that we raise aware-ness on that issue. We are encouraging the traditional leaders and councils to come up with by-laws to govern how people are given land by traditional lead-ers.
“We know it’s their right (to give land) – cultural rights – but it should be done in a systematic way and it should be planned for rather than have a village head doing whatever he wants,” said Bhasera
The environmental watchdog has expressed deep concern over traditional lead-ers who are settling people in catchment areas, wetlands and grazing pastures.
Research shows that such practices are responsible for siltation of water bod-ies, destructions of wetlands and soil erosion.local

…as Marapira blocks major tributary

TellZim Reporter

MASVINGO – Lake Mutirikwi, the second biggest inland lake in Zimbabwe after Tokwe Mukosi, has recorded the lowest water levels compared to other major water bodies in the country despite the heavy rains of the past weeks, TellZim News has learnt
According to information released by the Zimbabwe National Water Supply Authority (Zinwa), the dam level stood at 46. 5 percent as on March 09.
Tokwe Mukosi stood at 70.6 percent, Manjirenji at 89.6 percent, Tokwane at 100.5 percent, Bangala at 102.7 percent and Muzhwi at 102.7 percent full. The average national dam level stood at more than 50 percent.
Many people attributed the below average inflows into lake Mutirikwi to a wall built across a section of Mucheke River by Davies Marapira, who is the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development.
Much of the water flowing down Mucheke River normally ends up in Lake Mutirikwi after it joins with Shakashe River outside Masvingo town to form a sizeable tributary.
Marapira is using the water to irrigate his own farm and is reportedly not paying levies to the Mutirikwi Sub-Catchment Council as required by statutory regulations.
He has also built the dam using substandard material and without following the necessary procedures as required by the Water Act.
The Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs, Josaya Hungwe, last week told TellZim News he was waiting for Marapira’s return from a foreign trip so that he could have a word with him.local

Brilliant Mukaro

BIKITA – Magistrate Caroline Tafira recently slapped a man from Zvimba with 23 months in prison for unlawful entry as defined in Section 131(2) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
Gracious Mele (34) from Chibaya village, Chief Chirau, is employed by the Public Service Commission (PSC) as a kitchen attendant and is currently residing at House Number 153 Duma, Nyika.
He pleaded guilty to all the three charges that he faced.
In the first count, it was the State’s case, as presented by Japhet Mapakame, that on a date unknown to the prosecutor but during the period extending from January to march this year at PSC Bikita Institute of Training and Manpower Development, Mele entered the storeroom using a duplicate key and stole 14 two-in-one blankets belonging to the PSC.
The supervisor, Beaullah Matsine received a tipoff from a member of the public that the accused was selling blankets and she responded by doing an audit of the hostels bedding.
She then discovered that the property was missing and she made a report to the police leading to investigations, the arrest and recovery of 13 of the blankets.
The total value of stolen property was put at US$560 but US$520 was recovered.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and 3 months were suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.
On count two, it was the State’s case that on a date unknown to the prosecutor but over the same period, Mele took two fire extinguishers from the verandah and the kitchen room. The extinguishers, valued at US260, were not recovered.
He was slept with seven months imprisonment with an option to pay a fine of US$400. He was further slept with three more months behind bars but wholly suspended on condition that he restituted the complainant.local

Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI – Concerned parents have called upon the police to do more to fight drug abuse through improved law enforcement in communities as well as counselling children.
The most common drug being abused by youngsters in Chiredzi seems to be the broncleer cough syrup but there are also indications that crack cocaine is increasingly becoming easy to access.
A 23-year-old man was recently found hanging, a case that was widely said to be drug abuse-induced suicide.
Augustine Mupezeni, a parent who is struggling to get help for his drug addicted son, said he had tried to engage police to raise alarm on the escalating drug problem.
“The police said I should consult someone who is responsible for counselling but she was said to be off duty. I wanted them to counsel my child and help establish the source. I have gone there three times. He bullies his siblings and he even has the guts to ask me for money to buy broncleer,” said Mupezeni.
Chiredzi West Member of Parliament (MP) Darlington Chiwa said drug abuse had destroyed the lives of many young people.
“If the police have challenges organising people to deal with youths who are into drug abuse, I am ready to help. I will support anybody who comes to me for assistance,” said Chiwa.
TellZim News contacted a woman who is widely rumoured to be a drug mule in the town, but she denied the allegations and warned this reporter not to call her again.local