Lloyd Shunje in Mutare

MUTARE – Council is set to deal with water woes that have affected high density suburbs following a resolution to resume construction of the US$1.1 million Dangamvura water pipeline.
The State Procurement Board (SPB) recently approved continuation of the project which started in 2011 but abruptly came to a halt due to financial constraints.
Speaking to TellZim New, Mayor Tatenda Nhamarare said council was determined to see the project through.
 “We resolved as council to resume the work using internal resources while plans are being made to source more funds from elsewhere.
“The pipeline will link Chikanga and Dangamvura and once the required materials have been acquired, we will then start the project which is set to bring an end to water problems that have affected Dangamvura residents for a long time,” said Nhamarare.
 Residents who spoke to TellZim News said they hoped that the project will be completed quickly to bring an end to their misery.
“It is a good thing that council has taken the stance to put an end to water problems that have affected us as residents. Many people had lost hope that anything will be done to solve the water shortages they have faced all along,” said Ignatius Tivatye of Dangamvura.local

ZVISHAVANE – Two Mberengwa men have appeared before the Zvishavane Magistrates Court for making false witchcraft claims on ZTV.
Sifelani Dube (27) and Soton Dube from Chief Chingoma in Mberengwa appeared before magistrate Archie Wochiunga facing charges of criminal nuisance as defined in section 46 (2) (v) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
The duo appeared on ZTV on the October 19, 2017 and made false claims that they practiced witchcraft.
They also claimed that they were in possession of a hyena, an owl, a baboon, a snake and cats that they claimed to use in their witchcraft business and to recover their money from bad debtors.
State prosecutor, Stanley Ncube told the court that they confessed that they made their false statements in order to alarm the nation for the sake of attention and possibly to make money from the mystified public.
He said when investigations were done in the wake of their TV appearance, it was proven that the two were scammers who possessed none of the things they claimed to have and that they actually were not wizards.
Magistarate Wochiunga found them guilty of fraud and interfering with public comfort and peace.
They were both remanded for mental examination and will be sentenced when the results are out.local

CHIREDZI – A Hippo Valley High School pupil took shelter in a sugarcane plot after her parents chased her away from home but nobody knew that those were to be the girl’s last moments alive as she would, some hours later, die of severe burns.
The incident, which happened on October 23, saw the minor being severely burnt before being airlifted to Harare where she died of her excruciating injuries.
Masvingo acting police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa confirmed the case and urged parents to be tolerant as all children have their own flaws.
Sources said Martha Hlupeko, who was doing her form one at Hippo Valley High School and residing in Section 7 Hippo Valley Estates with her mother and stepfather, had quarrelled with her mother because she had arrived home late.
The misunderstanding reportedly started with the girl’s mother, who had been away on a visit, calling to request that Martha wait for her on Section 7A bus stop.
The girl complied but upon noticing that it was getting late, shifted to Section 7B where there was some light and she failed to see her mother arrive in the process.
She then gave up on the wait and went home, only to find that her mother was already there and was angry as she suspected that she had been with her boyfriend.
After being chased from home, Martha went to her boyfriend to consult him on what to do but he could not accommodate her so she decided to take shelter in a nearby cane field for the night.
“She went to her boyfriend who is an employee at Hippo Valley Estate but he could not accommodate her so she took shelter in the plot which was then set on fire early the following morning to prepare the cane for harvesting,” said a source.
Martha was discovered the following morning by Hippo Valley employees who reported the case to the police and the girl was taken to Hippo Valley Hospital before being airlifted to Harare where she died.local

Nyasha Marumbi

MASVINGO – Only two percent of households in Masvingo are still using the old electricity meters and are yet to be connected using the recommended prepaid meters, the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Commission (ZETDC) says.
At a workshop organised by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) and the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) recently, ZETDC commercial manager for Manicaland and Masvingo provinces, Fabion Mabaya said 98 percent of all households in Masvingo were using prepaid meters.
He said the remaining two percent will have their own prepaid meters before the end of next year.
“Out of 36 000 houses that we have in Masvingo, only 700 have no prepaid meters and I promise you before the end of next year, prepaid meters will have been installed in those houses.
He urged residents to save electricity by using energy server lamps as the country has to raise foreign currency to import supplementary energy from neighbouring countries.
He also said the country had saved 110 megawatts of electricity since the introduction of prepaid electricity meters in 2011.local

MASVINGO – Recommendations contained in the government-sanctioned Information and Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI) are unlikely to see the light day after the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Tafataona Mahoso questioned the credibility of the document.
Dr Mahoso and his team were recently in Masvingo where they held a discussion with local journalists on matters of mutual interest.
Responding to a question on when government planned to implement recommendations of the inquiry, Dr Mahoso attacked the composition of the panel that conducted the research, indicating that most of the people were brought on board for patronage reasons.
“IMPI makaitangira padumbu (In the case of IMPI, the cart was put before the horse). The process had no legal standing vis-à-vis ZMC. Even the budget that was allocated to IMPI was 10 times bigger than the ZMC budget. Some of them were getting $500 every day. How could that be?” queried Dr Mahoso.
He also claimed that most of the researchers had no sound appreciation of the media industry whatsoever, but were nonetheless given places on the panel so that they too could enjoy the gravy train.
“Kwakatorwawo vamwe vanhu vasingaziviwo zvavo nezve media (people with no background in the media were included). A busload for work that could simply be done by a few people, and they produce a voluminous text whose contents amount to very little. As media, you are free to critique its composition and make up your mind,” said Dr Mahoso.
The 666-page IMPI report, officially presented to authorities in April 2015, was a result of almost one year of extensive outreach work done by media stakeholders at the behest of then Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Professor Jonathan Moyo.
Although the report was generally well-received as critical in improving operations of the media in Zimbabwe, government has sat on it ever since its release.
Among other things, the report notes that corruption has permeated the media industry and journalism standards have declined.
It recommends that repressive laws like the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) be reviewed in line with the new Constitution.
“In the long term, there should be constitutional and legislative shift to allow self-regulation of the media, in line with regional and international standards,” reads part of the report.local