Brilliant Mukaro

BIKITA – A haunted family from Murahwa village under Chief Mkanganwi is living in constant fear with mysterious stones reportedly hitting them whenever they set their foot outside.
The Musirinofa family suspects that the bizarre incident is being caused by an avenging spirit (ngozi) of a family member killed by the father.
Since the attacks began, Koniwai Musirinofa was living alone, locking himself indoors to save himself from the stones that are reportedly hurled from all directions, hitting the doors, windows and roofs whenever he set his foot outside.
The old man has, however, now been given refuge at the home of one of his sons, with his own haunted homestead now abandoned.
Headman Murahwa, Godfrey Murahwa, who lives close to the Musirinofa homestead, confirmed the predicament of the family.
Murahwa said the weird happenings began in December last year when the elderly Musirinofa was working in one of his fields.
He said a sack containing maize seed started ‘leapfrogging’ on its own before vanishing into thin air. Utterly shocked, Musirinofa tried to run after the sack but his walking stick was snatched from him and it also disappeared.
This was, however, only the beginning as the stones menace was soon to come, preventing the family from going outside and to work in their fields.
Murahwa said a village meeting was recently held after Musirinofa had spent the whole night yelling for help. At the meeting, the distraught Musirinofa revealed that his bed had been turned upside down before stones began falling on the bed which had trapped him.
One of Musirinofa’s sons who declined to be named for fear of disrupting family ties said the family also convened its own meeting where elders asked Musirinofa to confess whatever he could have committed.
He said his father made a horrendous confession that he was behind the death of his daughter, their sister, back in 2004. After the confession, Musirinofa began living under self-imposed house arrest for fear of the stones.
This reporter could not risk going near the house after a close neighbour, Dennis Mugari warned that people who had previously tried to reach the place to give Musirinofa advice had also fallen victim to the stones.
Looking from a distance, the reporter managed to see scattered stones at the homestead where a house with cracked walls and broken windowpanes stood.local

GWERU – The National Constitution Translation Committee (NCTC) has promised the nation that translation of the Constitution from English to other official languages will be complete by June.
Speaking during the NCTC standardisation workshop held at Midlands State University (MSU) recently, the group’s organising and publicity secretary, Professor Wiseman Magwa told the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi that by the end of February 2018, they would have finished translating the constitution into four languages.
“We are glad as a committee that the ministry has accepted our work though this has taken up considerable time from the previous government until now in the new dispensation.
“I am glad to announce and promise that this committee will have the Constitution translated into at least four native languages by the end of February 2018. The remaining 12 languages will be ready by June 2018. Your ministry will thus have something to present by the end of 100 days,” Prof Magwa said.
Upon announcing his cabinet last month, President Emmerson Mnangagwa gave each of his ministers a 100-day target by the end of which they should have produced tangible results in their respective areas.
Speaking at the same event, permanent secretary in the ministry, Virginia Mabhiza praised the committee’s work which she said would be an accomplishment of an important task once completed.
“Their NCTC’s ability to identify crucial issues facing our community today will be remembered as the hallmark of their work through the translation, production and distribution of the Constitution into all officially recognised languages.
“The Constitution creates an obligation to ensure that it is translated and that public awareness is raised. We promote the Constitution through various activities and projects, this being one of the projects,” Mabhiza said.
On his part, Ziyambi said once the translation goal gets completed, progress on the rule of law would have been made.
 “Once we finish translating the Constitution into different languages, we would have achieved preservation of the rule of law in Zimbabwe as everyone would be able to decode the law in their native languages.
“Significant aspects of the Constitution include, among other things, a Bill of Rights that seeks to protect and promote citizens….In order for these gains to be translated into reality, they need to be implemented. Full implementation requires citizens to be sensitised not only about the Constitution but their rights as enshrined in the Constitution,” Ziyambi said.
He also said it was sad that the constitution has been provided mostly in English.
“Since the inception of this Constitution, the ministry has been distributing it at different forums. It is however lamentable that such distribution has only been confined to the English language Constitution and summarised versions of the document in eight vernacular languages.
“The Constitution gives the State an obligation to ensure that all officially recognised languages are treated equitably taking into account the language preferences of the people affected, thus the need to translate the document,” he added.
In terms of Section 7 of the Constitution, the Government is mandated to promote public awareness of the Constitution by, inter alia, translating it into all officially recognised languages and disseminating it as widely as possible.local

GWERU – City of Gweru has recommended the allocation of 50 stands for kiosks to less privileged residents as part of wider efforts to alleviate poverty, TellZim News can reveal.
The move comes as a follow up to requests by councillors to the city’s director of engineering services, Engineer Robson Manatsa, to identify sites that could be used for such development.
In a report presented in a full council meeting held recently, Manatsa noted that visits for the purpose of identifying suitable sites that conform to the city’s by-laws and town planning principles had already been made.
“As at 30 November 2017, 50 sites had been inspected and are hereby recommended as suitable for use as kiosk sites. It should be noted that the exercise has, so far, covered wards 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17 and 18. The remaining wards are 1 – 4, 6, 7, 12, 15 and 16,” Manatsa said.
However, some councillors, including Mayor Charles Chikozho, said the city should identify more

such sites for the benefit of more residents.
“The kiosks being offered are very few. They also do not add up to spaces that were identified during the tours,” Chikozho said.
Ward 17 Cllr, Farai Muza concurred, saying the exercise had to be expanded to fight poverty.
“More kiosk sites should be identified so that the programme can achieve its goal of pulling out more people out of dire poverty,” Muza said.
Cllr Simon Chapukira of Ward 5 said new suburbs must not be forgotten as they too were home to many desperate residents. Other councillors proposed that at least five kiosks per ward be established in the first phase of the exercise.
Management, however, emphasised that town planning rules must never be overlooked for whatever goals the city might be pursuing.
 “Such interests must be balanced with competing community interests such as the need for play grounds as well as land for urban agriculture and breathing space. The process must avoid the clustering of kiosk to the point of creating informal shopping centres,” said Eng Manatsa.
Town Clerk Elizabeth Gwatipedza also advised that allocation should be done in phases to enable management to plan in accordance with the necessary by-laws.local

MWENEZI – Villagers of Zvirikure village, a community located at the boundary of Chief Neshuro and Chief Negari were recently left tongue tied after an elderly man was allegedly seen stark naked, performing rituals to stop the rain.
The man who was identified only as Major, was reportedly caught in broad daylight moving around naked in the bush while shouting incantations that many people believe were to stop rainfall.
Contacted for a comment, Chief Negari confirmed receiving an informal report of the strange shenanigans.
“I am not sure about the exact name of the person. It is said he was seen naked in the forest between my area of jurisdiction and that of Chief Neshuro, engaging in strange activities to block the rains.
“So far no one has formally filed a report at my court but in the event that his case is brought forward, we will not hesitate to preside over it,” said Chief Negari.
Villagers who spoke to TellZim News disputed suggestions that the man could be mentally challenged.
“He is not mentally challenged. He was clearly seen performing his dark rituals in the bush but nobody is prepared to testify against him at the traditional court because of fear.
“There is no doubt that such activities are responsible for the dry spell here. Crops are dying and we have seen heavy rainy clouds disappearing suddenly,” said one source.local

Getrude Duzah

MASVINGO – The Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) mop-up exercise which ends on February 8 has so far seen over 25 000 new voters being registered in the province.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) provincial elections officer, Zex Pudurai said he was impressed by the latest turn out, revealing that the mop-up exercise had added a total of 25 675 to the provincial voters’ roll as on January 28.
He said women had maintained their lead, with 13 849 of that number being females while 11 826 were male.
“We are likely to see an increase of people coming to register to vote from this stage up to the stage of inspection of the voters’ roll,” said Pudurai.
He praised the participation of the youth, saying there was a notable increase in the number of young people coming to register to vote.
“We are pleased because youths from colleges and universities in our communities are coming to register to vote in their numbers,” he said.
Overall, the electoral body had registered a total of 5 125 631 as on January 28.local

Cephas Shava

MWENEZI – Two police officers, Nothani Nyoni and Moxolisi Ngwenya were forced to travel for almost 150 km aboard a bus after its driver sped away with them in protest at their attempts to impound it.
The case was heard in the Mwenezi Magistrates’ Court where Tafadzwa Shambare (33) of House Number 2080 Overspill, Epworth, in Harare pleaded not guilty to two charges of kidnapping police officers.
Through his lawyer, Shambare said Nyoni and Ngwenya boarded his bus and did not bother to tell him his offence until they reached the tollgate in Chivi.
The complainants, however, told the court that they escorted the bus to Mwenezi Police Station on the orders of their superior but the accused later turned away and sped off with them still on board.
They said they begged the accused to drop them but he refused until they managed to get rescue from a back-up team that caught up with them at the tollgate.
It is the State case that on November 4, 2017, the police officers were manning a roadblock at the 174 km peg along Beitbridge-Masvingo Road when they were tipped off about a Mfazi bus which was carrying chicken cuts and other smuggled goods from South Africa.
At the roadblock, Shambare failed to produce declaration forms of the goods and was ordered to drive to the police station with the two police officers escorting him.
As they reached the police station, the accused tried in vain to persuade the officers to let him go so he sped off towards Masvingo and never stopped until he was intercepted by Support Unit officers at the tollgate, leading to his arrest.
Magistrate Honest Musiiwa postponed judgement to a later date after the defence lawyer proposed to write a submission for discharge.
Willard Chasi prosecuted.local