Precila Takabvirakare

MPANDAWANA – A 43-year-old man was recently convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife who had denied him sex.
Mudzingwa Tavarwisa of Mutoto village under Chief Serima Gutu was on separation from his wife Lisa Zvarevashe when the domestic violence case occurred.
Magistrate Edwin Marecha suspended six months of his sentence as it was his first time of committing a criminal offense.
It was the State’s case, as presented by Samuel Magobeya, that on the day in question, Zvarevashe visited Tavarwisa at his homestead. The following day at around 18:00 hrs, Tavariswa demanded that they have sex but she refused, saying she was on her menstrual period.
An angry Tavarwisa then picked up a hoe and struck Zvarevashe once on her right forefinger and went on to beat her all over the body using the hoe handle.
Zvarevashe was severely injured and was taken to Serima Mission Clinic but was later transferred to Muvonde Hospital in Drieforntein where she got admitted for close to a month.
Medical examinations were done and showed that she was badly injured.local

Brighton Chiseva

RENCO MINE – Siyai Neshanje, who has been Masvingo district’s ward 35 MDC-T councilor since its creation in 2008 to date, will leave the seat to Clever Chenjerai who was selected as the party’s new candidate at a candidate selection meeting held at Renco Mine Stadium.
Chenjerai was nominated after a unanimous agreement between him and Paul Malunga following a stalemate between Neshanje, Bensen Shuro, Elson Mutonhori and Rogers Banda.
When contacted for comment, Neshanje confirmed the development and said he is putting his weight behind Chenjerai and assured a clear win in the coming elections.
“The meeting resolved to put Chenjerai as this year’s candidate and I will support him and make sure that he retains the ward for the party,” said Neshanje.
Toperesu Mafirakureva was also selected MDC-T’s ward 23 candidate after battling for the post with other two members, Tasiya and Musingarimi.
The trio were nominated after a stalemate between former councilor Charles Mzembi popularly known as Mamhepo, Costa Mamvura, Edgar Pomerai (a teacher at Garai Pirimary School) and Jenny Zishamba.
Both meetings were officiated by Elson Mutonhori who is Masvingo district secretary and Benson Shuro who is a provincial representative.local

CHIREDZI – A burst along the main water supply trunk in Hippo Valley has seen Magwaza location going for over two months without water with authorities showing neither will nor capacity to solve the problem.
Magwaza location is connected to the water supply system by very old infrastructure that is in urgent need of repair.
Recently, three women from the area marched to Chiredzi Town Council to protest what they said was the continued neglect of their residential area.
One of the women, Veronica Mangoma said they registered their complaints with the town bosses and were falsely promised that the problem was going to be solved urgently.
 “We teamed up as women and went to council to file the complaint. We were told that they were going to address the issue without delay but they sent some guys who seemed clueless on where to start,” said Mangoma.
Another woman who took part in the protest was Atalia Murebwa who said it had become the woman and child’s tiresome daily routine to go around looking for water elsewhere.
“It’s now close to three months since we last got water from our taps. The council has failed but they are not gracious enough to say it so they would keep on giving empty promises,” said Murebwa
The women also accused council of sending students on attachment to do work that should be done by fully qualified professionals.
They criticised the United Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association (UCHIRRA) and Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association CHIRRA for failing to ensure that town bosses are held accountable in that regard.
When contacted for comment, Chiredzi Town Council secretary, Charles Muchatukwa said the engineering department was working to repair the line.
“We encountered a problem in Hippo Valley were a trunk line burst. The engineering department is working on the problem and soon, it will be done. Areas that had been receiving water will get it soon and we will upgrade the system so that every household in Magwaza can have water,” said Muchatukwa.local

MWENEZI – Masvingo provincial magistrate Langton Ndokera has bemoaned the increase in cases of women abuse in the district which he described as one of the least safe for females.
Speaking during a court session as part of his visit to Mwenezi on circuit, Ndokera said the high number of violence against women was worrying.
“For the few weeks I have been here, I have realised that this is one of the worst districts in terms of women abuse. Men seem to take women as rags that they can use and later on dump but that cannot be tolerated,” said Ndokera.
Last week, 41-year-old Prisca Ndoro of Zvirikure village under Chief Neshuro was left nursing a fractured hand after her husband Tafara Nyaku, who was drunk, allegedly assaulted her with open hands, fists and a log.
After the attack, Ndoro was rushed to Neshuro District Hospital where she received treatment.
Joseph Maweni, a lawyer, said some serious sensitisation work was needed to fight domestic violence which he said seemed to be driven largely by patriarchal attitudes in Mwenezi.
“We are dealing with a deeply patriarchal society so you find that a man may begin to ill-treat some of his wives if he fails to adequately provide for them. The idea would be to force them out and give himself some sort of relief from burdensome economic responsibility.
“There is need for concerted sensitisation programmes by civil society and government. There are several forms of abuses which are being perpetrated on a daily basis but a great deal of those cases go unreported due to lack of knowledge,” said Maweni.local

GWERU – Josiah Tungamirai Air Force Base (formerly Thornhill Air Force Base) last week launched a fundraising campaign to raise $230 000 for the refurbishment of Thornhill Secondary School.
Speaking to journalists during a press briefing held at the Air Base, Base Commander Air Commodore Elisha Masakadza said their major goal is to provide a conducive learning environment for the pupils.
“This project is meant to support the government’s initiative of providing quality education. We simply converted the recently moved Regimental School blocks into classrooms,” said Air Commodore Masakadza.
Air Commodore Masakadza said the project would go through four phases until completion with each phase having its own budget.
“Since we moved into buildings that have been lying idle for a while and used for different purposes, a lot of renovations needs to be done.  The first phase would be to have a laboratory, tiles, ceiling, computers and office furniture in place which would cost $70 000.
“The second phase will focus on landscaping and sporting fields to the cost of $50 000 with third and fourth phase focusing on classroom blocks material and precast-wall each costing $70 000 and $40 000 respectively,” he added.
Thornhill Secondary School, which currently has 172 pupils, was opened in January 2016.
As part of the fundraising efforts, a golf tournament scheduled for March 24 has been organized to try and lure more donations from the corporate world and other well-wishers.local

MASVINGO – The District Development Fund (DDF) has only one grader which is supposed to service the road authority’s 3 810 km network to the highest possible standards, it has been learnt.
DDF Masvingo provincial coordinator, Marasa Gutukunuhwa revealed the dire state of affairs at the institution while responding to questions from TellZim News on why the damage wrought on many roads by La Nina – triggered floods remain unrepaired one year on.
He attributed the grim state of the roads and bridges in the seven districts of the province to lack of equipment to carry out adequate maintenance work.
“There is a massive workload but no proportionate resources to match the amount of work that needs to be done. We only have one grader which is supposed to work on the long network of secondary roads that falls under our ambit.
“It is this lack of capacity that obliges us to put some our roadworks to tender. Last year, we contracted a number of companies to work on some of the roads but we had many of those contractors pulling out before completing the work due to breakdowns of their equipment, leaving behind incomplete work,” said Gutukunuhwa.
He said the motor-grading of the Panganayi – Chinorumba Road in Zaka was aborted midway because the contractor who was working on it pulled out as his equipment had developed mechanical problems.
“That was also the case with work on Ruzambu Road in Mwenezi; the contractor pulled out before completing the work because his equipment broke down. The same also happened with our two contractors in Chivi,” he said.
Despite the challenges, the DDF, using its own grader, successfully rehabilitated many roads including the Mutero – Makwiza Road in Gutu and Zano – Veza Road in Zaka. A total of 42 km of roads in Bikita and 53 km in Chiredzi were motor graded.
Tyre-dragging was done on a total of 816 km of roads while towed grading was done on 2 180 km of roads across all the seven districts of the province. Motor-grading was done on 625 km of roads while other works included culvert maintenance, verge clearing, gravel patching, signage installation, re-gravelling and gully reclamation.
Other projects included the rehabilitation of the Save Drift Bridge in Chivi as well as the Fuwe Panganayi and Lower Shange bridges in Zaka.
The DDF water section carried out maintenance work on hundreds of boreholes and also rehabilitated Nyamakwe, Stanmore and Mushandike irrigation schemes.local

Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI – Indigenous small-scale sugarcane farmers say there is nothing that should stop them from putting more land under irrigation now that the giant Tokwe Mukosi Dam has been completed.
The farmers urged the government to avail more land for them so that they could increase their contribution to the economy.
Addressing farmers in Mkwasine recently, Zimbabwe Sugarcane Development Association (ZSDA) chairperson Edmore Veterai said government should seriously consider increasing the size of land for small holder farmers to at least 50 ha.
He said when the plots at Tokwe Mukosi are pegged, the new proposed hactarage should be implemented since most out-growers are doing very well even in such areas as Chipiwa where farmers have as little as 15 ha of land.
“The most viable sugarcane hectarage for us is 50. A serious farmer can produce the best results with 50 ha since most out-grower farmers have already shown some remarkable competency with their 15 ha plots.
“We are therefore calling upon the government to consider our request not to peg less than 50 ha for each farmer when they allocate the Tokwe Mukosi plots,” said Veterai.
Currently, there are more than 850 out-grower farmers in the Lowveld.local